I posted this to Future of Communities a few days ago.

Hint: I dont know for sure, since I get easily convinced by different people they are the same and they are all different.

I must admit I was not surprised when I was asked by a prospect
yesterday when I was using the terms “community, social network,
collaboration ” all in the same sentence and trying to give him
examples of each.

He said “I think your strategy is to either convince me you know more or confuse me – please tell me which?”

When I think of the word “community” to me it
usually refers to a group of people that are linked together by
something(s) common. These group of people are joined together for a “common goal”. But there is something they are trying to achieve together that they believe they cannot achieve alone.
When I am expressing “social network”
the perception in my mind (right, wrong or otherwise) is Myspace,
Facebook, etc. This to me is a set of people that are trying to further
their own “self goal” within a group of like minded people.

So a social network has individual first mentality, as opposed to a community – which has a group first mentality.
Collaboration Networks are a nuance. I tend to think of them as temporary groups of people “aligned to a same objective”.
Note I said objective NOT goal. These are more time-bound, with
specific criteria that they must meet for the team and inviduals.

Here is a chance for 3 people to win a Starbucks gift card each. See below.

Lets take some examples. You can put in the comments section what
you think these fall under. All you have to do is put the number and a
letter A, B or C next to it. I will put the first comment as an example.

Bonus points for adding to the definition of these terms.

A= Community, B= Social Network, C=Collaboration Network

1. Youtube
2. MySpace
3. Threadless.com
4. We are smarter than me
5. Intranet for HR folks to share information with the rest of the company on policies
6. Message boards for customer support online
7. Discussion and sharing forums for customers and prospects to understand issues about a particular industry
8. InfoWorld IT EXEC connect
9. Quest Software online groups
10. BMC Software online groups