Ingenta and Bowker Market Research teamed up in 2013 to explore publishers’ online communities and how they use them to engage with readers. The study, unveiled at the London Book Fair, was conducted across the UK and US trade and academic sectors and found that the number of publisher-owned online communities would more than double over two years. Other findings address the proportion of publishers hosting reader communities and how many, which market segments have more fully embraced the movement, along with publishers’ rationale and perceived benefits. For more information and commentary on the report, please use the links below.
Publishers’ commitment to online communities set to double by 2015
Five Online Communities changing the way publishers interact with readers
The original Bowker study was followed up with a PCG survey specifically addressing academic publishing, with results released at Digital Book World and further presented at the Society for Scholarly Publishing Annual Meeting during 2014. The targeted follow-up study largely affirmed the results of the prior, wider survey, finding that the presence of online communities around scholarly content is on the rise as more publishers continue to shift their focus to relationship-building with end users.
Building Vertical Communities and Connecting with End Users
SSP 2014: Insight into Online Communities in the Digital Era
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