An online community is a social network of individuals who interact through specific media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals.

Forum is an online community where visitors may read and post topics of common interest. They can be  useful for anyone doing business online, both in terms of reading the content and actively participating in the discussions.

Reading a forum's archives can be a good way to obtain a basic knowledge about a topic, and it also provides a historical perspective on trends and opinions.

Participation, whether as a member, moderator, or owner, can help one achieve recognition within a business community, and may even generate highly-qualified business leads. Forums differ, however, in their treatment of self-promotion; some disallow any hint of self-promotion, some are geared specifically towards self-promotion, and many fall somewhere in between, limiting URL's to an off-the-page member profile.