How insights from the social sciences, including social psychology and economics, can improve the design of online communities.

Online communities are among the most popular destinations on the Internet, but not all online communities are equally successful. For every flourishing Facebook, there is a moribund Friendster--not to mention the scores of smaller social networking sites that never attracted enough members to be viable. This book offers lessons from theory and empirical research in the social sciences that can help improve the design of online communities.

来自社会科学（包括社会心理学和经济学）的见解如何改进在线社区的设计。
在线社区是互联网上最受欢迎的目的地之一，但并非所有在线社区都同样成功。对于每一个蓬勃发展的Facebook，都有一个垂死的Friendster——更不用说那些规模较小的社交网站了，它们从来没有吸引到足够的会员来维持生存。这本书提供了社会科学理论和实证研究的经验，可以帮助改进在线社区的设计。