Discovery is powered by the community you keep -- its engine is online and social. Think GPS-enabled apps that let people learn more about others in their vicinity, recommendations from friends, and hashtagging. Glimpse is the first ever conference focused on the future of social discovery, a decidedly broad topic that informed a day ripe with serendipitous discovery. 

Panels covered topics including the future of Dating, Shopping, Transportation, Content, Entertainment, Neighborhood, Investing, and Identity. The fast-paced, 25-minute per panel format fueled quick-witted conversation. Social discovery is exploding in every direction, but at the end of the day, the thread that ties it all together: Community. Of course! 

Community is the infinite network of connections, visible and invisible, that combine to form the tapestry of our identity. Our community informs everything from our purchasing to listening decisions. We leverage community to develop trust, which is widely recognized as the currency of the new economy. None of these functions of community are new, but they are made even more obvious today with the development of social tools and sophisticated algorithms.

To illuminate the importance of community, a few tweets from the day:

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Every few weeks, Ning invites a leading expert to discuss trending topics and best practices for community management. Watch the recordings here.

More than two million people have built a branded social network on Ning. Many of these customers now enjoy thriving online communities. You can find a few of those success stories here.

Learn what it takes to thrive and see what it is possible to achieve with Ning.


Growing a thriving online community is one of the most rewarding things you can do.

Our goal at Ning is to make building a community dead simple. We provide an incredibly reliable, popular, and easy-to-use platform so you can focus on cultivating your community.

Learn how to start your community in minutes.

Have you considered monetizing your community? Download your free copy of Monetizing Online Forums by Patrick O'Keefe to learn what methods are available, how to implement them, and how you can benefit today.