We've been remiss in pointing you to an independent blog we launched in January that's getting a lot of attention: The Future of Communities. The group blog, co-authored by a growing roster of respected commentators in the field, digs deep into the evolving discussion about community building and management and related marketing efforts in the run up to Community 2.0 Conference.

The conference, chaired by Corante president Francois Gossieaux, is the inaugural event for "forward-thinking organizations that recognize the need of harnessing the network effect of community to make smarter, faster, and better business decisions." Amongst those participating in the conference, slated for March 12-14 in Las Vegas: John Hagel, author and consultant; Elizabeth Churchill of Yahoo; Shawn Gold of MySpace; Peter Friedman of Liveworld; Tara Hunt of Citizen Agency; George Jaquette of Intuit; and many others. Find out more here.

As for the blog, well known contributors include Tara Hunt, David Churbuck, Chris Carfi, Chris Heuer, Lois Kelly, Jake McKee, Kathleen Gilroy, Francois, and others.

Recent posts discuss "social browsing", the "meming of life", "collaboration networks", measuring the effect of communities at a macro level, households as the "ultimate in micro-communities", community management "code of ethics", and Kathleen Gilroy's interview with Jay Bryant of TV Guide about its user communities. More here...