One might say that (in America at least) the idea of community has lost its luster. It’s a rare neighborhood where people who live next door and down the street are social with each other.

But look at it another way, and community is alive and well, and better than it’s ever been, thanks to social software like CrossConnector, Backpack, Odeo, 43things, and Flickr.

In 2005 you can join any of thousands of communities that are made up of millions of diverse people from around the world, linked not by geography, social status, or ethnic background but by common interest in