In contrast to the open branded communities visible at Amazon, Netflix and CNet, closed communities of 400 to 1,000 highly involved customers and influencers are being created by many companies. Communispace currently manages about 225 for companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Hallmark, Reebok, State Farm and Starwood.

Advertising Age: Welcome to the Anti-Social Club, 2006-Aug-7, by Matthew Creamer

Community members assured Unilever’s Axe that its Tsunami body spray wasn’t an insensitive name following the 2004 disaster and they helped Kraft decide which Asian foods it should include in a line of diet products. Charles Schwab himself dipped into the community to sample investment strategies and market viewpoints prior to going on a press tour.

Unlike, say, a corporate-sponsored page on MySpace, you can’t just visit those communities. In fact, you won’t see them at all, unless you cough up the $200,000 a year it costs to build one of your own. They’re accessible only to consumers that have been invited into them.