New Collaboration Community for Programmers: Stack Overflow

Background on the site and its creators
Both Jeff and Joel have been blogging for a long time and are wildly popular with programmers. Joel is based in NYC and tends to be more cerebral with his analyses. Jeff moved to California a few years ago and his writing is more populist and entertaining. Both of them have a great body of work propping up this newest venture of theirs and I hope it works out for them. Their most obvious competitor in the “programming tip center” space is Experts Exchange, which I can only imagine is headed for a crash any second now with their comparatively archaic interface and their “pay us to see the answers to even the smallest questions” business model.

Lessons you can learn from Stack Overflow
Stack Overflow is targeted at a highly specific audience and backed by two popular and trusted names in the programming domain. This puts them in a great position right away. Initial press on Stack Overflow was a whisper campaign spread through loyal readers of the two founders’ blogs. This worked well at sparking an ‘insider’ feeling amongst the participants. Weekly podcasts discussing the evolution of the service kept potential users interested and excited.

Their highly visible social proof system (badges, reputation points, etc) should do just enough to keep potential contributors engaged. Who wouldn’t want to show off a glowing Stack Overflow profile at an interview for a programming job? The community at Stack Overflow will provide great benefits to everyone who participates, whether they are asking questions or answering them. Memphis-based social media expert Dave Barger is regularly apprising folks of the reputation-building powers of the LinkedIn Answers system. Stack Overflow provides personal growth and branding opportunities for anyone involved in software development.