Image from the movie "Field of Dreams"

I think this post from Seth Godin’s blog clearly lays out the fundamental issue of new media implementation.
When tactics drown out strategy

I spend a lot of time discussing this topic with our clients. When someone is first envisioning their new web site as the next greatest place on earth (which they should do) the assumption is always “if you build it they will come.” But this is almost never the case out of the gate. Sure, over time site visits will increase in direct reflection of the site’s usefulness. You can count on visits, but what you cannot count on is a community of participation.

Participation in small amounts is very easy to get. People click where you ask them to, maybe watch this demo or play a little game, even leave a comment on your blog. But when it comes to building online communities for discussion (or other purposes) this is the golden egg. You can’t just build a forum and expect people will flock to it. Forums/blogs/tweets are all  wonderful tactics, but community building requires strategy. And that strategy is almost always a combination of timing, genius and patience.