Abstract: In this specification, online communities also referred to as forums, are used as a customer support tool. Users of the forum post questions and replies. In some embodiments users can vote on the replies. The authorized personnel can add an entry in a database based on the forum content. In an embodiment, such an entry could be in customer case management system when a question is not well answered or not answered at all and needs attention of customer support agent. In another embodiment, the entry could be in a knowledge base management system when a question is well answered and is considered to be potentially useful for many forum users. Any of the above embodiments can be used independently or together with any combination of other embodiments.

Abstract: Online communities, also referred to as “forums,” are used as a customer support tool along with a repository of useful articles, also referred to as “knowledge base.” Users may navigate between the forum and the knowledge base. Social networks can also be used to access the forum and knowledge base. Forums and knowledge bases that have confidential data may be restricted to employees of a multi-tenant database system. Any of the above embodiments can be used independently or together with any combination of other embodiments.