Online communities allow citizens and customers to become involved in decision making in a new way. The new way involves launching small policies and getting insights through iterations, as opposed to the old way of developing big visions and policies that take a long time. The Your Community Platform enables quick discussions, activities, focus groups, messages, news, and connecting profiles. It has led to over 8,000 community issues like potholes being fixed. Keys to successful online communities include listening to citizens' ideas before they become skewed, organizing around issues people care about, leveraging the wisdom of crowds, providing engagement through utility, education and entertainment, and committing long-term quality time to build lasting relationships.