Is Community Your Most Valuable Asset?

I just read through the presentation that the guys at Dogster (Ted Rheingold, John Vars and Steven Reading) gave at the CommunityNext Conference last weekend at Stanford. Unfortunately I was not there in person (trust me, I wanted to go, but it was out of my hands, but I digress) to witness it firsthand, but the I imagine the web version is almost as good!
The presentation is titled "Community is Your Most Valuable Asset" and it discusses why those guys feel (and I would venture to guess they are pretty dead on considering their successes) that you live and die by your community. They highlight several key points on how to stay connected with your community because at the end of the day, without them, you are left with just a bunch of code.

• Customer Service - An often overlooked function, it is a deal breaker if you really think about it. Word of mouth is a powerful advertising machine and unhappy customers = short shelf life!
• Reflect User Passion - Listen to your customers likes and dislikes and reflect those in your product. From UI design, to color palettes to the "voice" of the product. Another point here that they stress is be sincere. Do not give your customers a bunch of lip service, follow through on everything. If you do not, see equation above.
• Community Guidelines - If your product is community based, you need to establish the rules of the road for participation and stick with them. Of course, in anything you do, get user input and feedback and incorporate them into your guidelines.
• Community Uptime - Mission critical here, must be up 100% of the time.
• Community is a Garden - (gratuitous cliche here) so tend it well.
• Make Great Things - Again, listen to your community and strive to have a product that is reflective of their needs. Give it your all and you will be rewarded by continuous community involvement.
• Core Components - These are the core things that you really need to nail: Entertainment, Information, Sociality and Services.

There are a few more key points to the presentation, all very worthwhile. So in summary, I would have to say that if your are playing in the social networking world, without a doubt, your COMMUNITY IS YOUR MOST VALUABLE ASSET. Listen to them, understand their motives, their needs, their likes and dislikes and do whatever you can to cater to them all! Afterall, they are what drives your bottom line!