Borders partners with...you!

With the New Year comes new opportunity.  And 2007 is shaping-up to be an exciting year for the Gather community.  

Today, I am thrilled to welcome a new, important partner to the Gather.com, Borders.  As many of you know, Borders is a top destination for Americans who love to read, listen to music, and enjoy film.  I am excited to report that Borders has decided to use the Gather platform to engage the avid readers and film and music lovers in the Borders community here on Gather.  Starting today, Borders will be inviting their most engaged customers to join us here on Gather to learn from one another and share their own thoughts on what they like to read, listen to, and watch.

In the sprit of true partnership, Borders has also pledged to support a number of very promising Gather programs that we launch later this year. You may have already noticed that we are giving away Borders gift cards as prizes in the New Years Resolutions (resolutions.gather.com) group.  Stay tuned for another Borders' supported program coming later this month and others throughout the year.

Resolutions is just one way that Borders has decided to support the Gather community. Partnerships like the one we begin today with Borders allows us to invest more in the technology and services we provide. More importantly, Borders will directly enhance the Gather experience for all our members – with insightful new members, great content, interesting guests, and great new ways to earn and get rewarded. The community will benefit from events supported by Borders as well including author chats, personal interviews with artists, exclusive readings and performances, in-store events, as well as user-supplied content such as book reviews, blogs, and chats.

In the weeks and months to come, please join me in welcoming new Borders members to Gather as well.  We would be grateful if you will reach out and help them become acquainted with Gather, see the best of what we have to offer, and learn over time about how we like to interact as a community. If you come across new contributors, please introduce them to Gather members with similar interests. If they are curious about how to publish, refer to them to our FAQ or Member Services team.  And if they haven't yet shared anything on the site, let's continue to make this a welcome place for them to do just that.

As always, I am grateful for your feedback on the Borders partnership as it evolves and encourage suggestions about this and other partnerships we might build.

Thanks for helping build a better Gather, and welcome to our new Borders friends!