Online Communities

Online communities allow users on the Internet to participate to the endless source of information available to other users. Online communities help people make sense of all the information available, through the process of finding, evaluating, understanding and sharing. Communities are developed by users that have similar interests sharing information with one another, to help inform and make sense of information that by themselves could not be manageable. Rheingold in Flew’s New Media (2004), describes these online communities as “social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form Webs of personal relationships in cyberspace” (62). Developing cooperative networks with others, users are a part of participatory culture and collective intelligence. Online communities range from forums, discussion boards, and blogs such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and ever Blogger.

The benefits of online communities are that users are able to create new identities both personal and in a community atmosphere not reliant on physical characteristics or geographical locations. With these new identities, users can become part of different communities of interest that might not be possible in the real world due to issues such as location. Within these communities users collaborate with each other, collecting information, sharing it and making understandings of issues relevant to their topics of interest. Users become active members of a community, creating content in today’s participatory culture. Social organisations form on an array of topics that sometimes get neglected by mainstream discussion, allowing for niche communities to develop. The development of online communities allows users to move from participatory culture to collective intelligence, networking with other communities all around the world.

However, problems do arise from the development on online communities; Dr Axel Brunes describes these problems in his podcast and slideshow Online Communities. There is a development of new barriers around online communities as they become independent and don’t always interact with other communities. Some online communities are used for worrying purposes for example supporting terrorist groups. And it also creates online and offline identities to disconnect with each other sometimes causing conflict.

When a user develops a new online identity, most of the time it does not reflect the users offline identity. This is because often online identities can be kept anonymous and therefore users can contribute without the fear of being publically humiliated. Also by becoming part of an online community which shares similar interests, it is likely other users will share the same views and beliefs. An online community can only exist if users create the content shared, however there is no requirement to contribute a certain amount of content or contribute by a certain deadline. Therefore online communities require less commitment as users can contribute whatever and whenever they feel the need. Because of the process of evaluating and sharing information, online communities are always evolving, as new information becomes available, it is understood and passed on by users.