Virtual Communities, a term we seem to be having around so often since the information age took the world. What exactly is a virtual community? It is when a group of people interact or communicate over the Internet. It is also an alternative for people who actually know each other in real life to communicate with each other. (Wikipedia Virtual Community, 2007)
Is a virtual community really different from an actual community?
According to Rheingold, he believes that people in virtual communities interact for a myriad of reasons. They can engage in intellectual discussions, have arguments, share knowledge on various subjects, play games, conduct businesses, have idle chat, flirt etc. But, the only aspect that lacks from virtual communities is the absence of the physical characteristic in the interaction. (Fernback & Thompson, 1995)
There are limitations to a real life community that a virtual one can surpass. Although lacking the physical characteristic, the structure of virtual communities allows for communication over vast distances. It also allows for people from different times zones to interact in a asynchronous nature.(Wellman & Gulia, 1996) Though, it may be debated that the ties of members in online communities may not be as strong as those in actual communities, there are certainly advantages that can make up for it.
Existing popular online communities such as Friendster and MySpace and Hardwarezone have been a real hit with Singaporean users. According to guest speaker Ben Koe, various online communities serve different purposes. Cozycot (http://forums.cozycot.com) for example, has information and prices on all the latest cosmetic products available. It’s almost like a girl’s dream come true! Harwarezone (http//www.hardwarezone.com), which has more than 250,000 members, is a forum that allows people to discuss about tech stuff and gadgets. Members can put up reviews, and price guides to inform other members and updates of new gadgets.
Here lies the introduction of a new online community. Twitter. What is Twitter? Is it just another rip-off or spawn of the other many online communities? Well, each of these online communities are in certain ways similar, but they all have their advantages in other aspects.
So why Twitter?
Twitter is a hub that allows you to check in with your friends and updates you on what they are up to almost instantaneously. Twitter’s main interface has a theme with the heading “What are you doing?” It prompts you to type in text so that the people in your network would, well, know what you are doing! After submitting a post, it encourages you to create another post. Having use Twitter, it’s almost comparable to advertising moments of your life, of course the positive aspect to it, is that you get to choose which aspect you want revealed. Imitating the short-message-service (SMS) format, each entry allows for 140 characters chunk which would engage everyone in your community in a timely conversation. You can send notices or updates through your cell phone, IM or through the web to notify your friends and followers of the events in your day. Twitter.com isn’t just an ordinary online community; it encompasses many components and has the ability for immediate response.
References:
Fernback, J. & Thompson, B. (1995). Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry or Failure? Retrieved on March 15, 2007 from http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html
Virtual Communities. (2007). In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on March 15, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Twitter&oldid=115023086
Wellman, B. & Gulia, M. (1996). Netsurfers Don't Ride Alone: Virtual Communities as Communities. Retrieved on March 15, 2007 from http://www.acm.org/%7Eccp/references/wellman/wellman.html
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