Friday, March 16, 2007

QotW7: Online Communities and i think the more you take a dump, the more weight you lose

Yes I guess I’d consider Twitter to be an online community. When the term ‘online community’ comes to mind, we usually associate it with a place where individuals come together to communicate and exchange views and opinions. However, according to Wikipedia, an online community might also be defined as ‘a group of people that may or may not primarily or initially communicate or interact via the Internet.’ (Virtual Community, 2007)

There’re many approaches to communicating in an online community, with such advances in technology. One way is the use of pseudonyms, where your real name needn’t be used in order to send instant messages or share ideas. Who knows; the really cool chick you’re constantly e-mailing and IM-ing might just turn out to be your own mom! Gross! Every one has the ability to control the information they wish to offer and receive – forums in websites such as LastFM.com specify and cater to the music-inclined. Of course, as with any domain whether virtual or real, rules do exist and have to be abided by to maintain the level of order and harmony that goes on within the community. In an online community, the world can be brought together just by contributing in an online community: ‘The advance of technology brings nations together and narrows the differences between the experiences of their people.’ All you need to join up is an open mind and more importantly, a decent Internet connection!

Okay so why’s Twitter an online community? Besides the fact that it’s easier to suggest that it is rather than isn’t, Twitter allows for strangers (strange people) to communicate with one another, as perverse and creepy as it might seem, and share ideas (or lack thereof in the case of most who just want to have a realm that they can pretend to feel that they ‘belong’). Personally I think it’s quite sad that people need online communities to join so that they feel less of a tool and an outcast that they actually were already born as, but hey, that’s just me. Twitter lets you leave comments and messages, which are obvious tools for interaction and is mainly why I consider it an online community. It also allows you to add friends and strangers from around the world ‘without regard to race, creed, gender or geography.’ (Wellman & Gula, 1996) Awwh… ain’t that sweet!

Having used Twitter for two days now (no, not really I just joined up because I thought it’d make me appear more sociable since apparently every one needs friends), I’ve come to find it very much like iChat and MSN Messenger, where you send instant messages to friends and sometimes strange people or strangers, only you don’t get as instant a response. Every other aspect seems somewhat similar – the sharing of thoughts and offering of advice and all that jazz.

Online communities and forums are like support groups – they have a specific agenda, a loyal following from the defective individuals and they discuss their thoughts/problems with the group; however the ‘Hi my name is Julius and I’m a junkie’ bit is replaced with claims of hypothetical scenarios and pseudonyms.

Have a good life!


References:

Rheingold, H. (1993). The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. Retrieved March 16, 2007 from http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?sid=4AAFDF98-AA07-4D29-9B42-A356DC54A8D7&ttype=2&tid=3823

Fernback, J. & Thompson, B. (1995). "Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?" Retrieved March 15, 2007 from http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html

Wikipedia (2007). Virtual Community. Retrieved March 15, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_communities

Wellman, B. & Gulia, M. (1996). "Net Surfers Don't Ride Alone: Virtual Communities as Communities." Retrieved March 15, 2007 from http://www.acm.org/%7Eccp/references/wellman/wellman.html

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