With the advent of Web 2.0, more of us as users are increasingly becoming part of online communities. May it be talking to your friends on MSN, playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games with people in America while you're in Australia, or posting blogs and comments about your favourite topic. These activities (and there are many more) connect users with one another, forming online communities.
Roughly defined, online communities are groups of people interacting with one another via communication media, such as email rather than face to face, for social, educational and professional purposes (Lefever 2003). These groups can also be described as a network of people, all connected with one another, which have emerged 'from the net when enough people carry on public discussions long enough to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace' (Rheingold quoted in Bruns 2008). Examples of online communities include MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Wikipedia, and even Blogger.
I, like so many, have followed the flock of sheep (the hype, so to speak) and have made a MySpace Page.....and a Facebook....and a blogger page....and let's best leave it at that. But why not? 'Social psychology has found that people join groups in general for both feelings of affiliation and belonging as well as for information and aid in goal achievement' (Ridings and Gefen quoted in Bruns 2008).
Now I'm not so sure about it aiding me to achieve my goals (although many people have become successful online) but the other points speak quite true. I joined, not only because my friend absolutely insisted upon it, but because it did make me feel like I belonged. Plus, these days if you're in High School and you don't have either a MySpace or Facebook page you might as well not exist. Funnily enough, every time a lecturer asked who of us had such an account, many were to embarrassed to put their hand up. Why is that?
Joining online communities, like Ridings and Gefen suggest, is also helpful in gaining information. For example, if you're after celebrity news and gossip, Perez Hilton's page is where you need to go. He is also a prime example for someone getting famous just by writing blogs online. Now don't think anyone can do it. God, wouldn't that be great! He just was what's called an early adopter of this new media technology, plus, he probably just got really really lucky. Damn...
I haven't even answered the question yet!! Why and how do online communities organise themselves? Bruns (2008) has identified numerous reasons, the major ones being:
Roughly defined, online communities are groups of people interacting with one another via communication media, such as email rather than face to face, for social, educational and professional purposes (Lefever 2003). These groups can also be described as a network of people, all connected with one another, which have emerged 'from the net when enough people carry on public discussions long enough to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace' (Rheingold quoted in Bruns 2008). Examples of online communities include MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Wikipedia, and even Blogger.
I, like so many, have followed the flock of sheep (the hype, so to speak) and have made a MySpace Page.....and a Facebook....and a blogger page....and let's best leave it at that. But why not? 'Social psychology has found that people join groups in general for both feelings of affiliation and belonging as well as for information and aid in goal achievement' (Ridings and Gefen quoted in Bruns 2008).
Now I'm not so sure about it aiding me to achieve my goals (although many people have become successful online) but the other points speak quite true. I joined, not only because my friend absolutely insisted upon it, but because it did make me feel like I belonged. Plus, these days if you're in High School and you don't have either a MySpace or Facebook page you might as well not exist. Funnily enough, every time a lecturer asked who of us had such an account, many were to embarrassed to put their hand up. Why is that?
Joining online communities, like Ridings and Gefen suggest, is also helpful in gaining information. For example, if you're after celebrity news and gossip, Perez Hilton's page is where you need to go. He is also a prime example for someone getting famous just by writing blogs online. Now don't think anyone can do it. God, wouldn't that be great! He just was what's called an early adopter of this new media technology, plus, he probably just got really really lucky. Damn...
I haven't even answered the question yet!! Why and how do online communities organise themselves? Bruns (2008) has identified numerous reasons, the major ones being:
- ability to build cooperative networks with other communities
- ability to operate in fields of interest neglected by mainstream media, business, politics, research
- active user participation as content creators
- new forms of collaboration and social organisation
- new forms of personal and community identity
There is also the knowledge that strength lies in numbers, and even though individuals have limited to ability to change frameworks within a networked environment, they can still contribute and they do have power. Online communities have the ability to largely influence society, impact as cultural institutions, media practitioners, knowledge managers, economic factors, and political movements. Because when it comes down to it, we, as users within new media technologies, are gaining more and more power in the media. Online communities are 'not just collections of individuals operating within the existing technoculture, but independent institutions within society, changing the technoculture environment'! (Bruns 2008).
So let's get to it! :)
So let's get to it! :)
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