Analyzing Electronic Communities

Analyzing Electronic Communities

Before the internet, virtual communities (like social or academic organizations) were tar limited by the constraints of available communication and transportation technologies. Since the beginning of the Internet, the concept of community has a less geographical limitation. People can now gather virtually in an online community and share common interests regardless of physical location.

An Electronic Community, also called a virtual community, is a social network of individuals who interact through specific social media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries to pursue mutual interests or goals.

Electronic communities all encourage interaction, sometimes focusing on a particular interest or just communicating. Some virtual communities do both. Community members can interact over a shared passion thrOugh vari0us means, email groups, message boards, Internet message boards, chat rooms, social networking sites, or virtual worlds. The traditional definition of a community is of a geographically bounded entity (neighborhoods, villages, etc.)., so electronic or virtual communities are not communities under the original definition.

Some online communities are linked geographically and are known as community websites. However, if one considers communities to possess boundaries of some sort between their members and non-members, then an electronic community is undoubtedly a community Electronic communities resemble real-life communities Because they both provide support, information, friendship, and acceptance between strangers.

Electronic communities are used for various social and professional groups, interactions between community members vary from personal to purely formal. For example, an email distribution list operates on an informational level. Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace are all Virtual communities. One often creates a profile or account with these sites and adds friends or follows friends. It allows people to connect and look for support using the social networking service as a gathering place. These websites often allow people to keep up to date with their friends and acquaintances' activities without making much of an effort.

Internet communities offer the advantage of instant information exchange that is not possible in a real-life community. This interaction allows people to engage in many activities from their homes, such as shopping, paying bills, and searching for specific information. Users of online communities also have access to thousands of specific discussion groups to form specialized relationships and access information in such categories as politics, technical assistance, social activities, health, and recreational pleasures. Virtual communities provide an ideal medium for these relationships because information can quickly be posted and speedy response times. Another benefit 1s that these communities can give users a feeling of membership and belonging. Users can share and receive support, and it is cheap and straightforward to use.

Economically, electronic communities can be commercially successful, making money through membership fees, subscriptions, usage fees, and advertising commission consumers generally teel very comfortable making transactions online, provided that the er has a good reputation throughout the community, Virtual communities also offer the advantage of disintermediation in commercial transactions, which eliminates vendors an

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