Virtual communities

Virtual Communities vs. Real Communities

As Internet transforms the way human beings communicate with one another, people now have the option to be a part of the virtual communities, which make the rapid exchange of information possible. Online communities such as Facebook and Internet forums encourage people to join online group discussions and they allow users to connect with friends and people around the world. Similar to the functions of real communities, virtual communities provides people with social support while giving them the feeling that they belong to a larger social network. Nonetheless, virtual communities often support relationships that are narrowly defined. Most of the time, the virtual community consists of persons that people do not know and people choose to interact with those individuals mainly because they seem to have shared interests. While encouraging people to develop online relationships based on common interests rather than social characteristic, virtual communities undermine “community, organizational and coworker solidarity” (Wellman, et al., 1996, p.232). With the prevalence of virtual communities, people tend to spend less and less time on public contact and real community activities.