- help replace the relationships lost as people became more isolated from their neighbors (Rhinegold & Schuler)
- allow people to connect with others from around the world who share similar interests (Wellman & Guilia)
- virtual communities can increase involvement within people’s face-to-face communities by increasing democratic participation and other community activism
- participation in virtual communities can increase participation in face-to-face communities (Blanchard)
However, the one issue that i agree with the most is that 'calling any online group a virtual community represents yet another example of the overuse of the term “community” to the point that concept has lost any real meaning '. I think that as you can see above, there are so many reasons as to why they are called virtual communities in which case it seems that the word 'community' is now so broad.
'Jones (1997) argues that researchers need to differentiate between the technology on which the virtual group exists and the actual virtual community. ' However, i personally believe that all CMC groups should be given the status of a community. In personal opinion, i see a community as sharing an enviroment. No matter where/what that enviroment may be. In addition, i don't just think that blogs should be seen as communities but most websites too. I'm a member of the website asos.com which is a clothes website. I receive weekly news letters and i can enter the site and view all of the clothes at any time. Although i don't interact with other member, when i visit the webstie i feel a postive emotion, a sense of belonging. As said above, i do think that the term is so broad that it can be argued that now almost anything can be described as a community.
rincy
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