Introduction to Online Communities: The Impacts

Recently in our KCB201 tutorial class, we discussed and researched towards the concept of online communities. It was discovered that online communities have significant potential towards providing benefits for community identities and power. Most importantly, Flew outlines that ‘virtual communities’ of niche particular interests are constantly developing thanks to online networks; which means that for us, we are colleting information and developing more shared understandings of numerous topics. Flew suggests that within offline networks, to gather communities, we are bound and restrained due to people’s physical factors. These include demographic (age and gender), distance, cost, human needs, etc. Coincidentally, forming new friendships and relationships can be perceived as difficult for people wanting to join a community. Online communities however are entirely different, due to the power of masking each user’s identity and destroying the problem of physical restraints such as distance or age/gender difference. This means that the barriers between cultural and social participation of communities through online networks have been significantly lowered. Flew also suggests that one of the main reasons why users engage in online networks is because of the ability for those who are marginalised or persecuted by society to express views and disseminate opinions. Hence, more communities are continually being developed and increased with more participatory users engaging ultimately resulting in collaborating, building and organising more and more various knowledge bases.

I myself engage more towards online communities rather than the offline. I believe that I am more comfortable learning and engaging in information whilst sitting down in my own comfort zone. For example, I am a member of www.deviantart.com, a social networking website for uploading your own art and observing other user’s art. I do engage in this rather than attending art communities such as clubs, galleries and lessons because of the easy useability to engage in art, the ability to not have to converse with other people and eliminating problems such as cost of travel/ attending community events. I also am not comfortable of engaging with other people about my particular methods of art. These are all examples of problematic issues that may arise of offline communities, particularly with people of niche interests.

It is also important to realise that online community power does not only impact the knowledge bases. For media industries as well is highly effected, this includes citizen journalism providing a connective to mainstream news or setting up alternative distribution frameworks for music and movies. Also economic factors, certain communities that gather online provide valuable information of user criticism of new products; this information influences the success or failure of these new products for marketers. There is also political involvement impact, where users of certain political communities can possibly plan for protests, strikes, etc.