Defining Communities

What is a Community?

Merriam Webster defines the word community as:

• A group of people who live in the same area
• A group of people who have the same interests, religion, race, etc.
• A group of nations

Using this definition, a community is a group of people who all have at least one interest in common, and are physically in the same location. For example:

• Individual countries such as the United States, where the citizens believe democracy is the preferred method of government
• Individual states within the United States, where the citizens in the state believe in a slightly different democracy
• Individual cities within the states, where the citizens living in the city concern themselves with government that affects them directly, such as schools, new roads, etc.
• Individual neighborhoods within the cities, where homeowners want a happy environment to live in

What is an Online Community?

An online community is a community that is not limited by physical location, with access to the Internet people can communicate and exchange information across long distances. Because of this new technology, the definition for the word community is in need of amendments. The strength and nature of relationships between individuals is what researchers are considering to be a useful way of defining community rather than physical proximity (Preece & Krichmar, 2006).

The subreddits within the Reddit website is a great example of an online community actively exchanging information. Subreddits are pages created by users to share content among themselves, each of these subreddits develop their own rules and culture. Users may post pictures, videos and information, with other users having the option to comment on the posts and up vote or down vote the content.

YouTube is an example of an outlet for communities to use to create and distribute content through videos and receive feedback through the comments section. Users creating videos may even build up a strong fan base, then that user could potentially influence the community they are apart of.

References:

Preece, J., & Krichmar, D. (2006). Online communities: Design, theory, and practice. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(4), 00.