When Rheingold coined the term “virtual community” back in 1987, he said his emphasis was more on the ‘community’ part rather than the ‘virtual’ part of the term. To Rheingold, communities are a group of people that have some kind of connection or relationship to each other. Rheingold says that the typick ‘small town’ community where everyone knows your name is important and needs to be preserved. But, we need to keep in mind that is not the only kind of community out there. Rheingold mentions that you can even have communities in big cities and New York where people find a common ground and have connections with each other. When Rheingold talks about the ‘everyone knows your name’ community, I just thought of the TV show Cheers and the show’s theme song. The theme song is famous for its line “you wanna go where everybody knows your name and theyre all glad you came…” So, if you think about Cheers then you can really get a feel for what a community is in real life. An online community pretty much has the same concept. There are several groups you can join on Facebook and one of them I am a part of is the Obion County Resale, where you can list items that you want to sell. But, I’ve also seen this community used in other ways too. Here recently, there was a family whose house got burned down and someone had posted on the ReSale that the family was needing boys clothes and that if anyone wanted to help they could bring donations to the hotel where the family was staying. There were a lot of comments where people were sympathizing with the family and wanting to help them. I saw people coming together to help this family and I think esentially that is what an online community is all about.
7 thoughts on “Blog #9”
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I agree with you that the members in online communities feel like family and support each other not only emotionally, but also financially sometimes. It is good to have a good relationships with people because someone doesn’t know what might happen with her or him. We all go through things sometimes good and sometimes bad. For example, if you had a bad day at work or school and didn’t talk about it with somone this can lead the person to smoke, drink or even get addicted to drugs. But with the internet and having a social group to talk with anytime and get the support, this make it easier for us to cope with everyday challenges.
You bring up a really good point about that Resale group. I’m in a couple myself, and I always see them as purely resources to get done what I want to get done. However, people often bridge that gap between group and community and start really caring about each other. I have also seen some circumstances where people came together to help others in poor circumstances.
I think it’s always great to see people helping others. Do you think being a part of an online community prompts people to be more giving and more willing to lend a helping hand than does an offline community? I’ve known people who have never spoken to their neighbors and don’t even know their names.
Your post gives a great example of how powerful an online community can be. The main factor is that you have the ability to reach thousands of people in one space and the message can spread instantaneously. That is a wonderful story and a testimony that online communities can be just as supportive and effective as a physical community.
I think there is an element of visibility to communities. It was mentioned in the last chat that CMC allows for a lower possibility of rejection. It isn’t that people aren’t rejecting them, but they have the ability to do it without being noticed. If you asked your friends for help directly and received none, it might seem obvious that they were dismissive. Online, there is a veil of unknown.
Also, your message is going out to a bigger audience at one time. It is more likely that it will get some response, and could build momentum. After a certain point, it becomes part of the communal spirit to do something. Lending that helping hand could require simply giving a few kind words of support. That is not too much to ask. In the real world, we are uncertain of what is being asked of us, and where situations will lead. Even if we care, we often don’t want to take too much risk.
I had thought that Rheingold’s video looked like it was recorded in the 80’s, but he almost perfectly described the capabilities of online communities in today’s society. Statements such as “being able to befriend other people across boundaries” seems to be very similar to what most bloggers are able to do with the internet and online communities. The possibilities and benefits of participating in these communities are seemingly endless. They could have a hand in nations across the world putting their differences aside to achieve a greater goal or just become more friendly with each other. Like Rheingold said in his interview, “If we don’t learn to be friends with others now, we will never learn to do so”. Hopefully, friendships across nations is what’s occurring at this moment, although I have to admit my lack of optimism.
An online community is kind of like a small village where everyone knows everyone. The video by Rheingold really showed me the advantages and capabilities of an online communtiy. A lot of people who enter online communities discover relationships and common likes that can sometimes lead to more than just online chatting. Learning to become friends outside of our own space can help us improve socially.