After reading Baym and watching the video online, I was convinced that a online community is just a group of people who share a common interests that like to engage with discussions online. If you have some sort of social media outage, then in my opinion you belong to an online communtiy whether it be for fun or business related. Baym’s definition of an online community included five qualities that he felt were important to be considered and online community. They consist of: space, practice, shared resources, shared identities, and interpersonal relations (2010). Having a social life online kind of makes a person more involved with what is going on in todays world because online communities always have some way to inform others of what is going on. I know that I am a part of an online community simply because I do like to get involved in discussion topics about television shows and other entertainment getaways. I also feel that the blogs that we post every week make each and every one that is enrolled in this course a part of an online community as well (LOL). Baym also wrote that if a person is a part of an online communtiy and uses the internet he/she is more sociable, engages in social activities, more educated, and will more than likel engage in politics off the record (2010). The two main ways that Baym describes being in an online communtiy fits into our social lives is by civic engagement and political enagegment (2010). Everything that we do on the internet that usually pertains to responding and engaging in conversations makes us a part of an online community. Online community communication is a great resource to use when we wnat to feel noticed and in order to voice our opinions.
9 thoughts on “Blog #9”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You bring up a good point that we are actually part of a community ourselves on this blog. However, what I got from the readings/movie was that a community has a close bond. While we all comment on each others’ posts, I know that I don’t remember too many details about everyone. I don’t feel close to anyone on here, if that makes sense.
I do agree with you about not knowing everyone in the class. But think about the whole aspect of the online community of our class. We all share a common interest which is to pass this class so we continue to post every week in order to maintain. That is how I thought about us being an online community.
I agree with your statement “Having a social life online kind of makes a person more involved with what is going on in today’s world because online communities always have some way to inform others of what is going on”. I think this is especially true when it comes to the entertainment aspect of things. Information about tv shows and music can spread so quickly online. Also, you can always find out what happened on a popular tv show just by reading people’s tweets or Facebook statuses.
Thank you for agreeing because I am the type of person who likes to tweet during a good reality show or something everyone is interested in. In my opinion that is an online communtiy because we all share the same interests about the television show.
I liked your view about online communities. I agree with Baym (2009) also, I believe that individuals who communicate in todays online communities will be more involved in political opinion and participation off line. Primarily because they are able to express themselves more openly online while having access to an unlimited amount of information quickly to take a political stance.
Personally, I have not joined an online community primarily because most of my online activity is for school! However, now that I am more educated about online communities I may venture out soon!
I agree we all are completing blog within this class however, from the reading I thought of an online community as more than just creating blogs. I feel that communities are more personal as if you are talking to family or close friends who are there to help you get through problems or that you can just talk about you day or maybe a show that you watched. This blog is not like that we just post because it is a grade and there is not connection other than allof us being students. We never really talk deep on a personal level.
Although I am not a true member of an online community, I do see the possible benefits of joining one. After seeing the interview videos, however, I also found out that online communities are much more complex than I thought. It appears to be a way for people to communicate with other individuals who have similar likes and hobbies. Like you stated, online communities are great ways for someone to safely express their opinions, ideas, and ideals. This may prove that the internet may not be as heartless as I originally thought.
I never even thought of how many communities I am involved with! I generally ‘like’ all my favoite TV shows on Facebook and usually there are questions posted about what the viewers thought of the episode. I always end up responding to a question if I feel strongly about it, especially if I see a comment that I don’t think is right.
“Having a social life online kind of makes a person more involved with what is going on in todays world because online communities always have some way to inform others of what is going on.”
— This statement is very true! I realize that a lot of the newspaper or magazine or online articles I read started out as links on my Twitter feed. Something will tweet it to me or just tweet it in general, and I will wind up liking it. A lot of times, if it was very interesting, I’ll pass it along to my other friends. I combine my online social communities with my real life social communities.