I think Wikipedia sums up just nicely exactly what online communities are.
"An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post content, such as a Bulletin board system or one where only a restricted number of people can initiate posts, such as Weblogs. Online communities have also become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other primarily in real life. Many means are used in social software separately or in combination, including text-based chat rooms and forums that use voice, video text or avatars" (n.d.).
For this tutorial task i am to look at three online communities and i have chosen three that i participate in. These are
Facebook is a social networking site which is about the communication and sharing of information between people. On facebook you have the ability to post information, share photos, chat with people you know and comment on peoples status's. Facebook allows the communication between people who no each other. I'm sure most of you have heard of facebook as it has pretty much taken over the world... ok well that's a bit of an exaggeration but seriously these days who doesn't have it! Personally on my facebook i have something ridiculous like 400 friends! i mean seriously id be lucky if i talk to a quarter of them frequently. But yet i no everyone of them. If it wasn't for this site creating this community i would simply lose soo much connection with people as I'm sure most people would. Facebook allows communication at a whole different level. It provides ease as it is now quick and easy to communicate with people over huge distances, people you wouldn't normally talk to and is easy to type a quick post compared to that of writing a letter or texting. By moving away from home Facebook has easily allowed me to stay in close contact with my friends and family from home. It allows me to hear about what they have been up to and look at photos they have posted and also allows me to leave comments back. This clearly shoes just how interactive facebook is as there are always people using it and communicating between each other. The topics being discussed on facebook vary very very much. This is because there are soooooo many different conversations going on between people from them talking about the weekend, sharing information on traveling and places they have visited, telling jokes and sharing important information about for example an assessment. As there are soo many topics it is hard to share with you guys examples of the site. Pretty much people talk about EVERYTHING! These days facebook is not only used by friends wanting to connect but is used for advertising for example by bands and artists, TV programmes and bars and clubs. These groups use facebook to advertise gigs, events, specials and sales they have on. However these days facebook has become very popular in being used for telling people events they are running. These days there is no such thing as invitations or a phone call about a party, a trip away or a group lunch it is all done through facebook. If you don't quite believe me i'l give you a wee example: in the last couple of days i have been invited to two 21st, to play two games of netball and invited to three parties. So what would have happened if i hadn't of checked facebook... i simple would have missed out! Crazy huh! Facebook is pretty much controlling individuals social life! However because of this social networking site becoming so well-known it is increasing the online community. Facebook is now allowing people to become more involved as it is easier to invite people to events as their is now no need to have to have their cell phone number or address to send them an invitation. Facebook has allowed ease between communicating and connecting people together.
Skype is a computer programme that allows communication between people through the Internet by the use of video. On skype people are able to talk to one another along with using a web cam which provides the image of the person. Skype is a FREE site and is definitely a step up in technology. There are not many sites that provide communication through video which allows you to see the person and is free. Skype is becoming a very popular community to be a part of. According to Wikipedia "skype has 633 million users in 2010" and this is constantly expanding. Skype is a way to connect with people. It is used more often for the communication between people in different geographical locations. By skype allowing the use of video this enhances the way people are able to communicate with each other. Compared to talking on the phone skype allows the conversation to feel more like the people are together in the same location. This is because they can see the person, see how they have changed, see their facial expressions and gestures. I cant give you an example of what people talk about on skype as it is not recorded because it is conversations between people. But I'm sure you are all imaginative and can think of many things people could talk about!
Skype also has provides a thing called skype community. This is where people can go to chat forums and learn information. On skype community it allows people to learn how to use skypeskype, allows discussion about general topics and provides areas where people can gather help. Along with people posting questions it also allows individuals to reply back with answers which may help. This gives people the chance to feel apart of the community by helping one another with questions answered and receiving information on what they have asked.
Skype has increased communication between people by allowing the easy, FREE connection between people in different locations. Before this connections people would have to rely on receiving information through email which is not as easy to share information as skype is and is not as personal. Skype has allowed a greater connection as it does not cost like phone calls do and does not take the time of writing a letter because you can receive the reply straight back from the person. Although skype is an AMAZING tool there is still much progress needed to be made as it can be very temperamental with the quality it produces and often can not work due to Internet connections.
Trade me is an online site where people get to auction items they wish to sell. It allows people to bid, ask questions about the items and buy them. Items being sold can range from a property, to a car, to clothing, to appliances. Pretty much anything a person would want to buy could be found on trade me. When selling an item people are to put all the information there is possible about it. Buyers have the ability to be able to ask any questions with the seller answering. Trade me is a very commonly used site. People have to make an account when wanting to buy and sell products. Trade me is hugely run and works well by users being truthful. Sellers need to be truthful when talking and explaining about their item they are selling. Buyers need to trust that this person is telling the truth. Photos are usually displayed of the products to provide more information to the buyers and show off their product so people want to buy it. An example of conversations being held on trade me are - "When was the last time the cambelt was done on this car?" the seller replied with "The cambelt was done at 101,00km". By having an online selling site it provides people to be able to sell and get more people interested in buying their items and get a higher price. Compared to that of selling items within the community they reside in. Selling online has allowed people to decide to sell items instead of giving them away or throwing away. By the creation of trade me it has decreased the connection and communication between communities through diminishing such things as garage sales. These days people see the ease of putting their items online instead of having a garage sale where the community can come check it out. This means trade me has stopped things like bargaining between people occurring and stoped the connection between the community that use to occur because of these family week-end events.
Ethical Considerations.
The ethical considerations for Facebook and Skype are very similar. Both of them allow the users to provide personal information bout themselves. When using these sites people need to be aware of how much information they should provide. Facebook has the setting to be able to make your page private to only allow friends to see you photos and information. Facebook allows people to send requests to be peoples friend. This minimises any hassle of people having unwanted people on their site as they can simply chose to not accept the as a friend. Facebook is very much used for the displaying of photos. Consideration needs to be taken when uploading photos on facebook, thinking if the people would want their photo uploaded. Skype does not have many consideration needed to be thought about. This is because you can only talk to people who you have accepted as a friend. Ethical considerations that need to be taken into account is how much detail you should give to your profile as many people will be able to view this. Users of this site need to be aware that when buying you have to share important personal details like bank account numbers, addresses and phone numbers.
This is just a small example of 3 online communities that i personally use. All these communities i find are very useful and a great way to connect together with people.
References
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Online communities. Retreived April 22, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_community
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