Before I can answer whether or not my online group, Facebook, is a community, I feel I must ask one question. Is there a difference between virtual communities and real life communities?
Since society is a precedent for online communities similarities exist between the two. They both have a gathering of people who have common interests as well as an acceptance for those whose views differ from their own. Also they do not require full active participation even though it is more beneficial for the community and the individual to have the individual be completely active in the community. The problem with online communities is that they lack physical interaction which some people believe to be the basis for establishing whether or not a group is indeed a community. To their dismay, I believe that virtual communities can thrive without physical interactions. As technology advances, the ways to virtually communicate advance as well. Now people can write to each other almost instantaneously with the use of instant messaging. Also people can see and speak to one another with the use of a web-cam. These technological developments are helping and somewhat exceeding in breaking the barrier between real life communities and virtual communities.
From a macroscopic view Facebook seems to be just a large online website that has numerous users. There are so many people who use the website that they could not all possibly be friends with one another.Yet when one looks closer and identifies how Facebook hosts so many diverse communities and allows them to become interwoven, the site becomes worthy of the title of a community. When I log into Facebook, I am given the ability to socialize with so many of my friends that I am unable to in real life since they live in various parts of the country and even the world. Also I am given the option to meet new people who may or may not have the same interests as my own. Just having the choice to meet new people and be an active participant makes, in my opinion, Facebook a community.
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