The Internet and Online Communities

THE INTERNET AND ONLINE COMMUNITIES

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INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION

What kind of community is being created online?

Since the DOT com boom in the mid-1990’s and the generation sweep of social media, people have negated their traditional societal based communities for online communities. Online communities are an association of people under a common network where they share and discuss issues appertaining their life and society in general. The social media provides a platform for sharing information thus making it easy to reach a large number of people in online communities in a very short period. The result of such reliance on the social media is the creation of communities governed by creativity and the will to relate. People gather online to orient in communities that share a common view thus feel appreciated. They use the communities to channel their fears, favors and experience in the world not restricted by any rules.

The technology boom and the ease of accessibility of the internet have turned every able user to the subscription to online communities (Wellman, 2008). Social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Gmail have accelerated the rate at which people meet and form online communities. Most of these portals are either free or very cheap but also have an addiction effect. In this regard, participants can stay glued to the platforms as they participate in their communities for long times. The high participation and fame Avenue makes it lucrative for politics and business. A research by the Pew Research Center found that the internet was one of the primary cues for the campaign in the 2004 Elections in America. Celebrities go online in their quest for fame as companies’ trend in the social media to identify with their clients.

The back side of the online community is that it lacks the legislature to guide on ethnic use. In an unlikely situation, the social media was instrumental in the Arab uprising in North Africa and the Middle East calling...