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Since the 80’s and 90’s the emergence of new technologies and the rapid development of telecommunication networks, such as social media and the Internet, have promoted the development of a multitude of virtual communities.

A virtual community is a social network of individuals who interact through specific social media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals (Wikipedia 2011). The term “virtual community” means persons who met via the Internet by values ​​or a common interests in a platform such as Facebook and Linkedin.

There are various kinds of communities and other such language communities, religious communities or even political communities.In fact, the objective of the community is to create value from exchanges between members, such as sharing tips, advice or simply debating a subject. The establishment of a virtual community can be beneficial to a website, because it creates a sense of belonging among the members and helps to develop the site in a participatory approach. In addition, a user ‘s community of a significant size can be rewarding for the image of the site because it provides an excellent pool of sympathy and creates a sense of confidence in the Internet. However, if the perimeter of the community is not properly defined, splits can appear, and crystallize frustrations. The community may then produce the opposite effect to that intended, a negative image.

What could help establishing trust and maintaining control within the community?   

A careful reflection should be done to identify objectives and goals before establishing a community. Thus, rules of proper use and “Charter”, outlining rights and duties should be established to ensure that compliance among users is implemented. Furthermore, It is important to ensure respect for member’s individual freedom, by guaranteeing their anonymity. Hence, SM platforms such us Facebook provide ways and mechanisms allowing members to hide their email addresses and personal data. The proper functioning of a virtual community depends on the quality of exchange between its members. Hence, the term “moderation” come up to infer to the control and filtering of members contributions.

Reference:

Virtual community From Wikipedia, retrieved on august 12th from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_community

*this post is old, we made it at July 18, 2012 – You can see it with comment

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