VIRTUAL COMMUNITY

Why virtual community "anyway"

The words virtual community and on-line community have been bandied about hyped and interpreted in many ways. But for our purposes we are going to keep it simple and in context  of building your own community

On-line or virtual community is the gathering of people in an on-line space where they come, communicate, connect, and get to know each other better over time. From that point on the rest is up to you. Your community will be what you and your members make of it.

 Why do people join and build virtual communities

People have been using on-line space since the beginning of the internet to communicate. That includes prior to the world wide web, when BBS or electronic bulletin boards and email loops connected folks across time and space.

 Here are some of the types of activities people have enjoyed through these on-line connections.

Socialize – meeting people playing around , sharing jokes, stories, and just taking interest to each other . Communities like this often focus around bulletin boards and chat rooms.

Work together- business, distributed work groups within companies and between companies use on-line community to build their team, Keep in touch and even work on projects together.

Have topical conversation – on-line salons and discussion forum such as well. Other has formed communities of people who enjoy conversation about topics and shared interests.

What steps does it take to build a virtual community?

Steps it takes to build your own virtual community

·         Identify  your community purpose or goal

·         Identify your target audience

·         Think about which interaction tools would serve your purpose and the audience and how to structure the on-line space.

·         Think about how you want to host or facilitate your virtual or on-line community.

·          Build it up

·         Draw in the members g

·         Go and nurture it

The effects of on-line communities in offline lives

The rate of the growth of the internet has generally exceeded most estimates, with increase in many but not all segments of the population. The influence of the early adopter countries had an effect on your on-line experiences. The concern that an ever growing digital divide is lessening the potential impact of the internet in human life is an important issue. This has direct relevance if you are planning an on-line community for people with no internet access. It is also a call to each of us to recognize how we can lessen the divide and look for ways to contribute to the improvement of our communities as a part of our on-line life.

There has been much speculation on the effect of on-line activities on our offline lives, ranging from concerns about addictions to meeting the loves of lives on-line and getting married. There are examples from all extremes, but the more relevant question is how we integrate our offline and on-line experiences.

Amy J Kim, on-line community architect, suggested there are two ways to participate in on-line communities. The kind you are yourself and the kind where you are playing out fantasy role.

   BY ALPHONCE BHOKE

       BAPRM 42527