Virtual communities are becoming more and more accepted in our society. There was a time in which virtual communities were comprised of scholars and researchers. Due to the advent of the internet the average person is able to be a part of a once select group activity and participate as a valued contributor.
The success of a virtual community depends on its participants. If community members are allowed to thrive and feel valued in both ideas and contributions then the community as a whole will succeed. In contrast if a community member is restricted to progress then the community as whole will fail. A virtual community must also embrace change. As new technology and increased knowledge develop so should the community to attract new members and to be competitive with other virtual communities.
The power of a virtual community is endless. The internet has opened a entire realm of possibilities. Everyone has the opportunity of being heard, seen and maybe even famous. The problem with this is that everyone is talking but only a few are heard.
Today's virtual communities provide its members with an abundant amount of prospects that was only given to an exclusive group. People are able to share, converse and contemplate topics from next door to across the world.
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I like your idea that many are talking but few are actually being heard. However, to me it seems that many are talking and they are actually being heard by people that don't need to be hearing it. So many people have a facebook, myspace, or some other type of social networking page. I am amazed at some of the information that is posted on these websites. It's like the "filter" on their minds gets thrown out whenever they post. I doubt these people would say half of what they type if their conversations were happening face to face. It will be very interesting to watch these networks and see how the trends progress in the world of social networking.
ReplyDeleteI look at facebook and myspace as a different type of virtual community. I think those are were you can be yourself and silly. You control who is reading what you post. But when I am on Sima Theta Tau and websites for my job, I monitor what I say and how I speak. I just think they are two seperate things.
ReplyDeleteI agree that virtual communities provide people with opportunities to have access to information that was once unaccessable. The internet has opened up a new world for everyone. People can learn things they never could before and be a part of certain communities that they would have never had an opportunity to be part of. The future of education site for instance is a place that none of us would have had access to before. We have the possiblities to network and learn in so many more ways now.
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