Virtual Communities

Recently in college we have spent some time looking at and talking about virtual communities. A virtual community is defined basically as a group of people that interact via communication media such as email, online social networks or instant messages rather than face to face, for social, professional, educational or other purposes. E.g. Bebo, Facebook, Msn Messenger, Yahoo Answers and believe it or not this wonderful blog!

I really could not even begin to tell you the ammount of these virtual communities I have signed up to at some stage, I don't know half their names or remember my login details for them but I'm always getting e-mails from some acquaintance telling me how wonderful this new site is and that I have been invited to join, so if it looks half decent I generally think, Yeah sure why not! This just goes to show how HUGE this sector is on the internet, especially with people of my generation. Nearly everybody I know is a member of some virtual community. Even my mam is on Facebook and she is technologically retarded.

From a business perspective, forming some sort of virtual community for your existing and potential clients could reap endless rewards. Even geting mentioned on one could do wonders for your profits! There are all sorts of blogs, chat rooms and forums set up by businesses where the clients can discuss, speculate, critise or praise whatever thet want. It's crazy how crucial the internet and virtual communities really are in the business world these days.


Lastly, from a social perspective, being a member of a virtual community is definately becomming one of the main ways of keeping in touch with friends (bebo, facebook), getting some help or perspective with your problems (yahoo answers), or just keeping you amused. I joined Second Life today. It was great. I was able to create an avatar basically in the image of how I want to look. Less love handles, longer hair, bigger lips. I was having great fun altogether! Gave up after a while though. Apparently my graphics card isn't up to scratch!