Would you consider Twitter as an online community?
An online community is “a group of people that may or may not primarily or initially communicate or interact via the Internet.” (Virtual community, 2007) Regardless of whether or not these people communicate solely through the Internet, and whether they first started communicating online or offline, just so as long as they communicate online, they belong to an online community. In essence, an online community is a group of people who communicate through the internet.
Indeed, communication is the root of communities, including virtual ones. “Without communication, there can be no action to organize social relations.” (Fernback & Thompson, 1995) Though it has been argued that computer-mediated communication cannot provide “meaningful contact,” for it inhibits face-to-face communication (Wellman & Guila, 1996), Howard Rheingold noted in his book, The Virtual Community, that “people in virtual communities use words on screens to exchange pleasantries and argue, engage in intellectual discourse, conduct commerce, exchange knowledge, share emotional support, make plans, brainstorm, gossip, feud, fall in love, find friends and lose them, play games, flirt, create a little high art and a lot of idle talk,” which is basically “just about everything people do in real life.” (Rheingold, 2000) Online communities allow people to communicate just as they would in offline settings.
With these discussed, the answer to the question “is Twitter an online community?” is a resounding yes. Wikipedia calls Twitter a “social networking service that allows members to inform each other about what they are doing and what they think.” (Twitter, 2007) Twitter is an online community because it focuses on nothing but communication.
Many social networking websites give their users many to do, which may distract users from actually interacting with one another. Take Friendster for example. It allows users to update their self profiles, upload pictures, post bulletins and many more. I myself, as a Friendster user, spend more time maintaining my own profile page than viewing the profiles of others. Twitter.com, however, are free of all such distractions that undermine interaction, for users can only do one thing, that is, to answer the question “What are you doing now?”
This may make Twitter sound like a bore; A social networking website that allows users to do only one thing cannot be much fun, right? Wrong! The interaction among my fellow classmates on Twitter which I observed was vibrant, active and dynamic – anything but boring! By asking that one simple question, Twitter encourages users to participate in online social networking in an active, conversational manner, unlike Friendster. In addition, Twitter supports real time conversations, as it updates on “what you and your friends are doing… live every two minutes.” Enabling real time conversations allows users to engage in lively conversations with immediate, instead of delayed, response. Twitter does not bore; its focus on interaction is, in fact, what that makes it attractive.
Twitter is undeniably an online community, and a vibrant one at that, because it encourages lively interaction and allows users to share real time conversations, just as we can in offline communities.
References:
Fernback, J. & Thompson, B. (1995). "Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?" Retrieved March 13, 2007 from http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html
Rheingold, H. (2000). The Virtual Community. Retrieved March 12, 2007 from http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/3.html
Twitter. (2007, March 16). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 09:08, March 16, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Twitter&oldid=115504050
Virtual community. (2007, March 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:56, March 16, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Virtual_community&oldid=115277136
Wellman, B. & Gulia, M. (1996). "Net Surfers Don't Ride Alone: Virtual Communities as Communities." Retrieved March 13, 2007 from http://www.acm.org/~ccp/references/wellman/wellman.html
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