QotW7: Online communities-- twitter.com??

“Community refers to a set of social relationships that operate within specified boundaries, a sense of common character, identity or interests and encompasses both material and symbolic dimensions” (“Virtual Communities”, 1995). Communication and community often revolve around the issues of bringing people closer together. It organize social relations.

“A virtual community or online community is a group of people that may or may not primarily or initially communicate or interact via the Internet. Online communities have also become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other in real life” (“Virtual Community”, 2007).

“Twitter is a social networking service that allows members to inform each other about what they are doing and what they think. It allows users to send messages via phone or instant messaging. Two SMS gateway numbers are available - one for USA and one UK number for international use. Users can receive updates from other selected users via web, IM, or SMS” (“Twitter”, 2007).

Therefore, after stating the definition of online communities and discussing what does twitter.com does, I do consider Twitter as an online community. Reasons are:

1) “The social realm of community encompasses social interaction, solidarity, and both individual and institutional relations” (“Virtual Communities”, 1995).

--> The functions of twitter.com do fits in the social realm of community. In Twitter, there is ongoing social interaction. Individuals can choose to set their account to private, which only allow friends who they invites to talk to them or they could be in the public timeline where anyone can be chatting together. In addition, the signing up for twitter may make users feel a sense of belongingness to the group, hence fulfilling the institutional relations as stated above.

2) “Communities contain social interaction, a shared value system and a shared symbol system. Community within cyberspace appears to emphasize a shared belief in the principles of free speech, individualism, equality, and open access the same symbolic interest” (“Virtual Communities”, 1995).

--> Twitter is similar to IRC-Internet Relay Chat. People in twitter can communicate with each other by typing words and it will appear on the screen and instantaneously seen by other recipients. This way of communication allows free speech of people in the community. Also, as one of the option, people can set their profile to private, hence this enables “friends-only” environment. And this is understood that friends usually have shared values and beliefs.

3) “Community can indeed exist in cyberspace where people gather on a central common ground to share the prosaic and the profound, the small facts and large events that become landmarks in a community’s life” (“Virtual Communities”, 1995).

--> Twitter, as discussed, let people communicate via the Internet. Things that people talk about online vary. The topics range from academic to personal life etc. From such sharing of information, the characteristics of a community are clear.

4) “The ability to network, gain knowledge, or find communion within cyberspace is, according to Rheingold (1994), the social glue that binds formerly isolated individuals into a community” (“Virtual Communities”, 1995).

--> The internet has made the world a smaller place. Individuals from different parts of the world can now “meet” and communicate together. By sharing information (which reminds me of online gift economies), people are able to gain knowledge and learn more things even when they have yet got any experience on any particular thing. Twitter is also an online community which enables networking and sharing, thus binding people.

In conclusion, from the above four main points, it is obvious that Twitter is an online community as all the features of online communities fits well when describing twitter.com.

References:
Fernback, J, & Thompson, B (1995). Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?. Retrieved 15 March, 2007, from http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html

Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia. (2007, 14 March). Twitter. Retrieved 17 March, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Twitter&oldid=115023086
Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia. (2007, 15 March). Virtual Community. Retrieved 17 March, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Virtual_community&oldid=115123017