Writing assignment 7: Community

A group that is completely mediated by the internet of which I am an active participant is Facebook. I recently created a Facebook account so I haven't spent too much time on it yet but, from the few weeks that I have had the account I can honestly say that I like it better than MySpace. It just seems like the site itself filters out all of the garbage that you end up getting on MySpace and I think that’s the major reason that I like the site. But, not to get off topic. To begin with referencing the reading, Fernback &Thompson state, “The concept of community commonly refers to a set of social relationships that operate within specified boundaries or locales, but community has an ideological component as well, in that it refers to a sense of common character, identity or interests. These notions of community illustrate that the term encompasses both material and symbolic dimensions”.

When I think of the communities that I’m involved in this is a textbook definition. The communities that I’m involved in is based on the premise of a common ground through likes and dislikes, including behavioral responses in different situations that are shared in the community. But, I guess when I think about how the communication technology affects the development of social ties within the group, it really opens up a few doors that may not have been there before. Considering the following, I mainly use the site to maintain contact with friends who have moved out of state and therefore this doesn’t affect the development of that relationship, it only maintains it. However, say one of my friends that moved out of state is friends with someone else who attempts to befriend me via Facebook, (communication technology) this is where the aspect of development comes in or even if its someone that I haven’t talked to in a long time that is friends with one of my friends and I receive a random message from them. This then is adding to the development of a relationship that was not preexisting.

And in the readings of Wellman and Gulia, Social networks analysts have had to educate traditional, place-oriented , community sociologists that community can stretch well beyond the neighborhood. Now, I do highly agree with this statement but, in contrast to any of my online communities, for my offline communities the medium for communication is probably only my phone and my offline communities still have more meaning and stronger ties than any of my online community relationships. So, I’ll make a call or send a text message to a friend stating what I’m doing and that I want to meet up. After that there is solely face-to-face communication which gives for instantaneous feedback during interaction. This goes for just about all of the communities that I’m involved outside of Facebook or MySpace. I have my core community of friends and the need is that instant feedback. Short of a telephone call or a text message I have never emailed any of my friends. It’s just not how I am and for the most part I see my core community frequently enough where email and alternative online communication seem to be almost a hassle.

Similarly, I don’t even have half of my family member's email addresses. I would have to say that we have a close enough relationship and again, we see each other frequently enough that to send an email and wait for a response is actually an inconvenience, which sounds really weird but, it’s true. I do believe that online communities are a benefit to society however I’ve always conflicting feelings about the depth of the social ties in these relationships. Call me old-school but, I just prefer to establish and maintain relationships on a more personal level. I feel that I creates a better knowing and understanding of the self and those alike.

Refences:

Fernback, J. , & Thompson, B. (May 1995). Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure? Retrieved October 16, 2008 from https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_61661_1%26url%3d

Wellman, B. & Gulia, M. (August 1997). Net surfers don’t ride alone: Virtual Communities as Communities. Retrieved October 16, 2008 from https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_61661_1%26url%3d