There have been several definitions of the term community, which reflects the fact that there may be difficulties and confusion in defining the term (Bhattacharyya, 2004). Since a community seemingly refers to geographic proximity and the characteristics of defining community are similar to those of group (Christenson, Frendley, & Robinson, 1994), the term community is used interchangeably with the term group. Let us first examine the term group in order to understand the term community. Brandon and Hollingshead (2007) define the term group as “an entity comprised of people having interdependent goals, who are acquainted, interact with one another and have a sense of belonging associated with their membership” (p.106). Wilson and Ryder (1996) also agree that groups become communities, “when they interact with each other and stay together long enough to form a set of habits and conventions, and when they come to depend upon each other for accomplishment of certain ends” (p. 801).
Turning to the term community, it is defined as “a constructed arena where multiple people with shared interests interact with each other” (Dehnart, 1999, A standard definition of community, para. 5). In comparing these definitions, we see that three components are shared: people, interaction, and a sense of belonging. In other words, community is composed of people who join as members, they socially interact, and their members have a set of shared denominators as their social identification or a sense of belonging to the community (Christenson et al., 1994). This third component is considered important since people need to have a sense of belonging by occupying a mutual and collective interest or intention to form a community. In line with this notion, the following definitions emphasize a sense of sharing, by saying that community is “any social configuration that possesses shared identity and norms” (Bahattacharyya, 2004, p. 12), or “a social organization of people who share knowledge, value and goals” (Jonassen, Peck, & Wilson, 1999, p. 118). To see whether the characteristics of the term community may apply to another term, virtual community, we now examine how differently or similarly people act in the virtual community.