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What is Online Community

Chapter 145
Encyclopedia of Multimedia Technology and Networking, Second Edition
A group of individuals with common interests who interact with one another on the Internet.
Published in Chapter:
Online Communities and Social Networking
Abhijit Roy (University of Scranton, USA)
Copyright: © 2009 |Pages: 8
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-014-1.ch145
Abstract
Technology has enabled communities to move beyond the physical face-to-face contacts to the online realm of the World Wide Web. With the advent of the highways in the 1950s and 1960s, “communities” were created in suburbia. The Internet, on the other hand, has over the last two decades, enabled the creation of a myriad of “online communities” (Green, 2007) that have limitless boundaries across every corner of the globe. This essay will begin by providing a definition of the term “online communities” and then describing several typologies of this phenomenon. The various motivations for joining communities, how marketers create social bonds that enhance social relationships, as well as strategies used by firms in building online communities are also discussed. We conclude by discussing strategies for managing online communities, leveraging them for social networking, researching them, as well as directions for future research.
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Chapter 4
Online Learning: Challenges and Suggestions to Enhance Student Engagement in Higher Education Institutions
An online community is a virtual space where students, instructors, and peers can connect, share information, and engage in discussions related to their coursework.( Rheingold, H., 2000 )
Published in Chapter: Online Learning: Challenges and Suggestions to Enhance Student Engagement in Higher Education Institutions; From: Reshaping Entrepreneurial Education Within an Industry 4.0 Context
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Chapter 8
The Contribution of Information Communication Technologies in Online Career Counseling: Case Study of an Online Community Within Higher Education
An online space in which members of the community interact with each other and share at least one common belief, aim or concern.
Published in Chapter: The Contribution of Information Communication Technologies in Online Career Counseling: Case Study of an Online Community Within Higher Education; From: Managing and Designing Online Courses in Ubiquitous Learning Environments
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Chapter 5
Extending the Field: An Empirical Research
An online community is a group of people with common interests, and who use the Internet tools and spaces (e.g., blogs, websites, and email) to communicate, create something together, and pursue common interests over time. According to Weber (1963) , the community to which people belong nowadays is no longer the community of place, but a community of interest which, within a freely communicating society, needs not to be spatially determined, as individuals are able to interact with each other wherever they are located.
Published in Chapter: Extending the Field: An Empirical Research; From: Linking Cultural Dimensions and CSR Communication: Emerging Research and Opportunities
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Chapter 107
Learning Reflection and Creativity in Online Game Communities
A community whose members conduct its communications and activities over a computer network.
Published in Chapter: Learning Reflection and Creativity in Online Game Communities; From: Encyclopedia of Networked and Virtual Organizations
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Chapter 14
Trust and Trust Building of Virtual Communities in the Networked Age
A community that exists online, mainly on the Internet, where its members with similar interests, experience, or shared values take part in social interactions such as share information, knowledge, and experience with other members.
Published in Chapter: Trust and Trust Building of Virtual Communities in the Networked Age; From: Handbook of Research on Emerging Developments in Data Privacy
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Chapter 219
Online Learning Community
A collective of individuals who engage in mutually-supportive activities using information and communication technologies such as the Web. Members of an online community may be located in the same place or not, but they communicate primarily electronically.
Published in Chapter: Online Learning Community; From: Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, Second Edition
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Chapter 44
Moderating Discussion Groups Using Computer Mediated Communication
A community of people sharing common interests, ideas, and feelings over the Internet or other collaborative networks.
Published in Chapter: Moderating Discussion Groups Using Computer Mediated Communication; From: Handbook of Research on Computer Mediated Communication
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Chapter 7
Defining and Measuring the Perceived Quality of a Virtual Community
A groups of people who communicate with each other via electronic media without any restrictions.
Published in Chapter: Defining and Measuring the Perceived Quality of a Virtual Community; From: Social Customer Relationship Management (Social-CRM) in the Era of Web 4.0
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Chapter 177
Reconfiguration of Communities in Cyberspace
Community exists within cyberspace but is also interconnected with off-line reality. Included are any communities in cyberspace that interplay with off-line reality through off-line communication components, such as face-to-face meetings, off-line flash gatherings, or any forms of off-line activity.
Published in Chapter: Reconfiguration of Communities in Cyberspace; From: Encyclopedia of Networked and Virtual Organizations
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Chapter 128
Blog Marketing: Potential and Limits
a group of people that have a common interest and who interact using online communications tools.
Published in Chapter: Blog Marketing: Potential and Limits; From: Encyclopedia of E-Business Development and Management in the Global Economy
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Chapter 45
Sociology of Virtual Communities and Social Software Design
Specific virtual community linked by internet or web-based communication and interaction.
Published in Chapter: Sociology of Virtual Communities and Social Software Design; From: Handbook of Research on Web 2.0, 3.0, and X.0: Technologies, Business, and Social Applications
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Chapter 44
Moderating Discussion Groups Using Computer Mediated Communication
A community of people sharing common interests, ideas, and feelings over the Internet or other collaborative networks.
Published in Chapter: Moderating Discussion Groups Using Computer Mediated Communication; From: Handbook of Research on Computer Mediated Communication
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Chapter 163
Post-Modern Tribes as a Marketing Tool
People who interact through an ICT-based communication environment, recognize a minimum common goal that holds them together (may share one or more domain/s of knowledge and shared practice/s) and define implicit or explicit policies for regulating their interactions (see e.g., Preece, 2000).
Published in Chapter: Post-Modern Tribes as a Marketing Tool; From: Encyclopedia of Networked and Virtual Organizations
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Chapter 584
Taxonomy of C2C E-Commerce Venues
Otherwise known as a virtual community; an online venue that allows individuals with the same interests to interact, exchange ideas, and potentially determine the exchange of products.
Published in Chapter: Taxonomy of C2C E-Commerce Venues; From: Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Second Edition
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Chapter 463
Online Communities and Online Community Building
An online community is a voluntary group of active users that partake actively in a certain computer-mediated service.
Published in Chapter: Online Communities and Online Community Building; From: Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Second Edition
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Chapter 7
The Role of Online Health Education Communities in Wellness and Recovery
People who communicate via internet technologies through a common platform are considered to be a part of an online community. Most often each user creates a username and password to establish an account. Once they are a member, they use that identity (username) in online discussion, instant message, emails, voice over internet protocol (VOIP), avatar simulations (i.e., Second Life) ( King, 2014 ; Palloff & Pratt, 2001 , 2007 ). Many online communities have a specific focus to draws and retain people in them.
Published in Chapter: The Role of Online Health Education Communities in Wellness and Recovery; From: Handbook of Research on Advancing Health Education through Technology
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Chapter 3
A Review of Tools for Overcoming the Challenge of Monitoring of Social Media
Group of people with common interests who use Internet-based applications to interact with each other and share information.
Published in Chapter: A Review of Tools for Overcoming the Challenge of Monitoring of Social Media; From: Handbook of Research on Enterprise 2.0: Technological, Social, and Organizational Dimensions
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Chapter 2
Mobile Social Web: Opportunities and Drawbacks
A social group that interacts through a web platform over an extended period of time.
Published in Chapter: Mobile Social Web: Opportunities and Drawbacks; From: Handbook of Research on Social Interaction Technologies and Collaboration Software: Concepts and Trends
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Chapter 90
Cloud Governance at the Local Communities
A community that operates through a public or private electronic network.
Published in Chapter: Cloud Governance at the Local Communities; From: Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition
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Chapter 702
Usability of CAPTCHA in Online Communities and Its Link to User Satisfaction
A virtual network of people who communicate with one another through interactive tools such as forums, discussion groups of social networking sites.
Published in Chapter: Usability of CAPTCHA in Online Communities and Its Link to User Satisfaction; From: Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition
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Chapter 190
Leadership Competency in Virtual Teams
A meeting place on the Internet for people who share common interests and needs. Online communities can be open to all or be by membership only, and may or may not be moderated.
Published in Chapter: Leadership Competency in Virtual Teams; From: Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, Second Edition
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Chapter 81
Designing and Developing Online and Distance Courses
A virtual community whose members are connected by technology, specifically the web or Internet.
Published in Chapter: Designing and Developing Online and Distance Courses; From: Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, Second Edition
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Chapter 33
Augmenting Actual Life Through MUVEs
people who interact through an ICT-based communication environment, recognize a minimum common goal that holds them together, share one or more domain/s of knowledge and shared practice/s, and define implicit or explicit policies for regulating their interactions.
Published in Chapter: Augmenting Actual Life Through MUVEs; From: Handbook of Research on Socio-Technical Design and Social Networking Systems
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Chapter 55
Initial Stages to Create Online Graduate Communities: Assessment and Development
A group of people with common characteristic or interest interacting in a cyber space with online communication tools.
Published in Chapter: Initial Stages to Create Online Graduate Communities: Assessment and Development; From: Encyclopedia of Information Communication Technologies and Adult Education Integration
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Chapter 5
The Role of Community Formation in Learning Processes
Defined as a process rather than a physical place, in which people interact, through a shared purpose, by following policies and by means of a computer system.
Published in Chapter: The Role of Community Formation in Learning Processes; From: Handbook of Research on Web 2.0 and Second Language Learning
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Chapter 22
Analysis and Evaluation of the Connector Website
Also known as virtual community. A group of people communicating or interacting with each other by means of information technologies, typically the Internet, rather than face to face. Online communities can be used loosely for a variety of social groups interacting via the Internet. The concept does not necessarily mean that there is a strong bond among the members. The term virtual community is attributed to the book of the same title by Howard Rheingold in 1993.
Published in Chapter: Analysis and Evaluation of the Connector Website; From: Handbook of Research on Web Log Analysis
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Chapter 462
Online Communities and Community Building
An online community is a voluntary group of active users that partake actively in a certain computer-mediated service.
Published in Chapter: Online Communities and Community Building; From: Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Second Edition
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Chapter 5
Online Tools With Synchronous Learning Environments
A group of individuals who communicate and interact in an online setting.
Published in Chapter: Online Tools With Synchronous Learning Environments; From: Handbook of Research on Online Pedagogical Models for Mathematics Teacher Education
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Chapter 318
Government as a Service in Communities
A community that operates through public networks such as the Internet.
Published in Chapter: Government as a Service in Communities; From: Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Third Edition
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Chapter 10
The Coffee Shop and Customer Experience: A Study of the U.S. Market
A social network of individuals interacting through social media, with the aim of pursuing mutual interests or goals. It potentially crosses geographic and political boundaries.
Published in Chapter: The Coffee Shop and Customer Experience: A Study of the U.S. Market; From: Handbook of Research on Retailer-Consumer Relationship Development
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Chapter 12
Customer Experience in the Coffee World: Qualitative Research on the US Market
A social network of individuals interacting through social media, with the aim of pursuing mutual interests or goals. It potentially crosses geographic and political boundaries.
Published in Chapter: Customer Experience in the Coffee World: Qualitative Research on the US Market; From: Handbook of Research on Retailing Techniques for Optimal Consumer Engagement and Experiences
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Chapter 213
Technology Change and Online Community Development
A group having the characteristics of a community which conducts its collective activities and associated social interactions over a computer network.
Published in Chapter: Technology Change and Online Community Development; From: Encyclopedia of Networked and Virtual Organizations
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