Online community is described as a group of people that may or may not primarily or initially communicate or interact via the Internet (“Virtual Community”, 2007). It is a place where people can do as much actions they can do in the real world by using words on screen. You can share your thoughts through blogs, personal web page, or even through chat rooms. Conducting commerce is always possible in the Internet, eBay, for example. People can find friends from different part of the world, play games together, exchange information, or even fall in love with each other! The best question to picture an online community is: “Is there anything impossible in online community?”, rather than, “Is there anything else possible in online community?” Everything can be done through the Internet! It's just that in online community, you minus the physical presence in the interaction.
But is physical presence a big deal? I don't think so. Fernback (1995) wrote that people start to experience their life through dehumanizing technology rather than through human contact and intimacy. Therefore, the absence of physical presence is ignorable. If you re-read the last 3 weeks' readings from Kollock (1995), he stated that there are three main reasons why people engaged in online community: anticipated reciprocity, increased recognition, and sense of efficacy. As we can see, people are not looking for ANOTHER physical presence in online community. Why do you think they will look for something that has occurred in the real life? They are looking for something new in online community, something that is not exist in their real life. If physical appearance (in the real life) can somehow create judgment without even knowing the person well, they can simply omit this relationship myth and express their true self without any worries in online community. Smith (1992) said in his writing that communion, a sense of community, is also a motivation for people to engage in online community.
According to the definition of online community, I consider Twitter as one of them. Even though it does not really give you the picture of a second life (We will discuss about it in the next paragraph), but you can still share and communicate, create a community through twitter. Now that we can see our “COM 125 students' community” on twitter. It connects you with each other in the community (in this case, a friend list) even though you are apart. For example, that day during COM 300 class at computer lab, we could communicate each other in an extremely silent classroom, and Kevin could also join the interaction even though he was in the teacher's room :) 
As I have mentioned before, Twitter is a bit different from other online community. Unlike friendster where you can put your details in the “about me” section, you cannot find the details of the person you are talking to in twitter. All you can see is the comment posted by people in your friend list. In twitter, the comments do not come all at once. You might get a very quick response if you are on MSN chat, but you will have to wait slightly longer for a new comment to be posted on Twitter. Somehow you will have to refresh the page to see new comments. One thing that I don't really like about twitter is the “rhetoric” question above the comment bar, asking “What are you doing?” I did not really answer the question when I posted my comment (Instead, I would love to call it a “message”). Try to imagine if people just barely answer the question. They would not get the conversation going on! One people might say, “I'm doing my blog assignment”, another one would say, “I am watching TV”, and others would say, “I'm doing this and that....” How are they going to start talking to each other if everyone only tell what are they doing right now? Thank God none of us do that, and we have a good flow of conversation going on Twitter. Mobile phone services can be used to receive updates from Twitter, but I guess none of us in Singapore use this service, because it costs a lot. Overall, Twitter is a new way of having FUN in online community. I really think that I will keep twittering after I have done the assignment.Apart from the assignment question about Twitter, do we really need an online community? If we are engaging in online community, what about our real life? I will put Sparks '(2004) theory displacement hypotheses as my argument, that the more time you spent on your second life, the less time you spent on your real life. So, are you willing to “trade” your real life with your second life?
I will use my own life as an example. I spent A LOT (probably too much) of my time in my second life. You name it, MSN, Yahoo messenger, Friendster, Multiply, IMVU, Blogger, and (not forgetting) Twitter. Sometimes I feel like I am lack of the real interaction with people! Everyday I go to school, have my real life goes on during the school hours, then I spend the rest of my time online. Is it “healthy”? I would say, yes it is. For me, I am still normal as long as I still have my real life goes on, so do people out there who spend their time more in online community rather than in their real life. However, I still go out with my “visible” friends every weekend! In my opinion, it's not about choosing one option at a time, it's about balancing both sides well. Don't you think it's even more fascinating if you have two lives, rather than just one? Therefore, a question by The Manicheans (Wellman,1996) whether the Internet will create wonderful new forms of community or will destroy community altogether is perfectly answered. Online community DOES create a really WONDERFUL new forms of community. Do I hear a good amen for that? :)References
Fernback,J. & Thompson,B. (1995) Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure? Retrieved on March 16, 2007, from http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html
Smith, M. (1992). Voices from the WELL: The Logic of the Virtual Commons. UCLA Department of Sociology.
Sparks, G.G. (2004). Media Effects Research. Canada: Thomson Wadsworth.
Wellman,B. & Gulia,M. (1996). Net Surfers Don't Ride Alone:
Virtual Communities as Communities. Retrieved on March 16, 2007, from http://www.acm.org/~ccp/references/wellman/wellman.html
Wikipedia (2007). “Virtual Community”. Retrieved on March 16, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_communities
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