The internet and online communities

An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post content, such as a Bulletin board system or one where only a restricted number of people can initiate posts, such as Weblogs. Online communities have also become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other primarily in real life. Many means are used in social software separately or in combination, including text-based chat rooms and forums that use voice, video text or avatars.

I am going to be looking at:

http://www.facebook.com

http://www.stumbleupon.com/home/

http://www.trademe.co.nz/

Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.Giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. 

facebook is a very interactive site were you are always able to post a comment, like a status or instant message people whenever you please. It has become such a popular tool now days, ther is only a very few people i know who DONT have an account. peaople contribute to the site by sharing status updates, adding links to something they may like or updating photos. there is so much one can do on facebook!people that choose to join acebook immediately become connected with a whole range of people, from you best friend, to someone you havent seen since primary school. It is a place were people seek friendship, interaction and connections between a whole lot of people who love doing that exactly!

StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. As you click  Stumble!, we deliver high-quality pages matched to your personal preferences. These pages have been explicitly recommended by your friends or one of over 15 million other websurfers with interests similar to you. Rating these sites you like () automatically shares them with like-minded people – and helps you discover great sites your friends recommend. (http://www.stumbleupon.com/aboutus/ )

In 1999, young computer consultant Sam Morgan founded Trade Me. It was a novel concept: people sending money to sellers they've never met, for goods they've never seen.

Fed up with other websites that offered poor usability and didn't cater well to Kiwis, Sam single-handedly built the site and ran it out of his small Wellington flat. Within two days, the site had twenty registered users. (http://www.trademe.co.nz/About-Trade-Me/Our-Story)

within these communities there are a range of ethical issues that can arise, such as breach of privacy, giving out details, having no control over what you recieve through the site just to name a few. despite measures that have been put in place to prevent the wrong use of these commuunities, people still need to be mindful of the potential dangers in them.

These online communities are quite different to the traditional types of networks, these ones you can be on the other side of the world you you can still be fully in touch with whats going on and communicate effectively with others.