DIGITAL COMMUNITIES

Online Communities
 Online communities are
groups of people who come
together for a specific purpose,
who are guided by community
policies, and who are
supported by Internet access
that enables virtual
communication.
Networks: The Underlying
Structure of Communities
 A social network is a set of socially relevant nodes connected by
one or more relations.
 Nodes are members of the network.
 Members are connected by their relationships with each other.
 Interactions are behavior-based ties such as talking with each other
or attending an event together.
 Flows are exchanges of resources, information, or influence among
members of the network.
 Object sociality is the extent to which an object can be shared in
social media.
 Vertical networks are sites designed around object sociality.
It’s a Small World After All
 Six degrees of separation is an observation that everyone is
connected to everyone else by no more than six ties.
 Based on the mathematical model of small-world network.
Characteristics of Online
Communities
 The interactive platforms of Web 2.0 enable online
communities to exhibit the following basic
characteristics:
 Conversations
 Presence
 Democracy
 Standards of Behavior
 Levels of Participation
Characteristics of Online
Communities
 Conversations. Though social media provides an
online space for digital conversations, these
conversations are not based on talking or writing
but on a hybrid of the two.
Characteristics of Online
Communities
 Presence refers to the effect that people experience
when they interact with a computer-mediated or
computer-generated environment.
Characteristics of Online
Communities
 Democracy is a descriptive term that refers to rule
by the people.
 Media democratization means that the members of
social communities control the creation, delivery, and
popularity of content.
Characteristics of Online
Communities
 Standards of Behavior. Virtual communities need
norms, or rules that govern behavior, in order to
operate. Some of these rules are spelled out
explicitly but many of them are unspoken.
 Open access sites enable anyone to participate without
registration or identification.
 The social contract is the agreement that exists
between the host or governing body and the members.
Characteristics of Online
Communities
 Level of Participation. For an online community
to thrive, a significant proportion of its members
must participate. Otherwise the site will fail to offer
fresh material and ultimately traffic will slow.
How Ideas Travel in a Community

 Network structure and composition play a role in

the community’s ability to support its members.
 There is evidence of community culture in the
memes that evolve within the community
 A meme is a snippet of cultural information that
spreads person to person until eventually it enters the
general consciousness.
Group Influence and Social Capital

 Opinion leader – a person who is frequently able

to influence others’ attitudes or behaviors.
Group Influence and Social Capital
 Opinion leaders are extremely valuable information
sources because:
 They are technically competent
 They prescreen, evaluate, and synthesize product
information in an unbiased way
 They are socially active and highly interconnected
 They are likely to hold positions of leadership
 They tend to be similar to the consumer in terms of their
values and beliefs
 They tend to be slightly higher in terms of status and
educational attainment than those they influence
 They are often among the first to buy new products
Social Capital
 Social capital is accumulated resources whose value
flows to people as a result of their access to others.
 Reputational capital is based on the shared beliefs,
relationships, and actions of those in the community
such that norms, behaviors, and values held and shared
by individuals ultimately support a community
reputation.
Strong and Weak Ties
 Emotional support is one form of social capital.
 Core ties – those people with whom we have very
close relationships
 Significant ties – those individuals with somewhat
close connections, but less so than core ties
 Weak ties – those individuals with whom your
relationship is based on superficial experiences or very
few connections
Strong and Weak Ties
 Power users are those others view as
knowledgeable sources of information
 Five characteristics help to describe them:
(1) Activists
(2) Connected
(3) Impact
(4) Active minds
(5) Trendsetters
Strong and Weak Ties
 The Bases of Social Power
 Reward power: ability to provide others with what they
desire
 Coercive power: the ability to punish others
 Legitimate power: authority based on rights associated with
a person’s appointed position
 Referent power: authority through the motivation to
identify with or please a person
 Expert power: recognition of one’s knowledge, skills, and
ability
 Information power: one’s control over the flow of and
access to information
Node-to-Node Relationships
 Your level of activity in a social network is based
on:
 The mix of people with whom you are connected
 The artifacts (content) you create on the site
 The feedback you receive from others
 The distribution of the artifacts and feedback
Influence
 Word of mouse – online word of mouth and a very
strong influence on consumer decision making
 Ad equivalency value - what would the value of
the unsolicited online mention be if it had come
through a paid advertising placement?
 Social proof – works by encouraging consumers to
make decisions that mimic those of people in their
social network
The Evolution of Online
Communities

“Modern society makes it more difficult to connect

with others….”

Do you agree or disagree? Why?