Communities, part 3
Several of you said that you felt online journals/blogs facilitated communities rather than forming them. (I hope I'm paraphrasing this correctly.) Several of you mentioned that you make friendship/reading decisions based on knowing the person in "meatspace" (as it were).
However, it's a marked phenomenon that support groups, such as online diet groups or cancer caregiver groups, come together without having met before, having only the one topic to pull them together, and they frequently become very closely knit, sharing remarkably personal experiences and thoughts, while still being essentially anonymous to one another. Some never share names or addresses, just a screen name or pseudonym.
How do these communities fit into the definition of "facilitating" rather than "forming" communities?
(Please, if you haven't answered my poll on this, please do!)
However, it's a marked phenomenon that support groups, such as online diet groups or cancer caregiver groups, come together without having met before, having only the one topic to pull them together, and they frequently become very closely knit, sharing remarkably personal experiences and thoughts, while still being essentially anonymous to one another. Some never share names or addresses, just a screen name or pseudonym.
How do these communities fit into the definition of "facilitating" rather than "forming" communities?
(Please, if you haven't answered my poll on this, please do!)