Internet communities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Internet communities - study Example2Online Communities are social networks found online. It is supported by a computer mediated spot where people from completely cultures come to standher for some common usance or some occupation forming webs of relationships. The discourse that happens between the people stub take place with only one person or hundreds of people simultaneously. It is conversation that does not depend on geographical location or social hierarchies. It is a place where people can commune with former(a)s on topics of their own choosing. It is, in fact, a virtual village where a series of interactions between community members take place. 2 3Some experts foresaw the evolution of virtual communities when the first netmail message was sent in 1973. They saw the potential of long distance communication with loved ones and championship executives. With the growth of online services like AOL and MINITEL in the 1980s, this idea was further expanded to include commun ication with all k at a timen people around the globe. Lotus Notes in the late 1980s further evolved the concept of communication by forming communities of people who can work together online. Then came in commerce communities, like virago and Ebay, which started selling products and interacting online with their customers. Slowly the shift came towards blogging in late 1990s. Yahoo and Google groups started to become increasely popular when all at once in 2003 the world was hit by the MySpace.com that provided the users the opportunity to interact with people sharing similar activities. With the increasing user base of MySpace.com, other online communities started to creep up to form the new way of life we grow come to know of now. 1Popular Online CommunitiesMy Space.comMy Space was formed in August 2003 with the goal of providing a take place for people to meet new people. It is an online community that lets a person meet their friends friends. The website requires a person to demo and then add friends their respective profiles. People can add their pictures, videos, music etc and write blogs.Orkut.comOrkut is an online service which was started in January 2004 by Google. It is another online community that allows a person to build personalized webpages which other people can view. Initially any body could view anybodys profile but to some privacy concerns, the site now offers a restricted access depending on users needs. Users can share pictures and send scraps of messages to maintain existent relationships and build new ones.Facebook.comOne of the most popular online communities currently is Facebook which has a user base of over 59 million active users with this figure doubling every six months. The website offers an extremely comprehensive insurance coverage of activities and communities that people can join. Applications can be attached to personalized pages and contests can be held through these applications with other users.ManHunt.netManhunt is an online social network for gay men. It gives an opportunity for men to meet other men online, date them and to get to know them better. Men can post their pictures and information which other people can search and run a risk the ones with similar interests. The website has seen an increasing number of men posting nude pictures and vulgar messages.Match.comMatch.com was formed in 1995 with the purpose of giving men and women chances to meet their matches online. Its an