Short introduction to virtual communities, basic concepts and perspectives

1. August 2013
Miia Kosonen, PhD (Econ. & Bus. Adm.), researcher, lecturer
miia.kosonen@lut.fi

2. Virtual community concepts
Technology-mediated community
Virtual arena
Online community
Electronic community
Virtual society
Network community
Electronic network Virtual network
e-tribe Virtual public Online crowd
Internet community
Virtual community
Virtual
organizations
F2F or physical
communities
Platforms: web 2.0, social media, online networking tools

3. Defining a virtual community
 People
 Shared interest
 Interactions - creating and maintaining community-
level social capital; norms, trust, shared language
 Conversational technologies
Preece, 2000; Ridings et al., 2002; Porter, 2004; Kosonen, 2008

4. Belonging to a virtual community
Expectations Activities
Sense of
community
- Feelings of membership
- Identification with the group
- Feelings of efficacy
- Immersion
- Getting info or emotional support
- Building relationships
Does the community
fulfill my needs? If
so, how?
Uses &
Gratifications: types
of expected benefits
What does the
community do? How
do members
interact? What is my
role in these
activities?
Katz et al., 1974; Nambisan & Baron, 2007, Blanchard, 2007, 2008; Tonteri et al., 2011

5. Perspectives into virtual communities
Virtual
community
Economics
Management Sociology
Information systems
Cognitive psychology
Social psychology
Communication
- Rational choice theories
- Collective action
- Participation strategies
- Individual learning processes
- Motivation: intrinsic, extrinsic
- Member personality
- Behavioral intentions
- Community design
- Usability
- Attachment, commitment
- Identity, identification
- We-intentions, group processes
- Sense of virtual community, SOVC
- TPB, MGB
- Social capital, trust, norms
- Digital sub-cultures
- Effect on societies
- Communication richness
- Media types, online channels
- De-individuation
- Hyperpersonal communication
- Macro: organizational design,
new business models
- Meso: innovation management,
relationship marketing
- Micro: community management

6. What is your perspective?
…no matter from which discipline or business you represent,
try to avoid these three common pitfalls:
 Overstating the newness of online social life – for decades,
there have been virtual communities and community
enthusiasts. Why not learn from their experiences?
 Focusing on online technology and forgetting people –
communities are about people.
 Trying to include everything into one investigation –
communities remain complex systems.