What are and what are the functions of virtual communities?

Today virtual communities they have become a mass phenomenon on the Internet. You might be surprised to know that the safest thing is to belong to one of them. But what are they and what are the functions of virtual communities? We tell you then.

What are virtual communities

There are groups of people and institutions organized cybernetically with specific interests interacting through the network. The people who form them may have very distant geographical and cultural origins.

What is needed to belong to one of these communities is a computer or mobile device and an Internet connection. The characteristics of virtual communities are:

• The composition of groups of individuals from different social backgrounds and social groups.
• The organization of its members around a topic or interest specific: video games, literature, romantic dates, etc.
• It is available digitally via a service or website.
• They have moderators in charge of checking that all participants respect the rules of the space.
• Give attendees a sense of belonging.

Virtual communities have existed since the 70s, when they were used for the exchange of military, scientific and academic data through the rudimentary internet of that time.

But as we mentioned at the beginning, in recent times they have become a massive phenomenon, due to the emergence of social networks, which are able to interconnect millions of people in different ways.

Some virtual communities that exist today

Next, we will show you some of the virtual communities that exist on the web. However, some of these communities require a minimum connection speed. That is why we recommend that you measure the speed of your internet connection before entering one.

In case you have a slow connection, we recommend that you take a look at the following link where we will show you the ways to know why your internet connection is slow.

• Wikipedia: In addition to being a tool that offers you information on certain topics, there is one community of contributors debating articles, create new ones, correct existing ones and keep the encyclopedia updated.
• Facebook: it is one of the most recognized virtual communities, which brings together people of different ages, ideologies, social classes, races and nationalities to share and comment on infinite topics and contents created. You just need to have an email if you want to belong to this community.
• Twitter: is a social network where it is possible to read, share news and comment on them among users from different parts of the world.
• WhatsApp: Application that allows communication in real time between multiple people. It offers the possibility to create groups in which to share multimedia materials and texts of interest to its members.
• Blog: in these, readers can express their opinion on what they have read or seen and at the same time receive replies from other users of the site in question.
• YouTube: is a website created to view, edit and download videos, with a section for interact, undertake and promote advertising. Furthermore, it is also possible to generate income and earn money in this community.
• Ning: is an online platform designed to create social networks. Yes, you can create a social network with a specific theme or purpose and form the your virtual community. The profiles created for users will work like any other social network, that is, with them they will be able to share photos, videos, messages, etc.

Other communities

• TwitCam. It offers live lectures that can benefit up to 100.000 observers. IS free and the only requirement is to have a account Twitter.
• Discussion forum on the Internet. They can be public or private, depending on the needs of the creator of the same. They are used to discuss or exchange views between users via text messages. A good example of this is the popular Taringa, a growing Argentine virtual community.
• In case you want to know which are the best virtual communities, we recommend that you click here.

What are the functions of virtual communities

You already know what a virtual community is, its characteristics and some examples of these organizations. On top of all this, it is important that you understand what your goals are. The functions of virtual communities are endless. In this article we will highlight four of them:

1. Motivate the development of critical thinking: through conversations, the people express themselves in total freedom.
2. To convey up-to-date information on the thematic field of the community.
3. Provide useful data to entrepreneurs that will contribute to the success of their business.
4. Encourage personal relationships without the need for physical presence.

As you can see, virtual communities are part of our daily life, whether we are aware of it or not. Technology is advancing rapidly and on miracomosehace.com we help you to follow it closely.