In Howard Rheingold’s 1993 journal, A slice of life in my virtual community, he writes about the varying degrees of communities and whether or not a virtual community is in fact a real one, “When a group of people remain in communication with one another for extended periods of time, the question of whether it is a community arises. Virtual communities might be real communities, they might be pseudo- communities, or they might be something entirely new in the realm of social contracts,” (178). With the age of the internet, the idea of a virtual community was born through online platforms, but the Internet was not always what it is today so virtually communities were somewhat unknown. Rheingold describes the idea of the third place, the place
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Rheingold even explains it himself stating, “It's a little like a salon, where I can participate in a hundred ongoing conversations with people who don't care what I look like or sound like, but who do care how I think and communicate. There are seminars and word fights in different corners. And it's all a little like a groupmind, where questions are answered, support is given, inspiration is provided, by people I may have never heard from before, and whom I may never meet face to face. Because we cannot see one another, we are unable to form prejudices about others before we read what they have to say: Race, gender, age, national origin and physical appearance are not apparent unless a person wants to make such characteristics public” (Rheingold, 181-182). Virtual communities, specifically Reddit are great third places as the entire concept behind a third place is to social with others outside of our regular first and second places, home and work. Virtual communities in that regard are not different than physical, real-world communities or places in which people are able to socialize. Not only do certain users feel uncomfortable in real world situations but disabled individuals who are not able to always able to visited physical third places whenever they would like, are given more freedom and accessibility to as much information and …show more content…
Both are just as likely to provide both weak and/or strong ties, a sense of belonging and a third place for communication and socialization. In terms of further research, I believe a long-term study, of those who exclusively use virtual communities versus those who do not or have limited interactions, could be valuable to examine if there prolonged usage makes any difference in terms of sociability and amount of interaction. My findings were interesting, as I discovered that although the virtual community of the Disney Parks and Resorts sub-Reddit I joined was difficult to relatively make any ties at all, unless I was being used as a bridge, I did come to realize that third places as defined by Rheingold, are really what you make of them and matter less what they are. I believe my finding matter as they prove that virtual communities are equally as important and valid as their real world, tangible counterparts even though many people still believe that real communication cannot be done online. I disagree and have learned that virtual communities are just as much a real community as any other community out
Rheingold even explains it himself stating, “It's a little like a salon, where I can participate in a hundred ongoing conversations with people who don't care what I look like or sound like, but who do care how I think and communicate. There are seminars and word fights in different corners. And it's all a little like a groupmind, where questions are answered, support is given, inspiration is provided, by people I may have never heard from before, and whom I may never meet face to face. Because we cannot see one another, we are unable to form prejudices about others before we read what they have to say: Race, gender, age, national origin and physical appearance are not apparent unless a person wants to make such characteristics public” (Rheingold, 181-182). Virtual communities, specifically Reddit are great third places as the entire concept behind a third place is to social with others outside of our regular first and second places, home and work. Virtual communities in that regard are not different than physical, real-world communities or places in which people are able to socialize. Not only do certain users feel uncomfortable in real world situations but disabled individuals who are not able to always able to visited physical third places whenever they would like, are given more freedom and accessibility to as much information and …show more content…
Both are just as likely to provide both weak and/or strong ties, a sense of belonging and a third place for communication and socialization. In terms of further research, I believe a long-term study, of those who exclusively use virtual communities versus those who do not or have limited interactions, could be valuable to examine if there prolonged usage makes any difference in terms of sociability and amount of interaction. My findings were interesting, as I discovered that although the virtual community of the Disney Parks and Resorts sub-Reddit I joined was difficult to relatively make any ties at all, unless I was being used as a bridge, I did come to realize that third places as defined by Rheingold, are really what you make of them and matter less what they are. I believe my finding matter as they prove that virtual communities are equally as important and valid as their real world, tangible counterparts even though many people still believe that real communication cannot be done online. I disagree and have learned that virtual communities are just as much a real community as any other community out