Let's state a definition of Online Community before getting to expound on categories, community structure and success.
Constance Elise Porter describes Online Community or VIrtual Community as follows: "A virtual community is defined as an aggregation of individuals or business partners who interact around a shared interest, where the interaction is at least partially supported and / or mediated by technology and guided by some protocols or norms"
The success of online community depends on many factors especially those aimed at drawing in members..
An issue of the Harvard Business Revue featured an article by A Armstrong and J Hagel which focused on the keys to community or vital elements.
The article was aimed at online community related to business, but its key aspects may be applied to any social online community as well.
In the article the authors and researchers deem that business based online community may be identified into four primary categories. They also noted that there could be elements of crossover, defined by an online community having elements of two or more of the online community categories.
The Categories of Online Community
Anubhav Choudhry provided four basic descriptions of the primary online community categories which I further summarize as follows:
• Online Community of Transaction - buying and selling of products in a social manner where interaction is required to conclude the sale.
• Online Community of Interest - online interaction of people with common interest, as in groups of Fashion Bloggers.
• Online Community of Fantasy - online interaction in an alternate reality using avatars, as in online gaming community.
• Online Community of Relationship - online communication with others, as in online engagement and dating.
When viewing these categories we may note the emphasis of the online community and even identify online communities and social media platforms that we are familiar with, within those categories.
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