INTERNET TECHNOLOGY AND VIRTUAL COMMUNITY

INTERNET TECHNOLOGY AND VIRTUAL COMMUNITY

The Internet is a World Wide Web of interconnected resources. During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the Internet was mainly used for research purposes. During the 1990s, businesses adopted the Internet as a competitive tool for marketing. During the dawn of the 21st. Century, the Internet became ubiquitous. Internet technology has led to the proliferation of online services in every aspect of human endeavor. The Internet technology facilitates sites that offer services from adult, advisory, business, clubs, communication, dating, defense, entertainment, education, financial, games, governments, health, library, museums, music, politics, religion, research, radio, security, software, social communities, sports, students, technology, travel, videos, virtual communities and so on. The Internet technology has become the fabric of business, educational, and social life (Parkhe, Wasserman, & Ralston, 2006; Schultze, & Carte, 2007.) This article focused on Internet technology and its effects on online social communities or virtual communities (VC). An exact phrase match search of the term "virtual communities" on Yahoo.com produced 776,000 hits while the same search string on Google.com had 1,070,000 hits on 1/27/2007. This exploratory study examined the rapid growth and popularity of virtual communities on the World Wide Web

 1. VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES BACKGROUND

Social systems have developed to a point where online communities flourish all over the world. The term virtual community is nebulous despite attempts by a number of authors to define it. Kim (1999), the author of "Community Building on the Web" defined an online community as people with some common purpose, interest, activity or mission who are attracted to each other through some commonplace or space that enables them to know one another much better over time. According to the community guru, Rheingold (2000, xvi, xvii) a virtual community is composed of people in cyberspace who might or might not meet one another face to face, who exchange words and ideas via the Internet and computer discussion rooms. According to Rheingold (2000, xvii) "People in virtual communities utilize words, photos, and symbols on computer monitors to exchange pleasantries and argue, engage in intellectual discourse, conduct commerce, exchange knowledge, share emotional support, make plans, brainstorm, gossip, feud, fall in love, find friends and lose them, play games, flirt, create a little art, and a lot of idle talk." Rheingold's experience with the WELL (Whole Earth Lectronic Link) a computer conferencing system that enabled people around the world to carry on public conversions and to exchange private electronic mail had exposed the author to many facets of virtual communities.
Value of Virtual Communities

Virtual communities like other social communities could do anything except physical bodies of members could not touch or feel one another. Figallo (1998, p. 28) postulated that members of a community had to feel that they were a part of it. As relationships grew, they led to exchanges and interactions that added value to members. Figallo argued that the value proposition was the glue that held the community together. Nebus (2006, p. 615) presented a theory of network generation that predicted the selection and retention when forming an advice network. People would join a virtual community if they perceived that it would satisfy their needs. Nebus stated that a community that provided something of value to an advice seeker would attract new members. Figallo (1998) emphasized that communities differed in style, size, focus, and technology or online tools used by the web-hosting agent. Figallo's taxonomy of virtual communities was interaction, focus, and cohesion. Virtual communities vary in the way members interact with each other. The interaction continuum starts with the shrine, theaters, and cafe. The shrine community has little interaction among its members. The shrine interaction is minimal except sharing a common cyberspace. The theater type community has a common attraction that attracts members around a common theme of interest or attraction that simulates member participation and interaction. The cafe community is quite active and members have high interaction and are involved in developing and consuming the content. The WELL is a good example of a cafe community

2. VIRTUAL COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGY

The Internet technology facilitates connection and communication among virtual communities. Afuah, (2003, p. 6) posited that the Internet is "an easy-to-use, widely available, low-cost, common standard." The Internet has revolutionalized the way firms interact with customers, suppliers, and competitors (Parkhe, Wasserman, & Ralston, 2006.) Many businesses invested in the Internet technology in 1990s. The dotcom failures were a set back that shock waves among investors according to the Wall Street analysts (Aguirre, 2001). It was a painful experience for employees, managers, and investors. Employees lost their jobs overnight, investors lost their investment, and managers lost their benefits as the dotcom bubble fizzled as a nimbus cloud. Bressler (2002, p. 14) in the "Communities of Commerce: Essays" argued that the tragic terrorist attack on New York City in September 2001, changed forever the way of life for New Yorkers. The changes range from certainty to uncertainty, dense work groups to decentralized work groups, and growth as a goal to sustainability. All people who worked in the same place were scattered in different localities. To connect all displaced the Internet played an important role. Internet technology connected people in cyber-space. The report further pointed out that community and communication sites usage increased by about 14% in 2001. The 9-11 disaster has led to the efforts by organizations to design, implement, and manage websites that provide


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