CHAPTER-8

Online Communities
Features and functions of different online communities

• Each type of online community has:

■ a function, which is what it does for people who use it
■ features, which enable (or allow it to achieve) its function.
• Different online communities provide different features that their
members can use to interact with each other.
Social networking community

• Social networking is the practice of forming groups in a society.

• This is something that humans have been doing for a long time before
the invention of the computer.
• The internet has provided new ways for us to form social networks.
eg. Facebook and Twitter
The function of Social networking community

• Online social network communities allow members to connect through

shared interests or relationships.
• These communities include professional networks such as Linkedln and
personal networks such as Facebook.
Features that enable the function of Social networking
community

 Profiles
• a collection of information about a user
• They can includes:
 biographical details such as name, gender, date of birth, location and
language
 an 'about you' or short description of the user
 details about the user's work and education
 travel history
Features that enable the function of Social networking
community

 family details such as relationship status, family members and pets

 contact information such as telephone number, email address and
website
 profile and background images, colour schemes and designs.
Features that enable the function of Social networking
community

 Friend, follow and connect

• Different social networking communities have similar features that
allow users to add someone to their social network.
• These can be known by many different names such as friend, follow
and connect.
• Some communities allow their members to restrict other users' access
to their full profile until the other users request to add them to their
network.
• Other communities allow totally unrestricted access.
Features that enable the function of Social networking
community

 Stream, wall and timeline

• A user's stream, wall or timeline is the place where the posts from
members' friends appear.
• post - a message sent to an internet discussion group so that all
members of the group can read it
Features that enable the function of Social networking
community

 Status updates and posts

• can either send a message to other members in their network or send it
publicly to all members of the community.
• Some communities allow members to select sub-groups of members
within their network that will be able to see their message.
• Social networks are powerful marketing tools because they contain a
huge amount of information that people post about themselves.
Features that enable the function of Social networking
community

• targeted marketing - advertising that is matched to internet users based

on their attributes, such as their age group or their gender, or their
internet browsing history
• Members can also pay a fee to promote their posts.
• Sponsored posts appear at the top of all members' streams and do not
use their profile data in order to target members with relevant profiles.
Features that enable the function of Social networking
community

 Groups, lists and circles

• allow members to create named groups, lists or circles of members

 Tags
• Tags allow members to categorise the content that they create and post
on social networking communities.
Features that enable the function of Social networking
community

 User suggestions
• suggest other members that users might want to connect with
• They often do this by analysing a user's interests and the interests of
people within that user's social network, then matches them to friends of
existing connections.
Features that enable the function of Social networking
community

 Reactions, ratings, likes, upvotes and downvotes

• allow users to recommend posts to other members of their community
Features that enable the function of Social networking
community

 Share
• allows members of a social networking community to repeat other
members' posts to the community
 Comments and quotes
• provide different ways for members to write comments about other
members' posts
Features that enable the function of Social networking
community

 Third-party integration
• Many websites include direct links to social networking sites so that
people can easily share the information provided on the third-party
website.
Additional features of Social networking community

Add content to posts

• to add content such as photographs, videos and URLs to their posts
means that members can share their experiences in different ways
• allows users to preview the content before they post it
Additional features of Social networking community

Private or direct messages

• allow their members to send private messages to each other

Notifications
• tell members about new activities
Additional features of Social networking community

Analytics
• allow their members to see information about how other people have
reacted to their posts
• helps individuals and organisations to identify their most effective
communications so that they can increase the size of their networks and
gain new followers
Online gaming community

• Online gaming include PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, Steam©10 and

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (MMORPGs).
The function of online gaming community

• to allow members of the community to play multi player games together

Features that enable the function of online gaming
community
 links to social media
 user profiles
 information that allows users to find out how to complete games
 experience points that can be tracked and displayed on a user's profile. This
enables other users to choose to compete against other players based on their
levels of experience, making competitions more or less challenging.
 discussion boards and forums that allow members to discuss tactics
 statuses that allow users to see if other members are online
 notifications about what is happening in the game.
Online work spaces

• Examples of online work spaces include Adobe® Connect 11, Slack®,

Microsoft SharePoint® and Workplace by Facebook.
The function of Online work spaces

• members of the community can collaborate together for the purposes of

work
Features that enable the function of online work spaces

 cloud storage and web applications that allow members to work on

documents through web browsers
 comments that can be left on documents for other users to see and
reply to
 enabling documents to be edited at the same time by two or more
members, which allows users to develop the documents together
 messaging systems so that members can discuss the work
 shared calendars so users can see each other's diaries and arrange
meetings
 shared contact lists
Features that enable the function of online work spaces

 chat rooms to allow discussion of work

 systems for booking resources such as ICT equipment, meeting rooms
and transport
 virtual meeting spaces with the ability for members to:
• give and watch presentations
• speak to each other using VoIP
• use video conferencing tools
Virtual learning environments

• Examples of virtual learning environments (VLEs) include Pearson Active

Teach, Google Classroom, Moodie , Schoology® and Blackboard®.
The function of Virtual learning environments

• VLEs are used to allow students and teachers to use learning and
assessment materials.
Features that enable the function of Virtual learning
environments

■ a notice board for announcements about the course

■ the ability to share audio, video, web links or files
■ quizzes or multiple choice tests that are often graded automatically
■ tools for submitting assignments
Features that enable the function of Virtual learning
environments

■ communication tools, with posts usually moderated by the teacher:

• forums for discussions
• chat rooms
• wikis
• blogs
• third-party integration, such as social networking features.
Features that enable the function of Virtual learning
environments

■ Log-in system: This is often linked to the school or college's information

management systems so that students are logged in automatically if they
are already registered on their institution's network. This is known as single
sign on.
■ Document editors: These allow teachers to create and edit documents
that students can use and sometimes collaborate on with their teachers.
Features that enable the function of Virtual learning
environments

■ Gradebooks: These allow teachers and students to monitor progress

through course materials and assignments.
■ Access statistics: These allow teachers to track how frequently students
access and use the VLE's facilities.
User-generated Reference sites

• User-generated reference sites are information websites created and

maintained by communities of members.
Wikis

• A wiki is a website or database that is developed by a number of

collaborating users, all of whom can add and edit content.
• Examples include the online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, and the online
music database, Discogs.
The function of Wikis

• to allow members of the community to collaborate in order to build and

edit web pages
Features that enable the function of Wikis

 member accounts, which allow users to track which edits have been
made by which members of the community
 an edit button, which takes editors to a text editor so that they can edit
the content
structured language, which allows members to format web pages or add
links to other content
 search tools
Forums

• An online forum is a website or web page where users can post

comments and information and reply to other users' comments.
• Forums are also known as bulletin boards or message boards.
• Examples of forums include Yahoo!® Google Groups 13, Stack
Overflow® and The Student Room®.
The function of forums

• Forums provide members of the community with online spaces for

structured discussions.
• Posts on the forum are arranged in topics or threads.
Feature that enable the function of forums

 groups, allowing members in one group to have different levels of

access or rights to members in other groups
 moderators, who are members who have the right to allow or block
posts or members
 administrators, who are members with the same privileges as
moderators plus some additional rights, such as being able to promote
members to be moderators and demote moderators
 posts, which are messages sent by members to the group
Feature that enable the function of forums

 threads, which are topics for conversation, with replies usually arranged
and sorted by date or topic
 sticky notes or stickies, which are threads kept at the top of the list of
threads to make them easily accessible to members
 ratings, which allow members of the community to rate other members'
posts and enable members to see how helpful or genuine the posts are
 private or direct message functions, which allow members of the
community to send private messages to each other; sometimes these can
also be seen by moderators or administrators.
Feature that enable the function of forums

• Many forums also include a number of safety features.

 Word or URL censoring: When posts are submitted to a forum, they are
scanned (usually automatically by software) for inappropriate words and
URLs. If any are found, the post is rejected automatically or sent to
moderators to check.
Feature that enable the function of forums

 Ignore or block: These are safety features that mute members or stop
them from being able to access the forum. These are often applied
across the whole forum by moderators or administrators.
 Rules and responsible or acceptable use policies: These tell members
what they can and cannot do on the forum. If members break the rules,
then moderators or administrators can send them a warning via private
message or block them from the forum.
 Report or flag a user or post: This feature allows members to tell
User-generated Content

• User-generated content is content available online that has been made

by users of a particular site or service.
Video-Sharing and Photo-Sharing Sites

• Examples of sites where users can share their videos and photographs
include Flickr and YouTube.
The Function of Video-Sharing and Photo-Sharing Sites

• These sites allow people to access and share content created and
uploaded by members of the community.
Features that enable the Function of Video-Sharing and
Photo-Sharing Sites
• user accounts and profiles
• content management systems, which allow users to add content to a page
or to edit content on a page
• tags to categorise shared content
• ratings, which allow users to rate shared videos and photographs
• comments, which allow people to discuss the photographs and videos that
have been shared
• third-party integration such as social networking features, which allows users
to share and react to uploaded videos or photographs on social networking
sites.
Blogs and Vlogs

• A blog is a website or web page that is updated regularly, often written

like a diary or a series of articles.
• A vlog is a video blog.
• Examples of blog and vlog communities include Wordpress and YouTube.
The function of Blogs and Vlogs

• Blog and vlog communities allow people to create online diaries of

events or articles.
• They are very similar to wikis, but they usually contain additional features
and more integration with social networking sites.
Features that enable the function of Blogs and Vlogs

■ user accounts and profiles

■ text editors, which allow bloggers to write and edit their content online
■ upload tools for adding videos and photographs
■ tags
■ ratings
■ comments
■ third-party integration such as social networking features, which allows
users to share and react to the blog or vlog.
Social bookmarking Sites

• allow users to categorise and share web documents and URLs so that
other people can access them
• Examples include Pinterest®, Pocket , reddit®.
The function of Social bookmarking Sites

• Social bookmarking sites exist to allow people to share web documents

and URLs with each other.
Feature that enable the function of Social bookmarking
Sites

 social networking features to connect users with each other

 third-party integration such as social networking features, which allows
users to share and react to content on social bookmarking sites directly
from websites using buttons
 tags to organise and categorise URLs
 user accounts.
Anonymity of others and misrepresentation

 Members of online communities can choose to stay anonymous on line.

 Anonymity can protect users, but it also means that some users can
misrepresent themselves by pretending to be someone that they are not.
Disclosure of personal information or location

 It can be dangerous to disclose too much personal information on line.

 Many online community apps for mobile devices enable users to include
their location in their posts.
 To reduce the risk, online safety organisations advise individuals to think
carefully about how much of their personal information they want to
make public, and not to post publicly any images containing information
about their location.