Channelfuse : Its objective and methods
Community of interest formation is perhaps the single unique attribute of interactive media. Anyone who is interested in doing business on the internet needs to be aware of virtual communities. Perhaps no other technique is potentially more powerful for aggregating and communicating with specific target audiences.
People on virtual communities use words on screens 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 high art and a lot of idle talk. People in virtual communities do just about everything people do in real life, but we leave our bodies behind.
There are skeptics who would argue that virtual communities lack some critical elements that define ‘real’ communities. Like, a feel of permanence and belonging, a sense of location, warmth from the local history. It takes virtually no effort for an individual to leave a virtual community. Well, we would want to address these issues, and bring a change about in the fashion in which a virtual community is handled. For us, our communities will foster collaboration and cooperation among participants to the benefit of all members and the participating organization.
In the end, virtual communities, although they rely on a variety of technologies., they are about people. They represent a new kind of social institution that provides new ways for individuals with common interests to meet and interact with each other.