Impacts of virtual community

On health

Concerns with a virtual community's tendency to promote less socializing include: verbal aggression and inhibitions, promotion of suicide and issues with privacy. However, studies regarding the health effects of these communities did not show any negative effects. There was a high drop-out rate of participants in the study. The health-related effects are not clear because of the lack of thoroughness and the variation in studies done on the subject .

Studies on health networks have mostly been conducted on groups which typically suffer the most from extreme forms of diseases, for example cancer patients, HIV patients, or patients with other life-threatening diseases. It is general knowledge that one participates in online communities to interact with society and develop relationships. Individuals who suffer from severe illnesses are unable to do in a public sense; it could be a risk to their health to leave a secure environment. Thus, they have turned to the internet. A study conducted by Haven B. Battles and Lori S. Wiener on the effects of networks on children suffering from incurable diseases reveal a positive correlation in enhancing children’s behaviors and overall moods. Their behavior and mood not only changed, but they were more willing to go to treatment after having these interactions.

In addition to communities which focus strictly on information relating to illness and disease, there are also those which focus on specific health based conditions such as fertility issues. Some studies have indicated that virtual communities can provide a valuable benefit to its users. Online communities focused in health were shown to offer a unique form of emotional support that differed from event based realities and informational support networks. There is a growing amount of material being presented about how online communities affect the health of its users. It appears that the creation of communities have a positive impact on those who are ill or in need of medical information.^]

On civic participation

New forms of civic engagement and citizenship have emerged from the rise of social networking sites. Networking sites acts as a medium for expression and discourse about issues in specific user communities. Online content sharing sites have made it easy for youth to not only express themselves and their ideas through digital media, but also connect with large networked communities. Within these spaces, young people are pushing the boundaries of traditional forms of engagement such as voting and joining political organizations and creating their own ways to discuss, connect, and act in their communities.

Civic engagement through online volunteering has shown to have a positive effects on personal satisfaction and development. Some 84 percent of online volunteers found that their online volunteering experience had contributed to their personal development and learning.

On communication

Yochai Benkler, in his book The Wealth of Networks from 2006, suggests that virtual communities would ′come to represent a new form of human communal existence, providing new scope for building a shared experience of human interaction′. Although Benkler's prediction was not entirely correct, however, it is clear that communications and social relations are extremely complex within a virtual community. The two main effects that can be seen according to Benkler are a ′thickening of preexisting relations with friends, family and neighbours′ and the beginnings of the ′emergence of greater scope for limited-purpose, loose relationships′. Despite being acknowledged as ′loose′ relationships, Benkler argues that they remain meaningful.

There is a shift from individuals who depend on social relations that are locally embedded, unmediated and stable relationships to networked individuals who are more dependent on their own combination of strong and weak ties, cross boundaries and weave their own fluid relationships. Manuel Castells calls this the ′networked society′

 BY KYEJU DIANA

BAPRM 42589