Online communities

I just got the Jenny Preece book out about online communities. Reading the initial chapters it becomes quite clear that online communities work best when there is already a 'community'. Generally speaking face-to-face communities work better.

A working definition of an online community is:

• people - who interact socially as they strive to satisfy their own needs or perform special roles, such as leading and moderating
• shared purpose - such as an interest, need, information exchange, or service that provides a reason for the community
  
• policies - in the form of tacit assumptions, rituals, protocols, rules, and laws that guide people's interactions
• computer systems - to support and mediate social interaction and facilitate a sense of togetherness
  

Sociologists map the strength of online relationships using the technique of network analysis.