For people new to the online world, online communities may seem a little strange at first. After all, how can you commune with people you don’t get to meet in person? Obviously this is quite a disadvantage. However, for many people there is also one large advantage: meeting new people from the comfort (and safety) of their own home.
Several different kinds of communities exist online. There are:
Of these examples blogs and micro blogging sites are less focused on social interaction, but they do contain a social element, hence I have mentioned them here. For example blogs often have a comments section where people can comment on the blog post. At first, this involved simple comments on articles. But soon people were commenting on other people’s comments and a forum-like discussion would take place.
Another example are micro blogging sites such as Twitter, where someone posts a small message and someone else responds to it. Contrary to blogs, websites such as Twitter do allow you to befriend people, or rather follow them.