Online Communities. Benefits and Risks

2022 ◽  
pp. 37-51
Author(s):  
Elena Graziani ◽  
Fausto Petrini
Keyword(s):  
Online Communities ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
Internet Connection ◽  
Community Access

This article reviews empirical studies from 2008 to 2017 on the effects of participating in online communities. The review uses three databases: PubMed, Scopus and ScienceDirect. The criteria are: (1) online community aimed to provide support by and for people with a common problem; (2) the content of the sessions was determined by users; (3) members met via the Internet; (4) online community was available 24/7; (5) online community access was free and open to everyone with an Internet connection. Of the articles, 13 of 105 met the inclusion criteria. Seven studies reported positive changes: informational and emotional support, increased sense of belonging, less isolation, better medical understanding. Six articles also considered risks: the rise of the level of stress because of successes or failures of other users, the addiction to the forum and the consequent isolation from real relationships.

Online Communities. Benefits and Risks

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Elena Graziani ◽  
Fausto Petrini
Keyword(s):  
Online Communities ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
Internet Connection ◽  
Community Access

This article reviews empirical studies from 2008 to 2017 on the effects of participating in online communities. The review uses three databases: PubMed, Scopus and ScienceDirect. The criteria are: (1) online community aimed to provide support by and for people with a common problem; (2) the content of the sessions was determined by users; (3) members met via the Internet; (4) online community was available 24/7; (5) online community access was free and open to everyone with an Internet connection. Of the articles, 13 of 105 met the inclusion criteria. Seven studies reported positive changes: informational and emotional support, increased sense of belonging, less isolation, better medical understanding. Six articles also considered risks: the rise of the level of stress because of successes or failures of other users, the addiction to the forum and the consequent isolation from real relationships.

Guardians of the Internet: Building and Sustaining the Anonymous Online Community

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (7) ◽  
pp. 959-988 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe G Massa
Keyword(s):  
Labor Unions ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Community Building ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Building Research ◽  
Political Groups

Online communities have displaced or become complements to organizations such as churches, labor unions and political groups which have traditionally been at the center of collective action. Yet, despite their growing influence and support of faster, cheaper and more flexible organizing, few empirical studies address how online communities are built and become enduring agents of social change. Using Internet-based ethnographic methods, this inductive field study examines how an online community called Anonymous transitioned from being a small gathering of contributors focused on recreation to becoming a community of trolls, activists and hackers incubating myriad projects. Findings reveal that the interplay of digital technology and a culture of transgression supported experimentation that culminated with the adoption of a resilient organizing platform that enabled several community factions to coexist in continuous engagement. This paper infuses community building research with an important emphasis on the role of the techno-cultural, highlighting how online formation and maintenance processes are shaped and shape mutually contingent technologies and cultures.

scholarly journals Does Online Community Participation Contribute to Medication Adherence? An Empirical Study of Patients with Chronic Diseases

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 5100
Author(s):  
Jyh-Jeng Wu ◽  
Yueh-Mei Chen ◽  
Paul C. Talley ◽  
Kuang-Ming Kuo
Keyword(s):  
Medication Adherence ◽  
Chronic Diseases ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Informational Support ◽  
Chronic Patients ◽  
The Relationship

Effectively improving the medication adherence of patients is crucial. Past studies focused on treatment-related factors, but little attention has been paid to factors concerning human beliefs such as trust or self-efficacy. The purpose of this study is to explore the following aspects of patients with chronic diseases: (1) The relationship between emotional support, informational support, self-efficacy, and trust; (2) the relationship between self-efficacy, trust, and medication adherence; and, (3) whether chronic patients’ participation in different types of online communities brings about significant statistical differences in the relationships between the abovementioned variables. A questionnaire survey was conducted in this study, with 452 valid questionnaires collected from chronic patients previously participating in online community activities. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling analysis showed that emotional support and informational support positively predict self-efficacy and trust, respectively, and consequently, self-efficacy and trust positively predict medication adherence. In addition, three relationships including the influence of emotional support on trust, the influence of trust on medication adherence, and the influence of self-efficacy on medication adherence, the types of online communities result in significant statistical differences. Based on the findings, this research suggests healthcare professionals can enhance patients’ self-efficacy in self-care by providing necessary health information via face-to-face or online communities, and assuring patients of demonstrable support. As such, patients’ levels of trust in healthcare professionals can be established, which in turn improves their medication adherence.

scholarly journals VALIDIZATION OF THE EMPIRICAL MODEL OF THE DYNAMICS OF INTEGRATION OF INTERNET COMMUNITIES

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-24
Author(s):  
A.M. Ponomarev
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Model ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Community ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Theoretical Conclusion ◽  
Internet Communities ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Internet Community ◽  
New Criteria

The article presents the results of a validating study carried out within the framework of the research under the grant "Building predictive models of the dynamics of the development of mobilization-type Internet communities". The aim of the study is to test the empirical model of integration of the Internet community in terms of the validity of the content and the validity of the criteria. The subject of the study is the validity of the criteria and integration factors identified in this model. The research methods are a survey of internal experts and a comparative analysis of assessments of the criteria and factors of integration of the specified model by external and internal experts. The results obtained allow us to conclude that it is correct to identify the criteria and factors for integrating the Internet community at the first stages of the research project. Differences in the assessment by two types of experts of the significance of some criteria and factors of integration of Internet communities receive the fixation of two observation positions - external and internal - as two types of explanation, namely, an understanding and descriptive explanation, respectively. The conducted research not only allows to introduce new criteria and factors of integration into the empirical model of integration of the Internet community, but also to draw an important theoretical conclusion. Online communities in their development manifest both the properties of real social groups and the properties of networks. These two methodological attitudes can be equally successfully applied in the analysis of online communities of the mobilization type. In the first case, analyzing the behavior of the online community as a social group, the dynamics of its mobilization function is mostly recorded. In the second case, analyzing the behavior of a community as a network, the dynamics of its volume and the dynamics of information potential are described to a greater extent.

“Emotional strip-mining”: Sympathy sockpuppets in online communities

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110405
Author(s):  
Devon Greyson ◽  
Kaitlin L Costello
Keyword(s):  
Online Communities ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Strip Mining ◽  
Knowledge Gap ◽  
Online Deception ◽  
Online Identities

Sympathy sockpuppets are false online identities used for purposes of extracting care work from others. While online community infiltration for nefarious purposes is a well-documented phenomenon, people may also join online communities using deceptive personas (“sockpuppet” accounts) for non-nefarious reasons, such as to gain sympathy or cultivate a sense of belonging in a group. In comparison with scamming and trolling, this more subtle form of online deception is not well understood, and to date, its impacts on individuals and communities have not been fully articulated. This knowledge gap leaves communities without guidance when managing the impacts of this sympathy sockpuppet deception. We interviewed people who had been members of online communities that discovered sympathy sockpuppets in their midst to explore and characterize the phenomenon of sympathy sockpuppetry and to provide guidance for other individuals and communities that encounter similar forms of online deception.

scholarly journals Who's Contributing? Do Personality Traits Influence the Level and Type of Participation in Online Community?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sarah Morse
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Personality Trait ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Personality Types ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Content Type

<p>Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to find out if personality traits have any influence on the level and type of participation in online communities. Aim: The aim of this paper is to find out if the small number of active participants in online communities are dominated by a particular personality trait, and if personality traits influence how much and what type of participation an individual undertakes in online communities. Method: An online survey was used to gather both participation types and levels and to measure personality, using the Big Five Inventory, 44 item tool. Findings: Personality does have an influence on what type of participation individuals undertake in online communities. Individuals displaying high in extraversion traits are less likely to be active in online communities but when they do they identify with a sense of friendship. Individuals displaying high in neurotic traits are less likely to be active in online communities but when they do they are motivated by a sense of belonging. Individuals high in conscientiousness traits are more likely to be motivated to participate by sharing useful information. Individuals high in a combination of conscientiousness and agreeable traits were motivated to participate to share useful information. There was no evidence to suggest that those that do participate are dominated by a particular personality type. What was evident was that individuals high in certain personality traits are less likely to participate in certain content activity. This means that communities that engage in specific content type or activity may be skewed to particular personality types. More in- depth research would be required on one type of community in order to investigate this further.</p>

Dealing with Internet Trolling in Political Online Communities

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Discussion Groups ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Original Meaning

Internet trolling has become a popularly used term to describe the posting of any content on the Internet which is provocative or offensive. This is different from the original meaning online in the 1990s, which referred to the posting of provocative messages for humourous effect. Those systems operators (sysops) who run online communities are finding they are being targeted because of abuse posted on their platforms. Political discussion groups are some of the most prone to trolling, whether consensual or unwanted. Many such websites ara open for anyone to join, meaning when some members post messages they know are offensive but legal, others might find grossly offensive, meaning these messages could be illegal. This paper develops a questionnaire called the This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things Scale (TIWWCHNT-20), which aims to help sysops better plan the development of online communities to take account of different users' capacity to be offended, and for users to self-assess whether they will be suited to an online community. The scale is discussed in relation to different Internet posting techniques where different users will act differently.

scholarly journals Who's Contributing? Do Personality Traits Influence the Level and Type of Participation in Online Community?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sarah Morse
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Personality Trait ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Personality Types ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Content Type

<p>Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to find out if personality traits have any influence on the level and type of participation in online communities. Aim: The aim of this paper is to find out if the small number of active participants in online communities are dominated by a particular personality trait, and if personality traits influence how much and what type of participation an individual undertakes in online communities. Method: An online survey was used to gather both participation types and levels and to measure personality, using the Big Five Inventory, 44 item tool. Findings: Personality does have an influence on what type of participation individuals undertake in online communities. Individuals displaying high in extraversion traits are less likely to be active in online communities but when they do they identify with a sense of friendship. Individuals displaying high in neurotic traits are less likely to be active in online communities but when they do they are motivated by a sense of belonging. Individuals high in conscientiousness traits are more likely to be motivated to participate by sharing useful information. Individuals high in a combination of conscientiousness and agreeable traits were motivated to participate to share useful information. There was no evidence to suggest that those that do participate are dominated by a particular personality type. What was evident was that individuals high in certain personality traits are less likely to participate in certain content activity. This means that communities that engage in specific content type or activity may be skewed to particular personality types. More in- depth research would be required on one type of community in order to investigate this further.</p>

scholarly journals Understanding the Internet Pitchfork Mob: Internal Revolutionary Activity in Self-Regulated Online Communities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
CO McRae ◽  
Jean-Gregoire Bernard ◽  
Jocelyn Cranefield
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Business Models ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Voluntary Contributions ◽  
Digital Activism ◽  
Preliminary Model ◽  
Key Events ◽  
Value Relations

© 2016 University of Wollongong, Faculty of Business. All rights reserved. Research into organised online protest typically focuses on how digital activism empowers social movements. But what if an online community is rebelling against its platform owners? This study seeks to identify the trajectory of internally focused revolutionary activity in self-regulated online communities. Based on an analysis of three cases (Reddit, 2015; Mozilla, 2014, and Skyrim, 2015) it identifies six stages of revolution: incident, reaction, mobilization, action, negotiation, and a return to ‘normality’ with a new power equilibrium. For each stage, key events, relations between the community and platform managers, and the ways in which power is enacted through online means, are identified. This preliminary model for online community revolution offers potential for further work that has diagnostic, predictive and ameliorative value. Relations with online communities are of significant value in an era in which many platform-related business models are reliant on voluntary contributions of self-regulating online communities.

scholarly journals Understanding the Internet Pitchfork Mob: Internal Revolutionary Activity in Self-Regulated Online Communities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
CO McRae ◽  
Jean-Gregoire Bernard ◽  
Jocelyn Cranefield
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Business Models ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Voluntary Contributions ◽  
Digital Activism ◽  
Preliminary Model ◽  
Key Events ◽  
Value Relations

© 2016 University of Wollongong, Faculty of Business. All rights reserved. Research into organised online protest typically focuses on how digital activism empowers social movements. But what if an online community is rebelling against its platform owners? This study seeks to identify the trajectory of internally focused revolutionary activity in self-regulated online communities. Based on an analysis of three cases (Reddit, 2015; Mozilla, 2014, and Skyrim, 2015) it identifies six stages of revolution: incident, reaction, mobilization, action, negotiation, and a return to ‘normality’ with a new power equilibrium. For each stage, key events, relations between the community and platform managers, and the ways in which power is enacted through online means, are identified. This preliminary model for online community revolution offers potential for further work that has diagnostic, predictive and ameliorative value. Relations with online communities are of significant value in an era in which many platform-related business models are reliant on voluntary contributions of self-regulating online communities.

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