Communities are important regardless of if they are outside your front door or at your desktop. Connecting with others, feeling a sense of belonging and being needed – these are all things you can find at your fingertips these days and people are taking notice.
A recent article in CNET News reports that an estimated 43 percent of Americans who belong to online communities say they feel just as strongly about their virtual worlds as their real-world counterparts. The numbers come to us by way of the USC Annenberg Digital Future Project. The Digital Future Project is a report examining the Web’s impact on society.
People polled have met an average of 1.6 people per year in real-world settings after originally meeting online. For those who remained online and did not make the crossover into real-world, they met an average of 4.65 friends. Not surprisingly or news to me, more than 40 percent of Internet users said that the Web was important for helping stay in touch with more friends and family.
Jeffrey Cole, director of the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future, said “… we are now witnessing the true emergence of the Internet as the powerful personal and social phenomenon we knew it would become.”
I could not agree more. The growth of social networking and other online communities are as legit as ever. Virtual consumers are talking and they are being heard – more so than in the real-world. This leads to a sense of empowerment and belonging which is a very powerful combination. So why wouldn’t they feel as strongly about their online communities as their real-world communities?
Aaron Greenberger
aaron
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