Chapter 4: Communities and Networks

     In this chapter, Baym talked about online communities and their creation and role within our lives. In class, we discussed what our definition of community is. For me, a community is a thing that unites people, be it through a certain location, demographic, topic of interest or end goal. This definition though, makes things a little difficult. Now that we live in a digital world, are websites such as YouTube and Facebook able to make a community?
     While I would argue that physical communities, such as friend groups where you interact face-to-face create much stronger relationships, I would not completely cross out online platforms as having the ability to create communities. In some instances, online communities transcend into the real world. This can most commonly be seen through dating sites, where people create a relationship through the digital world then end up making it face-to-face. Also, there are times when bonds created in an online community may be stronger than in real life. In this instance, I think of forums or chatrooms for people that struggle with something in their life. These can be things like depression, anxiety or an eating disorder. These communities are created for people to talk to one another to give them a safe space for them to communicate with people who understand what they are going through. In that case, the people in the community often feel a closer bond to people in this online world than they do with people that actually exist physically in their life.
     I think the major thing that I realize about communities in my life is that I act differently on each one. For some, I am very active and vocal. In others, I'm a passive community member where I just sit back and watch. I think that much like social media, we use different communities for different things. We have different sides to us that we allow to show in different communities, just like we have that ability on social media platforms.