Definition, Antecedents, and Outcomes of Successful Virtual Communities

Howard Rheingold’s (1993) book The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier was the first to bring virtual communities to the attention of researchers and practitioners. Although virtual groups have been examined previously, Rheingold’s descriptions of participating in the WELL, an Internet-based bulletin board, vividly portrayed the potential of online social groupings. Rheingold told stories of people who had never met face-to-face providing socio-emotional and even financial support to each other through times of crisis and celebration. Since then, the popularity of virtual communities (also known as online communities) has increased. Interacting with others online became more common as organizations and society began to perceive it as a normal behavior and not one engaged in primarily by the socially inept. Indeed, virtual communities became a typical mode of interaction for both work and social purposes. At work, employees have organizationally sanctioned virtual communities such as the company listserv as well as virtual communities for professionals to interact with each other outside their organizations (e.g., Charity-HR, a listserv for HR professionals in non-profit organizations). Some organizations have even developed virtual communities for their customers. Some of these virtual communities are for users of particular products, like the wristwatch enthusiasts (Rothaermel & Sugiyama, 2001). Others, however, are designed to allow customers to provide input for the company’s new products and services (Catterall & Maclaran, 2002). Virtual communities have also become quite common in social interactions. Many neighborhoods have developed listservs as well as electronic bulletin boards to allow neighbors to interact and share information. Social groups who interact face-to-face (FtF) may also use virtual communities to keep members informed and connected between their meetings. The most common social virtual community, however, may consist of people who are physically dispersed and never interact FtF. These virtual communities are formed around a shared interest in a particular topic. These topics range from movies, to food and wine, to pets, to political topics, and even to aspects of parenthood as evidenced by the hundreds of interactive sites on Babycenter.com.