tutorial six: online communities

For this tutorial we looked at online communities that interest us and why people participate in them. I have chosen to have a closer look a Facebook and outline what it's all about.
Facebook is an online community that enables people to connect and share with others in their life. The web address is www.facebook.com. There are a very broad range of services that facebook provides. These include emailing, showing movies, inviting people to events, joining clubs, having access to friends facebook sights and adding photos. People can contribute to friends Facebook pages through writing posts on their wall or tagging them in photos.
People choose to contribute to Facebook so they can keep in touch with friends and family easily. It gives them a sense of community and are continually motivated to contribute because they expect to get something back in return e.g. a wall posting to someone generally results in one back to you. Here is an example of a wall posting:
"Hey Zo, how is NZ. Whats been going on? How is your course? How's Petey? Seeing lots of one another? Have you been surfing? Yes i do ask too many questions, sorry - I'll hear from you soon xx"
People join facebook to stay in touch with friends. It allows for easy communication for people that may not be able to speak often, for example if they life in a different country.
There are however some ethical issues that can arise from using Facebook. If you are not select with who you pick as your friends then this could lead to online bullying. People can put up whatever photos they wish on their Facebook and will stay up there unless someone reports them. this mean that someone could put up a photo of you with out your consent.
Facebook holds some benefits over traditional communities such as not having a geographical barrier stopping communication between people, however unlike traditional communities it doesn't allow face to face interaction with friends and family that are an essential role in relationships.
Overall I recommend Facebook as a safe and highly useful online community that allows easy contact with friends and family wherever you may be.