'Howard Rheingold (in Flew, 2002: 76) defines virtual communities as ‘social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussions [using the Internet] long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace’.'
Personalisation:
The new technology has given us the ability to transform basic aspects of our lives: the way we converse and learn; the way we work, play and shop; even the way we participate in political and social life.
The Internet is allowing individuals to make decisions that once were made by governments, corporations and the media. To an unprecedented degree, we can decide what news and entertainment we're exposed to and whom we socialize with. We can earn a living in new ways; we can take more control of how goods are distributed; and we can even exercise a new degree of political power. The potential for personal growth and social progress seems limitless. (Shapiro A, 1999)
Traditionally, friendships and acquaintances have been structured by physical proximity; we meet people because they are our neighbours, classmates, co-workers or colleagues in some local organization. Much of our information intake-newspapers and radio, for example-also reflects locality, and we share these media experiences and others (like national television) with those who live around us. The global reach and interactivity of the Internet, however, is challenging this. Individuals can now spend more time communicating and sharing experiences with others regardless of where they live.
The Internet gives individuals a new ability to personalize their news, entertainment and other information. There is no longer a need to take in information that is of no relevance to you.
The Internet's impact on community has everything to do with a digital phenomenon known as personalization, which is simply the ability to shape one's experience more precisely whether it's social encounters, news, work or learning.
Individuals can spend more time communicating and sharing experiences with others regardless of where they live. As Internet pioneer IC.R. Licklider wrote back in the sixties, "Life will be happier for the on-line individual because the people with whom one interacts most strongly will be selected more by commonality of interests and goals than by accidents of proximity."
Internet is becoming normalized as it is incorporated into the routine practices of everyday life.
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