This text primarily focuses on the concept of ‘Virtual Communities’. A virtual community[1] refers to a social network[2] of individuals who interact through specific social media[3] platforms, primarily on the internet[5], rather than face to face, and enable wider, more diverse, and dispersed communication networks to form. These communities can be categorized based on various factors like interests, education, and region. These platforms often have a global reach, with some boasting more than a billion users, such as Facebook[4]. Besides social networking, virtual communities also exist for educational purposes, like Edmodo, or based on specific interests like Flixster for movie enthusiasts. Certain platforms are region-specific, popular mostly in certain countries or regions. The interaction in these communities may be for various purposes, but they’re built and sustained by a common interest or goal.
Terms definitions
1. ↑ virtual community. A virtual community is an online space where individuals come together to interact, share information, and form connections. These communities, which emerged in the mid-1990s, can take various forms such as internet message boards, online chat rooms, virtual worlds, social network services, and specialized information communities. They offer a platform for real-time communication, knowledge exchange, and social interaction. The design, usability, and user experience of these virtual communities are crucial for their success, often evaluated using metrics like speed of learning, productivity, and user satisfaction. While they present opportunities for support, civic engagement, and diverse identity expressions, challenges like anonymity, cyberbullying, misinformation, and underrepresentation persist. Research in this field explores various aspects, including engagement, sociality, online health communities, and the impact of technology on identity politics.
2. ↑ social network.
1 A social network, as the term suggests, is a system that connects various individuals or organizations, also known as social actors. It's not just about online platforms like Facebook or Twitter, but about the intricate web of connections between these actors. The relationships, known as dyadic ties, allow for interaction and communication. By studying these networks, we can identify patterns and understand how influence works within the group. The field of social network analysis has roots in several areas such as social psychology, sociology, statistics, and graph theory. It's an evolving interdisciplinary field that uses various methods to analyze these social structures and provides theoretical explanations for the observed patterns. Key figures like Georg Simmel and Jacob Moreno have made significant contributions to this field.
2 A social network is a structure made up of individuals or organizations, known as actors, and the relationships or connections between them, referred to as ties. It is a field deeply rooted in disciplines such as sociology, psychology, statistics, and graph theory. The analysis of these networks, known as Social Network Analysis, involves identifying patterns, pinpointing influential entities, and studying how these networks evolve over time. It uses a variety of methodologies to study these structures. The development of this field has been significantly influenced by figures like Georg Simmel and Jacob Moreno, who made significant contributions to social network theories and methods. The study of social networks is interdisciplinary in nature, employing diverse methods to analyze network dynamics and patterns.
This article needs to be updated. (June 2024) |
This is a list of notable active virtual communities with more than 1 million registered members.
| Name | Description or focus | Date launched | Registered users | Registration | Global Alexa page ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avaaz | Global community and political activism | 2007 | 69,000,000 | Open | N/A |
| BlackPlanet | Black Americans | 1999 | 20,000,000 | Open | 7,193 |
| Blind | Employees | 2013 | 2,000,000 | Open with verified work email | 43,680 |
| Bluesky | Microblogging | 2024 | 34,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | N/A |
| Busuu | Language learning community (headquartered in Madrid, Spain) | 2008 | 12,000,000[citation needed] | Open | 8,049 |
| Buzznet | Music and pop-culture | 2005 | 10,000,000 | Open | 6,955 |
| CafeMom | Mothers | 2006 | 1,250,000 | Open to moms and moms-to-be | 1,293 |
| Care2 | Green living, social activism, animal rights | 1998 | 9,961,947 | Open | 1,930 |
| CaringBridge | Not for profit providing free websites that connect family and friends during a serious health event, care and recovery. | 1997 | 9,500,000 | Open to people 18 and older | 4,279 |
| Classmates.com | School, college, work and the military | 1995 | 50,000,000 | Open to people 18 and older | 3,284 |
| CouchSurfing | Worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the communities they visit | 2003 | 18,000,000 | Open | 2,231 |
| Cyworld | General, popular in South Korea | 1999 | 24,000,000 | Open | 1,616 |
| delicious | Social bookmarking allowing users to locate and save websites that match their own interests | 2003 | 8,822,921 | Open | 436 |
| DeviantArt | Art community | 2000 | 22,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 131 |
| Duolingo | Language learning community and forums | 2011[citation needed] | 500,000,000 | Open to all ages. Forums open to people 13 and older | 547 |
| Draugiem.lv | General (primarily Latvia, Lithuania, and Hungary) | 2004 | 2,600,466 | Invitation only | 2,698 |
| Douban | Chinese Web 2.0 website providing user review and recommendation services for movies, books, and music | 2005 | 46,850,000 | Open | 106 |
| DXY.cn | Chinese online community for physicians, health care professionals, pharmacies and facilities | 2000[citation needed] | 2,000,000 | Open | 8,367 |
| Edmodo | Social learning network for schools | 2008 | 50,000,000+ | Open to students, teachers and parents | 2,367 |
| English, baby! | Students and teachers of English as a second language | 2000 | 1,600,000 | Open | 29,585 |
| General | 2004 | 2,800,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 3 | |
| Fetlife | People who are into BDSM | 2008 | 11,000,000 | Open to people "of legal age to see adult content" | 4,131 |
| Fishbrain | Mobile social network, fishing | 2010 | 2,200,000 | Open | 436,164 |
| Flixster | Movies | 2007 | 63,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 4,012 |
| Flickr | Photo sharing, commenting, photography related networking, worldwide | 2004 | 114,000,000 | Open | 48 |
| Fotki | Photo sharing, video hosting, photo contests, journals, forums, flexible privacy protection, friend's feed, audio comments and unlimited custom design integration | 1998 | 1,632,565 | Open | 8,011 |
| Fotolog | Photoblogging, popular in South America and Spain | 2002 | 20,000,000 | Open | 3,168 |
| Foursquare | Location-based mobile social network | 2009 | 20,000,000 | Open | 817 |
| Friendster | General, popular in Southeast Asia and formerly in the western world | 2002 | 90,000,000 | Open to people 16 and older | 12,167 |
| Gaia Online | Anime and games, popular in the US, Canada and Europe, and moderately popular in Asia | 2003 | 23,523,663 | Open to people 13 and older | 6,277 |
| Geni.com | Families, genealogy | 2007 | 15,000,000 | Open | 5,958 |
| GetGlue | Social network for entertainment | 2008 | 2,000,000 | Open | 3,735 |
| Goodreads | Library cataloging, book lovers | 2006 | 90,000,000 | Open | 327 |
| GrabCAD | GrabCAD Community is the largest online CAD library, design and 3D printing tutorials, and a network of additive professionals | 2009 | 11,000,000 | Open | N/A |
| Habbo | General for teens. Over 31 communities worldwide. Chat room and user profiles. | 2000 | 268,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 15,255 |
| HER | Sapphic community app for queer women, non-binary and trans people. Community groups, online events and IRL events. 114 countries. 15 million users. | 2015 | 15,000,000 | Open to people 18 and over | 1,230 |
| hi5 | General, popular in Nepal, Mongolia, Thailand, Romania, Jamaica, Central Africa, Portugal and Latin America | 2003 | 80,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 902 |
| Hyves | General, mostly popular in the Netherlands. | 2004 | 10,097,000 | Open | 2,243 |
| General | 2010 | 2,000,000,000 | Open | 38[citation needed] | |
| Itsmy | Mobile community worldwide, blogging, friends, personal TV-shows | 2008 | 2,500,000 | 770,100 | |
| iWiW | Hungary | 2002 | 4,000,000 | Invite-only | 3,831 |
| Jiepang | Location-based mobile social network, in the Chinese language | 2010 | 3,000,000 | Open | 14,790 |
| Kiwibox | General | 1999 | 2,400,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 104,563 |
| Kobo | Reading platform and social network | 2009 | 14,500,000 | Open | 7,277 |
| Koofers | Social studying network for college students | 2008 | 1,000,000 | Open | 97,090 |
| Last.fm | Music | 2002 | 30,000,000 | Open | 772 |
| LibraryThing | Book lovers | 2005 | 1,300,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 10,800 |
| LinguaLeo | Online English language learning website, popular among the Russian-speaking diaspora | 2010 | 3,749,061 | Open | 7,480 |
| Business and professional networking | 2003 | 774,000,000 | Open to people 18 and older | 12 | |
| LiveJournal | Blogging, popular in Russia and among the Russian-speaking diaspora abroad | 1999 | 17,564,977 | Open (OpenID) | 115 |
| Livemocha | Online language learning | 2007 | 5,000,000 | Open | 4,100 |
| Mastodon | An open-source, self-hosted and globally interconnected microblogging community | 2016 | 8,700,000 | Open, depends on the instance | NA |
| mixi | Japan | 2000 | 24,323,160 | Open | 232 |
| Miiverse | Social Network for Nintendo's Wii U home console and 3DS handheld family where users can post about games and ask for help on a particular game | 2012 | 4,500,000 | Nintendo Network members only | NA |
| MocoSpace | Mobile community, worldwide | 2005 | 3,000,000 | Open to people 14 and older | 9,882 |
| MyHeritage | Family-oriented social network service | 2003 | 30,000,000 | Open | 3,756 |
| MyLife | Locating friends and family, keeping in touch (formerly Reunion.com) | 2002 | 51,000,000 | Open | 1,765 |
| Myspace | General | 2003 | 30,000,000+ | Open to ages 13 and older | 161 |
| Nasza-klasa.pl | School, college and friends, popular in Poland | 2006 | 11,000,000 | Open | 75,145 |
| Netlog | General, popular in Europe, Turkey, the Arab world and Québec, Canada. Formerly known as Facebox, Bingbox and Redbox. | 1999 | 95,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 2,621 |
| Nexopia | Canada | 2003 | 1,400,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 25,241 |
| Odnoklassniki | Connecting with old classmates, popular in Russia and former Soviet republics | 2006 | 45,000,000 | Open | 65 |
| Open Diary | First online blogging community, founded in 1998 | 1998 | 5,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 28,134 |
| Plaxo | Aggregator | 2002 | 50,000,000 | Open | 5,310 |
| Ravelry | Knitting and crochet | 2007 | 6,700,000 | Open | 5,189 |
| Social news, link sharing and commenting | 2005 | 73,000,000 | Open | 8 | |
| Sina Weibo | Social microblogging site in China | 2009 | 300,000,000 | Open | 28 |
| Sonico.com | General, popular in Latin America and Spanish and Portuguese speaking regions | 2007 | 50,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 2,676 |
| SoundCloud | Repository of original music pieces and networking | 2008 | 10,000,000 | Open | 299 |
| Stack Overflow | Question and answer knowledge market site for programmers | 2008 | 16,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 41 |
| Steemit | Blockchain-based social networking | 2016 | 1,300,000 | Open | 5,577 |
| StudiVZ | University students, mostly in German-speaking countries. School students and those out of education sign up via its partner sites SchülerVZ and MeinVZ. | 2005 | 17,000,000 | N/A | |
| Tagged | General | 2004 | 100,000,000 | Open | 288 |
| Taringa! | General (primarily Argentina) | 2004 | 11,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 214 |
| TravBuddy.com | Travel | 2005 | 1,588,000 | Open to people 18 and older | 21,523 |
| General, microblogging, RSS, updates | 2006 | 330,000,000 | Open to all ages | 12 | |
| Tylted | Mobile social game network | 2007 | 3,000,000 | Open to people 14 and older | 737,508 |
| Vkontakte | General, including music upload, listening and search. Popular in Russia and former Soviet republics. | 2006 | 208,833,674 | Open | 38 |
| Vampirefreaks.com | Gothic and industrial subculture | 1999 | 1,931,049 | Open to users 13 and over | 21,052 |
| Viadeo | Global social and campus networking available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese | 2004 | 35,000,000 | Open/lift | 435 |
| WAYN | Travel and lifestyle | 2003 | 10,000,000 | Open to people 18 and older | 1,367 |
| WeeWorld | Teenagers – 10 to 17 | 2000 | 30,000,000 | Open to ages 13 and older | 18,317 |
| Xanga | Blogs and "metro" areas | 1999 | 27,000,000 | Open | 3,943 |
| Business (primarily Europe, specifically Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) | 2003 | 11,100,000 | Open | 270 |
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