The name of the community I am focussing on is facebook, its web address is www.facebook.com.
The focus of this community is to allow you to connect and share with friends and family from all around the world no matter where you are. Some of the services provided by this website are advertisements, online chat, discussion boards, emails and quizzes. This website is very interactive and run by its members. It is simple to sign up to and has thousands of members.
Facebook is a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other in real life. Although you may meet new people on Facebook, the majority of people use it to keep in contact with those they are familiar with. People using Facebook, such as myself, use it as a way of communicating with friends and family around the country and world. It is free to become a member and very convenient to use if you have access to a computer and internet. An extract from my own Facebook page is as follows: “Taylor is loving the group study in her lounge with the heat pump on.” This is an example of a friend sharing her thoughts and what she is doing at the present time to her friends who are also members of facebook.
A ethical issue which could arise within this community is the lack of identity of some of the users. It is very easy to accept new friends who you may not know, posing a potential risk that they will be able to know what you are doing, where you are and other personal details about you to a stranger. I think it is up to the individual to ensure you do not post any information onto this community that you do not want to get in the hands of the wrong people and to just be aware who the people are you are communicating with.
A benefit of using the online community facebook over a physical community is that there are not geographical restrictions of who you can communicate with. You can be anywhere in the world, providing access to the internet, and still keep in touch with those you want to. Another benefit of online communities would be for those who are unable to leave the house, for example the severely disabled, who can use this community as a way of staying in touch with people and not being isolated due to being home bound.
A disadvantage of communicating on the internet is the restrictions with physically meeting people. You are unable to explore places, or go out to coffee with your friends and family through the internet which provides a sense of bonding. Facebook is a good way of supplementing your communications but would not be best as a primary form of communication with other people.
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