Digital Communities – a concept I had never really put a name too.
Physical Community:
- a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
- the condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common.
Digital Community
- Communities of interest or place that rely on digital technologies such as mobile phones, the Internet and e-mail to communicate, network and disseminate information.
We all belong to a number of communities – sporting clubs, schools, interest groups, friendship networks, work and colleagues and so much more. These are our physical communities, ones that we interact with in a physical nature. Seeing each other daily at work, dropping our children off to school and chatting to other parents, sports training and games for either ourselves or our children. It happens at a specified time in a specified location. Catching up with friends for lunch at 1pm next Saturday for example.
But what about our Digital Communities. These have been so important during a state of lockdown as they have been our form of connection and interaction. The role of Facebook Groups have increased in importance as people have been able to reach out and receive a connection back, sparking conversation as well as debate, providing entertainment, but most importantly reassurance that we are not alone in this situation.
For businesses, their digital community in which they share, sell and connect with has been an essential way of remaining in business and staying relevant. Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, LInkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter – depending on where your audience hangs out, we have built our own digital communities in which we connect with regularly.
Have you ever thought about how many digital communities you belong to? How many instagram accounts do you follow? How many Facebook Groups do you belong to? How many people do you follow on Snapchat or have a connection with on LinkedIn? These are all digital communities. Some you give more relevance to and others are just there for entertainment, inspiration and also support. Some communities we run and facilitate (business owners and group leaders) and some we are just members of and contribute to from time to time. They all play different roles in our lives and fulfil different needs, but at the end of the day, they are all very important. Do you think one type of community is more important than the other or do they hold the same level of influence and value?
