A Short History of Online Communities

Remember when the term “community” connoted a group of people living together in the same geographical neighborhood?

In the age of the microchip, the world has grown smaller and people are reaching out to one another virtually. These days the word “community” means much more than geography; community includes a mind-boggling array of Internet groups, online associations and virtual “hang-outs.” Thanks to our mobile devices community means worldwide web, and we’re seeing more people than ever reach across geographic, socioeconomic and even cultural boundaries to find common interests.

So what is a virtual community and how have they arisen?

Back in the 70s before the dawn of the personal computer, a handful of geeks were holding online discussions via posted messages on “bulletin boards,” early web applications that managed user-generated content. These crude message boards gave rise to early Internet forums that allowed individuals to post messages and comment on other messages. Who knew that such an impersonal form of communication would catch on?

Eventually small listserves gave rise to forums devoted to singular topics and those forums grew to multi-leveled communication structures, some with millions of users. A sense of camaraderie grew among frequent visitors to these virtual office water-coolers and thus the first online communities were born.

Fast-forwarding to the 21st century, the popularity of online communities and community forums has skyrocketed.

Thanks to the Great Recession and the rise of the New Economy, virtual commerce has exploded. And yet businesses still need to service their clients, answer their questions, provide added value to their products, query their customers for market research and socialize to attract prospects. So these typical commercial needs and activities have gone virtual, too. And because virtual communities are so well suited to commercial needs, even the conventional bricks-and-mortar shops are getting into the act.

With the information boom in the Google age, everyone goes to the Internet to research everything, from which car to buy to where to eat dinner. This rise in the demand for information-based technology has been a boon to information-based communities that exist for disseminating facts, figures, statistics, reviews, etc.  

And of course, the social aspect of Internet use could be the single biggest reason online communities are growing. More businesses, large and small, are taking advantage of this trend and looking to the Web to boost their social impact. Community forums are not only a great way to garner marketing data, gather momentum for an idea or cause, or interact with potential customers. Consumers are using the online communities to engage with a company’s culture, before they buy.

It’s a good bet online communities are here to stay.