Virtual Community is Real Community

I don’t think I completely agree that virtual community is real community. Yes, in some ways virtual community is real community but not absolutely. For sure this is only true for some members of the virtual community. I think there are many aspects to consider in order for a virtual community to be real. One must have to consider every member of the virtual community; the place where they live, the gadgets or devices they owned, their time or schedule, etc. For sure those who see virtual community is real community are those members who owned computers, tablets, or any gadgets and are always connected to the internet. But how about those members who lived in a very remote barangay? How about those members who do not own computers or laptops? How about those members who do not have an internet connection? How about those members who do not have time to check their emails or any social network because they are very busy with their business or work?

The article we read made mention that online communities of faith are real to members who have come to rely on them for inspiration and support. I don’t have problem with this because that is what they believe. In fact I can say that online communities not just of faith, played a very important role in our lives. Recently, we had our 2^nd reunion with my classmates in my high school years. I really can say that that activity became successful because of online community particularly facebook. Actually I was the one who created the group in facebook last year. That is why we had the chance to gather last year and this year for our reunion. But our gathering was never successful if not of the social media. Before the reunion, we had countless of posts and messages. The good thing was that for this year’s reunion, we were able to have our class t-shirt. And this class t-shirts were paid by some of our classmates whom we contacted online. We were able to gather at one place because of facebook. But as I mentioned earlier, it is not enough because many of our classmates were not able to join. Maybe because they were not informed or their busy schedule or they had other important things to attend to. My point is that it is not enough to announce activities online but there is a need to inform all members personally. It is not an assurance that every member will be able to read your posts online because of the circumstances I mentioned earlier.

It is a fact that online communities is of great help to us because it is where we interact with each other, Through this interaction, we will be informed of many things, and will be able to acquire new ideas. This importance cannot make the virtual community real but it helps the community to achieve unity. Thus, I can say that virtual community is real community only to those who are always connected to the internet, and always rely online communities for inspiration and support.