Boundary bridging/bonding

While some critics may claim that online communities are detrimental to physical communities, there is data that tells quite a different tale. Studies have found that online communities serve as a bridging and bonding agent in society. Bridging is defined as bringing together diverse people while bonding is the gathering of like people (Norris, 2002). While boundary bridging generally promotes diversity, bonding has the potential to create “social cleavages” (2002) which may bridge boundaries of ethnicity or gender but still separate them from other people with different beliefs or outlooks.

People in online communities generally look for people who reflect a similar disposition in life. This enables them to transcend other differences which in physical communities may cause a withdrawal. The internet removes the standard visual cues of social identity that often act as road blocks to communication. These social identities include age, socioeconomic status, gender, and ethnicity, to name a few. “Anonymity” (2002) is an important function of online communities in that it places everyone on an even playing field; you get to know the person, not the mask which they hide behind. While this heterogeneous group of individuals may bridge some of these barriers, there will always remain other barriers that will divide people. The great thing about online communities is that people get to choose which group they belong to, not based on where they fit into “society”, but who they actually are.

Refrences:

Norris, P. (2002). The Bridging and Bonding Role of Online Communities. The Harvard International Journal Of Press/politics 7, 3, 3-13. Retrieved Oct. 30, 2002 from SAGE Publications Communication Studies: A SAGE Full-Text Collection database.