Blogs - a community?

As blogging becomes wide-spread, a blogging community is built. A community, in general, refers to a group of people within a social circle that usually share similar values and interests (Dictionary.com, 2011). Therefore, the blogging community is an online one whose priority is blogging (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). 

According to Nancy White, there are three blogging communities (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). 

Source: The Knowledge Tree

The first is the single blogger community. This form combines of either one of multiple bloggers of one blog (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). As there is a central blogger, they have the power to set their own norms and rules when it comes to blogging (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). Their blogs include their personal information and their posts usually serve as a starting point for comments and arguments (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). 

Source: The Knowledge Tree

The second community is the central connecting topic community (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). Here, bloggers with similar passions are connected together through links from one blog to another (The Knowledge Tree, 2006).  Examples include food blogs and travel blogs. Thus, a community is formed. Its existence does not depend solely on just one blog (The Knowledge Tree, 2006).

Source: The Knowledge Tree

The last community is the boundaried community. This means a collection of blogs are provided on one site and they require registration from users to access the blogs (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). They are more likely seen to be a forum-based community, where people can communicate through the uses of discussion boards (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). The power of this form of community belongs to the ‘founder’ of the site, who is able to impose regulations on the platform (The Knowledge Tree, 2006).  

            NetSquared contains characteristics of a boundaried community. It is an online organization containing a collection of blogs that is for social changes in the world (NetSquared, 2011).  As I look at the site with more detail, I realize that people are required to register if they are interested in contributing a blog post themselves or to comment on one. The comment sections in the site also acts as a discussion board for members. Also, there is first and foremost a founder of the site which in this case is a guy named Daniel Ben-Horin (NetSquared, 2011).

References:

Blogs and Community-launching a new paradigm for online community?, The Knowledge Tree, viewed 22 August 2011, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>.


Dictionary.com, 2011, Dicionary.com, viewed 22 August 2011, <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/community>.


NetSquared 2011, NetSquared, viewed 22 August 2011, <http://www.netsquared.org/>.