More and more people over the age of 30 are discovering Social Media. Just last week a bunch of my high school friends all flocked to a post started by someone on their Facebook page about how they missed high school and all the things that went with it. Almost 50 of my old buddies posted memories, comments and jabs about the school, teachers and times. All of these people are over 40.
If you are over 40 and you mention "online community", be careful not to let your mind think of "communes" as they were in the 60's and 70's. Communes of these decades were typically counter-culture and hippie oriented.
An online community is a bunch of people interacting together. They interact via communication media such as newsletters, e-mail, IM and Social Media. Even though some of my friends had not seen me and maybe not even each other in over a decade or more, through our previous association, we were magically brought back together as an online community through the technology of Social Media.
Your Facebook friend roster is an online community, and if you are a user, you are part of all of their online communities. As Mr. Spock says, "Fascinating".
In online communities, some people stay low, preferring to be an observer, some are just beginning to engage and others are constantly adding value, while others are just adding while working out frustration of not being able to share before, they share too much, I guess we could call this ITMI (internet too much info).
Some people leave. Can you believe it? Some people will actually stop following you on Twitter or de-friend you on Facebook? Yes, they will. They are either annoyed or just disinterested. Hey, some people's interests change.Maybe the new wore off or they just don't want to make time for you anymore. They don't see the same value or participation in the community as you do.
As I told a client a while back, this is the way the world is going, will you go with it?
Communities are about connection.
A conversation leads to a connection and that connection is community.