The term ‘community’ has fueled a variety of alternative views in a new technologically
progressive age, with superior current generational advances working to skew, modernize
and redesign its traditional definition. Firstly, we must ask ourselves, what is community? Is
it a physical entity of strong local ties powered by face to face interactions and
relationships? Or has social media and online communications propelled us forward to an
exceptional time of inclusive, free and vast potential of social interaction?
Community has been redefined and expanded using social channels to connect people
through the exchange of information and support (Hampton, 2015) with simple accessible
networking technologies. Allowing users to experience new opportunities with other parts
of the world, converse with like minded individuals, gain quick access to news and
information, practice self expression and individuality without being limited to local
ideologies and hierarchy (Dubois and Blank, 2018). Turkle (2015) argued that in our current
age we are experiencing the “demise of community, decline of conversation and
meaningful in-person contact”. Although social media has elevated community to a higher
vantage point, the core values and nature of communities are not withering but are being
reshaped (Hampton 2015), they have never been lost but will always need to adapt and be
fixed.

Reevaluating the initial ideologies surrounding communities may be a daunting thought,
when the nature of community is changing (Hampton 2018) so rapidly. Hampton (2015)
cleverly explains this as the “nostalgia of experiencing the perceived ‘perfect community’
that does not exist”, hinting at the notion of a perfectly functional local community. All
sharing similar views, similar economical stand points, gathering on each other’s porches to
bond and engage in face to face interaction. Especially in pandemic, limiting in person
exposure is of the utmost importance when taking local community health into
consideration, allowing members to stay at home working on individual endeavors or join
local forums if news is needed. As information becomes more accessible and people
branch out to new opportunities. Utilizing free moving time and space through online
communication, the structure of the traditional local community becomes less dense, less
tightly bound, but more diverse, more personalized and more extensive (Rainie and
Wellman, 2012).

When also taking time into consideration, the community has adapted to be much more
efficient and effective than the ‘door to door’ interactions (Hampton and Ling, (2013).
Rather than forced face to face or written communication causing social ties to become
dormant, social networking has allowed for a larger scale instant interactivity using a
person to network communication (Hampton, Lee and Her, 2011). Faster connections,
maintaining contact to maintain social ties without sapping the time of all parties involved.

Over the course of a human life, the movement from one neighborhood to another, school
to school, job to job, opportunities, having children,marriage, etc, (Kalmijn, 2003).
Individuals will rarely stay inoperative, with the constant movement or changes abandoning
large scales of social ties, thankfully social media gives the platform to keep contact and
hold strong community cohesiveness even when apart from the local area (Hampton,
2015). Members who hold onto the archaic ‘perfect community’ ideologies are being left
behind and subconsciously excluding themselves from a wider and diverse society,
attempting to “save one community at the expense of another” (Dotson, 2017).
In a constantly altering technologically advanced society we are faced with a variety of
ideologies, content, news, and individuals who span the length of the world. Online
communication has worked to push globalization and the sharing of information to a whole
new level. Alvin Toffler predicted (1970) that “the rise of computers would extend human
mobility to the point that communities would collapse”, but have they collapsed or been
redesigned? Adapted and modernized to our current economic and social environments.
Hampton and Wellman (2018) argued with this approach by explaining the use of social
media and communication technology, the traditional definitions have been regenerated to
give individuals the opportunity to participate in partial commitments to different social
milieus, promoting free and expressive choice of community engagement.

The impact of globalization on societies all over the world are endlessly fueled by effective
and alternative online communications. Exposure to new ideas, products and cultures
works to broaden all horizons involved to keep up with an ever advancing digital age. In
Europe in the 18th century, Tilly (1988) analyzed the influence of migration, trade, mass
manufacturing, military advancements, agriculture and interactivity with business leaders
due to successful implementation of globalization and social mobility. Similarly, Burgess
(1925) discovered in Chicago 1912-1922, telephone calls increased by 55.72% while the
overall population only increased by 13.4%, less local communication is evidently key for
progression, vast exploration of new ideas, revenue streams and advancements. The ‘space
of flows’ created by the telephone and the telegraph gave businesses and individuals the
power to communicate almost instantaneously at a very low cost or even free (Castells,
1996). Mobility has allowed for the rural to urban lifestyle changes (Hampton, 2015) that
has pushed out communities to become more diverse and inclusive, liberating us from the
bonds of a perceived traditional community (Lu and Hampton, 2017). Some are still
hesitant to accept the new forms communities have taken, Hampton (2018) reminds, “let us
not forget, before we were antisocial media, we were anti urban.”

In a time of uncertainty, polarizing ideologies and the search for individual identity, the
ability for online communication technology to give a unique opportunity of self expression
has become a staple for escaping the conventional community hierarchy (Dubois and
Blank, 2018). Juxtaposed to past lifestyles of early marriages and children, Klinenberg (2012)
reveals men and women now have a tendency to practice a free independence while living
alone, delaying children and marriage to focus on self expression, building strong
relationships, education and career aspirations. Having the freedom to be mobile, and not
tied down to the outlook circulating your local area, continues to give social media the
ability to promote users to join any chosen community they desire, whether that’s certain
online forums, pages, gaming communities, movements, events, hashtags, groups, etc.
Communities are diverse, home to a wide population of contrasting contributors holding
different ethnicities, morals, occupations. When addressing the past traditional style of
community, Hampton (2015) says watchfulness is high, as the community forms its own
social norms, defiance is met with authority or sanctions. Now that communities have
expanded and diversified through online interactions, the conventional bonds are broken
for community members to explore and engage in their own personal interests (Simmel,
1950), encouraging an individualized and varied community.

Societal shifts are constant and evolving, each supporting a different scale of change and
community involvement. Dating back to the industrial revolutions and rural to urban
transitions, to more current Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ and COVID-19 to name a few. Social
media holds a critical role in the quick and effective spread of information (Quattrociocch,
2017) for people to have access to content with the choice to engage or disengage, for
example, the BLM movement was bolstered by the overwhelming support of all avenues of
online communications, people from all over the world joining the community to support
the cause and stand up for racial equality (Kim, Fast and Markuzon, 2019). All information
broadcast live over social media allowing for both community support and funding (Mundt,
Ross, Burnett, 2018), not something that needed to be written or discussed in person, but
that which required immediate response and attention. Activists working together to bring
diverse groups to be united as one cohesive community, all with a common goal to help,
social media communication allowed for the world to take notice and stand together. Mundt, Ross and Burnett (2018) also state that social media has assisted in building larger
and stronger LGBTQ support and expression groups, promoting the ideas of “the rising tide
lifts all boats” and assisting “the least among you”, highlighting the strive for inclusivity and
acceptance.

Communication of news in online communities holds many forms, whether its posts,
forums or any other variations of media content, all allow for the convey of messages and
opportunity for interaction with like minded individuals. In a survey conducted by
Boczkowski, Mitchelstein and Matassi (2018) in Argentina 2016, from the age of 29 and
younger, 74% of the respondents associated their own experiences with the expression “I
came across news while im on social media” than, “I visit online news sites to get news.”
This is a social media tactic that works to passively inform users of important worldly news
in their feed without prior searching, portraying a few stories intertwined with their normal
searches informs individuals of the ongoings of the world without actively having to engage
in watching the new on television or visiting specific news outlet sites (Bates, 2002). This is a
simple and effective way to give users an entry into new community forums to engage with,
giving the opportunity to skip past or do further research. When putting it into perspective
that 62% of American adults receive their news on social media (Gottfried and Shearer,
2016), this keeps online communities in the loop for rest of world updates. As social media
grows in popularity and engagement, incidental news becomes much more of an important
solution to keep the population and it’s communities informed, simply as a by-product of
using online communication technologies (Boczkowski et al., 2017; Fletcher and Nielsen,
2018; Gil de Zúñiga et al., 2017; Oeldorf-Hirsch, 2018; Valeriani and Vaccari, 2016). No longer is
news judged by local sources, but vastly published to give users their own personal opportunity
to interpret and join the community they desire (Hampton, 2018).

Social media has diversified the potential of communities to a point where it is subjective to all
who engage in it. Dating from the traditional point of view, now to the inclusion of online
communications to give the power to all who endeavor to break from the bonds of supposed
community normality, to find like minded individuals and support in a variety of sparsely knit
networks (Lu and Hampton, 2017). Creation of a new, modern and inclusive form of cyber
community to pave the way, it has been reshaped to promote mobility, choice and self
expression alike for all users (Hampton, 2018). Assisting in sharing of ideologies, cultures and
interests through globalization giving the opportunity to branch out from local hierarchies and
limited social circles. Keeping users informed of worldly news of their surrounding communities,
pandemics, movements, rallies, events, being free to engage and explore of their own accord
(Simmel, 1950). Reminiscing of the ‘perfect community’ that does not exist (Hampton, 2018),
this nostalgia traps a past with an inability to adapt to the changing of times (Yamamoto and
Morey, 2019). Dissatisfaction has always surrounded the structure of community, it will never
vanish but will always need altering, social media and online communications give the
opportunity for a choice of a free community.

References:
Boczkowski, P., Mitchelstein, E., & Matassi, M. (2018). “News comes across when I’m in
a moment of leisure”: Understanding the practices of incidental news
consumption on social media. New Media &Amp; Society, 20(10), 3523-3539. doi:
10.1177/1461444817750396
Cinelli, M., Quattrociocchi, W., Galeazzi, A., Valensise, C., Brugnoli, E., & Schmidt, A. et
al. (2020). The COVID-19 social media infodemic. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 16598.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-73510-5
Diffusion of innovations within social networks. Retrieved from
https://researchfeatures.com/diffusion-innovations-within-social-networks/
Hampton, K. (2015). Persistent and Pervasive Community. American Behavioral Scientist,
60(1), 101-124. doi: 10.1177/0002764215601714
Hampton, K., & Wellman, B. (2018). Lost and Saved . . . Again: The Moral Panic about
the Loss of Community Takes Hold of Social Media. Contemporary Sociology: A
Journal Of Reviews, 47(6), 643-651. doi: 10.1177/0094306118805415
Mundt, M., Ross, K., & Burnett, C. (2018). Scaling Social Movements Through Social
Media: The Case of Black Lives Matter. Social Media + Society, 4(4),
205630511880791. doi: 10.1177/2056305118807911
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Yamamoto, M., & Morey, A. (2019). Incidental News Exposure on Social Media: A
Campaign Communication Mediation Approach. Social Media + Society, 5(2),
205630511984361. doi: 10.1177/2056305119843619