Sociomental Bonds: Why We Keep Online Communities Alive
As technologically derived rituals provide order for an individual, they also provide a sense of comfort and stability. We can come to believe that such connections and communities of the mind will last for a reasonably long time. We come to depend on them to be there and, in a more latent sense, to provide order and structure to our lives. Offering reassurance in their familiarity, rituals are evoked and replicated and we feel safer and more comfortable (Brundson 1984: 86). When we form Internet connections that we anticipate will be long lasting, we allow ourselves to become quite friendly and to feel a pronounced affinity with those to whom we are connection (Walther, Slovacek, and Tidewell 2001). When a series of experiences is predictable generated, people can begin to feel comfortable investing emotional energy in them. The serialized form “alas real anxieties, satisfies real needs and desires, even while it might distort them” (Modleski 1982: 108, emphasis in original; see also Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi 1990: 174)
Routinized social bonding helps individuals maintain “ontological security” – the deeply rooted, unconscious confidence that human beings desire regarding the constancy of their social environment (Giddens 1990: 92, 1979: 219). We cannot emotionally bear the possibility that the world may change overnight; we need to know that the world is as it should be in order to feel safe. As social action is routinized and coordinated among individuals, our world remains ordered and secure. When sociamental bonds provide this for us, it is little wonder that we are so inclined to keep them “alive,” often for very long periods of time, and to keep those to whom we are connected mentally “with” us.
Questions of the day -
• What rituals are you creating in your online communities to provide comfort and stability?
• What tools are you providing to allow your community members to invest emotional energy?
• How are you giving your community a sense of longevity that the platform you’re providing for the mental connections will be around for years to come?
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This is something that resonates with me, as we recently switched our online forums to another platform and I was reminded how deeply engaged some members are in online communities–and how wedded they are to particular platforms, too. Obviously, connecting online is about the communication and the interactions between people–but for some, the medium is just as important as the message. I hadn’t anticipated how deeply affected some people would be by the switch to a new platform–it seems like the more engaged they were when the community was on the previous platform, the more disappointed and angry they’ve been with the platform change. Even though the platform was less than ideal, it was what they were comfortable with and unfortunately we have even lost some of the most active members of the forums due to the change to a new platform. I don’t know if it’s temporary and they will be back or if they’re gone for good–I hope it’s the latter.
In answer to your questions, I guess I’d suggest that anyone with an existing online community that’s considering a switch to a new platform give lots of advance warning and do everything they can to preserve the community during the change. People don’t like change!!
Maggie,
Thanks for the comment! Changing platforms can put some stress on a community – just like everything else people are usually resistant to change and if you have a community that has been growing up on one platform they may resist even when it’s a better platform for people to communicate on. I’d love for you to write a guess blog on why the change was made and how you worked through the kinks of the transition with the community, let me know if you’re interested – Great stuff!
I appreciate your positive twist on this topic, but I am going to use a word that most people would rather not read.
Online social communities are created because people are lonely. They also would prefer convenience and comfort (with themselves) than by pushing their personal boundaries and acting on courage to do something that would provide opportunity to meet a stranger, provide a random act of kindness, or (God help me) help someone else in person.
Humanity is already information overloaded, but the direction we are headed… more ideas and more information.
How many people have you hugged or hand shaked today?
Reid,
great point but what about information sharing? Yes, some communities are for lonely souls but there are other communities based more on the sharing of information rather than personal connection. Sure personal connection might be a derivative from sharing information but it might not be the driving force for a person to join a online community. Just think online music communities, it’s not because I’m lonely but I want to connect with people that have different tastes and styles so I can listen to some great new music. Loneliness can be a driver for some people to join a community but I would disagree that it’s the root for online communities. I mean just look at Four Square they’re an online community built to get people outside doing things.