The Difference Between a Network and a Community

Catedral de Sal, Zipaquirá, Colombia (2017)

Picture taken by Jonathan Acuña

The Difference Between a Network and a Community

A comparative chart

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.
Head of Curriculum Development Academic Department Centro Cultural Costarricense-Norteamericano	Senior Language Professor School of English Faculty of Social Sciences Universidad Latina de Costa Rica
Sunday, August 2, 2020 Post 356

         “Online communities do not represent every gathering of individuals on the Internet, particularly those using social media” (The University of Sydney, (n.d.)). As we will pay attention below, online communities and community networks share similar principles but do have nuances that must be pin-pointed and clarified. The mere conception of both types of communities triggers lots of points in common, but at the same time there is high level of reciprocity in one but not in the other, which makes it more collective action driven than individualistic.

         Let us begin to understand the difference between online communities as opposed to network communities by carefully analyzing the following comparative chart:

Online Communities	Community Networks
-      The group as the primary unit of connectivity	-      The individual as the primary unit of connectivity
-      Large clusters of like-minded individuals with a sense of belonging with other participants	-      Small clusters of similar-minded members who are chosen by an individual who stands at the core of the network
-      Globally linked “with kindred souls for companionship, information, and social support from their homes” (quoted by The University of Sydney, (n.d.))	-      Individual operate within networks organically, socially, or as meaning makers, not necessarily all of them at the same time
-      Papadakis’ offline community features are present to benefit each other: a) commonality, b) reciprocity, c) identity, d) collective action (or civility), and e) respect (quoted by The University of Sydney, (n.d.))	-      Not all Papadakis’ offline community paradigm is part of a network community: a) no reciprocity and b) no civility
	-      Possibility of access to knowledge coming from a network of similar minded members who share a similar profession
-      The presence of social fabric much more connected to the concept of how we interact with members of a neighborhood	-      The presence of social fabric links with user agency in the creation of meaning and access to knowledge
-      “A community is a social reality comprised of humans and objects where humans retain most of the social agency” (Mejias, 2005).	-      “A network is a social reality comprised of humans and objects where humans delegate social agency mostly to objects” (Mejias, 2005).

As it was seen, the differences pointed out above are not finished to the last stone! More and more can be added to this list to find the unblurred boundary between the two of them.

Based on Mejias (2005), there are also different types of participants when online communities and network communities are compared. Mejias (2005) identifies consociates and contemporaries. Within an online community we are bound to find “those social actors that could be directly experienced by the individual” (Mejias, 2005), the consociates. Abd based on this description, these people are individuals whom the social media user might have met before face-to-face. Mejias (2005) also points out that though these people may never meet in real life, they “can engage directly (although through various layers of mediation).” On the contrary, contemporaries are “actors that are indirectly experienced by the individual” (Mejias, 2005); we get to know, e.g., more about their career and ideas than about their personal lives, something that is quite different from the consociates.

“How we construct our networks entirely depends on the authority of those with knowledge and demonstrated agency within those groups” (The University of Sydney, (n.d.)). A community network is not for everyone; it is just for a group of individuals in certain professional circles who can really profit from  them. On the other hand, community network users can also be active members of online communities. That is, they can be consociates and contemporaries. On the other hand, “Beyond the superficial difference of navigating forums versus profile pages, the interactions are somewhat different between the network and the community” (The University of Sydney, (n.d.)). And what about bloggers? Where do they stand in this symbotic online relationship of media users?

References

The University of Sydney. ((n.d.)). What is the difference between a network and a community? Retrieved August 2, 2020, from https://www.futurelearn.com/: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/ethical-social-media/1/steps/824135

Mejias, U. (2005, October 16). Social agency and the intersection of communities and 
          networks (draft). Retrieved August 2, 2020, from Blog.UlisesMejias.Com: 
          https://blog.ulisesmejias.com/2005/10/16/social-agency-and-the-intersection-of-
          communities-and-networks-draft/

[2] Online Communities vs. Network Communities by Jonathan Acuña on Scribd