The Validity of Virtual Community
I’ve read the blogs. I’ve listened to the arguments. I had even tried it out…a little. But I hadn’t fully experienced online community. I would say that there has been some level of “community” developed for me through Twitter, Facebook, and blogs. Community, for me, though, is one of those things that was always developed in person. Sometimes it’s on a biycle, other times it’s with my small group, and other times it’s at a coffee shop with a few guys. But it’s always been in person.
I unexpectedly experienced community yesterday morning after I read this update from Alan Danielson:
@alandanielson: I’m praying for NOW 10 more minutes. Reply with your prayer request or join me for live prayer via @TokBox
There was a link after the update, and I clicked on it. There was Alan, sitting in front of his computer screen, praying for his friends. I shared my request with him, and he prayed for me on the spot. Ok. Kind of cool.
Alan then invited me to “hang on the line” (he meant to stay logged into Tokbox), and he was going to invite some of his other friends into the conversation. As the other 3 men joined, they began to share their experiences from their prayer time. They, like Alan, had prayed for their friends during that 20 minutes, and invited people to share requests with them. As they finished sharing their stories from the prayer time, they shared their own requests with the group. I thought that it would be a bit cheesy, even cold-feeling because we were so far spread out across the country, looking at each other on a tiny screen. But real, gut-wrenching requests were shared. Nothing fake. No masks. No walls of separation. Real, honest, vulnerable requests. And it all happened while I sat in my office chair alone.
Twitter and Tokbox helped me fulfill this today:
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. -Romans 12:11-13
I felt a real burden, prayed a real prayer, and was really encouraged, after talking with these men.
What do you think of online community? Is it real? Or is community only formed while sitting in the same room as the other person?
Ben,
Helpful post, thanks for sharing!
I don’t think what you are describing is virtual community. I don’t think there is any such thing as virtual community. I think what you are describing is real community experienced through the use of the tools known as Twitter and Tokbox.
In the same way that a house or coffee shop can be a tool, Twitter and Tokbox are your tools. You are experiencing human community via the tool of being online.
And regardless of the forum for community, you lose something if it is not face-to-face. Whether that is a cell phone call, letter, email, Twitter or Tokbox, you lose something. (Tokbox, Skype, etc. are better than a cell phone call, I think. Even with those, though, you lose something).
Garrett,
Good point about the need for face-to-face contact. I think of Paul, longing to be with the Romans (Romans 1:10), the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 2:17-18), and Timothy (2 Timothy 1:4). It would be better if he could have communicated this letter to them face-to-face, but he was hindered for one reason or another. Yet he didn’t neglect the written word. The written word still encouraged, corrected, and maintained the relationship.
What do you think…what is it that you lose? How is community hampered, or held back, by these tools? What is that “something” that is lost through these mediums?