Does social media build community? Perhaps you have a network of friends on Facebook or Twitter. I think that electronic connections can serve as one’s community, as long as several qualities describe the relationship.

Communities are sustained over time. Communities are essentially stable. They persist over years.  Perhaps it is surprising, but social media groups persist over a long time too. People in Twitter, Linkedin, MySpace and Facebook maintain relationships over months and years. People in communities like to return to a familiar locale, even if the connection is through the internet.

Communities offer a stable set of expectations. Some communities are into cooking, others are into fitness. Some communities expect humor and drinking, others are dark and gloomy. Often these expectations are never discussed, but they persist. The members of the community follow established habits. People who enter the community are drawn to the atmosphere of the group. Social media groups also have sets of expectations, and people who break the expectations are shunned.

People in communities share their lives and experience. People want to know about their friends! When in community, people tell stories about great moments and share secrets. People will talk about a missed phone call, a dropped parcel, and a joke. Big moments and minor joys, people come back to their communities because they recognize their friends – they have shared experiences together. Social media is build sharing faster than face to face communities because members don’t have to show their faces, and are free to withdraw when feeling threatened.

Communities provide emotional support. A friend announced today that his son died in a hit and run accident. He has had hundreds of people write consoling thoughts to him. This man lives in Germany, and I don’t know him very well, yet he is part of my Twitter community. When a connection is made with another person, even if the relationship exists through computers and smartphones, then people offer support for others like them. Emotions and personal connections do become real on networked systems.

People need to experience community. Social media provides connection with many people rapidly. Although the nature of the relationships have new rules and protocols, people like to feel that other people recognize their worth and treat them as individuals. The fundamental needs of people have not changed, although the rules of engagement have. Social media simply provides more variety in the realm of human contact.

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