User:Sidrawithluv/sandbox

What is an Online Community
An online community, also called an internet community or web community, is a community whose members interact with each other primarily via the Internet.

What is social networking
A social networking service or SNS is an online platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections.

Cats and Online Communities
Cats have been worshipped- figuratively and literally- all throughout time. From Ancient Egyptian gods to beloved online personalities, cats have maintained their status as important members of society.

Cats and Social Media
Youtube is known to be the biggest platform for cat related content, with over 2 million cat videos on YouTube posted on the website (as of 2015). Cats are one of the most searched keywords on the Internet, with an estimated that 6.5 billion cat pictures on the Internet (as of 2015).

Instagram makes up for the second biggest platform to host cat related content, with owners creating accounts for, posting their felines and amassing millions of followers and likes. Currently, the most popular cat on Instagram is named Nala. Nala's account currently holds 4.4 million followers.

Psychology
Apart from the existing comfort that a community built on common interests provides, cat content in particular is related to positive emotions, and may even work as a form of digital therapy or stress relief.

Cute Cat Theory
The cute cat theory of digital activism is a theory concerning Internet activism, Internet censorship, and "cute cats" (a term used for any low-value, but popular online activity) developed by Ethan Zuckerman in 2008.It posits that most people are not interested in activism; instead, they want to use the web for mundane activities, including surfing for adult content and lolcats ("cute cats").

Gaming and Online communities
For a while, gaming was considered a lonely escape from reality. Now, in the age of the internet, connecting with others is easier and more popular.

Gaming and Social Media
Apps like Discord allow text, video and voice communication within DMs and group chats called servers. Servers provide a heightened form of community, as users can be allocated the role called Moderator. Moderators are in charge of policing the server, making sure other users are posting appropriately and are behaving respectfully with others.

Benefits of Gaming Communities

 * No physical boundaries: Online communities do not limit their membership nor exclude based on where one lives.
 * Supports in-class learning: Due to time constraints, discussion boards are more efficient for question & answer sessions than allowing time after lectures to ask questions.
 * Build a social and collaborative learning experience: People are best able to learn when they engage, communicate, and collaborate with each other. Online communities create an environment where users can collaborate through social interaction and shared experiences.
 * Self-governance: Anyone who can access the internet is self-empowered. The immediate access to information allows users to educate themselves.

Problems with Gaming Communities

 * Toxicity in games; usually takes the form of abusive or negative language or behaviour.
 * Online Disinhibition: The utilisation in gaming communities to say things that normally wouldn't have been said in an in-person scenario.
 * Dissociative Anonymity
 * Invisibility
 * Power of Status and Authority
 * Cyberbullying