Community has changed so much with the evolution of technology and the increasing accessibility of the internet. Back before the world wide web, was the beginnings of online social networking between the few who knew how to access and participate in the first online community platforms such as the Well. Within these communities, those with common interests were able to share their thoughts and opinions online to a community of people. At this point, that was revolutionary. Inside of these communities was also a sense of responsibility as there was no anonymity and all users had to own what they said.
Since the early stages of online community, the world has evolved towards a global network with millions of people all communicating through various social platforms and media. The users of these platforms have also expanded and are now accessible to almost anyone, including very young generations or people who wish to spread negativity under the now available cloak of anonymity. With this evolution, we have seen the 2nd and 3rd order effects that the original creators of the Well already foresaw and designed their original systems to avoid. We see things like the blaming and widespreadness of fake news, and many more bad outcomes of social media, coming into the forefront of our societies dilemmas.
In addition to these negative side effects of social media, we also see generations becoming addicted and reliant on the feeling that online communities give them. The current systems of online communities still use many of the same elements, conceptually, that were introduced in platforms such as the Well. However, we also see the depth of consequences that have resulted from the use of social media as such a widespread and designed-to-be-addicting service.
