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 Senior Language Professor

Academic Department School of English
Centro Cultural Costarricense- Faculty of Social Sciences
Norteamericano 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
- Large clusters of like-minded individuals
with a sense of belonging with other
participants
- Globally linked “with kindred souls for
companionship, information, and social
support from their homes” (quoted by
The University of Sydney, (n.d.))
- 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.))
- The presence of social fabric much more
connected to the concept of how we
interact with members of a neighborhood
- “A community is a social reality
comprised of humans and objects where
humans retain most of the social agency”
(Mejias, 2005).
- The individual as the primary unit of
connectivity
- Small clusters of similar-minded members
who are chosen by an individual who
stands at the core of the network
- Individual operate within networks
organically, socially, or as meaning
makers, not necessarily all of them at the
same time
- 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 links with
user agency in the creation of meaning
and access to knowledge
- “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
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/

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