Online Community - Roles in An Online Community

Roles in An Online Community

Online communities are very different in content, however the roles that people play in their online society are often very similar. Both Nancy White and Elliot Volkman point out several different categories of people that play a role in the cycle of social networking, these include:

• Community architect – sets goals for the online society, they decide what the purpose of the site will be and how it will affect society.
• Community manager- they oversee the progress of the society, much like a manager of a store.
• Paid member- this is a member that is paid to contribute to the site. They play a part in getting the site going and getting other people interested in using the site.
• Core participants- these may also be considered free members that visit most often, they represent the majority of the contributors to the site and are very important to the sites progress.
• Lurkers- may include passive lurkers who are not quite ready to post their opinions on the community site, however one step closer to becoming an active lurker.
• Dominators-also many be known as power users, these people influence the space and time given in a single interaction.
• Linkers- these are the people that participate across the board in a wide variety of discussions. They help to create connections and influence others to participate across the community.

These terms are taken from the ethnographic approach of studying society. Ethnography, meaning ‘a portrait of people’ in its literal sense, is the art in describing a group. In this case the descriptions create groups within the social construction of an online community.