Pernicious virtual communities: Identity, polarisation and the Web 2.0

@article{Parsell2008PerniciousVC,
  title={Pernicious virtual communities: Identity, polarisation and the Web 2.0},
  author={Mitch Parsell},
  journal={Ethics and Information Technology},
  year={2008},
  volume={10},
  pages={41-56}
}
  • M. Parsell
  • Published 1 March 2008
  • Sociology
  • Ethics and Information Technology
The importance of online social spaces is growing. New Web 2.0 resources allow the creation of social networks by any netizen with minimal technical skills. These communities can be extremely narrowly focussed. In this paper, I identify two potential costs of membership in narrowly focussed virtual communities. First, that narrowly focussed communities can polarise attitudes and prejudices leading to increased social cleavage and division. Second, that they can lead sick individuals to revel in… 
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