Online Communities: In The Beginning
By Renee Mitson
The shift towards online communities started more as a fantasy than an actual movement. Above is a map used on Mashable dictating the original “road map” of where people thought online communities were headed. Made in 2007, MySpace still reigned supreme with content-based “journaling” communities such as Xanga and LiveJournal right behind them. Wikipedia was known of as more of a nerd fest and way to quickly write a paper and blogs were in the sea of unknown, with few people consistently following one blogger or concept. 
Take a look at the map created in the last year, charting the “geographical” change in online communities:
Here, Facebook has out-shot the competition becoming the King of all social networking. Sites such as MySpace are no longer considered particularly relevant in the business model of most companies, with only a stronghold in Indie and local artists.
Leaping out from sheer anonymity, Twitter is now a socially relevant tool that can be used for brand image and reaching out to users who may be worlds away. Unlike Facebook, which is largely based on communicating with those you already know, Twitter helps users to connect with strangers. LinkedIn has emerged as “ business Facebook,” and will likely maintain usage for those looking to make largely business connections.
Where Online Communities Are Headed:
Since online communities have now served the needs of a mass audience, the shift is starting to turn towards niche communities or communities that are more exclusive as opposed to inclusive. That does not necessarily mean they are “unfriendly” but more that people are looking for a way to connect that is narrower than Facebook. Communities are being built centered around content and topics ranging from Pilipino-American lifestyle (Bakitwhy) to a love for trendy cooking (http://www.hipstirfresh.com/) to even more serious topics such as grief coping (http://www.communitygriefsupport.org/).
In terms of the next “big community” it seems like the true takeovers occur from communities the skyrocket to domination, as opposed to slowly climb the ranks in popularity. That being said, if I were a betting girl, I would put my money on a site that helped people find communities of all different topics, like a Google for communities. There has been some movement towards this trend, but it seems to me this spot is still up for grabs.
