Benefits of CMC

Reading from Anita Blanchard this week has suggested that rather than CMC having negative affects as suggested by the case of Stewart I blooged about last week, rather, there are a plethora of negative effects of such communication. For example, she suggests that CMC groups help replace the relationships which people lose as a result of becoming more isolated from their neighbours. It is a common belief that due to moral panics about who you could be talking to, and “Do you know who your neighbours really are?” that these relationships have deteriorated. She therefore argues that communication online helps replace these feelings on interaction.

In addition, becoming more connected with people online and through virtual communities you have actively chosen to be a member of and contribute to, rather than having your choice of community dictated to you as a result of your geographical location, you reap the benefits of social relationships with like minded others. This, I would assume, would give you the advantage of feeling more of a sense of community in this context , rather than in a real life context where these decisions are made for you.

An interesting finding was that some researchers have shown that participation in virtual communities can increase participation in face-to-face communities, therefore the benefits are not strictly limited to online communication only and can be carried over to improve face-to-face social skills. However, I would argue that this is not the case 100% of the time as shown by the case of Stewart, and I would assume many more like it.