Virtual Communities

Has anyone else had problems with signing into their blogs? For the past 4 days it has not been accepting my password and user name but now it finally worked. The whole topic on virtual communities was awhile ago but ill try freshen my memory....
What interested me the most was the questions we went over in class on Thursday. The definitions of community of interest and community of place were interesting i though, it sort of helped to define the notion of online community.

Just before i went onto my facebook and bebo and had a look at my 'friends' list, just to see who i actually had on there and i actually saw the about 80% of the people i have added are people that i would consider myself having weak ties with. Heaps were just people i have met through friends and people that you usually just give a quick hey to. The whole strong and weak tie thing refers to how much trust we have in these people and the 'emotional intensity' involved but everyone of these weak tie 'friends' can see all the same detailed info about me as much as my strong ties can. I thought just because my profile is private i assumed only the people i wanted to (strong ties) could see my pics and read my day to day going on's but no the weak ties who i barely know also can....i think I'm going to have to go through the process of editing this list so only the people i want can access my profiles.

The reading for this week was also really good as well, i like where he pinpoints about human association becoming abstract in society today. I personally don't agree, even though there is an obvious trend in online communities i don't think at any stage they will take over and be the leading source of communication. There is still an issue of trust when it comes to these communities, like we discussed in class and i think people will always be conscious of this. It became obvious in our group discussions that we all engage differently online then what we do face to face.

Anyway its a Sunday afternoon and i think this blog is proving that Sundays arnt the best day of the week to think....Hope you have all had a good w.e :) :)