Communities är ett hett ämne som idag ständigt diskuteras i media. Människor blir mer och mer benägna att interagera online och mängden med Online communities ökar i takt med detta. I Sverige finns en community som heter Lunarstorm som har blivit ett fenomen som inte har skådats någon annanstans. Med sina 1,3 miljoner användare är det absolut störst i Sverige idag. Jag har i min uppsats tagit fram ett antal faktorer ur litteraturen som är avgörande för ett Online communities framgång.

Thesis purpose: The main purpose of this study is to empirically verify the applicability of Kozinets´ model on an interest, activity or lifestyle based online community, in order to develop an adaptive segmentation approach for segmenting Online communities. Methodology: This research is deductive by nature, cross-sectional by design and undertakes a quantitative approach using self-completion questionnaire as a part of a web survey to collect the empirical data needed. Theoretical perspective: The main theories guiding our work and supporting the findings of this study include: market segmentation (descriptive and behavioural) and communities (consumer communities and Online communities). Empirical data: A web survey with self-completion questionnaire used to gather empirical data from members of interest, activity or lifestyle based Online communities. Conclusions: This study took the specific characteristics of Online communities into more consideration than previous research and literature has done and also recognized that an adaptive segmentation approach is needed, depending on the communities of study.

Bachelor thesis in Interaction Design by Håkan Carlsson, spring term 2007, Malmö University, School of Arts & Communication. The climate for video sharing online is somewhere in the border of becoming a place for only the big companies to distribute material with general interest, or small communities with genre-specific interest to attract a larger audience. In this article I will look at the travelindustry to see what possibilities can be implemented into communities with interest in planning and travelling. I will argue that the importance of collaboration with different media can create a bigger picture so that more people can use and discover each other?s travel videos and experiences. I have also taken a closer look at social interaction at Online communities such as MySpace and YouTube.

The advancements of Internet have contributed to the expansion of social networks and new communities online where people are given an opportunity to get help and support. An important reason why people join these groups and organizations is to share their experiences, meet people in a similar situation and get support. Social media is nowadays an important part of our society. In this study, we will focus on investigating the interaction in closed communities online and blogs. The study aims to investigate whether social media and social networks online can be a support for young adults with cancer in the same way as physical meeting places.

Bakgrund och problem: Online communities är en färsk bransch där flerauppmärksammade förvärv ägt rum under det senaste året. Värderingen av nya företag påosäkra marknader kan ofta vara svår, i och med osäkerhet vad gäller hur den framtidapotentialen skall bedömas. Uppsatsens frågeställning går ut på att redogöra för hur detta kanske.Syfte: Uppsatsens explorativa syfte går ut på att inhämta så mycket kunskap och informationom ämnet som möjligt, och därigenom sträva efter att kartlägga och synliggöra den potentialoch de risker som finns inom branschen Online communities.Avgränsningar: Online communities är en plats där människor träffas virtuellt för attinteragera med varandra. Vi har valt att analysera sociala, relationsfrämjande, onlinecommunities som primärt är riktade mot ungdomar i Norden vars syfte är att utgöra enträffpunkt för allmänt socialt umgänge.Metod: Uppsatsen har ett explorativt undersökningsförfarande, där ett kvalitativttillvägagångssätt begagnats för att inhämta primärdata i form utav intervjuer med analytiker,experter och uppköpare.Analys och slutsatser: Intellektuellt kapital är grunden till värdeskapandet i en onlinecommunity. Att vårda relationer till medlemmarna är av avgörande vikt för framgång.

Since the beginning of the internet the criminal world has used the medium as a platform for operation.This dark web is a domain where illegal sites are flourishing due to the possibilities offered by newtechnology. Net-based criminal activity is a challenge for society as it uses hard proof technologicalsafety measures to avoid the law. Silk Road is the most prominent example, an online illicitmarketplace where drugs and illegal substances are being traded based on conventional e-commerceconcepts. This paper argues for trust as an important factor for the survival of illicit online trade andapplies existing theories on e-commerce and virtual communities. To identify patterns of trust andcommon trust-based issues among Silk Road users, a netnographic study was conducted on the site?sdiscussion forum.

Title: Nätdejting för olika åldrar (Netdating for different ages)Author: Henri NekmouchePurpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate what influence the medium Internethas had on building up relationships between people who have dated online, and tocompare two different age groups.Method/Material: In this study the author has conducted personal interviews with sixpeople who all have experienced Internet dating, and had their first contact with agirlfriend/boyfriend online. The questions asked were designed to help answering thepurpose of the study.Main results: This study shows that in general there is a positive view of Internet datingamong both groups. They appreciate the opportunities it provides, as they get to knowthe other persons personality first. Even so, it should be noted that they still tend to be abit ashamed to talk about Internet dating, and some don?t want to be associated with it.The communication pattern tend to be pretty much the same among both groups.

The purpose of this thesis was to study the importance of virtual communities for independent record companies. It also aims to examine how these companies use virtual communities in their marketing activities and how to gain competitive advantages by working with virtual communities. A case study based on interviews was conducted with managers from two independent record companies, Music Is My Girlfriend Recordings and B&B Records. Our study has shown that virtual communities are important for independent record companies as tools for finding and addressing the right target market. Useful information about the members of these communities can easily be gathered with the use of the various search options that are available.

Virtual Communities is an increasingly common phenomenon on the Internet. Most of the Virtual Communities are operated and maintained on a non-profit basis with a direction towards entertainment. However, as more state administrated and commercial services become web-based, we believe that the number of Virtual Communities with a community-based or commercial direction will increase in a near future. In this thesis, we describe our participation in, and studies of, a number of Virtual Communities with focus on the IRC-channel ?3dfxsweden?.

This is an essay about gated communities and their impact on society. The key questions of my essay are: why people choose to live in gated communities; how the city is impacted by gated communities and what the difference concerning the reasons and impact of gated communities in Florida and Sweden is, and what this difference might depend on. I am using postmodern urbanism as a starting point, and I look closer on Edward J. Soja?s theories about the postmodern metropolis.

The advancements in digital technology and its availability contribute to the transfer of companycentricproduct development and value creation to networks or communities. It also changes the basisfor creation of customer relationships as described in previous research on Customer relationshipmanagement (CRM). The purpose of this case study was to gain an understanding of how companieslike our case study object Memoto who developed a physical product which gets added-value fromdigital product-related services looks upon product-centered communities as a way of buildingcustomer relationships. How Memoto looks upon incentives for participation in product-centeredcommunities was also examined.Our research indicated that firms in the start-up phase (which Memoto was when this study wasconducted) initially want to have more control over the process of innovation and hence have directcontact with end-customers. The reason for this is because they see a need to define the basis forfurther innovation work.

The popularity of video games has been boosted by the rise of user-generated live streaming platforms, and the biggest of them all is Twitch. The popularity depends on Twitch alignment of live streamed video games. The stream is created by a player who broadcast and streams the video game online. The video game can then be watched by a viewer that is interested in the video game. In every stream there is an implemented live chat that allows the viewer to interact with the streamer while the stream is online.

The technical achievements that have occurred in recent years have led to a greater use of the Internet around the world. Today, more and more people are using virtual communities, a place where communication occurs with people who have similar interest. Due to the option of being an anonymous user, the concept of trust plays a big part in how virtual communities are working. It is therefore of interest to investigate how trust develops between users in virtual communities. This report asks the following question:"How is trust formed between users at a virtual community?"A qualitative and netnographical study was conducted to answer the question above.

Virtual Communities is an increasingly common phenomenon on the Internet. Most of the Virtual Communities are operated and maintained on a non-profit basis with a direction towards entertainment. However, as more state administrated and commercial services become web-based, we believe that the number of Virtual Communities with a community-based or commercial direction will increase in a near future. In this thesis, we describe our participation in, and studies of, a number of Virtual Communities with focus on the IRC-channel ?3dfxsweden?. On the basis of our experiences, we describe the social elements that form the foundation on which the Virtual Community rely on.

Datum:         2008-11-13 Nivå:             Kandidatuppsats i Företagsekonomi, 15 Högskolepoäng Författare:  Amina Ahmed Ibrahim                 Carol Nakajugo Basudde Handledare: Mats Viimne Titel:             Communities ? en marknadsföringskanal med effekt? Syfte:            Att beskriva communities som marknadsföringskanal och dess kommunikationseffekt. Metod:          Primärdatainsamlingen för denna uppsats har skett via intervjuer som utförts på tre olika sätt, personligt möte, telefonintervjun samt e-post intervju. Uppsatsen har baserats på fältstudier av fyra communities i Sverige, nämligen Lunarstorm, Glife, Nightlife och Nattstad. Sekundärdata har använts i form av böcker, artiklar och Internet. Slutsats:        Fördelen av att företag använder sig av communities är bl.a. träffsäkerheten och att företag ska enklare kunna nå ut till målgruppen som deras reklamannonser riktar sig till.