Though most of us already know or feel that online communities are important part of our lives, it is more credible if there’s a large scale or long-term study to support our assumptions. And now we have one.

In annual eight-year-long project conducted by The Annenberg Center for the Digital Future, it turned out two-thirds of American adults under 50 years old extremely believe that online communities are essential to their existence.

Knowing humans are social creatures, any form of interaction with other people is considered important. That’s why college students in this survey liken online communities to bars and nightclubs. According to Annenberg Center for the Digital Future research director Jeffrey Cole:

For college students, an online community is like a night club. When the night club becomes too popular or the uncool kids start showing up at the club, they’re out of there. We think college students move through different communities, which we have seen already – from Friendster to MySpace and now to Facebook.

The good part is that most students, while addicted to these social networks, are still into face-to-face interaction. That’s a relief.

via Daily Trojan

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