The emergence of the Internet has allowed the growth of transnational & global virtual communities. Transnational & Global Communities are communities that span across different national borders. Virtual communities of this kind are extremely useful in connecting people from various geographical locations around the World.
Global communities offer all kinds of advantages over local communities, but in any case there are also issues affecting these communities that must be considered.
The Language, Culture and Time zone are 3 issues that may be considered. With global communities, members would exist over the world, and these members would be from various cultures speaking different languages. As a result, there needs to be a uniform language used, which would often be English in most cases. However, because of people speaking different 'first languages' communications may sometimes be difficult and misunderstood especially over the Internet.
English: SocialVibe
English: Little Bohemia
English: Zoo.gr logoVarious cultures are also a factor for people belonging to a global Internet community. As people are raised in different cultures, it thoughts and ideals would differ, and hence the way they present there information and thoughts would also be different due to the influences of there own cultures.
Time zones become a factor in global communities that implement 'real time chat'. Different time zones around the World can make it difficult for members from Australia to speak to someone in the America; this therefore restricts the extent of available communication between members.
All these factors are just some of the influences on a global and transnational community. There are many types of global and transnational communities, with various purposes. Some examples would be:
e-Bay - global e-commerce site
Napster - global file sharing community
Global communities have many reasons for existence, weather personal, or business. The main aim of these communities is to make their resources available...