Virtual community VS Off-line social relations

The priority has always been given to the research of the relationship between virtual community and social relations. Since the term of “virtual community” has come up, scholars usually focus on these two issues: those that whether the online groups can be treated as communities and those that such online communities whether intensify or weaken the offline social relations. For the “virtual community”, there is one crucial element that the friendship between members of the society requires long enough time, in order to share common destiny and interests in their long historical development, creating a strong force of affinity and cohesion. The other element which involves the communication between persons and groups should be frank and to give mutual support and inspiration to each other. As a result of the community as a whole also has to have capability to provide something which is beneficial to the members, such as information, knowledge or economic interests. Therefore, “virtual community” as a medium which can be understood as a social net work that is based on general and shared interests rather than geographical proximity. By combining the online communication with social practice, it helps to enhance the overall social development. Especially, to the increasing middle class, virtual community can be treated as the extension or expansion of social conviviality. However, some people think that the knowledge of one particular virtual community is usually shared by its members who have the same interests or habits, and yet, such a kind of community lacks of diversity and interdependence of the real social community. Even, people argue that one who exists in the virtual community could be isolated from the reality. It also leads to other questions, such as is face to face communication still necessary, to what degree it is necessary? How does the identity influence the interrelationship and community cohesion, include the problem of how to balance the social commitment and anonymous identity? Various economic sectors play what kinds of roles in different communities?