Online community

An online community (also referred to as a virtual community or e-community) is a group of people that primarily interact via communication media such as newsletters, telephone, email, social network service or instant messages rather than face-to-face, for social, professional, educational or other purposes.

Virtual and online communities have also become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other primarily in real life. Many means are used in social software separately or in combination, including text-based chatrooms and forums that use voice, video text or avatars.