When the Virtual and the Real Clash

Abstract

This paper focuses on two related aspects–the politics of social networking communities and the impact that clashes between the real and the virtual spheres have on relationships in social networking communities. The starting point for this paper is a series of events that took place in a social networking community involving a dominant member of the community attempting to overpower others, leading to several of the most active members, including the dominant member himself, leaving the community. Following a review of the literature on social networking and politics, the Virtuality/Reality Conflict (VRC) model is presented. The model is used in this paper as a basis for explaining the events in the case and for discussing the implications from this study to research on politics in virtual communities.