Two particularly big growth areas are communities for health problems and electronic commerce. There is a debate among sociologists about what exactly constitutes an online community and how theory of geographical communities relates to cyberspace, but we take a very broad all-inclusive view of online communities. For us, even lurkers can be part of an online community. Today, users from diverse cultural backgrounds, computer expertise, and interests turn to online communities to reach others. The communication needs of this new and diverse population of users are different from the factual exchange of information by the traditional computer users.
Many new communities serve a strong social function as well.
For example, a support community for people with chronic back pain has different needs than a community discussing the intricacies of Java programming. People in patient support communities not only want information about their condition, but may also seek empathy from their fellow sufferers.