Any system of interactions has patterns that can be studied. Sociologists are able to study the Internet as a social system, or as part of a larger social system. The Internet has social interaction, culture, economic activity and political aspects. It can be argued that it has everything that real communities have except physical contact. Perhaps people are building virtual communities in reaction to the disintegration of traditional local communities.
People meet on-line to do the things that other people do in public spaces of local communities.
Internet interactions have real and off-line consequences. Perhaps we are moving towards a global stateless society. The world s industrial and technological societies are organised as states with hierarchical bureaucracies. It is surprising to find the Internet is not organised or controlled by state bureaucracies or industrial corporations. Perhaps it is a new form of social organisation, with opportunities for structures that are not bound by the hierarchical relationships of the state.