Another academic implication is that measures of community ties which were developed for use with studies of geographic communities also may be used for studies of nongeographic communities. The current study may be the first study of its kind, using these measures to look at a nongeographic community. This was a study of one community or one type of community. When asked to name the primary folk music community to which they belong, many people listed more than one community. If they are partial community members, they may participate in a community but may not feel like they are members.
Some people participate and believe they are members in multiple communities.
The results of this study indicated that a portion of the people who are involved in folk music may be partial and multiple community members. Media usage and nongeographic communities . Although a few studies have been conducted relating to media usage and nongeographic communities, most of these studies focused on communities in cyberspace that were formed by people on the Internet. The current study examined a community that did not form because of or around particular mass media. It could be argued, of course, that music is a form of communication, but music in and of itself is not considered a mass medium in the traditional sense.