Earlier this week, I posted about cultivating community. In the comments section, it quickly became obvious that I had missed something. I had neglected to define community. Are people who gathering and exchange thoughts and ideas online really a community?

When I am looking for definitions, I typically pull out my oh-so-handy Webster’s Dictionary (or search my Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary online).

Here’s their definition of community:

Main Entry: com·mu·ni·ty

Pronunciation: \kə-ˈmyü-nə-tē\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural com·mu·ni·ties

Usage: often attributive

Etymology: Middle English comunete, from Anglo-French communité, from Latin communitat-, communitas, from communis

Date: 14th century

1 : a unified body of individuals: as a : state, commonwealth b : the people with common interests living in a particular area; broadly : the area itself <the problems of a large community> c : an interacting population of various kinds of individuals (as species) in a common location d : a group of people with a common characteristic or interest living together within a larger society <a community of retired persons> e : a group linked by a common policy f : a body of persons or nations having a common history or common social, economic, and political interests <the international community> g : a body of persons of common and especially professional interests scattered through a larger society <the academic community>

2 : society at large

3 a : joint ownership or participation <community of goods> b : common character : likeness <community of interests> c : social activity : fellowship d : a social state or condition (more…)

I started twittering a few years ago with the simple hope of wanting to keep others updated with me. (I know, stupid. Who really cares what I am up to? Besides my mom and dad, not a who lot of folks.)

This spring when I started blogging, I had the simple goal of having a place to put my thoughts down in written form to make sense of them. (I discovered that sometimes in written form they still don’t make a lot of sense.)

Yet today I find myself completely immersed in this Web 2.0 world. Not because I am naive enough to think people care what I have to say or because I need to bring order to my random thoughts but because of something entirely different. Because of community.

I blog, I facebook, and I twitter as a way to interact with friends, old and new. I want to hear what they have to say, I want to find out what they think, I want to discover what they are doing (and sometimes eating), and I want to encourage them in their walk. Because they encourage me in mine. (more…)