Guy Parmentier, Grenoble IAE Graduate School of Management and Zoé Masson, Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)
“Being alone together”—since the start of lockdowns, people have been bringing online communities together to support one another, find entertainment, and curb the spread of a virus on a global scale. Originally, communities were “groups based on geographic and emotional proximity, involving direct, concrete, and authentic interactions among their members,” to quote the definition by Quebec sociologist Serge Proulx.
For the past 50 years, the virtual world has been creating a new form of connection that fosters the emergence of communities in many areas. And, paradoxically, these virtual communities create bonds among their members.
Traditionally, there are two main categories of communities: communities of practice, where the focus is on sharing and learning new practices; and epistemic communities, where the goal is to create new knowledge.
Taking advantage of a secluded online world, the number of online communities has grown significantly. Often blending these two categories—which are more open, more widespread, and rapidly expanding—could these communities be part of a new type of virtual community: “crisis communities”?
An accelerated implementation process
The Covid-19 crisis is acting as a catalyst for the creation of new virtual platforms. Online communities need time to develop, find their audience, and build connections among users. The current situation, on the other hand, seems to be accelerating this process. The tools needed to create new virtual communities already exist (websites, social media), facilitating the emergence of communities that are quickly up and running.
For example, on the ResearchGate social network, the COVID-19 research community was created on March 17 and, 28 days later, had more than 10,700 members, publishing an average of more than 40 papers per day.
On another platform created by the industrial conglomerate Dassault in 2015—the 3Dexperience Lab— the Open Covid-19 community has already attracted more than 300 members, making it one of the 10 largest communities on the platform, which has hosted 35 communities since its inception.
Accessible to as many people as possible
A community is not inherently open. Sociologist Émile Durkheim observed that collective emotions emerge within these groups as a result of recurring interactions centered on a unifying theme. Members thus build a community bound by shared knowledge and emotions.
These same members can also “foster both connection and social exclusion, ” to quote Serge Proulx once again. As a result, it can be difficult for a new user to integrate into the group, and it may take some time before they find their place within it.
In communities emerging from a crisis, the power of a shared cause makes these communities more accessible and allows for the involvement of a broader audience. Furthermore, lockdown measures can free up time, create a new sense of loneliness, and foster a desire to take action—encouraging people to connect online.
We are even seeing the emergence of virtual communities that are generally not very active in the physical world outside of times of crisis, such as Voisinsolidaires and Allovoisin, which are local assistance platforms.
A surge in both supply and users
As the world adapts to the pandemic, a wide range of stakeholders are building online communities to cope with the crisis. Every sector is adjusting to this new way of interacting and communicating online.
Sports, religion, politics, health, entertainment: online communities are flourishing in every sphere of our lives. Whether through the creation of new platforms or the evolution of existing ones, the world keeps turning, and the diversity offered by the virtual world seems to show that our habits can adapt to this unprecedented situation. These examples demonstrate the extreme diversity of communities that are rapidly attracting thousands of users.
Using the hashtag #Stayhome, ultra-trail runners (those who run in the great outdoors) are organizing the “Confined Sport Challenge.” It’s a weekly online event where participants from around the world achieve all kinds of athletic feats from the comfort of their own homes.
The political movement Place publique invites its community to join “the lockdown debates” every Tuesday evening via a Facebook event.
Religious communities are also moving online, offering worship services, Masses, and baptisms through virtual gatherings.
Creativity Anywhere
Motivation and openness, both of which are found in crisis communities, are mechanisms that make a community creative.
This phenomenon is due, among other things, to the widespread social interaction among individuals on social media platforms, which facilitate the gathering, exchange, and enrichment of ideas.
When he discusses creativity in his book *Archimedes’ Cry*, the novelist Arthur Koestler highlights the mechanism of bisociation—the combination of elements that are, at first glance, unrelated—as a source of new ideas.
This phenomenon can be seen in communities that have emerged in recent weeks—for example, around the Getty Museum Challenge, in which internet users are drawing on their creativity to recreate famous paintings through photography, thereby bridging two different worlds (#GettyMuseumChallenge).
Generating creative ideas is not the primary goal of these new virtual communities, but it has nonetheless become an important outcome that helps find solutions to combat the crisis.
Toward a More Societal Approach to Motivation
A user’s motivation to engage in a virtual community often stems from a desire to gain something for themselves. In fact, the higher the quality of the contributions, the more engaged the user feels in the community and the more likely they are to contribute in turn.
In the current crisis, motivations have shifted: they are less focused on personal gain and more driven by a sense of solidarity and sharing. Users participate to support social causes—such as helping people who are alone or seniors, or encouraging healthcare workers—to contribute to the spirit of solidarity in a world under lockdown.
This crisis is the first of such magnitude in an environment where information and communication technologies are so advanced. It raises the question of the nature of these emerging online communities. Rapid evolution, broad openness, widespread participation, great creativity, and a commitment to societal good are the distinguishing characteristics of these “crisis communities,” which make them a powerful platform for action to combat the effects of the crisis. The question also arises as to whether they will endure over time—will their fleeting nature become another defining feature?
This article was written in response to a call for rapid submissions from the *Revue française de gestion* in the context of the health crisis caused by the virus responsible for COVID-19.
Guy Parmentier, Associate Professor (HDR) at Grenoble IAE, Grenoble IAE Graduate School of Management and Zoé Masson, Ph.D. candidate in management, innovation, and creativity, Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.