The Internet and various social networks have become an integral part of lives of many people around the world. People get together in large online communities and small groups. For some people, it is a way to forget about loneliness. Others fall into a state of escapism and forget that there is another reality other than the virtual one. This paper aims to explore the structure of one of these communities, to understand how people interact with each other, what they pay attention to, and what is interesting to them. This paper examines advantages and disadvantages of online fan communities, criticizes their weaknesses, and highlights their strengths.
The advent of social networks has simplified the system of fan communities’ creation. There are communities dedicated to famous musicians, politicians, athletes, artists, and even global brands. Now fans of any person or global brand can discuss the latest news with each other and share impressions about particular occasions.
One example of such communities is MJJCommunity, which is dedicated to the King of Pop - Michael Jackson. At the moment, this community is the largest fan club of his art and includes a lot of interesting things and features.
First of all, the site contains many links to other resources, such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, and others, where there are pages and channels of the same community. Registered users of any of these social networks can share news of the community. Several headings are the main components of the site, which in turn are subdivided into smaller ones.
The website contains a substantial archive of articles dedicated to Michael Jackson, photo albums with pictures of different tours, biography, videography, discography, a list of awards received by him, and much more.
In addition to storing big amount of information that can be found on the website, MJJCommunity is a huge community of fans. Every day they find new topics for discussion and debates. The structure of such interactions looks something like this. One of participants creates a post, which can contain anything, including music, videos, personal notes, publication of magazines or newspapers, etc. All other users comment on a post, criticize, approve, or complement it by their own comments and wishes.
In general, community members are friendly to each other. Fans of Michael Jackson respect the opinion of other members and rarely allow themselves to be sharp or rude about something in their comments. According to famous French sociologist Gustave Le Bon, a large community tends to split into small groups over time. Among MJJCommunity, there are several groups of people visiting the forum.
The first group includes people, who are faithful fans of the artist and will always support any news related to the idol. They will insist on a point of view that defends a celebrity.
The second group contains fans too, but their love to the idol is not blind as in the first group. They analyze posts, notes, and articles, trying to get to the truth. They can start a hot debate and defend their opinions about some occasion. They are driven by love for the artist, but their own person with own opinion ranks the first place.
The third group of people is interested in a greater degree of artist's creative work and almost does not pay any attention to information "around" the performer. People are passionate about music, videos, and interviews of the artist.
The fourth group consists of people who are not fans at all. They are interested in news, know many facts, and can debate something, but their position is completely neutral.
There is also a fifth group, where people are opposed to the celebrity. They provoke other users to make harsh statements and can post rude messages, doubtful facts, or pseudo-news.
This division is very conditional as there are always plenty of exceptions. It is difficult to apply laws of classical mass psychology to online communities. Each member of the community is not related to other participants directly as it is usually the case with a crowd of protesters or sports fans. Members of the community have an opportunity to sit at home and discuss any topics in a relaxed environment. People do not feel stress and stressful situations. Accordingly, online communities do not have social pressure where people feel some obligation and must do or say what is expected of them. Nevertheless, a lot of people use some standard models of behavior, such as those described above.
Among the participants of MJJCommunity, there is a certain culture of communication. Most of people support polite and amiable communication, using words of greeting, gratitude, etc. Despite the fact that the community is large, many participants have known each other for a long time and communicate like old friends. New people always can participate in any discussions, and their posts will not be taken drastically or critically.
It should be mentioned that not all communities support this culture of communication. In online communities dedicated to politicians or athletes, there are always heated debates. You can read obscene expressions not only about the subject, but about yourself too. Most sports fans do not take criticism about their favorite team, and can be rude to fans of other teams.
There are numerous strengths and weaknesses in online communities. Often people enter the online community for fun without having any particular purpose. They like to read the news, see photos, read, and insert their own comments to show how they are informed on the subject and how easy they can maintain a conversation. MJJ Community includes many people who are not well informed about the life and work of Michael Jackson, but with great certainty they participate in a variety of discussions. Thus, they pose a threat to destroy the community and bring confusion to other users. Online communities also have one major drawback. People can pretend to be anyone, so everyone must be careful when communicating closely with someone and try not to disclose personal information. The fact is that, this kind of communication is virtual one. Participants cannot see each other, and, therefore, nobody knows how one participant relates to the other one. That is why individual can pretend to be another person and can be liberated to express his point of view without fear.
Online communities allow a person to feel connection with other people, do not feel loneliness, and to know that someone has the same interests as their own. With a help of communities, it is possible to find friends and exchange large amounts of information by learning many new things. It is important to remember that online communication cannot replace face-to-face conversation. A person does not feel lonely as long as he is on the network. Such communication can lead to Internet addiction and can plunge an individual into the world of escapism and illusions. There is a widespread belief that by constantly being on the network, people cannot realize their real needs and desires. However, many communities go beyond the online communication. Participants of MJJCommunity organize different flash mobs in memory of Michael Jackson, thus breaking the virtual anonymity. The participants, who are getting to know each other in real life, can create more tangible actions, thereby changing the concept of virtual communication as such. In spite of this, a person should evolve multilaterally, so passion to someone can lead to a situation where a person will not be able to receive information, which is not part of interrelation with his idol. Also, there is a possibility of substitution of his own life with the life of someone else.
Unfortunately, members of any online community can be the subject of manipulation in the hands of a big company. PR managers advertise their product actively and promote it in social networks. For example, there are communities dedicated to beverages, food, gadgets, and various other products. Due to "shares", contests, and different stratagems, community encourages a user to purchase a product. MJJCommunity has their own store, where anyone can buy t-shirts, disks, books and some collection things. The community does not promote its goods persistently, and the members of the community at forums can discuss things, which in a consequence they will get. Some of users look for the certain editions of books or disks and the community promotes an exchange or purchase of such things.
Thus, there are many advantages and disadvantages of online communication and online communities. On one hand, they unite people, but, on the other hand, in spite of the union, each person is left alone with his computer. Depending on their interests, people form their own behaviors and adhere to them. Due to online communication, some people offset disadvantages, some people assert itself, and some people add more knowledge.
This paper explored MJJCommunity, the community dedicated to works and the life of Michael Jackson, where everyone can participate in the discussion and join the community. In this paper, users of the community are conditionally divided into several groups that differ in their features. The paper also investigated interaction of people within the group, the strengths and weaknesses of online communities, and online communication in general.

The article was written and published by the professional writer from plagiarism checker https://plagiarismsearch.com/ - Milly Jones.