Abstract
Most previous literature on virtual communities has taken a macro perspective viewing the virtual community as a whole instead of looking into the actions of individuals. This study offers a different perspective as it looks into a virtual community from the point of view of the individual. In so doing, we propose a social mechanism that concentrates on the actions of individuals leading up to and including their membership in a specific type of virtual community associated with the file sharing technology Bittorrent. A further analysis is then presented of a macro process which views the membership process as a whole and suggests there that outside forces of technology/community growth, ISP and CSP involvement, and diminishing experience with traditional media commerce further impact community membership.
Recommended Citation
Shemroske, Kenneth and Silva, Leiser, "A Proposed Social Mechanism for Community Membership: The Case of Online File Sharing Using Bittorrent" (2009). AMCIS 2009 Proceedings. 612.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2009/612