ANALISIS PEMANFAATAN VIRTUAL COMMUNITY SEBAGAI MEDIA KOMUNIKASI KELOMPOK MELALUI SOSIAL MEDIA

Abstract

Advancement in technology nowadays has been growing fast. The born of new media which is called the Internet has been making people easier to communicate without knowing the barriers of space and time. That kind of interaction is intertwined in a good way in personal and groups. A group communication is one of our basic needs as a human being, as a social creature that cannot live alone. Along the development of the era, communication through internet has been a way in the development of interaction in group communication. One of them is virtual community which is part of the development of social media based new media. Virtual community is a concept of new society in cyberspace that comes from technology development of communication. This research is qualitative descriptive type using phenomenology method. This research aims to analyze benefits and factors that encourage individual to interact with groups virtually in social media. While the phenomenology approach is used for revealing the usage and personal reason to last in the virtual community with focus on emphasizement of experience of virtual community member that interact with their groups. This research using the Social Exchange Theory (Thibaut an Kelley), Cohesiveness, Social Identity Theory, Membership and Reference group, and also Virtual Community Theory. The subject of this research is virtual community member with different topics in Social media platform called LINE of 15 people whic is HardcoreGamerGroup (Gamer), PoliticalJokes (politics) and LPD (socialites). Result of the research shows that reason and factor of individual can last in a virtual community is as a tool to actualize and develop oneself, virtual group also used as an escape place from real life, similarity of group's goal to encourage individual participation, virtual group is used as a benchmark to behave and as a feature representation in social media as self existence. Those factors also strengthen individual's motivation to encourage individual social empathy in virtual world that brought from the real life. The benefits of virtual group also can grow a strong social network to maintain close relationships beyond geographical and social barriers. Moreover, needs of socialization and fulfillment of needs of information also be a strong reason to individual to last in their group. The number of virtual communities has been formed and the high of individual interest to join in virtual group has been a culture in nowadays life. This culture will keep developing and forming individual characteristics in making networks among the users.