[Air-L] Virtual community formation on news sites

[Irene Serrano]

Hi there,

My name is Irene Serrano and I am a PhD candidate in Communication Studies
at Concordia University (Montreal). My current research revolves around how
user-generated content is challenging and changing the journalists'
traditional role and the news media power.

One of my case studies is El Huffington Post, the Spanish version of the
HuPo. While reviewing my fieldwork, I have realized that in El HuPo readers
gather around the news pieces –in the comments sections– in a way that
resembles more to a virtual community than to news content generators or
news commentators. (That is, some of them know each other and comment on
personal matters rather than on topics related to the news piece under
which they are participating).

I was wondering if anyone in this list has heard about previous research on
virtual community formation on news sites.

Thanks,

Irene Serrano Vázquez
Ph.D. candidate in Communication Studies
Concordia University
Montreal, Canada