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ABSTRACT
Online communities are changing the way people enjoy leisure activities through computer-mediated interactions, yet little is known about how these groups form, function, and network. The current study draws on two years of involvement with a Meetup group, using participant observation and ethnographic interviews of the group's live interactions and content analysis of the group's online communication. Throughout this article, the author analyzed the life cycle of online communities and discovered that technology acts as a catalyst for group formation and that the fast and exponential growth of groups centered on common leisure interests. Computer-mediated communications also accelerated the pace of conflict among groups and the formation of alternate communities to satisfy the same need. Patterns of group formation, consolidation, conflict, splintering, and re-grouping repeated themselves throughout the observation period. Finally, the present research discusses how this new form of social interaction facilitates leisure pursuits and encourages creativity in the creation of diverse activities which foster continued participation.
