The social and interactional dimensions of Internet utilization

The Internet is enabling the emergence of new mechanisms of human association which are shaped by the development of this new medium of communication. In late modernity, people are increasingly engaged in forms of social interaction which are becoming intensely reflexive and open ended. In this respect, technologies such as Internet are serving to increase the capacity for both reciprocal and non-reciprocal communication. These new conditions challenge individuals and organizations to seek out new possibilities for reciprocal bonding and collaboration, and to create opportunities that were previously only associated with the sharing of a commune setting. The role of virtual communities as agents of a new public sphere has been widely discussed related to the Internet's potential role in providing new channels of communication and revitalizing public discourse. Habermas' structural discourse criteria - openness to all themes, unlimited access, and the "unforced force of the better argument" - can be seen as counterfactual presuppositions shaping both the early public sphere of real communities and subsequently the public sphere of virtual communities. The correlation between these criteria and the Internet's structure might suggest that the internet is an ideal means for revitalizing public discourse.