English
This research addresses the emotional attachments that exist within virtual communities. Online communities and their recent virtualization have fueled the interest of many researchers. Within this field, this study examines the emotional determinants that inform and guide users as they participate in these communities. It is based on netnography of four virtual communities; the two principal French and American political parties. These communities have more than 3 million users and more than 200,000 of their comments were examined. The results show that love and hate are the main emotional reactions expressed within online communities.
Keywords
- political parties
- virtual communities
- emotional reactions
- politics