Defining Community

Lately, our class has been putting a lot of focus on virtual communities. To best understand virtual communities we first look at the term community in general, and how it is defined. It is important to question what essentially makes a community different from any other group. To do this, our class made note of various characteristics of communities. Also, we debated the differences between groups, social networks, and communities. However, the qualifications for what differentiates a community from other groups are still unclear.
I decided to look for some help defining the word community, and according to Wikipedia, the way we refer to the word community has evolved. Rather than being defined as a group with social cohesion, common values and shared location as it once was, it is now considered a group of individuals who share characteristics, but not necessarily a common geographical location (Wikipedia). This broadens the definition of community quite a bit. The lack of importance on location allows for virtual groups to be considered communities since virtual group members often live far apart. However, I wonder if this definition is too broad.
If similar characteristics are what make a community then people who have no actual relation to one another can be considered a community simply for their similarities. I would argue that a community takes much more than similar characteristics in its members. In class, we felt that shared interests, frequency, and sense of belonging were the most major traits of a community, not similar characteristics.
There are many opinions of what makes a group a community, and they vary greatly. Because of this, it is difficult if not impossible for only one objective definition of community to exist. There is only one trait that seems to appear in all definitions of community, and this is the sense of all members having something in common. What this common factor is, and whether or not there are other essential characteristics of community is debatable. It is undeniable that we can all identify communities, but truly defining the word community is certainly no easy task.