Framing Group Norms in Virtual Communities

Organizations have started to realize the economic value of virtual communities. Unfortunately, traditional management methods of control do not work on virtual communities. Often, group norms are the principal method of virtual community governance. However, it is not clear how group norms are formed in virtual communities, and how managers can shape norm evolution. This research in progress paper presents our initial analysis of norm formation in virtual communities. We use framing analysis on two virtual communities focused on recreational drug use to explain how managers of virtual communities construct, and community members interpret frames to develop group norms.