---
id: "virtual-communities:index"
type: "GovLab project overview"
title: "The Power of Virtual Communities"
url: "https://virtual-communities.thegovlab.org/"
summary: "The Power of Virtual Communities project examines the role online groups play in creating opportunities for people to build new kinds of meaningful communities they often could not form in real space."
source: "The GovLab (virtual-communities.thegovlab.org)"
licence: "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
---

# The Power of Virtual Communities

During 2020, the Governance Lab interviewed leaders of 50 Facebook groups and 26 global academic and industry experts for this study of the governance and leadership of Facebook groups. This work was funded by a grant from Facebook and conducted in partnership with Facebook's Community Partnerships team.

## Case studies

- [African Mums in Deutschland](https://virtual-communities.thegovlab.org/case/african-mums-in-deutschland): How 4,100 mothers built an online niche in Germany. Germany; founded 2018; group size 4104
- [HumanKind Global](https://virtual-communities.thegovlab.org/case/humankind-global): Volunteers fulfill more than 25,000 requests for pandemic-related help. India; founded 2020; group size 51500
- [Clube da Alice](https://virtual-communities.thegovlab.org/case/cluba-da-alice): 500,000 women are finding empowerment through entrepreneurship. Curitiba, Brazil; founded 2014; group size 551,500 members (Private Group)
- [Essex Coronavirus Action](https://virtual-communities.thegovlab.org/case/essex-coronavirus-action): Mobilizing Essex residents and Facebook group leaders for coronavirus response. Essex, United Kingdom; founded 2020; group size 37,000 members (private group); 48,000 followers (public page)
- [Subtle Asian Traits](https://virtual-communities.thegovlab.org/case/subtle-asian-traits): 1.8 million Asians living around the world connecting over a common identity. Global; founded 2018; group size 1843194
- [Surviving Hijab](https://virtual-communities.thegovlab.org/case/surviving-hijab): More than 900,000 women are supporting one another to overcome hardship. Egypt; founded 2014; group size 917, 828 members of the private group
- [White People. DOING Something.](https://virtual-communities.thegovlab.org/case/white-people-doing-something): Building a racial justice community around compassion and empathy. United States; founded 2020; group size 36,647 members of the public group
- [Female IN (FIN)](https://virtual-communities.thegovlab.org/case/female-in): 1.7 million women are leading with kindness. Global; founded 2015; group size 1,743,400,146 members (group); 180,808 follows and 169,693 likes (page)