This new working paper traces different approaches to researching "community" in the social sciences, from a traditional "community as locality" approach, to social network analysis, to the idea that individuals are connected by "small worlds" of different linked networks. The paper warns that although there are claims that the emergence of new communication and travel technologies empower individuals to create or "choose" better networks, and better social lives, these opportunities are not open to all. New types of social networks are balanced by new types of social exclusion.