Clay Shirkey's book Cognitive Surplus provides the main theoretical background for this exploration of YogaGlo as an online community. Shirkey writes about the possibilities of using online technology to combine shared resources and form communities.  Following are several tenets of Shirkey's text which have led me to classify YogaGlo as an example of an effective online community. (Notice, groups and communities are used interchangeably here.)​

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1. Groups always have an emotional component (163).​

​YogaGlo members are emotionally invested in both their yoga practice and the group. Evidence of this appears in comments members leave on the site:

​"You have such a lovely clear way of instructing. I don’t even have to watch the screen when you teach. I love the way you say “nice” after we take a pose! Your spirit is so fresh, gentle and admiring – I love just absorbing it as I practice with your guidance. Just elegant. Thank you." - Carol

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​​"tears streamed down my face multiple times during this practice. I am in an deeply emotional transition period in my life and have been holding myself back, living in fear, forgetting what a privilege it IS to be alive!! for the first time in a while, i felt true love for myself and am proud of what i can accomplish!! thank you for your inspiration,

i believe i can fly!! ;)" - Laura

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2. In order to maintain, groups must be effective at the group level and satisfying to members at the individual level (164).

​YogaGlo exhibits effectiveness at the group level (through its site organization, course/workshop offerings, monthly fees from members, and available tech help) and at the individual level (by allowing members to track their practice and mark favorite classes,

providing feedback options, and encouraging member responses to yoga classes).

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3. The principles and goals of the group must be internalized by participants; this leads to self-governance (165).

​The goals of YogaGlo are simple: to provide at at-home option for yoga classes.

Members govern their participation by paying the monthly fee and maintaining their status as YogaGlo members. 

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4. Groups can be valuable to only its members or to the greater community (171). Shirkey writes, "You can  ​

   think of this scale of value as rising from personal to communal to public to civic" (172).

​YogaGlo is valuable to both its members and to the greater yoga community. The personal value results from members having the opportunity to practice yoga at their convenience. YogaGlo is also valuable to the greater yoga community by offering information on yoga workshops and lectures.

Furthermore, YogaGlo  provides links to instructors' websites and information about their charity work and organizations.

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5. Groups exercise sharing (173).​

​YogaGlo encourages sharing.  YogaGlo shares yoga videos and resources with its members. Members cannot upload their own videos, but they can share the YogaGlo videos via email, Twitter, and Facebook. The group members also share their advice and feedback with other members and the instructors through their comments under each video.

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6. To create and sustain public value, a group must defend itself against external and internal threats (178).

​In YogaGlo, neither internal nor external threats are big risks. There is not a large reward for external threats to come in (via hacking, for instance) and internal threats are not likely because the group offers mainly personal value.