Through some strange twist of fate, I procured the dubious honor of writing today’s blog post. That’s right, for the first time ever, the internet is about to experience the immense untapped blogging power of Alex Wyszewianski, Intern Extraordinaire! I couldn’t decide what to write for my first blog post, so I asked Jason for some advice. That went something like this…
Teh_Pwnage1337: What’s the deal on this whole blog post thing?
aZnPlaya257: Um, do a tie-in to viral marketing. Write something on where internet memes come from.
Teh_Pwnage1337: I can’t do that. It would involve scads of NSFW content.
aZnPlaya257: Ok, what about writing about online communities instead of all their glorious, sordid content?
Teh_Pwnage1337: what about online communities?
aZnPlaya257: People are crazy about Facebook and MySpace, but they don’t really understand what those sites are for or why they’re valuable
Teh_Pwnage1337: Hold up. Did you seriously just use Facebook and MySpace as the two examples of internet communities?
aZnPlaya257: You object?
Teh_Pwnage1337: Oh lawd… you know what this means, don’t you?
Teh_Pwnage1337: By your powers combined…
Blogger98387: I am a blog post!
Advertisers are going crazy trying to capitalize on social networking sites, but why are they interested in social networking sites and not forum-based internet communities? Internet communities have existed since the dawn of the world wide web.
The internet is an amazing thing. While it used to be that you might be the only person you knew who was interested in growing mosses and other accent plants for your Bonsai trees, there are now plenty of internet forums and message boards where you can discuss your techniques and findings with other like minded individuals around the world.
Forums have a simple interface, designed to help organize topics. Someone creates a topic post in one of several subforums, and others respond to their topic, forming a thread. The original post, or OP, declares the topic of the thread, which is why it is called the topic post. These threads stimulate discussion, or answer a question. Most forum members post under a “handle,” “screen name,” or “alias.” Whether or not people on the forum know what your name is, or what you look like, the purpose of a forum is topical discussion, and they do this well.
Not only does the internet empower people to create groups (or communities) centered around their interests, it is also the source of many of those interests.
For instance, I am a big fan of Pure Pwnage, an internet television show that began as a mocumentry about a fictional “pro gamer,” someone who leads a lifestyle centered around playing video games with people all over the world via the internet.
I was immediately hooked, and felt the need to share my new favorite show with my friends. Sadly, only a few of my friends are also gamers. Fortunately for me, there are an associated set of Pure Pwnage forums which has 49,441 members who are more than happy to talk about a cinimatographically impressive multi season epic while pwning up some Counter Strike at Digital Ops.
Social networking sites are about who you know and who you can meet, not about shared interests. While some social networking sites offer “groups” to gather together people with shared interests, the goal here is to find other people who share your interests, not to discuss them in detail or to share knowledge. On a social networking site, the user’s name and appearance are central features of their profile, where people leave little messages for other people to look at. Social networking sites exist to provide a method of connecting people and helping them communicate.
Perhaps the appeal of the social networking sites is the fancier layouts and visuals. However, the simpler interface of the forums just indicates that they’re made to facilitate more substantial communication. Major internet communities and social networking sites both boast huge online user communities. What factor is it that social networking sites have that internet communities don’t that causes social networking sites to get all the attention?
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