Can social media build community?
My blog addresses just this question.
You’re invited— full impunity—to offer any sound suggestion.
Issue 1: ATTENTION SEEKING OR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT?
Daily, our so-called friends on Facebook present their gourmet meals, concert tickets and glamour purchases for our attention. See Ian McManus’s discussion on the way Facebook nourishes this unhealthy way of life.
But the same articles highlight our deep need for belonging, and for integration into multiple communities.
Can social media deliver this? Can we use social media to create, join, and enhance online communities – and encourage others to become members?
With your help, this blog will attempt to answer these questions
Dear fellow students, here's a link
Or two that help to make you think:
- the research behind it – why we want to belong:
see
and the need for community that propels people to join Facebook, as I recently posted in Ian's discussion:
see
Share your thoughts, and help build my community on building community!
POST 2
thanks for the encouragement as this blog begins. Continuing the theme of acknowledgement, I have been examining websites and blogs of support groups, to examine the way people's experiences can be validated via social media, giving them the sense that they are members of a community of fellow sufferers. Look, for example, at the comments in this blog on the experience of miscarriage. What does thier language tell us? what emotions are they expressing? Is there a common thread in the nature of their comments?
http://themiscarriageblog.blogspot.com.au/2009/02/other-type-of-two-week-wait.html
thanks for the encouragement as this blog begins. Continuing the theme of acknowledgement, I have been examining websites and blogs of support groups, to examine the way people's experiences can be validated via social media, giving them the sense that they are members of a community of fellow sufferers. Look, for example, at the comments in this blog on the experience of miscarriage. What does thier language tell us? what emotions are they expressing? Is there a common thread in the nature of their comments?
http://themiscarriageblog.blogspot.com.au/2009/02/other-type-of-two-week-wait.html
Hi Avril. I know your lovely sister, Shelley, as we are members of the same ladies choir (which, as it happens, is very much a choir with a wonderful 'community' spirit). Shelley posted your blog on Facebook so I thought I'd have a nosey and make a comment. I have firsthand experience of how Facebook can provide a 'place' for online communities. I belong to a group called 'Gray and Proud' which is a closed group for women who are or have decided to let their hair go grey. It was set up in the USA circa 4/5 years ago and I have been a member for 2. Whilst a lot of its members are from the USA, it is very much an international group. It is a wonderfully positive group where the members (mostly women/some men) provide support and advice about all things 'grey hair' and share their stories. We are all like one big family and some of the people have actually arranged 'mini-meets' where they have got together. I actually met up with two members when I was visiting my daughter in the South of France in April this year. I am also attending a get-together in London in December. I have made videos on Youtube showing pictures of some of the beautiful women in the group - we all want to share the beauty of grey and inspire other women to have the confidence to give it a go. I have my own blog page 'Grey is OK!' as I am so passionate about this subject. There are other 'grey' groups on Facebook with that same community spirit. I could say lots more but the bottom line for me is that I see Facebook as a very positive medium and a fabulous vehicle to connect with other like-minded human beings and make friends. Thanks for listening. Best wishes, Denise :) http://greyisok.blogspot.co.uk/
ReplyDeleteAttention seeking or acknowledgement? That is an interesting question. Social media is a great place for people to connect and build communities ... to celebrate (per earlier comment from Denise), to oppose, to create awareness etc. However, I wonder if others, like me, are sick and tired of the endless babble ... yet another pic of a plate of food on Facebook, yet another update on where someone is going on Twitter ... is this building a community? Nope ...
ReplyDeleteI think the interactions on platforms like Facebook do build a community of sorts but what interests me is the motivation behind the engagement and desire to share so much of one's life with friends online. FoMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is real and I believe it's the reason behind much of the 'endless babble' you mentioned.
DeleteI want to make a case for the power of texting to create deep communication. I have been writing textpoems for the last three years or so to explore the potential of this form. This poem conveys the intuitive understandings between sender and receiver which the form evokes.
ReplyDeleteMaking textpoems on the train,
using the small and open spaces.
The rhythms of immediacy.
Intimate connections.x
This poem is included in an article which I wrote about the communicative powers of text poems. It's published in a book called The Art of Poetic Inquiry, published by Backalong Books.
You can see some examples of my poems on my website, www.creativetextpoems.co.uk
and here's a link to another article about textpoems and the potential offered by this form of social media
http://www.writing.ie/resources/the-art-of-texting-composing-text-poems-with-shelley-tracey/
Hi Avril
ReplyDeleteI'm not a Facebook user but know of many people who use this platform for connecting with others and creating a community around shared interest or activities. And even with these communities smaller communities can emerge ........for example one of my colleagues at work is pregnant for the first time and she has joined a face book group of women due around the same time she is ..interestingly the wider group were sharing information about who had found out the sex of their child and who had not and now the bigger group has three smaller groups within it namely the boys the gilrs and the don't wnat to knows that also chat separately about issues.
Great discussion by the way and love the poetry references...and links
Rox
I do think social media can build community. This article is an interesting read from a tech writer who 'unplugged' for a year: http://bit.ly/16UpTnT
ReplyDeleteHe comes to the conclusion that "the internet isn't an individual pursuit, it's something we do with each other. The internet is where people are." I agree. I have the same desire to be 'connected'. I use Facebook, I tweet, I email, I Skype, I text, I Google and Foursquare. I like, share and follow people I know and people I don't. And I don't think there is anything wrong with that. I think social media can help us feel like we belong and decrease feelings of isolation. It gives us the means to find and connect with people who share our interests and who are willing to give us that attention we all crave.
Ultimately whether the effects are negative or 'unhealthy' hinges on the individual and how they navigate and integrate their online and offline worlds.
I agree with Sally's comment. I don't think attention seeking or acknowledgement covers the entire spectrum of social media usage. Ultimately social media works, because people want to be connected. No one had ever forced anyone to sign up to facebook, twitter etc, and curating other people's content is completely within the user's power.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of examples on how social media creates communities, in many ways it brought out the relatively niche interest (bike restoration, knitting) to a wider audience.
As a facebook user, I would describe myself more as an information seeker rather than an attention seeker. Beyond the function of posting a status or a photo, facebook provides access to many pages and communities that contain interesting information. To an extent, facebook can be used as an interactive search engine.
ReplyDeleteA versatile medium indeed! Jess, your response and those of others who commented reaffirm that social media offers a range of possibilities: information seeking, infornation sharing, slef-promotion, connecting, and creating.
ReplyDeleteI've now been using facebook for so long that when I'm logged in, the right hand side of the screen will display links to topics I've shown interest in before. For me, facebook is the ultimate in social media, because not only can stay connected to those around the world, but you can 'like' pages for companies, group, organisations, and use that as a way of learning more.
ReplyDeleteI hope you've all had a look at Denise's blog - and others like it - what a great way to grow a community!
ReplyDelete