The Communities
The Twilight series written by Stephanie Meyer describes the suspenseful, romantic, horrifying, and comedic (as the author once described it) adventures of young Kristen Swan, a bunch of vampires, and Native Americans. Judging by the sales of books and the multiple films they have spawned, it's not difficult to imagine that dedicated fans would create sites devoted to their beloved series. I have chosen two Twilight fan communities to join.
Perhaps because I'm a male, or because my heart has long since become a cold, dead cinder incapable of feeling, I've never really been interested in checking out the Twilight series. Maybe these two communities will teach me not only about social capital mechanisms, but also how to love again.
For the sake of simplicity, I joined two communities under the same name: 691ICS
The communities I joined were: The Bella and Edward Fanclub and Fan Forum (Twilight Saga)
The process to join both communities was simple and painless. A quick five minutes after arriving on each website, I was ready to enter the world of glittering vampires and wolf people.
The Edward and Bella Fan Club is a website devoted to the Twilight series. The community is largely composed (unsurprisingly) of teenage girls. Here is a snapshot of what this OC is all about:
Fan Forum is an interesting OC in that it includes a Twilight fan forum as just one of many options for fans of popular media. One could just as easily hop from the Twilight forum to a forum dedicated to Samuel L. Jackson while on the Fan Forum website. Although there are numerous forums for a user to go to, people in this community seem to stick to their fandom of choice. Their policies (buried deep in a thread with an unclear title) are outlined on the link below:
POLICIES
How do they treat new vampires (members)?
As a new member with limited knowledge on the subject matter, I decided to pose the same question twice in order to discover how they would treat a member with no social capital. To preserve anonymity and encourage responses I posed a 22 year old woman named Ino Chieki Sakai from Japan. Here are screenshots of my question as posted on each site:
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| Edward and Bella Fanclub |
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| Fan Forum |
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| Fan Forum |
Comparing the Mechanisms
It was only on the Bella and Edward Fan Club site that I received an answer to my question. The Fan Forum response, though pleasant enough, did not in fact provide an answer. I checked again after a few days to see if there were any more responses on the Fan Forum, but my thread got lost in the shuffle after it was moved.The nature of the Twilight Fan Forum means that interactions are primarily limited to forum discussions. Interaction occurs primarily on questions/discussion points posed by members that have established themselves as presences in the Twilight Fan Forum community. My initial post was apparently misplaced, and one of the "experts" as described the in the Gleave article, moved my post to the accepted location for such inquiries. There was a small bit of admonishment that served to maintain the "local norms" also discussed by Gleave.
The E&B Fan Club allowed me to post my question in the forum without any admonishment. There was less micro-managing of posts and all members were able to post new topics for discussion. The Ellison article mentioned that, "...detailed profiles highlight both commonalities and differences among participants." In terms of detailed profiles, the Edward and Bella Fan Site provides a level of customization that closely mimics MySpace and some of the features offered by Facebook. Because of this, and the ability to request people as friends, the E&B Fan Club feels more welcoming than Twilight Fan Forum.
"Bonding social capital" is easier to see on the E&B Fan Club because the level of customization of the personal profile allows members to somewhat passively let people learn more about them through the profile browsing feature. A friend request I received upon joining the E&B Fan Club was motivated by my character's location in Japan, which the user revealed to me via a private message.
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| First Friend Request |
Suggested Improvements
The only suggestions I have for the E&B Fan Club to improve their website is a change in the font because I hated reading red on black, and perhaps instituting a badge or promotion system where users can get cool little badges similar to how the Huffington Post does it. Maybe giving the level-up system a vampire theme would put users deeper under the spell this website casts. Otherwise, their site has a nice blend of "bonding social capital" and "bridging social capital" going on. People ask questions, get responses, birthdays are acknowledged, art is shared. The creators of this site show the same love and care for their community that Edward showed for Bella when he bared his soul to her during that time in the book.
For the Twilight Fan Forum, I suggest they make the community more welcoming to new users. I found it difficult to locate a place to put my introductory post. The way they cluster certain topics according to the senior members wishes seems somewhat arbitrary too. Though the "answer giver" that responded to my post was polite, I still didn't get a response. The community has barriers to entry that can be somewhat intimidating to the new user. They need to create a newbie thread and lock it at the top of the forum; otherwise, the whole thing will just be a conversation between a few 'elite' users that new members have to try and jump into.
The premise offered by Allen and company, that "...every node seeks to interact with another that is at least as cooperative as itself," is true in the case of the Twilight Fan Forum. The only instances of sustained interaction I saw were between the other veteran members of the board, all of which had somewhat similar post counts. Sustained interaction might have allowed me to climb my way up the social ladder on the forum, but I can't say for sure.
As the Twilight Fan Forum is forum-based, there is a lack of personal profile customization which is kind of the norm for this type of OC. A badge-type of system for contributors is already in place, as people get gold crowns for posting a lot. This is a good first step. However, they could open it up to allow more extensive personal pages with more than just a post count and a signature quote. Just like how Bella eventually opened up to Edward in the book, the Twilight Fan Forum needs to give its users a few more ways to open up to each other.
Final Thoughts
Choosing between the two OCs I looked at was much easier than when Bella had to choose between Edward and the wolf guy. Since Bella eventually chose (spoiler alert. Highlight to see.) Edward (according to Wikipedia), I'm going to have to say that the Bella and Edward Fan Club is in fact Edward, while the Twilight Fan Forum is the poor, neglected wolf guy. Thought I have not learned how to love again, I was pleasantly surprised by how well a fan site like the Bella and Edward Fan Club was able to make me feel involved in their community.
Final Project Ideas
I am interested in two forms of social computing not yet covered: Alternative Reality Games and/or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. I am also open to taking a look at the Facebook games by Zynga.
Social networks formed around online games have had very real impacts on peoples' lives. Some have met online, fallen in love, and gotten married. Others have had marriages ruined because a spouse gets so involved with their online life in the games that their offline interactions suffer. There have even been murders over items that exist only on the servers of the company running the online game!
MMORPG/ARGs I would look at:
If I take a look at MMORPGs I might take a look at subscription-based vs. micro-transaction based games.
A look at ARGs would involve commercial and fan-made projects and the different ways they involve the internet to encourage particpation.
Questions I am thinking of investigating:
How do ARGs or MMORPGs form and maintain collaborative relationships between users?
(MMORPG specific)
What are the incentives for participation and how do developers sustain monetized participation by users in an MMORPG environment? How are social networks formed within the game?
(ARG specific)
How do ARGs involve users? What are the types of users that participate in ARGs? Do ARGs successfully leverage the online platform to encourage user participation?
Readings
Gleave, Eric, Howard T. Welser, Thomas M. Lento and Marc A. Smith (2009). A Conceptual and Operational Definition of ÔSocial RoleÕ in Online Community. Proceedings of the 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Waikoloa, HI, 5-8 January 2009.
Allen, Stuart M., Gualtiero Colombo, Roger M. Whitaker (2009). Forming Social Networks of Trust to Incentivize Cooperation. Proceedings of the 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Waikoloa, HI, 5-8 January 2009.
Ellison, N.B., C. Steinfield and C. Lampe (2007). The Benefits of Facebook "Friends:" Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/ellison.html
Williams, D. (2006). On and Off the 'Net: Scales for Social Capital in an Online Era. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(2), article 11.
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue2/williams.html
Hmmm.. interesting experience and blog.. especially by going into sites that are so foreign to you.
ReplyDeleteDid I read correctly, that you are utilizing a character when joining these OC? That you are portraying yourself as Japanese student?
Yeah. The character was to both stay anonymous and to encourage the people to respond. Posing as a student from a foreign country was also a way of encouraging responses beyond just the Twilight subject matter. I erased both accounts after this assignment concluded.
ReplyDeleteI saw part of the first Twilight movie after this project was finished and couldn't make it through it. I am totally not the target audience for that series.
Like you, I also do not like the "red on black" using by "Edward and Bella Fanclub". Sometime, OCs creator do not really pay attention to the "good design" of their site.
ReplyDeleteResearching about games' OCs will improve the number of scholarly research about game. Several prior research have mentioned about negative effects of games and games's OCs to the personality of games' members. For example, there are some research that said there is a relation between cruel/violence actions on game to the development of real life criminal/violence actions. Besides, this negative effect, games community also contributed on positive aspect, such as forming solid friendship and giving technical assistant to same games player. Willingness to give, collective, and support can emerge from this online community into the offline community.
What I want to know is, do you already have OCs related to games that can become your target? How can you tract or observe the participation and process on this OCs? I ask these questions because I am just my curios about this project.
Yes, I have two OCs that I will investigate both in-game and on the forums dedicated to the games. I will keep data via screenshots and chat logs which can be saved. Thanks for your input!
ReplyDelete"Maybe these two communities will teach me not only about social capital mechanisms, but also how to love again." you are hilarious!
ReplyDelete"Just like how Bella eventually opened up to Edward in the book, the Twilight Fan Forum needs to give its users a few more ways to open up to each other." -- seriously, hilarious.
I am totally taking a cue for you on the next assignment, I really liked how you created a character and ran with the whole thing, very cool.
Your project idea about gaming sounds fascinating. Have you seen this TEDtalk yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE1DuBesGYM ?
Looking forward to reading your next one...
Hmm interesting idea doing the character..
ReplyDeleteIn regards to Twilight, I actually dont know too many guys that care for the books or movies- thats what made it all the more interesting that you decided to venture into the world of Twilight :)
Very interesting insights into the two Twilight OCs! It is very fascinating to see how two OCs with very similar members have different cultures. This does make me wonder how they got that way and why they moved in different directions. My guess would be that different times of creation or different rules (e.g. how much moderators interact with members) may impact the culture greatly. For example, a looser rule set with less moderator interaction may cause a level of freedom and “self policing.” Whether or not this would work better or if this works consistently is variable.
ReplyDeleteI think that you make a good aesthetic point about the red and the black colors on the page. However, I wonder if these colors help to promote Twilight. If this is the case, would using other colors detract members from staying to joining? Also, regarding instituting a “leveling” system, I am wondering if this is helpful for this type of OC. Based on the types of members, would it be better for them to develop their social capital based on their experiences with others, or would it be better to have a reward system? In this sense, people may try to trick the system by simply posting a lot to be at a high level. If this were the case, it may detract from their informal social role (Gleave et al., 2009).
I also found your thoughts about Allen’s article to be interesting, as it can be difficult for new users to develop their social capital, especially when they need to learn the culture before fully being able to participate. In this sense, I wonder how long it takes a “veteran lurker” who knows the culture to gain social capital when compared to non veteran lurkers.
Regarding your final project ideas, I think that considering games can be very interesting. It looks like you have a few venues for this; synchronous games (MMORPGs) and asynchronous games (seeing who has the highest scores in a game). Based on these types of interactions, it would be interesting to see how these relationships form and how well people are tied to them. I wonder which one is more difficult to leave or enter? Regarding your research questions, I have a few comments:
How do ARGs or MMORPGs form and maintain collaborative relationships between users?
Questions: What is a collaborative relationship? Is your scope solely within the context of the game?
What are the incentives for participation and how do developers sustain monetized participation by users in an MMORPG environment? How are social networks formed within the game?
Questions: Are you looking at both the initial hook and the sustainability after the initial hook? If so, how difficult is it to leave if you have a high level character? How do you overcome the barriers to entry if a MMORPG was out for a long time (e.g. how does World of Warcraft promote new users if many people have years of experience and “leveling up” in front of them).
Very interesting! I am looking forward to hearing more about your paper idea :)
Really funny post and great analysis. I can't help but to wonder if you would have received more replies if you took on a male identity instead of a female's. Caloha commented that not many guys take an interest in the series (or at least it's not that open). The book and film marketing plan seems to target young, females...Anyway, what would have happened if you said you were a 22 year old guy from Translyvania.
ReplyDeleteI like your final idea, too. A friend of a friend was a real obsessive gamer for a couple years and basically stayed in doors and stayed up until the wee morning hours. Friends still give him crap for it. I thought it was interesting how he eventually chose one group of friends over another. Although he was ridiculed heavily by his RL friends, he eventually "got out of his cave" and started hanging out with his RL friends in RL. I wonder how feasible it is to have two active social groups (one online and one offline) simultaneously.
If this was the Oscars you'd win for Best Post Ever. Love the idea of choosing online communities not for matching your interest but exactly the opposite (or was it just for the lulz? ;)). Same for making up a whole new persona to participate... although it would've been interesting to see how members would've reacted to a male presence in their midst. With a username like "SparklingAdonis" it may have been a real success ;) (oops, just noticed that Palabra had the same idea already... but really, that would have been fun to see)
ReplyDeleteYour final project ideas sound really interesting too. I've never been part of one of those really large online games like WoW myself, but looking at how social communities develop and are maintained in those kinds of settings should definitely give you a lot of information.
This is so intersting! Even I'm not fan of vampires, I would like to go to these sites. Obviously, appearence is important for a vampire and their site, so based on my first impression, I will go with Edward and Bella Fanclub, but thats another story, maybe for "how to make social network sites more attractive"?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I agree with your idea of customization of personal profiles will generate more bonding social capital,and since there is a big chance that users in the same geographic areas will feel closer to each other(especially in a global forum)and become online friends, there is no way to encourage this action withour a personal profile with ones location.
For your final project, I had heard stories of online game partners became couple and I think it's really a unique phenomenon because the rate is reletively high comparing to this kind of thing happening on other types of SNSs. To my consideration, it's maybe on one hand, these users have mutual interests, and on the other hand, people who play online games might believe in this virtual environment more.
Sounds like you had some fun with this weeks assignment! Personally I have been super interested in the motivation behind Zynga. These games generate millions and millions of dollars. Farmville in particular makes me sick when I think about people buying virtual food and yet people all over the world are hungry. It would be interesting to see what the user motivation is behind these games. What keeps people playing.
ReplyDeleteMBCO -
ReplyDeleteThe scope of the project would include in-game analysis and a jaunt into the forums of whatever games/game I look at. I want to see how veteran users nurture new players. How they react to requests for help will be a part of what I look at.
If I have time, I want to see how interactions in a large group, or "guild", work. Maybe take a look at the social mores within guilds, and see how they facilitate interaction/cooperation between members.
I will take a brief look at both the initial hook and how they keep that hook lodged in the mouth of their users.
You gave me two great questions that I will try to answer in my paper:
"If so, how difficult is it to leave if you have a high level character? How do you overcome the barriers to entry if a MMORPG was out for a long time (e.g. how does World of Warcraft promote new users if many people have years of experience and “leveling up” in front of them)."
Thanks for your input MBCO!
Mernie - Thanks for the TED link, I'll check it out!
ReplyDeletePalabra - Heh. I like that idea! I might do it for laughs sometime. As for your friend, I knew a guy that sounds similar. He played World of Warcraft almost everyday and we didn't see him for weeks on end.
Julia - If calling myself "Sparkling Adonis" I wonder if I can meet a nice girl. Heh. Glad you liked the post!
Nan - Thanks for the comment! It seems like more and more people are meeting through online games these days. Maybe I will get lucky!
Philip - Farmville makes me sick too. One of my friends had me make a farm once. All I did was arrange my crops to spell a rude word and I never went back into the game. I eventually deleted the account.
I'll just echo the rest of the commenters and say I completely enjoyed your approach to this session's assignment. For your final project, lots of interesting ideas here--how newbies are indoctrinated by experienced members within a game could be one part of your question, and weighing the 'sunk costs' of abandoning an established character is another, though I don't know how you'd gather data on the latter. For background you may want to apply the concept of cumulative advantage (akin to first-mover advantage) to the increasing difficulty of earning rewards and social capital within a site if you join late.
ReplyDeleteRemember, you (and everyone) are also encouraged to discuss implications of what you observe; for example, you would be free to engage in some grounded speculation about what people get from online interactions that they don't get in their real lives as another element of motivation for continued participation.
Hooray for your courage and effort in dabbling with vampires, draculas, and the likes. Interesting post, I enjoyed reading it. I like and concur with your suggestions. Red on black background is not easy on the eyes, not to mention bad design as many folks with color blindness could not see red or green.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the E&B OC is similar to a small closely owned coffee shop meanwhile the second OC is a corporate run coffee shop franchise, i.e. Starbucks.
As for your project, go with MMORPG. Just personal preference :) Would like to get a glimpse to the answer of your questions - from a more academic approach like this.
Funny post, you know much about Twilight. :)
ReplyDelete[Personally, I don't quite get the fascination that people have with vampires, honestly I find zombies much more thrilling and entertaining. :P]
You mentioned that crimes have occurred in real life because of online drama. Do you plan on analyzing some of those headlines in your project?