Social Media: the fan club, the network and the community
The Internet is a vast meeting place where just about anyone can roam freely and make connections with other people. It might be worthwhile to think about the types of connections that happen most naturally in various social media.
Fan Clubs
Facebook is the queen of fan club sites, both official and unofficial. For many everyday folks, posting a photo or comment is part of a never-ending quest to gather compliments, likes, LOLs, and other kinds of recognition of their specialness.
It's easy to see who wants fans: posts tend to be, "How do you like my new haircut?", Instagram photos of their restaurant meal, pics of their dogs and grandchildren, and photos of people they are fans of themselves (to get the fandom ball rolling). The main feature of fan club communication is that it is one-way: the person that everyone is a fan of makes a statement and dozens/hundreds/thousands of people like it or make comments like, "You are still beautiful," "Looks great!" and the wow-face emoticon. Rarely do fans comment on the words of other fans. It's a top-down kind of connection that requires almost nothing of the fans but gives them a bit of emotional satisfaction by being part of it. Many Facebook pages and groups are fan clubs; they keep their fans loyal with promotions and give-aways. Twitter also lends itself to fan clubs.
Networks
LinkedIn started as a job site for employers who needed to hire someone. The employers posted ads, but they wanted a more efficient way to screen people in and out, so LinkedIn went after people who want a job, offering a free way to get into the job market. LinkedIn asks enough questions in the process of having people create profiles that employers can search for keywords that matched their job needs.
Once people join LinkedIn, they form their own networks. This is where it gets interesting. If you want a job at a certain company, you can see who in your network can help you do some research on jobs and get you an interview there. You can also contact employees of that firm (people you don't know) and ask to be in their network, but this is stretching the idea a bit thin, as those people have no real incentive to help you.
Networks are quite different from fan clubs, as all the communication is lateral. What's more, efficient networks move people very fast, joining them for a particular moment and then moving on.
There is little time or room for depth of communication in most networks, as they function best when used to meet a specific need. Networks are, in that way, much more impersonal and transaction-oriented than fan clubs or communities. People don't spend lots of quality time in networks; they activate them when a need arises.
Many civic, charitable and religious groups are really networks, making pathways to fast communication in disasters and right-now crises. Networks thrive on rapid expansion and spend considerable energy attracting new members.
Community
The strength of a community is in direct relationship to the level of personal commitment that its members make to the group. Most true communities develop over time, have organic roots in common interests, are activity-based, and are not seeking new members simply for the sake of growth. Trust, mutual understanding, and some degree of loyalty are hallmarks of community; members invest time and energy into knowing each other. Churches, schools, sports clubs, and civic organizations have traditionally provided communities, but these institutions have become frayed as their surroundings change and their members move on. In the US (where people move often, change jobs, and lose touch with their past communities), it's an attractive idea to use social media to join a ready-made new community. Social media for communities include newspapers, newsletters, and tightly-controlled Facebook group pages; however, none of these can take the place of physical meetings that give members a chance to do something together Social media function best as ways to publicize events and build memories of past activities that give the community its unique character.
Keeping it all straight
Each of these types of communication serves a purpose. The problem comes when the social media provider or its members get confused about the differences.
For example, LinkedIn is trying to become a community. You can post articles, videos, treatises, and manifestos. You can volunteer to give away your skills to other LinkedIn members. You can advertise your own seminar, book, or movie idea. Nothing wrong with any of this, but I wonder if it wouldn't be better to just keep it as it is--a big and successful network.
Facebook often speaks of itself as a community, but I question whether anything so fragmented and prone to devolve into individual fan clubs can be a community. Without a personal commitment and strong common interests, community can't get very far.
As for networking on Facebook, my observation is that the best networks don't start in Facebook, but use Facebook as a kind of virtual bulletin board for asking questions and making requests in networks that already exist. You can make a comment if you're not in the network, but probably no one will pay much attention.
Millions of people roam the Internet daily looking for connections. Maybe there's a place for your own innovative idea, a kind of social media that doesn't imitate what already exists but which opens a brand-new way for people to find each other and make connections. What social media do you see a need for?
Facebook is the queen of fan club sites, both official and unofficial. For many everyday folks, posting a photo or comment is part of a never-ending quest to gather compliments, likes, LOLs, and other kinds of recognition of their specialness.
It's easy to see who wants fans: posts tend to be, "How do you like my new haircut?", Instagram photos of their restaurant meal, pics of their dogs and grandchildren, and photos of people they are fans of themselves (to get the fandom ball rolling). The main feature of fan club communication is that it is one-way: the person that everyone is a fan of makes a statement and dozens/hundreds/thousands of people like it or make comments like, "You are still beautiful," "Looks great!" and the wow-face emoticon. Rarely do fans comment on the words of other fans. It's a top-down kind of connection that requires almost nothing of the fans but gives them a bit of emotional satisfaction by being part of it. Many Facebook pages and groups are fan clubs; they keep their fans loyal with promotions and give-aways. Twitter also lends itself to fan clubs.
LinkedIn started as a job site for employers who needed to hire someone. The employers posted ads, but they wanted a more efficient way to screen people in and out, so LinkedIn went after people who want a job, offering a free way to get into the job market. LinkedIn asks enough questions in the process of having people create profiles that employers can search for keywords that matched their job needs.
Once people join LinkedIn, they form their own networks. This is where it gets interesting. If you want a job at a certain company, you can see who in your network can help you do some research on jobs and get you an interview there. You can also contact employees of that firm (people you don't know) and ask to be in their network, but this is stretching the idea a bit thin, as those people have no real incentive to help you.
Networks are quite different from fan clubs, as all the communication is lateral. What's more, efficient networks move people very fast, joining them for a particular moment and then moving on.
There is little time or room for depth of communication in most networks, as they function best when used to meet a specific need. Networks are, in that way, much more impersonal and transaction-oriented than fan clubs or communities. People don't spend lots of quality time in networks; they activate them when a need arises.
Many civic, charitable and religious groups are really networks, making pathways to fast communication in disasters and right-now crises. Networks thrive on rapid expansion and spend considerable energy attracting new members.
The strength of a community is in direct relationship to the level of personal commitment that its members make to the group. Most true communities develop over time, have organic roots in common interests, are activity-based, and are not seeking new members simply for the sake of growth. Trust, mutual understanding, and some degree of loyalty are hallmarks of community; members invest time and energy into knowing each other. Churches, schools, sports clubs, and civic organizations have traditionally provided communities, but these institutions have become frayed as their surroundings change and their members move on. In the US (where people move often, change jobs, and lose touch with their past communities), it's an attractive idea to use social media to join a ready-made new community. Social media for communities include newspapers, newsletters, and tightly-controlled Facebook group pages; however, none of these can take the place of physical meetings that give members a chance to do something together Social media function best as ways to publicize events and build memories of past activities that give the community its unique character.
Keeping it all straight
Each of these types of communication serves a purpose. The problem comes when the social media provider or its members get confused about the differences.
For example, LinkedIn is trying to become a community. You can post articles, videos, treatises, and manifestos. You can volunteer to give away your skills to other LinkedIn members. You can advertise your own seminar, book, or movie idea. Nothing wrong with any of this, but I wonder if it wouldn't be better to just keep it as it is--a big and successful network.
Facebook often speaks of itself as a community, but I question whether anything so fragmented and prone to devolve into individual fan clubs can be a community. Without a personal commitment and strong common interests, community can't get very far.
As for networking on Facebook, my observation is that the best networks don't start in Facebook, but use Facebook as a kind of virtual bulletin board for asking questions and making requests in networks that already exist. You can make a comment if you're not in the network, but probably no one will pay much attention.
Millions of people roam the Internet daily looking for connections. Maybe there's a place for your own innovative idea, a kind of social media that doesn't imitate what already exists but which opens a brand-new way for people to find each other and make connections. What social media do you see a need for?
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