I'd explored instant messaging and blogging so where did my Internet expedition take me next? Forums...well, one forum anyway.
Offline life sort of set me off down this avenue as I got engaged and began planning for my two wedding days. Looking back it is obvious that this was probably the point at which I really began to reap the value of communicating on the Internet rather than just using it for the sake of using
it.
Wedding magazines are incredibly pricey and shows are sometimes hard to get to and don't necessarily cater for those looking to stray from the traditional path. And I didn't have any real life friends to ask for advice or recommendations being among the first of my circle of friends to tie the knot.So, online I went.
I tried all the (now) well established websites from offline wedding brands. Then I found what was to be my online home for the best part of four years (two and a half wedding planning then moving to the baby talk board).
At the time I was slightly in awe of the way you could get an answer to any question at all from the collective knowledge available through the forum. Now of course that seems almost run of the mill given the way social media is evolving but for my first experience of it there was a danger of being overwhelmed.
I shared many wedding days through that board as people revealed their plans, counted down to their big day and then posted their experience and top tips for future brides.It was easy to get recommendations and many smaller, independent retailers were members giving a greater depth to the knowledge available.
How these suppliers were allowed to use the boards led to member debate and self-policing when rules were broken.
The bad side of boards were here also. I loved using the boards and the people I spoke to regularly on there but never really stopped feeling like the new girl in class. There were definite cliques on each of the boards which sometimes verged on snobbery or rudeness.
Most of the time if you weren't in the clique or you were a newer member you just got fewer replies to your threads.
Maybe some of this was down to the sheer volume of posts going through the boards. Possibly some of it down to repetition within those threads.Possibly some of it was just pure flaming.
It was a definite community though with some boards being tidal (as weddings passed people tailed off, sometimes to reappear on the off topic or baby boards) others being a more stable forum.
And the communities supported each other...when women were scared or confused on the baby boards there were people there to offer comfort and try to advise (this could have been a real benefit in situations where a woman hadn't revealed a pregnancy in her real world).
When the 7/7 London bombings happened the off topic community set up an informal and impromptu check in for known London members. They also supported each other in the days after posting about why they thought London was great and shouldn't be abandoned because of what had happened. A milder but never-the-less modern version of Blitz-spirit.
Much of the etiquette being bandied about today for newer platforms stood back then especially the 'I'll scratch your back, if you scratch mine' way of community building. If you were an active poster who took time to share and post quality replies you were more likely to get more / higher quality / faster replies when you posted a query.
And the things people wanted to communicate about on the off topic boards haven't vastly changed either...what they're wearing, where they've been, what they're eating. All still popping up consistently and frequently on today's social media landscape.
I learnt a lot even from just lurking on those boards (I can name the designer of a dress at twenty paces and I know more about the signs from your body that baby-making is go than I care to list). I also had a lot of good conversations and genuinely cared about what happened to some of the people I shared offline life journeys with through that forum.
But, like many, I drifted away on the tide. I returned to work after having my son and my daily visits turned to weekly turned to ad hoc. Now (just two year's after my son's birth) I can't even recall which email address I used to register in order to go back and visit those boards.
Just like ICQ and Open Diary before, it seems that the boards of Hitched had served their purpose in my life and I'd once again hit the road in search of a new online space.
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Monday, 16 March 2009
Monday, 16 February 2009
History: Part two: Or private thoughts in public spaces.
As I left university and entered the workplace in my first ‘proper’ job (Internet journalist) I moved my offline diary-keeping into the online space. I was an active member of Open Diary (OD) from the start of 1999 until sometime in 2001, just before they launched the paid-for version.
I don’t recall what initially spurred me to start publishing my thoughts online (although, clearly, it still appeals!), perhaps the standard attraction of vanity publishing, perhaps because I was online so much of the time it seemed easier to keep writing from the desktop than go back to pen and paper.
It was quite an eventful time in my life so perhaps I just thought I had lots to say and liked having a record I could easily flip back through as I completed university and left full-time education, entered the workplace, moved back to my hometown and transformed a friendship into a relationship (with my now husband).
Whatever made me start with OD it was the community that kept me coming back. I was soon in a circle of seemingly like-minded diarists and we would regularly (in some cases more like religiously) read and comment on each other’s entries. For me it was the best of both worlds – a place to pour out private thoughts, feelings and worries while also getting feedback from people who wouldn't know me in real life. My feelings and experiences were out there in public and yet still remained intensly private.
I valued those comments from diarists I respected as much, sometimes more, than my real life peers. Some of their words still stay with me although I have no complete record of my online entries. Certainly when events in my life were hard to talk about with those who knew me in real life I was able to honestly and openly catalogue them online and receive support from those who read me – it gave me access to people who had experienced what I had (or something similar) when offline there was no such person around.
I know over the time I was with OD I made more than 100 entries and that my usage was tailing off by the time they announced it would split into two sister sites – one paid for and one not. Many of my ‘circle’ went with the paid for service but I lost my diary before I made a decision.
Losing that diary marked the start of a quieter period for me in online life as I moved to my first flat and had no Internet connection. I was spending all of my working day online and exploring possibilities for the space in my everyday job so for a while I didn’t feel I was losing anything by not using the Internet in my personal life.
The value I got from being part of an online community stayed with me though. Not only did it give me the skills I needed for my next job (online community coordinator) but it was there at the back of my mind when once again I found myself in a different position to my real-life peers (more of that in part three).
It’s interesting as well that of the two people from my circle who have stuck in my memory for their unfailing advice and support back on OD a Google search shows that one of them is still with OD (and still looks to be on a similar life path to me) and the other one has an ongoing blog / personal website. We’re all still out in the online space just not tethered together under one banner anymore. I wonder if I should give them a wave?
I don’t recall what initially spurred me to start publishing my thoughts online (although, clearly, it still appeals!), perhaps the standard attraction of vanity publishing, perhaps because I was online so much of the time it seemed easier to keep writing from the desktop than go back to pen and paper.
It was quite an eventful time in my life so perhaps I just thought I had lots to say and liked having a record I could easily flip back through as I completed university and left full-time education, entered the workplace, moved back to my hometown and transformed a friendship into a relationship (with my now husband).
Whatever made me start with OD it was the community that kept me coming back. I was soon in a circle of seemingly like-minded diarists and we would regularly (in some cases more like religiously) read and comment on each other’s entries. For me it was the best of both worlds – a place to pour out private thoughts, feelings and worries while also getting feedback from people who wouldn't know me in real life. My feelings and experiences were out there in public and yet still remained intensly private.
I valued those comments from diarists I respected as much, sometimes more, than my real life peers. Some of their words still stay with me although I have no complete record of my online entries. Certainly when events in my life were hard to talk about with those who knew me in real life I was able to honestly and openly catalogue them online and receive support from those who read me – it gave me access to people who had experienced what I had (or something similar) when offline there was no such person around.
I know over the time I was with OD I made more than 100 entries and that my usage was tailing off by the time they announced it would split into two sister sites – one paid for and one not. Many of my ‘circle’ went with the paid for service but I lost my diary before I made a decision.
Losing that diary marked the start of a quieter period for me in online life as I moved to my first flat and had no Internet connection. I was spending all of my working day online and exploring possibilities for the space in my everyday job so for a while I didn’t feel I was losing anything by not using the Internet in my personal life.
The value I got from being part of an online community stayed with me though. Not only did it give me the skills I needed for my next job (online community coordinator) but it was there at the back of my mind when once again I found myself in a different position to my real-life peers (more of that in part three).
It’s interesting as well that of the two people from my circle who have stuck in my memory for their unfailing advice and support back on OD a Google search shows that one of them is still with OD (and still looks to be on a similar life path to me) and the other one has an ongoing blog / personal website. We’re all still out in the online space just not tethered together under one banner anymore. I wonder if I should give them a wave?
Friday, 13 February 2009
Local government and social media - response to Ingrid Koeler at IDeA
An interesting blog post from Ingrid Koeler at the IDeA about the questions facing local government using social media and an even more interesting response prompted me to post some of my own thoughts following on from discussions happening more frequently in these parts.
What are the greatest areas of potential benefit in councils using social media?
I think it is too early to tell what the real benefits to local government might be from social media and when they do become apparent those benefits may be hard to measure due to the fluid landscape and fast evolution of the online space.My feeling at the moment is that, if adopted, it could be the beginning of a change in the way in which local government engages with communities and the way they are perceived in return.In our own case moving forward with social media is the obvious next step from the concept we ran with for the websites – information presented in plain English and a friendly tone (or in other words moving The Authority from the authority). Social media in its many forms could boil down to taking that information and making it interactive.This could encourage greater engagement as the channels into the organisation become more open, easier to find and more two-way. And this, right now, is probably my best guess about greatest potential – social media is presenting a real opportunity for the organisation to understand the community and engage with them on neutral ground in a transparent and equal manner.
How can councils support local communities and individuals in becoming digitally enabled and empowered?
I would go along the lines that local gov can support communities and individuals by inhabiting the online space themselves. By engaging in online conversation and reaping the benefits of social media local gov can empower local communities and individuals who may not have had a voice in a more traditional channel.In terms of enabling others – providing access through local gov services such as libraries and making resource available to encourage and enthuse communities and individuals to see how digital technology can benefit them is probably a good tack to start on.
How can local and hyper-local social networks increase community cohesion and empowerment?
I need to formulate my thoughts more fully on this one before I can give any kind of sentient answer!
How can councillors develop their leadership and communication skills using social media?
I think the first issue is for a councillor (in the same way as the organisation) to understand what social media tools, if any, are appropriate channels of communication with the constituents. If online communication is a relevant way then I think it is an extra dimension for councillors to add to being available and transparent in their role. The least effective way to use the online space in the current climate is as a platform for publishing ‘brag’ pieces. I think a cultural shift needs to happen where online communication is seen as two-way rather than a broadcast medium. To grasp this councillors and organisation would have to accept the conversations about or with them may not always be positive but can all be constructive.
How can social media be used for more effective social marketing encouraging the behaviour change necessary to achieve complex outcomes?
I’ve not fully formed my thoughts on this – I may come back to it at some point in the near future.
What’s the “next practice” in social media, including virtual worlds and more?
I don’t think local gov should be looking for the next thing but rather learning how to utilise the tools already available for the best service to communities and reward to themselves. In my mind local gov is more suited to evolving rather than pioneering and unless it can make best use of social media at this stage it really won’t matter too much about what the next step is!
I'm thinking about this all a lot at the moment as part of the daily buck-earning but also in choosing a thesis topic. There is likely to be more to come as thoughts form more fully...
What are the greatest areas of potential benefit in councils using social media?
I think it is too early to tell what the real benefits to local government might be from social media and when they do become apparent those benefits may be hard to measure due to the fluid landscape and fast evolution of the online space.My feeling at the moment is that, if adopted, it could be the beginning of a change in the way in which local government engages with communities and the way they are perceived in return.In our own case moving forward with social media is the obvious next step from the concept we ran with for the websites – information presented in plain English and a friendly tone (or in other words moving The Authority from the authority). Social media in its many forms could boil down to taking that information and making it interactive.This could encourage greater engagement as the channels into the organisation become more open, easier to find and more two-way. And this, right now, is probably my best guess about greatest potential – social media is presenting a real opportunity for the organisation to understand the community and engage with them on neutral ground in a transparent and equal manner.
How can councils support local communities and individuals in becoming digitally enabled and empowered?
I would go along the lines that local gov can support communities and individuals by inhabiting the online space themselves. By engaging in online conversation and reaping the benefits of social media local gov can empower local communities and individuals who may not have had a voice in a more traditional channel.In terms of enabling others – providing access through local gov services such as libraries and making resource available to encourage and enthuse communities and individuals to see how digital technology can benefit them is probably a good tack to start on.
How can local and hyper-local social networks increase community cohesion and empowerment?
I need to formulate my thoughts more fully on this one before I can give any kind of sentient answer!
How can councillors develop their leadership and communication skills using social media?
I think the first issue is for a councillor (in the same way as the organisation) to understand what social media tools, if any, are appropriate channels of communication with the constituents. If online communication is a relevant way then I think it is an extra dimension for councillors to add to being available and transparent in their role. The least effective way to use the online space in the current climate is as a platform for publishing ‘brag’ pieces. I think a cultural shift needs to happen where online communication is seen as two-way rather than a broadcast medium. To grasp this councillors and organisation would have to accept the conversations about or with them may not always be positive but can all be constructive.
How can social media be used for more effective social marketing encouraging the behaviour change necessary to achieve complex outcomes?
I’ve not fully formed my thoughts on this – I may come back to it at some point in the near future.
What’s the “next practice” in social media, including virtual worlds and more?
I don’t think local gov should be looking for the next thing but rather learning how to utilise the tools already available for the best service to communities and reward to themselves. In my mind local gov is more suited to evolving rather than pioneering and unless it can make best use of social media at this stage it really won’t matter too much about what the next step is!
I'm thinking about this all a lot at the moment as part of the daily buck-earning but also in choosing a thesis topic. There is likely to be more to come as thoughts form more fully...
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