signing off....

The time has come to sign off. To look back on a blog experience that started at the beginning of this module. And it has been quite the ride. It was interesting keeping a blog again. Though it also showed me that keeping a blog is more work then i expected. It's fun to share your thoughts with the world, yet it's so easy to loose track. Becoming part of a community was fun though and to really delve into it instead of lurking and standing on the side lines so to speak.

The community i became part of during the past weeks was the community on fangoria.com. I have always been a fan of horror and i like to stay up to date on all things horror. Especially news about upcoming movies and reviews. This 'hobby' had lead me to the website of Fangoria before, but i never got as far as their main page. After i got this assignment i noticed they had a message board, so that made the choice to pick a community a little easier. This way i could emerse myself in the world of horror, a hobby of mine, and at the same time complete this assignment. A win-win situation.

The registration process wasn't difficult. It is quite easy to join this community and it only requires little personal information such as a name, username and password to join. I think they were wise doing this, because it might scare potential members away when they have to give out lots of information about themselves in order to join. Once you become a member you can update your profile with your own tagline and date of birth, hobbies etc. So Fangoria still gives members the oppertunity to create their own persona on the message board. Which i think is a wise choice because this can make it easier to connect to other members.

Which, by the way, was something they handled well too. On the message board they had thread where newcomers could introduce themselves to the community. By starting a topic about yourself you could show the other members who you are and why you joined the community. I think this a good way to introduce new members since it can be overwhelming having to participate in already ongoing converstations. Especially on a community that's filled with 'regular' users. Which fangoria has its fair share of. I could introduce myself and be welcomed into the community before starting to post in the other threads.

The first weeks on the message board were a little weird. This because it took some time getting used to the way of posting from other members. I had to go with the flow. I started posting my opinions on reviews, which lead to some discussions with other members. I liked the fact they were responding to my post, because that gives you the feeling you're part of the community.
That was also the reason why i kept going back. The more i posted and the more active i was, i could see and experience i was becoming a part of the community. To me, i think that's essential in creating a good community. Give users the feeling they're part of the community and they keep coming back for more.

Looking back on my involvement in the community i can say i was a regular participant. I tried to be active on a daily basis posting a comment or create my own topic from time to time. I found that creating own topics is the best way to get other users involved and get in touch with them. At this point i can't really say i got real friends out of it, but there's certain members i can relate to.

The only thing i missed was moderators that would react to certain profanities. I've been on other message boards before but those times i was mostly a lurker. Nevertheless, i could see how moderators would react in certain situations. Especially when newcomers would get involved in discussions and regular members would gang up on them. I think fangoria's moderators should invest more time in making sure this doesn't happen. This shows that even a topic to introduce yourself isn't enough to put yourself out there. That was one of the things i would change should i be running the community.

The organization of the community itself was working well. I mean, they have moderators and it is possible to reach a certain status inside the community. The community was divided in several categories and subcategories which made it easy to find threads and information to your liking. So for a newcomer it was pretty easy to find my way around the community and get familiar with the way they organised it.

In conclusion i can say that i enjoyed the time i spend on fangoria. It was a different experience from being mostly a lurker to being actively involved in a community. It can be a rewarding and fun experience, but you have to be willing to invest time in it. I liked the way the community was set up and how things were organized and can see me going back in the future.
All in all it has been an interesting time keeping a blog and getting to know the fangoria community.

I hope you enjoyed my posts because the time has come to... sign off.

Twitter word of the year 2009.

Today I was listening to the radio when I heard this on the news.

Twitteren is the word of the year 2009 in the Netherlands.

This clearly shows twitter has become a 'thing' this year and that we can't ignore this media platform anymore. Twitter will become the new thing to do.

I like to twitter myself from time to time. Sometimes i completely forget to do it for a couple of days, but other days i can post several times a day.

I think we will see and hear a lot more about the twitter in the years to come. It's rising in popularity and more and more companies start using this service.

And now twitteren has become the word of the year 2009, it will only be a matter of time until we all add to our online profiles the hobby: twitteren.

So you wanna be a moderator?

In class we discussed about moderators and also in our project assignment this is an aspect we have to think of. That's why i did some research and came across these sites that kinda lay some ground rules about moderating and checking if you have what it takes to be a moderator.

As for me, i think a moderator status would be too time consuming. I like it more to just do my thing instead of keeping track of everyones actions on the community. But hey, if you want to be one, check out these sites.

What is a community leader? Are you one?

Community builders

Delving into the gory fandom

I had some time now to become part of the community on fangoria.com and i must say it's been an interesting journey. As i said before, i've been on forums before but mostly just as a 'lurker'. That way i've already seen how communities react to newcomers and sometimes it ain't easy to get your 'spot' amongst the regular peers.

What i like about fangoria is that in their forums they have a section called 'welcome center'. This way you can introduce yourself to the community so that they have an idea of who the new guy is. I like the idea of this since you aren't thrown into the community without being able to tell them who you are and what you're like.

Fangoria has a good overview and cleary devided everything into caterogies such as off topic, entertainment, user creations. This way you can easily navigate the forums and go to the place you are most interested in.

It's been cool to read up on the latest reviews and upcoming movies and offer my thoughts on these which lead to conversations with other fans. It hasnt developed friendships yet, but i'm slowly starting to feel, at least for a little bit, part of the community over there.

What i have learned so far is that with little time you can already become part of a community. It doesn't recuire you to be online every single minute of your free time. And it is due to this fact im liking it more and more. So i guess that's a good thing right.

A blog life...

It's been a while since i started this blog and i have to say it's been an interesting time to realize things. First of all, i had no idea keeping a blog once a week would be this hard. Maybe that has something to do with the thing that i had never blogged, on a weekly base, before. It's so easy to get caught in your everyday things and at the end it's like... o yeah my blog. So with this post i'm trying to mark my return so to speak.

As i said i had been browsing the net and i came across some usefull sites about keeping blogs and things to keep in mind when writing a blog. Since for many of us this is the first time we're actively keeping a blog, this might come in handy.

(this link gives 20 tips for better blogging, though it is in Dutch)
20 tips for better blogging

(this page provides links to other sites with tips and tricks)
blogging for beginners

Facebook it.

I think almost everyone has heard about Facebook by now or better yet, has their own Facebook page. Facebook is an example of today's social media and it's growing in popularity all over the world.
For all of the Facebook users out there, I found this video on Youtube which I found to point out some of the 'lesser' and even annoying parts of Facebook. You might or might not agree with them but check it out. This shows that eventhough your idea for a community might rise to great popularity, you still have to be on the lookout for improvements. And yes, I do agree with most of this guy's points.

Part of a community...

Well, i've been trying to find my way on fangoria and seeing what it is all about. And so far it's been ok. It takes some effort to become engaged at a community. You have to be willing to put time in it and through that establish a persona inside the community. This way you start to connect with other members. I'm usually more the lurking type so sometimes I really have to push myself in order to comment or really contribute something legit to the topic. Though i have to admit it's been interesting to be more active on a forum. I still have a way to go and things to uncover but i'm enjoying 'the ride'. More on that 'ride' next time.