In searching for an example of Web 2.0 Storytelling to show those of you in our Writing for New Media Class I stumbled upon something called Dark Knight Adventures on an animation fan website called The World's Finest. For those of you who don't know The Dark Knight Adventures is online comic book created by a collaboration of Batman fans on the Internet that continues the story of the TV show Batman The Animated Series. When this show went off the air in favor of its creator Bruce Timm making a new show about a version of Batman in the future entitled Batman Beyond, I was extremely disappointed because there were a lot of questions that needed to be answered to fill in the gap between both series, which included the outcome of the love triangle between Batman, Nightwing and Batgirl. When I found the online comic Dark Knight Adventures I was extremely overjoyed because it was a device to fill in the blanks drawn in the same style as the animators on Batman The Animated Series making it feel like I was getting new episodes of the show I used to rush home and watch as a kid.
A comparison between the Dark Knight Adventures and the actual artwork created for Batman The Animated Series.
Due to the discovery of the Dark Knight Adventures I realized that the Web 2.0 Storytelling has a power unlike any other form of media. It has the ability to bring a movie that they stopped making sequels for or a television show that was canceled back from the dead. Then again these continuations created by Internet users like those of you in our Writing for New Media Class might feel like a letdown because it is not deemed official by the studio or that it is not backed by the show's creators but for many people it is enough to satisfy their craving to keep wanting more from their favorite stories. Besides, if you don't like the direction that a fan made continuation of a TV show or movie is going you can always create your own, that's the beauty part of the Internet.
Here's a fan created animated continuation of Batman The Animated Series using Lego figurines.
I mean ten or maybe fifteen years ago, when a TV show was canceled you could only tell what you thought might happen next to family members and friends but now thanks to the innovation Web 2.0 Storytelling you can share your predictions with everyone minus the threat of being sued by Production Companies. Based on this statement, if there is any of you in our New Media Class who want to see more of a TV show or a sequel to their favorite movies, I think you should go out there and use the tools of Web 2.0 like hyperlinks, embedding pictures and audio to create your own continuation stories. By the way if you have already created a continuation of a TV show or movie using Web 2.0 feel free to share it with me by commenting on this post.
Writing for New Media Classmates, have you heard of Serialized Radio Dramas? You know the form of audio storytelling which depends on dialogue, music and sound effects that your Grandparents might have listened to before the days of Television? For the people in our class who don't know this type of entertainment was extremely popular during the 1930's and 40's because it existed in the place of hit serialized television shows which are on the air today like 24. In fact many Radio Dramas became TV shows like Dragnet, Guiding Lightand The Adventures of Superman. However, unlike with TV shows there were some occasions where the audience believed these Radio Dramas were real. The most famous example was Orson Welles' broadcast of the War of the Worlds which actually covinced people that Aliens were invading Earth.
A radio that your Grandparents might have used to listen to Serialized Dramas
Today, after being phased out of existence by television Serialized Radio Dramas have reemerged as a form of Web 2.0 Storytelling. These Radio Dramas now fit within the realm Web 2.0 Storytelling through them not being broadcasted on the radio but being accessible to internet users which includes those of you in our New Media Class through the use of podcasts that can be downloaded through ITunes or websites. The most prominent source for podcast versions of Radio Dramas is Pendant Productions, a family based Internet company that uses dialogue, music, and sound effects to create modern versions of the programming that was popular in the 1930's and 40's.
The Podcast Serial I listen to on the site is entitled Batman Ace of Detectives but they also feature serials revolving around other popular franchises including Star Trek, James Bond, and Indiana Jones. Although what will cause you to be amazed with these podcasts is that the group of friends and family members that are behind Pendant Productions create these Serials in their own homes through simply using a computer along with ITunes and Audacity which are free downloadable softwares where back in the 30's and 40's these types of programs had to be recorded at large studios using extremely expensive equipment.
Promotional artwork for the Batman Ace of Detectives radio show
These Podcasts even addresses the social software aspect of Web 2.0 Storytelling by encouraging listeners to audition for roles in their various programs. The fact that Pendant Productions makes these Podcasts in their own home might make you think that they are reaaly bad quality or incredibly cheesy, but despite the fact that these programs occasionally use music from popular movies likeStar Wars they are extremely professional. In fact Pendant Publishing has even won awards for their work called Parsecs.
An example of a Parsec Award
These awards are dedicated to rewarding excellence in various aspects of Speculative Science Fiction Podcasting proving that there is a huge market for Serialized Dramas on the Internet. In closing I would totally suggest for those of you in our Writing for New Media class to check out these Podcast Serials especially if you have an interest in the era of the 1930's and 40's or if you have an interest voice acting. Then after you check these Podcasts out comment on this post to give me your thoughts on this modernized version of an old school form of entertainment.
Hey Writing for New Media Class, I'm back to talk more about Web 2.0 Storytelling. This time we are going to talk about what can Web 2.0 storytellers that conventional (old media) storytellers a.k.a. what I believe to be writers cannot. The main thing that Web 2.0 storytellers can do compared to traditional writers is that they can give visual representations of the things they discuss in their stories through the use of hyperlinks, images and videos instead of having to describe in words. In fact most Web 2.0 stories don't even use text, they are just a slideshow of pictures complimented by a voice-over and music.
A visual representation of a scene in a movie using text animation
However on the flip side of things the fact that Web 2.0 storytellers cannot or do not choose to describe things to the audience which includes all of you in our Class limits a writer's ability to let us draw our own conclusions about the world they are trying to convey. Honestly my favorite thing about literature is how it inspires me to come up with my own visualizations for the text on the page and without that I don't think I would enjoy reading as much.
For example when I was in 8th grade I read the the first four Harry Potter books which caused me to formulate my own vision of the world described by the writing of J.K. Rowling. Then I made the mistake of seeing the first movie and for the life of me I could not get back to my own personal Harry Potter universe I envisioned while reading the last three installments of the series, I just kept envisioning the movie. This was completely disappointing to myself as a reader because I could never see Harry Potter in my own unique way ever again, I would forever have to see him in the same way as everyone who saw the movie and I foresee this issue taking place with Web 2.0 storytelling.
The movie that ruined my own private imaginary world
I guess with like comparing a book to a movie there are many pros and cons as to why traditional storytelling is better than Web 2.0 storytelling or vice versa. However, I fear with Web 2.0 storytellers spoon feeding us visualizations instead of leaving it up to the interpretation of our imagination the creative quality behind future storytelling may begin to diminish.
If any of you in our Writing for New Media Class would like to give your own pros and cons comparing traditional storytellers to Web 2.0 storytellers feel free to post a comment.
Greetings Writing for New Media Class, today I want to talk with you about my opinions on Web2.0 Storytelling. For those of you in our Class who might not have checked out the links provided to us Web 2.0 Storytelling is the telling of stories through the use of text, hyperlinks, pictures and video. Through investigating this new realm of the Internet my notions of what constitutes storytelling changed because I thought that stories that were media based could only be told from the viewpoint of an author or a group of authors but now I know that thanks to Web 2.0 stories can be told from the viewpoint of anyone who has access to a Computer including those of you in our New Media Class. At first my change in notions caused by anyone with Internet access being able to tell a story that is accessible to the public made me excited because it would give writers the ability to work hand in hand with masters of visual media instead of being crushed underneath the heel of a director like in the film industry.
An example of different media forms coming together to create a Web 2.0 story
However as I thought more about it this idea of various writers, filmmakers, photographers and artists like those of you in our Class putting together their creative works in one big conglomerate to tell a Web 2.0 story, it kind of scares because I fear this new brand of storytelling will cause us to lose our individuality as creators. For example, names like DaVinci, Spielberg, Dickens and Warhol won't exist instead the next generation of creative innovators will be known as the Blog entitled Lustbites or be recognized by thescreen name of Lonelygirl 15.
Examples of creative innovators
I don't know about all of you in our class but I would much rather be known as Dan Schmidt for my creative work instead of my usual user name which is Rocketman2387. The reasoning behind this opinion comes from the fact that I get a real sense of pride when I slap my name on a script that my teachers here at Columbia and fellow screenwriting students enjoy, in fact that pride is something that I strive for and I don't want Web 2.0 Storytelling to take that goal away. You can call me presumptuous or greedy if you want but when I become a popular screenwriter I want my fans to put a name with a face and honestly it would much better for my writing to used in creating a motion picture rather than being apart of a Web 2.0 story based on something called money.
If I'm gonna write for living, I expect to get paid
At the same time I feel like user names like Rocketman2387 are what we discussed in class to be Avatars which means that these names can allow you be someone your not while surfing the web and I think that as writer I would much rather have my skills be attributed to me rather than the mask I hide behind while on the Internet. On the other hand some of you in our Class who are in different fields might not see providing their creative works to Web 2.0 Storytelling as a loss of individuality and I'm interested in knowing why so drop me a line if you get the chance.
Hello Writing for New Media Class, my post today is going to focus on reviewing the blog belonging to Tom, who is most well known in our class for his tour of the social networking site Fubar. If those of you in our New Media Class who have not checked out Tom's blog it is entitled The Beer Blog which means that it is dedicated to giving reviews on beer along with news about Chicago based bars and restaurants.
Here is my review of The Beer Blog formulated by the four parameters which you can review by looking at my previous post...
Layout
When those of you in our New Media Class visit The Beer Blog you'll find that Tom keeps the blog decently organized thanks to the help of a template provided by Blogger which centers Tom's post in the middle of the web page to draw your eyes directly towards them. The choice of the color scheme seemed to be well thought out on Tom's part because the dark blue and tan complimented his choice of text color and gave off the sense of night life that comes from drinking at a bar. The only issue with the layout is that there are giant spaces between the pictures and the text in each post because I could see it frustrating those of you in our class or other internet users that are impatient when it comes to finding information on a web page due to Tom's blog forcing you to constantly scroll down while reading.
The layout of Tom's blog.
Writing As those of you in our class actually get into reading Tom's posts on The Beer Blog you'll notice that there are very few or possibly not any spelling and punctuation errors. The writing also comes across as if Tom is a professionally artistic person through him describing the process of drinking a beer in a very poetic fashion. For example Tom describes to you that drinking a Hoppin' Frog Double Pumpkin is like being knocked out by a frog's delight.
Tom's use of poetic dialogue on his blog
Even though Tom's writing comes across showing his love for trying different types of beer it has a tendency to look very unprofessional based on the fact that he switches fonts right in the middle of his review instead of separating the different fonts between the sections where he gives an overview of a beer and the actual review. By being inconsistent with the fonts it feels as if Tom is rushing through his blog posts without taking the time to proof read his work to give all of you in our class and the rest of his audience the best experience while visiting his blog. In fact this issue may even cause people to go ahead and turn away.
Content As those of you in our class explore deeper into The Beer Blog you will find that the content that Tom put on his blog when it comes to reviews of individual beers are consistent based on the fact that he sticks to the four categories that he focuses on when tasting a beer. However the content in these beer reviews could be stronger if he would space out the sections contained within each review better and would solve the issue with text mentioned in the writing section.
The categories Tom uses when reviewing a beer.
The biggest issue with the content exists in the news or reviews about Chicagoland bars and restaurants that Tom claims to be on his site. Honestly there are so few of these posts on bars and restaurants that those of you in our class looking at The Beer Blog will feel like Tom is off topic when he is not reviewing an individual beer. Due to this issue I feel like Tom would be better off just having his blog focus on reviewing individual beers or he should try to make one of the two posts required for our New Media Class about a bar or restaurant and the other should focus on reviewing a brand of beer.
Media
This is the biggest problem that those of you in our New Media Class will find with The Beer Blog. I'll give Tom credit for his blog having pictures of the individual beers he reviews in various blog posts but when it comes to hyperlinks they are no where to be found. Hyperlinks missing from Tom's blog is a serious problem that he needs to address immediately because he has all these extremely knowledgeable quotes, facts, and statistics that he uses to support his reviews but without linking this information to its original source it is hard to see Tom's blog as legitimate because it feels like he is pulling everything out of the ether.
Facts and statistics that can be found on Tom's blog
The Bottom Line
In conclusion I think that those of you in our Writing for New Media Class will find that Tom's blog could be as passionate about beer as Trevor's blog is on special effects make-up and it can be as informative as Andrea's blog if he follows my advice that derived from reviewing his blog. Based on this analysis Tom has the knowledge to make his blog truly something spectacular for the members of our class and the rest of the internet. He just needs to get a better grasp on the rules of the blogsphere.
Hey Writing for New Media Class after a great Thanksgiving dinner I have returned to the realm of blogging and this week I am reviewing a blog belonging to one of our own, Trevor who is most famously known in our Class for his comical tour of Habbo Hotel. If any of you in our Class has not checked it out Trevor's blog is entitled Two Faced and it discusses trends, techniques, advancements, and the history of the special effects makeup industry. However before we dive into reviewing this blog I figured it would be best to give those of you in our Class who might have not seen my earlier post a recap on the four parameters that I follow when formulating a review.
Layout: This refers to the look of the webpage when those of you in our New Media Class are viewing it on your computer screen such as if it is easy to read, if it is cluttered with advertisements or where the blogs information is posted on the web page.
Writing: This parameter explores how well the blog you are viewing as a member of this Class is written. For example, when looking at a blog I might ask myself are there any typos, is it presenting factual information, or does the writing come off as humorous or entertaining?
Content: Focuses on how well the blog stays on topic. Does it stick to the topic of television or does it tend to wander around in different types of media leaving you as a reader confused? Also this parameter looks to see if the blog sticks to a particular pattern with its posts to keep us bloggers coming back or if the author is completely random.
Media: Refers to how well a blog author uses pictures, hyperlinks, and video to support his writing and the point he is trying to get across to his audience (which includes those of you in our New Media Class) in each post.
Here are these review parameters applied to Trevor our fellow classmate's blog...
Layout The first thing you'll notice when those of you in our class check out Two Faced is that Trevor does a great job of keeping his blog organized which comes in part to his use of the many templates provided by Blogger. Although with that being said it would be very easy for Trevor to make mistakes with the layout including placing pictures over text or using a font that is hard to read but instead he has thought things through by laying out the pictures and text in a way that compliments the background. It was also a smart decision for Trevor to make sure he chose a template that placed his blog posts in the center of the page because it will cause those of you in our New Media Class to be drawn right towards them.
The layout of Trevor's blog.
The only problem with Trevor's layout is that he chose a template that places the description of his blog at the very bottom of the page making it hard for those of you in our class to catch on to what the Two Faced blog is all about but we will get into that more in the content section.
The description of the Two Faced blog squished at the bottom of the page
Writing
When those of you in our New Media Class actually start reading Trevor's posts it is made clear that there are few misspellings or punctuation issues. Also most of the time Trevor's posts can be quite informative especially when he gets into the techniques he uses to apply special effectmake-up. I think this comes from the fact that even though I have had experience with making film I do not know much about costume make-up which means that I am going to take the writing that Trevor puts in his post as very professional because reading about his topic is like entering a new realm and I'm sure that feeling is even stronger for those of you in our class who do not have majors connected to film. A blog post where Trevor discusses the process of applying make-up
At the same time there are other posts on this blog like the ones that focus on make-up in movies that don't seem to be as engaging from an informative aspect. Honestly it feels as if Trevor is just posting to fulfill a requirement for our class and he could improve his writing in these posts by having them contain his passion for his artistry like when he discusses his techniques for applying make-up.
A blog post focusing on applying make-up in movies
Content While exploring Trevor's blog those of you in our Writing for New Media Class will find that most of the things found on Two Faced is all about letting you step in the shoes of a person who creates special effects make-up. While focusing on this content he makes his blog ripe for followers because special effects make-up is something that I think all of us in our New Media Class along with a big portion of the World Wide Web would like to have more information because we fans of an easily accessible media like TV and movies are always asking how some really impressive special effects scenes are pulled off. Some of these effects include how the bad guy at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark face melted or how medical operations are performed on TV shows like on Grey's Anatomy.
An example of special effects make-up used in Raiders of the Lost Ark
Based on this statement Trevor should take this opportunity to use his expertise to answer these questions for the members of our New Media Class and the rest of the internet but he is holding himself back because of two major issues. Those issues are the blog's title and it's description. The blog's title is an issue because the word Two Faced at least in my opinion makes it unclear that it is about special effects make-up. This comes based on the fact that those of you in our class who might have seen the title of Trevor's blog on this week's assignment sheet might think that it is about the character, Two Face featured in The Dark Knight or if you know Trevor you may think it is about the make-up effects to create the popular Batman villain.
Is Trevor's blog about this man? It sure seems that way.
However Trevor's blog encompasses much more than just make-up effects in The Dark Knight. Based on this perception, I think he could get more visitors to his blog by keeping the title Two Faced because it is highly creative but adding the subtitle a blog about special make-up effects to help the members of our class and the rest of his audience get a better grasp on his blog's content. Trevor can also resolve this problem of his blog's title being unclear by moving the description of his blog to the top of the web page for the purpose of helping everyone know the content featured on his blog.
Media This parameter works hand in hand with the content featured on this page because it helps those of you in our New Media Class visualize what life is like as a special effects make-up designer as well as reading about it in text. Trevor does this by providing a series of pictures in each post that shows the process of applying make-up step by step. Although with that being said, Trevor can improve the media experience for those of us in our class that is visiting his blog by not featuring trailers in the posts that he makes about popular movies but instead featuring DVD behind the scenes featurettes focusing on make-up that can be easily found on YouTube.
An example of a DVD featurette that Trevor could post on his blog.
The Bottom Line
Overall Trevor's blog Two Faced is a great place for those of you in our New Media Class to visit if you have an interest on how movies and TV shows are made however he could make the fascinating experience of learning about special effects make-up even better by containing less of the posts used to just fill a requirement for our class and have more consistency on when he posts to the blog which seems to be getting better.
Hey Writing for New Media Class Members, I don’t know how many of you read the article about the website Yelp but does this story really surprise you?This scam is like everything else in the world right now everyone is out for themselves and themselves alone.I bet all of you heard about mechanics that a person takes their car in for an oil change and the next thing you know the bill ends up being for new tires, shocks, muffler, excreta, or people looking at insurance statements after an operation and finding they have paid doctors they have never, ever heard of, why should the website world be different?
Yelp wants to earn an extra buck like all of us in this day and age.Does that make it right? Not really, but the use of the word Mafia might be a little extreme but then again maybe not. For example, a person has a company that needs to get more business, so they advertise on what they think is a reputable website.Then they find the advertising is negative instead of positive and unless they buy more advertising it won’t be changed.I guess that could almost be blackmail.
Based on this observation that Yelp could potentially be a device for blackmail there definitely needs to be some guidelines for the Internet that all its users such as yourselves need to follow.Unfortunately, it all comes down to one person like Geoff Donaker, Chief Operating Officer of Yelp to ruin it for everyone else.He is quoted as saying “We wouldn’t be a business very long if we started duping customers.”Well it is my understanding that nine local businesses and a former employee are challenging his denials.I would say it is only a matter of time that his duping customers will be well known.Many say the best advertisement is word of mouth.If that is the case, if each of those ten people plus our class tells everyone we know, Mr. Donaker will be right in saying he won’t have a business.
As for our credibility I guess like good mechanics or good insurance companies those of us in our New Media Class need to start relying on word of mouth.If all of us learn to write what we believe is the truth and have backing to prove our findings based on what we have learned in our class, it will only take time until we have supporters that will believe and follow us.Credibility takes many years of hard work or in our case hours of writing blog posts or creating media in our own individual fields to prove we are credible in what we know and what we are saying.Based on this statement the best advice I can give all of you in our class do not give up and most importantly don’t lower yourself to Mr. Donaker’s standards.Hard work and truth will win out in the end or we have to hope so anyway.
Hello Writing for New Media Classmates, this week I want to introduce you to the SocialNetworking Review Site Epinions.com. For those of you who don't know Epinions is a site dedicated to encouraging Internet users such as yourselves to post what the creators behind site considers to be professional reviews of various products from video games to household vacuumcleaners. At first glance this idea of Epinions wanting its users to post professional reviews might cause some of you to turn away in fear, but in reality the site does a great job helping average Internet Joes like all of us add credibility to our product reviews through the use of features located in two key sections of the site that can make a review professional by at least the standards of the people behind Epinions.
The types of Consumer Products you will find reviews for on Epinions.com
This key section is able to make your reviews professional through the feature of asking you to give a one sentence pro and con about the product you are reviewing in order for the consumer to skim through several Epinions user reviews and get the point you are trying to make about a product without having to read a full blown article. Also with writing the one sentence pro and con you need to make sure that it is written in away that will draw the eyes of consumers visting Epinions.com because your review will be posted on a giant list with other user reviews and while looking at this list I found myself interested in reading the reviews that had the most attention grabbing pro or con.
A portion of the list of reviews that can be found on a product
After listing a pro and con you are asked to write your actual review on a product and the site helps make it professional through the feature of having writing rules to follow in order for your review to be posted. With that being said I can see how some of you in our New Media Class might find these rules as a limitation instead of a feature and a strong case can be made since the rules will not allow you post pictures, hyperlinks or videos in a review.
The list of rules Epinions requires you to follow when writing a review
However, the main goal Epinions has for its users is for you to get other people to read your reviews for the purpose of inspiring them to friend your profile which in turn raises your credibility as a reviewer on the site. Based on this statement the most popular users or the product reviews at the top of list are the ones that follow Epinions rules to the tee and include headings.
Unlike the write a review section, the profile page is not about making your reviews professional, it's about giving them credibility. For example the Epinions user Awoolcott who has a reputation for reviewing video games uses his profile to make other users aware of the fact that he is a staff writer for the professional video game review site Gaming Target by providing links to articles that he has written. Through Awoolcott being a paid reviewer of video games it make sense why he is listed as a top reviewer on Epinions because the fact that he reviews these products for a living makes his opinion extremely credible to consumers including those of you in our Class who have an interest in gaming. Although for us average Internet Joes in New Media Class we do not have the luxury of being able to say that we are professional product reviewers but the profile page contains several other features that can enhance your credibility as a reviewer on Epinions.
The profile page belonging to the Epinions user Awoolcott
About Me
This feature is what allows you to give general information about yourself such as where you live and your e-mail. However at the same time it helps enhance your credibility by asking you to give the addresses of three websites that you are interested in which helps because most of Epinions users list review sites that they based their own reviews on in order to prove to people like us that they put thought and effort into their work.
The About Me feature
Web of Trust
The component of this feature you need to focus on in terms of enhancing your credibility as a reviewer is not the number of people you have as friends or trust but the number of people that trust you because the more people you have, the more other Epinions users will take you seriously.
The Web of Trust feature
Rankings
This feature works in the same capacity as the Web of Trust based on the fact that the higher your ranking is, the more chance you have of being seen as a credible reviewer on Epinions.
The Rankings feature
Final Thoughts
Compared to the Social Networking site I reviewed for you last week entitled Fanpop, I honestly have to give Epinions.com a lot of credit for setting up the features on their site to make user product reviews more professional. Despite this the average Joes like all of us in our Writing for New Media Class, who can be classified as Citizen Journalists are still writing these reviews which means their credibility can only be taken so far, but the fact that Epinions' creators are trying to remove the amateurism behind the user-based writing on their site they might be at the forefront of the future for Social Networking.
If any of you in our Writing for New Media Class were inspired to check out Fanpop after reading my previous post you might have noticed that the Social Networking site has some problems with organization. When I say problems with organization I'm not referring to the layout of the fan club pages or profiles dedicated to music artists, movies and TV shows nicely divided into sections instead I am referring to how the site encourages you to become a fan of your pop culture favorites. Based on this observation I figured the best way to discuss Fanpop's organization problems with all of you, the members of our Writing for New Media Class is by talking about the site's problems and then analyzing how they can be made better.
Fanpop's Problems with Organization Fanpop's biggest problem with organization is that it does not encourage you to show personal fandom for your pop culture favorites by joining the fan club sites dedicated to music artists, movies, TV shows and more. Through the creators of Fanpop failing to do this all of you in our class checking out the site are forced to seek out these fan club sites through the use of a search engine.
Fanpop's Search Engine
This process of having to search for a fan club to add to your Fanpop profile makes the actual social network seem extremely overwhelming because you do not have an example of what types of fan clubs can be organized underneath the site's definition of pop culture. For instance I searched for something that was far away from being considered as pop culture like apples and sure enough there is a fan club for apples.
The fan club for Apples
The other problem with the search engine is when you search for a fan club for lets say MarvelComics you will receive a result for a Marvel club but you will also receive results for fan clubs dedicated to Marvel Superheroines or individual Marvel Superheroes and it is hard to decide what club to join because there are so many options.
Some of the various results you will find when searching for the Marvel Comics fan club
The other problem with Fanpop's organization and some of you may consider this to be nitpicky is the Videos sections featured on the movie and TV show fan club pages. As I said before these fan club pages are nicely divided into sections but in the Videos section it is hard to tell the difference between what is a clip, trailer or homemade music video.
How Fanpop Can Fix Its Organizational Problems
Fanpop can fix its organizational problems by encouraging you as visitors to the site to join fan clubs dedicated to your pop culture favorites by placing a section on your profile that recommends fan clubs you might be interested in joining or maybe the site can require you to join a new fan club after logging in a certain number of times. Fanpop is all about getting as many people as possible to join the fan clubs featured on their network and these methods might be a great way to increase their numbers.
The Fanpop fan counter featured on every fan club page
As for the search engine, I would keep it, but instead of you searching Marvel Comics and getting results for fan clubs dedicated to Marvel Superheroines or individual Marvel Superheroes, I thought it would be better if these clubs were organized as sub fan clubs underneath the umbrella of an overall Marvel Comics fan club because it would make the number of clubs less intimidating for you to choose from. I feel the creators of Fanpop should also set parameters about what constitutes a fan club to fit under the organizational banner of pop culture because it would help visitors to the site which includes yourselves to get more direction on the types of fan clubs to search for making the network not seem so overwhelming. With the Videos section on the movie and TV show fan club pages I would suggest that the different types of featured videos to be divided into sub categories within their respective categories like in Fanpop's image sections.
Final Thoughts In writing this post I hope you the members of our Writing for New Media Class as well as the people behind Fanpop will end up reading it because I believe Fanpop is a great place for different types of people to express their enjoyment for topics that suppossedly fit within the realm of pop culture using a variety of New Media formats. Based on this observation if the creators of the site consider my suggestions on solving their organizational problems they could make the experience of expressing your fandom even better.
Hey fellow Writing for New Media Class members do you remember the days of Fan Clubs? You know the Clubs dedicated to a kids Cartoon Show, Band or a Toy Line that you would fill out an application for and an official decoder ring would be sent back to you in the mail. Well, the Social Networking site that I am going to share with you entitled Fanpop is a website that is filled with fan clubs minus the decoder ring and the official aspect.
Comic Book Creator Stan Lee showing off the decoder rings for his Spider-Man fan club
What is Fanpop?
For those of you in our New Media Class who don't know Fanpop is a website featuring fan clubs dedicated to various avenues of pop culture including professional sports, TV, movies, music and individual celebrities. Based on this definition the object of Fanpop is different than let's say Facebook because it's not a social network all about adding friends that you can communicate with to your profile instead you are required to friend a profile or in Fanpop terms join a club dedicated to a form of pop culture like the TV show Supernatural and from there you can friend people by both of you sharing an interest in that show. However unlike the clubs of old, the people behind the clubs on Fanpop are not connected to the TV show or Music Artist like the employee hired to send out decoder rings, they are just like all of us in our Writing for New Media Class, average everyday Internet surfers. Due to this idea of fans creating online fan clubs, Fanpop at its heart is a social networking site dedicated to allowing its audience to express their enjoyment or dedication towards anything that exists within the realm of pop culture.
For all of you in our New Media Class to experience how Fanpop tailors to its audience I figured my best bet would be to go through each of the sections featured on every profile or fan club site like the upcoming example for the show Supernatural allows its audience to express their enjoyment or dedication towards an avenue of pop culture.
Videos and Images Section The video section allows members of Fanpop's audience or those of you in our class who are not so much into writing express their enjoyment for a TV show on its fan club page by posting a self-made music video created by piecing together clips from various episodes or posting a full episode that you transferred on to the Computer. The video section on the movie fan club pages are similar to the TV pages by featuring homemade music videos dedicated to that particular movie but it differs in the fact that only trailers are posted not full length feature films. As for the music fan sites the video sections consists of an artists musicvideos and clips of them if they were a host on SNL. The image section contains images created by Fanpop's audience with the intention of allowing other audience members to use these images for showing their dedication to an avenue of pop culture on their desktop, cell phone background or Facebook profile picture.
Answers and Forum Sections
The answers and forum section in terms of the TV and movie fan club pages allows all of you in our Class along with the rest of Fanpop's audience enhance the viewing experience by allowing you to ask questions about something you missed when watching a movie or TV show episode and get an answer from a fellow fan. It also gives you the opportunity to ask what the name of a song was that might have been used in a certain scene. As for the music fan pages they are dedicated towards allowing you to ask questions about an artists' personal life or when their next CD is coming out. The other great thing about the forums is it allows you as Fanpop's audience to discuss the topic each fan club is focused on with thousands of users making it a great tool to hold yourself over until that movie, album or next episode comes.
Fan Picks Section
This section is similar to the answers and forum section in the sense that it allows you, as Fanpop's audience to ask a question pertaining to the fan club page that you are viewing such as what actor would you like to play Captain America, what was the best quote in a TV Show episode or which Taylor Swiftmusic video is better? However unlike the forums section where you get an answer to these questions from individual Users, the Fan Picks section turns your question into a poll which lets Fanpop's audience to choose between different options allowing you to get an answer from several Users at once. Although, sometimes the polls have a tendency to get off topic for example on the Supernatural fan club page there is a poll that asks about the main characters who is hotter without a shirt on?
Links Section This section allows Fanpop's audience which includes all of you in our Writing for New Media Class show their dedication towards their favorite TV show, movie or music artist by allowing you to stay updated on these topics with links to news articles featured on professional web sites and in the case of TV shows this section also contains links to full episodes in case you might have missed one during the week.
Articles Section This section works like my own personal blog, Across The Airwaves in the sense that it allows you as Fanpop's audience to get up on a soapbox to discuss your favorite shows, movies and artists in a blog like format. However when looking at the articles section on the TV and movie based fan page I caution you to watch your step because this section exists as a minefield filled with spoilers.
The Bottom Line
Fanpop is a Social Networking site that is accessible to an audience of all Internet surfers including those of you in our Writing for New Media Class because everyone is a fan of something and if you want to show your devotion search something you enjoy in Fanpop's search engine and join its fan club. It should be there but if not I recommend you to create your own club.
Hello Writing For New Class Members, this week I thought I could give you a tour of the Social Networking site known as Flixster. Originally I thought about giving the tour the traditional way with sections of text complimented by screencaps. However I figured that approach would be boring and you wouldn't get the full experience of the Flixster web site so I decided to create my own video tour. Check it out below...
Alright Writing for New Media Classmates, now that you have watched my visual tour of the Social Networking site known as Flixster, I thought it might be interesting to have a discussion with you about the official and member-generated writing featured on this avenue of the web. On Flixster, there is no official writing created for the purpose of being on the Networking site's web page, instead they have a Movie News section filled with articles that Flixster users have borrowed from other websites. With that being said I want all of you to note that the reason why I refer to these articles as borrowed instead of stolen is that Flixster requires its users to give a link to the original place where the article was originally posted before posting it on their site.
An example of a News Story featured on Flixster
However as I investigated deeper into the Movie News section, I discovered that all of the articles were posted by the same user SexiVixxEN which means that she can very well be an employee hired by Flixster to assess what articles are worthy to be posted on their site and if the web pages they are coming from are legit a.k.a official. At the same time, despite the possibility of Flixster having a employee that decides what sources are official I advise all of you to take the Movie News that can be found on these web sites with a grain of salt. Although, that doesn't mean that all the articles found on Flixster are not legit, in fact one of the articles are linked to the web page for the popular magazine, People but the rest of the articles are linked to Movie News sites that pull their information out of the ether or at least appear that way because none of their articles come contain sources. Based on this perception the rule of thumb that I can give you, members of my Writing for New Media Class when it comes to Movie News is to think of it as rumor rather than fact unless it is found in a printed source.
An example of an article from People.com linked to a Flixster News Story
As for the member-generated writing on Flixster it exists in two places. The first place is the comments section on your Profile page where the typical lightly anally edited "hey, hows it going" message that exists on every Facebook can be found filled with Emoticons, LOLabbreviations and exclamation marks. However what makes the comments section on Flixster different than Facebook is that some of the comments are movie recommendations made by the people you have friended using your account. Each recommendation includes the users rating of the movie based on a five star scale and their own short review of the film.
The comments section featured on a Flixster User's profile page.
This leads to the other form of member-generated writing that can be found on Flixster, user based movie reviews which are located on a person's Profile page or on the website for a movie listed in the Flixster database. As for the actual writing behind the reviews it varies between users giving a lightly edited one sentence review on a movie or giving a well-considered tightly anally edited review complete with the actor's name in parentheses following the name of his or her character to educate the public on the art of film. Although, no matter which way these reviews appear on Flixster, I have to ask the question can I trust the people on a Social Network for an opinion on a movie as much as a close friend or a respected Critic like Roger Ebert? In my opinion, the answer is yes because if the majority of the comments on a Flixster page about a movie are favorable then I would probably watch it to see what all the buzz is about.
However, I don't feel like I can make this statement without peer support which is where you come in Writing for New Media Class Members. Basically what I want you all to do is answer the question can you trust the people on a Social Network for an opinion on a movie as much as a close friend or a respected Critic like Roger Ebert? Then I want you to place your answers in the comments section for this post. I look forward to hearing from you and don't worry I don't bite.
