Netxpress Online

Over the course of the previous weeks, my series on  Online Communities has  taken a detailed look into the phenomenon; what it is, and what the Good, the Bad and the Ugly sides of it are.

In Part 1, I took a look at the premise behind Online Communities, and what the inherent need was that created these Virtual Societies.

In Part 2, I took a look at the Good Side of Online Communities, and what benefits these Online Communes have brought to the society.

In Part 3, I highlighted the need for the balance in order to overshadow the Bad and Ugly side of Online Communities.

In this week’s concluding part, I take a look at some of the trends and the direction in which this online juggernaut seems to be heading in.

The Trends

We’ve already mentioned Facebook and Linkedin as popular examples of social networking websites. Whereas they have massive potential in terms of international interaction and networking (professional and otherwise), there are just as many issues with abuse, profanity and pornography. At times there is a blatant disregard of the users’ decencies, and rather sadly the controllers have done little to stem the tide. But there is a huge level of sophisticated information available, if one only knows how to filter it.  

Wikipedia is one community that can be considered to be a great example of a perfectly thought out and implemented community. It is for the users, and is written by the users; and any abusive or wrong information is deleted almost as soon as it is put up. It houses an absolute treasure trove of information on any topic on earth, and is a massive store house of knowledge. Oracle’s think.com, too, is an excellently implemented networking website, which is only for teachers and students of participating schools. It serves a great purpose of educating and exchanging information between children all over the world. Cultural awareness and interactivity can take place on moderated forum, and not only do the children learn about technology, they gain knowledge about people of other areas and various other areas of interests.

 Yahoo 360, MSN My Space and Google Talk are examples of integrated Blogging cum IM websites. Not only can the users create profiles of themselves and create Blogs, they can also interact live and offline via IM software of MSN, Yahoo and Google. All three, MSN, Yahoo and Google, also offer the ability to create online groups, which can be great for online cliques of friends or for online classrooms. Many institutions and universities use such groups to keep in touch with the alumni and for job referral.

 With the technology, the future is often limitless, and boundaries often end up being non-existent, but trends and potential of a particular entity is often a good way of understanding the direction in which its headed. The current trends with regards to online communities seem to revolve around gaming and social networking. Whereas online gaming has only just begun to take off in Pakistan (LAN gaming has become very popular and continues to push on), it is one of the primary implementations of online communities in the USA and in Europe. With services like X-Box Live, and virtual kingdoms like those in Warcraft and Second Life, users are able to indulge in their ultimate fantasies. One can be an elf or a warrior in Warcraft and campaign again countless other users from across the world, or one can race through the streets of some slick neon lit city chasing a competitor hailing from Australia! Whichever you do, online gaming and virtual cities are phenomena that are fast engulfing the rest of the world, and it is very likely that as soon as broadband Internet in Pakistan becomes cheaper and more reliable, our games will be joining online gaming arenas more often.

 In recent times, youtube.com and Current.com has captured the imagination of amateur media creators and broadcasters the world over. These sites allows you to upload your videos and for the rest of the world to view them. It has created an online community of users now, and many of the users log in periodically to check out the latest upload from a popular member. Some time back, a user by the name of lonelygirl15 started uploading weekly episodes of her life, and the series became an instant hit. So much success it received that many other members were sure that this was a publicity stunt by some major Hollywood company for an up-coming movie or TV show. It turned out that lonelygirl15 was an actress, and the videos were film projects of a couple of film school students! The website hence has the potential of creating a massive buzz, and this is a great way for the Pakistani underground bands to start marketing themselves.

 Torrents are another ongoing trend, and allow high broadband users to download entire seasons of TV series along with movies, games and assorted software. The larger the torrent community, the more people will share what they have.

 As we touched upon earlier, marketing and advertising awareness and testing can also be utilized through online communities, and this is another area which is increasingly being explore by many companies. Marketing departments of certain brands have entire teams at time, whose sole purpose is to monitor opinion and to spread information through online forum about certain products. Popular independent blogs are plenty, that review and rate products and services, and these can be a massive way for certain companies to position their products and services in front of the market. Some of the said blogs have achieved cult like status, and quite often, the reviewers words are considered as good as gold.

The Final Word

 It is always very easy to completely lambaste the bad side of technology, but the truth remains that technology is simply a tool, like a pen. Just as a pen can be used to write the most beautiful poetry ever written, it can also be used to write utter rubbish. One should hence always look to the users of the technology to understand why it is being used the way it is. 

 The same is the case with Online Communities, and their potential. As we have seen, much can be achieved, and much has already been achieved if they are used properly, but at the same time, unscrupulous use can lead to great misery. It is important in this respect for three sets of people to be wary of the way technology can wind itself around people’s existence: the first set of people are the community controllers, who must make sure that the community offers what it intended to offer, and does not turn into a sleazy online bar equivalent; the second set of people are us, the users, and we have a responsibility to use the tools that we have in the way that is best and not to overuse them; third and finally, its up to the parents and guardian of the younger generation to ensure that they have a balanced outlook, and that they do not become completely dependent on online communities for emotional well being. When all is said and done, technology has always been here to serve us, and it is simply we, who choose to become slaves to it.

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