Today with the increasingly fast development of new technological communication tools, it is essential for internet users to have a good understanding of concepts relating to the virtual world. Such knowledge acts as a precious asset in the sense that it significantly help users in making more effective use of the powerful tools available. In the course of this report, an overview of the chosen virtual community of Flixster will be made before having an analysis of the concepts of virtual community, community of interests and social community. Definitions of the various concepts will be provided in order to validate why Flixster is definitely a virtual community, a social community and a community of interest.
OVERVIEW OF FLIXSTER
History of Flixster
Flixster is a social online database on films, actors and movies. It is relatively new and was founded in January 2006. Actually, the Chief Executive Officer is Mr. Joe Greenstein. The social network has experienced phenomenal growth at an amazing pace. Flixster now has around 9 million users. Moreover, information reveals that these users are active because on the average everyone has rated around 30 movies. (Iskold A., 2007.). As illustrated above, the homepage proudly demonstrate its user base.
Purpose of Flixster
The purpose of Flixster is to provide informative and helpful reviews concerning principally how good or bad a movie is.
As a social network, it is intended that the users themselves should be the ones achieving this main purpose. This is to be done through their relationship building and contribution to the network. For this to happen, the site administrators of Flixster have designed a very effective strategy. For instance, each year a Best Reviewer Award is offered to the Flixsterian who fulfils this purpose the best (The SSSUN Because We Care, 2007).
Features of Flixster
Eventually the reason behind the outstanding success of Flixster is that the database encompasses a very wide variety of features to satisfy all movie lovers. Users have the ability to instantly “get movies, actors, photos, news, reviews, ratings, previews, quizzes and showtimes” (Iskold, 2007) to enumerate a few main components. As rightly stated by the author, Flixster is really a one-stop shop for all your movie needs.
The database successfully reaches its objectives in terms of social networking and completeness. Its purpose of providing informative reviews is effectively met as each movie includes a clear synopsis. The user has the possibility to go through the movie profile before rating.
Moreover, every main option can be bracketed into a series of more detailed information. For example, users who are interested in movies have the possibility to choose the type of movie they are specifically looking for, be it theatre movies and so on. The user has the possibility to go through the movie profile before rating. Moreover, every main heading can be bracketed into a series of more detailed sub-heading and information. For example, users who are interested in movies have the possibility to choose the type of movie they are specifically looking for, be it theatre movies and so on.
Active participation of users on Flixster
Below is a pattern illustrating the number of page views per day on Flixster. The pattern clearly illustrates the trend and rapid growth of the virtual community.
The number of page views per day have rose from 4 million to 31 million between March 2006 and December 2006. Actually, the database has 50 million page views per day.
Critical appreciation of Flixster
Given the tremendous success of Flixster, it is now questioned whether the social network will not soon become as widely spread and popular as MySpace. Somehow, Flixster is appreciated because in contrast to MySpace, it offers a good structure and understanding of the semantics of movies. The fact that MySpace does not speciakuse itself in specific areas of interests is an opportunity for Flixster to offer the best in one particular community of interest. Below is an illustration of the pattern of Flixster generated by Blogpulse.
VIRTUAL COMMUNITY
Definition of Virtual Community
According to Rheingold, virtual communities should be understood as “People who use computers to communicate, form friendships that sometimes form the basis of communities, but you have to be careful to not mistake the tool for the task and think that just writing words on a screen is the same thing as real community.”
The main ideas that have to be included within the concept of virtual community are:
– Exchange of information
– Social support
– Sharing
– Interest
Relationship building and long term interaction is an important component of virtual communities. Somehow for the above to occur, there should be facilitation of communication and connection as well.
How is Flixster a virtual community?
Some examples of virtual communities emerging online are communities of interests and social communities. As a social network, Flixster is definitely a virtual community because it includes all the different criteria listed above. For instance, there is facilitation of communication, access and interaction. In Flixster, users who have the common interest in movies have the opportunity to create new friendships or make existing ones grow.
There are also two main types of virtual communities. The first one is the organic community and the second one is known as built-in community. Flixster is an organic community because it is independently and completely new from conception to creation.
SOCIAL COMMUNITY
Definition of Social community
In the virtual context, social communities can be understood as an online space principally designed to enable individuals with common interests to socialise through interaction and sharing.
How is Flixster a Social community?
Flixster is essentially a social network. As such, it is highly reliant on the interaction and relationship building taking place between its members to ensure growth of the community. In this line of thoughts, different features of Flixster are made available to enable formation of ‘webs of human relationships’ as pointed out by Rheingold.
Another interesting point raised by Rheingold is that we have to be careful not to mistake the tool for the task. In the case of Flixster for example, although the software might be there with all the different features and facilities made available, still it is up to the users to make this community grow. Eventually this is made possible only through the social network. That is why the interaction taking place between members of the virtual community is essential to its success.
With regards to the different types of interaction taking place on Flixster, it should be noted that actually there are different types of interaction taking place on this database.
Asynchronous
Asynchronous information occurs when exchange of information takes place at different time and place. An example of asynchronous information taking place on Flixster is the mail inbox. So each time a private message is sent to the recipient, it goes into the inbox of the user. On the other hand, if the message is public, then it goes on the wall of the user and it can be viewed by everyone.
Synchronous
Secondly synchronous interaction, that is same place same time, can also take place on Flixster. Users have the possibility to instantly interact with members who are online at the same time as they are.
It should also be noted that Flixster is a non-moderated site. Subsequently, each time a comment is posted on Flixster, it is published straight away without being reviewed or moderated. Somehow, some level of security is possible as members have the possibility to block people, thereby securing them from harassment or unpleasant communication. Moreover any offensive material can be reported to site administrators who then take responsibility for undertaking necessary measures.
Actually there are two main ways through which social communities grow online. The first way is through the natural growth whereas the second one is through artificial growth.
Natural Growth
Natural growth takes place when people gradually send invitations to their friends and the social community gradually expand as the people enlarge and deepen their relationships.
Artificial Growth
Artificial growth takes place when first invitations are sent and it is only after connection is made that people get to build relationships and interact. If Flixster has been able to grow so quickly, it is thanks to the artificial growth. The way Flixster proceeds to rapidly expand might sound unpleasant but it is effective. Actually, as soon as a user subscribes to Flixster, the database directly goes to the inbox of new member and sends an invitation to all the contacts, pretending as if the information is being sent by the subscriber.
Definition of Community of Interests
Communities of interests grow from common interests through information, communication and interaction taking place within the virtual sphere.
How is Flixster a community of interest?
The concept of community of interest is often related to the idea of having topical areas of discussion. In the context of Flixster such statement can be validated because very often, discussions will revolve around the common areas of interest of users. On the macro scale, all users will have a certain degree of interest in movies. On the micro scale however, more diversity occurs as opinion of various members on one particular film may vary and the ratings applied will differ.
As mentioned above, the variety of features proposed by Flixster provide satisfying ingredients to satisfy all movie lovers.
CONCLUSION
This report has presented a specific social network database in the form of Flixster. Sufficient background information of the chosen community has been provided as the basis for further explaining and illustration key concepts of virtual community, social communities and communities of interests. Definitions of the different concepts have been provided before demonstrating how different features of the community fits into these concepts. The main findings reveal that Flixster is definitely a virtual community because of its online status, social features and growing interaction.
Cashmore, P., . (2007). Flixster Claims 5 Million Users…I Believe Them. Retrieved
May18, 2007, from http://mashable.com/2006/11/03/flixster-claims-5-million-users/
Greenstein, J. (2007.). Joe Greenstein’s Summary. Retrieved May 12, 2007, from
http://www.linkedin.com/in/joegreenstein
Iskold, A. (2007.). Flixster: An analysis of a Social Movie Network on the Rise.
Retrieved May 5, 2007, from
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/flixter_analysis.php#more
IPA Victory Speeches. (2007). The SSSUN Because We Care. Retrieved May 5, 2007,
from http://www.flixster.com/forums.do?displayTopic=&topicId=751791311
