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- Jul 24, 2003
check it and let me know what you think ...
Antonio Banks
Communications 309
March 14, 2009
Virtual Community Paper
For my virtual community paper, I decided to choose the virtual community in which I am the most active in. This virtual community is one calledNikeTalk or Nike Talk, or NT, as it is referred to by many of the community members. Upon embarking on this paper, I feared that maybe this community was not acommunity at all; merely a discussion board. However, upon deeper analysis and further clarification about what exactly a virtual community is, there is nodoubt in my mind that it fits the prerequisites that would deem a site as a virtual community. NikeTalk is defined as "The Ultimate Online SneakerCommunity" on the front page of its website, but the truth is, through my almost 8 years in visiting the site, I have learned that it is so much more.Discovering what make contributes to the continuous thriving of this virtual community, an exposition of the significance of trust in this community, and the
I would first like to explain a few of the key sections of this community in which I will be covering; The Kicks Section includes sections suchas ; Nike, Nike Retro, Jordan Brand, Other Brands, Sneaker Reviews, and Sneaker art to name a few. Secondly there is a section entitled The Lounge whichincludes sections such as: General, Sports and Training, and Music. Lastly there is a section entitled Regional Forums; which covers every section of the US aswell as the Philippines. Being that the framework has been established, I think it is important to establish why this is more than just a discussion board.
The first requirement I would like to address is the fact that a virtual community is described as "A gathering interest point for people with commonbeliefs, and ideas."(Barnes, 226) NikeTalk, or NT as it will be referenced to for the remainder of this essay, is a gathering place for hobbyists ofshoes, in particular the Nike shoe brand. There are ample amounts of different types of information about shoes that members of this community express throughthis site. The sneaker review section of the site is useful for learning much of the technical information about shoes if you are interested in that type ofinformation; including the type of soles used, materials made, how the shoe performs in action, and many other technical tidbits. In high school, many of myfriends who worked at places such as Foot Locker and Foot Action would become members of this site to gain knowledge so that they would be more qualifiedemployees. Another reason people have been known to become members would be for the advanced information about release dates of certain shoes as well aspictures of these products, sometimes many months before shoe stores have any information about them. This is not a community for the casual shoe buyer, butfor the true sneaker connoisseur. This also serves as a informational support group (another prerequisite of a virtual community), as people who are in placeswhere sneakers will not be released can often contact a NT member that they have built a relationship to try and set up an exchange to get them the shoes. However, any group or website could be an informative point for the latest sneaker fashion and Nike brand apparel, which allows an observer or a perspectivemember of the community to pose one important question; what sets this site apart from other informative guide site? One of the answers I am a firm believerin is the ability to trust people's opinions and respect their input into the community as well.
It is said that in discussion lists, many of the participants "do not reveal enough personal information about themselves to inspire trust in othermembers" (Barnes, 28
.However, the exact opposite is occurring on NT. There are many topics entitled "PYP" which stands for "Post yourpic(ture)" in which several members have no problem sharing pictures of themselves, affording members who want to actually put effort into learning about others the chance to do so . This step is one of the various ways in which members chose to trust others in the community. Community trust is also gained whenmembers create topics that are of extremely important value to them personally. For example there is no shortage of topics beginning with "NT, help meout!" which end up ranging in everything from relationship problems, to buying their first car. What is important to remember is the fact that they aretaking a chance to listen to and evaluate another members opinion, and then more times than others , take them into consideration when they decide to tacklethe issue in which they initially sought assistance or guidance. However, asking for help or assistance is not the only way in which the members of thiscommunity learn to gain trust from one another, there are several more
According to Barnes, one of the most key components to building and maintaining a virtual community is having the ability to share birth announcements,deaths, and other personal triumphs. This characteristic is seen several times throughout the community as the announcement of "Yo NT, I'm going to bea father!" or "NT, my boy (my friend), just passed". When creating these topics the members are indeed reaching out to others; initiating, andmaintaining a bond of trust, as they seek to be understood and attain feedback from members of the community. Although seeking and maintain trust is a vitalpart in the virtual community; observing the " in group " theory and its applications to NT proves as a worthwhile analysis to be made in the betterunderstanding and development of NT as a virtual Community.
In any community, there are particular groups that are often capable of establishing a deeper bond with each other aside from the surface community bond.This has been established by several authors, including authors Rebecca Bigler and Megan M. Patterson. This theory is known by many as the In-Group theory (asa direct compliment to his theory, there is the Out-Group Theory). In the NT community, there are several thousands of members, however they do not allinteract with one another every day. There are certain sub-groups that people have created in order to establish a common bond amongst one another due to avarying degree of similar interests in addition to being sneaker aficionados. These sub-groups have established themselves as "Teams". Their namesvary depending on their common interests. These interests including similar geographic locations, ( there is a team called "Te@m 9-o-9, which is a subgroup of members from the Inland Empire region), sports fans(Team Yankees, Lakers, etc), and fans of particular musicians or bands ( Team Roc Boys, which is aderivative of rapper Jay- Z's Roc-A-Fella Records) and many more.
These In-groups have gone the extra length and established their own communities outside of the NT virtual community. They have done so throughvarious virtual and physical realms. These methods have included such things as establishing blogs, chat rooms, and websites that these particular in-groupmembers have created and maintained for each other to gain a deeper connection with each other. In addition, a method that they connect to each other in thephysical realm is the creation and ongoing tradition of something they call NT summits. In these summits, members actually come together at various disclosedlocations and spend a few days doing everything together that they discuss on the NT website. This includes exchanging shoes or shoe information, visitingplaces of their summit location, and creating deeper bonds in a physical environment. It is also stated in the guidelines of virtual communities that oftentimes when members stay in contact with each other long enough on the website, they eventually want to meet each other, and this is perfectly exemplified bymeans of these summits.
The days of feeling alone are now obsolete for many of even the most socially inept individuals, as long as you have access to a piece of high-techhardware; the personal computer. It has made light of several tasks that I have thrown at it over the years; helping to defeat social uncertainty through themeans of creating online virtual communities of common interest, language and mindset has added to the already impressive applications of the personalcomputer. Through several of the different prerequisites it takes to be differentiated from an average of discussion lists, the induction and maintaining of asense and bond of trust, and the strong relation to the in-group theory to many of the members, all combine and blend well to be what many considered tosuccessful and thriving virtual community. I am not a Nike enthusiast any more, however I feel that this community is a very cultivating experience for anyonewho e may shed a glimpse of interests in the sneaker world, and this is definitely a community that you may find interesting and worth your time, as you neverknow what you would find; your biggest support group and a new bond of trust with individuals could be awaiting you, it could be just one click away.
Antonio Banks
Communications 309
March 14, 2009
Virtual Community Paper
For my virtual community paper, I decided to choose the virtual community in which I am the most active in. This virtual community is one calledNikeTalk or Nike Talk, or NT, as it is referred to by many of the community members. Upon embarking on this paper, I feared that maybe this community was not acommunity at all; merely a discussion board. However, upon deeper analysis and further clarification about what exactly a virtual community is, there is nodoubt in my mind that it fits the prerequisites that would deem a site as a virtual community. NikeTalk is defined as "The Ultimate Online SneakerCommunity" on the front page of its website, but the truth is, through my almost 8 years in visiting the site, I have learned that it is so much more.Discovering what make contributes to the continuous thriving of this virtual community, an exposition of the significance of trust in this community, and the
I would first like to explain a few of the key sections of this community in which I will be covering; The Kicks Section includes sections suchas ; Nike, Nike Retro, Jordan Brand, Other Brands, Sneaker Reviews, and Sneaker art to name a few. Secondly there is a section entitled The Lounge whichincludes sections such as: General, Sports and Training, and Music. Lastly there is a section entitled Regional Forums; which covers every section of the US aswell as the Philippines. Being that the framework has been established, I think it is important to establish why this is more than just a discussion board.
The first requirement I would like to address is the fact that a virtual community is described as "A gathering interest point for people with commonbeliefs, and ideas."(Barnes, 226) NikeTalk, or NT as it will be referenced to for the remainder of this essay, is a gathering place for hobbyists ofshoes, in particular the Nike shoe brand. There are ample amounts of different types of information about shoes that members of this community express throughthis site. The sneaker review section of the site is useful for learning much of the technical information about shoes if you are interested in that type ofinformation; including the type of soles used, materials made, how the shoe performs in action, and many other technical tidbits. In high school, many of myfriends who worked at places such as Foot Locker and Foot Action would become members of this site to gain knowledge so that they would be more qualifiedemployees. Another reason people have been known to become members would be for the advanced information about release dates of certain shoes as well aspictures of these products, sometimes many months before shoe stores have any information about them. This is not a community for the casual shoe buyer, butfor the true sneaker connoisseur. This also serves as a informational support group (another prerequisite of a virtual community), as people who are in placeswhere sneakers will not be released can often contact a NT member that they have built a relationship to try and set up an exchange to get them the shoes. However, any group or website could be an informative point for the latest sneaker fashion and Nike brand apparel, which allows an observer or a perspectivemember of the community to pose one important question; what sets this site apart from other informative guide site? One of the answers I am a firm believerin is the ability to trust people's opinions and respect their input into the community as well.
It is said that in discussion lists, many of the participants "do not reveal enough personal information about themselves to inspire trust in othermembers" (Barnes, 28
.However, the exact opposite is occurring on NT. There are many topics entitled "PYP" which stands for "Post yourpic(ture)" in which several members have no problem sharing pictures of themselves, affording members who want to actually put effort into learning about others the chance to do so . This step is one of the various ways in which members chose to trust others in the community. Community trust is also gained whenmembers create topics that are of extremely important value to them personally. For example there is no shortage of topics beginning with "NT, help meout!" which end up ranging in everything from relationship problems, to buying their first car. What is important to remember is the fact that they aretaking a chance to listen to and evaluate another members opinion, and then more times than others , take them into consideration when they decide to tacklethe issue in which they initially sought assistance or guidance. However, asking for help or assistance is not the only way in which the members of thiscommunity learn to gain trust from one another, there are several moreAccording to Barnes, one of the most key components to building and maintaining a virtual community is having the ability to share birth announcements,deaths, and other personal triumphs. This characteristic is seen several times throughout the community as the announcement of "Yo NT, I'm going to bea father!" or "NT, my boy (my friend), just passed". When creating these topics the members are indeed reaching out to others; initiating, andmaintaining a bond of trust, as they seek to be understood and attain feedback from members of the community. Although seeking and maintain trust is a vitalpart in the virtual community; observing the " in group " theory and its applications to NT proves as a worthwhile analysis to be made in the betterunderstanding and development of NT as a virtual Community.
In any community, there are particular groups that are often capable of establishing a deeper bond with each other aside from the surface community bond.This has been established by several authors, including authors Rebecca Bigler and Megan M. Patterson. This theory is known by many as the In-Group theory (asa direct compliment to his theory, there is the Out-Group Theory). In the NT community, there are several thousands of members, however they do not allinteract with one another every day. There are certain sub-groups that people have created in order to establish a common bond amongst one another due to avarying degree of similar interests in addition to being sneaker aficionados. These sub-groups have established themselves as "Teams". Their namesvary depending on their common interests. These interests including similar geographic locations, ( there is a team called "Te@m 9-o-9, which is a subgroup of members from the Inland Empire region), sports fans(Team Yankees, Lakers, etc), and fans of particular musicians or bands ( Team Roc Boys, which is aderivative of rapper Jay- Z's Roc-A-Fella Records) and many more.
These In-groups have gone the extra length and established their own communities outside of the NT virtual community. They have done so throughvarious virtual and physical realms. These methods have included such things as establishing blogs, chat rooms, and websites that these particular in-groupmembers have created and maintained for each other to gain a deeper connection with each other. In addition, a method that they connect to each other in thephysical realm is the creation and ongoing tradition of something they call NT summits. In these summits, members actually come together at various disclosedlocations and spend a few days doing everything together that they discuss on the NT website. This includes exchanging shoes or shoe information, visitingplaces of their summit location, and creating deeper bonds in a physical environment. It is also stated in the guidelines of virtual communities that oftentimes when members stay in contact with each other long enough on the website, they eventually want to meet each other, and this is perfectly exemplified bymeans of these summits.
The days of feeling alone are now obsolete for many of even the most socially inept individuals, as long as you have access to a piece of high-techhardware; the personal computer. It has made light of several tasks that I have thrown at it over the years; helping to defeat social uncertainty through themeans of creating online virtual communities of common interest, language and mindset has added to the already impressive applications of the personalcomputer. Through several of the different prerequisites it takes to be differentiated from an average of discussion lists, the induction and maintaining of asense and bond of trust, and the strong relation to the in-group theory to many of the members, all combine and blend well to be what many considered tosuccessful and thriving virtual community. I am not a Nike enthusiast any more, however I feel that this community is a very cultivating experience for anyonewho e may shed a glimpse of interests in the sneaker world, and this is definitely a community that you may find interesting and worth your time, as you neverknow what you would find; your biggest support group and a new bond of trust with individuals could be awaiting you, it could be just one click away.
