It's been interesting, that's for sure. I chose this community because I expected it to be an interesting process and a difficult community to get involved with. And I was right. I couldn't get a community feeling from it, because the whole site felt so massive and commercial. And it wasn't for lack of trying.
Finally, after the umpteenth failed effort to get involved, I decided to ask members for their opinion. Finally, they opened up to me and I did make some connections. Apparantly the key to getting friends on TV.com was to talk about a shared common interest; the horridness of the site and how the people in charge are ruining the community. This was the common ground, so it seems. I couldn't get people to talk to me for weeks, now my thread is blooming.
I imagine the moderators don't like me very much, because their members are not too happy with the corporate moderation that's going on at TV.com. And they are making themselves heard now.
I asked people if they felt their opinion was appreciated and taken into account by 'management'. I couldn't have gotten a more heartfelt 'NO!' from them. Most of the people who responded stated that since the TV network CBS took over, everything became commercial. The site broke all connections with their sister sites and a lot of people lost online friends because of that. They are still pretty upset with management because of that. The site now became a conglomerate magnet for TV news and gossip, putting no energy into maintaining a strong community.
As proof, I found a thread in which management asked users for their opinion on the site's redesign. People made tons of suggestions and remarks, but no one ever replied to the thread and nothing was changed in the design. Members' opinions are not valued here. They only pretend they matter. As a result, members feel mocked and don't feel like their membership is valued at all.
Moderation needs to change in order for this community to get stronger again. The moderators should take a community building class and learn how to moderate. I've been a moderator myself, and at age 16 I did a better job than the guy who felt the need to be cynical, completely uncalled for. My post was polite and respectful, his answer was not. Luckily, members did not agree with the moderator and chose to ignore his irrelevant comment. The members on this board would be better off self-moderating than to be ruled by these guys from CBS. In my opinion, the community would be a lot stronger.
Aside from bad moderation, the site itself consists of 90% nonsense and 10% useful content. The amount of ads, videos that don't load (especially for people outside the US, this locks them out of the club), it all adds up to slow loading times. People want their information now, not in 30 seconds. Surfing TV.com is a tedious process. Newcomers now have to suffer through an almost non-existant community and slow loading times.
It gets worse. The website has no identity. Take rival website www.tvrage.com for instance. That site has a minimal amount of ads, fast loading times and remarkably it's had some variation of the same minimal design for at least 7 years (that's how long I've been active on the site, so I would know). Its members are loyal to this site and it's strong community. The site's managers are actively involved with the members, they talk with them instead of talking at them (agreggators instead of just a channel). They do this by using polls and actively enganging in conversation on the forums.
The beauty of it all is that TVRage offers the same content, only users get to it ten times faster, without having to go through a maze of distractions and commercial nonsense. Like TV.com, this site also runs on User Generated Content. But when a user submits something, it is also checked by a moderator to see if the information is correct. If the information is incorrect, the submitter gets a personal response from a moderator, rather than an automated SUBMISSION DENIED message. Even when the information is correct, a moderator will personally thank you for the addition. TVRage should teach TV.com how to have a bond with their members and how to make them feel welcome and appreciated.
When a user submits content to TV.com, they get +1 in ranking and aquire the title of Thighmaster. What the heck does a thighmaster have to do with submitting content and why would someone want to strive to that title?!
The ranking system is a gimmick, not a ladder of achievement or status. Most members don't even pay attention to these silly titles. Why would they?
Back in the day, when I was a moderator, we had several subcommunities within the large community. There were, for instance, The Postmasters. The title here says it all, they posted a lot and were respected because of it. These were the people who were most active within the community. They were wise and helpful and everyone knew it. Secondly, there were The Mischiefs, they would sometimes have conversations not suitable for children under the age of 13. And so, they were identified and named themselves. Through conversations with management they were moved to a subforum that would not be visible to users under the age of 13. They could now swear as much as they liked and everyone was happy.
I've been told that TV.com has subcommunities like this and people are happy to be a part of them. However, management does nothing to facilitate these communities or to give them an identity (The Postmaster members were able to aquire a special Postmaster subtitle when they reached 5000 posts). Members love to customize and personalize, a good community provides that option. The social web thrives on it.
So, in conclusion, I would say that this site needs to downsize drastically. Large corporations can have strong communities, look at Apple. Another US tv network, The CW, has a very strong community. Because they focus only on teenagers. Their website, commercials and everything else is specifically designed for that target audience. TV.com could be great, if it weren't so corporate and commercial. It's designed to be a channel, not an aggregator. People don't want to be fed all the possible information, they want to get the information THEY want.
TVRage gives you the option to add all of your favorite shows to your profile. Based on that profile, users get a customized viewing schedule. TV.com refuses to add this feature, because that would mean they're promoting TV shows from other stations. They're not impartial. CBS' interest is priority number one, the user's interests are definitely not. It should be the other way around.
If I were to post a thread on TVRage stating that the site sucks and there is no community, I would surely get an earful from its loyal members. Users on TV.com were all too eager to vent their agreement. This is saying a lot about the strength and success of the TV.com community.
I think that clears things up! And with that, I will end this post. I hope you enjoyed my blogging! :-)
zaterdag 21 november 2009
vrijdag 20 november 2009
It seems as though I've infuriated a moderator
I've angered someone.
But at least I've got their attention now!
I posted a thread to get people's opinion on whether or not TV.com has a successful community.
Look at this awesome response I got from the moderator:
Part of feeling a community is being a member of a community. Two posts worth of participation isn't probably going to give you a feel for how the people in the community interact.
Nice to know these people have a sense for cynisism. Too bad they take things so personally. I clearly explained in my post that I didn't get a ge-ne-ral sense of community from the site. I did not say: Boohoo nobody talks to me and now I'm going to whine about it!
Bad moderation if you ask me. So much for taking the high road. Sometimes moderators need to say nothing. We actually learned that in class as well. Here's example numero uno. This moderator just started an issue where there wasn't one. Aren't they supposed to be the ones to solve problems? Not create them?
Or is that just me.
But at least I've got their attention now!
I posted a thread to get people's opinion on whether or not TV.com has a successful community.
Look at this awesome response I got from the moderator:
Part of feeling a community is being a member of a community. Two posts worth of participation isn't probably going to give you a feel for how the people in the community interact.
Nice to know these people have a sense for cynisism. Too bad they take things so personally. I clearly explained in my post that I didn't get a ge-ne-ral sense of community from the site. I did not say: Boohoo nobody talks to me and now I'm going to whine about it!
Bad moderation if you ask me. So much for taking the high road. Sometimes moderators need to say nothing. We actually learned that in class as well. Here's example numero uno. This moderator just started an issue where there wasn't one. Aren't they supposed to be the ones to solve problems? Not create them?
Or is that just me.
woensdag 18 november 2009
Community News
Today I logged into the forums and noticed the big community news page. The entire page is filled with new features on the site, celebrity news and advertising. How is that community news?
Community news should be about what's happening with the community, right?
It's quite obvious to me now that this website spends most of its energy on making money and secondly on putting every bit of information about any tv show on their site.
Caring for their members and creating a sociable environment seems to be priority number 342389534759835.
So I'm going to juice things up. I'm going to start a thread asking people if they consider TV.com to be a community. And if so, do they think it's a successful community. And why.
More on this later...
Community news should be about what's happening with the community, right?
It's quite obvious to me now that this website spends most of its energy on making money and secondly on putting every bit of information about any tv show on their site.
Caring for their members and creating a sociable environment seems to be priority number 342389534759835.
So I'm going to juice things up. I'm going to start a thread asking people if they consider TV.com to be a community. And if so, do they think it's a successful community. And why.
More on this later...
No response. Whatsoever.
So, I posted that provoking review, expecting to start a discussion or get a bad rating but I couldn't be more disappointed.
It seems that nobody reads these reviews, or they do and they just don't care to get involved. There's no way to see how many people have read your review, the only way to tell if it's been read at all is if you get a comment or someone gives the review a thumbs up or down.
As for mine, no comments, no thumbs in either direction. Is this even a community at all?
It seems that nobody reads these reviews, or they do and they just don't care to get involved. There's no way to see how many people have read your review, the only way to tell if it's been read at all is if you get a comment or someone gives the review a thumbs up or down.
As for mine, no comments, no thumbs in either direction. Is this even a community at all?
zaterdag 7 november 2009
My days as a moderator...
I'm not new to moderating a community. I did that job for a few years, back when online communities just started to get on the map. I led a team of moderators on a forum dedicated to Buffy The Vampire Slayer when I was only 16 years old. I did it for about 4 years, when the show got cancelled and the community of 5000 members started to crumble.
But the show's cancellation was not the only reason for The 'Shelter's demise. The site had editorial staff, moderating staff, design staff etc. etc. I was part of all of these groups and led the moderators. Then the site's owners had a fight. And that was the beginning of the end. Members picked sides, a lot of them left and eventually there was no community left to run a site for.
So my point here is that it's not only important to keep your members happy, it's also important to keep your staff happy and to keep everyone on the same page. Make them feel appreciated and value their opinions. Moderators talk to your members, an unhappy moderator can ruin your community.
That is my advice to those who read this blog :-)
But the show's cancellation was not the only reason for The 'Shelter's demise. The site had editorial staff, moderating staff, design staff etc. etc. I was part of all of these groups and led the moderators. Then the site's owners had a fight. And that was the beginning of the end. Members picked sides, a lot of them left and eventually there was no community left to run a site for.
So my point here is that it's not only important to keep your members happy, it's also important to keep your staff happy and to keep everyone on the same page. Make them feel appreciated and value their opinions. Moderators talk to your members, an unhappy moderator can ruin your community.
That is my advice to those who read this blog :-)
Contribution made...
There, I've created a review. If it's approved by TPTB (the powers that be, that's television fandom language), it should be posted soon. I doubt many will agree with this review, but that was my intention, since I want a reaction from these people!
Meanwhile, I will keep posting on the forum. At some point, some thread will not die and I will have actual interaction with my fellow television junkies.
Meanwhile, I will keep posting on the forum. At some point, some thread will not die and I will have actual interaction with my fellow television junkies.
I was all excited..
So I logged into my TV.com account and BAM I have two messages in my inbox. As the overexcited dog I am, I hurried to read them, hoping someone would finally reach out and have a conversation with me.
What do I find? It's Arina! She whom I speak to almost daily on MSN, Facebook, Twitter or even in the PSHYSICAL WORLD. Don't get me wrong, I generally, usually, mostly like Arina, but that was anti-climactic.
I am so unbelievably bored on this site, I'm starting to really doubt my community choice. Since I am getting nowhere with these people. Threads are a dead end, nobody talks to the new people, starting to run out of ideas here.
I have yet to try one more thing and that's contributing something. I'm going to see if that'll get me anywhere. Although after reading about Arina's efforts on her blog, I'm not exactly inspired.
But maybe I will be more lucky!
What do I find? It's Arina! She whom I speak to almost daily on MSN, Facebook, Twitter or even in the PSHYSICAL WORLD. Don't get me wrong, I generally, usually, mostly like Arina, but that was anti-climactic.
I am so unbelievably bored on this site, I'm starting to really doubt my community choice. Since I am getting nowhere with these people. Threads are a dead end, nobody talks to the new people, starting to run out of ideas here.
I have yet to try one more thing and that's contributing something. I'm going to see if that'll get me anywhere. Although after reading about Arina's efforts on her blog, I'm not exactly inspired.
But maybe I will be more lucky!
zondag 18 oktober 2009
How do the big boys do it?
I was looking for an article on how to get User Generated Content to actually work, but the site has apparantly died. I stumbled onto this interesting site though:
Community Building and Social Networks
This is actually a community in which they discuss the strategies, failures and successes of the big online communities we all know. For example Twitter, Facebook, MySpace etc.
Maybe this could help us in our own project! So glad I found this site.
Community Building and Social Networks
This is actually a community in which they discuss the strategies, failures and successes of the big online communities we all know. For example Twitter, Facebook, MySpace etc.
Maybe this could help us in our own project! So glad I found this site.
The Commercial Black Hole
Well, after being sick, sicker and sickest I'm back to just being sick. But, able to blog. So here goes nothing.
What I noticed this week is that tv.com tries to get their users involved with the look and feel of the website and the community. They're doing this by asking their members for feedback on for example the redesign. But, what I wondered about is; do they actually DO something with these opinions, or are these threads only there to create the illusion of having a voice in the community?
And thus, I explored. And as I suspected, the entire forum is filled with complaints from users, and zero response from the people who run the site. So it is an illusion of power. Not great.
I found out that the site is run by management from CBS, one of the biggest USA TV networks. That alone speaks volumes. Of course it's going to be one commercial megamonster. And of course there's no room for a close knit community. A few things I'd like to point out:
More on this later.
What I noticed this week is that tv.com tries to get their users involved with the look and feel of the website and the community. They're doing this by asking their members for feedback on for example the redesign. But, what I wondered about is; do they actually DO something with these opinions, or are these threads only there to create the illusion of having a voice in the community?
And thus, I explored. And as I suspected, the entire forum is filled with complaints from users, and zero response from the people who run the site. So it is an illusion of power. Not great.
I found out that the site is run by management from CBS, one of the biggest USA TV networks. That alone speaks volumes. Of course it's going to be one commercial megamonster. And of course there's no room for a close knit community. A few things I'd like to point out:
- There's too much irrelevant information for anyone to discuss anything in great detail.
- There's no two-way communication between 'staff' and 'members'.
- They claim to be a User Generated Content website/community. BUT, if the users don't generate, the staff will. Logically, the users are lazy and don't exactly jump to be the best contributor.
dinsdag 6 oktober 2009
Are You Lonesome Toniiiiight?
Pff. I'm getting lonely at TV.com.
I don't feel like a part of anything yet. My profile doesn't feel like a personal thing. I would love for this site to put me in touch with some members who share my interests, since they asked for them in the first place. I've told them what I like, but they don't use this information in any way.
All you can do is search for another member's name. I don't know any names, because I don't know anyone. Duh. So how do I get to know people? So I thought, maybe their forums will provide me with some interesting people to share my hobby with. I checked out their 'Shows in development' forum, since I'm always on top of all the news surrounding these new tv shows. At least 2.179 threads seems inspiring, right?
I immediately spotted something interesting! A Buffy Season 8??! I didn't know about that! When, how, why, where and with whom??? This I have to get into.
Well. That was a disappointment. These people are dumb as a pickle. There is no season 8 and they were hyping over a few comic books. Which haven't even been published, nor will they ever be.
But I have to find something interesting to get into, because I'd really like to see if the members of this community are open to newbies. A lot of TV communities have their regulars and hardly 'waste' their time on getting to know someone outside of their club.
I can do it though, as I have many times before :-)
But so far, all I can find is that someone starts a thread, shares some news, for instance that a new show is going to air next month. Then a few others will say "I will watch that" or "I hate that show" and then the thread dies. No real discussion there. So, I'll be moving on to another forum category...
...which I will blog about later!
Stay frosty.
I don't feel like a part of anything yet. My profile doesn't feel like a personal thing. I would love for this site to put me in touch with some members who share my interests, since they asked for them in the first place. I've told them what I like, but they don't use this information in any way.
All you can do is search for another member's name. I don't know any names, because I don't know anyone. Duh. So how do I get to know people? So I thought, maybe their forums will provide me with some interesting people to share my hobby with. I checked out their 'Shows in development' forum, since I'm always on top of all the news surrounding these new tv shows. At least 2.179 threads seems inspiring, right?
I immediately spotted something interesting! A Buffy Season 8??! I didn't know about that! When, how, why, where and with whom??? This I have to get into.
Well. That was a disappointment. These people are dumb as a pickle. There is no season 8 and they were hyping over a few comic books. Which haven't even been published, nor will they ever be.
But I have to find something interesting to get into, because I'd really like to see if the members of this community are open to newbies. A lot of TV communities have their regulars and hardly 'waste' their time on getting to know someone outside of their club.
I can do it though, as I have many times before :-)
But so far, all I can find is that someone starts a thread, shares some news, for instance that a new show is going to air next month. Then a few others will say "I will watch that" or "I hate that show" and then the thread dies. No real discussion there. So, I'll be moving on to another forum category...
...which I will blog about later!
Stay frosty.
Community Managers
I found this article on community managers that could be helpful to us, since we discussed moderators in Niels' class yesterday. Turns out these people hate calling themselves Community Managers, because it sounds like they rule the community, which is not the case. They stick up for the community as a whole, they act as a mediator between different parties, etc. etc. Their job is more than just getting people to follow the rules.
What is a Community Manager?
What is a Community Manager?
woensdag 30 september 2009
Getting into it
So, after registering and adding my long list of shows, I should probably do some more exploring and start looking at the community features of TV.com.
I see they have a new feature, though it's still in its BETA phase. Omg, I have to add all TWENTY-SIX of my tv shows again!
*30 minutes later*
Finally. It is called My WatchList and it gives you and your friends updates on your shows. Alas, I added all my shows and it still displays nothing, nor do I see any friends popping up. Now I'm annoyed and lonely. Not a good start for TV.com. But hey, it does say BETA, so I'll cut them some slack.
Let's find some friends, since this is supposed to be a community. I don't yet know anyone, only my friend Arina. I know she registered and is using the same site as I am for this project. Which, by the way, is a big coincidence. We just happen to like the same things, ha!
She's been categorized as a 'Weatherman', as opposed to my 'Drama King' and 'Thighmaster' allocations. That's great and all, but weatherman and thighmaster means nothing to me. What does it stand for? Why am I level 4 and why is Arina level 1? I never did anything to get to level 4. And yet, my profile reads 43% complete. 43% of what?? I have no idea.
It doesn't say anywhere on the site what these percentages stand for, so one can only take a wild guess. Since I registered this account 5 years ago and never used it, I guess over time I climbed to level 4 somewhere. I also have 1 forum post. I added 26 shows, Arina only added 1.
I guess 1 forum post, 26 shows and a 5 year old never-used username is worth 43% then.
I'm thinking the percentages indicate your level of involvement with the community. Also, the site runs on user generated content. Members can add reviews and all kinds of information on shows, episdes, actors etc. etc. But right now, there's no indication that people are really connected to each other on a more personal level than posting reviews and facts, so that others can read them.
I'll get into this more later on. I have yet to find the community in this community driven website.
I see they have a new feature, though it's still in its BETA phase. Omg, I have to add all TWENTY-SIX of my tv shows again!
*30 minutes later*
Finally. It is called My WatchList and it gives you and your friends updates on your shows. Alas, I added all my shows and it still displays nothing, nor do I see any friends popping up. Now I'm annoyed and lonely. Not a good start for TV.com. But hey, it does say BETA, so I'll cut them some slack.
Let's find some friends, since this is supposed to be a community. I don't yet know anyone, only my friend Arina. I know she registered and is using the same site as I am for this project. Which, by the way, is a big coincidence. We just happen to like the same things, ha!
She's been categorized as a 'Weatherman', as opposed to my 'Drama King' and 'Thighmaster' allocations. That's great and all, but weatherman and thighmaster means nothing to me. What does it stand for? Why am I level 4 and why is Arina level 1? I never did anything to get to level 4. And yet, my profile reads 43% complete. 43% of what?? I have no idea.
It doesn't say anywhere on the site what these percentages stand for, so one can only take a wild guess. Since I registered this account 5 years ago and never used it, I guess over time I climbed to level 4 somewhere. I also have 1 forum post. I added 26 shows, Arina only added 1.
I guess 1 forum post, 26 shows and a 5 year old never-used username is worth 43% then.
I'm thinking the percentages indicate your level of involvement with the community. Also, the site runs on user generated content. Members can add reviews and all kinds of information on shows, episdes, actors etc. etc. But right now, there's no indication that people are really connected to each other on a more personal level than posting reviews and facts, so that others can read them.
I'll get into this more later on. I have yet to find the community in this community driven website.
zondag 27 september 2009
TV.com
Hi there and welcome to the Show Ho's blog. You might wonder about the somewhat unorthodox title of this blog, but there are some among you who know exactly what the title is all about. You know who you are ;-) The rest of you will find out soon enough.
Now, onto my community of choice. I chose the website TV.com. I won't lie, I've known about the site for quite a long time but I've never actively participated in this community of people.
What is it about? General american television worship, is how I like to call it. Basically it comes down to a whole lot of couch potatoes with nothing better to do than watch TV shows and talk about them online.
I've never been an active user on this site because I always considered it to be unusable, slow and annoying. But I'm willing to get past all that to figure out if I could benefit from it.
So I logged into my 5 year old, never-used, account. Shocked to see it still exists. The first thing they ask me is if I want to hook up this account with my Facebook account. So now I'm already involved in two communities with the push of one button. Awesome.
Next, I can customize my avatar and personal info. Adding all of the shows that I'm currently watching is tedious work, but I managed to survive. There's a cute little rating system in place as well. According to this system, based on all of the tv series I entered, I am a drama addict. I didn't need a system to tell me that, but I guess it's a fun feature that makes your profile more personal and unique.
That's how far I got this week, there'll be more next week as I dig into the chaotic mess of TV.com!
Stay tuned,
The Show Ho
Now, onto my community of choice. I chose the website TV.com. I won't lie, I've known about the site for quite a long time but I've never actively participated in this community of people.
What is it about? General american television worship, is how I like to call it. Basically it comes down to a whole lot of couch potatoes with nothing better to do than watch TV shows and talk about them online.
I've never been an active user on this site because I always considered it to be unusable, slow and annoying. But I'm willing to get past all that to figure out if I could benefit from it.
So I logged into my 5 year old, never-used, account. Shocked to see it still exists. The first thing they ask me is if I want to hook up this account with my Facebook account. So now I'm already involved in two communities with the push of one button. Awesome.
Next, I can customize my avatar and personal info. Adding all of the shows that I'm currently watching is tedious work, but I managed to survive. There's a cute little rating system in place as well. According to this system, based on all of the tv series I entered, I am a drama addict. I didn't need a system to tell me that, but I guess it's a fun feature that makes your profile more personal and unique.
That's how far I got this week, there'll be more next week as I dig into the chaotic mess of TV.com!
Stay tuned,
The Show Ho
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