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.

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