Are you a movie addict, television junkie, or pop culture aficionado? Do you like talking about your viewing habits with your friends? Do you look forward to watching Downton Abbey and then the next day discussing it with your friends at work? Perhaps GetGlue, a media sharing site, is of interest to you.
"GetGlue's vision is to create a deeply personalized, social and connected experience around television, movies and sports" (GetGlue, 2014). At GetGlue you can 'like' your favourite television programs and movies, and then connect with anyone, anywhere. You can even collect stickers which show your watching interests. Apparently, there is even a Guru status achieved when you accomplish more check-ins than anyone else at a particular field. So why don't I feel drawn to this social site? I just realized that after numerous check-ins over the last two weeks (I've lost count) that I'm just not a collector of anything and never have been.
It finally dawned on me today that many social media sites are a modern take on what my sons liked to do in the 80's and 90's: collecting marbles and baseball cards. They used to be so excited to be able to go and buy a new bag of marbles and then share all the fantastic glass effects with their friends. There was nothing better than playing a game of marbles at school and coming home with some you had won from one of your buddies.
The same is true about collecting baseball cards: Fred McGriff, Ken Griffey Jr, Jose Canseco, Tony Fernandez, George Bell, and Roberto Alomar, just to name a few of my sons' heroes. Upper Deck and Topps trading cards were staples in my sons' vocabularies. But I've never been a collector. I don't own a display case of spoons or salt and pepper shakers. I don't collect antiques or comic books, action figures or Beanie Babies. I don't care whether a collector's plate has a box or not. If I don't like the plate as a piece of art, I don't need it, and I certainly don't need a whole wall of them. But wait a minute, what about those twenty pairs of shoes? And what about those six bins of Christmas ornaments and paraphernalia? What about the fifteen board games and numerous photo albums? Oh yeah, let's not forget about the numerous empty picture frames I've bought over the years thinking I'd do something with them. They're still in the attic collecting dust. Sometimes a little introspection goes a long way.
But back to GetGlue. Does this social media site build community? Well, community means the fellowship of those with mutual interests or association (Brown & Hannis, 2008). So in that sense, GetGlue is building community. Take a look at the slide show of a GetGlue office at Mashable.com The personality here is the company's sense of community displayed in giant 'stickers' and awards. The employees are located in the same room without cubicles, to enhance the community in the workplace and perhaps to build on creativity. But just because I'm not that interested in a media social media site doesn't negate the value to others. Why shouldn't they build their community around like interests just as I do around adult literacy, faith, adult education, or historical fiction based in India or medieval England? GetGlue is a site that brings community to those who want to be there (About, 2014). But there is a corporate side to this community.
A year ago, GetGlue and Viggle cancelled their merger for reasons unstated, and even though the language was still that of community in that they were still friends, the main idea of the article is the amount of money and followers of each company (Mashable, 2013). Then in November of 2013, iTV acquired GetGlue to enlarge it's company and build it's consumer base (Mashable, 2013). How do these sites that promote community actually make enough money to sustain that community? Initially, the money comes from venture capitalists hoping the new site will garner enough followers to make the consuming potential a commodity (Howstuffworks, 2014). Advertising, membership fees, and web developing all feed into the coffers. Mergers and acquisitions complete the process of community and consumption. Which takes me back to the comparison to baseball cards and marbles. The baseball card publishers made money from consumption; social media sites have a lot of consumers within a community. It only follows that the new community is following a previous practice of consumerism.
It has been an interesting journey over the last three weeks. I myself wasn't that interested in making GetGlue a part of my life, but here is my link in case you want to see what parts of the media community I follow. http://getglue.com/newmediawatcher
Will I stay on this site in the future? Perhaps, if I take another popular culture course. For now, I'm going to enjoy the next episode of Downton Abbey (iTV, 2014), about which GetGlue takes great care to remind me.
Linda
References
Brown, J. D., & Hannis, D. (2008). Community development in Canada. Toronto: Pearson Allyn and Bacon
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/social-networking/information/how-social-networking-sites-make-money.htm
http://www.itv.com/downtonabbey/photos/
http://mashable.com/2013/11/06/i-tv-acquires-getglue/
http://mashable.com/2013/01/14/getglue-viggle-merger-canceled/#gallery/getglue-office/51b8d9be97b2f805de003543
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006032703300
http://webtrends.about.com/od/review1/fr/Getglue-Review-What-Is-Getglue.htm
It finally dawned on me today that many social media sites are a modern take on what my sons liked to do in the 80's and 90's: collecting marbles and baseball cards. They used to be so excited to be able to go and buy a new bag of marbles and then share all the fantastic glass effects with their friends. There was nothing better than playing a game of marbles at school and coming home with some you had won from one of your buddies.
The same is true about collecting baseball cards: Fred McGriff, Ken Griffey Jr, Jose Canseco, Tony Fernandez, George Bell, and Roberto Alomar, just to name a few of my sons' heroes. Upper Deck and Topps trading cards were staples in my sons' vocabularies. But I've never been a collector. I don't own a display case of spoons or salt and pepper shakers. I don't collect antiques or comic books, action figures or Beanie Babies. I don't care whether a collector's plate has a box or not. If I don't like the plate as a piece of art, I don't need it, and I certainly don't need a whole wall of them. But wait a minute, what about those twenty pairs of shoes? And what about those six bins of Christmas ornaments and paraphernalia? What about the fifteen board games and numerous photo albums? Oh yeah, let's not forget about the numerous empty picture frames I've bought over the years thinking I'd do something with them. They're still in the attic collecting dust. Sometimes a little introspection goes a long way.
But back to GetGlue. Does this social media site build community? Well, community means the fellowship of those with mutual interests or association (Brown & Hannis, 2008). So in that sense, GetGlue is building community. Take a look at the slide show of a GetGlue office at Mashable.com The personality here is the company's sense of community displayed in giant 'stickers' and awards. The employees are located in the same room without cubicles, to enhance the community in the workplace and perhaps to build on creativity. But just because I'm not that interested in a media social media site doesn't negate the value to others. Why shouldn't they build their community around like interests just as I do around adult literacy, faith, adult education, or historical fiction based in India or medieval England? GetGlue is a site that brings community to those who want to be there (About, 2014). But there is a corporate side to this community.
A year ago, GetGlue and Viggle cancelled their merger for reasons unstated, and even though the language was still that of community in that they were still friends, the main idea of the article is the amount of money and followers of each company (Mashable, 2013). Then in November of 2013, iTV acquired GetGlue to enlarge it's company and build it's consumer base (Mashable, 2013). How do these sites that promote community actually make enough money to sustain that community? Initially, the money comes from venture capitalists hoping the new site will garner enough followers to make the consuming potential a commodity (Howstuffworks, 2014). Advertising, membership fees, and web developing all feed into the coffers. Mergers and acquisitions complete the process of community and consumption. Which takes me back to the comparison to baseball cards and marbles. The baseball card publishers made money from consumption; social media sites have a lot of consumers within a community. It only follows that the new community is following a previous practice of consumerism.
It has been an interesting journey over the last three weeks. I myself wasn't that interested in making GetGlue a part of my life, but here is my link in case you want to see what parts of the media community I follow. http://getglue.com/newmediawatcher
Will I stay on this site in the future? Perhaps, if I take another popular culture course. For now, I'm going to enjoy the next episode of Downton Abbey (iTV, 2014), about which GetGlue takes great care to remind me.
Linda
References
Brown, J. D., & Hannis, D. (2008). Community development in Canada. Toronto: Pearson Allyn and Bacon
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/social-networking/information/how-social-networking-sites-make-money.htm
http://www.itv.com/downtonabbey/photos/
http://mashable.com/2013/11/06/i-tv-acquires-getglue/
http://mashable.com/2013/01/14/getglue-viggle-merger-canceled/#gallery/getglue-office/51b8d9be97b2f805de003543
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006032703300
http://webtrends.about.com/od/review1/fr/Getglue-Review-What-Is-Getglue.htm