The topic of this blog post will focus on the social platform – Patreon. This service is used by artists around the world as a crowdfunding source for their work. After launching the site in 2013, Patreon had registered 125,000 users both patrons and creators within the first year and a half[1]. Since then, Patreon has been recognised as a platform for artists that need a place to share their work whilst having revenue options and support from the community.
Patreon has some key features that has allowed it’s service to reach new users across the world:
Content created pages that host media e.g. Artwork, Music, Videos, Games, Crafts & DIY [2]
User pledges that offer creators payment for their work
User rewards for their payments
Small fees from user contribution goes towards Patreon and its development
Moderation on content to ensure the work is produced
Commenting and sharing options
The relationship between the creators and the patrons is what ensures the success of the platform and without this contribution from the community Patreon will struggle to generate an income due to the lack of fees raised after the user pledges. A key point to ensure the success of any social platform is to the provide the users with content and let them be rewarded first. As you can see, the creators are able to generate revenue to support their endeavours (content and other expenses), but as a general user you have the ability to scroll through all the various categories and see the interesting work that has been created for you. While some users may choose to support their favorite creators, there will always be room for someone who is just using the service to browse through the interesting content that the community has created.
Crowdfunding services like Kickstarter and Patreon have been in increasing their reach the last few years because of the opportunities available after sharing the projects or goals to the communities. The potential for sponsors and revenue options have yielded as a great opportunity for creative individuals/groups thus encouraging many entrepreneurs or designers to share their efforts and creations. As we venture towards a society that encourages people to share their creativity and passion it’s clear that these services can help fund and support many projects and creations. It’s not always something that people haven’t seen before, for example this creator shares how to steps, videos and information articles about his interests such as building cupboards, skateboards, walls and much more. Check out his introduction video below!
and here’s a cool video he made for the creation of a pocket notebook:
In summary, social platforms have given people a voice to express their opinion or businesses an opportunity to have a larger marketing reach. Patreon has provided a service for artists, designers and entrepreneurs that allows them to express their creativity whilst offering them with a way to generate revenue and connect with the people that they are sharing their work with. It’s interesting to see how each creator approaches their work and how that allows them to reach different niches within the internet.
So have you pledged or supported a creative individual so that you could benefit from their work?
Welcome everyone, especially those from the IAB260 Community. This particular blog post will take a step into my personal life and I will provide a critical reflection relating to my social media experience. The post will also look at how I use social technologies to ‘brand’ myself and the different types of activities I perform. The reflection fofowill also be based around the learning outcomes and process from designing a Persona and Identity Map.
At this point I’d like to clarify what a Persona is to me. It is an online identity of a individual or party (business), that presents themselves in a particular way. This usually aligns with the goals and motivation of the social technology at use, whilst allowing the user to conduct themselves in way that reflects their personality and professionalism. My online identity has been in the making since I was a young kid using the computer to play Pinball and Age of Empires. As technology advanced and new services such as MSN, Myspace, Facebook and more were introduced it became apparent that I needed to create an online identity that I believe depicted personality.
Professionalism
So what’s my persona? I decided to review my Facebook first because I believe it is the most used and has the most connections with family and friends. I’m not one to share a Facebook status every week, or simply upload a photo. I find that Facebook statuses have less purpose now days, due to the difference between what you upload, and what you’re trying to share with your friends. But how good is messaging friends, group chats, or just connecting with a new friend after a night out! Facebook allows me to engage with my circle of friends, like their stories/photos, comment on their milestones and say happy birthday.. But I don’t like to share much of my story (day to day, rants, photos), except for the occasional YouTube video, Work related (Supplement Store Sales) or the rare achievement:
My Facebook identity is unique and that’s why I find it hard to click the upload button and I sometimes question why I don’t post more often. Facebook is the centre for my identity and it shows who I am to not only my friends, but also my family, co-workers and future employers. The network I’ve established has created a good platform for both work and social activity which I find is my main motivation for using Facebook. The messaging, and informative content are my favourite features but the privacy, suggested newsfeed and time wasted scrolling is what makes me resent Facebook. As time moves forward I will continue to adapt my Facebook identity to represent who I am and what makes me different.
Facebook Profile
To close the chapter on Facebook.. It’s a love hate relationship. I like to separate myself from Facebook for several weeks or months when I’m not at University. I need Facebook to connect with my friends and peers, without Facebook as a medium for communication it can be very hard to organise things and actually keep track of my friends. But what makes Facebook so interesting is the option to be anything you want. By simply creating the right connections or sharing some meaningful information you have opened new doors and given yourself a way to connect with anybody in your friends list. It’s a huge service and everyone has their on way of enjoying the experience.
Socialist and Personal Interests
To move on, I’d like to reflect on my personal interests which are incorporated into the use of Instagram and YouTube. These two services are easily my favourites of the social technologies that I use, and I can’t remember a day where I didn’t use at least one of these applications. Instagram is a simple application, I use it to follow from my friends, artists, YouTube personalities, athletes and businesses. While I use Instagram to connect with various people, the main attraction is the photos my friends upload and also the short videos that are shared by celebrities/businesses. But what is my activity like compared to others? My expectation when using Instagram is that it allows individuals to create a network of interesting contacts whilst providing them with a platform to share their own personal stories or even brand themselves. Now, YouTube is a little bit different. When I use YouTube I am trying to learn and discover new things in relation to gym (exercises), health (diet and mental), and work (IT techniques) whilst trying to find entertainment within the context. What makes me different from everyone else on YouTube though? My subscriptions have been changing since a I was a young member, originally using YouTube to watch skate videos, game tutorials, interviews and to listen to music. As I grew and as I discovered what was interesting to me, I was able to find channels that were active and provided content relating to my interests. I have filtered my subscriptions and am constantly adding new channels. YouTube can provide me with a great tool to find and select new approaches for real world situations and that is why I love the service so much. Here’s a sample of the videos I tend to watch:
When reflecting on how I use Instagram and YouTube, I’ve come to the conclusion that I am a highly active and often spend hours weekly using these services without really contributing anything. For me to share content on YouTube I would of course have to discuss a particular/certain topic to which would require some effort, planning and work. As stated, I use YouTube for entertainment and a tool to learn, and I like being able to use it to get away from life sometimes. This is similar to Instagram, I really enjoy the service and love seeing photos/videos from the people I follow. But just like Facebook, I’m very particular about what I post and I’d rather not share all my stories. I do however enjoy sharing photos of my travels, stories, activities and the occasional captioned selfie.
Screenshot of one of my Instagram posts.
I guess you could say that I prefer quality of quantity on both the professional scale and also my friendly social activities. By sharing something that has meaning to me, it shows my followers that I believe what I’m sharing and I’m using it as a tool to express what I am doing, or what I have done. In my opinion there is so much information available online and it’s up to the individual to find the sources to meet their goals. My main motivation behind using social technologies to connect with individuals that will help me grow stronger (mentally and physically) and connect with old and new friends.
Persona
I’d like to share with you all the Persona diagram that I designed for the IAB260 Social Technologies Unit. This diagram was required for part of the assessment and will be used in an exhibit with my peers and QUT visitors. It took some time to develop this, having to make a lot of changes and updates based on feedback from my peers and friends. I was able to gather lots of interesting icons using The Noun Project, whilst editing and designing with Photoshop CS6. I believe this persona diagram accurately displays my online identity and what type of person I am when it comes to using various forms of social technologies. The design phase was great and it really made me think about the activities I was doing on each platform. As I reflected, I took the time to review my history and the style of posts I shared. I tried to apply this information to my persona and also my online identity.
Persona
Online Identity Map
As previously mentioned this diagram is also being used for assessment. This Identity Map is used to depict how I work and remain professional, whilst have fun and socialise. The scale is used to identify the actions that I believe were a large importance when using an application in each manner (Professional/Social). While each application may seemed linked, each one of these services are not linked and I have a very different personality on all of them. I used a lot of my information from my Persona to fill information about the applications and what I used it for.
Identity Map
Conclusion
This was a great experience and it took some time to plan, design and develop the diagrams. The benefit of making these illustrations was the opportunity to spend reflecting on self image. I enjoyed reviewing the type of posts I made and also what made them important to me when I shared them. Each application is different and I think it’s important for me to use these tools to express myself. Although I find it hard to hit that share button, it always feels good knowing that people value my opinion and what I’m saying.
Thanks for reading this blog post and taking the time to reflect with me.
Welcome all, this blog post will be focused on the discussion around online communities, the characteristics of an online community, and where they might occur.
To be quite clear an online community is a group of people that are communicating with each other. The difference between an online community and social networks is generally the interest that draws the user in, also known as a hobby for example games, cooking, etc. As the community expands more communication and collaboration occurs which require specific tools to ensure a good user experience. The rise of Web 2.0 has enabled online communities to grow rapidly and this is due to the amount of interactive tools available, for example discussion boards (forums), reviews, messaging systems, and the ability to create lists of interests or friends [2].
What characteristics do they have?
There are four main characteristics that danah boyd has mentioned[3], that I believe are consistent throughout the various online communities.
Profiles:
Each online community provides its users with an option to create/register a profile. The user then has the ability to tweak their profile to allow certain privacy restrictions (E.g. Public, Private, and Semi-Public). As the user begins to interact with the community, overtime their profile becomes an identity which can be used to portray their personality, professionalism or just the fact they are another anonymous user.
Friends List:
Participants of an online community will have opportunities to find and connect with people from all kinds of backgrounds. It’s this key feature that allows users to interact with their peers. It provides users with a way to connect and share with each others content, thus creating value in the connection and a reason to share information to the intended audience.
Tools for public communication
The interactive tools that we see today that have been shaped by and for the online communities we all use. The following interactive tools are some examples of the key functionality that have provided the backbone for the growth of these online communities:
commenting and messaging systems
chat rooms
discussion boards
file sharing
Without these essential tools, the online communities we see today would surely not be as functional, beneficial or entertaining. With these available features the users are able to provide the final characteristic, content.
Content
By definition content is described as:
“Relevant, compelling, timely and valued knowledge and/or entertainment.” – David Erickson[4]
With that in mind, online communities are able to provide a vast array of ranging topics including content on all different kinds of levels. In summary content can be seen as text related information, videos, images etc.
Where do they occur?
So where can a someone like yourself find an online community? Here’s a list of the few communities that I use:
Facebook – Within my Facebook profile I am connected with several communities, two for work, one for shoe selling/buying/sharing with over 9.7k members, and University groups.
YouTube – As an enthusiast of health and fitness, YouTube has a large fitness community with various accounts to provide content and different ways to approach training/nutrition.
Google+ – A community has been establish on G+ for students of Social Technologies (IAB260), which is great for keeping up to date with the lecturers/tutors and also peers.
In summary, if you’re looking to expand your knowledge of a certain topic, or maybe just looking to connect with others who share similar interests, an online community is a great place to start. Online communities provide users with a place to connect, share but most of all be heard. You have the option to create your own identity and share what really matters to you and that is what makes online communities so engaging. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or constructive feedback please leave a comment at the bottom.
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Jason Collier's Social Blogsphere 