As noted here the other day, I recently joined ComicSpace.com to see what the whole social networking thing was about. I've been trying to look at things from the inside, as it were, and see if I couldn't uncover some secret pleasure that I just wasn't understanding from an external perspective.So I've spent a fair amount of time going through the site and aquiring "friends" and asking questions and...
I still don't get it.
I am deeply interested in this, since I enjoy studying comic fans and fandom, but I just don't really see where the attraction is in a site like this. Don't get me wrong, I think it's fairly well put together, but I'm not sure of the benefits.
As near as I can tell, the benefit that you COULD get out it is in being able to find other people with similar interests. For example, if I added a tag to my ComicSpace profile that said I was comic book historian, then someone else could see that and say, "Hey, I'm a comic historian, too! Maybe I should talk to this guy." I can see that idea. But I don't really see that happening.
I've seen some people who have asked to be my "friend" based on what I must assume is that notion, but no one's contacted me yet beyond the initial friend request. I'm seeing more two other types of "friends" -- people who are promoting their comic book/strip and people who are signing up to be "friends" with creators. If you look at many of the comic creators on ComicSpace, you'll find that they have hundreds if not thousands of "friends." How many of these people does Warren Ellis really know? As of this writing, Ellis has 1,250 friends of 6,430 possible people who've signed up. Brian Michael Bendis, who didn't sign up until yesterday, already has 342 "friends." That's just from fans wanting a sense of attachment/recognition by creators they admire.
Other folks, though, have a lot of "friends" because they're signing up to be everybody's friend in an effort to promote their comic book/strip. Of the 17 "friends" I have currently, one is a creator who I was interested to see how willing they were to accept unknown "friends", one is my comic shop, five are guys I already knew from online, three are organizations trying to promote themselves, and five are individuals trying to promote their own comics.
So the only real benefit I can see as worthwhile doesn't seem to actually be manifested that much. Certainly not in any significant way. So what's the big deal, then? What's so cool about online social networking? Any enlightenments would be appreciated!
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