Online Communities

There has been a collapse of community in society - this has been replaced by a growth in online groups/communities
The communities are not confined to streets, instead they cross borders and exist worlwide

Nerdfighters

• Started off in America after a pair of YouTube bloggers called the Vlog Brothers
• Only communicated through online - not face-to-face
• Community are linked by fandom - Harry Potter and Doctor Who
• Slogan - Don't Forget to be Awesome - also the name of their record label - can publish and sell their music
• Also responsible for the Project for Awesome - raises money for a variety of good causes
• Fight against 'world suck'

Becoming YouTube

What does it say about identity?

• Obsessive
• If you insult this identity they will switch - do not understand that there are also other communities that aren't similar to theirs
• 'Socially awkward' - an inspirational label/ something to aspire to
• by stating this and celebrating this it makes it less of a problem - people have this in commen with each other
• Internet allows socially awkward people to connect and create communities - can be louder and more confident 
• No one's perfect - the originators are as complex as the people who support
• Nerdfighters are an identity based on vales, love and intelligence and fandom as well
• Secularisation of nerds and this identity 
• Tension between individuality and community - by labeling yourself as a nerdfighter you give a part of yourself to that community, but are you still an individual and do you lose your individual identity?
• Internet changes how we can consrtuct identity

What does it say about Community?

• Nerdfighterian - they have made their fans a strong community
• in jokes
• All share the same values and interests
• Work together to do good things - proud of this community and chose it over others
• What it stands for can get lost - the originators don't have any control anymore
• Can exclude - if you don't fit certain criteria then you can't be a nerdfighter - only a bad minority say this though
• They as well as others want to belong
• Can believe in the same things as a certain community but others don't necessarily need to belong
• Some are good and some are bad
• "Rather be a looser and believe in good things"

New Communities

• New sense of identity and community is both connecting and isolating at the same time
• We are increasingly connected to the world, but at the same time increasingly disconnected from reality
• MMORPG (Massive mulitplayer online role playing games) like WOW (world of warcraft) are increasing in size, allowing people to escape into an imagined world where community and identity are malleable and easily constructed

Authenticity?

• Ability to construct an identity, to be unseen while communicating increases the risk for impersonation and fraud
• It creates a sense of anonymity, a false sense of security
• In extreme cases this anonymity allows people to create personas and identities very different to their own

What does this mean for identity?

• Identity is constantly in flux, we are unable to distinguish between is authentic and what isn't. We are frequently constructing our own identities, presenting a mediated version of ourselves to the world
• Equally the collective identity of youth and youth culture can also be affected by this movement to online cultures
• rather than being controlled and constructed by outside 

Time Magazine person of the year = you - had a shiny backing so you could see yourself