Fanpages – the opportunity to speak, not only to listen
The place of fanpages in the new media
A fanpage
is a tool of Facebook, which is one of the
social networking sites. These in turn, are a kind of social media, which exist
on the Internet – the largest representative of new media. It sounds simple,
but we have to remember this dependence.
Why did I
use this type of description? I did it because I want to show you that communication between users on fanpages acquired the same features as new media.
Which
features[1]?
Why do
people use them?
- to support blogs or YouTube channels
- to support official websites
- to promote people, companies or places, such as restaurants or hotels
- because they can be sources of truth
Examples
 |
| I am Kasia - fanpage of Kasia Szymków |
The first
example concerns Kasia Szymków fanpage. She is a polish fashion blogger from Warsaw. When
she founded her fanpage, she wrote:
‘hello everyone!I decided to found a facebook page to support my blog,
especially for people, who want to know what is going on in my fashion world,
but do not have a profile on ‘blogger’.
Greetings!’.
Her facebook
page fulfils each of the social media features. You can write a private or a
public message to her (the authenticity), you can ask her what interests
you (the interaction), you can write to her what, in your opinion, is
good on her blog or what is wrong (the democracy). On her fanpage you
can observe that these tips are useful for her. She takes into account how she
could change her behavior in social media (being yourself and being human).
 |
| Fanpage of Mateusz Grzesiak |
The next
example is Mateusz
Grzesiak fanpage. He is an educator, a psychologist, a writer and a
personal coach from Poland. His profile on Facebook serves him to support his official
website, but the difference between these two things – a fanpage and an official
website is that the first one is more human. On there, you can find pictures of
Mateusz Grzesiak with his wife and daughter. He adds a lot of content about his
private life concerning what he talked about during his motivational trainings.
He shows people his way to achieve happiness in life (at work, at school, in relationships
and so on). He shares
his knowledge almost without limits. He is very involved
in motivating people. Every day, due to contents containing tips, which he adds
- he helps a lot of people to become better than they are.
 |
| Fanpage of Dolce Vita Residence |
The third
example is about promoting places on fanpages. Dolce Vita Residence is a hotel with a restaurant, which is located
in the touristic and charming town in Poland – Ustroń. On their
fanpage you can find information about the daily menu, the standard
of hotel rooms, about events which are organized there and more useful news.
The most important feature of this type of fanpages is the clarity.
The
statuses are updated daily, so customers can find there the most recent information.
If you just want to check something, you do not have to search their official
website. It is very easy to click ‘like it’ and follow them on Facebook.
The last
example is a fanpage of Janusz
Korwin-Mikke – a very popular politician from Poland. He is a
leader of right-libertarian, conservative and eurosceptic political party that
is called KORWiN (Coalition for the Renewal of the Republic – Liberyty and
Hope). He is 73 years old and he has believed in the same set of politics for
25 years. He does not change his point of
view in order to achieve profits like the other politicians do.
Janusz
Kowin-Mikke (JKM) added his first post on Facebook in year 2010. Now, more than
seven hundred thousand people like his fanpage. What are they looking for? Of
course, the truth. He is a very controversial person, he always says what he
thinks and he does not care what people will think about him. In the mainstream
media (or in ‘the regime media’ as JKM often repeats) people can hear only some
pieces of his statements. Mostly, journalists take these pieces out of context,
because they want to people think about his statements something completely
different. The biggest absurds were: that
he wants to violate women, deprive the disabled of their rights
or that he is a protector
of Adolf Hitler. A lot of people had been thinking so until year
2010.
 |
| Fanpage of Janusz Korwin-Mikke |
Then, something has changed. Janusz Korwin-Mikke
discovered the power of convergence culture. He has started to add the whole
contents of his speeches from the television, radio or contents from newspapers
on his fanpage. People started to compare these news and they have seen the
degree of distort between them. A lot of people understood his point of view. As
JKM
admitted: many people thanked me for opening their eyes to
basic problems.
Summary
Henry
Jankins said that convergence culture is the relationship between three
concepts: media convergence, participatory culture and collective intelligence[2]. Thus,
it is arguable that fanpages are a very important manifestation of convergence
culture. This is because of the content flows across multiple media platforms –
people can compare the authenticity of news which they have heard on the mainstream
media and discuss that with other users on adequate fanpages.
It means
that people are not the passive media spectators like they were in the old
media. They participate in the convergence culture every day when they check
their Facebook and generate contents.
Consumers and producers started occupying the same roles – people can found
their own fanpage whenever they want. You just have to invent something which
would be interesting for other users.
Activity
on fanpages is a collective process. People share their knowledge with others –
when they want to correct some information, give ideas how to do something
better, add something new to existing content thereby improving it.
Fanpages
give you the oppurtnity to speak, not only to listen. But you have to remember
that they are places where people can commend you and where they also can
criticize you – because everybody can do/write/add what they want…everybody can
speak! This tool of Facebook is a big power of the new media, but you have to
know how to use this power. If you do not know how to do that, people can
destroy you.
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