The activity we had the class participate in was focused around their predictions of the future of online communities. They were divided into groups and asked to answer questions pertaining to the progression of online interactive communities will look like in the next twenty years. For example, the questions they were asked to answer were:
- How will the platforms that house these communities evolve? What do you think the next big trend will be? Will users be able to have more or less privacy/anonymity? How do you think online slang/communication will transform? What would the logo to this platform look like?
- Which online community do you think will become completely irrelevant in the next twenty years and why?
Our goal for this activity was to get an idea of what the future may hold for social media and its communities. Our classmates have all grown up in the age of social technologies, and have witnessed the evolution and prevalence of these platforms in today’s society, so we thought it would be interesting to get their perspectives on the matter.
I think the activity was extremely successful. The groups seemed very invested in the activity and intrigued by the questions presented. Each group had different approaches to the activity and came up with completely unique predictions from each other. Many of my classmates brought up points that I hadn’t even taken into account, so I definitely learned a lot from the experience. Because of this, I believe that our activity achieved its implied goal.
From this activity, I learned that online communities have the ability to develop to a point where they become just another facet of the human experience. One of my classmates brought up that he believes privacy will become a non-issue in the future, because social media and the relationships sustained through them will be a required part of our existence. Although that thought is extremely scary, I found it to be very eye-opening and definitely in the realm of possibility.
If I were to further my research, I would probably divide the groups by age, rather than just at random. I think the results would be more telling to how different demographics view social media, and the importance that online communities play in their everyday life and interpersonal relationships. In doing so, I believe I would be able to get a clearer picture on where the future of these communities are actually headed.
1 comments
Great work on this activity. I think splitting them up by age could be a really interesting way to gauge how they use and think about social media and communities in general. Good job!