Virtual Community Analysis Virtual Community Analysis
ByÐMichele Engelhart
Life Within GeoCities

What is GeoCities?

Think of life within GeoCities as a cyber-USA. This virtual community is a melting pot of people from all over the country and sometimes world interacting on many different levels about practically anything one could imagine. It is basically a gathering place where people can come together to meet new people, talk to old friends, carry on discussions about important issues or nothing at all. Its main purpose is to offer a place bountiful with information in order to support stimulating conversations and provide "rich and dynamic content " for its members. Here is their mission statement:

"GeoCities is a company dedicated to offering rich and dynamic content for our members and visitors alike. The centerpiece of that strategy is providing free Personal Home Pages and a free member Email account in one of our 27 themed communities to anyone with access to the Web. We have more than 140, 000 individuals sharing their thoughts and passions with the world, and creating the most diverse and unique content on the Web." Membership within GeoCities is essentially open to all. The only requirements are having access to a computer and the WWW which are a basic necessity for membership into any virtual community. You can visit GeoCities as visitor or a member. In order to be considered a member, you must "join" through the Homesteading Program, "a starting point for most things you'll do in GeoCities" It begins by defining homestead:

home-stead (homestead, -stid), n., v., -stead-ed, -stead-ing. --n. 1. a dwelling with its land and buildings occupied by the owner as a home. 2. any dwelling with its land and buildings where a family makes its home. --v.t. 3. to acquire or settle on (land) as a homestead. --v.i. 4. to acquire or settle on a homestead. -- home'stead'er, n.

This entry creates a sense of comfort and warmth, and a feeling that the users are joining a community where they will feel comfortable and will call their home. By setting up free personal home pages in one of the 27 themed communities, users gain membership status. All they need to do is browse the Neighborhood Directory and choose a neighborhood whose theme relates to the content of their home page, find a vacant address, and apply to reserve their space. GeoCities is not discriminatory against race, religion or age because it thrives on diversity, a key element in making this community a unique and dynamic gathering place with an abundance of variety to offer to its users. The range in age of the average user is approximately 10-50 years old, comprised of mostly students, parents, teachers, and often people in the armed forces. Just about anyone in any field or discipline, from anywhere in the world, could be found here. The majority of the users are from the United States though, and often from the midwest.

The Physical Community Structure

The GeoCities community is quite structured in regards to the organization of what it offers the user. When users first enter the GeoCities community, they are introduced to GeoCities News of the Day, that lists news stories or events pertinent to the day. If something exciting is happening that relates to a topic of discussion within one of the chatrooms, it will link to that neighborhood. For example: On November 5, important news for the day was the Election, so the newsbrief linked to the Capitol Hill Chat. Following this newsstand, users enter the community and find many different choices (links) as to where they can go and what they can investigate, under the main headings of Neighborhoods, Information, What's New? What's Cool? and Utilities. The Neighborhoods, which are as follows:

Area51, Athens, BourbonStreet
Broadway, CapeCanaveral, CapitolHill
CollegePark, Colosseum, Heartland
Hollywood, HotSprings, MotorCity
NapaValley, Paris, RainForest
RodeoDrive, SiliconValley, SoHo,
SouthBeach , SunsetStrip, TheTropics
TimesSquare, Tokyo, Vienna,
WallStreet, WestHollywood, Yosemite

are the basic foundation of GeoCities because they are the hub of the chatrooms and the sites for the personal home pages, therefore the rest of the analysis will focus on this portion of the community's physical structure.

The Personal Community Structure

The community structure is loosely grouped with open relationships among the members. Everyone in the community seems to have an equal footing in regards to a hierarchical position. Within each community there are members that have resided in the community for a long period of time. They are well known among other members due to their active involvement in their neighborhood, but they do not gain any special rights or privileges as a result of this. These members seem to be more respected than other members or visitors that aren't as devoted. There isn't a presence of a governing body within this relaxed community. The chatrooms within each neighborhood are void of strict laws, having only a general set of guidelines that are as follows:

The neighborhoods are mainly self-regulated. Each individual neighborhood sometimes has its own additions to the guidelines, such as in the Heartland Front Porch which adds,

"Discussion in this room should be responsible and respectful. Please don't be insulting or close-minded. We treat each other with compassion here, like a family."

Quite often if users do something that offends or bothers others on-line, they will "call" the troublemakers on their actions, and let them know what is and is not acceptable. If they continue, the other people in the room ignore them until they leave. This usually works because it follows the same idea of a comedian needing an audience, if no one pays attention to someone who is seeking attention, they will go elsewhere to find someone who will listen, sometimes to new chatrooms, and eventually to new virtual communities. Another alternative is a personal one, users have the option to change the configuration settings for the chat room and choose the name of the person they wish to block out of the scrolling conversations on their screen.

Communication Processes

Within the Neighborhoods, most communication happens in real time through the chatrooms, via a slowly scrolling screen that allows the user to go back and view past voiced ideas. It is a very user friendly processes, unlike some chatrooms in which the text scrolls so fast it is hard to follow, or reloads before he users are ready to continue. There are no codes used just basic conversational language typed in as if the users were having face to face conversations. Another option for real time conversation is the VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) 3-D Interactive Chat. This chatroom is very similar the basic real time chat, except that the users are in a 3-dimensional space and are able to take on the personas of characters physically present in the room. In addition to these real time chats, members have the option to post messages on the Community Bulletin Board, for all to see. This secondary communication process could be used in a similar fashion to an e-mail or confer group for a real life community, allowing the members to check in on important news before they go into their face to face group meetings.

What do They Talk About?

Within each of the themed communities, the communication varies due to many different factors. There are three basic example of the types of conversations and communications that take place. Some of the communities have a very specific focus, therefore all communication revolves around a particular issue or topic that directly relates to the theme. For example, on Capitol Hill chat, all of the discussions revolve around government or political issues. With the elections drawing near, the republican vs. democratic on-line debates were especially fired up. People here discuss bills that are currently proposed, how they feel about what Clinton has been doing, ect... Often the conversations are between two people over a lengthy amount of time and dive quite deep into the issues. Here is an example of a recent conversation:

(13:44:45) CrazyChick says to Fat Cat: Who are you? Get real. If everyone had to pass a test to buy a hamburger, the capitalists would loose millions of dollars. Besides, a 7 year old can't necessarily read..... also, you are pandering to stereotypes.
(13:47:12) Fat Cat says to CrazyChick: I'm making fun of Clinton's proposed law that you have to pass a drug test to get a drivers license and making fun of his spending even more money on schools because high school grads cant even read their own diplomas.
(13:52:16) CrazyChick says to Fat Cat: OK, but drugs are illegal, so having a drug test before getting a license is not implausible. Also, republicans are always stressing the war on drugs....admittedly, the drug test idea is not the best, but you think of something better or quit whining about there being too many drugs. I am sick of people complaining about things and then tearing apart every proposal Clinton makes. As to spending more on education, the present was schools are run is inefficient. It is not a bad idea to spend more money necessarily, but obviously there is a deeper problem with the way that the schools are being run in the cities.
(13:53:59) CrazyChick says to Fat Cat: Health care reform started as Clinton's platform last election, and has been taken up by the Republicans.
(13:57:02) Fat Cat says to CrazyChick: OK, look at Clinton's first two years with a democratic congress, he didn't get much done and CNN repeatedly reported how the congress despised him. And as far as spending money on schools , we keep doing it but it doesn't work, why not try something else.

In others, the Neighborhood has a general theme that brings people in, not necessarily to talk about any specific issues, but just because of the general purpose or sentiment present there. For example, the Heartland chat is "A family-oriented neighborhood that represents Main Street in cyberspace. This is the place to find parenting, pets, and home town values." In this chatroom the people are genuinely nice. The content of the conversations, which are often among friends, do not focus on anything in particular, but revolve around real everyday life. It is a closer knit community, with a large number of active citizens that speak out in the community often. Most of the younger users congregate in this neighborhood, almost as if they were hanging out at a corner at "home." In the following excerpt, the conversations taking place are among junior high girls that met, and became friends on-line and between a mother (dott) and her daughter (dott's dottir) along with their friends:

(14:04:54) JEN says to BettyBoop/Muffin: HI!!!!! How are you today??? I amfine!!! IT IS ALMOST HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(14:06:46) dott says to JEN: Hi sweetie!
(14:08:11) JEN gently hugs dott: HI!!! How are you today??? I am fine!!
(14:09:10) dott's dottir says to dott: You're right! I'm a selfish, little brat! I want him all to myself! Who wouldn't? He's terrific!
(14:09:52) dott says to JEN: I am fine, I am going to dress up tomorrow! I told all the kids here at school that I was going to scare them!!!!! and I will!!!!!! Lights out in the library tomorrow!!!!
(14:10:53) Betty Boop says to BettyBoop/Muffin: Hey, Betty I've been dying to meet you!!
(14:11:02) dott says to dott's dottir: Did I hear YOU agree with me? Lord help us! ha ha ha!
(14:15:41) Betty Boop says to BettyBoop/Muffin: Are you the Betty Boop from the porch? Everyone is so excited when they see Betty Boop. They said that she was such a sweet lady!
(14:20:46) Betty Boop says to BettyBoop/Muffin: yes, you are the one every was talking about! They all miss you very much. They said they haven't talked to you in quite a while.

Lastly, some Neighborhoods have loosely constructed themes, seen more as just a place to stop by and talk about anything. These rooms most often become "pick-up joints". An example of this would be SouthBeach chat. A place that is "The high-style hot spot for hanging out, meeting and greeting, seeing and being seen." In this chat people often ask the same basic questions, are you m/f? what do you look like? where are you from? how old are you? These questions seem to be a result of the importance of appearance in our real-life societies. When users come to this neighborhood in search of an online relationship, they operate in the same modes that they do in real life, making appearance of utmost importance. In real life, first impressions are initially based upon appearances, but online this is not the case. People must base their opinions on the person's words and thoughts. It seems quite ironic how it takes an artificial scenario, to force people to look at what is truly important. This neighborhood seems to resemble a dimly lit, smoke-filled cheesy night club.Here is an excerpt of conversation from SouthBeach:

(13:24:47) Bingo : Not really friend. I'm just going around hugging and kissing today.:) *Bingo kisses sweet*
(13:24:56) Sassy-girl says to 7 inches: sorry, dont believe it :)
(13:25:35) 7 inches PRIVATELYwhispers to Sassy-girl: if i could i would show you
(13:25:40) sweet winks at Bingo: how *sweet* of you
(13:25:40) ESLUPMI : my bolagna has a first mane
(13:25:45) A Handsome Black Guy : Hi everybody!
(13:26:00) Bingo gently hugs Jake: *Bingo kisses Jake on the lips with a gentle nudge*;)
(13:26:31) Sassy-girl says to 7 inches: So, where are you from big boy
(13:26:43) Bingo says to sweet: Thank you.:)
(13:26:56) :-) shouts to 2Hot2hold : still adding??? LOL
(13:27:12) Jake says to Bingo: on the lips...what soft lips you have...thanx!

How do They Talk About It?

In these virtual neighborhoods, the conversations are a bit disjointed because the users are most likely chatting with more than one person at a time. What is said, is rarely found in complete sentences because it is conversational English, (or sometimes other languages,) just like in real life. Everyone seems to look past grammatical, spelling, or typing errors because they are understood and accepted due to the nature of the conversations.

There are also often identifiable patterns of communication between females and males On line, the users tend to take on stereotypical gender roles. Females often speak with sugar-coated language, tending to be submissive and meek when speaking to a male user. The male users on the other hand tend to act quite tough, and macho. They attempt to "out- do" or "one-up" other male users, in order to win the attention of the females in the room. Sometimes though, men will portray the "New Age Male," the strong, yet sensitive, perceptive type, that is very much the hype in the media today, as a way of enticing a female user. What they don't realize though, is that their charade does not come across as the truth and they often look foolish and cheesy through their use of clichŽs. These scenarios are most often true with the neighborhoods that function best as a meeting place, or "pick-up joint." The characteristics of these neighborhoods facilliate the adaption of virtual personae because the users do not have to bring any views or personal characteristics with them in order to carry on conversations or discuss specific issues. The users have a chance to be who they want to be, or what they think the other person likes, and can then use their findings as a frame of reference back in the real world. People love a challenge and find one in the online chase, but without the fear of rejection. If you succeed, it is a great rush. If you don't, you just try again, maybe as someone else. Also due to the anonymity within the community, the users are much more free with their thoughts and words because there is no serious threat of retribution.

VC vs. RL (Virtual Community vs. Real Life)

In general this virtual community is a fun, entertaining extension to real life. The chats are real-time, but the users must always remember that the conversations may not be too real. The greatest difference between the Virtual Community and Real Life is the lack of a visual reference during communication. Human nature relies on body language to help convey a thought verbally. Online, the visual cues do not exist, which can stir up confusion about the speakers tone, and lead to a misunderstanding. Although GeoCities is a large community with over 140, 000 users, in comparison to its real life counter-parts, it is a much smaller, close knit community allowing people in a "city," to talk as if neighbors. With neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill, Virtual communities can be a great way to meet other people who are interested in talking about the same issues that are important to their lives. According to its statement of purpose, GeoCites has succeeded. Between the 27 themed communities, the content is unique and diverse, and the process is simple to set up your own free personal home page. GeoCities is an interesting, entertaining electronic city that creates a fun, user friendly environment for inter-city, inter-state, or even inter-country communications.

Give GeoCities a Try!
http://www.GeoCities.com/