My practicum project is on social networking websites, more specifically media-based social networking. For this project, I have chosen Blip.FM and this social networking site helps people form relationships through their appreciations of music. On this website users pick songs and then send them out to all of the members of the Blip.FM community. This is called "Blipping". When I first signed up for Blip.FM I really wasn't sure what I was going to get myself into. However, I have enjoyed the numerous hours that I have spent on the website, which I have spent blipping to my listeners and trying to get a following. After creating my initial profile, I Blipped a few songs, but I used an actual picture of myself in my profile. Over the next few days, I checked back to my profile and realized that I wasn't getting any new listeners. I wanted to gain more listeners and create a larger community, so I came up with a new way of Blipping that I thought would help me gain more listeners. I know a lot about drums, so I decided to use Blip.FM like I was hosting a "radio show" about some of my favorite drummers. I decided to dedicate each Wednesday night to this show, and I would only Blip songs of drummers that I liked from whatever genre that particular week is dedicated to. Just to clarify, each week the show will be on a different genre of music. I hope this will help me gain more listeners. Today was my second "radio show". I played about an hours worth of music from my favorite drummers and wrote a little blurb that accompanied each "blip" and talked about why I chose to Blip the song I chose to do. I don't know if this is the right way to approach this website, but I feel like it will get me on the right track to gaining listeners, and building a community that enjoys the music that I like.
One thing that struck me about Blip.FM was how similar it is to the major social networking websites, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Blip.Fm's "Blipping" tool is similar to your "status" on Facebook or sending a "tweet" on Twitter. Blip.Fm also has a section in your profile that shows who your favorite DJs are. This is similar to the MySpace's Top 8, where users can delete or add other friends to fill up their top 8 friends. On Blip.FM, you can add or delete DJs from your favorite DJs list, and everyone can see who your favorite DJs. We can even go a step further and compare the favorite DJs section to a follower list on Twitter or someone's friends list on Facebook. On all of these websites, people can see who you are friends with or are following, and this can help you gain more status in your community either by the number of people your are friends with or celebrity status of some of the people who are connected to you. All of these social networking media share many similarities, and over the course of the semester it will be interesting to see what similarities each have with Blip.FM.
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| These were some of the songs I played during my radio broadcast |
Questions
1. Has anyone used Blip.FM before? If so, what was your reason for joining?
2. We talked in class today about the personality characteristics of people who choose between having a Myspace or a Facebook. What personality traits would you assume a person who spends a lot of time on Blip.FM tends to have?
3. During the presentation listen for similarities between Blip.FM and the other social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. What are some of the similarities between the social media that you noticed?
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