2322 ENG MOD 6 PORT

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Online Discourse Community

Sonya Love

ENG 2322

08/06/2022

ONLINE DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

A digital community is a group of individuals who have a similar interest and meet virtually to discuss topics of mutual interest. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter facilitate communication among members of these groups. People gather in these groups because they have questions in common, want to exchange information or debate a certain subject. This study examines the MOM365 online community in great detail, laying out how social media platforms are misused by community members and the reasons why they should be avoided.

The founding of the MOM365 firm can be traced back to 1947 (Dym & Fiesler, 2020). The firm pioneered color processing for photographs of infants taken in hospitals. It was bought by a company based in the United Kingdom in 2011, allowing it to serve the infant market in that country better. So far, MOM365 has provided free newborn picture sessions for over a million women each year. Over 1,700 expert photographers who like reliving special moments with moms are part of the community. The firm launched its magazine and enticing motherhood-focused online community in 2013. The fundamental focus of the group is facilitating relationships among mothers. Mothers form an instantaneous attachment with their newborns through the photographic record. Mothers may exchange photographs, videos, and humorous anecdotes in this online community.

Members of online communities interact in various ways, including via email, chat rooms, message boards, and social media sites (Roy, 2009). MOM365, a group with over 88,000 followers, often interacts on Facebook. Members of the online community share news about their newborns and unborn children on the community's page.

Regularly, the website also features videos of unborn infants. Moms may share their memories and experiences and read and respond to those of other mothers. The firm also often posts guidelines for caring for infants. The Facebook page for the online community has flourished thanks in large part to the work of volunteer moms and the encouraging words of other mothers.

As MOM365 expands, it faces a number of difficulties. The first problem is that people aren't talking as well as they used to. At first, the community's members were mostly serious moms interested in childbirth education. True believers in the subject matter are often knowledgeable and participate in passionate debates. Nonetheless, as the population rises, so does the proportion of individuals who don't care much about infants (Dym & Fiesler, 2020). Questions are repeatedly asked on the community's website, and most of the threads are appropriate only for newcomers.

A lack of trust has also been a contributing factor. Members of the original MOM365 group built strong relationships and shared extensive homophily. As a result, relationships based on mutual trust and respect flourished. As society has grown rapidly, however, fewer and fewer people have a personal connection to one another. Despite their familiarity with the community's past, the newcomers probably don't speak the same distinctive tongue as the long-time residents. As a result, the group's trust has been shattered, and its members are no longer comfortable opening up to one another about the trials.

As more and more individuals joined the community, it became increasingly challenging to identify high-quality contributions from those of lower quality. Many of the most valuable contributors quit because they felt they weren't getting the credit they deserved. Questions about the sincerity and accuracy of replies and the data quality are also being raised. There were technological challenges with MOM 365 as well. The server's bandwidth needs were readily met when there were less frequent visitors. However, as the number of participants grew rapidly, so did the expectations placed upon the community. Mothers need access to information on their children, such as images, videos, and paperwork. As a result, the group needed more tools than Facebook provided to support its followers (Lizzo & Liechty, 2020). The contributions of the MOM365 Facebook community have been invaluable.

The community has learned from these exchanges. It knows what its consumers enjoy and don't like. The need for new services has been reflected in the feedback from customers. Additionally, community people have also recognized the firm's value. About seventy-five percent of customers think a company's interactions are worth the cost. MOM 365 provides various medical services, including a supportive online community. These encounters make consumers more likely to use the company's other offerings.

Customer loyalty has increased thanks in part to Facebook's interactive features. The online community has provided clients a forum through the Facebook page to ask questions, get responses, and have open discussions about all aspects of having a kid. Because of their involvement, moms have earned respect and loyalty of their neighbors. Self-service alternatives have replaced some of the assistance traffic diverted by these exchanges. With the use of self-service features like question-and-answer forums, the community has reduced the number of support calls and increased customer satisfaction.

Before contacting actual representatives, many members will try to find an answer. In addition, how people interact has allowed women to learn things they couldn't have learned any other way. Mothers can observe the dos and don'ts in the early stages by sharing films and images. They also have access to offline reading materials in the form of notes. They may retain these materials and review them as often as they need to to get themselves ready for the presentation. No conversation is left hanging when a community has agents available around the clock. These exchanges guarantee that every issue at hand is thoroughly addressed (Borowiec et al., 2021).

This forum should not be utilized even though it is a vital resource for women. Misunderstandings may occur due to the absence of non-verbal clues in an online discussion. Humor and satire have more difficulty finding a home in these shows. Two people can misinterpret each other's sense of humor and end up in an argument. Further, the information overload caused by active internet discussion forums is a severe problem.

The ladies have access to a wealth of knowledge thanks to the live meetings held on the MOM 365 Facebook page every three hours. The number of responses to a consultation might sometimes reach as high as 2500. It's possible that some women could drop out of the supporting programs if they were to get such a lot of information.

It may take an interminable time between posting a remark and getting a reply; even though some of the ladies visit the page regularly, getting a response might take forever at other times. It's also possible that the conversation carried on without that person. Because they are used to studying in groups, some students in online programs may experience feelings of isolation. As a result, women more used to studying in a group setting may be unable to engage with the material being presented fully.

In conclusion, although they facilitate communication among individuals working toward a shared objective via several channels, online communities are not recommended. For example, MOM365 has helped unite many moms with a common interest in their little ones. We are enabling them to talk about the challenges they face and the successes they achieve. However, this online community not only does not do enough to include all women in talks but also prevents those used to in-person group discussions from learning effectively

References

Borowiec, K., Kim, D., Wang, L., Kim, J., & Wortham, S. (2021). Supporting Holistic Student Development through Online Community Building. Online Learning, 25(4), 125-155.

Dym, B., & Fiesler, C. (2020). Social norm vulnerability and its consequences for privacy and safety in an online community. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 4(CSCW2), 1-24.

Lizzo, R., & Liechty, T. (2020). The Hogwarts Running Club and sense of community: A netnography of a virtual community. Leisure Sciences, 1-18.