Guys! Need your input and help - Its for my uni course in Journalism

[General Smut]

I'm doing a journalism course at Birbeck Uni, its mostly about freelance journalism at the moment and the first real assignment is to write a query letter (which is the pitch to the editor) about your subject and i'm going to do one about the internet - making friends over the net. Is it easy/hard, translate to real life etc (doesnt have to apply to this forum but to others you go on)

So what i need from you guys is offer some answers, ideas and input - please be truthful! Feel free to add anything!

 

1) Do you find it easy to make conversation online? Easier then in real life?

 

2) Do you find it easier to make friends online then in real life? why?

 

3) have any online friends translated into real-life friends? - success or failure? did things change for the better or for the worse?

 

4) Do you find theres a stigma to having online friends?

 

5) How does your online community to your real-life circle of friends? Do you wish one would be more like the other?

 

6) What advice would you give to a newbie on the internet on how to fit in and get the best out of the online community? Any communites you recommend - Myspace for example.

 

7) has your online community been supportive of you and helped you out when times are hard? Can you give some examples?

 

8) And what are the bad points about online communities? Any bad experiences etc?

 

 

Hopefully they make sense and you'll be able to answer some of these - If you dont want to answer in public then just Pm me -it'll be confidential. It would be great if you can help us out, and i need other peoples ideas/experiences not just my own and i need an orginal source.

 

Btw when i talk about community on the internet - i mean the places you go in this case the coldplaying.com forum.

 

Thanks for your time guys! Mucho appreciated!

[Petit Prince]

i hope that helps a bit.

 

1) Do you find it easy to make conversation online? Easier then in real life?

i find it easier in real life. i prefer to see the people i'm talking to, people's facial expressions also say a lot about what they are thinking.

 

2) Do you find it easier to make friends online then in real life? why?

i'm not trying to make friends in the internet. there might be a few people i really like, so i do get to know but most of the time i just cant be asked. i also dont spend enough time on most websites that people could actually get to know me. i dont consider most of the people i know from the internet as freinds anyway.

 

3) have any online friends translated into real-life friends? - success or failure? did things change for the better or for the worse?

i met with two people i had known from the intenet for about a year. it was a sucess, we're really good friends now but i knew quite a lot about them befoe we met. things didnt really change.

 

4) Do you find theres a stigma to having online friends?

dont think so, as long as you have friends in real life

 

5) How does your online community to your real-life circle of friends? Do you wish one would be more like the other?

no

 

6) What advice would you give to a newbie on the internet on how to fit in and get the best out of the online community? Any communites you recommend - Myspace for example.

dunno, maybe read other people's post before you post, so you'll see if you actually like it.

 

7) has your online community been supportive of you and helped you out when times are hard? Can you give some examples?

not directly but people i know from there. once you know someone you can talk to them or chat on msn, thats how they helped me.

 

8) And what are the bad points about online communities? Any bad experiences etc?

i dont like the fact that you can never be fully sure who you're talking to. even if people tell you a lot about themselves and show pictures and so on, they could be lying you'll never know. this could be dangerous if you wanna meet someone. i dont have any personal experiences though.

[General Smut]

Yea it all helps, It all helps to piece together a big picture - ive asked similar questions on other forums.

 

You dont have to answer them all, you can take your pick if you want guys!

[burningmonk]

I will do it for ya later tonight mate. When I'm in the comfort of home. Is that ok?

[Guest Grace]

1) Do you find it easy to make conversation online? Easier then in real life?

- yeah, definitely. i think we're all having conversations here with people we would have never talked to in person. well, and it's much easier to find someone with the same interests.

2) Do you find it easier to make friends online then in real life? why?

- yes, i think so. of course they're not friends you keep you whole life like the friends you met at school, but definitely a nice source to make friends (in a shallow way).

3) have any online friends translated into real-life friends? - success or failure? did things change for the better or for the worse?

- nope. i've never met anyone i got to know through the internet.

4) Do you find theres a stigma to having online friends?

- no, why? if you just have fun talking to them. what's wrong with that?

5) How does your online community to your real-life circle of friends? Do you wish one would be more like the other?

- no. everything's okay the way it is.

6) What advice would you give to a newbie on the internet on how to fit in and get the best out of the online community? Any communites you recommend - Myspace for example.

- myspace is for losers (although i got an account... haha). people just happen to make friends. there's not certain rule.

7) has your online community been supportive of you and helped you out when times are hard? Can you give some examples?

- they didn't really help me, but i think i got more open-minded about everything. people have changed my point of view in some way.

8) And what are the bad points about online communities? Any bad experiences etc?

- no, not really. you shouldn't take everything too seriously.

[green eyes88]

1) Do you find it easy to make conversation online? Easier then in real life?

I think it's just 2 different kinds of conversations. When u meet a person in real life other things take place- like facial expressions, body language etc. So i think that might make a meeting between two ppl abit harder since if stuff like that doesnt click than sometimes conversation doesnt flow because there's a sense of... uneasiness... whereas online all that counts is what u say.

Conversation can be better online since there's more time to reply to what is said, and it gives u the sense that conversation is really flowing, when actually if it were talking it would be a 5 minute convo. But conversations with ppl in real life are more intresting just cause more is said if it's a good convo

so... it's just two different seperate things for me

 

2) Do you find it easier to make friends online then in real life? why?

I dont really see the ppl I meet online as "friends" in the sense that my real life friends are. Like i said, when it's online it's not exactly real. Ppl can also act really differently from who they really are, so everything u read online, any person u talk to or whatever should always be taken as limited thing and nor real life....

but it is easier meeting ppl online just cause in real life i hardly start talking randomly to ppl i dont even know like i do here ;)

 

3) have any online friends translated into real-life friends? - success or failure? did things change for the better or for the worse? no... you're the only person that i've known online and met so no other expiriences other than that

 

4) Do you find theres a stigma to having online friends? No, it's kind of a commen thing today that ppl have an online community they talk to. It's a nice place to get away, but again, not real life. So there shouldnt be a stigma if u have friends outside your online community

 

5) How does your online community to your real-life circle of friends? Do you wish one would be more like the other? absoloutly not

 

6) What advice would you give to a newbie on the internet on how to fit in and get the best out of the online community? Any communites you recommend - Myspace for example. No advice... everyone uses forums or other online communities they way that fits them

 

7) has your online community been supportive of you and helped you out when times are hard? Can you give some examples? The good thing about an online community is that it's ppl u probably will never meet, ppl who cant really judge u and even if they do u really wouldnt give a damn. So it's easy to talk about problems and stuff and hearing advice from objective ppl that arent a part of the problems and your real life. But nothing can replace the support u get from your real friends

 

8) And what are the bad points about online communities? Any bad experiences etc? no

i think one bad point is when ppl start mixing true emotions when it's all really... fake.

[Nicko84]

Journalism?great Neil...:D

 

1)NO....

2)Yes... cause on the net i have more chance to speak with people, even with people u know but that u can't see often...

3)at the moment....no

4)NO!!

5)NO

6)come to coldplaying...:D....

it's better to watch before join in...

7)till now?No...but i think they could give me an help, if they'll think i'm a friend

8)The bad points come when you stay too much online....

[General Smut]

Thanks for your replies and pm's guys - really much appreciated!

 

Some good stuff to.