Friends meet friends on social networks. Here's
how it works...
Computers are now as commonplace as telephones. It has really changed
the entire landscape of the fan community. It used to be that you'd
never meet large numbers of other science fiction fans unless you go to
a convention and, you know, convene. But now that the Internet is
increasingly everywhere, it brings the world to you.
It is also breaking down the brick and mortar monopolies we used to
depend upon for news and publishing. The web makes everyone their own
publisher. Blogs make everyone a journalist.
KAG sure has noticed. It used to be conventions were our only stage,
postal deliveries were our only publishing venues, and telephone bills
for distant interaction would cost the chain of command thousands of
dollars. But as email, web, mailing lists, and technologies grow, KAG
adapts. It's a new spin on our age old game plan: Join in our glory,
and the more glory you give back to KAG, the more glory KAG returns.
SOCIAL NETWORKS
What
started as blogs are now like virtual amusement parks. People spend the
entire day riding the rides, playing the games, sampling the cuisine,
and making friends. Pictures are shared, challenges issued, tastes
compared, and we stick a bookmark in it when real life calls us home.
You'll
find a lot of KAG friends on LiveJournal, MySpace, FaceBook, and other
major social sites. You can learn more about what they say for
themselves if you "friend" them. They might even suggest other friends
for you... How cool is that?
THE OLD GUARD
Not
everyone takes the plunge into social networks... in fact, not everyone
has email. That's fine, by choice or circumstance, it's not one size
fits all. So don't take it personally if people fail to respond as
expected.
Hell, I'm not the shiniest example of online
adventuring. I don't let games onto my PC, interfering with my
productivity. I've never played a MMORPG. I turn off Instant Messaging
programs to avoid feeling "ambushed." If friends on MySpace or FaceBook
"send a round of drinks" or other virtual gifts, I tend to decline. But
that has less to do with games than it has to do with privacy issues: I
won't approve most applications so as not to give out all the data
about my social connections.
Don't take any of it personally.
You may get none of the responses you expect. You might even get all
the responses you never anticipated. KAG isn't about a shared
nationality, shared religion, shared political party, or shared
sexuality... at least not in general. But KAG shares a warrior spirit
of fun, and you can meet thousands of friends as different as they are
similar.
WHAT KAG SHOULD ASK OF YOU
Friends hear what
friends have to say for themselves. KAG friends support KAG glory. If
it positively promotes KAG, it is good to stir that promotion further.
If you see KAG's glory on the bliggity blogs and the facey spaceys of
your fellow KAG members, it begs further connection.
"Fan it.
Friend it. Give it Kudos. Like it. 'Mark it... Publish it!
Share
it. Blog it. Note it. Tag it. Link it. Tweet it... Retweet it!"
There! I said it all without any help from Daft Punk or their
robot love child.
- KwISt