Virtual Community Report.

For the past few weeks I have been a member of the Russh Australia virtual community. Similar to the online fashion community based on the magazine Vogue, this online community revolves around the pre-existing market from the Australian fashion magazine of the same name. Which is where I heard about the community. It seems most of the members stem from their subscription list and avid readers. Russh has 186 registered users to date and has been in operation since September 2005.

The majority of members are Australian, though I found two from Southern Asia after running through the members list. The forum is aimed at a fashion forward market of 20-35 year old women, with a moderate to high disposable income. It has an easy to use and simple interface; discussions are small, which gives the community a feeling of selectness and exclusivity. Russh promotes a friendly environment and I’m yet to witness anything other than mutual affirmation, not a flaming in sight.

Members communicate in the forum by adding topic questions. These fit under the subject headings chosen by management, I haven’t seen any topics that don’t compliment these headings, or any unnecessary postings. Other members then post answers or comments to this, they can also send each other personal messages.

One of the features of the Russh community I liked is that they have a space for real time chat with editors from the magazine. So far this has only happened once, by the fashion editor in March, considering the age of this community I expected a little more enthusiasm from Russh in general, and not a one-time chat. To make it better, and help to unify the members, a monthly, or by-monthly real time chat would help to promote higher use of this community. This higher us would cause members o chat more often and help create tighter bonds, by giving them reasons to keep returning to the forum.

The main aim is for members to share fashion, beauty, health and entertainment information, which I assume the magazine makers read to get ideas for their next issue, which, as John has discussed in previous lectures, is a smart way to utilise their fan base, but for it to be truly effective they must take a stronger leadership role in the community. Another improvement could be to link back to magazine content more frequently. Talk about fashion photography or even post editorials and images left out of the magazine, for only the virtual community to view.

Looking at the Amy Jo Kim reading, this community is missing several key aspects, which successful communities should have. The first would be a tagline (Kim, 2000 p5). The magazines tagline is “Australia’s best fashion magazine” which doesn’t really apply in this circumstance. But, by deconstructing the layout of both the magazine and virtual site (forum and main page) it’s easy to see certain trends start to emerge. To begin with, the overall feeling is fashion for fashions sake; it takes on only fashion stories, with little or no mention of relationship advice or ‘agony aunt’ style editorials. The focus is on modern day looks with a 1970’s twist. This twist is found everywhere, page layout, website design, even the content seems to be based in this era. It gives the whole project an artistic and instantly recognisable persona. This works well and helps us to define Russh Australia’s purpose. Which is to relay fashion trend advice, whilst still keeping a stylised, artistic tone, so as not to be swept up in the trends itself. Russh is uniquely Australian. Keeping to mainly Australian trends, using Australian writers, photographers and models give this magazine an edge in the fashion market. We need to look at how to relay this into the online community. One way to promote this unique identity is to ask guest writers, models and designers to have real-time chat in the community space. Or to link Australian companies involved in the fashion scene to an open links page. To which members can add their favourite Aussie sites to make this an interactive venture. The tag line should be something along the lines of “Russh online, Australia’s best interactive fashion community.” This would identify with the existing magazine tag line, but be about the website.

Another feature, which help bring clarification to the communities identity, would be an editorial page, to which people could post their letters to the editor. The editor could reply and maybe even post small editorial notes, this could include updates and diary-like entries about the process of making the magazine. Meetings with designers, stylists, parties etc. could all be mentioned to give the community and insider feel. By being a part of Russh online, they are a part of the entire Russh community, not just posting to other readers, but also including themselves in the editorial process.

I believe that although these measures are expensive to implement and maintain, the community will thrive. At the moment there isn’t any online advertising. This can be added by the use of banners across the screen. Editorial space can plug products, and designers can pay to speak in real-time chat with community members, as this will raise their public profile, and can even take the place of focus groups. All of these measures can aid in paying for extra staff for the community. If the forum’s creators implement these ideas, I have no doubt their member list would increase tenfold, usage by said members would rise, and overall they would be offering a new online community for the fashion forward which doesn’t currently exist in Australia. This may even translate into higher magazine sales. I know we didn’t need to include any of this, but it occurred to me after all the work we have done in class and communities we have designed in groups, that this community, though enjoyable, could be so much better. I shall be keeping an eye on this forum, as I found myself enjoying the posting space, and talking to the members about interests we have in common. As not too many of my close friends can stand my diatribes on accessories any longer.
Soph

Reference:
Kim, A.J. 2000. Chapter 1: Purpose. In Community building on the web. pp 1-26. Berkley. Peachpit Press
Scott, C. ed. 2006. Issue 11 Russh Australia May-June 2006. Sydney. NDD Distribution