{"id":47381,"date":"2019-04-03T13:07:34","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T20:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=47381"},"modified":"2019-04-03T13:07:34","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T20:07:34","slug":"goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye Google+, but what happens when online communities close down?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nThis week saw the\u00a0closure of Google+<\/a>, an attempt by the online giant to create a social media community to rival Facebook.<\/p>\n

If the\u00a0Australian usage of Google+<\/a>\u00a0is anything to go by \u2013 just 45,000 users in March compared to Facebook\u2019s 15 million \u2013 it never really caught on.
\n

\"\"

Google+ is no longer available to users. Google+\/Screengrab<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

But the Google+ shutdown follows a string of organisations that have disabled or restricted community features such as reviews, user comments and message boards (forums).<\/p>\n

So are we witnessing the decline of online communities and user comments?<\/p>\n

Turning off online communities and user generated content<\/strong><\/h4>\n

One of the most well-known message boards \u2013 which existed on the popular movie website\u00a0IMDb<\/a>\u00a0since 2001 \u2013 was shut down by owner Amazon in 2017 with just two weeks\u2019 notice for its users.<\/p>\n

This is not only confined to online communities but mirrors a trend among organisations to restrict or turn off their user-generated content. Last year the subscription video-on-demand website\u00a0Netflix<\/a>\u00a0said it no longer allowed users to write reviews. It subsequently\u00a0deleted all existing user-generated reviews<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other popular websites have disabled their comments sections, including\u00a0National Public Radio (NPR)<\/a>,\u00a0The Atlantic<\/a>,\u00a0Popular Science<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why the closures?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Organisations have a range of motivations for taking such actions, ranging from low uptake, running costs, the challenges of managing moderation, as well as the problem around divisive comments, conflicts and lack of community cohesion.<\/p>\n

In the case of\u00a0Google+<\/a>, low usage\u00a0alongside data breaches<\/a>\u00a0appear to have sped up its decision.<\/p>\n

NPR<\/a>\u00a0explained its motivation to remove user comments by highlighting how in one month its website\u00a0NPR.org<\/a>\u00a0attracted 33 million unique users and 491,000 comments. But those comments came from just 19,400 commenters; the number of commenters who posted in consecutive months was a fraction of that.<\/p>\n

This led\u00a0NPR\u2019s managing editor for digital news, Scott Montgomery, to say<\/a>:<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve reached the point where we\u2019ve realized that there are other, better ways to achieve the same kind of community discussion around the issues we raise in our journalism.<\/em><\/p>\n

He said audiences had also moved to engage with NPR more on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Likewise,\u00a0The Atlantic<\/a>\u00a0explained that its comments sections had become \u201cunhelpful, even destructive, conversations\u201d and was exploring new ways to give users a voice.<\/p>\n

In the case of IMDB closing its message boards in 2017, the\u00a0reason given was<\/a>:<\/p>\n

[\u2026] we have concluded that IMDb\u2019s message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0organisation also nudged users<\/a>\u00a0towards other forms of social media, such as its\u00a0Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0and Twitter account\u00a0@IMDB<\/a>, as the \u201c(\u2026) primary place they (users) choose to post comments and communicate with IMDb\u2019s editors and one another\u201d.<\/p>\n

User backlash<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Unsurprisingly, such actions often lead to confusion, criticism and disengagement by user communities, and in some cases petitions to have the features reinstated (such as\u00a0this one for Google+<\/a>) and boycotts of the organisations.<\/p>\n

But most organisations take these aspects into their decision-making.
\n

\"\"

The petition to save IMDB\u2019s message boards. Change.org\/Screengrab<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

For fans of such community features these trends point to some harsh realities. Even though communities may self-organise and thrive, and users are co-creators of value and content, the functionality and governance are typically beyond their control.<\/p>\n

Community members are at the mercy of hosting organisations, some profit-driven, which may have conflicting motivations to those of the users. It\u2019s those organisations that hold the power to change or shut down what can be considered by some to be critical sources of knowledge, engagement and community building.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of shutdowns,\u00a0my research<\/a>\u00a0shows that communities that existed on an organisation\u2019s message boards in particular may struggle to reform.<\/p>\n

This can be due to a number of factors, such as high switching costs, and communities can become fragmented because of the range of other options (Reddit, Facebook and other message boards).<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s difficult for users to preserve and maintain their communities once their original home is disabled. In the case of Google+, even its\u00a0Mass Migration Group<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 which aims to help people, organisations and groups find \u201cnew online homes\u201d \u2013 may not be enough to hold its online communities together.<\/p>\n

The trend towards the closure of online communities by organisations might represent a means to reduce their costs in light of declining usage and the availability of other online options.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a move away from dealing with the reputational issues related to their use and\u00a0controlling the conversation<\/a>\u00a0that takes place within their user bases. Trolling, conflicts and divisive comments are common in online communities and user comments spaces.<\/p>\n

Lost community knowledge<\/strong><\/h4>\n

But within online groups there often exists social and network capital, as well as the stock of valuable knowledge that such community features create.<\/p>\n

Often these communities are made of communities of practice (people with a shared passion or concern) on topics ranging from movie theories to parenting.<\/p>\n

They are go-to sources for users where meaningful interactions take place and bonds are created. User comments also allow people to engage with important events and debates, and can be cathartic.<\/p>\n

Closing these spaces risks not only a loss of user community bases, but also a loss of this valuable community knowledge on a range of issues.<\/p>\n

Author Bio: <\/strong>Stan Karanasios is a Senior Research Fellow at RMIT University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week saw the\u00a0closure of Google+, an attempt by the online giant to create a social media community to rival Facebook. If the\u00a0Australian usage of Google+\u00a0is anything to go by \u2013 just 45,000 users in March compared to Facebook\u2019s 15 million \u2013 it never really caught on. But the Google+ shutdown follows a string of […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":47382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[295194],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-47381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-change","tag-online-communities"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoodbye Google+, but what happens when online communities close down? - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Goodbye Google+, but what happens when online communities close down? - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week saw the\u00a0closure of Google+, an attempt by the online giant to create a social media community to rival Facebook. If the\u00a0Australian usage of Google+\u00a0is anything to go by \u2013 just 45,000 users in March compared to Facebook\u2019s 15 million \u2013 it never really caught on. But the Google+ shutdown follows a string of […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-03T20:07:34+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/RIP-google-plus.png\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"388\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Goodbye Google+, but what happens when online communities close down?\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-03T20:07:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":924,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/RIP-google-plus.png\",\"keywords\":[\"online communities\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Social Change\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\\\/\",\"name\":\"Goodbye Google+, but what happens when online communities close down? - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/RIP-google-plus.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-03T20:07:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/RIP-google-plus.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/RIP-google-plus.png\",\"width\":680,\"height\":388},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Goodbye Google+, but what happens when online communities close down?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Goodbye Google+, but what happens when online communities close down? - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Goodbye Google+, but what happens when online communities close down? - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"This week saw the\u00a0closure of Google+, an attempt by the online giant to create a social media community to rival Facebook. If the\u00a0Australian usage of Google+\u00a0is anything to go by \u2013 just 45,000 users in March compared to Facebook\u2019s 15 million \u2013 it never really caught on. But the Google+ shutdown follows a string of […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2019-04-03T20:07:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":388,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/RIP-google-plus.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Goodbye Google+, but what happens when online communities close down?","datePublished":"2019-04-03T20:07:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/"},"wordCount":924,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/RIP-google-plus.png","keywords":["online communities"],"articleSection":["Social Change"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/","name":"Goodbye Google+, but what happens when online communities close down? - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/RIP-google-plus.png","datePublished":"2019-04-03T20:07:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/RIP-google-plus.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/RIP-google-plus.png","width":680,"height":388},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/goodbye-google-but-what-happens-when-online-communities-close-down\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Goodbye Google+, but what happens when online communities close down?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47381"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=47381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}