Online Communities

I was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to online communities. I rarely chatted on AOL instant messenger, never had a Myspace page, and only recently joined Facebook because my friends had an intervention with me. My reluctance to join online communities is based primarily on laziness, but I must say that I now need a different type of intervention... excessive time spent on Facebook.

My first experience with online communities was AOL instant messenger. It became the "cool" thing while I was in middle school and my screen-name was embarrassingly cheesy- something along the lines of Halleybug2222. Even though I had an AOL account, I don't think it would be fair to say that I was a true member of the AOL instant message community. Halleybug2222 only went live on very important occasions like the weekly sleepover or when I needed some info on the latest gossip.

My next rendezvous with an online community was Facebook. In the fall of 2008, after having just started Clemson, I entered my dorm room to find a group of friends creating a Facebook page for me. They even had the audacity to answer all of Facebook's "deep and insightful" questions... favorite books, movies, music, and EVEN the personal quotations. THE NERVE.
I must say, however, that I am a huge Facebook user and definitely use it more than I would like to admit. Facebook allows me to stay in touch with friends and family that I probably would never get to talk to anymore. I love being able to look at photos and videos and talk to friends that I have not seen in years.

I feel like this blog and the different assignments for the CLAM course are going to provide another opportunity for me to join a community where I can learn about experiences abroad that I would otherwise never have seen. I am excited to document my different experiences in the CLAM online community and be able to see what my fellow CLAMers have been up to themselves while abroad.
Maybe I should switch my blog title to something more catchy like Halleybug2222....