Will new social groups create mass media?

The answer is YES! it's already happening!

Nowadays, social networking it's everywhere, all the time. We use it to communicate with old, new, close and distant friends, we plan our events, we share ideas, feelings, beliefs, points of view, opinions, we can even use this for academic and professional purposes. It may be so common that probably many of us haven't realise the big opportunity this could mean it terms of expanding to new forms and channels of media - but it's clearly sure that the players of the media industries have!

Let's start from the very beggining, why do we create social groups? and why do we love them so much?. According to scholars (McKenna, Bargh; 1998) from the American Psychological Association, Internet groups "allow individuals to interact with others in a relatively anonymous fashion and thereby provide individuals with concealable stigmatized identities a place to belong not otherwise available. Thus, membership in these groups should become an important part of identity". If we break this down to pieces it's very clear: As humans, we like to share and be 'conected' to those we feel identified with. With these internet communities we can find those people alike, and reach them in a accesible, quick, and impersonal way (which you know it makes it all much easier!). No wonder why we are so hooked on internet communities! we love them because they open to us the oportunity to belong to groups, sharing and exchanging much of the information that build our identity.

It is precisely this popularity that have builded up this movement. If we put together all the people, time and devotion putted on these sites we can find that there's pretty complete and interesting media content out there, created by the members of the groups themselves. Photos, literature, films, blogs, you name it and there will be material done by somebody in a e-community. Of course this have been noticed by many people from the mainstream media intustries who identify this mass movement with big oportunities of broadcasting and marketing.

This emerging trend it's still in the process; but we can still appreciate some recent cases. For example, we can travel to Argentina to meet the new social group, promoted by teens called among them "Floggers". It all started as a colorful clothing fashion, but the ideas and main image of these teenagers have been expanded by themselves through social networking, specifically through the main site where they post and share their material: Fotolog.com. Now, there are some media channels taking this further with new projects like merchandising, and even a new TV serie based on this group culture.

And there are some more out there, we just have to search the web and look out to relevant new trends and fashions. Which do you think will be the next media sensation based on a internet group?