MegaSite Mania

When a website or a movie gets popular overnight a set of people start to work towards bringing it down. They highlight even the most trivial or minute errors in the making of the website. The same has happened with 43 things. They have their own set of dedicated critics. While they work in and out to find new things to criticize ‘43 things’ about, they have found a few that do deserve a serious discussion. One of the most intriguing topics is whether 43 things should be called an online social community.

Community: The Definition
In simple terms, a community is defined as a group of people who share common ideologies and interests. The interest of the group supercedes the personal interests of the people of the community. So does this happen in 43 things? If you look closely, it can be called more of a society than a community. A society is a group of people whose personal interests always rule the roost. In 43 things, while there are active communities at work, it is more of a society. There are people who are working towards achieving their personal goals.

Communities In 43 Things
But this trend is slowly beginning to change. Considering that it has only been a year since the website has been launched, the change seems to be pretty rapid. Now there are more of communities in 43 things. There are a group of people who have common interests and are working towards achieving them. Here, the interest of the group is more important than personal goals. It is expected that as the website gets older there will be more such communities on 43 things. May be a few of the communities will work earnestly to change the world. May be a lot of them will. Maybe we will see change happening around the world courtesy 43 things.

Bonding
Communities are always healthier and more likely to create strong relationships and bonds. When people with common interests work together, they get to know each other better. The ties between them are much stronger than say a couple of people working individually and indulging in some friendly chat.

In A Year From Now
The people who share common interests usually also indulge in regular and highly emotional interactive activity. This is seen lacking currently in 43 things. In a year from now, when a lot more of communicative tools will be added to 43 things, it will contribute much to the growth of communities. So, it will be extremely interesting to have a look at 43 things a year from now to see how it has grown.