Online Fan Clubs: Group mechanics, emotional addiction, and
separation anxiety
Online Fan Clubs: Group mechanics, emotional addiction, and
separation anxiety Kathleen Johnson 10/14/03
Online communication strips emotional cues from conversation:
tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language amongst
others. This creates anonymity which hastens intimacy. People
become bonded in mailing lists. The regular contact creates a
sense of a relationship. Real time chats increase the rate of
information exchange and the software architecture allows for
transposing the event into a book form to be read and digested
at a later time.
The virtual neighborhood Virtual contact promotes support,
encouragement, and sharing thus overcomes isolation. The Group
becomes the neighborhood, a community, the coffee shop, the
Saturday night drag down main street to