The Newschoolers

I’ve been looking at the variety of social networks on the Internet and the kind of communities that they try to attract. Earlier this week, I stumbled upon a sports community called Sportsvite. I had never seen a sports community online before. It had options to register your sports groups and sports teams. It also had statuses, like Facebook, that show up on the community’s feed, which can announce anything from a game that still needs players to your desire to find people to go hiking or skiing with. It doesn’t seem to have caught on in Provo. There aren’t very many members. But I like the idea. It gives us yet another avenue on which to connect with others.

So, I thought I would try it out. I registered today. I’m mainly looking for people to ski with. In the past, I have tried connecting with both on and offline ski clubs with the goal of meeting new people to ski with. Neither have been very successful, but I found out later that the clubs were actually in the process of becoming inactive. To be honest, I don’t have that much hope for meeting anyone on Sportsvite simply because there aren’t that many people on it.

I can see perhaps why it isn’t quite so popular. Sports are very physical in both nature and association. Maybe it just hasn’t made the transition. Or maybe it’s in the process of making the transition.  Or maybe its just the website itself isn't very effective at what its trying to do.

Another newer online community designed for skiers and snowboarders alike is Newschoolers.com. It seems like a fun site, maybe a little too hardcore for me. They have posts of the latest news in the winter sport world. They have chat forums. You can also join a “cult,” which is the Facebook equivalent of a group. I’d love to join a telemark group, but I’m not sure how I feel requesting to join a cult. Maybe that’s just a sign that I’m not a true newschooler yet.  Using words that most of society associates negatively—now that’s living on the edge. Which is what the Newschoolers were going for, no doubt.