Niches and Diversity

Niches cultures are a great expression for diversity and in today’s internet age it seems there is something for everyone. Carter said it best when he called the diverse subcultures “Connoisseurs.” One important factor to consider is the way that the internet and media have created a void for face-to face human interaction within these subcultures. I am happy to see that we are all very comfortable expressing out opinions via likes and dislikes on the internet, but I often wonder if people would be so expressive in a real life situation.

It is important to let our hobbies and interests lead us to bond outside our office, living room, or back porch and help us venture out to discover each other in person. Staying inside on the computer will lead to a division of cultures. This reminds me of a phrase we are all familiar with, “United we stand, divided we fall.” I am truly for diversity and independence, but equally for sharing and experiencing each other in person. Venturing out “keeps us real” and gives us the fulfillment we need from human interaction. Danny mentioned that the answer to this is belonging to multiple tribes and I couldn’t agree more! My friendships represent such an eclectic group of people that I often have a hard time having them all in one place at the same time. Some people are not ready to cross cultur-ize themselves, so I have patience and understanding.

Niche Culture

I don't know if how I am going to say this is going to actually play out like I have it in my mind. But, I am going to try. Since I am a very patriotic person, I love America. FACT! I think that it is beautiful that we have so many cultures in our one nation, and I really love that some of these cultures have merged with others to kind of form what we know as America today. I have just about every bit of ethnicity in me as you can imagine (maybe thats why I am so unique?) but I think that Media 2.0 is allowing us to be who we are, uniqueness and all, and be able to share it with others. I think for me, it is easy to accept because I am from loads of different cultures, some of which play out in who I am today more than others. But the niche culture gives me access to be apart of a lot more. I am an animal advocate, so I follow other animal bloggers. I love to see the cheesey pictures that they make their animals pose for, I love listening to training stories and people bragging. I also love politics, so I listen to a few people who are more than willing to share their stories and views through podcasts. And I am a true arts and crafts GEEK, so I love sites like ETSY.com because they allow creative to flow and give you an opportunity to start your own 'circle' within their world and share your work online, along with websites and so on. The internet and niche culture allows us to do so much, and to be apart of so much, and I find this to be truly amazing.