The year was 2012, and car clubs in Canada still functioned solely using internet forums controlled by anonymous owners, patrolled by moderators with aliases, and populated by ‘club members’ who no one really knew. It was the best online social interaction the internet had to offer for quite some time, but it quickly got stale and uninteresting for most enthusiasts in the scene; as other more engaging methods of virtual social interaction were becoming the norm. While forums offered a wealth of information, its anonymity prevented it from building a strong and active community outside of the forums. Around this time, the increasing integration of social media had also changed how social communities are created and its members interacted with each other. People spent less
Words by Nick Maroulis President and Founder of BMWTrueNorth www.bmwtn.com nickm@bmwtn.com
20 MotorWerks Magazine
