Ngi Ne Themba (I find hope)

                                                                       

For the past ten years, there is one site that I have religiously gone to at least a couple of times a week. That site is Hanson.net. While it has changed and transformed over the years, it still serves the same purpose for me, to get a more in depth fan experience as a Hanson fan. When deciding on a website to analyze in New Media Culture, I decided to analyze Hanson.net, the band’s website, in which I frequently visit and adore.                                  

The first noteworthy aspect of Hanson’s website is the layout and design. The use of colors is definitely intentional. It uses a beige and red color scheme, just like their latest album cover, The Walk. The background of the website is actually similar to The Walk as well, with a photo of the three of them walking on a beach in Africa, where they recorded their album. Their logo is on the top left hand corner, which is a logo I just recently got tattooed on me by the way!

 

In the right hand corner, there’s a banner of three people walking, which stands for their latest album, and you can click that to launch their media player to preview all their songs. There is a video in the center of the site that always features the latest new songs or news, etc. It currently starts with the song “Traci Brown”, which they wrote for a fan that won a contest. Then it goes to a song of their latest album, while featuring an ad for TOM’s shoes, and The Walk Tour. They are very connected with TOM’s because on their last tour in each city they stopped, they did something called THE WALK. They would walk a mile with all of their fans with their shoes off, to promote awareness of what it would feel like if we didn’t have shoes, like many children in Africa don’t. After doing the walk, you got to cut the line as a fan and you had the option of buying a pair of TOM’s shoes, thus donating a pair to a child in Africa. Anyways, the video also shows footage of their latest trip to Africa, where they did the shoe drop and donated money to schools in need. Right below the video is where I usually look first, because it features headlines from the latest news, tour/events, and their blog. At the bottom of the headlines, you can then click to the individual pages with more detailed information for each topic. On the right hand side, there’s an ad to download the new song they wrote for their fan for free, and then there’s another ad to go to TOM’s shoes website. Under that, they do have an ad for their fan club, where you can click and get more information. Then under that, there is an option for you to enter your username and password if you are a fan club member, to get special features on the site. There are no ads other than TOM’s shoes, who they closely connected with so that’s a great thing!! There are many links on top of the page that link you to other pages of the site. These sub-sites are very visible as their headings are white font on a black background. Each sub-site has a very similar layout to the homepage. The sub-sites are; about, media, merchandise, our/events, news, blog, forum, and their newest section Take the Walk. Aesthetically, although a lot of information is presented, the layout actually doesn’t look like that much is going on. It is not too busy and definitely not overwhelming.  I think it is a very organized web site, and aesthetically nice to look at and easy to navigate through. There are no sponsored links on the site, except for their own record label, 3CG records.

One of my favorite sub-sites of Hanson.net is the News Section, where you can get all the up-to-date information on new appearances, new photos, new audio, and links to new articles written about them. Another awesome sub-site is the Hanson blog, which is fairly new and is where they write about the latest stuff going on with their music. The definitely are keeping up-to-date with new media by adding a blog and a monthly newsletter you can sign up for to their site. Another favorite of mine is the forums section, where all the fans chat and share the latest underground Hanson gossip, rumors, news, etc. Most of the time fans announce the rumor that one of the Hanson wives are pregnant before they officially do. I don’t know how they do this, but they do! This just goes back to what Henry Jenkin’s was talking about with ‘fandom.’ These Hanson fans are one of the most passionate group of fans I’ve ever encountered and many famous people have said that as well. Hanson fans know everything about them, see every show in the area, and are usually very dedicated at trying to get new Hanson fans. They will do anything and everything to meet them and this is coming from a hardcore, passionate fan that has had the experience of doing anything and everything to meet them. The newest and best culturally active part of their site is the Take the Walk section. It begins with this, “The “Take The Walk” section of Hanson.net is designed to keep you informed about everything we’re doing to take action on issues that are affecting the world, especially the AIDS/HIV epidemic and poverty is South Africa. We plan to provide you with simple tasks that will help make a difference in the world. Most importantly, we hope to inspire you to take action on your own” (hanson.net). Here you can read and watch a video of all the activism that Hanson has done in Africa. They have done everything from giving over 50,000 pairs of shoes to children in Africa, and over four days with the help of their fans, donate $15,000 to the DD Dilwayo School in South Africa. What sparked their activism in Africa was actually hearing that their hometown Tulsa was one of the top towns in the country with AIDS cases, and then being inspired to help out with the AIDS epidemic in Africa. They also got inspired to use young African children as their chorus for their new album, which came out amazing if I might add! 

Hanson.net definitely caters to their loyal fans, the group of fans that will go to this site daily for updates. You can tell that they cater to their loyals because a lot of the stuff on this site is for fans that already know what their about and want to further interact with Hanson and the cultural activism that they are involved in. If you are a new fan though, you can also surely learn a lot from the site about the band. The most exciting aspect of the site for me is the cultural activism part, because it’s just everywhere you look on the site. With TOM’s shoes ads, and blogs and videos about what they’ve done and how you can be involved, it caters to a crowd that really wants to make a difference. I love that my favorite band is also one that wants to change the world, even if it is only by doing small things. Those small things add up to wonderful, big things and change most importantly. It is a lot different from other band’s sites in this aspect. A lot of bands don’t try to get their fans so involved in making a difference, and a lot of bands also don’t walk a mile with no shoes on with their fans in each city they tour in. They are just so inspiring. The fact that Hanson has slowly started to get a lot of credit for the music they write and play and the activism they’re involved in makes me so happy. For the longest time they were only known for MMMBOP, and that is not the best ways to be remembered. They went through a lot of ups and downs within the ten years, one of the biggest being making their own record label to put their music out on the terms that they wanted. What I have always told people about them writing their own stuff and playing their own instruments is actually starting to earn them props in the underground, independent music world. And hopefully, more and more people will begin to realize how true, talented, and inspiring Hanson is. 

 

Here are some pictures of me Walking THE WALK….

 

        

 

 

Question: A 

~ by pennylanelove on February 21, 2008.