Who do we want to reach? What do we want them to do?

The purpose of our web feature will both influence and be influenced by the target audience because, as Dean (2010) argues, we are not targeting "an imaginary community of everyone (in the nation, state or city)” (p 46). We aim to fill a knowledge gap in the community concerning the various ways anorexia might be hindered or helped by online media, particularly in relation to online communities and forums. We are thus targeting politically minded and socially aware individuals who are interested in mental health; this automatically includes concerned family and friends who are seeking information. In terms of reaching the target audience, publishing the web feature as part of the National Youth Mental Health Foundation's website 'Headspace' would grant access to both young people suffering from the disease but also professionals in the mental health community. 'Headspace's' strategy is in synch with our aims to reach both everyday interested citizens and professionals.

A search of sites dealing with anorexia from a medical perspective, such as 'Medicine.net', 'The Butterfly Foundation', and 'Eating Disorders Victoria' demonstrated that while there are existing websites that offer factual information and guidance on the issue of anorexia, there is a significant lack of information available about the way the disease operates in an online environment. This needs to be rectified as such a significant Australian issue deserves appropriate representation online.

Given some of the information and interviews we plan to include, it will be necessary to ensure that our web feature does not become associated with the pro-ana movement against censorship. A strong online presence in the form of a Twitter account and Facebook page should allow sufficient avenues through which to monitor our image. A Twitter account is particularly necessary if we wish to draw the attention of bloggers to our web feature because, as Dean (2010) notes, 73 percent of bloggers use Twitter regularly (p 36)

References:
Dean, J. 2010, 'The Death of Blogging'. In Blog Theory: Feedback and Capture in the Circuits of Drive, London: Polity, pp 33-47