Homestuck is a webcomic, created by  Andrew Hussie. In it, different types of media (including GIFs, music, etc.) are used to deliver an entertaining and seemingly infinite story. Being online means that not only can it continually expand (which it does), but also that the creator is flexible when it comes to how he chooses to tell the story. Homestuck was funded partly through Kickstarter, a project that allows users to "pitch" their product online where users can donate any amount they want for a dollar in return for a product specific pledge (the average donation is $25).

Homestuck is different because it wasn't made and then uploaded online, it was made to be online, to feature the widest range of media possible, seemingly integrating itself into the existing cyberculture with no learning curve and no difficulty of use or understanding. It is the embodiment of New Media. 

Homestuck will seem familiar to its average user, a person in their 20s, who uses the computer enough to be familiar with the internet's cyberculture. Because it has been made parodying the style of old "Role Playing Games" (RPG) like the legend of Zelda or Pokemon, because features chat logs and a "choose your own adventure" style of continuation from page to page, it does not feel like a different form of media, despite it being, in small ways, revolutionary. The key to Homestuck is that it doesn't pretend to be more than it is, it doesn't use an unnecessary amount of media or technology for the sake of using it but rather it displays information in new ways, New Media isn't new because it has 'gimmicky' technologies but because it embraces technology as part of the "age old art of storytelling" (Levine 44). The juxtaposition of these two factors, the use of new technologies to change the way we approach an old art, results in a paradigm shift when it comes to story-telling; the way it is created changes, the way it is read changes and the immersion in it changes. By allowing users to interact not only with the fiction but with the content itself, with the site, clicking each link to move to a new page, donating money to see the source of their fandom improved, discussing the content in forums the reality effect of the It lessens to give room for something more. Homestuck was not created to be believable, to make the user feel like the main character or like he is in this world, (breaking the fourth wall constantly ensures this) it instead becomes a social object in its own right, it becomes real because it ceases to be a piece that stands alone but is inherently connected to its medium.

  New Media changes the way we interact with content. As Lev Manovich argues, New Media does not have to refer to the technological tools we have today but rather to the stage through which each new technology (for the production and delivery of media) goes through. New Media, whether it be the printing press or YouTube, democratizes art, both in its creation and access to it, increases the ability to interact with it by the end user and enhances a form or another of the content to increase it's reality effect or change its impact on the viewer (Croteau). High definition video for example increases the reality effect of a piece, making it more beleivable even if ficticious, but technology can also change how we experience fiction without 'believing it to be real'. By being closer to the piece, by voting on characters or knowing closely everything about the author and other fans the immersion on the piece is not one of suspension of belief, but rather of the creation of something real. In other words, Homestuck isn't real because it is beleivable, it is real because it is everywhere in its medium, it's not just the piece itself, but it is all the technologies (whether social or mechanical) that it uses.

  Under this interpretation, Homestuck represents new media. It's content creator allows for user input, creating polls for fans to choose what will happen, interactions between characters and more. It also, by being online, allows for many ways which with to use this product making it in fact not a commodity but a public good (in the sense that it is neither excludable nor rivalrous). By public good I mean that it can be accessed anywhere with an internet connection by (almost) an infinite amount of users. (my use does stop your use). The end user can interact and view this content in many ways, ranging from a plethora of devices to actually having one's input in it Manufactured nostalgia and cyberculture makes users feel special, 'in the know' and thus a new, more personal form of inmerison is created. 

Homestuckuses the potential of new media to democratize both the creation of content and its acess as well as allowing for a more interactive process of appreciation (viewership).