Aaron Tenenbaum - My Tumblr.

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Looking at Social Media censorship in China through a political lens.

Whilst China has a fascinating history with a culture that’s rich and full of mystery for many Westerners, its social media platforms are unlike anything that people in the west have ever seen before. Social media apps that are used in the West have been banned in China which has created a discourse around the government control over society in China. The government is able to monitor all apps and media and thus all Western apps that we are all accustomed to, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat are all replaced by something completely different which the government can monitor and control which shifts the power dynamic to the government rather than society. 

So, what does China use instead of the Western Apps we use and why do they use them? 

A study was done in 2015 by CNNIC, (a Chinese website that looks at data regarding social media) found that by June 2015, there were 668 million cyber citizens in China, including 606 million IM users, 594 million mobile phone users, 475 million bloggers and 204 million Weibo users, and the total number of websites reached 3.57 million (CNNIC, 2015). It can only be expected that these figures would only rise with the emergence of new apps and social media sites frequently being created. This is further confirmed within a report done in 2016 which stated that “in recent years, the number of social media users in China has grown explosively” in terms of both PCs and mobile devices (Peiren Shao, 2016). 

Instead of a messenger app such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, China uses WeChat. “WeChat started off as pretty much a direct replica of WhatsApp, but it's now used for a lot more than just messaging and calling” (Newsbeat, 2017). The app helps make day-to-day tasks easier too, you can use it to pay for things, do your online shopping and play games. China also has apps such as Weibo, which is the equivalent of Twitter which has been blocked but Weibo is almost an exact replica with the limited characters of 140 which Twitter has.

What makes these two Apps so different from the ones in Western countries then? Whilst Apps in China are free, just like Apps that westerners download, they still pay a price with hundreds of millions of Chinese users having all their information shared with the government. Furthermore, instead of a Twitter discussion that we could have in Australia regarding Political issues such as #Auspol on Twitter, China has such strong censorship laws that because the culture isn't one where people talk about these things in real life this translates into the online world too and means that China is unable to speak out on issues regarding political matters “which constitutes the largest selective suppression of human communication in the recorded history of any country” (Gary Kin, 2014). 

Do you want the good news or the bad news? “With the rise of the Internet and new media platforms, more than 1.3 billion people can now broadcast their individual views, making information far more diffuse and considerably harder to control”. (Gary Kin, 2014) Whilst it is harder to maintain, China is only increasing its already massive social media censorship organization, making it more difficult for those in China to come out and speak against the existing political issues that are occurring due to the ramifications they can receive. 

There is a deep power gap in regard to the political democracy, whilst the Apps in China sound incredible, having to be censored and not having a say in who’s controlling society is scary. As a westerner, it is almost blasphemous to be censored by the government based on my political opinions and to be unable to speak out against the government is unimaginable. Overall, whilst the Apps sound fascinating and wonderful, I’d rather have my abilities of freedom of speech and live in a country where I can share my political views and not be dismissed for it.

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How Social Media has changed the gaming world

The rise of social networking has drastically changed the landscape of gaming, especially social or ‘online’ gaming. Before social media, “gamers would interact with their peers and make friends at amusement arcades and game shops, then online forums, these communities have now moved on to social networks” (SocialNewsDaily, 2016). Social networks have allowed gamers to effortlessly play with one another, talk and chat from any part of the world, changing the gaming experience as we knew it to be. 

Whilst there are many forms of gaming, the aspect of ‘social gaming’ is very intriguing as it brings people together from not only the country but all over the world. But, what really is social gaming? Nick O’Neill who wrote ‘what exactly are social games’ on the AdWeek website, provides a definition of social gaming as: “a structured activity which has contextual rules through which users can engage with one another. Social games must be multiplayer and have one or more of the following features: turn-based, are based on social platforms for providing users with an identity and are casual” (O'Neail, 2008). 

There has always been much debate as to whether gaming is beneficial or if it is has a negative effect on individuals, whilst most studies suggest that “A moderate amount of video gaming can offer cognitive benefits for children” (Joy, 2016). The connotation towards gaming has given negative stereotypes of gamers to be somewhat subdued, nerdy, antisocial individuals but this is not the case, especially with social gaming.

Let’s look at the AFL’s fantasy games – AFL Fantasy, previously known as Dream Team and Supercoach. The fantasy apps and websites allow like-minded AFL fans to draft and compete against each other, providing another level of interactivity of the AFL games that are played in real-life. In other words, it is like playing a virtual game for supporters with live AFL players scores being recorded off how they play in real life. These two gaming websites are not your typical ‘gaming’ websites but come under the umbrella of ‘social gaming’ due to three main reasons. 

Firstly, the gaming aspect: Users who make a team, have to select a squad of 30 players. 8 Defenders, 10 Midfielders, 4 Rucks and 8 Forwards under a specific salary cap which is $12.8 million in AFL Fantasy, as this is the as the official AFL salary cap, rounded. This is a task, that one would find in a regular game, it is almost seen as a challenge to create your own unique team under a salary cap and is harder than it seems. 

Secondly, the competition aspect: Users compete off against each other week by week, with the objective to score the most points in the round. Whilst these players do not have control of how the AFL players play in real life, users do have the option of making trades and bringing in players each round to help compete. Competition is important for any social game and is done very well in AFL fantasy due to the rise of social networking and the ability to enter forums and AFL sites, which allow a discourse of the game. 

Lastly, the social aspect: AFL Fantasy is special because you play against real people that are normally a friend, colleague or work mate. You have the option to compete in your own league or join a random league and compete against other online users who have created their own teams. You also have the ability to create a team-name, profile picture and the site also allows users to chat with one another, further enhancing the online identity of a user. As Nick O’Neil said “providing users with an identity” is part of social gaming as a whole. 

Overall, whilst AFL fantasy is an unconventional choice for describing ‘social gaming’ and many people would look to Facebook games and other online apps that can be downloaded onto your phones, such as Angry Birds, Temple Run, and words with friends. I chose to look at AFL fantasy due to the uniqueness of the gaming aspect which brings people together, from all teams and ages. Go the saints!

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Using social networks to create public health awareness – The Ice Bucket Challenge.

Social media is amazing. It allows users to connect with one another simultaneously, whenever and wherever they choose. We all love the speedy communication and whilst this is great for all of us, one of the biggest pros about social media is its ability to give a voice to communities and create awareness for public health causes. 

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was a challenge-gone viral through social media that gave awareness of the disease ‘amyotrophic lateral sclerosis’ otherwise known as ALS, or also known as motor neuron disease in Australia. This challenge became extremely successful due to the sharing ability of social media. “During the summer of 2014, just over 17 million Ice-Bucket Challenge (IBC) videos of people tipping water over themselves were shared on Facebook and viewed over 10 billion times by more than 440 million people (Facebook, 2014)” (Burgess, et al., 2017). 

But why did this challenge work and how did it go viral? 

Having a challenge go viral is not as simple as one individual making some content and hoping people will view and react immediately. Adam Burgees from the University of Kent at Canterbury UK claims that “viral challenge memes are social practices that diffuse in a wave-like fashion” (Burgess, et al., 2017) which in essence is how they gain more traction. Not only has social media been influential in creating this challenge that promotes awareness of the disease that can be shared around by millions online, part of the challenge was to encourage donations for more research and having to tag (choose) friends or family that could participate in this challenge to reach more and more people. In this day and age, with the “emergence of a new form of participatory digital culture, one that we describe as the viral challenge meme” people are easily able to create something viral that strongly benefits public health causes such as the ALS ice bucket challenge (Burgess, et al., 2017). The ALS ice bucket challenge was able to combine a charitable favor of helping fight a cause by generating exposure towards the motor neuron disease movement in addition to, attracting supporters who were willing to contribute to the cause in a unique way online. 

The challenge was able to generate more exposure when it found its way onto the broadcast media, when the AFL’s 'Big Freeze at the G' campaign launched. Through the support of individuals on social media, the AFL understood that it could use traditional media to create more exposure for the issue and support one of AFL’s legends and ALS ambassadors, Neale Daniher. “The Big Freeze at the G campaign was inspired by the rousing success of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (MND is known as ALS in the US)” (AFL, 2015). Showing social media's influence on traditional media and public health awareness. 

Overall, it is quite clear that social media can have a positive impact on public health awareness through its ability to reach the masses. Having “millions become aware of this disease, has resulted in increased awareness as well as donations to ALS organizations” (University, 2014). The Ice Bucket Challenge may be one of the most powerful examples of the influence of social media over our behavior.

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Crowdsourcing – How to spread like Wildfire

Social media as a whole is largely transforming the way the public thinks of crowdsourcing, due to the fact that it “allows organizations to reach a wider audience faster, cheaper and more efficiently than ever before”. (Marchionda, 2013). But what is crowdsourcing? 

“Crowdsourcing is defined as the act of outsourcing tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor to an undefined, large group of people or community (a “crowd”), through an open call” (Spiegel, 2011). 

So, what are the benefits of crowdsourcing and does it actually work? 

There is an ever-evolving relationship between consumers and brands, which continues to bring communities closer together, through social interaction and relations that will only seemingly grow and become more complimentary each time. In simpler terms, it is very important for brands to continuously turn consumers into brand advocates by getting them involved and engaged. Many of the top brands such as Nike, Apple, Dominos, L’Oréal, and many others are extremely good at this, and it shows. 

Ultimately, crowdsourcing is useful for “getting your consumers talking” which creates brand awareness without actually promoting, marketing or advertising. (Spiegel, 2011). 

In addition, crowdsourcing is not a new idea that has been created through social media, “crowdsourcing operations date back as far to 1714 when the British government offered a £20,000 reward to anyone that could solve the “longitude problem” (Riccardi, 2016). Whilst it is not new, it has evolved into a larger scale and has become helpful in helping solve worldwide issues through social media’s ability to reach a mass audience in seconds. Crowdsourcing has become a way for disaster response operations as well. It’s the ability to “connect with like-minded others through social (media) networks to achieve a common goal” is evident through Ushahidi's crowdsourcing software which “gives people a voice in times of crisis”. 

“When a crisis occurs, the people who are affected can use Ushahidi's open-source platform to report what is happening around them via social media, email, and text. Their reports are compiled into real-time maps, which enable others to reach and help them more quickly” (Cisco, 2018). Social media can help ensure that an entire community receives important information, it has the ability to intertwine with crowdsourcing which allows information and provides training to residents on how to prepare themselves in certain situations that could be harmful or deadly in a potential disaster, such as alerting “of defensible spaces in areas prone to wildfires”. Such as the Black Forest fire In Colorado in June 2013. “Wildfire officials labeled this fire as a predictable disaster, meaning that they had been warning residents and fire officials that a fire in Black Forest was inevitable due to years of drought and lack of preventative maintenance” (Riccardi, 2016). 

Overall, Whilst it is important for businesses and brands to use crowdsourcing to engage with consumers, it has also been vital in helping “start projects, launch new business initiatives, or engage large numbers of people to tackle a complex problem” thus the ability to reach a mass audience has become easier than ever through the advances in technology and the development of the internet and social media, which helps spread news and information like wildfire.

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Trolling – A catalyst for change?

We all use social media, it has become a way for people in society to have fun, learn, express themselves and ultimately peak into other people’s lives above all else. Considering most of the population is online, it is fair to say that many of them have either experienced or come across ‘trolls’ of the internet. Nobody likes a cyberbully or a ‘troll’ as it is also referred to today. “Trolling is defined as creating discord on the Internet by starting quarrels or upsetting people by posting inflammatory or off-topic messages in an online community” (Hanson, 2015). The nature in which trolls go about their business can be extremely harsh and demoralizing for many individuals online.

 A person who purposely says or comments something negative which is strongly demeaning to another person can hurt as much online as it does in real life, which is why many trolls choose to destroy people online, simply because there are little repercussions compared to if they said these things in the real world. Trollers are able to find a sense of enjoyment and protection out of trolling due to the internet providing “anonymity, which removes the threat of confrontation, rejection and other consequences of behavior” (Widyanto & Griffiths, 2011). They are able to present themselves differently online and enables them to let their own anger and frustrations out. 

Despite the amount of love and support that celebrities, athletes and even the general public may receive, one comment out of hundreds or thousands can change that individual’s mood and can make them extremely sad and unhappy. Many trolls aren’t seeking a resolution to anything, they purposely choose to hurt someone’s feelings for the sake of engaging in a battle that nobody can win. Darcy Vescio who is a WAFL player and teammate of the most recent internet trolling saga in the WAFL of Tayla Harris said that “It’s easy to say, ‘don’t worry about the haters, there are plenty of people who love what you’re doing’. “But the truth is when I read comments like ‘get back in the kitchen’, I feel compelled to make a stand for all the women and young girls who don’t have the platform I do.” Trolling, whilst horrible and self-destructing for some, is actually and surprisingly a catalyst for change for issues in society such as sexism for women athletes.

 As an example, let’s discuss WAFL player Tayla Harris and the way that rolling has actually helped create a change in sexism in the AFL culture. In March 2019, WAFL player Tayla Harris became just another victim of the many incidents of online trolling. A picture of her kicking the football showing off her athleticism and power was released to social media by a photographer named Michael Willson. He says, “Women especially shouldn't have to put up with derogatory comments and negative feedback just because you've got these keyboard warriors out there who think they can hide behind their screens. " After the photograph was posted on the Channel 7 media accounts, it became swamped with misogynistic comments by online trolls. It was deleted but then re-instated as many people rallied behind Harris after a protest to bring the photo back which proved that that deleting the post was giving in to trolls and as a society, we took a stand against trolls. Vescio said “you’re eliminating all the positive conversation. Also, you’re removing more content around women in sport - which there’s already so little of”. 

How does this create change in society though? Trolls aren’t meant to be helping, they’re meant to be hating! Well, incidentally, trolls helped the way we look at female empowerment in the AFL/WAFL culture. “Sociologist Kim Toffoletti from Deakin University said the impact of the photo needed to be understood in the context of women making inroads into the male-dominated world of professional AFL. "The [Harris] photo speaks to a wider moment in our culture, where we are seeing female empowerment," she said” (McMurtry, 2019). Trolls are giving life to female representation in sports due to the resistance they continue to show against these athletes, the hostility allows people, especially women to rally and fight back against misogynistic comments which have sent a strong message to online trolls. This is summed up in a quote by sociologist, Kim Toffoletti, who states "Sports organizations need to take a much more active role and send a really strong message that this [abuse] won't be tolerated." 

Whilst Trolls seem to be everywhere we look in the online-sphere, it is more important than ever to support those who are targeted by these cyberbullies, because just like Tayla Harris did, we can all fight back, take a stand and support one another to eliminate the effect of these haters who do not belong here. After all, Trolls are the minority “and we can't let them dictate what should or shouldn't publish” (Michael Willson 2019).

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How social media has changed social activism and protests.

Activism and protests have created many inspiring changes in society, without speeches, rallies, and demonstrations, social movements would be nothing but a dream. As Joel A. Barker said, “Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world” (Barker, 1991). But is this of the past? Do we need protests, rallies, and demonstrations when we have social media? 

Speeches, rallies, and demonstrations, which are still very prevalent in society today have had an enormous effect on social movements such as the civil rights movement with perhaps the most famous civil rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He had the ability to drive social change through traditional ways of activism, but his movement and dream took many years, he could not just post his ‘I have a dream speech on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram and have it shared by millions all over the world, he had to prepare a speech, gather an audience and present his dream to a crowd of some 250,000 people, live. With Martin Luther King being a spokesman and leader of the Civil rights movement, he had the ability to bring that crowd together and fight for what he believed in. But could an average Joe from another neighborhood do that? Could he gather 250,000 people and have them listen to what he had to say? In the 1960s? Probably not. In the 2000s? In the era of social media? Most definitely YES.

In recent years, “social media has changed the dynamics of activism and public awareness “because information circulates so freely and quickly, it creates a new baseline for change” (Rutledge, 2010). It has allowed the general public and individuals in society to protest and create change in the world with a simple click of a button. With the rise of the internet, anyone can pick up their phone, talk to a camera and reach millions of users, all over the world, in minutes. Social networking has very quickly changed the landscape of the ways in which people protest and create social movements. It has by far, outmatched “traditional organization efforts in both immediacy and scope” (Group, 2017). Social media that has been capable of creating communities no matter the gender, race or geographical restrictions as shown in movements such as the #MeToo movement. The #MeToo movement very clearly demonstrated the power of social media as a way of activism. The me-too campaign is “a social media campaign where thousands of women share their personal stories using the #MeToo hashtag” (Haynes, 2017). What started off as women sharing their experiences of sexual assault and sexism in general, turned into a global phenomenon, for women to express solidarity with victims of sexual harassment and abuse. “According to Facebook, within a 24-hour period, over 4.7 million people worldwide had used the hashtag, and over 12 million posts, comments, and likes had been generated. The single tweet from Alyssa Milano has now received over 68,000 replies” (Zilles, 2018). The ways for people to show solidarity with just a single click is why this movement became so successful, it is because of social media that this hashtag changed the world. Had there been no social media, this may have been just another issue swept under the rug for Alyssa Milano and many other women to think about every single day of their lives. Instead, we see how social media can turn what was once an idea “into infectious ideas that are impossible to get out of your head. The world has changed forever as the result of a single tweet, highlighting the power of social media.

Overall, one’s idea of a better life or change in society can help make the world a better place and thus, activism and protests still exist and work in its traditional forms and whilst these do exist, the newly adopted way of creating change through social media has further changed the ways individuals can have an effect on society.

References:

Barker, J. A., 1991. Joel Arthur Barker American futurist. [Online] Available at: http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00011987 [Accessed 14 4 2019]. 

Group, L. G. R. M., 2017. How Social Media has Changed the Shape of Social Activism. [Online] Available at: https://www.lgrmg.ca/how-social-media-has-changed-the-shape-of-social-activism/ [Accessed 14 4 2019]. 

Haynes, J., 2017. What is the #MeToo campaign?. [Online] Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-16/what-is-the-metoo-campaign/9055926 [Accessed 14 4 2019]. 

Rutledge, P. B., 2010. Four Ways Social Media Is Redefining Activism. [Online] Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/positively-media/201010/four-ways-social-media-is-redefining-activism [Accessed 6 9 2019].

 Zilles, C., 2018. The #MeToo Movement Shows The Power Of Social Media. [Online] Available at: https://socialmediahq.com/the-metoo-movement-shows-the-power-of-social-media/ [Accessed 14 4 2019].

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How #auspol has an effect on Australian society.

Auspol has been a highly active and heated space for those in Australian society who are politically engaged to share their opinionated thoughts under the community twitter hashtag #Auspol. 

Auspol “highlight(s) the polarity and conservativism that characterize this highly active community of politically engaged individuals” (Bruns & Sauter, 2013). The benefits of using social media for political campaigns have been proven effective by politicians in the past but how has social media helped create political discussions for the public? 

AusPol runs through the social media platform Twitter, which allows people to have real-time social interactions with one another about stories and issues as they emerge, in addition, they are able to share pictures, quotes, gifs, videos and personal thoughts on political issues, thus creating public. Publics are communities of people that have a particular interest or connection, which AusPol provides to society, politically. “It is used as the standard tool through which conversations around a particular topic are coordinated, enabling online publics to form” (Bruns & Burgess, 2011). 

“While some users employ the hashtag sporadically, others use it specifically to speak with one another” (Bogle, 2016). Auspol is great because it allows the political community to that share similar or dissimilar views with one another which creates a political discourse of current affairs however, just like most social media sites, Twitter is no exception to being occasionally hostile. People have clashing views and disagreements, which can cause cyber-bullying for some individuals who have unconventional or outlandish viewpoints, introducing “conflicts within the community” especially along the political spectrum (Smith, 2016). 

In addition, because Auspol creates a spirited debate between individuals through the internet, it is harder to read tone and sarcasm, thus creating issues on responses being perceived as offensive, abusive, racist or sexist but it may also just be a different way of speaking like how “people who have been arguing with each other for years” bicker (Smith, 2016). 

Of course, one cannot expect everyone to have the same views and interests and that’s what makes Auspol so instrumental in giving an individual’s right to express his or her opinion without censorship but just be ready to receive a rapid and direct reaction immediately on Twitter, whether it be positive or negative.

Bogle, A., 2016. #auspol: The Twitter hashtag Australia can't live without. [Online] Available at: https://mashable.com/2016/03/21/twitter-australia-auspol/#6REtAGvz0EqG [Accessed 28 3 2019]. 

Bruns, A. & Burgess, J. E., 2011. The use of Twitter hashtags in the formation of ad hoc publics, University of Iceland: Queensland University of Technology. 

Bruns, A. & Sauter, T., 2013. Exploring Emotions on #auspol: Polarity, Conservativism and Public Performance in the Twitter Debate on Australian Politics, Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology.

Smith, A., 2016. How Social Networks are Bringing Communities Closer Together. [Online] Available at: https://www.engadget.com/2016/05/10/how-social-networks-are-bringing-communities-closer-together/ [Accessed 28 3 2019].

[aarontenenbaum-blog]

Is Tumblr a blog or a social network site?

Tumblr provides the ability to post and respond to text, photos, GIFs, audio, videos, and even live videos of your favorite cats online, but in addition, the site's ability to provide viewers with valuable information on specific subjects or categories they may be looking for such as politics, sport, art, music, home decoration and many more suggests that Tumblr can be used as both, as a blog or as a social networking site. 

Jill Walker Rettberg, professor of digital culture at the University of Bergen states that “A weblog, is a frequently updated website consisting of dated entries arranged in reverse chronological order, so the most recent post appears first” (Rettberg, 2005). With users being able to create their own creative posts on a blog type layout arranged in a chronological order, demonstrates how Tumblr as a whole is a blogging site, however the other parts of the site exhibit far more than just a typical blog site. 

The Cambridge dictionary defines a social networking site (SNS) as a “the use of websites and other internet services to communicate with other people and make friends” which Tumblr provides to the online community who use the site. Users are able to respond to blog posts in addition to having the ability to privately message other users creating “connections to grow further within the site” (reflectivenichole-blog, 2018). Furthermore, Kuan-Yu Lin and Hsi-Peng Lu state that “applications must attract a critical number of users for the benefit of SNS use to emerge” (Lin & Bhattacherjee, 2008; Lin & Lu, 2011). Considering Tumblr has an extremely large number of users it is clear that Tumblr is no doubt a social networking site, hosting over 459 million blogs (Tumblr, 2019) and as of January 2016, the website had 555 million monthly visitors according to Alexa’s - tumblr.com traffic Statistics. 

With all that being said, Tumblr’s blog layout and the sites ability to connect users together through replies and responses, suggests that Tumblr is a social network blog. So enjoy, scrolling through the countless cat posts on your favorite hybrid blog and social network site - Tumblr.

- Aaron Tenenbaum

Reference list

Alexa, 2016. tumblr.com Traffic Statistics. [Online] Available at: https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/tumblr.com [Accessed 29 3 2019]. Dictionary, C., 2019. 

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus. [Online] Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/social-networking [Accessed 29 3 2019]. 

Elliott, L. J. & Polyakova, V., 2014. Beyond Facebook: The generalization of social networking site measures, South Florida: Elsevier. 

Lin, K.-Y. & Lu, H.-P., 2011. Why people use social networking sites. An empirical study integrating network externalities and motivation theory, 27(3), pp. 1152-1161.

reflectivenicole-blog, 2018. Nicole Reflects Nicole, reflecting on Digital Communities. [Online] Available at: http://reflectivenicole-blog-blog.tumblr.com/?ref_url=http://reflectivenicole-blog-blog.tumblr.com/post/114927455322/week-four-is-tumblr-a-blog-or-social-network/embed [Accessed 29 3 2019].

 Rettberg, J. W., 2005. Final Version of the weblog definition. In: M. J. M. R. David Herman, ed. For the Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory. New York: Routledge, p. 45. 

Tumblr, 2019. Tumblr About. [Online] Available at: https://www.tumblr.com/about [Accessed 29 3 2019].