amonicano

[amonicano]

Week 9 - Fandoms

For this topic, I will be specifically focusing on Kpop groups and One Direction fandom.

What is Fandom?

First, let me start off by explaining what fandom is. Fandom is basically another saying of "fan culture". A fandom us a group of people who have formed a community or subculture around a piece of pop culture, such as a book, movie, video game, comic, music groups, or sports team. This group of supporters is united by their love for the source material.

While most fandoms are made up of people who buy the source material and its various offshoots (action figures, posters, books, etc.), they can also be made up of people who actively interact and engage with the original material through creative works. Posting fanfictions and drawings, as well as writing songs or creating videos on the original work. People may even dress up as the characters from the source material.

Kpop fandoms

If you're unfamiliar with K-pop music, consider pop bands such as One Direction, Little Mix, and Fifth Harmony in the western countries: they're similar to the concept of idols.

Fandoms are a large part of K-pop fan bases and what comes of fandoms in general is always that one common thing you always see: Toxicity. The power of social media has become so popular among fanbases. The K-pop fandom is immensely popular on Twitter, with some accounts as old as the platform itself.

I'm pretty sure everyone has heard of cancel culture. If no, cancel culture is a form of online shaming involving a celebrity/or fans receiving backlashes if something offensively done by them. This is a very common thing in K-pop fandoms as K-pop fans are not afraid of this idea. In fact, they can even start canceling people or idols at anytime. In some cases, these fans have gone as far as making death threats or directing massive pile-ons for innocent opinions. Pretty disgusting.

I have never really linger around in any of the K-pop fandoms because I have been on Twitter loooooong enough to actually see the amount of sh*t happening just from a trending hashtag or accounts appearing in the normal hashtag like #BTS I follow. I admit that I love and support BTS in terms of their music but I do not want to associate myself with the fandom because of the amount of pathetic people within the fandom, especially the new fans (I hope I don't get killed but this is the truth)

Pretty sure we all know who Charlie Puth is. ARMYs started to cancel him after his live performance with BTS in 2018 (If I’m not mistaken) as they accused him for using BTS just to gain more popularity. It is really insane because some of these fans gives 0 craps and just went all out cancelling him for no damn particular reason or actual evidence. 

I’m done talking about BTS ARMY. This is so tiring so I’ll talk about One Direction instead.

One Direction (Directioners)

Awwww, look at their glowups.

Ah yes, this takes me back to my time back in early secondary school days where I was an absolute hardcore One Direction fan. The fact that I still have their autobiography books as well as merchandises till today. Maigod, I feel embarrassed. But hey, I still listen to their songs cause it’s so goddamn good and even though they have disbanded, I still keep up with Harry Styles LOL. Yes, he’s my bias. Okay, moving on xD.

Also, people who are a fan of One Direction (1D) are called Directioners. 

I’ll just get straight to the point and keep in one paragraph LOL cause this post is getting a bit too long. Basically in short, One Direction was badly mistreated by both toxic Directioners and people from other fandoms back then. Louis Tomlinson was called horrendous names and people commented how his voice wasn’t good enough when in actual fact, HE’S ACTUALLY REALLY GOOD AND HE HAS THAT ANGELIC VOICE. When his mom passed away in 2016, I was so disgusted at the fact that people had gone so far to commenting “I would love to make out with his mom’s dead corpse,”. This is so disgusting. Niall Horan was badly picked because of how he wasn’t as good looking as other members as well as being told that he was not good enough for the band as well. Liam Payne went into alcoholism due to the amount of stress he had to go through, which resulted him to go for therapy after the disbandment of One Direction. Zayn Malik was called racial slurs because he is a mix Brit and Pakistani. What’s even worse was that when Zayn was the first one who left the group, fans, especially the hardcore Zayn Malik simps went as far as cutting themselves thinking the faster and sooner they cut, the sooner Zayn will go back to the group. As for Harry Styles, when he was 16, he was labelled as a ‘womanizer’ by their management. Yes, you heard it right. The damn management. Even the damn management mistreated them badly back then.

I’m literally facepalming as I’m typing out all of that. 

But yes, those are all some of the major points I’ve mentioned about Directioners and the mistreatment towards One Direction. There’s more to those I’ve mentioned and I can literally write a short book about it LOL.

Anyways, in summary,

Every single fandom out there is bound to have toxicity happening within. The thing about toxicity is that it cannot be avoided and stopped. Some fans even go as far as to cancelling other fandoms just for the sake of power of who do better and all that shit. It’s honestly tiring I swear, and that’s why I never involve myself with any of the fandoms after One Direction, and I’m glad I’m not in BTS ARMY fandom, though I’m a big fan of BTS music myself. Heck I rather just fangirl over them by myself like for real. 

[amonicano]

Week 10 - Social Gaming

Ah yes, the time has come where I can talk all day about gaming. Before I proceed, I would like to clarify that whatever I will be talking about will mostly be from my own experiences and opinions.

First, again with another clarification, yes, I'm a girl gamer (No sexism here please or I'll go to your house and murder you in your sleep). Worry not, I have a life and I touch grass unlike certain gamers out there who just sits in front of their computer 24/7 barely moving an inch away from the chair (I do appreciate the dedication here but please, go touch some grass)

Particularly those in Gen Z, gamers have mastered the ability to create communities in and around video games due to the rise of social media. Gamers don’t just compete for the strongest title, but form real, long-lasting connections with strangers they meet on the internet.

Each gaming community has its share of toxicity and hostility. There’s no way you can’t find any toxicity in gaming community. Take for example, Genshin Impact community. The difference between the Western fanbase and Asian fanbase is striking, and I’ve been playing Genshin long enough to know this (I actually started playing the moment Genshin Impact was released). I play on the Asia server and generally, us Asians playing in the Asia server are very chill. In coop, if you happen to do a mistake or die early, people generally just let you off or just say something funny in the chat like “Ah, I hate fighting this… ☹”. If you’re the last one standing, they’ll cheer for you to defeat the enemy like “GO ZHONGLI, GO DADDY GEO!” (Zhongli is a character from the game and yes, people actually said that to me while I was the last one standing xD) Yes, the GIF below is Zhongli.

As for the Western server, what I’ve noticed is that they have those kind of people who always compete in terms of who can deal the most damage using a specific character. All they care is the “big damage numbers”, like literally. It’s really annoying because if your character deals very little damage, they will call you out and tell you “YOU SUCK!” These kinds of players really made the game unenjoyable because they don’t allow you to play the game at your own pace and your own way. I’m honestly glad that the Asia server does not have these kinds of players and even if there is, it’s very rare.

Now the good part about the Genshin community is that you can easily make friends with people. In my personal experience, I was in a co-op session with randoms a few months ago and I happened to become friends with one of them until this very day. It was quite interesting because our conversation first started off talking about a Genshin drama situation that time and we happened to have the same opinions. From that onwards, we gradually started talking about our favourite characters, ships, etc till the next morning (What is sleep? xD) Till today, we still maintained a good contact with each other and there are times where either of us would talk about something personal. To have a good friendship, it just takes one click to do so.

[amonicano]

Social Activism

Today, with the increase usage of social media, more and more people are becoming more aware about and involve in social issues that are controversial. Outrage over the killings of Black men at the hands of White police officers, as well as racial injustice, has sparked not only to social media activism (e.g. #BlackLivesMatter), but also offline activism in recent years (e.g. the U.S. national anthem protests). In addition, after 58 people were killed in a mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017, the issue of gun control resurfaced, and the Trump administration's immigration policies have sparked national controversy.

Social media activism is a type of media activism that attracts a wider audience due to social media's accessibility and its participatory nature. In fractions of a second, information that breaks in social media becomes viral. Information about campaigns and protests on social media can help increase the number of supporters. We all know that social media is far more superior than traditional media. There are several social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, where a piece of information may quickly trend in not time.

Of course, social media has definitely help the spreading of awareness about political and social concerns due to the powerful tool of the internet. Take for example, regarding about the #BlackLivesMatter movement, over 8 million tweets had already been tagged with the hashtag three days after George Floyd's death was captured on video on 28 May 2020. Till to this very day, social media has continue to help with the spread of awareness and education about social justice. However, while social media may be an effective tool for spreading awareness, it can also spread false information. According to a Netflix documentary "The Social Dilemma" in 2020, fake news on Twitter spreads six times faster than real news, and 70% of the lies are more likely to be retweeted. Many people do not spare the time to research the facts they come across on social media since it has become a fast-paced action and instant gratification. Anything being posted on social media are all too simple to share or retweet without verifying its accuracy of information. There will be less motivation to even verify and compare the information they are presented, leading to instant judgement and agreeing with it on the spot. With the current misleading claims flowing over social media concerning the COVID-19 vaccinations, misinformation has proven to be a severe issue, especialy during an election and a pandemic.

Let's take for example, the ongoing booster shot happening in Malaysia. Fear was created among Malaysians about the booster shot (especially about mix and match booster) by the public with evil intentions saying like "Oh, pfizer gives intense reactions. Don't take pfizer because that vaccine is created in the U.S. and U.S. vaccines are useless," and bla bla bla, all that bullshit. Let's be real, even though you're fully vaccinated, you still won't have total immunity to the virus. There are incidents where fully vaccinated people still get the virus. All these unnecessary fear to other citizens needs to stop.

Malay Mail 2021, Dr Sim: Fake news on Covid-19 booster shots putting Sarawakian lives at risk, viewed 26 Novemeber 2021, <https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2021/11/08/dr-sim-fake-news-on-covid-19-booster-shots-putting-sarawakian-lives-at-risk/2019234>

Matherly, C 2021, Opinion: Is social media activism actually effective?, viewed 26 November 2021, <https://www.breezejmu.org/opinion/opinion-is-social-media-activism-actually-effective/article_7853d8b6-6a57-11eb-8fb1-e70f4d287663.html>

Rani, M 2019, 'Social media activism: Its impact on real life', viewed 26 Novemeber 2021.

Chon, M & Park, H 2019, 'Social media activism in the digital age: Testing an integrative model of activism on contentious issues', Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, viewed 26 November 2021, vol. 97, no, 1, pp. 72-97.

[amonicano]

Social media and Politics

I'm going to be frank here that I avoid politics as much as possible, especially Malaysia (Don't even get me started on our country of so called "Multi-racial" country)

In recent years, the use of internet, as well as the creation and usage of social media, has tremendously expanded worldwide. In many aspects, the rise of social media has influenced politics in most countries. Social media was used by politicians to carry out their campaigns, and activists used it to raise awareness about political concerns and mobilising protests.

So, why was social media being used by so many politicians all over the world? It's because so much of our political debate takes place on social media.

The good, and the bad.

Okay, let me start of with the bad side of this topic because, good things comes last.

Just a quick research I have found, during the presidential election back in 2020, many Americans were already tired by the amount of political information they encounter on social media. According to Paw Research Center poll of U.S., 55 percent of adult social media users expressed that they feel 'burnt out' by the number of political postings and debates they see on social media.

Anyway-

The internet is an open and unrestricted medium that has allow anyone to express their opinions on politics. While there are people who have grown in their understandings of tolerance and multiculturalism, they are also people who are the 'peekaboos'. One moment they can be at focused, next moment they decided to focus on something else. Because our attention span are shortening, we instantly want information, or we will just move on.

The most common issue about this topic is FAKE NEWS. Fake news, hate speech, and misinformation are just that convincing on social media that people just believe they have just read without even trying to read and compare with another source. Platforms like Twitter has become so popular for politicians to promote the election, just anything that is politics related (Ah yes, brings me back to the time when my Twitter timeline was full of tweets regarding about Trump aka Orange head's election). And we all know a certain someone decided to violently use Twitter.

Yes, you guessed it right. Mr Donald Trump. Now, that headline above is an old news about that orange head. I'm pretty sure we all know that his account was permanently suspended by Twitter themselves because of the way he violently used Twitter.

According to Twitter themselves, the context of broader events in the US must be read in those two tweets, and the way the duck’s words can be mobilised by various audiences of different age group, including promoting violence as well as his account’s recent history of activity. After Twitter had gone through and analyze the language he used, the decided to cancel him on Twitter (Ah, true comedy right there).

(Ah yes, he's definitely a dead clown walking.)

With fake news being the general issue of this topic, where is the good on social media in the world of politics?

Well, with today’s technology, internet has given a chance for those that are silenced to allow them to fully express their opinions. Obama’s election campaign is an example of importance of social media, and no one can forget that because the participation of the people was so active and supported him all the way. However, Obama’s campaign has cost about $50 million JUST on social media and even though it was so expensive, he still won the election back then.

Also, whatever information was uploaded minute by minute on social media, people get updated from it on their smartphones wherever they go. It’s like “DING!” and then instantly just pulls the phone out of the pocket.

In conclusion,

I personally believe that the usage of social media in the world of politics are good yet bad at the same time. Though it has helped the younger generation to like us to voice out, the use of social media to blame and criticise opposing parties is so widespread, and information is skewed by misleading and false data.

References:

Anderson, M & Auxier, B 2021, 55% of U.S. social media users say they are ‘worn out’ by political posts and discussions, viewed 15 October 2021, <https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/19/55-of-u-s-social-media-users-say-they-are-worn-out-by-political-posts-and-discussions/>

Barnhart, B 2021, Social media and politics: 10 best practices for campaigns to know, viewed 15 October 2021, < https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-for-political-campaigns/>

CareerRide 2014, The pros and cons of increasing role of social media and politics, viewed 15 October 2021, <https://www.careerride.com/view/increasing-role-of-social-media-in-politics-pros-and-cons-12947.aspx>

Hall, GB 2018, A breakdown of the negatives and positives of media in the political sphere, viewed 15 October 2021, <https://theobserver-qiaa.org/a-breakdown-of-the-negatives-and-positives-of-media-in-the-political-sphere>

Michigan State University 2020, The truth behind fake news and politics on social media, viewed 15 October 2021, <https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2020/the-truth-behind-fake-news-and-politics-on-social-media>

Twitter Inc. 2021, Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump, viewed 15 October 2021, <https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension>

[amonicano]

Is blogging still relevant in the age of TikToks and Instagram?

This topic honestly brings me back memories of the time I actually used to blog back in early secondary school, and no, I am not going to expose my actual blog to you guys here because just no. I ain't got time to feel embarrassed because I have my FYP to deal with :").

Anyway, let's get back to the question by starting of with the definition of blog and its origins.

__________________________________________

Blogging seemed to have been replaced by the development of social media, video sharing, and streaming (Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, Facebook). However, in my opinion, I do not believe that blogging has truly been replaced but instead, it has evolved.

What is blogging?

A blog is a type of online journal where people write about things that are important to them. Many individuals use it as a journal, some even blog for a living. There are many different kinds of reasons why people blog:

· Expressing their feelings

· Sharing interesting knowledge they have learned and wishes to learn together with the rest of the world

· Making a profit out of it

· Supporting their current business

· Starting travel blogs to travel and documenting the world.

History of Blog

The word "blog" is actually a short form from its original name, "weblog". In the mid-1990s, online diaries grew into personal websites, which became blogs. Because there were limited materials on the internet at the time, people posted regular updates about their personal lives, things they were interested in, etc. By the late 1990s, blogging systems had emerged to enable people to post their blogs without having to bother about coding. In 1998, Open Diary debuted, followed by Blogger, LiveJournal and then the current Tumblr.

Has TikTok and Instagram replaced blogging?

Back when I used to blog, it was really tiring to actually put in a lot of effort because I always had to think about the kind of content I would like to post, alongside with images and videos.

It is a known fact that technology is indeed disruptive. The social media format has dominated all other formats of blog delivery over the last decade. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and other social media platforms did not become famous by focusing just on photos and videos. Their popularity stems from the social media format, where discussion, collaboration and interaction thrive.

Let's first talk about Instagram and then the annoying TikTok

1. Instagram

Instagram was created in 2010 and it first started out as a place for people to share contents of their daily lives. It could be a picture of you breakfast, lunch, dinner, a picture of your cat sleeping, or even a picture of you and your friends clubbing like mad people at the nightclub. Bloggers used Instagram as a way to promote their blogs, however, it was not really successful as Instagram does not allow captions to have clickable links (Unlike Facebook). At the most these bloggers could do was to put "Link in bio" as their caption so viewers will have to go to their profile for the link (A pain in the butt really -_-, and it is)

In this current generation, Instagram has transformed into a platform of highly curated images that literally looked like they are straight out of a magazine. People who took advantage of this platform became Instagrammers, influencers and content creators. Some bloggers may have migrated to instagram but honestly speaking, reading an instagram post is so much different from reading an actual blog.

2. TikTok

Before I start explaining about TikTok, I would like to clarify that I am NOT a fan of TikTok. Reason being is that I always come across cringy and stupid videos which made me question the amount of stupidity these kind of "content creators" have. 

Anyway, TikTok was created in 2016 and it allows people to create and share a 15 second video about anything. Yes, literally anything. They can either be  interesting to watch or just not interesting to watch at all. Younger kids in this generation love watching or creating TikTok content so much because their attention span is just that short. If you ask them to read a detailed blog, they’ll most likely going to say “It’s boring...” and then proceed to do their own thing. 

Now, comparing blog to TikTok, there’s no way anyone can recreate a blog into a 15 second video because THAT’S JUST IMPOSSIBLE. If someone is able to do this, they are doing it wrong, UNLESS, they make it into different episodes (I guess you can say it like that?)

Also, if you haven’t noticed, Instagram also have this video feature called Instagram Reels, which is, you could say, it’s a ripoff of TikTok.

So where does this leave blogging?

(Yes, the gif above says “If you say blogging is dead, I will slice you into salami pieces)

I will say it again: Blogging is not dead, it has just evolved. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok have become more accessible as a microblog. To do an actual blog, you have to create a domain, pay the host, finding the perfect theme and widgets to suit your blog. Compare to those microblogging platforms, all you need to do is just to sign up and you are ready to post anything. 

Even for vlogging, basically blogging but in a video format, can easily reach out to a bigger audience because the audience are already there. 

So for people like me who love to read and write a lot (I don’t read and write as much now because I’m a design student oops), they would actually start blogging and share whatever that was on their mind and then publish it to the audience who share the similar love for reading and writing. 

And that being said, what do you think about this topic?

Reference link:

Blog Tyrant 2021, What is a blog (And why you should start one in 2021), viewed 5 October 2021, <https://www.blogtyrant.com/what-is-a-blog/>

Geyser, W 2021, What is TikTok? – The Fastest Growing Social Media App Uncovered, viewed 5 October 2021, <https://www.virlan.co/education/what-has-replaced-blogging-is-blogging-still-relevant-in-2021/>

Hadian, S 2021, What Has Replaced Blogging – Is Blogging Still Relevant In 2021?, viewed 5 October 2021, <https://www.virlan.co/education/what-has-replaced-blogging-is-blogging-still-relevant-in-2021/>

Nagaraz, P 2020, Why TikTok,YouTube, and Instagram can never “kill blogging”, viewed 5 October 2021, <https://newslanded.com/2020/07/19/why-tiktok-youtube-and-instagram-can-never-kill-blogging/>

Shout Me Loud 2021, What is blogging, viewed 5 October 2021, <https://www.shoutmeloud.com/blogging>