Digital Communities

[Hajira] This tumblr is strictly for educational purposes for the unit MDA20009 Digital Communities. No copyright infringement intended.   

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WEEK 8: CROWDSOURCING PRESENTATION LINK

Crowdsourcing

CROWDSOURCING HAJIRA PARVEEN JOAN JOU XIN KHO SHEHNAZ BANU BINTI S.A.S ABDUL WAHID ABOUT CROWDSOURCING - Crowdsourcing involves obtaining wo

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China: Their own bubble.

How does Internet Censorship work in China and What is Social Credit System that is being implemented in the country?

Can you imagine if we are not able to access our global social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter?

These social media platforms have allowed us to express our thoughts and views and spread information, whether right or wrong, without the need for approval from authorities and being controlled by the government.

However, in China, it is the norm.

According to statistics, China has the highest number of internet users in the world compared to other countries, with a total of 1.5 billion users, thrice the number of users in the United States, which are only around 100 million users (Thomala, 2022).

source: (Thomala, 2022) https://www.statista.com/statistics/265140/number-of-internet-users-in-china/

Even though they have access to the internet, their government has restricted (blocked) them from accessing Instagram, Google, YouTube, or even WhatsApp due to Internet censorship.

The censorship is to combat potentially disruptive consequences of Western cultural globalization (Miller, 2020). In the case of VPNs, only the ones approved by the government can be used, and the ones that are not approved are banned. However, VPN access will expose our data, making it more unsecure for everyone to use (How to use a VPN for China? is it legal? 2022).

In that case, China has its own social media developed to replace the platforms we use. For instance, WhatsApp is replaced with 'WeChat' and 'Baidu' similar to Google. These platforms are approved by the Chinese Government and are strictly monitored by the officials (DeGennaro & DeGennaro, 2020).

The Great Firewall of China, also known as "China's Golden Shield," is a system of internet censorship. It was first initiated in 1998 and began to operate in 2008 (Chandel et al., 2019).

Image Source: https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-great-firewall-implications-businesses/

This censorship started to get stricter when hundreds of people were killed in the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, when students fought for free speech and a free press in China. The information on the massacre is not available on the Chinese Internet because the Chinese Government is seeking to conceal it because they want people to avoid remembering their wrongdoings (Gilbert, 2019).

Basically this censorship made the people in China to not being able to spread their words freely without having to go through surveillance and filtration by the governemnt. Thus making it difficult to raise awareness in what is happening in their country to the people outside of China. As the title of this blog says "their own bubble". They are only able to share and receive opinion from their own people.

It is not easy to pass the firewall, although many attempts has been done.

Oh, K-pop is banned in China too! Most of us will not survive in that country-

Social Credit System

Figure below shows an example of 'Social Credit System' using AI.

Source: (Campbell, 2019) on https://time.com/collection/davos-2019/5502592/china-social-credit-score

Well, it gets more complicated here.

China has a social credit system being implemented. According to Liang (2018), China's intention of implementing the social credit system is to "compute a credit score for every individual and organizational actor based on previous and continuing social and economic activity, and these credit ratings will govern whether an actor can get advantages of sanctions." Big Data and Artificial Intelligence is used widely in the process.

The credit scores are divided into two, good and bad. The examples of good actions are donating blood and involving in charities, while bad actions are stealing and cheating. Obtaining good social credit points will be given tax breaks or even cheaper public transportation fares, while the bad social credit points will be penalized and restricted from traveling (Velocityglobal, 2022).

According to Liang (2018), "the data collected are used and organized by the government to monitor and administer China's political, social, and commercial dominions." Behaviors are monitored to remain "trustworthy" through positive actions with this implementation of social credit.

Figure above shows how the social credit system works in China.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/merics_eu/status/898220464090341377

What about privacy?

It is something that invades someone's privacy. The Government has every data of ours organized. Alongside, we are under surveillance for EACH and every hour of the day. With one wrongdoing from an individual in the society, the person will probably go through some hardship to clear out that bad social credit(s).

The question is, will we survive such a controlled movement being implemented on us in Malaysia?

Probably not. Malaysians are highly vocal and our movements are compelling. Therefore, this topic is eye-opening, and we should be grateful that we are privileged enough to have freedom and peace. Although China's movements seems culture shock on our side, they're probably used to it by now as they cannot really voice out openly even if they are suffering.

References

Chandel, S., Jingji, Z., Yunnan, Y., Jingyao, S. and Zhipeng, Z., 2019, October. The golden shield project of china: A decade later—an in-depth study of the great firewall. In 2019 International Conference on Cyber-Enabled Distributed Computing and Knowledge Discovery (CyberC) (pp. 111-119). IEEE.

DeGennaro, T. and DeGennaro, T. (2020) The 10 most popular social media sites in China (2019), Dragon Social. Available at: https://www.dragonsocial.net/blog/social-media-in-china/ (Accessed: December 1, 2022).

Gilbert, D. (2019) How China is wiping memories of Tiananmen Square off the internet, VICE. Available at: https://www.vice.com/en/article/7xge3b/chinese-dissidents-are-running-out-of-ways-to-remember-tiananmen-square (Accessed: December 1, 2022).

How to use a VPN for China? is it legal? (2022) NordVPN. Available at: https://nordvpn.com/blog/vpn-for-china/#:~:text=Officially%2C%20the%20Chinese%20government%20has,and%20corporations%20rather%20than%20individuals. (Accessed: December 1, 2022).

Miller, J.S., 2020. China‘s Censorship and Cultural Power--Necessarily at Odds?.

Thomala, L.L. (2022) Internet users by country 2022, Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/262966/number-of-internet-users-in-selected-countries/ (Accessed: December 1, 2022).

Velocityglobal (2022) The Chinese Social Credit System: What to know as a business owner, Velocity Global. Available at: https://velocityglobal.com/blog/chinese-social-credit-system/ (Accessed: December 1, 2022).

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Online gaming and its impact on society.

The gaming industry has been growing over the past years. It is portrayed as an evolution of digitized third places, further confusing boundaries among social media platforms and social networking sites (Burroughs, 2014). There are several concepts introduced in types and forms of play.

Firstly, Caillois (1961) introduced the concept of Ludus & paidia, which translates to 'rules' and 'freedom,' respectively. Huizinga (1938), on the other hand, introduced the concepts Agon, Alea, Mimicry, and Ilinx.

Those concepts translate to 'Competition,' 'Chance,' 'Simulation,' and 'Vertigo,' respectively.

The concept of 'Agon' is applied to games that require training, techniques, and discipline. For instance, games such as Dota and Plant VS Zombies requires the Agon concept of play.

'Alea,' on the other hand, is where the effort, ability, and expertise are dismissed, and the 'victory is an outcome of fate instead of triumph over an opponent. For instance, simple games such as poker and football fit Alea's description.

'Mimicry' is where players escape themselves and transforms into 'illusory characters.' Games such as World of Warcraft and The Sims must fit into the description.

Finally, 'Ilinx' is a play formed by the production of vertigo or disorientation. Games such as Angry Birds and Stormland with Occulus Rift are examples of the Ilinx form of play.

Online gaming is often looked down upon and is considered 'useless,' 'a waste of time', and not beneficial to society. However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought many people together to play games, especially online games.

For instance, games such as Among Us and Animal Crossing were famous during the pandemic's lockdown. The game Among Us had 100 million downloads by people, and it still holds the record as the most downloaded game. On the other hand, the game Animal Crossing rose in popularity and secured Nintendo Switch revenues (Lufkin, 2020).

This pandemic caused the World Health Organization (WHO) to shift its perspective on online gaming; on which at first, they considered online gaming as harmful and addictive, and changed their stance by praising online gaming as beneficial and having a positive impact on stress management (Kriz, 2020, p. 405).

Although online gaming has pros in forming communities, building relationships, and helping stress management, it has cons too.

Firstly, online gaming is prone to create an environment for harassment. This is due to online gaming is often preferred by males. According to a report, 93% of women had to hide their gender identity as they experienced sexual harassment online (Sacco, 2022). This issue, therefore, causes online gaming to be known as a toxic place.

Next, online gaming can lead to addiction. This addiction can affect one's health too—for instance, tiredness and sleep deprivation. According to a report, about 60 million people suffer from game addiction (Hopkins, 2022). This reflects what WHO said before they changed their perspective on gaming.

Gaming is fun if your circle if you have the right circle. 

Conclusion

To conclude, many types and forms of play are produced due to different gaming content. Pros and cons should also be highlighted when it comes to social gaming. Hence, one should be careful when indulging in social gaming as it is not everyone's cup of tea.

References

Burroughs, B., 2014. Facebook and FarmVille: A digital ritual analysis of social gaming. Games and Culture, 9(3), pp.151-166.

Caillois, R (1961) Man, Play and Games Chicago: University of Illinois Press

Dom Sacco (2022) Three quarters of women disguise their gender to avoid sexual ... Available at: https://esports-news.co.uk/2022/03/08/three-quarters-women-disguise-gender-gaming-online-abuse/ (Accessed: November 25, 2022).

Hopkins, S. (2022) Gaming addiction report 2022, Delamere. Available at: https://delamere.com/blog/gaming-addiction-report-2022 (Accessed: November 25, 2022).

Huizinga, J (1938) Homo Ludens, London: Random House

Kriz, W. C. (2020) ‘Gaming in the Time of COVID-19’, Simulation & Gaming, 51(4),pp. 403–410. doi: 10.1177/1046878120931602.

Lufkin, B., 2020. How online gaming has become a social lifeline. [online] BBC Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20201215-how-online-gaming-hasbecome-a-social-lifeline> [Accessed 25 November 2022].

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Fandom and their power in social media.

Let's start with what a 'fan' means. According to Hills (2002), a 'fan' is fixated on a specific actor, celebrity, movie, television show, or band. Most of us are fans of something, be it K-Pop, C-Pop, Anime, or even comics. The title "fandom" is produced by gathering these fans with common interests. Therefore, through a fandom, the fans can build their community where they can express themselves when interacting with the people with common interest (Subcultures and sociology, n.d.).

Fandoms are mostly criticized for being obsessed with their favorite(s). Well, not necessarily. It does not apply to everyone, although there are fandoms who have unhealthy obsessions towards their favorite(s). Some fans or fandoms are toxic, too, and that makes the media look down upon fandoms. Nope, I will not name any fandom and create havoc here. Let us pass this unit in peace, okay!? Okay!~

Anyway, let us go back to the topic of the week. 

The power of fandom in social media. 

As discussed earlier, fandoms are generalized as obsessive individuals who bring nothing to society but "going crazy" for their favs. But, let's focus on the good side that's often missed by people with such mindset.

In June 2020, Black Lives Matter allowed the fandom of BTS, ARMYs, to help and support the movement. The Black Lives Matter Foundation confirmed that BTS and their label donated $1 Million dollars to support the campaign. In less than 24 hours, ARMYs used their influence by supporting the movement by raising over 1 Million dollars, too, matching the amount BTS and their label donated. The fundraising was successful as a Twitter account (as shown in the screenshot below) took the lead and helped create the hashtag #MatchAMillion, to request ARMYs to help donate and to help spread the fundraising for the movement. Hence, the fundraising made it to several news articles highlighting the fandom's success and positive power.

Source: https://twitter.com/OneInAnARMY/status/1269793116023926786?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1269793118339072003%7Ctwgr%5E490b763ba6cfde48e4d1b1ba00999ce680616b46%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2F2020%2Fmusic%2Fnews%2Fbts-army-matches-black-lives-matter-million-dollar-donation-1234627455%2F

Although BLM was not the only successful campaign that the ARMYs as a community have helped to fundraise, it somehow proves that we, as a fandom, are helpful in many ways, especially in spreading words and influencing others to do the same (good things). This was also because the fandom is organized and filled with diversity.

Through social media, especially Twitter, as most fandoms are on the platform, their presence made it easier for interaction and words to spread easier. The involvement of fans, for instance, on social media, makes it possible for media information to be easily shared, or as Jenkins, Ford, and Green (2013) put it, "spreadable."

Conclusion

To summarize, the power of fandoms in social media should not be looked down upon as they influence the media and increases fan culture by creating their own identities on social media to interact with people with the same interests. As fans, we should use our voices to break stereotypes of what the poeple thinks about fandoms.

References

Hills, M., 2002. Fan cultures. Routledge, London.

Jenkins, H., Ford, S., Green, J., 2013. Spreadable media: creating value and meaning in a networked culture. NYU Press, New York.

Subcultures and sociology (no date) Grinnell College. Available at: https://haenfler.sites.grinnell.edu/subcultural-theory-and-theorists/fandom-and-participatory-culture/ (Accessed: November 11, 2022).

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How does crowdsourcing help in times of crisis?

What is crowdsourcing?

Crowdsourcing has become an ordinary phenomenon in this internet era. It is a process where work, knowledge, opinions, and even information are gathered from many people who contribute their information online, which can be through social media or other online platforms (Hargrave, 2022). The term ‘Crowdsourcing’ was used first in 2006, where it is a combination of the word “crowd” and “outsourcing” (Desai et al., 2020). However, it is not new, as it was initially applied to distributed problem-solving in 1714 (Chrum, 2014).

So, how does it help us in the times of crisis?

Well, we can take the Covid-19 pandemic as an example. Most of us were still perplexed over what was happening during the early days of the Covid-19 outbreak. We mostly have gotten the information on To Do's and Don'ts during the Covid via the internet or the people around us. Of course, some of the information(s) are made up unless it was an official release by the ministry of health or the doctors themselves.

The screenshot below is one of India's popular COVID-19 crowdsourcing data sites that received billions of views back in May 2020. A group of volunteers created this website to inform the people in India about the rising numbers of the virus. The website seemed to get updated more frequently compared to the government's MOH website, thus making it easier for the ones who kept an update regarding the number of cases. The scientific community is also using the data from the website to simulate community infection patterns and make estimations based on Google Scholar search engine results (Crowdsourcing for robust, 2019). 

Source: https://www.covid19india.org/

The website was discontinued in October 2021 as the MOH kept updating its website on the covid-19 statistics.

The Bendera Putih (white flag) movement is an example of crowdsourcing. The movement aimed to provide the people in need in Malaysia with essentials such as food, water, medications, and other supplies. Through social media, people take the initiative to help spread information via social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, or even messenger apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. Information such as the location and the essentials the people need will also be shared in order for them to receive help faster. Hence through crowdsourcing, the people in Malaysia joined hands to help the people in need with the information they receive on the internet. Not only that but a community is also formed to make the movement more successful. 

Source: https://twitter.com/NewsBFM/status/1409734501631098881

Conclusion

Due to crowdsourcing’s capability to gather and obtain information quickly, it has become beneficial to everyone in different fields. Crowdsourcing, too, has helped people around the globe to be dependent on the information gathered on the internet, especially during the early days of COVID-19.

But still, 

Do not believe everything you read on the internet.

WEEK 8: CROWDSOURCING PRESENTATION LINK: https://prezi.com/p/ihu67qyjd-vx/crowdsourcing/

References

Crowdsourcing for robust, real-time covid-19 data (2020) Nature News. Nature Publishing Group. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/nindia.2020.109 (Accessed: November 10, 2022).

Desai, A., Warner, J., Kuderer, N., Thompson, M., Painter, C., Lyman, G. and Lopes, G., 2020. Crowdsourcing a crisis response for COVID-19 in oncology. Nature Cancer, 1(5), pp.473-476.

Hargrave, M. (2022) Crowdsourcing: Definition, how it works, types, and examples, Investopedia. Investopedia. Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crowdsourcing.asp (Accessed: November 10, 2022).

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Is social media helpful in spreading health information?

Our use of social media has expanded to include entertainment and tracking health-related information. Social media, too, adds a new aspect to health care by providing a platform for communication about medical issues amongst the general public, patients, and medical experts, with the ability to perhaps improve health outcomes (Moorhead et al., 2014).

Taking the Covid-19 pandemic as an example, Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (KKMalaysia) has been updating the covid-19 related information on their official website portal and social media handles such as Twitter.

Figure A below shows the updates by the Minister of Health regarding the Covid-19 numbers and encourages citizens to mask up to protect themselves from the virus.

Twitter Source: https://mobile.twitter.com/Khairykj/status/1587712920544501760

The updates from the Ministry of Health themselves avoid the misinformation and exaggeration that some news portals do (Figure B). It, therefore, increases awareness and helps in preventing misconceptions by the public.

Figure B below shows KKM reacting to the fake news circulating on Facebook created by a news portal by declining the false allegations.

Twitter Source: https://mobile.twitter.com/KKMPutrajaya/status/1588426704024129536

These updates regarding Health in social media ease the public to keep track and have access to the latest news. It, therefore, reduces the netizens to having a trustworthy source they can rely on.

Social media helps in increasing knowledge regarding Health too. A more significant number of people are using YouTube as a platform to share health information. Based on research, YouTube has the potential to play a crucial role in the gathering and dissemination of timely health-related news, both in terms of its capacity as a video depository and as a platform for social media for users to connect and participate (Madathil et al., 2014).

For instance, Dr. Mike Varshavski, a family doctor and a YouTuber influencer, use his social media platform to educate millennials on health issues. He currently has over 10.3 million subscribers on YouTube. Screenshots below are a few examples of Dr. Mike’s video content uploads. I feel I gain a lot of knowledge regarding Dr. Mike’s videos. He explains medical terms most simply, and they are very informative!

The screenshot below shows Dr. Mike’s medical reaction videos. In these videos, Dr. Mike voices the misconception of medical perception with his medical knowledge, raising awareness of health issues.

Dr Mike YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/DoctorMike

 Conclusion

To conclude, the Internet has tons of information that is gathered that regards to health care. But as a responsible netizen, it is always a good choice to fact-check the health information on social media before sharing them. On top of that, since not everyone reads the newspaper nowadays, social media has become a beneficial tool for people to keep updated with the latest news.

References

Madathil, K.C. et al. (2014) “Healthcare information on YouTube: A systematic review,” Health Informatics Journal, 21(3), pp. 173–194. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458213512220.

Moorhead, S.A., Hazlett, D.E., Harrison, L., Carroll, J.K., Irwin, A. and Hoving, C., 2013. A new dimension of health care: systematic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health communication. Journal of medical Internet research, 15(4), p.e1933.

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How does social media play a role in activism and protest?

"Social media alter the key tenets of collective action and, in doing so, create new vulnerabilities for even the most durable of authoritarian regimes” (Tufekci and Wilson, 2012).

Social media plays a vital role in today’s generation. It has become a place where we obtain news and indulge in it more than we read the newspaper. (Well, most of us do be scrolling Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms the first thing we wake up as if it’s a piece of daily news :p). Social media, too, has become a tool that helps many people worldwide to voice their opinions, spread awareness, and whatnot. For instance, the hashtag in Twitter helps to categorize and connect the happenings around the world, and categorizes based on your interest too.

Flashback 2021~

Ain Husniza, who is 18 years old and is now known as one of the Malaysian activists for sexual harassment in schools, posted a video on TikTok and Twitter sharing an incident regarding her teacher who made a rape joke back in 2021. The video and the issue went viral in Malaysia, sparking a worldwide debate about sexual harassment, misogyny, and school violence. The video shared by Ain is eye-opening as such incidents are considered “normal” in school. The debate, therefore, prompted Ain to produce the hashtag #/MakeSchoolASaferPlace to advocate for making schools a safe and secure learning environment and empower other students to come forward and share their unpleasant school experiences (Taylors University, 2022). The hashtag gained attention and therefore made a lot of people share other than sexual harassment that has been going on in their schools, such as bullying and abuse. Due to this movement, everyone became aware of the issue and therefore be alert and not normalize such incidents.

Source: @/ainhsaifulnizam twitter

<link to her twitter thread on the incident, in case y’all are interested in knowing more on the issue~

https://twitter.com/ainhsaifulnizam/status/1385715912746012672 >

Well, what we can learn from this incident? To be careful on what we say, especially on the sensitive issues! #SelfReminder.

Next, let's go back to the #/BlackLivesMatter (BLM) protest. The protesters have helped spread the movement's message and information through the hashtag across every social media platform. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter in social media posts enables more personalized and extensive public discourse. Due to the accessibility of digital media networks, many groups can join forces to exchange information and personal experiences and mobilize around a common cause through the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter (Mundt et al., 2018). The BLM movement became a global movement through social media due to the issue spreading across different platforms. Through Twitter, one of Nashville's largest peaceful protests was organized in 2020 by six teenagers, bringing a massive number of protestors to the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville in June 2004.

Source: (The Tennessean, 2020)

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/williamson/franklin/2020/07/02/meet-nashville-teens-who-launched-movement-social-change/5349352002/

Source: (Good Morning America, 2020) https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/story/teen-girls-organizers-nashvilles-massive-black-live-matters-71129776

Hence, through social media, The Black Lives Matter movement has raised awareness about the racial injustices Black people face worldwide. It has evolved into a means of opposing police brutality and racialized violence against Black people. As said by Masummi (2009), “As a whole, social media flows “bring the collectivity of shared events to the fore.”

Conclusion

To conclude, social media brings an impact on activism and protest. As mentioned, #BLM and #MakeSchoolASafer are some of the few successful movements pointing out unfairness and misogyny. Therefore, social media plays a vital role in activism and protests in building communities and promoting awareness of the happenings around the globe.

References

Tufekci, Z. and Wilson, C., 2012. Social media and the decision to participate in political protest: Observations from Tahrir Square. Journal of communication, 62(2), pp.363-379.

Massumi, B., 2009. National enterprise emergency: Steps toward an ecology of powers. Theory, Culture & Society, 26(6), pp.153-185.

Mundt, M., Ross, K. and Burnett, C.M., 2018. Scaling social movements through social media: The case of Black Lives Matter. Social Media+ Society, 4(4), p.2056305118807911.

Taylors University, 2022., #makeschoolasaferplace: What can you do about it? . Available at: https://college.taylors.edu.my/en/life-at-taylors/news-events/news/make-school-a-safer-place-what-can-you-do-about-it.html (Accessed: October 13, 2022).

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Do online political memes influence the youth?

Before the pandemic, memes have been around, however, when the world was plunged into the abrupt pandemic, there was a rise in users of social media which in turn, stirred the creativity of many users to create memes.

Now, we all know what memes are. In short, it’s a form entertainment catered to all age groups with topics ranging from something as trivial as food to something significant in this age: the politics.

One of the few popular political memes were Donald Trump in which he gained more, well, meme-rs was when he decided to build a wall as a barrier between Mexico-United States, “The Wall”.

source https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2712119/donald-trump-mexico-wall-memes/

With such creations it not only served as amusing, but it also spread to the world and became ‘informative’. Anyone and everyone with access to such media are aware of political happenings in the most hilarious way. Which then comes to our topic: do online political memes influence the youth?

Casey Lee (2017) concluded that "social media will be an important medium and tool for political communication in Malaysia's next general elections." Well…. Youths now are constantly on social media and now they prove to be even more useful as the age for voters in Malaysia is reduced to 18 years old.

Most of them are exposed to the current issues of the world like the war between Ukraine and Russia and even the current fight for rights of non-hijab wearers in Iran. However, these young minds are raw to the world, as fresh as a newborn in the dark happenings of the world.

Exhibit A: NAAAAAAAANTSSS INGONYAMAA BAGITHI BABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

With social media, they follow the trend and try to understand memes pertaining to such occurrences. As such, before they are mentally mature, they form opinions.

So how do memes influence the youth?

Based on the memes they see on internet, they do not look up the meaning behind the memes, and just take it as it is. Basically, if one consumes political memes without conducting research it can often influence who they vote for, giving politicians a very scary advantage over the younger voting base (Zariah, 2020).

However, political memes are now used as a campaigning tool. For instance, in Uganda, memes are used by politics to communicate and influence the public opinion (Kasirye, 2019). Exposure to memes can raise political awareness and also increase political ideology and interest. Not to forget, humorous meme contents incorporates public view and has a greater influence on the audience.

To conclude, yes, it does influence youths.

Now, with all that aside, Exhibit B: Memes. Political Memes. Not much, but its "sufficient", i believe, for this topic.

source: https://pizzabottle.com/32529-best-trump-memes-youll-get-out-of-this-administration/

source: https://pizzabottle.com/32529-best-trump-memes-youll-get-out-of-this-administration/

source: https://twitter.com/kamalasidemans/status/1352060246643118081

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

What are blogs?

Blogs are a major phenomenon of digital culture. They are individual, idiosyncratic commentaries written by individuals or groups and posted on a regular basis on the Internet (Cross, 2011). Basically blogging is used as a "personal diary" most of the time, where an individual shares their daily life happenings through emotions. Few examples of the popular blogging platforms today are Tumblr and Blogger.

So, is blogging still relevant in the age of instagram and tiktok?

Totally! Approximately 409 million internet users read approximately 20 billion blog pages. As a result, 53% of marketing companies consider blogging to be their primary content business strategy. Moreover, blogging has grown at a 12% annual rate over the last five years (Sanders et al., 2022).

Numerous social media practises are "at root of blogging", where the online space is used by everyone to share their ideas, opinions, and thoughts (Rettberg, 2014).

What is the difference between the "old" blogging era and today's way of blogging in social media?

It far more emphasis on images; relatively short fragments to accommodate reading and sharing behaviour patterns on mobile devices; and a fragmentation of interactions that now take place in blogs themselves to a lesser extent and are instead spread across social media (Rettberg, 2014).

Instagram and Tiktok seems to have evolve the old way of blogging. Instagram has the monthly users of two billon as of February 2022 (Anon, 2022). Tiktok, on the other hand has over one billion monthly active users (Anon, 2022) while Tumblr, being one of the popular blog platform has currently over 200 million visitors compared to Instagram and Tiktok (Clement, 2022).

Instagram's 'Reels' feature allows an individual to post a video of 15 to 60 seconds long. The video content depends on the individual to share their personalities or even to use it as their marketing strategy. Tiktok on the other hand, Tiktok is similar to Instagram, however, only videos can be shared in the platform. Both the social media platforms have the ability to share and explore posts based on hashtags, such as travel and food.

It is rare to hear blogs getting viral, but generally the posts in social media gets viral easily. Not to forget, Facebook , YouTube and Twitter too, are used as a platform to express their feelings. YouTube is used to upload vlogs (blog but in a video format). Hence, these platforms are mostly used to share the happenings in one's live (other than e-commere activities), hence the term 'microblog' is appropriate to use refer these platforms.

"blogs are not relevant now"-

Relationship between blogging and public sphere

image source: https://earlyamericanists.com/2014/05/12/the-public-sphere-and-early-american-democracy/

According to Jurgen Habermas (1989), public opinion is formed when "private people come together as a public." Community may also be considered a public sphere.

The 'blogosphere', has been hailed as the ultimate "web 2.0" phenomenon, and it is now at the centre of a debate over the potential transformation of citizenship, journalism, and the democratic public sphere. The question is, is the blogosphere just another media "echo chamber," or is it establishing itself as a separate sphere of news dissemination, opinion formation, and expression?

Well, there are few ways that blogosphere can contribute to the public sphere. First, by encouraging individuals to participate in an ongoing discussion to liberate them from boundaries of their physical or influenced environments and allow them to create a new identity and participate in novel social behaviours. Secondly, journalist being able to use blogosphere as their additional source to obtain information or to connect with their readers in personal way (Milioni & Kyza, 2009).

Although it contributes to the public sphere, blogs can emerge moral panic too, which means false exageration of information that is greater than the actual threat (Frothingham, 2021). As they say, "don't believe everything you see on the net."

Blogging and Identity

Not everyone wants to expose their real identity on the Internet. It depends on how bloggers want to share and influence their online communities (Pluempavarn & Panteli, 2008). Hence, having a positive identity especially in blogging is crucial to create a connection between the reader and the writer.

Conclusion

Based on my research, blogging is still relevant in today's age. Just that, it has evolved, just like how internet is evolving. I personally still come across blogs too! Hence, blog will continue to be one of the communication platform for an individual to express their emotions or for other purposes.

References

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