Social Media Blogging

This blog is used strictly for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

[cassandra-acf]

Public Health Campaigns & Communities

Public health is defined as the science of protecting the safety and improving the health of communities through education, policy making and research for disease and injury prevention. (What is the definition of public health? N.d.). Those with public health degrees keep communities healthy through child wellness, disease prevention, education, disaster relief, clean water, access to healthcare, and much more. 

Why is public health important? Public health is important because it can help to analyse the overall condition in the community. Without a public health system, it will be challenging for any health worker to determine the circumstances, needs, and areas of improvement for a specific community. Besides, the community can rally for financial assistance and priorities in the budget of the government. (Why A Public Health System Is Important In Communities 2019). For example, now that the current pandemic outbreak, COVID-19, is becoming serious day by day, which cause multiple deaths, the Malaysian government are fully involve to help and guide the community in this outbreak by enforcing Movement Control Order (MCO) to decrease the spreading of this virus and constantly post latest updates on social media such as news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Besides, the government is allocating an additional RM600 million for Health Ministry to combat COVID-19. These additional funds will be used to purchase equipment like ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical staff as well as to beef up manpower. (Yusof 2020).

Is social media useful in spreading information on covid-19 in Malaysia or your home country?

According to The Star 2020, in Kuala Lumpur, a social media post by a Malaysian doctor, Dr Gee Teak Sheng, urging the public to obey to the government’s restricted movement order (RMO) has triggered a #StayAtHome and #KitaJagaKita (We take care of ourselves) campaign on social media. He took to Facebook to remind Malaysians that staying home would help to not only curb the spread but also lighten the burden of front-line medical experts during this crucial time. In less than 12 hours, the post has spread like wildfire and have gained at least 17,000 likes and 57,000 shares on the social media platform. Nevertheless, despite the government’s order to cancel all mass gatherings, some Malaysians were still seen flouting it by eating out and gathering at public parks, which led to Dr Gee posting the content. So other health workers have also joined in by posting similar posts and tweeting on the importance of keeping one another safe and have used the #StayAtHome. The hashtag is currently trending on Twitter, with more than 150,000 tweets have been posted on the matter it so far, which led to the general public responding with the #KitaJagaKita hashtag, with many thanking the medical professionals for their service, as well as encouraging one another to be more responsible by staying put and aware of the situation.

However, as the world fights COVID-19, the online public sphere across the world is witnessing unprecedented misinformation and fake news. Misinformation is contributing to paranoia and making the fight against COVID-19 even tougher. According to Leong 2020, the news of “Special military helicopters will spray pesticide from the sky all over the country tonight, so please stay indoors” is just one of the hundreds of fake messages that have made the rounds of mobile phones across Malaysia in recent weeks as the country imposes a partial shutdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Malaysia’s civil servants and medical experts have not been spared, with fake information being falsely attributed to them on social media. With that said, one such victim was Datuk Christopher Lee, a former health ministry official specialising in infectious diseases. A WhatsApp message claiming to be from him warned people against touching letters, in case they contracted COVID-19from the envelope. Besides that, there are chain messages on WhatsApp saying that most common virus miracle cures circulating online include gargling salt water, drinking boiled ginger and eating garlic. These have been discredited by experts. (Leong 2020).

In conclusion, I believe social media is both useful but also not fully reliable in spreading information on COVID-19 in Malaysia. Yes, social media could help in spreading awareness about the danger of this virus and tips on how to avoid getting them, however, it could also help to spreading false news which could cause more damage, for example, sparking panic buying at supermarkets or people promoting false cures and scamming millions of ringgit off buyers desperate to get their hands on surgical masks.

List of references

Covid-19: Two Malaysia hashtags, including #StayAtHome, trending in the country, 2020, The Star, viewed 9 May 2020, <https://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2020/03/19/covid-19-two-malaysia-hashtags-including-stayathome-trending-in-the-country>.

Leong, T 2020, False information goes viral as Malaysia tackles coronavirus outbreak, The Straits Times, viewed 9 May 2020, <https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/coronavirus-false-information-goes-viral-as-malaysia-tackles-outbreak>.

What is the definition of public health? n.d., University of Pittsburgh, viewed 9 May 2020, <https://www.publichealth.pitt.edu/careers/what-is-public-health>.

Why A Public Health System Is Important In Communities 2019, Healthcare Business Today, viewed 9 May 2020, <https://www.healthcarebusinesstoday.com/why-a-public-health-system-is-important-in-communities/>.

Yusof, A 2020, Malaysia government allocates additional RM600 million for Health Ministry to combat COVID-19, CAN newsletters, viewed 9 May 2020, <https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/malaysia-covid-19-muhyiddin-movement-control-order-jun-9-extend-12718738>.

[kirstin-k]

Social Gaming

Games are often enjoyed by everyone especially the younger generations. It is even said that gaming is all about the community. In the entertainment industry, gaming was known as the fastest growing enjoyment even more than films, TV shows and others. Compared to other communities like social media, gaming communities are often known to be diverse and centred around an organisation, events, or anything game related.

There are many advantages of online gaming as gamers are able to gain experience and life skills, they are also able to connect with others online and form bonds with their teammates. Playing with other people helps them learn to cooperate with others and build confidence. They can even learn how to lead a team as the team leader of a multiplier game. Online games are also a platform used to talk about their fears and sadness in a safe way, as they do not need to be afraid to talk face to face with others but instead have a virtual space to do so. Gamers will need to use critical thinking to win a game or solve a puzzle in the games they are playing. This helps them keep their mind active and use the time to think deeply instead of doing activities what do not benefit them at all.

The gaming community is enjoyed by everyone, but there is always a bad side to everything. On of the problem is the toxic community also known as trolls. These people love to hate on others by blaming their teammates, making irritating sounds into their microphones, or the one that does not give other players chance to play their games properly, they dare to do these things because of anonymity. Anonymity means that other players do not know who the other person is and cannot track them down. Other than that, gaming can be addicting and can causes the players to forget about their health as well as spend to much money on games that they cannot afford. Some even chooses to go bankrupt just to get a new game.

black female gamers are often faced with misogynoir and overt racism in the gaming community. It really should not matter how a person look like or what gender they are when online gaming should be for fun, not to push others down. Female players often receive words like “Girls do not play games” are often thrown at women because they believe that girls belong in the kitchen and so on. The N-word is also thrown around like it is appropriate to use during games with people of colour. Girls who uses their web cams while gaming also was asked to do inappropriate things like to twerk or show them their private areas. In a 2015 study conducted, more than 66% of games experience major harassment and most of them includes racist comments and threats. 29% of gamers were said to have been doxed during an online game. 

With these in mind the gaming community is not a bad place, there is just bad people in them, gamers around the world should stand together and lift each other up instead of spreading negativity, threats and harassing others.

References

Morris. N. (2020). Black women are being targeted with ‘disgusting’ misogynoir in online gaming forums. Metro. Retrieved from https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/11/black-women-racially-abused-online-gaming-needs-stop-12359923/

Hawks. K. (2017). Top 10 problems every gamer has faced. Vocal. Retrieved from https://vocal.media/gamers/top-10-problems-every-gamer-has-faced

 https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/self-educational-effects-computer-gaming/20980

Online gaming - The benefits. (2020). internet matters. Retrieved from https://www.internetmatters.org/resources/online-gaming-advice/online-gaming-the-benefits/

pcdreams. (2016). The significance of online gaming communities. pcdreams. Retrieved from https://pcdreams.com.sg/the-significance-of-online-gaming-communities/

[changsiying]

I like this post!

[samanthaelsathings]

Political Engagement

In the era we live in currently, social media is becoming an important tool for politicians to allow the public to engage and participate in their manifestos. This is because social media has a strong influence on public participation in politics. Do you ever wonder why?

Social media has provided an outlet for communication and keeping up with the world as politicians share their opinions and thoughts through social media platforms which can be read by anyone around the world (Juniors, 2019). According to Falasca (2019), most political parties uses social media to promote and advertise their manifestos to the public and to showcase how much good deed that they have contributed to the society to win over the public’s interest. This is because when a politician lets out a massage, their followers would do the work of spreading the word and liking it. In fact, when a post has a massive impact, it would create a chain reaction giving it great publicity without doing much.

However, many politicians have also caused controversies through social media platforms. Take for example, the famous controversial current US president, Donald Trump. In the many years, Trump has been famously known for posting obnoxious tweets. Recently, Trump has tweeted a controversial tweet regarding the current pandemic saying that the World Health Organization (W.H.O) blew it which he claimed to be funded largely by the United Sates, yet very “China Centric” (Lanyon, 2020).

Ever since Trump got elected, there has been a debate on whether Trump should be banned on Twitter for violating Twitter’s rules but by blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial tweets would hide some important information that is needed for people to see and debate. (Mahdawi, 2019). This has been a back and forth argument topic for a while now.

In conclusion, social media is great place for politician to spread awareness and to allow for engagement from their supporters when used in a proper manner. Meanwhile, social media has also been a place for entertainment for the public. For example, when there are a lot of funny “mak cik kiah” memes after the recent announcements regarding the current pandemic by the Malaysian Prime Minister, Tun Muhyiddin Yassin. Although it was a serious topic, he managed to keep everyone calm and entertained during this time.

References

Falasca, K c. 2019, ‘How does the political parties use social media? Who is actually working for whom?’, Mid Sweden University, <https://www.miun.se/en/Research/archive/how-do-the-parties-use-social-media-who-is-actually-working-for-whom/>.

Lanyon, C 2020, ‘Coronavirus: Donald Trump threatens to cut off WHO funding over agency’s handling of outbreak’, South China Morning Post, <https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3078865/donald-trump-says-who-too-focused-china-and-really-blew-it>.

Juniors, J 2019, ‘Opinion: The Controversies of Social Media’, JMORE Juniors, <https://www.jmoreliving.com/2019/04/25/opinion-the-controversies-of-social-media/>.

Mahdawi, A 2019, ‘Should Trump be Banned from Twitter?’, The Guardian, <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/04/should-trump-be-banned-from-twitter>.

[changsiying]

Agree with what you have writing here!!!

[maureensim]

Social Gaming

What is social gaming

In my opinion, social gaming is the games you can play online that require social interaction between players. When you think about game, immediately you can think of PUBG.  PUBG is one of the games that require interaction between players to win the game or as people like to call ‘chicken dinner’. Social gaming is a form of relaxation and distraction from the outside world (Logan 2020).Because of the advance of technologies that are available, the social gaming industry is one of the fastest growing industries(The insane Growth of Social Gaming 2020).

According to Whitson and Dormann (2011), social gaming can raise awareness in the real world by delivery powerful statements which hope can inspire players to change the view or attitude in the real world. Social impact games, activist games, persuasive games, or even documentary games are some of the example of social gaming that can create social awareness of a particular issues, educate and change attitude and behaviour of players, and promote activism and social engagement.

How social media change social gaming

One of the social media platforms that are commonly used is Facebook. Facebook popular with game design in which players can keep on nipping back in throughout the day to check on the progress of the game, one of the examples of social gaming that is popular on Facebook is Farmville(Stuart 2014). Farmville allows player to build their own farm where player can plant and harvest crops and trees. This is a good example of a social gaming where the player needs to check on their farm from time to time. Besides that, through Facebook, users can share their experience by sending an invite to their friend. Players can invite and play with their friend to share the same experience in a game. Moreover, Players also can chat with their friend while playing the game on Facebook. It is very convenient for Facebook user to do two things in in time.

Are Gaming Communities Becoming More Toxic?

In my opinion, gaming communities are slowly becoming more toxic. According to Schneider (2019), women who play games are often verbally abused or molested online. Women gamer has experienced a negative impact which lead to loneliness and experiencing anxiety in the gaming world. Men do not received threat or verbally abused online like women. According to Mclean and Griffiths (2018), online game players are supposed to feel less lonely and society anxiety, but women did not received the same feeling as men.

References:

Logan, B 2020, ‘Social Gaming-A Usability Perspective’, Spotless, Viewed 31 May 2020,< https://www.spotless.co.uk/insights/social-gaming-usability/>.

McLean, L., & Griffiths, M. D. 2018, ‘Female Gamers’ Experience of Online Harassment and Social Support in Online Gaming: A Qualitative Study’, International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, pp. 1-25.

Stuart, K 2014, ‘ 10 Ways Facebook Changed Gaming Forever’, The Guardian, Viewed 31 May 2020, <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/04/10-ways-facebook-changed-gaming-for-ever#maincontent>.

Snhneider, K.R. 2019, ‘How to Deal With A Toxic Gaming Culture’, Digital Culture, Viewed 31 May 2020,  <https://www.dw.com/en/how-to-deal-with-a-toxic-gaming-culture/a-50075300>.

‘The Insane Growth of Social Gaming’ 2020, Digicult, Viewed 31 May 2020, <http://digicult.it/internet/the-insane-growth-of-social-gaming/>.

Whitson, J. R., & Dormann, C 2011, ‘Social gaming for change: Facebook unleashed’. First Monday, vol. 16, no. 10.

[changsiying]

[hubertpohhh]

Global Social Media: Eritrea

Many may not heard about Eritrea before and so do I. Therefore following my curiosity, I am about to find out more of Eritrea as in the location, the internet access and the people. Eritrea is located in the north east of Africa on the Red Sea surrounded by neighbour countries like Djibouti, Sudan, Ethiopia with the population of over 5 million. The country is listed as the most isolated place on earth in term of internet connections, in other word ‘The Africa’s North Korea’. The internet access in this country is fully controlled by its government and it is the only African country to have no privately-owned media (BBC News 2019). The internet censorship and surveillance has got to another level here in Eritrea. It is also voted as the tops list of most censored countries in the world overtaking China, North Korea and any others (VOA News 2019). According to a list compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists (n.d.), the following are the ranking of top 10 most censorship countries:

Eritrea

North Korea

Turkmenistan

Saudi Arabia

China

Vietnam

Iran

Equatorial Guinea

Belarus

Cuba

In Eritrea, internet access is all government-controlled and less than 1% of the population reportedly go online. All non-government controlled media is banned. There is no room for freely reported news and the media are subject to the whim of the president. According BBC News (2019), the government has held a monopoly over broadcasting since independence as well as shutting down all independent media since 2001. Its exceptionally limited internet access has caused unconvience to its people as well as there are no connection between the citizens and outside world. Do the government actually cares about their citizens feelings in term of freedom? The answer could be no because citizens could not have knew their news are being censored. Citizens might still lived under the rock where they know nothing about internet, digital media, and so on. Are the government being selfish or they are hiding somethings fishy? It remains a unanswered question.

Why do some countries censor the internet?

In this 21st century, where digital media is almost everything in our daily life, current technological movement gives the impression that the internet is unrestrained but imagine people or the whole country’s media is totally censored by its government. Well, there are countries like that, citizens has no access to internet, to social media, to the world. The common reasons behind are always related to politics to completely controlling what information citizens have access to. But unlike any countries, Eritrea has the strictest law on censoring the country’s internet which allows governments to be able to hold greater over what people say and do, and often, how they vote (Open Access Government 2019). Access to information throughout the country is also hurt by a prohibition against mobile Wi-Fi, and means Eritreans are only able to access the internet via slow dial-up modems, which could account for the very low access rate of just 1%.

Not only that, North Korea with the dictatorship of its supreme leader Kim is known to have a extremely strict censorship rules over its country. With the government able to take strict control over communications, all media outlets are owned and controlled by the North Korean government. As such, all media in North Korea get their news through the only government oriented platform; Korean Central News Agency. All news, information publish by any North Korean media has to go through and get its information from Korean Central News Agency. It is believe that the reasons are mostly because of its propaganda as back in the days to prevent conflicts with countries like China, Russia and South Korea (Veronica 2016, vol.37, pp.46-50). In addition, it also helps to prevent any distribution of digital media files hence it also prevent the loss of control in term of digital media distribution and also easier for tracking (Schiess 2017, pp.4).

People Republic of China, one of the biggest censors of the internet and uses a vast digital barrier nicknamed “The Great Firewall of China” has implemented the similar concepts across its country as well and significantly stepped up its game starting from 2012 when President Xi took place. The government censors content for mainly political reasons, but also to maintain its control over the populace. The government maintains censorship over all media capable of reaching a wide audience. This includes television, print media, radio, film, theatre, text messaging, instant messaging, video games, literature and the internet. However unlike others countries, China has also developed its own national social media or internet platform to benefit its citizen which are mainly allowed to use only in China. Social media apps such as WeChat, Sina Weibo, Tencent QQ, DouYin and many more.

Do citizens have a choice on censorship? Does this means they have no rights to oppose?

Censorship appears in most countries whether it is seriously carried out or not. Even country like Malaysia has its own censorship on internet websites as well. Malaysia ban most of the pornography websites which prevent citizens to gain any access to any of those websites which could potentially harm the younger generations or any individuals. Back to Eritrea, personally from my point of view, people living there do not get a choice to decide in fact they have to follow whatever their government said to stay tight with their legal rules and regulations. They are put in a situation whereby they can only listen to orders from the government and do not get freedom from there.

Well, there are exceptional cases where citizens tries to disobey the rules set by Eritrea’s government on censorship media. As of 2018, at least 16 journalists were still behind bars or imprisoned in Eritrea. I believed with the advancement of technologies available these days, it could be getting easier for people to break the wall, oppose the law and reach for the outside world. Virtual Private Network (VPN) is one of the ways for any individuals to use and have access to the internet browsers. 

List of References:

BBC News 2019, ‘Eritrea profile - Media’, viewed 6 June 2020 <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13349077>.

VOA News 2019, ‘Eritrea Tops List of Most Censored Countries’, viewed 6 June 2020, <https://www.voanews.com/africa/eritrea-tops-list-most-censored-countries>.

Committee to Protect Journalists (n.d.), ‘10 Most Censored Countries’, viewed 6 June 2020, <https://cpj.org/reports/2019/09/10-most-censored-eritrea-north-korea-turkmenistan-journalist/>.

Open Access Government (2019), ‘Why do some countries censor the internet?’, viewed 7 June 2020, <https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/countries-censor-the-internet/58366/>.

Veronica, M 2016, ‘Propaganda and Censorship: Adapting to the Modern Age’, ProQuest, vol.37, pp.46-50, viewed 7 June 2020, <https://search.proquest.com/openview/69209b239e82cd368d45cc68d1c62c09/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=32013>.

Schless, N 2017, Governmental Control of Digital Media Distribution in North Korea: Surveillance and Censorship on Modern Consumer Devices, ERNW GmbH, pp.4, viewed 7 June 2020, <https://mirror.adversec.com/dprk/docs/governmental_control_of_digital_media_distribution_in_north_korea-nschiess.pdf>.

[changsiying]

Great sharing!!! Eritrea’s internet access also been banned like what North Korea done...I just discovered when reading this post. Thanks for sharing it!

[changsiying]

#8 Case Study

What happened in North Korea?

North Korea is home to more than 25 million people who live under communist rule that tightly controls every area of daily life (North Korea: everything you need to know about the country 2020, p. 1). For instance, people have to seek permission to travel around and it is difficult for tourists to enter the country. All television and radio were tuned to national channels, and those who listened to foreign broadcasts were severely punished. These controls mean that most North Koreans are likely ignorant of world events or how the outside world views their country. This is because North Koreans cannot access the internet or mobile phone network, and even the foreigners cannot use data roaming, only can access to their data roaming (Dewey 2013). This can be seen that all their networks are heavily restricted and regulated by the government.

Internet access in North Korea

Majority of North Koreans unable to access to the internet. Even if they have access to the Internet, they don't have free access to the website, unlike us, we can easily access what we want to see or know. According to Talmadge (2016, p. 1), in year 2016, North Korean officials announced they were blocking Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and South Korean websites in an effort to further restrict access to outside information. 

Other than that, the announcement added that anyone who tried to hack into the sites, access them in an "improper" way or publish "anti-republic data" from them would be punished under North Korean law (Talmadge 2016, p. 1). However, the announcement did not mention what penalties would be imposed.

Social media in North Korea

Most citizens have no access to social media. Unlike foreigners' networks, locals can only access government-approved websites and applications through a restricted domestic intranet (Reddy 2019). North Koreans use the bright intranet and future public Wi-Fi for intranet wireless access, but only a handful of websites are accessible. According to Asher (2016, p. 1), only 28 known websites are accessible in North Korea which are managed by their government.

With or without Internet restrictions, state surveillance is a risk for every North Korean. North Korea has also experimented with home-grown social networks. According to Reddy (2019), in May 2016, a clone Facebook, named StarCon was discovered, but its accessibility was immediately questioned. 

Martyn Williams, who runs a website called North Korea Tech, questioned StarCon's existence under state censorship, saying it was "hard to see a social network that could exist on the domestic Internet". StarCon was hacked shortly after it appeared and eventually taken offline. In North Korea, citizens with internet access can search on Uriminzokkiri, this is their own version of Google.

To sum up, North Korea bans and censors all foreign websites from other countries to protect its citizens from Western culture and influence. However, in my point of view, it is also a way of instilling self-discipline by keeping citizens away from pornographic websites, political websites, western practices and more places where breaking self-discipline is punishable. Its impact is significant because, until now, most North Koreans have not risked violating the country's Internet censorship.

 Reference List

‘North Korea: everything you need to know about the country’ 2020, BBC News, 27 April, p. 1.

Asher, S 2016, ‘What the North Korean internet really looks like’, BBC News, 21 September, p. 1.

Dewey, C 2013, ‘A rare glimpse of North Korean version of Facebook’, The Washington Post, viewed 5 June 2020, <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/03/13/a-rare-glimpse-of-north-koreas-version-of-facebook/>.

Reddy, S 2019, Analysis: how does North Korea use social media?, BBC Monitoring, viewed 5 June 2020, < https://monitoring.bbc.co.uk/product/c200xiwn>.

[changsiying]

#7 Social Gaming

What is Social Gaming?

Social gaming refers to ‘the activity of playing online games with other members of the same online group’ (Definition of ‘social gaming’ 2020). According to Paavilainen et al. (2013, p. 796), social gaming can be defined as the gaming industry that plays video games on social networking services such as Facebook. The most popular category of apps on the site is gaming, which launched in 2007. Social games are distinguished by five factors (O’Neill 2008):

(1)  Turn-based: Playing games with other players on the platform is also considered social, allowing users to take turns while playing the game.

(2)  Awareness of other people's behaviour in the game: A behaviour that allows the user to interact more with the game by performing an action in the game and then sending a notification to another player.

(3)  Casual: Designed for casual or casual gamers.

(4)  Multiplayer: In social games, for a game to be considered social, it must allow two or more players to participate.

(5)  Social platform-based: Most social games originate from social media platforms, which provide simple communication for players in the game or platform.

Social gaming brings positive changes!

Social gaming has changed the world in positive way. 

For example, WeTopia encourages players to play for a good goal. The game had some good results in 2012, such as providing 1 million days of school for Haitian children and 45,000 meals for children in Las Vegas. 

In addition, in October 2012, Joy Kingdom provided 53,000 bowls of food to cats and dogs at an animal shelter (Swallow 2013), successfully helping pets and animals around the world.

However……

Gaming communities have toxic environment!

While some games allow anonymous play, most games on social media platforms, such as Facebook, are linked to players' profiles. This makes sexism against women, gays, bisexuals, and so forth toxic, and if players don't play well, their gender or ethnic minority can be used against them. The claim against these players is that they belong somewhere else or that they should be doing something other than playing games, because games are supposed to be for men and young boys (Reymann-Schneider 2019). 

Research shows that many video games stereotypes and content about women may encourage sexism. The argument against women is that they belong in the kitchen, because women are not considered competent enough to play games. The gaming culture has also influenced LGBT players, who are known as "broke back mountain," which means "stupid gay people", forcing players to quit the game (Riedel 2018). 

In addition, women are often underrepresented in video games. They are described as attractive people, sexual objects and indecent people. Women are depicted as sexual objects by displaying revealing clothing or partial nudity (Dietz 1998). In a systematic analysis of 47 randomly selected games, the female characters wore low-cut costumes and could see their cleavage (Beasley & Standley 2002).

Game or monetization?

With the emergence of more and more online games, new monetization strategies have been developed. Some games offer a monthly subscription to play on the game server, and paid access to premium content for the experience is considered a microtransaction. The gaming industry is estimated to be worth $90 billion, of which 70% of android-based games and 80% of iOS games are being monetized (Gough 2020). Game monetization has already affected the game community. When game monetization dominates, users or players will feel no reason to buy the game, because it has no value and is just used to make money (Nikita 2015). 

In my opinion, the gaming community has become more monetized than playing games. Most players buy items from the game to enhance their experience, but most do so for self-satisfaction and to show off to other players. It's not so much a question of play as of how much things cost. On Youtube, for example, players can upload a video of themselves chasing objects in a game so that they can play a smooth game on the screen.

 Reference List

Beasley, B & Standley, TC 2009, ‘Shirt vs. Skins: Clothing as an indicator of gender stereotyping in video games’, Mass Communication and Society, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 279-293.

Definition of ‘social gaming’ 2020, Collins Dictionary, viewed 28 May 2020, <https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/social-gaming>.

Dietz, TL 1998, ‘A examination of violence and gender role portrayals in video games: Implications for gender socialization and aggressive behaviour’, Sex Roles, vol. 38, no. 516, pp. 425-426.

Gough, C 2020, Gaming monetization-statistics & facts, Statista, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.statista.com/topics/3436/gaming-monetization/>.

Nikita, K 2015, Monetization in games,  Lahti University of Applied Sciences, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/95966/Kononov_Nikita.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y>.

O’Neill, N 2008, What exactly are social games?, Adweek, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.adweek.com/digital/social-games/>.

Paavilainen, J, Hamari, J, Stenros, J & Kinnunen, J 2013, ‘Social Network Games: Players’ Perspective’, Simulations and Gaming, vol. 44, no. 6, pp. 794-820.

Reymann-Schneider, K 2019, How to deal with a toxic gaming culture, Deutsche Welle, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.dw.com/en/how-to-deal-with-a-toxic-gaming-culture/a-50075300>.

Riedel, S 2018, How LGBTQ + people are trying to fix toxic gaming culture, Them, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.them.us/story/gen-con-gaming-culture>.

Swallow, E 2013, ‘How social games are changing the world’, Forbes, 23 March, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericaswallow/2013/03/23/social-games/#24c294a2377e>.

[changsiying]

#6 Fandom & Fan Activism

What is “fan”?

If a person is a fan for someone or something, especially a famous person or a spot, that person like them very much and are very interested in them. In short, fan refers to ‘when a person admires, supports or take interest in liking someone or something in particular’ (Definition of ‘fan’ 2020).

What is fan community / fandom?

Fandom refers to people who come together or brought together by forming bonds of shared interests (Morrison 2016).

Fandom + Tumblr?

Why are Tumblr and fandom a perfect match? Tumblr is a favourite platform for fans because its user experience is especially good for them. Unlike most social media platforms, Tumblr allows users to customize and edit to their liking (Escribano 2016). For example, users can choose and filter what they want to see on Tumblr, and debate who or what different fans think is better.

In my point of view, the media coverage of fandom is quite exaggerated, claiming that fans are considered "weird" and "overly emotional". Yet, being a fan isn't weird or overly emotional. It's a time of passion for someone or something that can be shared with others who are equally interested. While a few are truly "weird" and "overly emotional," the media should not lump all fans into one category. It is right to express your interests and passions, but it is not right to do something immoral, like break the law or invade your privacy, like stalk or kidnap a celebrity. Besides, it is not advisable to deliberately provoke a fan war among fans, because there should be a limit. However, as a fan of Korean pop culture and dramas, I don't consider myself "weird" or "overly emotional." When I first met my best friends, it was the fandom that brought us together, we talked about the types of music we were interested in and the dramas that we have watched before, and then we formed a group of people with the same interests, which is called fandom.

What is fan activism?

Fan activism can be defined as a form of civic and political participation that results from fan passion and fan culture. Fan activism is more about participating in and solving social, civil and political issues (Vilenchik et al. 2012, p. 1). It is seen as a powerful form of mobilization, especially for young people.

One of the examples of fan activism is that there were thousands of Liverpool fans protested against high ticket prices as Anfield witnessed its first strike in 132 years. Fans celebrated the 77th minute of the game against Sunderland, with around 10,000 fans leaving their seats. Liverpool fans also sang "enough is enough, you greedy bastards, enough is enough" to cheers from the Anfield quartet (Liverpool fans’ walkout protest: around 10,000 leave in 77th minute over ticket prices 2016, p. 1).

Anti-fandom / Toxic fandom

Fans always considered productive as they help to promote content and always influenced by love. However, there are dark side of fandom as well, called anti-fandom or toxic fandom. According to Hind (2007, p. 1), an anti-fan can be defined as someone who “hates” a celebrity or idol. Also, an anti-fan can also be someone who “100 per cent hates” a character. Critics of anti-fandom point out that in South Korea, a group of "extreme anti-fans" now pander to fan clubs, not only to get a scoop on their most hated idols, but also to find out where they are.

The more fans, the more anti-fans. Although it is believed that celebrity idols are loved by everyone, they are also victims of anti-fans who issue death threats. As scary as anti-fans can be, they often make death threats to their idols, even on a daily basis (12 times anti-fans may have conspired to kill idols 2019). Here are some terrifying moments when idols fell victim to anti-fans:

1.     Apink

Apink received a phone call threatening that explosives had been placed at their destination. As a result of these threats, Apink's fan sign event, showcase, Naeun's Dongguk University event, and Eunji's theatrical press conference were all cancelled. The suspect is believed to be a man in his 30s living in Canada.

2.     GFRIEND’s Eunha

In one live broadcast, one of the viewers (suspected to be an international audience) wrote a terrifying comment threatening to kill Eunha. User Yura Kireev wrote: “eunha die in Japan... Kill you in Japan.” The user mentioned SinB and Umji’s name during the live broadcast and threatened to kill them. The user was apparently a well-known anti-fan among the members of GFRIEND, making frequent threats. They even posted pictures of knives and guns on Instagram, as well as a horrifyingly edited image of Eunha's face, which has since been removed.

3.     Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon

At one of their concerts, when the Girls' Generation was performing, a middle-aged man came on stage and pulled Taeyeon away. Sunny followed the man, who, thankfully, was stopped by security. No one knows what the man's intentions are, but nothing has happened to her, which is a great comfort.

In conclusion, be a good fan and support them no matter what the situation is, but don't be too dependent and addicted, which will lead to your stress and depression. Also, do not involve in some immoral events with those anti-fandoms although you dislike someone or something.

Reference List

‘Liverpool fans’ walkout protest: around 10,000 leave in 77th minute over ticket prices’ 2016, The Guardian, 6 February, p. 1.

12 times anti-fans may have conspired to kill idols 2019, Koreaboo, viewed 23 May 2020, <https://www.koreaboo.com/lists/12-idols-antifans-conspire-kill/>.

Definition of ‘fan’ 2020, Collins Dictionary, viewed 23 May 2020, <https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/fan>.

Escribano, U 2016, ‘Tumblr and fandom: a match made in heaven’, The Daily Fandom, 16 March, p.1.

Hind, J 2007, ‘The rise of anti-fan’, The Guardian, 22 April, p. 1.

[changsiying]

#5 Crowdsourcing & Crowdfunding

What is Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding?

In June 2006, Jeff Howe and Mark Robinson introduced the term "crowdsourcing" in an article in Wired Magazine (Whitla 2009, p. 15).

Crowdsourcing involves getting work, information or opinions from a large group of people who submit data via the internet, social media and smartphone apps (Hargrave 2019). People who participate in crowdsourcing sometimes work as paid freelancers, while others do small tasks on a voluntary basis. Nowadays, government is using crowdsourcing to provide a platform for people to express their opinions. Parlement & Citoyens, for example, is an online platform where French representatives and citizens can discuss policy issues and draft laws. At the end of this process, a concluding report will explain when and how citizens' opinions were used in the outcome of the draft law (Burgués 2018). Besides that, in the healthcare and technology industries, useful clinical data can also be crowdsourced. An example is Eliot Van Buskirk's diabetes crowdsourcing project at Harvard University. The school's Clinical and Translation Science launched the InnoCentive project two years ago, where people can post questions about diabetes and have them answered by experts. The best questions and answers are rewarded with money (How crowdsourcing can help healthcare n.d.).

Crowdfunding is the process of raising funds online. In a huge network like social media, crowdfunding can take advantage of the simple accessibility of social media (Smith 2019). In addition, on social media, crowdfunding sites can easily connect investors and entrepreneurs, which may expand the scope of investors beyond the traditional circle of owners, relatives and entrepreneurial ability, thus increasing the possibility of starting a business. For example, crowdfunding websites such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo have attracted hundreds of thousands of people to invest in this huge project. There are three primary types of crowdfunding which are donation-based, rewards-based, and equity crowdfunding (What is crowdfunding? 2020).

In an era filled with fake news, what effect can this have on crowdsourced information?

In the modern age of technology, there is a lot of fake news circulating on social media, but it is difficult to know what information is reliable online, so most people believe it without further investigation. The rapid growth of "fake news" on social media, and its tendency to extend to mainstream news reports, may blur the distinction between credible information and inaccurate information, making the facts a little fuzzy (Carufel 2019). 

However, a new study suggests that the key to stopping the threat of fake news is through crowdsourcing. A study conducted by David Rand and Gordon Pennycook, scholars at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, suggests that the way to combat fake news is to use polls to estimate the level of trust in 60 news sources from across the political spectrum, including "hyper partisan" media. After evaluating the results, the researchers concluded that applying trust ratings to news reporting agencies could help get rid of unreliable information (Gaszcz 2019).

Although crowdsourcing is still under investigation to prevent more fake news, the effect on crowdsourcing is that people believe fake news on social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. However, for companies and organizations, crowdsourcing has many benefits. It can help the organizations attract people from across the enterprise. It can foster a culture of innovation, counter disruption with the wisdom of employees, invite customers to offer ideas, and embrace new ways to drive growth through innovation (Tucker 2019). However, crowdsourcing also has disadvantages. Crowdsourcing may be subjective or error-prone, it may be time-consuming, and it may be relatively expensive where labour is required to be paid.

Can crowdsourcing actually overtake traditional funding mechanism for the creative industries?

In my point of view, crowdsourcing can replace the traditional financing mechanism of the creative industry, because crowdsourcing is more widely used on the internet and social media, so that more people can get access to the internet, instead of the traditional financing mechanism.

 Reference List

Burgués, VA 2018, ‘A hundred places where governments are using tech to crowdsource policy’, Apolitical, 28 July, viewed 15 May 2020, <https://apolitical.co/en/solution_article/a-hundred-places-where-governments-are-using-tech-to-crowdsource-policy>.

Carufel, R 2019, ‘Fighting the spread of fake news- why crowdsourcing is effective’, Agility, viewed 15 May 2020, <https://www.agilitypr.com/pr-news/public-relations/fighting-the-spread-of-fake-news-why-crowdsourcing-is-effective/>.

Gaszcz, C 2019, Research shows crowdsourced trust ratings could help fight the wave of fake news, The Block, viewed 15 May 2020, <https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/9367/research-shows-crowdsourced-trust-ratings-could-help-fight-the-wave-of-fake-news>.

Hargrave, M 2019, Crowdsourcing, Investopedia, viewed 15 May 2020, <https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crowdsourcing.asp>.

How crowdsourcing can help healthcare n.d., Continuum, viewed 15 May 2020, <https://www.carecloud.com/continuum/crowdsourcing-healthcare/>.

Smith, T 2019, Crowdfunding, Investopedia, viewed 15 May 2020, < https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crowdfunding.asp>.

Tucker, BR 2017, ‘How crowdsourcing can enhance innovation performance’, Forbes, 16 June, viewed 15 May 2020, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertbtucker/2017/06/16/how-crowdsourcing-can-enhance-innovation-performance/#38bd00ee54df>.

What is crowdfunding? 2020, Fundable, viewed 15 May 2020, <https://www.fundable.com/learn/resources/guides/crowdfunding/what-is-crowdfunding>.

Whitla, P 2009, ‘Crowdsourcing and its application in marketing activities’, Contemporary Management Research, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 15-28.

[junelllee]

#5 Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding

What is crowdsourcing?

Crowdsourcing refers to a way of sourcing for job, information or opinions from the communities who share their ideas through the internet, social media, and software applications. An example of crowdsourcing is the traffic apps where users can observe the traffic through the app as a platform to provide and also receive real-time traffic updates mutually from a large group of people (Hargrave 2019).

What is crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding involves using the accessibility of social media and websites to source for small amount of funding from a huge number of people to finance a novel business venture. This is to expand the entrepreneurship by increasing the pool of venture capitalists beyond the traditional investors (Smith 2019).

In times of need (social or political), can social media movements like #pulangmengundi (crowdsourcing and crowdfunding transportation to mobilise youths to vote) benefit communities? 

The #pulangmengundi hashtag activity was a social and political movement trending on social medias (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc.) during the 14th General Election. It was started by concerned Malaysians that wished to assist other Malaysians especially the youths to travel home to vote on 9th May 2018. (#PulangMengundi n.d.). The crowdsourcing and crowdfunding activities involve in this movement included carpooling services and travel subsidies that aims to help those who have no transport or could not afford the transportation fees. This movement was a success as according to #PulangMengundi (n.d.), there were 7,000 car-poolers connected, RM75,00 funds pledged by the public, and RM30,000 raised for Persatuan Belia Harmoni Malaysia, which provide bus rides for the youths (Harmoni Malaysia 2018). 

Consequently, 82 percent of voters voted during the election, which is the second highest ever despite that 9th May 2018 was a weekday. The successful result of #pulangmengundi shows that social media movements aiming to crowdsource and crowdfund is beneficial to the communities.

How crowdfunding helps in the cultural and creative industries? 

Cultural and creative industries traditionally is funded by wealthy individuals, companies or the public. With crowdfunding, the cultural and creative project sponsors’ leverage is lower as anybody is able to donate small amounts to a selected project. This certainly saves time and is more convenience than the traditional way in getting financing for cultural and creative industries because crowdfunding provides a simpler and more open means compared to the traditional ones. The internet provides an open platform for a cultural and creative project to get funded as the details of the project are able to be posted online and well informed. Moreover, the platform owners, such as Ketto, a platform allowing people to raise fund for, can charge for a commission of the collected sum (Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding in the cultural and creative sectors 2016). Take Ketto as an example, the commission charged of the collected sum is 4.5% of funds raised for the individuals and 5% of funds raised for the NGOs (Ketto 2020). Furthermore, crowdfunding helps in reducing the risks for the creators as the cost for the projects is able to be shared among the creators himself and the other fund contributors. Another benefit is that it assists in speeding up the project’s progress as social media provides the platform for the distribution and promotion to be done online. As a result, projects under the cultural and creative industries such as music projects, dance performances, video games,  journalists’ work and more are able to survive with the help of crowdfunding by preventing them  to be overlooked by mainstream media (Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding in the cultural and creative sectors 2016).

Reference list

#PulangMengundi n.d., Malaysians helping Malaysians to vote, #PulangMengundi, viewed 13 May 2020, <https://www.pulangmengundi.com/>.

‘Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding in the cultural and creative sectors’ 2016, European Parlimentary Research Service Blog, 24 February, viewed 14 May 2020, <https://epthinktank.eu/2016/02/24/crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-in-the-cultural-and-creative-sectors/>.

Hargrave, M, ‘Crowdsourcing’, Investopedia, 8 July, viewed 13 May 2020, <https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crowdsourcing.asp>.

Harmoni Malaysia 2018, Sumbangan diperlukan untuk bantuan mahasiswa pulang mengundi, 27 April, viewed 13 May 2020, <https://www.facebook.com/beliaharmonimalaysia/photos/a.228383310662572/1007855852715310/?type=3>.

Ketto 2020, How crowdfunding works?, Ketto, viewed 14 May 2020, <https://www.ketto.org/crowdfunding>.

Smith, T 2019, ‘Crowdfunding’, Investopedia, 26 June, viewed 14 May 2020, <https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crowdfunding.asp>.

[changsiying]

Great sharing!!! Informative blog post!!!

[changsiying]

#4 Public Health Campaigns

What is Public Health and Public Health Campaigns?

Public health means ‘the science of protecting communities and improving their health through education, policy development and research to prevent disease and injury’ (Careers in public health-what is the definition of public health 2020). The definition of public health varies from person to person. Whether you enjoy crunching data, conducting laboratory or field research, developing policy, or working directly with people to help improve their health, there is a place for you in public health. As a public health professional, you can work around the world, dealing with health issues in entire communities, and influencing policies that affect the health of societies. Public health involves the application of many different disciplines such as biology, mathematics, public policy, sociology, computer science, medicine, business, education, engineering, psychology and others.

Public health campaigns is defined as promoting public health and preventing the spread of dangerous health risks as an integral communication function of modern society (Cengage 2020). Public health campaigns include the strategic dissemination of information to the public to help populations fend off imminent health threats and adopt health-promoting behaviours (Cengage 2020). In general, the purpose of these activities is to raise public awareness of important health issues by educating specific groups. Health campaigns are generally designed to raise awareness of health threats and target audiences to act in support of public health. For example, public health campaigns often encourage target audience members to adopt healthy behaviors to combat serious health threats. These behaviours can include adopting a healthy lifestyle, including exercise, nutrition and stress reduction.

Is Social Media Useful in Spreading Information on Covid-19 in Malaysia or Your Home Country?

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or WhatsApp are useful for spreading information on Covid-19 as people can update the information through social media with just a click. Also, people use social media to raise the awareness in term of Covid-19. For example, people recorded video which about how to wash our hands on Facebook and there are a lot of pages on Facebook helps to tell and deliver the information regarding Covid-19 for the users. 

Besides that, Instagram also came out with “Stay at Home” sticker to raise the users’ awareness. On some social media platforms, people can find Hashtags like #GumaMurugo, #StayHome, #StaySafe, and so many others (Karuhanga 2020, p. 1). However, social media also brings disadvantages in spreading information on Covid-19. It is difficult to stop social media spreads the fake news. 

Easy to spread, hard to stop. As with other misinformation that spreads easily on social media, there are often no filters to determine if the information is accurate. Despite a joint statement from Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter and YouTube promising to work together to combat misinformation, it is still spreading as fast as the actual coronavirus (Suciu 2020). Even before the pandemic, social media platforms were under pressure to address the spread of fake news and misinformation, but now things seem to be getting worse and worst (Suciu 2020). 

Besides that, Cristina Tardaguila, deputy director of IFCN, pointed out that fake news can sometimes lead to tragic consequences, such as an incident reported in India in February (As Covid-19 spread, fake news on the virus rises 2020, p. 1). 

Tardaguila said that in the Chittoor incident, a 50-year-old man, a father of three, hanged himself after mistakenly believing he was infected with covid-19 (As Covid-19 spread, fake news on the virus rises 2020, p. 1). Although technology makes it easy to share these "news", Malaysians should be aware to click "share" or "send" as it is a crime under Malaysian law to disseminate or share unverified/false news (Fake news and Covid-19 2020).

Social Media Engagement: Importance for Public Health

The following features make social media a viable channel for public health communication efforts (Heldman et al. 2013, p. 3):

1.     Social media works best when combined with traditional public health communication channels.

2.     Through social media, we can target and reach different audiences.

3.     Social media allows us to share public health information in new spaces.

4.     We can listen and gather feedback in real time.

5.     Social media allows us to increase our direct involvement.

Challenges in Social Media Engagement for Public Health

There are also some challenges which will be addressed in the public health community, such as (Heldman et al. 2013, p. 3):

1.     Message control lost.

2.     Move to "direct consumer engagement".

3.     Resource allocation (currency and personnel).

4.     Assess the impact on public health outcomes.

Reference List

‘As Covid-19 spread, fake news on the virus rises’ 2020, The Star, 7 March, p. 1.

‘Fake News and Covid-19’ 2020, Donovan & Ho, 26 March, viewed 9 May 2020, <https://dnh.com.my/fake-news-and-covid-19/>.

Careers in public health-what is the definition of public health 2020, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, viewed 9 May 2020, < https://www.publichealth.pitt.edu/careers/what-is-public-health>.

Cengage 2020, Public health campaigns, Encyclopedia, viewed 9 May 2020, < https://www.encyclopedia.com/media/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/public-health-campaigns>.

Heldman, AB, Schindelar, J & Weaver, JB 2013, ‘Social media engagement and public health communication: implications for public health organisations being truly “social” ‘, Public Health Reviews, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 1-18.

Karuhanga, J 2020, ‘Covid-19: how Rwandans are using social media to raise awareness, enforce lockdown’, The New Times, 4 April, p. 1.

Suciu, P 2020, ‘Covid-19 misinformation remains difficult to stop on social media’, Forbes, 17 April, viewed 9 May 2020, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2020/04/17/covid-19-misinformation-remains-difficult-to-stop-on-social-media/#416f1b4f4819>.

#MDA20009 #DigitalCommunities #Week7

#PublicHealthCampaings

[changsiying]

#3 Activism & Protest

What is Activism and Protest?

Activism means ‘a doctrine or practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue’ (Definition of activism 2020). Examples of activism include petitions, strikes, rallies and more.

Protest means ‘a strong complaint expressing disagreement, disapproval, or opposition’ (Definition of protest 2020). Examples of protest include getting together protesting through carrying signs, art, music, dance and more.

My engagement with Digital Activism:

Digital activism is the use of electronic communication technologies, such as social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook, YouTube, email and podcasts, to facilitate all forms of activism, enabling citizen movements to communicate more quickly and deliver local messages to large audiences (Pathak 2014). 

There was an online petition sharing through Whatsapp and Facebook for students in Swinburne before the university decided to postpone the class for two weeks due to the Covid-19 before, and I have received such online petition from my friends to ask us, as a student, gather the petition and call for the university to offer online courses in order to avoid the Covid-19. Also, I have received another petition which was about refund 40% of the student’s tuition fee after the online class has been working as students think that university should refund a partial of the tuition fees because we cannot use the facilities in campus. Both of the petitions need student to sign up by student ID and student full name, and these were two of the petitions that I have involved recently.

How might activists use social media in the future?

In the modern age of technology, social media is one of the media widely used by activists in social movements. 

One of the famous examples is #MeToo, which aims to raise awareness of women who are victims of sexual harassment, violence, abuse and rape. The founder of MeToo Movement is Tarana Burke, she said that “the movement is not about ‘naming and shaming’, but about changing culture in ways that end sexual violence, support survivors, and eliminate toxic office spaces through open dialogue” (Feloni 2019). According to Kavanagh (2018), there were over half a million women have tweeted MeToo on social media by using hashtag #MeToo. 

There are 7 positive changes that have come from the #MeToo movement (North 2019), including:

1.     States are banning nondisclosure agreements that cover sexual harassment;

2.     States are also introducing protections for more workers;

3.     The Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund has helped over 3,600 people seek justice;

4.     The movement to end the tipped minimum wage is gaining steam;

5.     Congress has reformed some of its process for staffers reporting sexual harassment;

6.     Some survivors are getting financial restitution;

7.     Americans have changed how they think about power.

From this example, it might motivate the activists use social media in future as it is possible to give a good influence and good impact on social media regarding the movement. In my point of view, if a person wants to become a successful activist with good impact, this person must know how to deal professionally with activists on social media, like Tarana Burke.

How does graffiti/street become symbols of a protest?

Protesters have many ways of protesting. Some people use social media as a platform to express their opinions. Some people express their feelings in different ways, such as street art. Graffiti is a secret language that has its own message. Graffiti is also a form of social protest, though some might consider it a form of vandalism. There are different types of graffiti all over the world. In some countries, artists have sprayed walls to spread awareness, and some protests have displayed a meaningful message, such as graffiti from the Middle East and Africa. For example, graffiti calls for the release of Nelson Mandela in South Africa (Graffiti-creative expression, social protest or mindless vandalism 2017).

A famous street artist, Banksy, became a street artist through graffiti and anonymous signatures. He moved to different countries and hid his identity in graffiti art to express his feelings. However, when the message is about political or social change, it becomes a symbol of protest. In Iraq, for example, Donald Trump wore a Swastika. It hit America. Because of his anti-immigration stance. Trump passed a travel ban in 2017 on refugees and travel from six Muslim-majority countries, and the critic has been called the anti-Muslim ban. Iraq was originally part of the ban country (Difazio 2017).

To sum up, activism and protesting in social media have their own advantages and disadvantages, depending on the people who post or share activism and protesting on social media.

Reference List

Pathak, JP 2014, ‘Digital activism through social media; its applicability in creating political awareness in India’, Netaji Nagar Journal of English Literature and Language.

Feloni, R 2019, ‘The founder of #MeToo explains why her movement isn’t about ‘naming and shaming’, and how she’s fighting to reclaim its narrative’, Business Insider, 16 April, p.1.

Kavanagh, J 2018, ‘Women Unite- what is the Me Too hashtag and what does #MeToo have to do with Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein?’, The Sun, 18 April, p. 1.

Difazio, J 2017, ‘Trump graffiti blasting the president appears around the world’, International Business Times, 8 August, p. 1.

Graffiti-creative expression, social protest or mindless vandalism 2017, Zayah World, viewed 26 April 2020, < https://www.zayahworld.com/graffiti-art-street-art/>.

Definition of activism 2020, Merriam-Webster, viewed 26 April 2020, <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/activism>.

North, A 2019, 7 positive changes that have come from the #MeToo movement, Vox, viewed 26 April 2020, < https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/10/4/20852639/me-too-movement-sexual-harassment-law-2019>.

Definition of protest 2020, Cambridge Dictionary, viewed 26 April 2020, <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/protest>.

[changsiying]

#2 Social Media and Politics

The advent of the Internet has sparked a great deal of interest in whether and how digital platforms, including social media, can have an impact on the political arena (Calderaro 2018, p. 781). So today we can count on a growing body of research to tackle the multiple relationships between social media and politics from different perspectives (Calderaro 2018, p. 781). Politics is a ubiquitous and seemingly indispensable term in the discussion of human affairs (Miller 1980, p. 56). ‘Politics’ means the activities of the government, members of law-making organisations, or people who try to influence the way a country is governed (Definition of politics 2020).

Is Politics just about Governance, or is it more?

Politics is simply what people do to gain and retain power. Governance is how they use power once they have it. So campaigning, dealing with the media, making yourself look good, making your opponent look bad, drafting a manifesto, all these things are part of what we call the political phenomenon. Governance includes making and repealing laws, holding diplomatic meetings with foreign leaders, setting taxes and managing state budgets, and dealing with war and defence. To simplified, one can say that all governance is political (because decisions made when in power are always taken with a view to re-election), but not all politics is about governance (because anyone, including those with no power at all, can participate in politics).

How Social Media Impacted Politics?

There are several ways that social media has impacted political campaigns. Let’s discuss about the positive impacts first. 

Firstly, direct contact with voters (Murse 2019). This instant contact with voters has revolutionised the way politicians traditionally connect with voters through paid advertising or traditional media. Secondly, politicians can promote their political campaigns online via social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube without paying anything, rather than paying for television or radio advertising (Murse 2019). Thirdly, the event can be spread easily as voters can ‘like’, ‘retweet’ or ‘share’ the information or post online (Murse 2019). Last but not least, politicians can tailor their messages to different audiences as they can access the analysis and information of users who follow them on social media (Murse 2019). With the wealth of information provided by the analysis, politicians can edit their messages based on it.

Besides positive impacts, social media also impacted political campaigns in negative way. 

For instance, political campaigns can also be spread by negative stories, whether it's true or not. Haters always make up a "credible" fake story just to downgrade a campaign. The more powerful the Internet, the harder it is to distinguish between real news and fake news (Bhat 2019). In addition to fake news, politicians sometimes mislead voters by releasing news, or release unfiltered information, embarrassing other candidates (Murse 2019).

How Social Media Changed Politics?

According to Chaffey (2020), from the statistic in Digital 2020 Global digital overview which has been published on 30th January 2020, the statistic shown that there are more than 4.5 billion people are using internet nowadays and this means that around 60% of the world’s population is already online. 

As social media is becoming a trend now. Therefore, politicians use well-known social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube or Facebook to promote their campaigns and give them direct contact with voters. Due to the power of social media, politicians can deliver their content to millions of voters instantly and simultaneously. Politicians can also get the information about voters through a series of data provided by social media platforms (Satterfield 2016).

When does Social Movements become about Politics? Should it become Politicised?

One of the examples in Malaysia which showed that social movements become about politics was Sarawak for Sarawakians (S4S) movements. 

The Sarawak for Sarawakians (S4S) movement has also used social media to restore Sarawak's position in Malaya. It is because they were the founders of the Malaysian federation in 1963. The new generation often fights through social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube to express their anger and unhappiness. As they felt that it is unfair to be treated in such situation, they fight for what belongs to Sarawak and take back everything that belongs to Sarawak (Ling 2019, p. 1). 

The younger generation has launched many other campaigns or actions through digital media to support their cause. This is because digital media have become the norm for connecting with others, especially when they need their support. In my point of view, this movement has been politicised because it involves politics and they need to hear the voice from people in order to satisfy the needs of the people.

Reference List

Bhat, A 2019, Positive and negative effects of social media on politics, Thrive Global, viewed 16 April 2020, <https://thriveglobal.com/stories/positive-and-negative-effects-of-social-media-on-politics/>.

Calderaro, A 2018, ‘Social media and politics’, The Sage Handbook of Political Sociology, pp. 781-793.

Chaffey, D 2020, Global social media research summary 2020, Smart Insights, viewed 16 April 2020, < https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/>.

Definition of politics 2020, Cambridge Dictionary, viewed 16 April 2020, < https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/politics>.

Ling, S 2019, ‘NGO: restore Sarawak rights or risk a secession movement’, The Star, 22 July, p.1.

Miller, EF 1980, ‘What does “politics” mean?’, The Review of Politics, vol. 42, no. 1, pp.56-72.

Murse, T 2019, How Social Media Has Changed Politics, ThoughtCo, viewed 16 April 2020, <https://www.thoughtco.com/how-social-media-has-changed-politics-3367534>.

Satterfield, H 2016, How social media affects politics, Sysomos, viewed 16 April 2020, <https://sysomos.com/2016/10/05/social-media-affects-politics/>.

[changsiying]

#1 ‘Is Tumblr a Blog or a Social Networking Site?’

Blog?

A blog, also known as weblog, is an online journal or information site that displays information in reverse chronological order, with the latest posts at the top (Skrba 2020). On this platform, writers or even a group of writers can express their opinions on their own topics (Skrba 2020). 

According to Scheidt (2008, p. 3), blogs are used to publish a wide range of content: in addition to text blogs (the focus of this chapter), blogs are also used to share photos, audio clips, and video clips. Yet, the blog can be personal, creative, educational, or professional depending on what the blogger wants their blog to be (Boyd 2006).

Social Networking Site?

Nowadays, the use of social networking sites (SNSs) is a common phenomenon (Sharma & Godiyal 2016, p. 157).There are hundreds of SNSs that provide a variety of technical support to support a wide range of interests and practices (Boyd & Ellison 2007, p. 210). 

Social networking sites are basically internet-based tools that facilitate communication, content exchange, and collaboration in a variety of ways (Sharma & Godiyal 2016, p. 157). According to the research, social networking sites is becoming a trend amongst the young adults as there are over one fifth of adult internet users aged 16+. People often use it in their daily social activity in order to stay connection with others which come from different places or country.

About Tumblr:

In the interminable debate between blogs and microblogs, Tumblr is often classified as the Twitter and Facebook of microblogging. The first version of the Tumblr microblogging service was launched on 19th February 2007 by its founder David Karp and Marco Arment and in April 2007, a more complete version has been launched (Shedden 2015). Unfortunately, Marco Arment left Tumblr in 2010 (Shedden 2015). 

Text, photo, links, chat, audio, and even video are some simple layout which provided by Tumblr in order to let the users to create their own folders or interesting posts. Reblogging, one of the function in Tumblr, which allows users to repost the content from another’s user to their own blogs and add comments (Lee 2016, p. 1). In addition to liking it, Tumblr gives users the ability to spread and exchange ideas in this new way, as well as access to a huge people platform (Lee 2016, p. 1).

Is Tumblr is just a Blogging Platform or a Social Networking Site?

In my point of view, Tumblr is both blogging platform and social networking site as users can use it strictly for blogging or strictly for social networking with other users. However, users will only get the power of this platform really shines when users use it as both. Tumblr has some similarities with other popular social networks like Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. While blogging has traditionally leaned toward writing, Tumblr is actually highly visual, more about posting short blog posts with photos, animated GIFs, and videos. As we all know, Tumblr is not just a free blogging platform, it also includes many built-in sharing features. People can use Tumblr for social networking activities by following other bloggers' blogs and re-posting them on. Tumblr is easy to use because its user interface design and your profile are completely customizable. In addition, it has other useful features, such as adding pictures, GIFs, audio and even video, to make the post more interesting overall. In addition, users can add tags to categorize their posts, just like Twitter does. These tags allow other users to easily find your posts by searching for relevant tags and keywords. To further demonstrate that Tumblr is more than just a blogging site, users can add followers (Moreau 2019).

 Reference List

Boyd, D 2006, ‘A Blogger’s Blog: Exploring the Definition of a Medium, Reconstruction, vol. 6, no. 4.

Boyd, DM & Ellison, NB 2007, ‘Social network sites: definition, history, and scholarship’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol. 12, no.1, pp.210-230.

Lee, E 2016, ‘Tumblr users seek to create identity over imange’, Daily Trojan, 31st March, p. 1.

Moreau, E 2019,  How to use Tumblr for blogging and social networking, LifeWire.com, viewed on 15 April 2020, <https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-tumblr-4049305>.

Scheidt, LA 2008, ‘Diary weblogs as genre’, Indiana University School of Library & Information Science Doctoral Qualifying Paper, pp.1-72.

Sharma, S & Godiyal, S 2016, ‘A study on the social networking sites usage by undergraduate students’, Online International Interdisciplinary Research Journal, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 157-163.

Shedden, D 2015, Today in media story: David Karp and Marco Arment launched Tumblr in 2007, Poynter, viewed 15 April 2020, <https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2015/today-in-media-history-david-karp-and-marco-arment-launched-tumblr-in-2007/>.

Skrba, A 2020, What is blog?- the definition of blog, blogging, and blogger, Firstsiteguide, viewed 15 April 2020, < https://firstsiteguide.com/what-is-blog/>.