Digital Communities

MDA20009 - Digital Communities unit - being able to understand everything about social media and it's entirety. “Our social tools are not an improvement to modern society, they are a challenge to it.” - Clay Shirky

[hoopyhitchhiker42-blog]

MESSAGE TO CHINA:

How can you live in one of the “greatest” countries in the world complete with modern amenities if you can’t even bitch and moan about it online?

[cvsblogg-blog]

Week 11: Great Firewall of China

Oh, China. The Great Firewall of China.

The Chinese government has manufactured a more grounded control divider that is more difficult to evade or circumvent than ever before. Before we get going, you would want to see this:

Here’s a great site to look at what you definitely won’t find in China: 8 Things You Won’t Find in China

A recent upgrade to the country's Internet filtering system -- known colloquially as the "Great Firewall of China" -- has made Internet filtering stricter and tougher to circumvent, providing Chinese officials with more scope to block unwanted material and services.

Access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube is blocked in China. During recent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, the Facebook-owned photo sharing app Instagram was blacked out on the Mainland.

Taken together, the restrictions constitute the world’s largest and most effective state-sponsored censorship program. The effort, officially called "Golden Shield," is more than a decade old.

The program allows Beijing to restrict content it deems. Thousands of websites are blocked outright, and Chinese citizens that offend authorities can face judicial consequences. Seriously, they can face judicial consequences... that’s how insane it is.

Instead, citizens living in China are forced to use other sites that are similar to Facebook and YouTube; instead of using Google to search, they use a homegrown alternative called Baidu. Instead of posting messages like Facebook or Twitter, they’re forced to use Weibo. There’s also the popular WeChat, China’s most popular social media service. Even so, all these services are heavily censored and are kept watched by higher authorities.

Although WeChat serves its purpose as a good social media app, it leads to not even being able to be free. Things like spreading rumours and speculation online about corruption among senior Chinese officials is considered a crime and can result in a user’s account being shut down. According to the Index on Censorship, an international organization that promotes freedom of expression, the app has blocked words designated “sensitive,” resulting in an error message. So, in turn, even this app can’t even let people swear.  How is China surviving right now...

Bye, Instagram.

A Firewall’s intent is not to listen to users; it is to prevent users from obtaining publicly available information. And who decides which information is available to the user? The individuals with control. Some examples are:

1) The search engines

2) The framework servers and routers that serve-up the pages

3) The data transmission routers, used for eMail, raw files

4) The social network sites that are self contained communication systems

5) Phone based communications are transported over cel networks which can be completely independent from the web-page internet. Eg: texting, tweets, access to cloud services

6) Cloud services don't just store data, but also can act as communication devices by making available documents, photos, task lists, calendars, financial activities

7) Software that is not just downloaded, but is also continuously monitored by its manufacturer (manufactures claim this right because they no longer sell the software, but now retain ownership and lease the software the same way cars are leased or rented to you for a period of time) Adobe Suites are a good example. Purchase an Adobe Suite and you become part of a social network that will have access to vast amounts of your created data. 

It seems to me that there is more than this blockage of sites that meets the eye, without a doubt, the Great Firewall of China is onto something else. It’s clear that they don’t want their information given out to other international platforms. Hence why the top 7 examples lead to how information can be shared and leaked.

Although it makes sense to be blocked away and keep your “secrets” hidden, that doesn’t give it the okay to censor everything from your community. The Chinese have it hard... real hard.

 Future of China?

It seems that Chinese vigilant citizens have found a way out of this mess and are getting around the bans of Great Firewall of China. They use an app called Firechat that allows people to communicate without an internet connection. It works by using a technology known as ‘mesh networking’ where messages can be sent to people nearby as long as they have the app too. It also allows people to daisy chain connections between phones and talk to people further away, but those messages aren’t private.

The technology seems to be working intently and allows for many users to be able to communicate secretly. It proves that the people of China are sick of the censorship and are ready to tackle this head on. Good luck to my fellow teens living in China. (Peace emoticon)

 References

-          Great Wall of China Against Social Media [Image]. Retrieved from < http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/assets/141230130450-great-firewall-of-china-1024x576.jpg>

-          Ripley C. (2015). MoneyCNN. 8 Things You Won’t Find in China. Retrieved from < http://money.cnn.com/gallery/technology/2014/12/30/banned-china-8/index.html?iid=EL>

-          Firechat app in China [Image]. Retrieved from < http://i2.wp.com/venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/firechat.jpg?fit=780%2C9999>

 Videos

-          CNNMoney. (September 29, 2014). Instagram Blocked in China [Video File]. Retrieved from < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wAzjb8BELg>

[techn0c0l0r]

I just want to get home so I can play Runescape...

[geekedgamer]

One day that will come. And I will be able to play online in peace. In the meantime, I gotta go through this shit SMH.

[cvsblogg-blog]

Week 10: Social Gaming

Basically, Social games are played on social networking sites, game portals and websites. Players create profiles, chat, and share information with other players. The games are designed to encourage a positive social interaction and provide a sense of community with like-minded individuals who enjoy playing collaborative games, not competitive ones.

Gaming and entertainment are two of the factors that stand out with online gaming and how it engages with social media. At the end of the last decade, Facebook games somehow gained the right to be called "social" games, possibly as shorthand for "social network" games. One would like to think “Oh, online gaming... how lame”. No way, online gaming used to be more than that. It had much value and communicating with other players were key!

“A social game is a game that provides at least one type of social structure.

A social structure (within the context of a social game) is a persistent, dynamic, well-defined group of human players that can interact and participate in meaningful in-game activities together, either synchronously or asynchronously.” (Papathanasis, 2015)

This is entirely true – how can one important element in that definition dissolve so quickly away from all upcoming games that they’ve made in recent years?

The video ‘Online Gaming as a Social Media’ eradicates, through a documentary on how gamers can’t interact through public societies and can only start conversing with others through online gaming. It’s a significant fact to make as there are many people who escape to the online gaming world to communicate with friends and strangers rather than in real life because of social anxiety and the fear of communicating to another person in the flesh.

“Several people will play with others do not know if they’re looking to fill that free time and none of their friends are online. The security of Xbox 360 and the ability to report inappropriate or shifty players gives people the chance to meet and play with others they never would’ve met in real life. Because they’re entering the situation in a comfortable environment -doing something they know they enjoy the capability for communities to form is much easier. The communication with friends also provides a community to further relationships with people you already know.”  

This quote directly from the video smoothes over how communication with others are widely accepted and fawned over with many other online gamers; the sense of comfortability is nigh and allows one to be relaxed and enjoy their comfort zone.

 Multiplayer: If there's one thing that the annual record-breaking launch of a new Call of Duty proves, it's that online action gaming is very big business. When Call of Duty: Ghosts sold a billion dollars worth in its first 24 hours on sale, gamers weren't buying it for its single-player campaign; they were after the multiplayer. This simply proves one of the many reasons why many players don’t download games for the sole purpose of playing them but instead, a way to socialise with friends.

Major new games have completely eliminated the single-player goal and targeted the online gamer market with multiplayer functions.

Online gaming sites are much more active on social media today. Most major brands now better gear their social media to meeting players’ needs and expectations and have a much stronger presence on the main social media platforms. Anyone who uses Facebook on a regular basis and has even a slight interest in online gaming will have seen the ad campaigns that most major players in the market now run, as they have realized this is an effective way of attracting players to their games based on hot movie and video game franchises.

For any business these days, social media is an integral part of its success. These platforms allow businesses to connect with their customers, building interest and a community in an organic way. This also applies to games like Dota, in which it is one of the most highly played games where it even holds tournaments with the prize money being over $5 million. (There’s an entire documentary on Dota 2′s International Tournament).

Many players start off as ‘nobodys’ and then make a name for themselves by playing successfully, through this they then get sponsored by companies. However, the players then rely on social media through their employer to acquire a bigger following. With fans and more recognition, it allows them to have a bit of fame and of course, attain profit. 

Game developers say there’s money for both sides in this convergence. Social networks that incorporate more features of massively multi-player online games could enhance their already-substantial earning power; gaming sites would benefit from increased membership and broader acceptance.

However, towards the future, what could there be after multi-playing games? What else can profit from the social media that simply keeps expanding into everyone’s lives? I haven’t found a downside to online gaming yet, but if anyone does find some, please do enlighten.

 References

-          Papathanasis, A (2015). Gamasutra. Social Games and Their Opportunity Frontier. Retrieved from <http://gamasutra.com/blogs/AndreasPapathanasis/20150512/243195/Social_Games_and_their_opportunity_frontier.php>

-          Social Gaming Many Asians [Image File]. Retrieved from <http://jimsindia.org/technowhiz/images/online.jpg>

-          World of Warcraft [Image File]. Retrieved from < http://www.gamecareerguide.com/education/theses/20050610/WoW.jpg>

Videos

-          Michelle D (June 13, 2012). Online Gaming as a Social Media [Video File]. Retrieved from < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isUXaf6GKWo>

-          Valve (March 19, 2014). Free to Play: The movie (US) [Video File]. Retrieved from < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjZYMI1zB9s>

[eatsleepdraw]

[funnyorhumor]

Good thing dogs don’t know how to use Twitter.

[cvsblogg-blog]

Week 9: Visual Communities: Social Imaging Platforms

With Social imaging platforms, it’s quite difficult to implement one that stands out on top. For many different reasons, Facebook can be the platform where people can interact with others, more notably friends. However, with a platform such as YouTube, it’s where individuals interact with other individuals all around the world. (That also applies to Tumblr).

For this post, I’m going to be cutting into different platforms instead of talking about social imaging platforms as a whole. With Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr, it’s hard to comprehend or choose what makes social media what it is.

Snapchat: Snapchat has developed as one of the main photograph informing applications accessible in the commercial center. It permits clients to impart photos and features to their companions, which are ordinarily alluded to as "snaps". Users can then socially chat about each photo and video in order to pass the message onto their friends. Since an expanding number of clients are using Snapchat today, it is developing in significance as a social networking showcasing device.

In social media, the effects of especially mobile and image shares' has been going up, recently. Snapchat's structure which is totally based on video and image and instant messaging in basic, is raising its user count and arousing the interests in it. Up to now, it has become popular especially among the age group of under 25. 

Instagram: Instagram finds its success through young generations. For the first time, more than half (53%) of young adults – that is, 18-29 year olds are on Instagram, according to the research. Instagram gives brands an opportunity to tell their story through visuals. The landscape is ready and marketers are finally starting to understand how they can use a tool like instagram to tell their story and connect with their audience in a more compelling way. 

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms around, with 200 million active users and an average of 60 million photos shared every day. Since Instagram is mostly populated with individual users sharing photos with their close friends and family, marketers have overlooked it as a viable social media option. However, the sheer number of users alone makes it worth exploring.

Tumblr: With over 130 million blogs, Tumblr is a blogging powerhouse, yet it’s still overlooked by most marketers. Tumblr used to be a semi-underground refuge for teens and young adults looking for a new way to express themselves, but since Yahoo purchased the platform for $1.1 billion in 2003, its “hotness” factor has started to wane.

That doesn’t mean it’s no longer useful. Tumblr is a social version of a traditional blog. It’s a new outlet for one to publish and distribute their content, and since other users can connect to your blog with ease, it’s easier to build long-term connections. Tumblr is the most enjoyable media platform out there—even more enjoyable than TV. And as a result, 70% of users said they’re on Tumblr more than once a day.

The Washington Post is one of many news organizations using Tumblr, a fast-growing blogging platform where users post photos, animated GIFs, videos and quotes, and “reblog” content from other users. Social media editors said Tumblr has helped their news organizations engage with readers, connect with a younger audience and document experiments in journalism.

Teens are diversifying their social network site use. A majority of teens — 71% — report using more than one social network site out of the seven platform options they were asked about. Among the 22% of teens who only use one site, 66% use Facebook, 13% use Google+, 13% use Instagram and 3% use Snapchat. (Lenhart, 2015)

Facebook: People use Facebook to keep in touch with friends, post photos, share links and exchange other information. For many, having a Facebook account is now an expected part of being online, much like having your own email address. And since Facebook is so popular, other websites have worked to integrate Facebook. This means you can use a single Facebook account to sign in to different services across the Web. Unlike email or instant messaging, the things you share on Facebook are more public, means they'll usually be seen by lots of other people. While Facebook offers privacy tools to help you limit who can see the things you share, it's important to understand that Facebook is designed to be more open and social than traditional communication tools.

Imagine getting all the daily newspapers from your city, and having someone cut out only the articles you might be interested in (by subject, location, personality etc) - imagine how much more productive reading the papers would be - you'd get all the papers instead of one (if they were all free). Used properly, Facebook can be an extremly efficient aggregator of interesting content as well as an instant and simple mass communication tool.

YouTube: How does something “go viral”? In the case of YouTube, an enormous part of it is the ability to embed clips anywhere, from blogs, to social networking profiles, to the front page of popular websites. YouTube pioneered this concept, and today, it’s a driving force behind the collective 1 billion minutes we spend each day watching YouTube clips. I n a decade that saw social media move from the fringes to the mainstream, YouTube is the innovation that touched the most lives, became a driving force for change around the world, and ultimately ends the decade with an opportunity to be as disruptive in the next 10 years as it was in the past four.

(wow, just look at the statistics about YouTube and Facebook!)

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are the main protagonists that have transformed the way our entire society functions, it has revolutionised the ways we interact with our colleagues, friends and family. As communication between a brand and its publics is essential, it’s no wonder in recent year’s top brands PR and marketing strategies have adapted to this sociological change. Social media ensures that a brands message keeps moving, creating brand exposure and grabs the attention of key influencers in its sphere. It’s a snowball effect in the form of re-tweets and likes, essentially the bigger the snowman, the more exposure for yourself.

The real winner would probably most likely go to YouTube. The image platform site is incredibly versatile with its affordances. It’s amazing what YouTube alone can do. Some may say Facebook is where it’s at but no one can deny the long existence of greatness that comes from YouTube. The constant video sharing and becoming viral is what makes social media what it is.

 References

-          Blogspot. Snapchat and Others on an Iphone. [Image]. Retrieved 5 May, 2015. < http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XDN7-PIkpHE/U_c9kJ6_YvI/AAAAAAAAA2M/OwehYPz6e_M/s1600/whatshotornot.jpg >

-          Techno Buffalo. Snapchat Logo. [Image]. Retrieved 5 May, 2015. < http://www.technobuffalo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Snapchat-Logo.jpg>

-          CDN. Imore. Instragram Held While on Computer. [Image]. Retrieved 5 May, 2015. < http://cdn.imore.com/sites/imore.com/files/field/image/2012/09/instagram_hero.jpg>

-          Lenhart, A. (2015). PewInternet. Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015. < http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/>

-          Instagram photo. Retrieved 5 May 2015 < http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02842/instagram_2842248c.jpg>

-          Tumblr logo. [Image]. Retrieved 5 May 2015, < http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/92872/file-30686512-png/images/tumblr-logo-04-12-2012.png>

-          Facebook logo. [Image]. Retrieved 5 May 2015, < http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/video/video.pd2upload.com/video.breakout.com@c48cab57-a6c3-3c8d-bdf8-68f69cc7055e_FULL.JPG>

-          YouTube logo. [Image]. Retrieved 5 May 2015, < http://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/youtube-logo.jpg>

 Videos

-          Kiavash Bastani. (January 3, 2014). Social Media 2014 Revolution. [Video File]. Retrieved from < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYedZth9ArM>

[cvsblogg-blog]

Week 8: Crowd Sourcing in Times of Crisis

Crowdsourcing are one of the many ways where social media has erratically changed the world. Together, crowdsourcing and social media create new, creative ways for people to become engaged and paves an easier way for voices to be heard.

“Crowdsourcing is an executive – not marketing – capability. It’s something your CEOs need to engage in.” – Sean Moffitt, Wikibrands at the Crowdsourcing Week Europe 2014.

With Social Revolution, we accept that applying the new advances offered by social networking sites will unleash the force of thoughts and turn the present state of affairs on its head. Crowdsourcing has as of now demonstrated its greater power in various fields. Various fields such as: Wikipedia, Change.org and Kickstarter are just a few that come to mind.

Wikipedia: Wikipedia is an undoubtedly one of the best-known crowdsourcing sites as it is a clear known fact that many young and elder generations use it for information. When you’re talking about Wikipedia, you’re not just talking about a website, you’re talking about an entire community. What makes Wikipedia its name is the passion of tens of thousands of active Wikipedia volunteers around the world.

Change.org: Change.org eager with its surging interest of “clicktivism” has enabled a total of 13 million clicktivists, proving that our population wants to get more engaged and involved with more real-world action seeking to make a change. It’s basically an online activism platform for social change that raises awareness about important causes and connects people to opportunities for powerful action. Their essential mission is to build an international network of people empowered to fight for what’s right locally, nationally and globally.

Kickstarter: A site where creative projects raise donation-based funding. These projects can range from new creative products, like an art installation, to a cool watch, to pre-selling a music album. It’s for businesses, causes, charities or personal financing needs. Kickstarter is one of the earlier platforms and has experienced strong growth and many break-out large campaigns in the last few years.

Crowdsourcing is simply the start of an entire revolution, eneveloping more detached, contributory investment models that incorporate voting, labelling, or interpretation. Community-sourcing, however, is a more community approach between members that includes greater solicits produced using a more dedicated, steadfast community. On the furthest end of the range is co-creation, which is genuine participatory understanding where the community and the specialists cooperate to add to a task from start to finish.

The general importance of crowdsourcing is its higher levels of influencer engagement. “Crowdsourcing also works to make your audience feel more connected to your company or brand. Our favourite subject is ourselves, and we love to feel as though we’ve contributed to the greater good. By asking fans to participate in a project, you invite them and their ideas in, making them feel appreciated and heard. Plus, fans will get a real kick seeing the project come to fruition knowing they had a part to play, deepening the brand-audience connection and loyalty” – Abbey Sands in Insights. (Sands, 2014).

This empowers individuals from the majority of the world to unite continuously and just take care of business, whatever that employment or assignment may be. This is not to be mixed up for a pack of urgent individuals looking with the expectation of complimentary freebees it is possible that, it’s about individuals helping individuals who need it the most on either a nearby or worldwide scale and this obviously is something worth being thankful for.

Here, have a puppy to make you feel better. The following weeks are going to hectic. Filled with more heavier topics...

References

-          Sean Moffitt, Wikibrands spokesperson. Geeks in Cambodia, [Image]. http://geeksincambodia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Sean-Moffitt-Wikibrands.jpg Retrieved on 30th April 2015

-          Super Hub. Crowdsourcing Landscape [Image].  http://www.superhub-project.eu/jfiles/images/CrowdsourcingLandscape_v1.jpg Retrieved 1st May 2015

-          Sands, A. (2014). Forward Agency. The Power of Crowdsourcing in Social Media Campaigns. < http://f4ward.agency/the-power-of-crowdsourcing-in-social-media-campaigns/>

[thisisfusion]

12 movements that used social media to change the 21st century

Iran: The Green Movement

Tunisia: The Jasmine Revolution

Egypt: January 25 Revolution

Libya: Libyan Civil War

Syria: Syrian Uprising

USA: Occupy Wall Street

Brazil: 2013 Brazil protests

Venezuela: 2014 Venezuela Protests 

Ukraine: Ukrainian Revolution

Hong Kong: The Umbrella Movement

Mexico: 43 missing students

#Ferguson

On Nov. 19, Fusion will celebrate young activists working through social media to effect change at Rise Up in Washington D.C. #FusionRiseUp

[hornafrican]

Somali hero’s

On 9 March 1996 Elman Ali Ahmed, a social activist, was killed  for encouraging the youth to choose the pen over the gun!

Seventeen years after his death his daughters Ilwad Elman, 23, and Iman Elman, 21, pose inside the Elman Peace Centre, a rape crisis shelter and Human Rights Center in Mogadishu. Ilwad runs the Elman Peace Centre with her mother, Fartun Adan, while Iman is a commander in the Somali military.

[cvsblogg-blog]

Digital Citizenship 2: Activism & Protest

Let’s start off with the two definitions just to refresh our mind:

Social Media: Social media is the collective of online communication channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration.

Activism: The use of direct, often confrontational action, such as a demonstration or strike, in opposition to or support of a cause.

Social media activism is a movement: A group of people working together to advance their shared political and social ideas. Social media has the tendency and power to do a lot of great things: It can show people the reality of the real world, something too realistic rather than what they depict on TV shows. It can show the reports from real life journalists and their authentic news rather than the reporter on your daily news channel which are followed by scripts. Most specifically, social media can get into your consciousness much more powerfully than the traditional media ever could.

It’s evident enough for many politicians in this day and age that any issue advocacy or public affairs campaign that rely solely on traditional media and paid advertising will simply not succeed. The only way for their campaign to work is through social media and the new age of technology. Most specifically the #hashtag.

It wasn’t just over a year ago when the hashtag actually came into trend. 2014 was the confronting year when it came to affairs of the world; also saw the rise of the activism of the hashtag. Hashtagging fits in the world of social media and it thrives on the superficial. Hashtag activism presents the appearance of benevolence and altruism and doesn't forget to remind itself about the true realities of what happens in real time. 

Activism doesn’t always come in political terms, it also can show awareness to the many minor issues of racism. #NotYourAsianSidekick

“So, I think #NotYourAsianSidekick was a HUGE success. Started by the awesome Suey Park and Juliet Shen of Fascinasians, Asian people all over the world contributed their experiences and kept the hashtag trending for over 24 hours”, an extract from the Tumblr post.

This is one of the profound benefits of hashtag activism: The amplification of minority voices that other forms of media have historically ignored. However there can be a downside to the activism; most notably the #BringBackOurGirls campaign in which it was a trending matter for people to be socially aware of the kidnapping of Nigerian girls. Hashtag activism is not hard, true, yet it apparently worked to get the media to pay more attention, which in turn increased international pressure on the Nigerian government to act and accept outside assistance if it cannot act. Regardless what can social awareness do in a situation like this? Coverage of tragedies such as this will never be perfectly equal on a word for victim basis but what it can do is spread the word so that it may reach the higher authorities.

Lastly, social media should critically challenge one’s mind into thinking where they get their information from. Researching using non-conventional methods will allow one to think for themselves rather than be forced into false news reports. With researching and social media, it will generate one’s own opinion and formulate a new sense of direction for oneself.

To finish off, here’s a site that compiled 12 of the hashtags that diligently changed the world. 

 References

-          Video: Jillhamilton11 (October 30, 2011). Activism and Social Media [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X60o7E4MElU

-          #NotYourAsianSidekick hashtag Tumblr Post. [Image] http://afistfulofsoundtracks.tumblr.com/post/70236225162/mizmlee-so-i-think-notyourasiansidekick-was-a Retrieved on 28th April, 2015.

-          The Revolution Will be Tweeted quote. [Image] https://pochp.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/timeline_cover_donotrename84.png Retrieved on 28th April, 2015.

-          The Future of Social Activism Image [Image], NPtechforgood, http://www.nptechforgood.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Future-of-Social-Activism.png , Retrieved on 28th Apri

[cvsblogg-blog]

Digital Citizenship 3: trolling & social media conflict

Trolling and Social Media Conflict, what’s the issue?

What’s an internet troll? Someone who comes into any post, comment, forum or discussion board and tries to post something argumentative or offensive. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be any real purpose or scheme behind trolling except to upset anyone involved. Trolls will do anything with the inclusion of lying, attacking and abusing others just to get an aggravated response. 

However, there’s also “fun trolling” in which there are harmless trolls just to pass joy to one person: Here’s a nice song for everyone to listen to

Social media and the Internet can be great in gathering people and sharing information about riveting topics and discussing it with online peers, but there does come an unfortunate situation where trolls come alive.

Trolling can be good at times but on the other hand, many may view it as vicious and damaging, especially to young people.

All in all, trolling was a popularity regime in which cool kids would have thought that trolling just anything would make them “funny”. That isn’t the case – as many know, there is a limit to trolling and on the internet, and you definitely need some thick skin. Overly sensitive people may find a lot of things offensive and therefore need to start growing a stone-heart. It’s the pure fact that it’s all online and one is able to hide themselves behind a computer screen thus becoming less “cowardice”.  Anonymity helps the person as “when people think they’re anonymous, they do things they otherwise wouldn't” (White, 2013). Another article, Boyd states, “...social media makes it easy to share information broadly, people can also easily spread hurtful gossip in an effort to assert status, get attention, or relieve boredom” (Boyd, 2014).

What is the only way to handle trolling? Turn off whatever social platform you’re on and just ignore it. Doesn’t matter what it says; just get it out of your sight. That’s the best advice and it does help. (Trolls want a reaction, if they don’t get any, they go away).

Not everything is always filled with negativity; while everyone else can focus on the negatives, sticking with the positive definitely seems to be more of a ‘hipster’ thing now. Trolls can be hilarious too! Not all of them seek to be malicious, here’s  7 Most Awesome Internet Trolls of All Time

  References

-          McCosker, A. (2015). Lecture 6: Week 6 – Digital Citizenship 3: Trolling and Social Media Conflict [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://echo.swinburne.edu.au/ess/echo/presentation/2fb6d894-5afb-4981-a212-2b86c93b4aa3?ec=true

-          Boyd, D. (2014). It’s Complicated, the Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University, pp. 128-152

-          Smarty, A. (2012). Internet Marketing Ninjas Blog: 7 Most Awesome Internet Trolls of All Times. InternetMarketingNinja. Retrieved from < http://www.internetmarketingninjas.com/blog/social-media/awesome-internet-trolls/>

-          White, C. (2013). Why Do Internet Trolls Exist? When People Think They’re Anonymous, They Do Things They Otherwise Wouldn’t. Mashable. Retrieved from < http://mashable.com/2013/02/10/internet-trolls/>

Images

-          ‘Anaconda Tweet’. Twitter. Tumblr. [Image] Retrieved from < http://rawanalsex.tumblr.com/post/96111940082> Accessed on March 14, 2015

-          ‘Funny & Short: YouTube Edition Part II. Ratwaffle. [Image]. Retrieved from < http://ratwaffle.com/funny-short-youtube-edition-part-ii/>

Videos

-          Yob98. (2014, March 29). Coldplay – True Love [new album Ghost Stories song]. [Video File]. Retrieved from < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPmZqsQNzGA>

[hot-asian-chicks]

Yep.

More Hilarious Gifs

[tiffanychang410]

12-point Checklist for Social Media Posts

(source of picture)

Kevin, one of the authors at Buffersocial, shared his opinion of 12-point checklist for writing great social media posts.

1. Is the message educational or entertaining? Research shows that posts that contain educational or entertaining elements are the one that gets the most interactions, engagement, and share.

2. Is the voice correct? Post needs to be consistent with the brand image.

 3. Is it too long? Length of the post is related to its chance of being viewed and shared. 

4. Is the URL correct? Remember to test the link before hitting publish.

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Politics and Social Media 1

Day in and day out, social media is regularly becoming a powerful force in all aspects of life; including politics.  With its power, even the police are getting involved with social media. This link is evident enough with all the power behind upheld through the internet: Police now monitoring tweets because of social media power outburst

Social media has become more independent and with development through the internet, social media has gained a lot of popularity. Through many social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc, social media plays a key role in politics and representing movement of information sharing or propaganda.  These social media platforms allow new ways to stimulate citizen engagement in the political field where essentially, all the elections and campaigns are involved or have a central role in.

Politics are diligently involved with using social media to involve their political agenda is to simply gain a follower increase where voters can create their own blogs, send suggestions or recommendations and/or create mini organisations to events and uphold an election demand. A prime example can be when Barack Obama insinuated his campaign through digital technology to digitally communicate with voters over social media. Obama was able to use social media effectively and was able to win against Romney in that aspect. As McCosker points out in the lecture, “It could be argued that using social media is essential for any politician during a political campaign” (McCosker, 2015). The video below outlines Obama and his distinct advantage over Romney during their social media campaign. It clearly explains how Obama was able to effectively use social media and tweet out constantly – “During the analysis period, the Romney campaign averages just one tweet per day, while the Obama campaign averaged 29 tweets...”

However a significant question remains: do politicians even know how to use social media properly? Social media plays a rapidly important role in the political field. It has made new structures of contemporary political communication. The influence of social media has made politicians interact with citizens in a much different matter and the impact from it is limitless. It paved a new way of how politicians involve themselves with social media rather than the traditional media ideal.  

  References

-          McCosker, A. (2015). Lecture 5: Week 5 – Digital citizenship 1: politics & civic cultures [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://echo.swinburne.edu.au/ess/echo/presentation/b9414c0f-cc97-4378-a092-858b00c4a1a2?ec=true

-          Greenwald, G. (2015). With Power of Social Media Growing, Police Now Monitoring and Criminalizing Online Speech. Retrieved from https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/01/06/police-increasingly-monitoring-criminalizing-online-speech/

Videos

-          Pew Research Center. (2012, August 16). Obama Outspaces Romney in Social Media Campaign [Video File] Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RknwYl4YdEc>

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Tumblr: Blog or social networking site?

The simple answer? It’s both. 

Generally, there is an identification of three main characteristics of social media: allowing users to download and share information, to post or make public of their profile and personalised details and most sufficiently, to connect with other people (Siapera, Eugenia, 2012). 

Tumblr is a site that lets one effortlessly share and post anything. Whether it’s your thought processes, opinionated statements or basically sharing anything of your personal life, Tumblr does the job of making it public and being seen.

Simple things that can be done on Tumblr are its basic functions and affordances (McCosker, 2015). Many of its functions and uses on the site are its countless options for text, photos, quotes, links, music and videos that can be accessed from your browser, mobile phone, desktop, e-mail or wherever you are connected to the internet. One is able to customise anything, from colours to your theme’s HTML, even minor technical things like when to post and changing the post date.

Tumblr is neither limited to being just a blogging site as its basically social by its standards for the consideration of the fact that people all over the world are able to communicate through comments and private messaging. Users on Tumblr can share similar interests, backgrounds, hobbies and develops all these through virtual communities. One of the largest reasons why Tumblr differs to Facebook or Twitter or many other popular social networking sites is the junction that it has the availability for a person to be anonymous.

Tumblr encourages a more private type of social networking. While Facebook users are commonly known to have known another person in real life, Tumblr users follow people who they have never met before and then share a mutual interest or similarity through the reblogs based on that user. Users are able to hide their identity through preferred names. Through the affordance of Tumblr’s search engine, anyone can find anyone – however, anyone can be anyone. Another difference is that pure affordance – Tumblr enables people to search and discover countless blogs rather than “profiles”.

Even though, assumingly so, Tumblr isn’t part of the social networking system as much as it likes to be. It prides itself over being one of the main social sites but is it really? It barely receives enough recognition and is completely cast aside. The video below, ‘If The Internet Was a High School’ is a skit about what social networking sites would be like if they were high school kids. The main issue that is executed is the clear fact that Tumblr was not mentioned or characterised. This fact alone implements that Tumblr, alone, is always going to be more of a blogging site than one of the ‘main’ social sites that many users connect with.

Although within itself, technically, Tumblr is a microblogging site, however from other perspectives, Tumblr still remains regarded as a blogging site. Many Tumblr bloggers would beg to differ, though.

  References

-       Siapera, Eugenia (2012). Understanding new media. SAGE, London, pp 190-210

-       McCosker, A. (2015). Lecture 3: Week 3 – Social Media platform case study [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from < https://echo.swinburne.edu.au/ess/echo/presentation/ad49d25a-a35b-47dc-811b-905bdfdda4d7?ec=true>

Images

-       ‘A social network that doesn’t want to be social. We are weird tumblr people and proud about that’. Escaping Social Network sites. Tumblr. [Image] Retrieved from <http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l8koa8kq8Q1qbf51go1_500.jpg> Accessed on March 31 2015.

Videos

-       Cracked. (2015, March 23). If The Internet Was a High School [Video File] Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHrzQgcZKqk>