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Social Gaming

Social gaming is a great time waster, I remember being on public transport and needing a way to make the ride go faster. I used to love playing Candy Crush or Farmville, it was addictive. I remember receiving requests from family or friends wanting to help them grow corn or send them a life so they could try the level again. Especially, Candy Crush the competitive edge was getting to me, I really wanted to get ahead of my friends.

When playing these games, I would always think what is the point in playing this. It doesn’t benefit me, it’s just a way to fill the time. This week’s topic has provided the opportunity to dig deeper beyond the simple concept of social gaming.

When Facebook launched, it was only a short time later that people were establishing the popularity of gaming and saw that there would be a long-term demand for it. Facebook was very discreet in integrating it into its platform (O’Neill, N. 2008). Social gaming is now a $9 billion market, it is the fastest growing segment of entertainment, providing engagement content for millions of users (Weber, K. n.d). Game developers have also utilised social gaming to make a positive impact in the world. Virtual goods are being sold, bought or won for charitable causes, and this is showing as very popular amongst users. Social gaming is an opportunity to connect players with causes they care about (Weber, K. n.d). Water.org raised $1 million from Farmville2 and Chefville2 (Weber, K. n.d). Social good app developers create games that are all about doing good for society, including Wetopia which is one their most popular games. Wetopia allow their players to earn points and convert them into monetary donations to a charity. Since its creation, Wetopia has provided:

· 1,000,000 days of school for kids in Haiti

· 7,000,000 liters of clean, safe drinking water in Haiti

· 700,000 hot meals for children in need

· 45,000 meals for children in Las Vegas

· 32,000 hours of nutrition and literacy programs for U.S. students

· 9,000 papaya and moringa trees

· 6,500 coats, shoes, and shirts for children around the world

· 4,000 books for elementary school children

· 3,400 vitamins for children

· 1,000 medical check-ups for children in New Yorkand Haiti

(Swallow,E. 2013).

Wetopia is a free game, and it allows their players to build a virtual village. Points are earnt when acts like building a school is completed. Even Ellen DeGeneres has endorsed this game, catapulting its popularity further. Social gaming is oftenly snubbed as a time filler, as mentioned above, I felt the same way. But knowing that playing will therefore help someone else has provided me with the appreciation for it.

Heinz, E. 2011. Facebook Game ‘WeTopia’ Allows Players To Donate To Charity By Building Virtual Village. Huffington Post. Viewed 1 February 2018 http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/wetopia-facebook-game-charity_n_1117549

O’Neill, N. 2008, What Exactly are Social Games? AdWeek. Viewed 1 February 2018 http://www.adweek.com/digital/john-stevens-hosting-facts-guest-post-how-social-media-is-changing-the-gaming-world/

Swallow,E. 2013. How Social Games Are Changing the World. Forbes. Viewed 1 February 2018 https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericaswallow/2013/03/23/social-games/#57970b32377e

Weber, K. n.d. How The Gaming Industry Help People Help The World. Video Game Voters Network. Viewed 1 February 2018 https://videogamevoters.org/news/details/how-the-gaming-industry-helps-people-help-the-world

davidnorris

I really love how there’s a few app companies that are just straight up about their income. They essentially say “we get paid for ads, so you play we give you rewards and you can get paid in return” I played these games for a year and earned $10. It’s not a job, but so much better than playing Candy Crush and getting nothing! I’d love to see this kind of app become more popular even though I don’t really have time to play these games anymore.

maruanmanaja

Visual Communities and Social Imaging

Share (https://goo.gl/2H7nRC)

Photography has evolved immensely over the past century, most notably with the development of digital photography and then the development of social media. Prior to digital photography and social media, people used to take analog pictures of either moments in their lives they would like to treasure and share with family and friends in a photo album, or as artistic photographs to sell or display. At the end the photograph was the product.

The development of social media and digital photography have paved the way for a new kind of photography sharing where the actual photo is not the product but the discourse around it (Jurgenson, 2014). These developments have made it much easier for individuals to share their photographs and videos with those they affiliate with to a certain degree. People started to find affinity in such activity and belonging to certain elements of the online digital imaging world. Lange argues that “Videos of affinity try to establish communicative connections to people, often members of a social network. Some people might equate videos of affinity to amateur video blogs 9 because they are both assumed to focus on home-based forms of videomaking” (Lange, 2009).

Social Media (https://goo.gl/hYhfjp)

Platforms such as snapchat and Instagram were purely built on the idea of photo sharing. Snapchat became popular among users do to the fact that they could decide whether the images disappear after a certain amount of time. This in turn brings up two notes regarding this platform, one is that it helps some users who would consider themselves “camera shy” to experiment knowing they had some control over how and what they share. The second is that the idea of the photo has now become the conversation starter and not the point, as Jurgenson explains it, the ends is the communication and meaning expressed through the photo, the actual photo is irrelevant (Jurgenson, 2014).

Social media platforms have also given the users the most important element of desire and that is to have those images seen by the widest possible audience. Users can tag their photos with keywords through hashtags and geotags, these tags make the process of finding or being found much easier, especially in a space where millions of photos and videos are added daily.

Reference:

Jason Farman 2014, Photography, Self Documentation, & Social Media: An Interview with Nathan Jurgenson, 16 June, viewed 28 January 2018 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnPtZ5lKDHo>.

Lange, P 2009, ‘Videos of Affinity on YouTube’, in P, Snickars & P, Vonderau (eds), The YouTube Reader, National Library of Sweden, Stockholm, pp. 70-88.

davidnorris

I never liked photography but since actually being paid to take photos for my job I’ve researched it more and more. I was only a schmuck with a camera trying to take images that could be shared on Facebook, but the hashtags have opened my world to photography that I really like! Some nights I’ll set my camera up outside and try to take one of those fantastic night sky photos. I’m far from professional (despite being paid to do it lol) but if it wasn’t for instagram i’d have never found a new hobby.

sianrhianydd-blog

Politics & Civil Cultures

Social media is no longer just a platform for users to connect with each other. Quite simply put social media websites such as Facebook can be seen as a mass market for targeted advertising. Yes, social media is “free” but there is very little difference between the way social media market works and free to air television. Companies don’t produce new episodes of high rated television show for your passive entertainment, they produce them so more people will see the advertising interspersed throughout the show. With the way we consume entertainment now, advertisers have also had to make the shift. And what is one of the largest shifts we’ve seen? The spread of politics.

This isn’t necessarily a good thing. In an attempt to appeal to younger demographics, politicians now have social media presences across multiple platforms. There is a problem with this especially with social media websites who use targeted advertising since the content you see is only what they perceive to be your views. For example; if you follow a Labour party candidate on Facebook, you’re likely to be targeted with advertising for other Labour members.

Not only do these politicians spread their word further than before which can be seen as a good thing, but it’s the tax payers who have to pay for these campaigns (Bains 2017). Which begs the question, why do we have to pay when they’re out there on a free platform? Well, it’s because that 95% of politicians aren’t the ones responsible for their online presence, that honour falls to a marketing and advertising team (Bains 2017). So, if they’re not the ones in charge of their own accounts, how can they truly be connected with community?

Social media can be make or break for a politician. It was through the popularity of Tina Fey’s Saturday Night Live Sarah Palin skits during the 2008 presidential campaign, that robbed her of being viewed as a legitimate vice-president material. The video below makes fun of Palin and especially her foreign policy.

The same couldn’t be said for the Saturday Night Live skit focussing on Donald Trump which were equally unflattering. In fact, Donald Trump has been quoted saying; “I doubt I would be here if weren’t for social media, to be honest with you” (ABC News 2017). His Tweets are often misspelled, politically incorrect, and entirely unfiltered, but all that works with him to give him the perception of being honest. Compared to other politicians such as Malcolm Turnbull whose social media post are nothing less than perfect, complete with appropriately tagged affiliates.

Even in the social media age we are still not getting transparency from the government we deserve. If anything, it’s glamorised even more, the facade becoming perfectly formed tweets and filtered photographs.

ABC News 2017, ‘ Donald Trump defends Twitter use, says social media key to White House victory ‘, ABC News, 4 February 2018, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-22/donald-trump-defends-twitter-tweets-key-to-white-house-victory/9074330>

Bains, R 2017, ‘ Social media and sleek websites: How politicians are spending taxpayer dollars in the internet age’, ABC News, viewed 4 February 2018, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-25/how-politicians-spend-taxpayer-dollars-in-internet-age/8840210>.

Saturday Night Live 2013, Couric / Palin Open - Saturday Night Live, 23 April, viewed 4 February 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HsyEvr5Pnw>.

davidnorris

Can we ban Trump from Twitter? I loved his campaign so much. I thought “This guy is such a loon that there is no way he’ll ever be president. I’m just going to enjoy it while it lasts” There’s a great new show called Our Cartoon President and I actually think the satirical version of Trump is more level headed than the guy we get to see on Twitter

ebonymccabe-blog-deactivated202

3. Minister For Memes

Growing up in Canberra, I’m aware of the negative connotations made with politicians. Boring people that control our country, is the stereotype for a rather large group of people. The use of social media in politics and by politicians was not early adopted as other countries. It wasn’t until the 2010 elections, that politicians and political parties started to realise the power of social media and the ability for it to change perceptions of them (Young pp. 205-207). With popular shows like Meet The Press, Q&A and election live coverage taking advantage of their viewers with Twitter, politicians from this point on started to realise the potential of social media.

Now I want to take you to the present year, where one Australian politician rules over the whole of political social media.

In 2017 businessman and former politician Clive Palmer took social media by storm, bringing his exquisite knowledge of meme’s and relevant opinions on political topics to facebook. For somebody who likes to consider herself quite current on meme knowledge, Clive Palmer is always ahead of the game. He has targeted Gen Y and Millennials perfectly, and gotten them interested in politics perhaps for the first time.

Australian leaders in general aren’t that interested in social media, nor create interesting content, with most clearly being run by an assistant or somebody other than the politician (Young 2010). Since 2009, despite many politicians joining, few besides Clive have embraced social media after elections or maintained an online presence. Very few actively post content, or have a coordinated approach or strategy behind their profiles (Jerricho pp. 254.256)

Clive Palmers facebook page has 146,712 followers at the time of writing. He currently is not still actively in politics or parliament, but comments in media and stays active socially on important matters. This number is significant, as the Prime Minister only has 393 followers. Of those, a large percentage are from countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (Facebook Like Checker 2018). This indicates that somebody on his marketing team has spent thousands of dollars purchasing likes to make his page more impressive than it actually is. Clive Palmer’s has far higher engagement rates and nearly 100% of likes from Australia. It’s pretty obvious to me which page is more successful (Palmer 2018).

As clive’s change in tactical approach to social media is relatively new, there are no definitive results on how it has impacted his likeability. It is clear however, that thousands of Australians every day are interacting and having political debates about topics important to our country. I believe this proves the importance of social media for politicians. If you can get millenials to get involved in politics, I consider it a win.

References

Facebook Like Checker 2018 ‘Clive Palmer’ viewed, <http://www.fblikecheck.com>.

Facebook Like Checker 2018 ‘Malcolm Turnbull’ viewed, <http://www.fblikecheck.com>.

Jericho, G 2012, ‘How many votes are there on Twitter?’, in The Rise of the Fifth Estate, Scribe, Victoria, Australia.

Palmer, C 2018, ‘Clive Palmer’ Facebook, viewed <https://www.facebook.com/CliveFrederickPalmer>.

Palmer, C 2018, ‘Clive Palmer Meme’ Facebook, [Image] <https://www.facebook.com/CliveFrederickPalmer>.

Young, S 2010, 'News, political reporting and the internet’, in How Australia Decides, Cambridge University Press, Victoria, Australia.

davidnorris

Hahahah Clive Palmer’s Facebook has become the best. I just hope he never gets any real power but it’s hard to tell if people can seperate their love for memes with actual policy

mollyjoneswrites-blog

Visual communities

Digital advertising and visual communication through social media is now an essential part of business marketing and promotion (Hendricks, 2013). Due to social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook, traditional forms of marketing have decreased. Businesses are now turning to social media to communicate with their audiences and visual communication is now the core component of advertisement. Instagram is a picture and video sharing application allowing users to share pictures and videos to either a public or private following. Kevin Systrom, CEO of Instagram, launched the mobile application in October 2010. After its launch in 2010, Instagram instantly gained popularity amongst social media platforms with one million registered users in two months, and ten million users within the year (Social Blade, 2017) As a result of this, Instagram has become the home for visual storytelling for everyone, from celebrities newsrooms and brands, to teens, musicians and anyone with a creative passion (K. Systrom, 2018) Instagram has also become one of the top social media platforms for the use of business promotion and advertisement, as it allows businesses to interact with customers, build awareness of their business and drive buyers to the companies websites (Johnson, 2013) As a business using Instagram for promotional use, they are able to easily monitor their campaigns engagement through Instagram’s analytics, meaning the content a business shares on Instagram will suit their audiences needs. Social media users are likely to engage with visual content that is engaging and appeals to their individual needs. Using social media platforms as a business is also mostly inexpensive and provides businesses with instant feedback through the social media users engagement.

References; Hendricks D, 2013, Complete History of Social Media:Then and Now, Small Biz Trends Online

https://business.instagram.com/?locale=en_GB

davidnorris

I can tell you first hand that using instagram as a business is tough. It’s such an “instant” platform that its really tough to curate a spontaneous message that connects with people. As fas as work goes, Facebook is the best... but I really try to avoid it in my personal life other than the messenger feature. It just seems so impersonal and boring for me!

alannaht90-blog

Social media’s impact on business marketing

Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms have not revolutionised the way that individuals communicate within society but have also changed the way that businesses interact and market to their consumers. With more than 59 per cent of people accessing social media every day (Sensis 2017), it is no wonder why many businesses are now integrating social media as a core part of their digital marketing strategy. In Australia, 47 per cent of small to medium businesses have a social media presence, while 60 per cent of large businesses have social media and 90 per cent of those large business have a social media strategy in place (Sensis 2017). While many businesses started off with a business page on Facebook, they are now branching out into other platforms to raise brand awareness and connect with their consumers. For example, Instagram, a picture and video sharing application, has become one of the top social media platforms for business to advertise their products, interact with their customers and drive visitors to their website (Johnson, 2013). Many companies on social media use influencers to help promote or sell their products. An example of this was Adidas 2017 campaign in which they used well known hip-hop artists such as Snoop Dogg and Stormzy to promote their products. Adidas used the video campaign on social media to raise awareness of their ‘Originals’ line and to promote it as a part of hip-hop culture.

Businesses aren’t just using social media to push their products themselves. Businesses are tapping into ‘User-Generated Content’, which allows consumers to share their experience of a particular product with others – helping to create a more trusted brand (Hubspot 2017). User-generated content is any form of content created by users about a brand or product. User-generated content usually creates more engagement on social media, meaning it receives more likes and comments, which is great for businesses as it means more consumers are seeing their product (Hubspot, 2017). A great example of a company making the most of their user generated content is Mayfair, a furniture brand in the US. Wayfair encourages their customers to share the results of their creations by using the hashtag #WayfairAtHome. The Wayfair account then reposts these images with tags and links to the products featured, a great strategy that combines customer testimonials and design inspiration (Hubspot 2017).

More and more business are now seeing the importance of social media and how it can help them to increase brand recognition and sell more products.

References

Hubspot 2017 Best user generated content campaigns viewed online 4 February 2018 <https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-user-generated-content-campaigns>

Feb 2013, Johnson, T. The Instagram advantage: promote your business by sharing photos via this Facebook app

Sensis 2017 Sensis social media report viewed online 4 February 2018 <https://www.sensis.com.au/about/our-reports/sensis-social-media-report>

davidnorris

I am the social media guy for a small business and so much of what you said is what I do on a day to day basis. I’m always trying to push the experience and show success stories of people who play sport at one of the venues. Most of the content is generated by me, but it’s about the people instead of the products that we sell because that’s what people want to see.

sianrhianydd-blog

Activism and Protesting

When we think of activism, we think of people marching in the streets chanting and holding signs that read; “change now!”. And while that is correct to a degree, there is more to activism and protesting than meets the eye.

In today’s digital age no longer are campaigns contained to the streets. Now with the internet, activism groups can now connect with a larger community and reach a wider audience. Look at activism groups such as PETA, through digital communities such as Facebook and Twitter they are able to share videos, such as the one below, through to a global audience.

Groups such as PETA are relying on their digital citizens to share, post, and comment on their videos so they reach a wider audience, effectively counting on their “ability to participate in society online” (Mossberger 2008). They want us to be the voice, to be the audience, and to be active participants.

Of course, activism and protesting are not just limited to this. It also involved a movement called culture jamming, and while it pre-dates social media, it has gained a sort of notoriety and wider audience through the platform. Though the way we consume is different, the values and ideas behind culture jamming remain the same focusing mainly on anti-establishment and disruptive behaviour. Forms of culture jamming include: performance art, graffiti art, hacktivism, and adbusting. Street artists such as Banksy use this sort of activism to get their messages out as seen in the picture below.

While groups such as Anonymous are engaging in active hacktivism there is a rise in what is known as ‘slacktivism’. The terms refers to those who want to make a difference and have good intentions of protesting but they make take no physical action. There are several viral campaigns, but arguably none more so that the #IceBucketChallenge. When the challenge started, the person challenged had 24 hours to perform the challenge or else they had to donate $100 to the ALS Association. The challenge went viral and the true meaning and purpose behind it was lost but with a few clicks you too could be a philanthropist and feel good about yourself (Kosinski 2014).

Now instead of spending all that time and money on trying to capture the perfect video to “raise awareness”, imagine we took the money we spent on those bags of ice and donated straight to the ALS Association. More 17 million people took part in the challenge (Bonifield 2015). Let’s say a bag of ice costs $3 and each person used one bag of ice to complete the challenge. If all those people donated that $3 instead of doing a challenge to gain notoriety, the ALS Association would have received roughly $51,000,000.

Though social media does bring awareness to these issues, it also makes us passive in not making a real change.

Bonifield, J 2015, ‘ One year later, your ALS Ice Bucket money goes to …’, CNN, viewed 4 February 2018, <https://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/15/health/one-summer-after-the-als-ice-bucket-challenge/index.html>.

Kosinski, B 2014, ‘ #IceBucketChallenge: Why You’re Not Really Helping ‘, Huffpost, viewed 4 February 2018, <https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-kosinski/icebucketchallenge-why-yo_b_5656649.html>.

Mossberger, K., Tolbert, C., & McNeal, R 2008, Digital Citizenship: The Internet Society, and Participation MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) 2014, 420 Chinchillas Rescued From Painful Death, 20 August, viewed 4 February 2018 < 420 Chinchillas Rescued From Painful Death>.

davidnorris

I can’t help but always go back to Kony 2012. I think we covered that in the learning materials but I remember people sharing it, and when I watched it I thought “What the hell was that??” There was no link to donate or join or anything. It left me feeling empty because it felt like they were saying “we need to make change” without any real solution.

alannaht90-blog

Social gaming - playing the crowd

Gaming has always been a social experience for players, dating back to board games played around a family’s dining room table right up until now when gamers play online with other people from around the world whom they may never have met before. One of the earliest forms of online gaming was the Bulletin Board System. Launched in 1978, Bulletin Board Systems, were accessed using a dial up line and modem, allowing users to log in and share software and data, exchange messages through chatrooms and play online games. Once the internet emerged in the 1990s the Bulletin Board System became obsolete (Edwards, 2016). The launch of the internet birthed the largest and most connected gaming community in the world. Massive Multiplayer Games such as World of Warcraft, Guild Wars and Eve online are some of the largest online multiplayer games in existence. The games allow millions of people to simultaneously exist in a digital world, creating massive online communities. This style of game is driven by the social elements of game play, allowing players to work together to complete each level. This form of social gaming then expanded to social media. In 2010, Facebook’s most popular social game, Farmville, had more than 80 million users (AdAge, 2016). The games run through Facebook increased the amount of time users were spending on Facebook, boost Facebook engagement rates and helping to increase Facebook’s revenue (AdAge, 2016).

With social media changing the way that individuals interact with another, the way politicians communicate with their constituents, the way that groups protest, and the way that individuals play games socially online, it hard to know what it will have an impact on next.

davidnorris

A great thought about what comes next. It seems like everything that can be done digitally is already done digitally. I’m really curious as to what advances can be adapted next.

tundihun-blog

The Slack Activist - Don’t cut them some slack!

SLACKTIVIST – probably the best word ever to have been created for the online vocabulary.

The term “slacktivist” roughly refers to a person who has the best intentions and suggestions towards supporting a cause or maintain a protest but does not take any physical action. The internet has bred the largest forum and community of slacktivists this world has probably seen but will more than likely continue to grow (Dewey 2014).

Previously, people would only hear about great tragedies on the news in their own homes, would feel remorse, and then move on with their lives knowing that whilst a tragedy there was nothing they could do at that very moment in time. Perhaps a few people would get off their butts and do something but this post does not refer to those people.

Nowadays, when people see or hear about a tragedy it is not only reported on the news but also on a million website and social media channels. So now these same people are hearing this news from multiple sources and being hammered by how guilty they should feel about this tragedy, but again these same people feel they can do nothing BUT now they have an opportunity to “appear” as if they are doing something via an online activist protest. So now they feel a little less guilt, joining a whole crowd of guilt-ridden people trying to feel better about themselves but not actually achieving anything.

Most commonly known representations of these “protests” are the hundreds of hashtag movements seen almost now on a weekly basis. #prayforparis is a perfect of example of where a tragedy sparked an online slacktivist support movement which had absolutely no power or influence. No arrests were made as a result, no families of those killed or injured received extra care of support from this hashtag community. It was simply a way for those on the other side of the world, living in peaceful happy homes to show their empathy for the situation (Garber 2015). #Bringbackourgirls was another great hashtag protest that failed to have any real impact or resolution with the majority of the 276 kidnapped Nigerian girls still missing despite even highly influential people such as Michelle Obama and popstar Rhianna jumping on this slactivist tag (France-Presse 2016).

This online artificial world we interact with it seems has confused people into believing that you can solves the world’s problems from your living rooms or offices when in reality the only way things will change is if people turn of their computers and get out there and make a real difference.

Dewey, C 2014, “#Bringbackourgirls, #Kony2012, and the complete, divisive history of ‘hashtag activism’”, The Washington Post, viewed 26 January 2018, <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/05/08/bringbackourgirls-kony2012-and-the-complete-divisive-history-of-hashtag-activism/?utm_term=.d3e79be1603a>.

France-Presse, A 2016, “Hashtag fail? Two years after the first #BringBackOurGirls tweet not much has changed”, Public Radio International, viewed 26 January 2018, <https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-04-13/hashtag-fail-two-years-after-first-bringbackourgirls-tweet-not-much-has-changed>.

Garber, M 2015, “#PrayForParis: When Empathy Becomes a Meme”, The Atlantic, viewed 26 January 2018, < https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/11/pray-for-paris-empathy-facebook/416196/>.

Check out the video “ Your ‘Like’ Doesn’t Help Charities, It’s Just Slacktivism”

davidnorris

It definitely seems like there’s so many things to care about that some people just stop caring! Many people kid themselves to think they’re making a real difference with their social media posts, but it’s all just white noise.

mrmichaelbaxter

Crowdsourcing really is just like ‘Wisdom of the Crowd’

Ok so I have been struggling with this post for quite a while now, and I think it’s because I can’t wrap my head around it.

Every time I think of crowdsourcing I think of that new tv show- ‘Wisdom of the Crowd’. In case you haven’t seen the show… It’s about a father whose daughter was murdered. After a murderer was convicted, he had a feeling it was the wrong person. So in his attempt to try and find the real murderer, he developed 'Sofi’ as a crowd sourcing platform in hope to use information from users to find the real killer

#youtotallyneedtowatchit

Keep reading

davidnorris

Your story about Japan is pretty awesome. Would read again!

dgdigitalcommunities

Selfies

Images have always been important as a form of self-expression and to act as useful memory aids to recall past events. However, images have taken on a new significance in the digital age with the advent of social media and transformed the way we represent and promote ourselves. These “practices and politics of self-representation” are still evolving (Vivienne & Burgess 2013 p.280). The ‘selfie’, or self-portrait photo, is one type of self-expression that now has widespread use.

The ‘selfie’ is inherently attention seeking and the projection of that image, or self-identity, is initially in the hands and control of the subject of the photo. They are a means of connecting to other people, to create affinity. Lange (2009, p.73) says whilst this desire to connect is often is a display of openness to interact with others the need to get attention is far more important in mediated environments. This is supported by Brown et al (2017) who quotes Frosh (2015, p.1609) saying “selfies say not only ‘see this, here, now’, but also ‘see me showing you me’” and is a communicative action. Sayej’s (2018) describes selfies as “almost an art to make something look like its authentic when it’s staged”.

Actress Cara Delevingne’s Mona Lisa selfie

This projection of self-identity is causing some issues. More than 300 people have died from selfie-related accidents trying to get the shot they are after (Sayei 2018). Some people have become so obsessed with taking selfies that the term ‘selfitis’ has been coined to describe the obsession. Recent research by Nottingham Trent University and Thiagarajar School of Management has found those suffering from this condition were generally wanting to boost their confidence, seek attention, improve their mood, make memories, show conformity with their social group and be socially competitive (Downey 2017). Whilst there has always been a bit of competition around to take the best photos the ‘selfie’ has taken this to a whole new level.

In addition, though the control over taking the self-portrait has not changed, its display and ownership has become murkier and with wide digital distribution more open to comment and scrutiny. Some of this scrutiny has caused real problems for those who have used selfies as an avenue to connect on social media, particularly for those whose confidence may not be as it seems. Education and regulatory measures need to be put in place that facilitate visual expression in this digital age but also help protect the young and vulnerable.

As more research is done on selfies and the visual communities that form and evolve we may find they reveal far more about our culture than at first thought.

References:

Brown, J et al 2017, Visual communities [Prezi presentation], viewed 8 January 2018, <https://prezi.com/qfesqjekcclt/visual-communities/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy.

Downey, A 2017, “Being obsessed with taking selfies is a genuine mental condition”, The Sun, 18 December, viewed 24 January 2018, < http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/mind/being-obsessed-with-taking-selfies-is-a-genuine-mental-condition/news-story/a2792a9991bdca95c4dfddf9209841b4>.

Lange, P 2009, ‘Videos of Affinity on YouTube’, in P, Snickars & P, Vonderau (eds), The YouTube Reader, National Library of Sweden, Stockholm, pp. 70-88.

Sayej, N 2018, “’Art can be for everyone’: behind the scenes at the Museum of Selfies”, The Guardian, 23 January, viewed 24 January 2018, <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/jan/23/museum-of-selfies-los-angeles-interview>.

Vivienne, S & Burgess, J 2013, ‘The Remediation of the Personal Photograph’, Journal of Material Culture, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 279-98.

davidnorris

I really enjoyed this. For mine, the selfie culture is just one of insecurity. Farming for likes to validate their lives are just as important and exciting as everyone else’s

How Social Media has advanced the gaming community

Back when I was in high school in the 90s I played games but I never had the same games as my friends, so my community of gaming was my brother. I wish I knew where to meet kids who played the same games as me or learn what games were “the ones” to buy. My brother is 4 years older than me, so back then he was way smarter and better than me at all the games, so when I had problems I would have to ask my brother for tips and tricks. "community represents the romantic ideal of association that is organic and meaningful, society represents the rational component of association, which fulfils the needs of modem society" (Siapera & Eugenia 2012). YouTube's gaming website solves all of the societal needs that I came across in my formative days as a gamer; learning about new games, tips and tricks, etc. It creates a society that can be used to satisfy rational needs of a gamer. LucasArts was not great on releasing Star Wars related video games back in the mid-90s. Star Wars game really kicked off in the very late 90s/early 00s when I was no longer playing many games. On one occasion, myself and a few other “sci-fi nerd” friends played a Star Wars-esque video game called Wing Commander. One friend had the original and version 2. Another friend had version 3 and I had version 4. Eventually the 5th game was released and we'd all planned to purchase the latest version. This meant that we were all able to play the same version and discuss our progress, our likes and dislikes, which paths we took in the game, and what results those paths yielded. It was less about having practical networks to find out tips and tricks, but mostly about the feeling of community. Being able to chat with other people about something we enjoyed; shared connections. Again, Youtube's gaming platform helps with community because another game I loved was NHL 97. I let my geek-flag fly but my love of sports and sports gaming was not really satisfied through that circle of friends. With this platform I would have easily been able to set up new communities with every game that I loved.

"social capital refers to the people we know and the relationships we have with them, and to the kinds ofbenefits we get out ofbeing associated with these people" (Siapera & Eugenia 2012). I loved Star Wars, but in the 90s you couldn't be a Star Wars fan without being considered a geek, but I didn't want to completely reject my passion for sport. During lunch, I occasionally went to the chess club and hung out there (actually learned how to play chess) and chatted Star Wars and nerdy things but other days when I was craving activity I'd go hang out with most of the guys I played indoor cricket with. The thing was, neither of these groups were my "core" group of friends, a group of people who all loved alternative music. In fact, with the exception of two or three people in the sci-fi group and two or three people in the sport group, I really wasn't friends with these major groups. What YouTube gaming does is it increases to social capital. You can get what you need out of these other friends without having to boycott your core group of friends. It's the content you want, when you want it and it's not time sensitive. If you don't like a big part of the gaming community, you don't have to follow them. Reference Siapera & Eugenia 2012, "Understanding New Media", SAGE, London, pp 191 - 208.

Photographic documentation with Social Media

Social media has started to reshape the way we use visual mediums. Prior to digital photography, an individual would use a roll of film with 24 exposures and carefully select things that were worth documenting. A day out at the beach with friends might consist of a group photo, a photo of a sandcastle, or a photo of someone having fun in the water. These photos would be documentations of things we want to remember. We had little interest of carrying these photos with just in case we bumped into people we knew.

As digital photography started to rise the number of photos we took increased. Take a bad photo? Easy fix; delete it. It allowed us to document more aspects of our lives and keep only the best facets. Still, we didn’t have computer wherever we went, so email was our main source of sharing these images. We then had to be sure the email recipient was interested in seeing the photos. But as mobile phone technology advanced, we could store these digital images and carry them in our pocket at all times. Again, we would need to assess who did and didn’t want to see these images.

With the rise of Instagram we were no longer prohibited by many of these issues. People could choose whose life they could follow, and they could choose where and when to open the app to view these photos. We also would start taking photos of different items. It was no longer about trying to take photos of the most interesting things, but it was about taking photos in a way that made us look the most interesting. A group photo at the beach slowly got turned into #HotdogsOrLegs. A photo of friends at a restaurant became a photo of our meal. We still travel the world, but why would you take an amateur photo of the Tower of Pisa? There are copious professional photos of that landmark on the internet. Now it’s about the personal experience of manipulating perspective to make it look like you’re trying to hold the tower upright.

It’s about connection and the projection of self-image. We have an innate desire to project the best parts of our lives through these mediums. We are busy trying to accumulate social capital. Each like represents another level of significance and self-worth in our networks.

Reference

Farman, J 2014, “Photography, Self Documentation, & Social Media: And Interview with Nathan Jurgenson”, 16 June, viewed 26 January 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnPtZ5lKDHo>.

Crowdsourcing and Social Mapping

Crowdsourcing is the process of delegating tasks to a group of people. It can be used to facilitate collaboration between people ordinarily separated by geography. It’s not exclusively an online tool, however it does generally rely on a public audience for contributions. This audience is usually outside of an individual or organisation’s immediate network. The most popular form of Crowdsourcing comes through websites such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo, where people solicit contributions of financial, or moral support such as community votes.

It can be used to collect information such as data and images, which can then be submitted to authorities in instances of criminal activity, accidents, or natural disasters. It helps to create a much more reliable retelling of an incident as it uses multiple recordings of a singular account, sometimes over vast locations (Women’s Rights Campaigning n.d.)

The collection of this data from various points of view can fall into social mapping. Social mapping is about the collection of data of people’s locations. It can also be used to create an online profile of individuals. A person who contributes a picture from a natural disaster zone is a person that is more likely going to need aid. It can also be used to find out how many people in an area are also affected by certain incidents.

Some people are worried about the use of social mapping in marketing. An individual that visits the website of a shoe retailer is clearly in the market for purchasing shoes. By collecting their IP address, other shoe advertisers can advertise their products directly to this individual. This makes this type of data collection a valuable commodity (White 2013).

It can also paint a picture of you and what your interests are. Video steaming service Netflix uses social mapping quite effectively. As Netflix has thousands of TV shows and movies available to watch, it’s important for the user experience to be a pleasant one and therefor Netflix collects data about what you watch and search for. They then compare your history to other users’ history and provide you with recommendations based on other people’s habits. If a user watches American Sniper starring Bradley Cooper, Netflix algorithms will then try to decipher if the viewer enjoys movies about war, or whether they’re a fan of the actor. This is important as a person whose interest is in war movies is unlikely to enjoy Silver Linings Playbook or The Hangover.

The point of social mapping is to enhance society, however in the wrong hands is a tool that could be used maliciously (Vanderbilt 2013).

References

Women’s Rights Campaigning n.d. “Crowdsourcing and Participative Mapping”, viewed 26 January 2018, <https://womensrights.informationactivism.org/en/strategies/crowdsourcing-and-participative-mapping>.

White, M 2013, “Social Mapping: What Is It and Why Should We Care?” MD: Museums and the Web, viewed 26 January 2018, <https://mwa2013.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/social-mapping-what-is-it-and-why-should-we-care/>.

Vanderbilt, T 2013, “The Science Behind The Netflix Algorithms That Decide What You’ll Watch Next”, Wired, viewed 26 January 2018, < https://www.wired.com/2013/08/qq_netflix-algorithm/>.

Cyberbullying and Trolls

Bullying contains three main components; aggression, repetition and imbalance of power. This means that for bullying to occur, it is when someone of differential physical or social power subjects repeatedly subjects another person to psychological, physical or social aggression. This means that isolated incidents such as one off fights, or reciprocated acts of aggression are not considered to be bullying, regardless of how hurtful they may be.

An example is Amanda Todd, a Canadian teen who committed suicide after a YouTube confession video. Amanda suffered sexual harassment, blackmail and stalking which lead to public shaming, harassment and physical torment. Although Amanda was affected by bullying, there were other horrible actions she had to endure that do not qualify as bullying, and when the media labels them as such, it helps to obscure the full level of criminal harassment she had to endure. Cyberbullying is a new facet of bullying that occurs online, primarily through social media and instant messaging (Boyd 2014).

This type of cyberbullying can also be referred to as trolling, however the exact definition of trolling is still under much debate. Generally, it encompasses online comments that are antagonistic in nature. These comments are purposefully designed to derail, enrage or mock other online users, however much of the speculation comes down to the perception of the receiver. This means that the receiver of the message may deem a comment to be trolling, despite the sender’s intent.

It’s quite difficult to assess the sender’s intent. Some comments might display hostility through swearing, insulting, or using offensive language but this might simply be the user’s attempt to offer an alternate viewpoint to an argument. Trolling can be used for entertainment value, or it could be part of a political tactic (McCosker 2013).

A new wave of political trolling is the Alt-Right troll, a person who’s political leaning is right wing, but may not as traditional as standard right wing politics. Many of these alt-right trolls have a simple agenda; discredit left-wing online protestors commonly referred to as Social Justice Warriors (SJW). The Alt-Right often try to attack SWJ by making them look foolish, and trying to discredit their view points. Some of the Alt-Right trolls may even be left-leaning, however this trolling is done purely for entertainment value as opposed to political gain (Benko 2017).

References

Benko, R 2017, “Trigger Warning, How The Trolls Occupied Politics And What To Do About It”, Forbes, views 25 January 2018, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2017/06/30/trigger-warning-how-the-trolls-occupied-politics-and-what-to-do-about-it/#28de59f9bdfa>.

Boyd, D 2014, “Bullying: is social media amplifying meanness and cruelty”, Yale University Press, pp 128-152.

McCosker, A 2013, “Trolling as provocation”, The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, vol 20, no 2, pp 201-217.

Digital Activism

Digital Citizenship Political activism has gained a lot of momentum with the advent of social media. Groups can now collate their efforts with other like-minded individuals through digital citizenship. Digital citizenship pertains to theses potential benefits for society’s use of digital and social media platforms. These social media tools allow us to build and sustain these communities without the bounds of geography, and can help to make their voice louder.

In the past, the only way for these voices could be heard were through radical means, but now these arguments can be presented in a much more professional and legitimate manner. Now any individual can present their ideas to governing officials with ease. It has allowed for much DIY activism; where someone with little to no funding can now play on the same field as someone with large corporate lobby groups.

Culture Jamming Culture jamming is a form of guerrilla communication based on a resistance to popular culture. It usually takes form through performance art, graffiti art, hacktivism or adbusting. Abusters is a popular organisation that often uses the very medium of media that they wish to protest. Many of their campaigns are aimed at anti-capitalist and anti-consumerism ideals (Swinburne 2018)

Slacktivism One drawback to the ease of protest is slacktivism. Many people will feel like posting on social media, or signing an online petition is an adequate form of protest. This can be because each cause has a stronger voice, and there can be too many issues for each person to support properly.

It’s even gotten to a point where individuals may protest for personal gain. These personal gains could be the enjoyment received from attending an event, or virtue signalling; a concept that an individual may protest purely to fit in, or to feel superior amongst an activist group. This leads to individuals protesting without asking questions about themselves, or the issues that they are protesting (Funnell 2017)

References

Funnell, A 2017, “From slacktivism to ‘feel-good’ protests, activism is broken: Here’s how to fix it”, ABC News, viewed 25 January 2018, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-25/activism-is-broken-heres-how-we-fix-it/9077372>. Swinburne 2018, “6.2 Local digital activism”, viewed 25 January 2018.

How does social media affect the current political landscape?

In the modern day of social media, it’s common knowledge that communities can connect faster with each other on a much larger scale. This means that for politicians, it can be an effective tool for broadcasting their message quickly to their constituents. It can help groups of people with similar political beliefs connect with each other, to help communicate ideas and engage with their representatives. Jodi Dean, a political science professor and in the video below, she talks about how this could very well be a bad thing.

Communicative Capitalism is the online combination of democracy and capitalism which has 3 key feautres 1. The change in the form of our utterances 2. The decline of symbolic efficiency 3. The reflexive trap of the circuits of drive (Dean 2013)

The change in the form of our utterances is can be described through the rise of click bait articles. Traditional media outlets would scrutinize their own publications, because the value of the message was based around its own content. They would ensure their contribution is of the highest standard. However now the value of the message is around it’s scalability; i.e does this message make users want to contribute their own two cents. A message, regardless of its accuracy was more valuable if it received more engagement. The change in our form of utterances can lead to situations like the Swedish Christmas Light fiasco seen below.

<Fact Checking on social media> (MetroSverige 2016)

The decline of symbolic efficiency refers to the context of the message. As Dean says; a cross in a church and a cross around a rock star’s neck mean the same thing. A perfect example of this is the meme “Loss”. Coming website Ctrl+Alt+Del posted a cartoon that became increasingly popular amongst gamers, and eventually memes started being created about it. In the cartoon below, we see the original cartoon. The other two images show how people have reimagined the characters in the cartoon. In four quadrants, we see one line to represent each character and how they are positioned in each frame of the original comic. Without this context, these alternate memes are meaningless and potentially offensive.

(Downer 2017)

The reflexic trap of the circuits of drive refers to the way that we have endless information at our hands; so we continually search to information to meet the outcome we desire. This is also referred to as confirmation bias. Australians may feel threatened by the Muslim community after reading articles about Christmas lights in Sweden. They then might misrepresent a harmless food certification designed to cater to this Religious group as a symbol for reduced liberties. Then these people look to their political leaders, and vote for politicians who confirm their views, even if they are false according to an ABC titled “Fact Check: Does halal certification fund terrorism?” (ABC News 2015).

References

ABC News 2015, “Fact Check: Does halal certification fund terrorism?”, viewed 25 January 2017, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-14/fact-check-does-halal-certification-fund-terrorism/6383238>.

Dean, J 2013, “IAMCR 2013 Plenary No. 3 – Jodi Dean”, YouTube, viewed 25 January 2018

Downer, A 2017, “Here’s to Loss, the Internet’s Greatest Meme”, Know Your Meme, viewed 25 January 2018, <http://knowyourmeme.com/news/heres-to-loss-the-internets-greatest-meme>.

MetroSverige 2016, “Fact checking is more important than ever”, YouTube, viewed 25 January 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryjpu-NWYm8>.

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