Dean's Digital Communities Blog

G'day! My name's Dean and welcome to my Digital Communities blog! I'm a final year Media & Communication student at Swinburne University of Technology. I'll be doing my best to post interesting, short articles about various topics relating to social media and the concept of a 'digital community.' · Feel free to have a browse and leave me a comment :) I hope you enjoy! ·

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The end...

Well, I guess this brings us to the end. Despite my preconceived ideas of Tumblr, I’ve actually really enjoyed researching and writing these blog posts on this social media platform. Its no secret that I wasn't always on time with them each week however, I’ve thought the topics we’ve covered over the 12 weeks have truly been interesting and thought provoking (obviously some more than others.. Im looking at you week 3, that was a killer 😂 but you get the idea).

In all, I’m really glad I chose this as an elective - Its been a fun and enjoyable experience.

Catcha later...

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Week 11: Digital Communities & Trolls: Understanding Social Media Conflict

Due to platformization, social media users are more connected now than ever before (van der Graaf, 2017). However, being a good digital citizen is not always on the agenda in a digital world where anonymity is easily acquired.

Although the idea of community is fantastic and carries with it a lot of positive connotations, there can also be a very negative aspect. Much like in the real world, minorities are often singled out in communities, especially those with preconceived ideas of what their members should look like. While this form of negative behaviour is often thought to be done by one person towards another, “harassing behaviour is frequently networked in that it is coordinated and organized” (Marwick & Caplan, 2018). Communities such as the gaming community have been notorious in the past for their bullying and pressuring of female gamers.

According to research, a whopping 41% of Americans have been personally been the victim of online harassing attacks and a further 66% have witnessed an attack on another person (Milne, 2020). So, what can be done about this? In Australia we have a numerous number of acts that aim to provide protection from cyber bullying and other forms of negative behaviour in the digital environment. All social media platforms contain a report function that can be utilised to help report and point out negative behaviour. In addition, Celebrities such as Amy Schumer have spotlighted the issue through use of humour (Carpenter, 2017). Schumer utilised her large following to bring awareness to the issue and even provided anecdotal evidence of her own experience with online trolls – picking on her weight and insinuating that she needed to be buttered to fit through a door. Truly disgusting words.

There really is no excuse for comments such as these, however, in a world full of different opinions, trolls will always have their pitchforks ready. We as good digital citizens need to be aware of this and ready to help those who need it. Accumulatively, we as a digital community can work to increase the security and regulations surrounding negative behaviour on the internet.

References

Carpenter, C 2017, "'Hi, 13 Reasons Why!' Amy Schumer talks teenage bullying and 'sweaty' Met Gala gown", Daily Mail, viewed <https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4471042/Amy-Schumer-talks-teen-bullying-sweaty-Met-Gala-gown.html>.

Marwick, A & Caplan, R 2018, "Drinking male tears: language, the manosphere, and networked harassment", Feminist Media Studies, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 543-559.

Milne, E 2020, ‘Lecture 11. Digital Communities and Trolls: understanding social media conflict’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology.

van der Graaf, S 2017, "Participation and Platformization at Play", ComMODify, pp. 29-63.

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I like the idea that live streaming [games] is not cut or edited but that it is live and real. It is so popular with young people as it gives them the chance to be their own creator and presenter. But with anything online it can be unpredictable and hard to moderate. I found that there are several factors that can make it risky for children such as: content being unsuitable, inappropriate contact, creation of a digital footprint, lack of control over the stream or children accidentally revealing personal information. - Sophie Klemen MDA20009

Really enjoyable post Sophie!

I liked this little segment in particular and thought I’d reblog it to comment a little further on the seriousness and real danger that kids face when broadcasting their game on a streaming service such as Twitch. 

‘Swatting’ or ‘SWATed’ are terms that have surfaced since the online streaming of games started to gained prominence and has only become more known since a few of these ‘pranks’ had a fateful end.

As Vox put it (click for article) - “Swatting is a high-stakes prank where someone makes a false police report with the intention of luring law enforcement to the residence of a person who’s done something to anger them. The goal is to get police officers, and particularly a SWAT team, to respond.”

This is a very serious crime and utterly stupid if you ask me, however, it does still happen to this day when people streaming online leak their personal address by accident. Unfortunately, in some cases, this has ended with the person who has been swatted, being killed in the home raid.

On a lighter note, there have been humorous cases of personal address leaks through the gaming community - these involve situations where streamers have had free pizzas arrive at their address, artwork (fan artwork) delivered and also monetary donations. 

If you’d like to read the rest of Sophie’s blog, please click HERE

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Week 10 - Gaming Communities, Social Gaming and Live Streaming

Gaming has undoubtedly come a long way since the well-known and commercially successful release of Pong; the two-dimensional, two player tennis game that hit stores in 1972 (Barton & Loguidice, 2009). With the progression of technology, the gaming industry has experienced exponential growth in terms of visual and problem-solving complexities, bringing us to where we are today.

With the introduction of streaming platforms such as Twitch, the community has begun to rally around the social aspect of the games culture.

This dramatically reshaped the digital landscape as more than 2.2 million broadcasters took the stage to live stream their screens, highlighting their own unique playing styles. By 2017, Twitch boasted a whopping 10 million daily users, encompassing streamers and watchers in their gaming community (Taylor, 2018).

Although games culture is predominantly male dominated (Hardwick, 2020) there has been a significant surge in female gamers over the last half decade, with a report by the IGEA (Interactive Games & Entertainment Association) detailing that females make up 46% of all Australia gamers; bringing the divide closer to 50-50 (See below infographic for further information from the report.) Hopefully in the future we will see more women joining the online gaming community and really breaking down the stereotype of gamers being solely, young, white, middleclass males (Hardwick, 2020).

Personally, I see this as a massive win for females both in and outside the gaming community as I have seen firsthand the reluctancy of some of my female friends to begin gaming, due to the lack of other women in the community. I think its deeply saddening that this demographic should miss out on something that can be so enjoyable and satisfying purely because of the lack of representation in the industry.

It’s truly wholesome to see the inclusivity and support that a game such as Animal Crossing has brought to the games community, especially across this uncertain time.

Especially with celebrities such as Elijah Wood (a writer from the Star Wars franchise) getting involved and giving the game a podium on the global stage (Whitta, 2020).

This blog took a bit of an informal turn but to wrap this up, I wouldn’t call myself a gamer but there was a time during my childhood when video games brought me a lot of joy. They evoke a nostalgic feeling in me today and I think will always produce a happy memory or two when I reflect back on the times I spent playing.

For those interested in looking at gaming communities from a different angle, this article discusses the various ways game developers market their products specifically to encourage community building and foster connectedness amongst gamers. Quite an interesting read if you ask me :)

Reference

Barton & Loguidice, M 2009, "The History Of Pong: Avoid Missing Game to Start Industry", Gamasutra, viewed <https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3900/the_history_of_pong_avoid_missing_.php?print=1>.

Brand, J, Todhunter, S & Jervis, J 2017, DA:18 Digital Australia Report 2018, Interactive Games & Entertainment Association, Eveleigh, NSW, viewed <https://www.igea.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Digital-Australia-2018-DA18-Final-1.pdf>.

Hardwick, T 2020, ‘Lecture 10. Gaming communities, social gaming and live streaming’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning material via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology.

Taylor, T 2018, "Broadcasting Ourselves", Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming, vol. 1, no. 1, viewed <https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvc77jqw?turn_away=true>.

Whitta, G 2020, ‘Jessica surprises Elijah Wood LIVE on the show!’, YouTube, May 16, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSD18sDFRY8>

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Week 9 - Digital Communities, political engagement and activism

As we all know, checking a post for likes, comments and shares is an effortless task, this is the beauty of the digital era. Something as easy and simple as clicking a button, signifying that you ‘like’ the content can be very powerful, it takes less than a second and happens over 4.2 billion times a day on Instagram alone (Exalted Digital, 2020). In the past activists have failed to garner support as they were reliant on physical advertising and word of mouth to reach their audience.

Thankfully, the modern activist is able to utilise social media to pierce the public sphere to generate awareness and grow a following for their cause. This support is far more tangible as a ‘like’ is physical data and equates to the same as a person standing in the street with a sign vociferously.

Activism involves a lot of vigorous campaigning with the end goal being to establish political or social change.

That being said, it is extremely important for the campaign message to be clear and well structured. A theory of change is used to help guide these communities so that their push for change is more likely to receive its desired outcome, rather than fail as a result of a quick dismissal (Whelan, 2020). Once perfected, this theory of change can be quickly shared to unify people and amplify their power and voice. Social media is a campaigner’s greatest ally as content can be distributed rapidly, transparently and accessibly through the viral nature of these online platforms so that others can learn about and offer their support to the cause (Murthy, 2018).

Nowadays, campaigns thrive online as they can be uploaded immediately, complimented by photography, video and hashtags, they’re borderless and easily managed whilst they build and grow an audience (Stickels, 2020). Ultimately, the digital environment that social media platforms reside in has proven to be an ideal location to host a campaign and promote activist ideologies as well as spread the word in an accessible and speedy manner.

If activism is something you engage in or find interesting, reading up on the black lives matter hashtag is a great way to involve yourself further and learn about the evolution of tags and how they work to push messages in the online space - Click Here to read further.

References

Exalted Digital 2020, Social Media Statistics - World + Australia - Digital Marketing Agency Canberra, viewed 23 May, 2020, <https://www.exalteddigital.com/social-media-statistics-world-australia/>.

Murthy, D 2018, "Introduction to Social Media, Activism, and Organizations", Social Media + Society, vol. 4, no. 1, viewed 23 May, 2020, <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305117750716>.

Stickels, L 2020, ‘Lecture 9. Digital Communities, political engagement and activism’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology.

Whelan, J 2020, "Theories of Change", The Change Agency, viewed 23 May, 2020, <http://www.thechangeagency.org/theories-of-change/>.

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However as social media has become so popularly used, the vulnerability and desire to reach perfection has sky rocketed. - Mikayla MDA20009

This is so very true Mikayla! It’s funny to think that something intended to engage and facilitate connection between people could become so toxic and detrimental to our health. A breading ground for competition in both the physical and mental sense no matter where you look. It really is no wonder that vulnerability and a desire to embody ‘perfection’ has grown exponentially. I would image this will continue to climb too as we endlessly  scroll past those who we perceive as better, wealthier and more advanced than us.

I think it's important to remember that, as said in an earlier post, these images are heavily curated representations of these digital citizens and are therefore not an accurate representation nor something we should compare ourselves with - sometimes much easier said than done though.  In all, I really enjoyed reading your post so thank you :) To read the rest of Mikayla’s post, please click the link below: https://digitalcommunitiesmda20009.tumblr.com/post/617713106823544832/how-social-media-affects-body-modification-and

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Week 8 - Digital Health Campaigns: Body modification and Cosmetic Surgery on Visual Social Media

With the introduction of social media platforms, the sharing and transferring of information has become easier than ever (Thompson, 2016). This is great news for companies who are initiating digital health campaigns. With millions of eyes potentially scrolling across their content daily, the odds of winning the digital jackpot and going viral are ever increasing. Platforms such as Instagram are particular beneficial in this regard as campaigns can be shared quickly, conveniently and promoted through the use of clever hashtags such as #Movember, an initiative that encourages men to grow a moustache in support of men’s health issues (Howard, 2018).

While this is fantastic for generating awareness and exposure, public health enterprises are not the only ones taking advantage of this platform and its hashtags. Unfortunately, the rise of the microcelebrity also brought with it an increase in pornified imagery as it was discovered that sexualised social media content can rapidly gain visibility (Mavroudis, 2020). As a result, some people have turned to body modification which caused hashtags such as #plasticsurgey and #facelift to surge in popularity (Dorfman et al., 2017). The process of altering one’s body, also known as aesthetic labour, can be highly damaging both physically and mentally (Stresing, 2011) in the pursuit of an aesthetic template (Mavroudis, 2020); an ideal body by heteronormative standards, something that is critical for gaining attention online (Drenten, Gurrieri & Tyler 2019).

As a digital community, the focus needs to shift from chasing the aesthetic template, to one that is far more encouraging and accepting of all body shapes and sizes. The idolisation placed on women such as the Kardashians and other celebrities purely because of the way they look is bewildering. Especially, when you stop to consider that even other celebrities feel inadequate in comparison to these unrealistic and sexualised standards (Rosa, 2017). In order to rectify the damage done by this digital community, we as a society need to change our values and better understand the gender roles at play. In doing so, helping to alleviate some of the pressure that people, particularly women, feel in regard to their physical appearance. Working towards an increase in promotion of online health campaigns and body positive imagery for all to embrace and look up to.

If this blog post interested you, you might also find this article worthwhile reading. Click Here, to read about the effectiveness of public health advertisements in an article that details how pro-health advertising is on the rise and it is actually working!

References

Dorfman, R, Vaca, E, Mahmood, E, Fine, N & Schierle, C 2017, "Plastic Surgery-Related Hashtag Utilization on Instagram: Implications for Education and Marketing", Aesthetic Surgery Journal, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 332-338.

Drenten, J, Gurrieri, L & Tyler, M 2019, "Sexualized labour in digital culture: Instagram influencers, porn chic and the monetization of attention", Gender, Work & Organization, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 41-66.

Howard, A 2018, "10 Effective Public Health Social Media Campaigns", SSML (Strategic Social Media Lab), viewed 20 May, 2020, <https://strategicsocialmedialab.com/10-effective-public-health-social-media-campaigns/>.

Mavroudis, J 2020, ‘Lecture 8. Public health campaigns and social media influence’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology.

Rosa, C 2017, "Chrissy Teigen Admits She Feels 'Insanely Inadequate' Compared With Other Women on Instagram", Glamour, viewed 20 May, 2020, <https://www.glamour.com/story/chrissy-teigen-insanely-inadequate-other-women-instagram>.

Stresing, D 2011, "When Cosmetic Surgery Becomes an Addiction", Everyday Health, viewed 20 May, 2020, <https://www.everydayhealth.com/addiction/recognizing-cosmetic-surgery-addiction.aspx>.

Thompson, S 2016, "How Social Media Is Transforming Medical Care In The Developing World", Fast Company, viewed 20 May, 2020, <https://www.fastcompany.com/3057869/how-social-media-is-transforming-medical-care-in-the-developing-world>.

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Having a bit of an interest in the fashion industry (skate and surf wear in particular) I thoroughly enjoyed writing the week 7 blog post and found the topics very interesting.

I wanted to shine a bit of a light on one of my favourite brands that I know strive to make their clothing as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible.

Enter, Afends!

Here are a few great quotes from the “Our Green Planet” section of their website.

Afends is committed to sustainability and creating a permanent change within the fashion industry that moves away from the exploitation of people and the planet.

Although it’s a hard truth to swallow, the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

As well as producing quality goods, we also make sure that we only partner with factories that share the same values as us. And that means looking after their employees, their communities, and their planet as a whole.

To read the rest of Afends’ push for sustainability, please click HERE to visit their website.

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Week 7 - Instagram, influencers and the slow fashion movement

Slow and fast fashion have various differences that are somewhat like chalk and cheese. One can be referred to as slow and steady wins the race and the other is a win at all costs, using whatever means necessary.

Fashion itself is an industry that contributes greatly to pollution, waste and emissions with the industry accounting for 10% of the world’s carbon emissions. Alarmingly, this exceeds the carbon footprint of both international flights and maritime shipping (Milne, 2020). This alone, makes one question fast fashion outlets and companies in terms of their level of engagement and dedication to corporate social responsibility.

The fast fashion’s model is predominately driven by trends and consumer behaviour, while ensuring garments are at a lower cost and inspired by or directly copied from the latest trends (Brewer, 2019). In order for mass production and fast fashion to occur, production is rapid, materials are often poor quality and wastage is high. Couple this with the probable unethical procurement of labour and fast fashion is not a good idea both ethically and morally.

Slow fashion on the other hand, is a movement towards more sustainable, eco-friendly and ethical production and means of operation. It has also become the priority of many fashion organisations as the industry as a whole is widely known for negligence regarding exploitation of the workforce, social well-being and excessive amounts of waste and pollution (Henninger et al., 2017).

The increased emergence of more slow fashion organisations is paving the way for a more ethical approach to fashion with less waste and more care centred around unique, long lasting and eco-friendly solutions in more than just one area.

Social media in particular have enabled platforms to practically virtually transform many instances of human interaction (Poell, Nieborg & Van Dijck, 2019). Watching, searching, rating, paying, shopping and buying can all be completed online and slow fashion has been able to consolidate its presence thanks to giant social media platform, Instagram. Influencers are instrumental in helping to raise awareness of more eco and planet friendly alternatives to fast fashion, however they also play a big role in promoting the fast fashion organisations too.

With the power of social media and increased awareness and pressure in regards to protecting our environment and ethical choices, consumers are wanting to be more conscious about their buying and turn to influencers to help them understand what and how to buy (Chan, 2019).

It can also be said that pandemics such as coronavirus, inadvertently forces businesses and organisations to bring sustainability in focus as a matter of priority rather than having materialism, over-consumption and irresponsible business practices at the forefront (Amed et al., 2020).

So, it can be said that with more awareness and education around both fast and slow fashion, that better and more informed choices can be made for a more environmentally and ethically friendlier outcome.

If this topic interests you, HERE is article worth having a read that details further a few topics I’ve touched on above and a couple more such as sustainability, sustainable marketing practices and also the spread of information assisting in slowing down the production of fashion.

References

Amed, I, Berg, A, Balchandani, A, Headrich, S, Rölkens, F, Young, R & Ekeløf Jensen, J 2020, The State of Fashion 2020 — Coronavirus Update, McKinsey & Company, Online.

Brewer, M 2019, "Slow Fashion in a Fast Fashion World: Promoting Sustainability and Responsibility", Laws, vol. 8, no. 4.

Chan, J 2019, "Ethical Clothing: Fast Fashion & Sustainability on Social Media", Linkfluence, viewed 15 May, 2020, <https://www.linkfluence.com/blog/ethical-clothing-fast-fashion-sustainability-on-social-media>.

Henninger, C, Ryding, D, Alevizou, P & Goworek, H 2017, "Introduction to Sustainability in Fashion", Sustainability in Fashion, pp. 1-10.

Milne, E 2020, ‘Lecture 7. Digital citizenship case study: Instagram, influencers and the slow fashion movement’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology, viewed 15 May 2020.

Poell, Nieborg & Van Dijck, 2019, in Milne, E 2020, ‘Lecture 7. Digital citizenship case study: Instagram, influencers and the slow fashion movement’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology, viewed 15 May 2020.

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Run by students affected by school shootings, March for our Lives protested across the United States to support the legislation against gun violence. Students who have created this movement could be considered good digital citizens as they “effectively use digital technologies in a positive way to participate in society”... Using hashtags drew attention, promoted and spread the movement worldwide, where they gained support from people who couldn’t take part in the protest. - Czarina MDA20009

What a great example of positive digital citizenship! I love how in todays day and age, you don't need to be a multi-millionaire or celebrity to harness the power of social media in order to spread awareness or generate discussion about particular topics. March for our lives is most definitely a worthy catalyst for societal change. Well done on your post Czarina! To read the rest of Czarina’s post, please click the link below: https://czarina-digital.tumblr.com/post/616267723884871680/week-6-digital-citizenship

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I found this image online and was pretty blown away by the massive gap between Donald Trump’s Twitter interactions and the AOC coming in second behind him. Between December, 2018 and January, 2019, Trump received a whopping 37 million more interactions than the average news/media accounts who post on Twitter.

I think this is an unprecedented step in US president history. Trump is the first president to openly comment on social media regularly and utilise the platform to converse with the public sphere.

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Week 6 - Digital Citizenship

Advancements in technology are occurring rapidly and new ways to engage in online environments surface left, right and centre with each new fad being right around the corner (Winarsky, 2019). As we venture online and interact with the many avenues offered toward us, it begs the question, what kind of resident are we in this digital world?

(For some reason, the term digital citizen just reminds me of the movie Tron (see above gif), where the people appear somewhat ‘digitally/technologically’ altered in appearance - just a side thought.)

The term digital citizenship is concerned with creating and upholding an online identity, positively engaging with society on the technological frontier and participating in the consumption of digital media (Milne, 2020). Expanding on this, what is a digital citizen without a platform to connect on? Essentially, a platform is a dynamic framework that is constantly changing. This includes the front-end, back-end and everything in between, a.k.a most of the stuff you wouldn’t even notice like terms and conditions, the code and algorithms (Duffy, Poell & Nieborg, 2019).

A reoccurring theme when talking about digital citizenship and the role we play in engaging with society is often the affect politics plays in how we interact on social media. Specifically, how the virality of something can shift the tide of an election – for better or worse (Garrett, 2019).

An example that comes to mind is the campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again”, popularised by the current US president, Donald Trump. A modified version of the Ronald Reagan campaign motto which ultimately was successful in securing Trump the title of president. This slogan went viral in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election and was circulated heavily on online platforms such as Facebook and Instagram with Twitter being the social media of choice for politicians to debate and interact with each other and voters (Nelimarkka et al. 2020). Whether or not this was a positive or negative act on behalf of the digital citizens that participated in sharing this content depends on your opinions of Donald Trump. However, the slogan undeniably impacted the 2016 election and the platforms that it was shared on – for better or worse, you decide.

Please note: I am not for or against Donald Trump. This post is purely for academic purposes. 

For further reading, here is an different take on distinguishing whether or not certain students meet requirements to be classified as “Digital Citizens” - Click Here

References

Duffy, B, Poell, T & Nieborg, D 2019, "Platform Practices in the Cultural Industries: Creativity, Labor, and Citizenship", Social Media + Society, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 2-3.

Garrett, R 2019, "Social media’s contribution to political misperceptions in U.S. Presidential elections", PLOS ONE, vol. 14, no. 3, p. e0213500, viewed 15 May, 2020, <https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0213500>.

Milne, E 2020, ‘Lecture 6. What is Digital Citizenship? How social media is changing the election process.’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology, viewed 15 May 2020.

Nelimarkka, M, Laaksonen, S, Tuokko, M & Valkonen, T 2020, "Platformed Interactions: How Social Media Platforms Relate to Candidate–Constituent Interaction During Finnish 2015 Election Campaigning", Social Media + Society, vol. 6, no. 2, p. 2.

Winarsky, N 2019, "Exponential tech advances will change the world faster than we think", Venture Beat, viewed 15 May, 2020, <https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/17/exponential-tech-advances-will-change-the-world-faster-than-we-think/>.

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How does Tumblr function as a digital community?

Where to start!

Tumblr is an online micro-blogging and social networking platform founded by David Karp in 2007. This is the fancy way of saying a social media platform designed for anonymous or authored content sharing; predominantly text and images in an aesthetic manner. Much like the public sphere, Tumblr acts as a place where private (and non-private) people come together as a public for the purpose of using reason to further critical knowledge (Kruse, Norris & Flinchum 2017).

The social media site has an inherently addictive element to it that makes one want to scroll endlessly in the vast stream on content, and the flipside to viewing content, is to post it. The need and desire for sharing and co-experiencing content (Siapera 2012) is so strong and I think this is what has attracted the attention of the millions of users post regularly.

These users, identifying as millennials (Heine, 2015; Smith, 2017) come to Tumblr to congregate and share content whether it be informative, artistic, intended to challenge the status quo or with the goal being to garner a laugh. By nature, we are curious, social and want to understand and interact (Mandiberg 2012), therefore the want to come together as a digital community is instilled in us from birth.

Tumblr supports this notion as a platform, it relies on the calculated (or artistically not calculated) deployment of one’s digital self-representation (Scolere, Pruchniewska & Duffy 2018) and thrives as its many users curate and stylise their own section of the site. Although visual and textual content such as images and other material is spread rapidly each day, it is still important to understand the tone of the platform and constrain to using it for it is best for; reblogging and quick moving content (Keller 2019).

I think ultimately, the vast differences act as a positive on Tumblr as anyone is able to access the site and find something that interests and resonates with them. Much like a real life town where there’s anything and everything – a digital community if you will.

References

Heine, C. (2015, December 16). Here are the top 25 Tumblr posts sponsored by brands in 2015. Adweek. Retrieved from http:// www.adweek.com/digital/here-are-top-25-tumblr-posts-spon- sored-brands-2015-168653/

Keller, J 2019, "“Oh, She’s a Tumblr Feminist”: Exploring the Platform Vernacular of Girls’ Social Media Feminisms", Social Media + Society, vol. 5, no. 3, p. 205630511986744.

Kruse, L, Norris, D & Flinchum, J 2017, "Social Media as a Public Sphere? Politics on Social Media", The Sociological Quarterly, vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 62-84.

Mandiberg, M 2012, The Social Media Reader, New York University Press, New York. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [22 April 2020].

Scolere, L, Pruchniewska, U & Duffy, B 2018, "Constructing the Platform-Specific Self-Brand: The Labor of Social Media Promotion", Social Media + Society, vol. 4, no. 3, p. 205630511878476.

Siapera, E 2012, Understanding new media, Sage, Los Angeles.

Smith, C. (2017). 96 amazing Tumblr stats. Retrieved from http:// expandedramblings.com/index.php/tumblr-user-stats-fact/

Tumblr, 2019, ‘About’, Tumblr. [online] Available at: < https://www.tumblr.com/about> [Accessed 26 April 2020].