By Jennifer Watts, Amelia Van Someren and Nina McQueen
Extension of information used: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WIVO2H00bWMN76zaxraQPIr3zkxWWX4K980kjPgVbo4/edit
Until a couple of weeks ago I thought that China's great firewall meant that the Chinese had essentially no access to social media whatsoever. But much to my surprise, they have by far the highest number of social media users in the world, with 596 million users in 2017 (Statista 2018). Obviously this would be massively impacted by the fact that they have the largest population in the world - but considering they don't use the social media we see as so widespread, such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, it seems like a lot to me.
As most, if not all of our well known social media sites are blocked in China, alternatives were created and quickly adopted (see image above). They have an equivalent to everything that we have, and use it religiously.
Unlike in Western culture, there has been a massive 'convergence of the offline and online worlds' (Crampton 2011), meaning that there is much less a separation between someone's social media and their self. Their social media is a massive part of what makes them who they are, and young people generally have more online friends than offline.
Just to show the level of convergence between online and offline life in China, WeChat (a messaging service similar to Facebook Messenger/WhatsApp) allows users to book doctors appointments and order goods and services. Interestingly, in China, you could walk into a restaurant and order and pay for your food all through WeChat, you could have no human contact at all. Western social media has not reached that level, and does not seem relatively close to it, so this is crazy to think that this has been China for the past few years.
Chinese social media is largely censored by the government, and it is extremely difficult for the Chinese Netizens to speak about politics at all online. So rather than this, users tell stories or speak about companies, with 55% of China's Netizens having initiated or participated in online discussion about companies (Crampton 2011). Purchase decisions are influenced more by social media than anywhere else in the world, and so it is highly important for companies to engage with Chinese audiences to profit off this fact.
As much as I would have thought China was behind with social media, they seem to be ahead of the game despite having the 'biggest digital boundary in the whole world' (Anti 2011). Chinese social media although seemingly restrictive to us, has enabled the Chinese citizens more freedom than they have ever had. Their public sphere is emerging and changing, and they are all clearly digital citizens. It will be interesting to see how it continues to develop and if censorship is lowered eventually, how this will impact both those within the wall and those outside of it.
References:
Anti, M 2011, 'Behind the great firewall of China', TedTalks, viewed 15 May 2018, < https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_anti_behind_the_great_firewall_of_china#t-481386>.
Crampton, T 2011 'Social media in China: The same, but different' China Business Review, Vol 38, Issue 1, pp 28-31.
Statista 2018, Number of social network users in selected countries in 2017 and 2022 (in millions), Statista, viewed on 29 May 2018, <https://www.statista.com/statistics/278341/number-of-social-network-users-in-selected-countries/#0>.
Image source: Suyin 2013, Baidu SEO and Internet in China, Blueprint, viewed on 29 May 2018, <https://blueprintdigital.com/baidu-seo/>.
Nosedive, an episode of 'Black Mirror' paints a world where a person's place in society is dictated by a number. People are rated based on their interactions...
Nintendo is finally stepping into the world of Online subscription gaming services! So much potential for multiplayer gaming and some more social aspects to the Switch console.
Say what you want about multiplayer but the best part about it is about 85% of the players want to play the game sure, but any time something stupid or funny starts up in a match, chances are everyone’s gonna stop playing to watch or join in and thats just the culture
Every, if not most games these days have some sort of online component to them. From first-person shooter games to casual phone apps, most games enable a level of sociality within their design.
This can vary from games that:
• Are only available when online (eg. Fortnite, SimCity, Farmville)
• Have both online and offline multiplayer capabilities (eg. Halo franchise, Call of Duty)
• Only use internet for both user generated and free downloadable content (eg. The Sims 4, most casual phone games).
Most casual phone games allow you to play offline, but go online to make in app purchases - but essentially have little to no way of communicating with other players.
In contrast to this, Farmville, for example, places a large reliance on having 'Neighbours' in order to complete in game missions - but still, it would be extremely rare for anyone to develop relationships through this beyond watering their crops on the daily.
Games such as Halo and Fortnite allow more of a relationships between players, with Xbox Live Gold (Xbox's online subscription service) and the PlayStation Network offering an audio chat feature in which users can speak online whilst on their console with their online friends. This is primarily used by team members to communicate strategy in relation to multiplayer games, especially in something like Fortnite in which being able to communicate plans with your squad is extremely helpful.
What I find interesting from watching my older brother play video games online, is that there seems to be a different idea of what is appropriate to say to others. Although the creators of these games include some sort of code of conduct, generally stating that harassment and bullying is against the rules – I find that what people say to a bad teammate is very far from what would be acceptable to say in real life. It’s almost a social norm online that many of those that use these audio features are not there to be nice. It also goes back to my post earlier on trolling – trolling is a massive part of the online gaming conversation. This is an example of how although developers create their own rules, players tend to develop their own ‘social norms’ that ‘impact on gameplay’ (De Zwart et al. 2014, p. 80).
Online communities also tend to develop from the cult following of many games, particularly on Reddit. Reddit's gaming community is over 18 million large, making for a insanely large forum of people to discuss all different games, from new to old. This shows that there is a massive audience of players out there that want to come together and discuss these games that they enjoy, creating sub Reddits (smaller communities/forums) to speak of their opinions, game tactics and achievements.
References:
Reddit 2018, /r/Gaming, Reddit, viewed on 29 May 2018, <https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/>.
De Zwart, M & Humphreys, S 2014, ‘The Lawless Frontier of Deep Space: Code as Law in EVE Online’, Cultural Studies Review, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 77-99.
Social media enables us so much access to information and discussion on a vast array of topics, creating a space in which everyone can find a place. It allows people to feel as if they aren't alone, offering resources on all forms of health issues, from mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, to things such as Lupus. Social media influencers and celebrities have the ability to create further awareness of these issues and share their personal experiences in order to help in normalising both mental and physical illness.
Since living out of home I have definitely found myself Googling my symptoms, which is generally fine considering I only ever have a basic cold. I am clearly not alone, with '1 in 20 Google searches [being] for health-related information' (Solaqua 2017).
However, the reliance we find ourselves having on sites such as WebMD can become concerning, especially when we discover that a runny nose and a mild migraine are symptoms of an obscure disease that will give us three days to live (you're probably fine!!). The self diagnosis aspect of this may be a bit crazy at times but the internet can still definitely be a very helpful place for those suffering from health issues to go for support and advice, through forums, YouTube videos and social media groups.
Social media can be used for health promotion, which is defined by WHO (2015) as:
'the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health.'
When I was 13, I found myself absolutely infatuated with YouTubers, one of which was Zoe Sugg (aka Zoella), a beauty guru/vlogger from the UK, who now has 12 million subscribers. I watched all of Zoe's videos religiously, and I remember her uploading a video at the end of 2012 in which she opened up about her struggles with anxiety and the panic attacks that came with that. Before this, I knew little to nothing about anxiety, and this served as great educational value to me as it taught me so much that I probably would never have known at that age. Although I was taught about mental illness at school, hearing it from someone that I admired so much made it really stick with me.
Since this initial video (see below!), she has posted Q&A videos to discuss her experiences and what had helped her in the past. The initial video received 4.2million views, and the comments were filled with comments of those who related - creating a community of other people that had struggled silently with anxiety, as this was a topic not a lot of people were talking about at the time.
In recent years, I have found that many of my friends have struggled with anxiety and panic attacks, so as someone that can't relate, watching these videos and using all these online resources has helped me so much to support them in ways that I could not have in the past. The health promotion by influencers on the internet, such as Zoella, helps people help those around them to improve and manage their health better, it also creates a supportive group within these online communities for people to speak out about what they’re going through. For those suffering from these issues, it is so much easier for them to deal with it and realise mental illness is very common, especially things like anxiety and depression.
References:
Solaqua, I 2017, Remedy for your health-related questions: Google Search launches health info in the Knowledge Graph, Google Australia Blog, viewed on 28 May 2018, <https://australia.googleblog.com/2017/02/a-remedy-for-your-health-related.html>.
WHO 2018, Health promotion, World Health Organization, viewed on 28 May 2018, <http://www.who.int/topics/health_promotion/en/>.
Social media has led to huge developments in both the speed and way in which communities can respond to natural disasters. It is believed that official news has the ability to spread much faster and reach a greater audience on social media as compared to traditional media (Spiro et al. 2012, p. 275-276). Social media allows people facing similar situations to come together to offer advice and support in times of crisis. Communities have the ability to unite as active publics to inspire hope and support for those facing natural disasters, this is where crowdsourcing can come in.
Hammon and Hippner (2012) define crowdsourcing as:
'the act of outsourcing tasks originally performed inside an organized, or assigned externally in form of a business relationship, to an undefinably large, heterogeneous mass of potential actors'.
Facebook developed a feature called Safety Check, a section of Facebook that allows users to mark themselves safe following any sort of catastrophes, such as a terrorist attack or natural disaster. This also allows users to explore disasters anywhere in the world, creating more awareness of these issues, as well as ask for or offer help (Kastrenakes, 2017; Facebook 2018).
Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and other social media platforms have become 'life-saving tools' (Fastco Studios, 2017), in particular following Hurricane Harvey in August/September of last year. Hurricane Harvey was stated by the U.S. National Hurricane Center (2018, p. 1) to be the second most costly hurricane on record. Social media was able to be used by first responders to assist in the distribution of relief to areas in need of emergency assistance. Facebook's Safety Check allowed victims a way to reach out for help, other Facebook users could see this and this allowed volunteers to come and assist victims, volunteers were crowdsourced through Facebook's feature. Snapchat's map section also showed hotspots of where the most people were posting Snapchats, and therefore where the hurricane had hit the worst. On Twitter, users also uploaded images and tweets with their address, asking for assistance for those in need.
Social media has had an 'undoubtable' influence on how we communicate during a crisis (Schroeder et al. 2013, p. 133), and can be very important in the spreading of awareness of a crisis and sourcing of support. Although it can enable the spreading of misinformation, it is still vital to ensuring relevant publics are aware of any situations of crisis and can allow the authorities a way of geographically locating these disasters and responding quicker than in the past.
Fastco Studios 2017, The Power of Social Media During Natural Disasters, Fast Company, viewed on 27 May 2018, <https://www.fastcompany.com/40460182/the-power-of-social-media-during-natural-disasters>.
Hammon, L & Hippner, H 2012, 'Crowdsourcing', Business & Information Systems Engineering, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 163-166.
Kastrenakes, J 2017, Facebook launched a dedicated tab for Safety Check, The Verge, viewed 27 May 2018, <https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/21/16179530/facebook-safety-check-feature-gets-own-tab>.
Schroeder, A, Pennington-Gray, L, Donohoe, H & Kiousis, S 2013, 'Using Social Media in Times of Crisis', Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, vol. 30, pp. 126-143.
Spiro, E, Sutton, J, Greczek, M, Fitzhugh, S, Pierski, N & Butts, C.T 2012, 'Rumoring During Extreme Events: A Case Study of Deepwater Horizon 2010', Proceedings of the 3rd Annual ACM Web Science Conference, WebSci'12, ACM, New York, NY, pp. 275-283.
United States National Hurricane Center 2018, Costliest U.S. tropical cyclones tables updated, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, viewed on 27 May 2018, <https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/news/UpdatedCostliest.pdf>.
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