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Week 11: Global social media: case study China

With over 1.3b people living in China, and a share of nearly 20% of the world’s total population (Worldometers, 2016), there is always going to be intense scrutiny and analysis of what goes on in the world’s biggest population. The sheer size of the market is reason enough for Facebook and Twitter wanting a Chinese user base, but it’s also because they are considered tech savvy and heavy users of their own social media platforms.

A report in 2013 (Millward 2013) estimated nearly 600 million active social media users in China. They are using sites very similar to Facebook (QZone, Pengyou, Renren and Kaixin) and Twitter (Tencent Weibo and Sina Weibo).

The censorship in China is explained by MacKinnon (2013), as being three pronged; technical, human powered and self-censorship.

The technical firewall that exists is controlled by eight Internet Service Providers (ISPs) which are controlled by the government. Users trying to access www.facebook.com are blocked from doing so and because the ISPs are controlled by the government the government can instantaneously block websites for any, or no, reason.

From a human powered perspective, the government hires companies that monitor and trawl the internet, looking for and removing content that contravenes government policy. There are also people that are paid to publish content that positively supports the government – perhaps nothing new but on the scale in China it’s too massive to ignore.

And finally the third prong of self-censorship which is adopted by companies wanting to operate within China. The fear of angering the Chinese government is enough for them to ensure that they, and their users as publishers, author content in a way that is suitable for the Chinese market. The slightest mishap can mean instant blocking at the hands of the government controlled ISPs.

References

China Population (2016), Worldometers, viewed 1st February 2016, <http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/china-population/>

Millward, S 2013, Check Out the Numbers on China’s Top 10 Social Media Sites (Infographic), TechInAsia, viewed 1st February 2016, <https://www.techinasia.com/2013-china-top-10-social-sites-infographic>

China Correspondent 2013, The Great Firewall of China, viewed 1st February 2016, <https://www.opendemocracy.net/china-correspondent/great-firewall-of-china>

Week 10: Social gaming: playing the crowd

Social gaming has also become an activity for everyone, with females accounting for almost 50% of gamers in the United States according to a 2014 State of Gaming report (2014). Additionally nearly 30% are over the age of 50 which demonstrates social gaming is for everyone – not just the teenage boy locked away in his bedroom.

The social gaming phenomenon has built a new industry with Zynga gaming attaining $691m (US$) of revenue in 2014 (Zynga 2014). Zynga (owner of Farmville), and other successful gaming companies such as King (owner of Candy Crush) have a model whereby the game can be played for free within certain limitations. Extra functionality or usage can be attained through social gaming and connecting with friends, much of this done through social networking sites such as Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.

Revenue is derived from advertising (25%) as well as consumers who choose to purchase additional functionality within the game. This is a scale game with less than 2% of users purchasing within an app on a mobile or tablet. But with global access the market size of mobile and tablets is estimated at $24b per annum (State of Gaming report, 2014)

Of course, gaming extends beyond the mobile and tablet, with PCs being the original platform of social gaming through Massively Multiple Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) such as World of Warcraft and the exceptionally popular Call of Duty series with a 2014 report stating over 100 million people have played the franchise (Dargenio 201). These games involve connection with friends, family and people users haven’t ever met – but have a connection through the game.

The social games allow for an increasingly personal experience by facilitating communication between users. From short, simple pre-written messages, to open chat and forums to the usage of headsets to facilitate one to one and one to many audio communication, fully integrated with sound effects and music.

Social gaming has evolved significantly in the last few years, particularly since Facebook integrated its platform for the game developers, and this evolution is set to continue in the decades ahead.

References

Galarneau, L 2014, Big Fish, 2014 State of Gaming report - 2014 Global Gaming Stats: Who’s Playing What, and Why?, viewed 30th January 2016,

<http://www.bigfishgames.com/blog/2014-global-gaming-stats-whos-playing-what-and-why/>

Zynga Investor Relations, Fourth Quarter 2014, Zynga Q4 14 Earnings Slides, viewed 30th January 2016, <http://investor.zynga.com/results.cfm>

Dargenio, A 2014, Arcade Sushi,10 Call of Duty Facts That Will Blow Your Mind, Viewed 30th January 2016, <http://arcadesushi.com/call-of-duty-facts-that-will-blow-your-mind/>

Week 9: Visual communities and social imaging

Visual communities and social imaging have become an exceptionally prominent aspect of social media.

From video and images to app created cartoons and memes, visualising posts to social media is an every-day occurrence for millions of people.

Apps have been created that deal with various types of visual media. Snapchat enables users to share photos and videos to friends. Pinterest is focused on sharing existing image content relating to users likes and interests. Twitter doesn’t have a specific focus on a particularly type of image but links to videos and photos are commonplace alongside text based content. About tech (2015) discusses ‘Memes’, which are a specific type of content, with images accompanied with words or phrases often sarcastic in nature.

According to AdNews (2015), in 2014 and 2015 Facebook publicly stated that it considered itself to be a video platform. According to Facebook (AdNews 2015), half of Australia’s 13 million active users are viewing at least one video a day, and since June 2015 its worldwide consumption of videos is averaging 1 billion - per day.

Other visual communities relate to specific areas of interest such as dating, through apps such as Tinder, which enables users in a defined location to indicate their ‘like’ for a person through reviewing their photos.

This use of location based visual imagery is increasingly being used natively within apps and also within posts. Facebook is set to automatically post the location alongside an image unless this feature is turned off. This type of automation is called Tagging and this can also be done manually by the user – often to associate people within a photo – or to draw someone’s attention to a certain post or group.

There are issues with this however, with tagging being a focus of the plethora of guides on social media etiquette. There are a vast array of ‘do’s and don’ts’ but many of them are about how the specific group expects you are posting to expect you to behave. Ultimately the crowd rules, and a step outside the social media rules will be dealt with swiftly by other members of the group. This type of self-moderation is common and applies to all forms of visual communities and social imaging.

Reference

About tech 2015, What is a ‘Meme’?, viewed 19th January 2016, <http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/weirdwebculture/f/What-Is-an-Internet-Meme.htm>

AdNews 2015, Facebook shifts to be a video platform first and foremost, viewed 19th January 2016, <http://www.adnews.com.au/news/facebook-shifts-to-be-a-video-platform-first-and-foremost>

Week 8: Crowdsourcing in times of crisis

Crowdsourcing has quickly become part of the digital vernacular and has a variety of ways of being used. In times of crisis crowdsourcing can be a credible source of information either from authorities or for individuals – but there are also attributes to be aware of.

Ushahidi was developed to map reports of violence in Kenya in 2008 after the elections. It gathers data from multiple sources, including social media, and maps them to provide visualisation data and alerts to users. This does rely on the accuracy of the data being sourced to a certain extent although there is rules-based filtering to assist with data validation.

Natural disasters, such as the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009 and the Queensland floods in 2011 gave prominence to social media as it enabled alerts to be provided at a localised level. The report by the ARC Centre of Excellence titled ‘Crisis Communication on Twitter in the 2011 South East Queensland Floods’ detailed the breakdown of the type of content that was transmitted using Twitter. This data is relayed back to centralised crisis response centres to be responded to – either via social media or through other communication channels such as television and radio so it reaches a broader audience.

As Joanna Plucinska stated “social scientists are still experimenting with how to verify the data on crowdsourced maps, to present clean, reliable information” (Plucinska 2014). Essentially, the age-old issue of GIGO (Garbage In - Garbage Out) applies to crowdsourcing much like any other research or reporting technique. Social media, particularly channels such as Twitter, allow information to be transmitted and re-transmitted at warp speed without verification. In times of crisis, people retweet information without checking either the credibility of the source of the accuracy of the data. This is particularly important in times of crisis.

So naturally while crowdsourcing is fast becoming a useful source of data, there is an element of caution that needs to be exercised particularly in a crisis. Organisations using crowdsourced data need to ensure there are sufficient rules around validation to achieve a high level of accuracy. In a crisis, individuals should be using information that has been disseminated by reputable organisations rather than relying directly on a few pieces of data that could have originated from an invalid or inaccurate source.

References

Ushahidi 2016, Raise Your Voice, viewed 18th January 2016, <https://www.ushahidi.com>

, ARC Centre of Excellence, Crisis Communication on Twitter in the 2011 South East Queensland Floods, viewed 18th January 2016, <http://www.cci.edu.au/floodsreport.pdf>

J. Plucinska 2014, Poynter, Crowdsourcing during a crisis has its drawbacks, viewed 18th January 2016, <http://www.poynter.org/2014/crowdsourcing-during-a-crisis-has-its-drawbacks/268581/>

Week 7: Digital citizenship 3: Trolling and social media conflict

According the online blog, Mamamia (2015), “one in five Australian children aged eight to 15 has experienced cyberbullying” and there is little doubt that this could dramatically increase as the number and prevalence of social media platforms increases.

Even adults are susceptible to trolling on social media with often significant consequences. In February 2014 Charlotte Dawson committed suicide (SMH 2014). The prolific social media user had many battles but also had to fight against constant negativity and trolling on Twitter and Instagram.

International celebrities have also been victims with much publicised cases of Zelda Williams (Robin Williams’ daughter), Matt Lucas (comedian), Stephen Fry (author) and Tom Clarke (singer) all having been on the receiving end of such significant social media abuse that they stopped using their Twitter accounts (The UK Telegraph 2014). Interestingly, all but one have resumed their usage of Twitter, perhaps because of a social media addiction, perhaps due to commercial interests. Whatever the reason, there is a gravitational pull that social media has that is no doubt amplified if you have over 12 million follower like Stephen Fry (2016) has.

Social media sites have various age restrictions in place to help protect users. Facebook Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, Ask.fm and Google+ have all settled on a minimum age requirement of 13 according to the Australian Government’s Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner’s website. However this doesn’t necessarily stop children using the sites as a different birth date will provide access. This is where adult supervision and monitoring is required to not only educate children and warn them of the dangers, but also to verify that they are not subject to cyberbullying, trolling, flaming or other aggressive or predatory behaviour from people they know, or perhaps more scarily, people they don’t.

The very nature of social media means that cyberbullying can escalate quickly and spread rapidly through a multitude of networks. Not only can these leave severe mental scars, it can also never really be erased as electronic records can be restored and screen captures remain – long after the event has subsided.

In an interview with Paul Fletcher (2014), the Parliamentary Secretary for Communications, said the Government was proposing a ‘Children’s eSafety Commissioner’ that would have power to force social media platforms to remove content if it was directed to. This was in response to a lack of action when users report inappropriate behaviour using the platform’s own functionality.

It’s clear that social media is here to stay and that society needs to catch up with the technology to educate, prevent and stop any cyberbullying or related activity that can have such a dramatically negative impact on all people, particularly the young.

References

Mamamia 2015, 1 in 5 Australian kids have experienced this. And the consequences can be devastating, viewed 12th January 2016, <http://www.mamamia.com.au/cyberbullying-statistics-in-australia/>

Sunday Morning Herald 2014, Charlotte Dawson found dead, viewed 12th January 2016, <http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/charlotte-dawson-found-dead-20140222-338j6.html>

The Telegraph 2014, Twitter trolls: The celebrities who've been driven off social media by abuse, <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11238018/Celebrity-Twitter-trolls-The-famous-people-whove-been-driven-off-social-media-by-abuse.html>

Twitter 2016, Stephen fry, viewed 12th January 2016, <https://twitter.com/stephenfry>

Australian Government’s Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner, Games, apps and social networking, viewed 12th January, <https://esafety.gov.au/esafety-information/games-apps-and-social-networking>

ABC Law Report 2014, Can a cyber-bullying commissioner protect our kids?, viewed 12th January, <http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lawreport/5286036>

Week 6: Digital citizenship 2: Activism and protest

Social media has undoubtedly revolutionised protest movements on a global scale – from signing online petitions to stop the live exportation of animals abroad, to the organised march of at least thirty thousand people in honor of Jill Meagher, who was murdered in Brunswick in 2012. The ‘Peace March for Jill’ was organised by Phil Werner, who wanted to “unite people in their humanity, and …bypass the anger and hatred” (ABC News, 2012), but at the same time reiterate the community’s stance on violence against women.

This rally was successfully attributed to the wide-spread footprint of social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter. Hashtags, most commonly used with Twitter, like #RIPJillMeagher were included in messages from thousands of people; the word was spread and the community united.

Protests like this have helped galvanise the community in fighting together against violence towards women. In Australia, this has occurred in a similar fashion on a larger, more frequent scale with the White Ribbon campaign to prevent men’s violence against women (Whiteribbon, 2015). This protest commenced in 2003 and has resulted in over 182,000 people signalling their support through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. On Facebook alone, there have been over 110,000 shares of their content.

White Ribbon has used the power of social media to create their own network of advocates and ambassadors. This is a unique step as many protest movements like this rely upon well-known people impacted by the nature of the cause, or through celebrity or political support. White Ribbon post to Facebook on Twitter on at least a daily basis and their audience reach is so wide that most of their content is shared hundreds of times and liked by thousands of people – thus expanding their reach dramatically.

It’s with these social media tools that they communicate their message and organise their protests, both virtually and physically on the streets through the rallies they hold throughout Australia.

References

Jill Meagher peace march a victory for kindness ABC News 2012, viewed 29 November 2015, <http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/10/02/3601865.htm>

Australia's campaign to prevent men's violence against women, White Ribbon 2014, viewed 29 November 2015, <wwww.whiteribbon.org.au>

Week 5: Digital citizenship 1 - Politics and civic cultures

How does the usage of social media by politicians and councils vary?

A recent study by The Civic Network showed that it is increasingly more common for our younger generations to have less engagement in political participation using traditional forms of media (television and newspaper), and more engagement through social networking platforms, which Ariadne Vromen, an Associate Professor of University of Sydney, thinks that “actively reading, engaging, and being informed by conversations on social media sites creates a more informed public”, and “and that we need to take Facebook much more seriously as a space where young people - purposefully or incidentally - engage with politics, with their networks of friends and family,”

‘Liking’ something on Facebook or Twitter is a non-verbal way of showing support; and showing support for political issues; sharing posts and commenting is the type of engagement politicians want and need.

By way of contrast, the current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has only 261k followers on his Facebook page and 525k followers on Twitter. This reduced the level of activity he and his team has direct with voters and also means he has a higher reliance on more traditional media for the communication of his messages.

Local communities and councils also use social media for a range of activities. The Stonnington Council with some 2.5k followers uses its Facebook page extensively to promote upcoming events in and around the local area. Additionally they have another Facebook page (What’s On Stonnington) with 5k followers to purely promote local events and activities for the benefit of residents – and no doubt the longer terms for councillors. This is to promote events, increase patronage and to engender a deeper level of community spirit. Again by contrast, the Maribyrnong Council has a low-usage Facebook page with the only real content coming from a very few number of followers.

Social media can also be a trap for politicians with Tony Abbott’s first foray into Twitter being unauthentic due to his team operating his account and them not properly identifying as such – a big faux pas in the world of social media.

References

The University of Sydney 2014, Facebook most effective way to engage young people in politics, study shows, viewed 11th January 2016 <http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=14095>

Kevin Rudd Twitter page, viewed 11th January 2016, <https://twitter.com/MrKRudd>

Malcolm Turnbull Facebook page, viewed 11th January 2016, <https://www.facebook.com/malcolmturnbull/?fref=ts>

Week 4: Blogging

“Blogs, those individual, idiosyncratic commentaries, usually written by one person or group (or, these days, corporations) and posted on a regular basis on the internet, and are a major phenomenon of digital culture” (Cross, 2011).

In this post I will explore the social, cultural and political influence of blogging, which was discussed in week 4 of our Digital Communities subject.

First, we looked at the term ‘publics’ (online communities only) and how ‘Publics’ aren’t simply defined as one entity; instead they encompass a “concrete audience, a crowd witnessing itself in visible space, as with a theatrical public’ (Michael Warner, 2002) This means publics are solidified in cultural formations in relation to relevant and meaningful content – and in this case we are looking world of ‘blogging’ in the public sphere.

A blog is a platform for individuals to express themselves, share personal experiences, interests and ideas with an online audience. It’s a chance for bloggers to describe their experiences and according to Cross (2011), there is an expediential amount of people who actively read and participate in blogging every single day – as at March 22nd 2011 there were over a million blog posts in a 24 hour period in America alone. The United States accounts for nearly 30% of all global blog posts (Cross, 2011).

Corporations and groups have taken to the power of the Internet, and mass communication tools like blogging and social media, and incorporated them into their marketing strategies. Online reviews are the driving force of sales; according to Yahoo Small Business Advisors, 70 precent of consumers seek the options of people online before purchasing a product. Word-of-mouth is still widely regarded as the best means of advertising, however today it has been amplified with the use of blogging, and online social activity – so it makes perfect sense that brands and businesses are utilising dedicated bloggers and social media platforms to sell them selves. (Davis, 2014)

From a political standpoint, bloggers have changed the way we look at politics; users, followers and other social network publics are “more likely to share knowledge online where the qualities of trust, strong social ties and reciprocity” (Pettinicchio, 2015). An example of a blog, where liberal views have been persuading and activating people since 2005 is the UK’s Huffington Post, which is now one of the most influential and highly regarded online journals.

References

Cross, M 2011, Got Blog, in Bloggerati, Twitterati: How blogs and Twitter are transforming popular culture, Praeger, Santa Barbara.

Warner, M 2002, ‘Publics and Counterpublics’, Public Culture, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 49-90.

Davis, J 2014, Open Forum, The Power of Online Reviews: How Bloggers Can Help You Get Your Brand Noticed, viewed 4 December 2015, <https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/the-power-of-online-reviews-how-bloggers-can-help-you-get-your-brand-noticed/>

Pettinicchio, D 2015, Blogging, politics and social change, Mobilizing Ideas, viewed 4 December 2015, < https://mobilizingideas.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/blogging-politics-and-social-change/>

Weeks 1-3: Introduction to digital communities and social media platforms

“Humans are both curious and social critters” (Boyd, 2012, p. 73)

My first post covers a range of topics, which were discussed in the first three weeks of our Digital Communities unit. These topics include: an introduction to digital communities and social media platforms, social theory and social network platforms.

Introduction to digital communities, social theory and social network platforms

21st century sociologist, Ferdinand Tönnies’ theory on sociality is that there was an important historical shift from village life (where there was a strong sense of community built around organic and natural gathering of friends, neighbours and family), to an industrial life/’society’ (formed around rational will, goals, industrialisation, capital growth and trade). (Digital communities, week 2 materials 2015)

Social media theorists can argue that that our sense of community through the use of social media and is once again being embraced and supported via online networking platforms. We are once again creating a sense community – even if it is a virtual one.

Social media is the commonly used term to define both the content, which is shared, and also the social network platform that is used to disseminate it. The use of social media has grown exponentially over the last decade and it’s a refreshing reminder to know that; LinkedIn (2003), Facebook (2004), Twitter (2006), Tumblr (2007) and Snapchat (2011) are all relatively new to society – and their usage has exploded due to the availability of mobile phones and network coverage.

The basic premise of social network platforms is to enable the sharing of content amongst a variety of users, via Internet services, which allow users establish 'public or semi-public proﬁle within a bounded system’, (Boyd and Ellison 2007, p. 211). Wilken & McCosker (2014, p.2 as cited in Slater, 1997, p.84) makes an interesting point about how we use our smart phones and other communication devices to access social networking sites where we “choose, construct, interpret, negotiate, display who [we] are to be seen as”.

The content can take a variety of shapes, from text to pictures to video and audio; all forms of interests, updates on what people are doing, views on current affairs or anything that the user wants their audience to read, watch or listen to.

"Getting that text was like getting a hug" (Turkle, 2013)

Turkle has a strong argument to say technologies for communicating have become so advanced that humans are losing the ability to interact and maintain real-world relationships. She highlighted some interesting points about how we [society] are collectively connected, but also alone together. We are losing our ability to relate to ourselves and learn about others, which has detrimental consequences for the generations at grow and develop in the future.

References

Boyd, D 2012, Participating in the Always On Lifestyle, in Mandiberg (ed) The Social Media Reader, NYU Press, pp 71-76.

Digital communities learning materials, Week 2: Social theory and social media, 2015.

Boyd, D & Ellison, M n.d., 2007, ‘Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 210-230.

Social selves (Wilken & McCosker, 2014) in Cunningham & Turnbull (eds) The Media & Communications in Australia. pp. 291-295.

TED-Ed 2013, Connected, but alone?- Sherry Turkle, 19 April, viewed 26 August 2014, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv0g8TsnA6c>.

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