The Digital Revolution

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Have China’s government now lost control of the social media firewall?

China’s enforced ban on social media is unique compared to how most other countries govern civilian use of social media. It is famously referred to as the ‘Great Firewall of China’, where it is a government internet censorship movement that aims to block political discussion, online activism, news sites, religious content and pornography. In 2005 it was rumoured that China’s internet police was over 30,000 people, who govern content and remove anything that is deemed to be against their policies (Background check, 2013). It is said to be among the “most extensive and restrictive in the world” when it comes to internet censorship (Amnesty International, 2013).

However, it appears China is not missing out on the social media revolution as much as everyone may think. Instead of protesting against the government to loosen their restrictive measures, the people of China have instead worked their way around the firewall, quite cleverly. Blocked social networking sites such as Twitter and YouTube have been ‘mirrored’, in that the same interface and design is used but all operated under a different name. Twitter’s alternative version can be found on ‘We bo’, and YouTube’s similar sounding alternative on ‘Youku’.

WeChat is the most important app in China though. It is basically everything that the government wants to ban, as you can read the news, play games, make calls, send messages and send money to people. It is “China’s version of Facebook”, and everyone is on it (Business Insider, 2015). The biggest headache for the spies of the firewall is that WeChat is legal and is available to download from the App Store on Apple phones. WeChat is also the 5th most used social media site in the WORLD, and with it up and running and no way to stop it, it appears that will only increase as China learns that they are not in the dark when it comes to social networking.

VPN’s are another headache for the firewall. They are ‘virtual private networks’ and allow users to use the VPN ‘host’s’ server to access the internet freely. Only the user and the host can see what someone is doing on the internet, making it impossible for the Chinese government to handle. The barrier for civilians of China is that they must be downloaded outside of China unsurprisingly, as websites to download them are blocked in China. Many tourists however can download a VPN elsewhere before entering China and then can roam as they wish with the private network in China, with the ability to access any social media website they like.

So to answer the question, yes, the government has lost the control over what the people of China see, hear and read online. Technology is forever improving and growing, and there is only so much a team of online spies can do to stop it, as China is moving forward to join the rest of the world in the social media revolution.

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Gaming and socialising: How has online gaming transformed how we connect with each other?

For me growing up as a kid, my gaming experience first started with the Gameboy. I remember the first game I played was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets- which I found quite difficult as a ‘newb’ to this idea of console gaming. I also played games such as Pacman, and some racing car game which I forget the name of. This concept of gaming was very individual- and might I add- very lonely. It was just you and the game, where there wasn’t even an opportunity for ‘2- player’, as my brother and I shared the one Gameboy.

A screenshot of ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ on Gameboy. (above) Then one Christmas, Santa brought along a PlayStation 2. For me and my brother, this was the first platform of ‘social’ gaming when it came to virtual console gaming.  We could verse each other in our favourite game ‘Crash Team Racing’ – part of the Crash Bandicoot series- and also play with or against each other in another Crash Bandicoot game known as ‘Crash Bash’, which was a game purely designed for social play.

A screenshot from ‘Crash Bash’ (2000), which allowed up to four players to play the game (above).  But at that point, we had no idea how much bigger social gaming would come. Years later, my brother and I decided to purchase an Xbox 360. Our main reason was because the PlayStation was getting old, and the next gen consoles offered better quality graphics and newer games. But its main asset was what we didn’t expect, and that was the significant expansion of social gaming. The Xbox 360- much like any social media site- allowed us to add, message and even voice chat to friends through headsets, where a number of friends could be in a ‘party chat’ together. We had the ability to play together online against other players, which was most often in the ‘Call of Duty’ series, which earned its global stardom and praise from its expansive online feature and the games ability to “intensely and utterly” absorb the player and promote the “formation of social groupings” (Huizinga, 1938). Simplified, ‘Call of Duty’ is a ‘first person’ shooter, where in the online feature two teams verse each other. Players have the option to join ‘game chat’, and in more strategic types of online ‘matches’, this was important as teams worked together through direction, skill and teamwork to defeat the opposition team. It is an ‘agon’ type of play, where competition online in Call of Duty relies on skill and discipline (Caillois, 1958).

A screenshot from ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’ online multiplayer (above). 

 This was a clear step forward in the online gaming landscape, as this feature of playing, conversing and working together with others from the comfort of each player’s bedrooms was something of a revolution to gaming itself.

‘Eve Online’ is another example of social gaming taking another step forward. The game is a multiplayer “sci-fi adventure” (Eve Online, 2017), where gamers can forge their own path in a gaming landscape of massive choice and opportunity. The game has active fan forums and a player counsel which is unique. The player counsel allows for negotiation with the developers about features of the game that may need to be managed or altered, and ultimately have an impact on the direction of which the game develops (The Lawless Frontier of Deep Space, 2014). The game has also seen a number of controversies, including “fraud, ponzi schemes, corporate raiding and theft” coming from the games open and participative landscape (The Lawless Frontier of Deep Space, 2014).

The controversies and scandals that have resulted from ‘Eve Online’ certainly is not something that has traditionally been associated with gaming, which goes to show just how significantly online gaming is changing. The game also has its own Twitter account (pictured above), providing updates and announcements to the 66.9 thousand people that follow the account. This entire concept of online community gaming is an indication of just how much has changed in relation to how we socialise and connect with each other in a modern and increasingly globalised world.

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How does social media contribute to public health?

In 2017, the internet plays a significant role in promoting health campaigns and helping the everyday person with their health issues. Health information has never been more accessible, with websites in Australia such as ‘health.gov.au’ (Department of Health) and ‘phaa.net.au’ (Public Health Association of Australia) promoting social health and containing endless sources of health information for anyone to access.  The ‘Pew Research Center’ found that 83% of people in the United States that use the internet seek health information online. It was also found that 59% of all U.S. adults had looked online for information in the year before the research was conducted, where 35% of adults had used the internet to work out what medical condition they or others may have had (Pew, 2011).

So it is clear- the internet has completely changed the landscape for how we seek medical information and how we look after each other’s health. But how has social media more specifically contributed to public health? Today, social media is a key player in the communication and positive promotion of public health. This is due to the accessibility to social media everyone has, as people can access a social media page in just seconds to quickly receive information. Australia’s Department of Health have active social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube, as they aim to push health campaigns forward and reach out to the Australian audience online. On Facebook, their latest campaigns include promoting immunisations, where information is provided as to why immunisations are important for everyone’s health and where they can be done. Social media allows these campaigns to reach the 65,000 people who have ‘liked’ their Facebook page, and also many more through their paid promotion. The Department of Health’s Twitter account is also a positive means for communication in the times of emergencies, where it provides updates and information on any health emergencies and has the potential to save lives.

The virality of social media is another reason why it is such a positive promotion for public health. In 2014, Facebook went crazy over a viral social media campaign promoting the awareness of Motor Neurone Disease. It was known as the ‘ALS Ice Bucket Challenge’, where millions of people across social media took part in tipping a bucket of ice- or water- on their head. The campaign went viral due to people ‘nominating’ each other, as anyone that took part in the challenge had to typically nominate three other people on Facebook to take part in the challenge themselves, meaning the campaign went viral overnight. Since the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ was launched in August 2014, 3 million dollars has been raised to Motor Neurone Disease from 60,000 supporters (MND Australia, 2017). The social media campaign was a huge success due to the attention the cause drew from everyday users being exposed to the campaign online.

The easily accessibility and virality of social media has created a platform for health campaigns and information to come to the attention of users instantly. It is surprising however that there aren’t more viral campaigns being promoted such as the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ or ‘Movember’. Most of what is seen on social media today in regards to ‘health’ are social media accounts giving tips on “how to get ripped” or healthy eating tips. Greater time and effort needs to be put towards promoting more of these important health campaigns and making people aware of these issues so that they can help themselves and help others achieve greater public health. The social media landscape is one full of absolute opportunity, and the Government and charities need to be more creative about how they promote public health. The successful campaign of Ice Bucket Challenge must be used as an example and a lesson, where a simple and creative idea is all it takes for a serious difference to be made to the lives of so many. 

The platform for effective communication is there- so to the Government and health campaigners- get creative and get moving, for a healthier world will come of it.  

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A screenshot of Quake.org’s map of Nepal. The red circles identify the locations of reports from civilians, and the number within the circle refers to the number of reports from that area, giving the government efficient information as to what locations needed the most urgent help. 

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Crowdsourcing and digital communities: How is the social media revolution changing how we respond to emergencies?

Throughout this blog, the significant pros and cons of the current social media revolution have been heavily discussed. As talked about last post, social media has unfortunately created a landscape that encourages bullying as people are able to harass and objectify others from the comfort of their own bedroom. The social media world as we know it is undoubtedly one that is constantly in the spotlight due to its controversial nature. Crowdsourcing however is a topic that is on the front page for all the right reasons. The term ‘crowdsourcing’- defined loosely- refers to obtaining information, ideas, or services from large groups of people who are part of the online space, especially social media users. This includes people sharing information online regarding emergency situations such as natural disasters. In a time before social media, the only way to get an urgent message of warning out to communities of people was for emergency services to be made aware by someone that there was an emergency situation. The emergency services would then have to discover the legitimacy of the reported situation and the scale of it. They would then have to report the information to news outlets who would then send the message out through a range of mediums such as a television broadcast and through local radio stations. The social media revolution has completely flipped the emergency response procedure on its head. Not only can emergency services report important news through social media themselves, but the everyday person can play a significant role in helping save lives through access to social media. In a world where interconnectedness and speed of communication has never been quicker, people can post videos or photos to social media of an unfolding emergency situation instantly. The online digital communities, who may not even be affected by the situation, can play a huge role in getting the message across to those who may be in trouble, as everyone has the ability to ‘share’ or- in the case of Twitter- ‘retweet’ information that needs to be spread or go ‘viral’. The 2011 Queensland floods was at the centre of social media virality and crowdsourcing. As the floods swallowed their way through Brisbane, Ipswich and other parts of Queensland from the 10th-16th of January 2011, digital communities across the state and other parts of the country came to the rescue. Social media platform Twitter was the main player. Thanks to its viral hashtagging feature, the use of the hashtag “#qldfloods” becoming the central coordination for communication. In a report by the ‘ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation’ (ARC, 2012), it was found that a total of 35,000 tweets using the #qldfloods hashtag were sent out. The most staggering stat was that 50-60% of these tweets using the hashtag were ‘retweets’, meaning more than half of the information being shared across Twitter of the floods were by everyday users sharing important updates from emergency services and users posting significantly important videos or photos. More than half of the tweets were people just doing their bit to help. However, the effectiveness of crowdsourcing isn’t always as successful when it comes to third world countries. This was evident during the Nepal earthquakes in 2015, where almost 9,000 people were killed and 22,000 left injured. In this case, there was little procedural information offered by the government as to how social media could be used by the people of Nepal to help save lives. A corresponding factor is that very little civilians use Twitter in Nepal, which meant that important information could not be virally shared to other people as effectively as in Australia during the Queensland floods. It was a heavy price to pay for the people of Nepal. However, as a result of the earthquakes, crowdsourcing came to life in Nepal. Due to the millions that were left homeless, ‘Quakemap.org’ was brought to life by a group of tech-savvy men and women. The website enabled people to post their location, and send important messages regarding shelter situations and also information regarding medical treatment. The map offered a visual platform for the government and even the Nepalese military to offer more efficient and effective help to the millions in need of them. For Nepal, this same software should be used in the event that earthquakes strike again in the future. Rather than just dealing with the aftermath of the natural disaster, the technology could be crowdsourced during emergency services where people can post where an earthquake has hit and where people should try and flee to. This could save thousands of lives for not only Nepal but other countries, who should also adopt such crowdsourcing technology in an age where social media is the most effective platform for instant communication to millions of people.  

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Social media harassment and cyberbullying in Australia: What is being done about it?

Digital Citizenship refers to the ability to participate in society online (Mossberger et al. 2008). As social media and society has become a primary medium for communication, governance of the internet and norms within social network sites and digital communities has become necessary to monitor as bullying and online harassment continues to damage our communities and even take the lives of young people.

in 2014, Australian teenager Cassie Whitehill lost her sister, Chloe, due to online bullying which eventually led to physical abuse, leading to Chloe taking her own life. In 2013, it was reported that nine teenage suicides in the previous year were linked to cyber bullying on social network site ‘Ask.fm’ (Business Insider, 2013).

The stats are even more alarming. 70% of 18-24 year olds report to seeing harassment and cyber bullying on social network sites. Out of all internet users 40% report being harassed online, including being called offensive names, being physically threatened, stalked or sexually harassed.

So what is being done about it? Australia currently has a unique approach to dealing with the very real problem of online bullying. The government has brought in an ‘e-commissioner’, where children can seek help if they have been harassed or bullied online or have seen it being done to someone else. The e-commissioner can then pull down posts that are deemed as offensive and offers further assistance to the victim/s. The system has been criticised due to it only being available to children under 18 years old, that it insults social media sites for being unaccountable in dealing with the problems on their own sites, and that it goes against the ‘Australian ideal’ of free speech. I personally disagree with these criticisms, as I believe that the issue at hand is a very complex and difficult one due to the volume of content, the often closed and private networks, and offshore social media companies involved. Yes, it may not be the final solution in the quest for positive and safe online communities, but it is a step nonetheless. I also believe that the ‘free speech’ argument is nothing less than a joke, as this same argument is acceptably not applied in the schoolyard space, so what’s the difference? Matthew Keeley, director of the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre at the University of New South Wales shares the same view, where he said that disregarding these abusive and offensive comments online would mean that teachers “cannot interfere” when a student in the playground chooses to “speak freely and to vilify, to harass and to bully another through words” (Keeley, 2014). The issue surrounding the control and maintenance of the social networking sites themselves is a significant aspect of this discussion. In my personal experience, it is not at all that easy to report online harassment, and is an even worse process when it comes to the sites following up with you.

Kara Swisher from ‘The Verge’, and significant figure in the foundation of ‘Hack Harassment’, also believes the current options and tools provided by social media sites are “really difficult” and that simply signing off should not be the only choice users have to prevent being cyberbullied (Swisher 2016).

Hack Harassment is a campaign that is working to educate young people of how social media is exposing people to harassment and bullying, and is working to resolve the reoccurring problems that social media possesses in reference to cyberbullying. The campaign was founded the start of last year by Intel, Vox Media and the Born This Way Foundation. CEO of Intel Brian Krzanich said the two main goals of the ‘hackathon’ included finding “genuine technical solutions” such as key words or phrases being signposted by a social media website that may be deemed as offensive or inappropriate before content is posted (Krzanich 2016). I believe this is a very significant point, as currently social media sites do little or nothing to warn or encourage users not to post harmful content. His second aim is getting the word out. Krzanich believes harassment will “really change” when offensive content and cyberbullying becomes “unacceptable societally” (Krzanich 2016). From my research and reading, this is the most significant point in the issue of online harassment. At the current time, users encourage others to make fun of or ‘troll’ others online for the sake of a cheap laugh or to create a power differential. What needs to be done is to encourage people to join and stand up against harmful content online, and that it needs to get to a point where users feel like they will be negatively looked upon for any offensive posts or ‘trolling’. Krzanich’s goal was to also have many partners already on board, which is evident of the latest ‘Hack Harassment’ campaign. The latest ‘Hack’ conventions as a part of the campaign was held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, made aware online by the hashtag #HackUNL, where the ‘hackathon’ ran from April 14 to 16 (Hack Harassment 2017). The hackathon was run by the College of Education and Human Sciences and Hack Harassment, as it aims to build a more “inclusive and supportive online community”.  The hackathon encourages people to come along to “explore and develop creative solutions” to resolving the issue of cyberbullying. Amazon’ was a major sponsor, as anyone who registered received a $100 credit from Amazon Web Services, and the winner of the competition receiving Bluetooth speakers from another sponsor Coach Cheetah.   This significant outpour of support from companies is a massive step towards solving the issue of cyberbullying, as funding and public support is necessary to push the campaign forward. By students learning and developing solutions themselves they are becoming activists for change in the online space, and the more hackathon’s there are the bigger the community that is supporting a safer online world.

This really is a brilliant and clever way to helping solve the significant and very real problems of cyber harassment and bullying online, and I believe the ‘hackathons’ should be brought on in more countries with high social media users, including Australia. Yes, the e-commissioner is an important step to helping minors, but simply taking posts down does do much in solving the problem directly. By having these students and adult-involved learning and development campaigns in Australia, people will begin to not only learn heavily of how content can be extremely harmful to others, but also how we can stop these issues at the source and make cyberbullying and online harassment “unacceptable societally”.

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Infamous Narco El Chapo is arguably the most significant figure in the war on drugs in Mexico. He escaped from prison twice, and is represented in parts of Mexico as a hero and seen as a legend in the underworld. El Chapo was intrumental in making Mexico an epicenter of drug trafficking, as he was clever in attacking enemy strongholds, manipulating public officials and being the leader of an alliance of powerful drug traffickers. 

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Activism through social media: How has the ways of activism and protest evolved in a modern society?

Throughout time, the means of protest and activism for change has held a similar path for centuries. Most commonly, civilians would take to the streets and protest against the state. In a modern society, the landscape for the means of activism has changed significantly in a very short space of time. This is due to the developing and ever-growing online world, where social media has changed how we communicate entirely, and in turn how we demonstrate our beliefs in the need for change and accountability from hegemonic powers.

Although the means of how we conduct activism and protest has altered, the meaning of activism itself hasn’t. Citizen activism refers to large groups of people forming to keep the state accountable to the needs of civil society (Bang, 2005).  And it has never just been the state that has been subject to activism. Powers such as organised religion have been subject to activism for centuries, as most recently the Catholic church was held accountable in Australia for the horrific reports of priests sexually assaulting minors. The ways in which activism has changed can be seen most clearly through social media. Everyday political discussion is increasingly being conducted through social media, which is described by the term ‘subactivism’. (Bakardjievaa M, 2009, "Subactivism: Lifeworld and Politics in the Age of the Internet.") This change of the landscape can be directly linked to that of the war on drugs in Mexico, commonly known as the ‘Narco Wars’. Since 1990 Mexico has been the epicentre of drug trafficking, and it wasn’t only until the mid- 2000’s that a war on the drug cartels was declared by then president Felipe Calderon. And as a feeling of war was arisen in Mexico, it meant that the powers of the government and the cartels had to become even more powerful. The cartels use Twitter as an online community to gain support by glamorising crime, drugs and death as part of Narco culture. Narco figure Alfredo Guzman posted a photo at the theatres showing his gun, with the caption translating to “if someone wants to mess with me”, while a post from cartel De Sinalo (@CartelDe_Sinalo) showed a photo of a black Lamborghini with an assault rifle being waved out the window, showing off the Narco lifestyle to the online world. The significance of these ‘tweets’, is that Mexico had the seventh highest registered Twitter accounts in the world in 2012 (Semiocast, 2012), meaning that a vast majority of Mexicans were subject to this false glamorisation of a crime and drug ridden culture. This only meant that the cartels grew in power, as there are claims that even the government was bought off by the cartels. The Iguala Mass Killing of 43 teaches by the cartels sparked significant social media campaigns and protests throughout Mexico against the cartels. Viral hashtags of #Ayotzinapa (location of where the teachers were from) and #FueelEstado (the state is to blame) were used to progress activism worldwide against the cartels and the government of Mexico. A blog known as ‘Blog Del Narco’ was also created to keep the mass media accountable, as the reason the blog emerged was due to the government trying to make it appear as if nothing bad was happening. This was because the government was apparently bought off and the media was threated into silence by the cartels. The blog aims to accurately report and inform the people of what was actually happening in Mexico in relation to the war on drugs. This is a prime example of how social media has completely changed the way in which political discussion and persuasion takes place, and how new forms of activism- such as ‘Blog del Narco’- can work to keep the state and hegemonic powers accountable to the needs of the people. Activism online is forever growing, and it will be interesting to see what new forms of activism and protest arise throughout the next decade as society and the online world evolves.

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The expansion of communication to the public sphere...

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Is Tumblr a blog or a social network?

The ever-growing landscape of the world of social media has made a significant impact on the way we communicate and connect with each other in the modern day. In a relatively short of space of time, many uses for communication have either become inanimate or have been developed further in the very public sphere of social media. These developments of ‘classic’ forms of communication can be seen through the popular social network site ‘Facebook’, where users can contact their friends all in one place- bringing the ‘phone book’ to the online world. The classical ‘scrap book’ has also become part of the social networking world with the popular website ‘Instagram’, where users can post photos of meaning to them – much like a typical scrapbook- however in a public arena where other users can share and comment on other users’ photo’s. Popular site ‘Tumblr’ is another prime example of how communication forms have altered and expanded over the past fifteen years. Tumblr is basically an online space where users are able to blog using various types of multimedia. Users can also share, comment and expand to other user’s posts, making it a very socially connected public platform of media. However, it must be considered, is Tumblr actually a social networking site like Facebook and Instagram, or is it merely a blog? The reason Tumblr is thrown under the spotlight of this question is that Tumblr is an expansion of the typical blog, which was always an online concept. It is understood the first blog was created in 1994 by Justin Hall (A brief history of blogging, 2011), where users could use his site ‘Links.net’ like a typical diary entry, only that it was a “productive contradiction between public and private” (Geert Lovink, 2011). Then came Blogger in 1999, letting users post various kinds of multimedia such as text, images and videos. Tumblr was founded eight years later in 2007 which took the online social community by storm with the same purpose of existence- inviting users to blog. So is Tumblr just an expanding continuation of the blog, or is it something much larger? To discover whether Tumblr is a social network or not, it must be broken down to definition. Social network sites are defined as allowing users within a bounded system to construct a public profile of themselves, manage which other users they will share a connection with and be able to view content created or shared from their connected users within the system (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). To add to this definition coined by the ‘Journal of Computer-Mediated-Communication’, Dana Boyd also stated that people who post on social media “are not writing for the world at large; they are writing for the small group who might find it relevant and meaningful” (Boyd, pp. 75). Tumblr ticks every box in relevance to these definitions from social media sceptics. Tumblr allows users to create and construct a profile for themselves, manage who they want to ‘follow’ and who they share their content to, and are able to comment, share and add to other users’ blogs and give it their own context and meaning. In conclusion, Tumblr is a social network. Heck, even the CEO of Tumblr Hayes Davis stated that it was a social network and not a blog (Davis H, 2007). The expanding word of social media is blurring these lines between public and private forms of communication, and as time goes on, we might just find ourselves wishing our social interconnectedness was a little more private as everything moves towards a public sphere of communication. Only time will tell I guess.

REFERENCES

Barrette J.E.I 2011, ‘A Brief History of Blogging’, Scribd, viewed April 1 2017. Boyd & Ellison 2007, ‘Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship’, Journal of Computer-Mediated-Communication 13:1, viewed April 1 2017.

Boyd D 2014, Participating in the Always-On Lifestyle, pp.75, viewed April 2 2017.

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Social Media and the Political Landscape

In the modern day world, social networking sites reign as the dominant form of global communication and connection. As such, the political landscape has transformed to a more complex, opportunistic, scrutinised and social world. Due to increased globalisation, politicians and political parties are exploiting social media networks – such as Facebook and Twitter – in order to incite greater political conversations. Younger and more diverse audiences are being targeted by political parties in an effort to widen their demographic of support, and ultimately, votes at election time. Through this shift from typical political discussion and debate to the online space, publics and communities are increasingly relying on social media for their role in the political landscape. People are accessing social networking sites for their local news, and are utilising it to take part in political discussion. As defined by Lutz, Hoffman and Meckel, online participation refers to the ‘voice, reciprocity, agency in the creation, curation and sharing of content, ideas and debate, potentially with the motivation to affect others and influence social change’ (Lutz, Hoffman & Meckel, 2014). This can be drawn on from the 2008 United States presidential election. It was recorded that almost 75 percent of Americans on the internet were online to receive news and updates from the election. Out of the entirety of American adults, 14 percent used social networking sites to take part in the election campaign or to receive political information. Staggeringly, 13 percent of the same demographic used the internet to express their own opinion in relation to the political campaign (Pew Research Centre, 2008). These statistics demonstrate how significantly people are using social media to receive information and create their own content to express their political opinion and influence social action. The impact social media has on the good reputation of politicians and parties is significantly relevant to a campaign’s success. Social network sites can have defamatory repercussions on a political campaign, as any slightly inappropriate or disrespectful content posted by a politician or party online can come back to haunt them. Former Australian politician Peter Watson was subject to this exact scrutiny during his 2012 Queensland Election Campaign. Posts he made when he was just fifteen-years-old containing homophobic content on blogs forced Watson to resign from his candidacy. Yep, the social media universe can be cruel. Coming back to the 2008 US election, an ever crueller case of social media virality upset the presidential hopes of Sarah Palin. Palin’s downfall came from a very unlikely source- comedian Tina Fey- as Fey’s impersonations of Palin on YouTube gained more attention than Palin’s political campaign itself. Various media commentators believe that Fey’s comedic impersonations destroyed any chance of Palin being a legitimate candidate for Vice Presidency. This is a prime example of Mizuko’s theory of publics, where this case is an example of Fey acting as a ‘remaker’ of media, “engaging in shared culture and discourse” (Mizuko Ito, 2008: 2-3, 6). As we head forward into an increasingly scrutinised and public political platform, the political winners of the social media ‘game’ will be the candidates that use social networking platforms opportunistically. Without careful consideration of the publicness and effect of the social media landscape, the game will be instantly lost. The ball is in your court, politicians.