Kristina Stojanac Digital Communities Blog

[the-digital-communique-blog]

Digital Activism

This week’s material focused on grass roots activism and how these movements have been enhanced by social media. A primary example of this can be seen during the Arab Spring, a series of street protests that began in Tunisia in 2010. These protests were sparked by the death of Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi who, set himself on fire to protest police brutality (History 2019). This truly was the pebble that started the avalanche as authoritarian leaders in Tunisa, Egypt and Libya were overthrown causing civil war throughout the region (History 2019). According to Gerbaudo (2012, p. 48) the revolution in Egypt was driven by tech savvy but politically inexperienced youth who extensively used social media to form a revolutionary nucleus. While this has been prolifically known as the ‘Facebook Revolution”, the number of locals using social media was actually relatively low and its effect mas more of a news outlet than a tool for mobilisation (Gerbaudo 2012, p. 49). The internet was used extensively for protest and activism due to strict government control over the freedom of assembly, but the main mobilisation in these instances came from traditional media and word of mouth (Gerbaudo 2012, p. 50). While the role of social media in this instance should not be overstated, it still provided an important platform to garner national media interest which in turn provided a mobilising effect.

A brief history of the Arab Spring can be seen here

A recent article by Kaarina Nikunen (2018) explores the power of digital activism when addressing the role of social media in political debates, in particular the refugee crisis in Europe. She also makes a very valid point regarding social media movements:

“Even if people can voice their views in public, there is no guarantee that anyone is listening” (Nikunen 2018, p. 10).

To me this raises questions regarding social media activism. Like with news in general, it really has to be a juicy topic for people to get involved. Nikunen (2018, p. 11) studies the use of social media in terms of its ‘affect’, which she defines as its ability to elicit emotions such as sadness, joy or hope. I think this is an interesting way to view social media as statistically speaking there can be a lot of noise without any tangible results. The most successful social media campaigns appeal to emotions such as fear, disgust or shame with different emotions carrying a particular kind of ‘moral force’ (Nikunen 2018, p. 12).

To completely reverse the coin, the government in China has sought to stamp out grass roots dissent or political objections by creating a social credit system. According to the video (link below) China plans to score the actions of all it’s citizens by 2020, making every action count towards your credit score (VICE News 2018). Each citizen starts off with 1000 credit points with positive deeds gaining you points, while negative deeds such as defaulting on a loan loses points. If the credit score is below 1000 citizens can be refused tickets to high speed rail and flights among other things (VICE News 2019). Who would want to start a grass roots movement in that environment?

China’s Social Credit System Explained

References

History 2019, The Arab Spring, viewed 10 January 2019, https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/arab-spring#section_5

Nikunen, K 2018, ‘From Irony to Solidarity: Affective Practice and Social Media Activism’, Studies of Transition States and Societies, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 10-22.

Paolo, G 2012, Tweets and the Streets: Social Media and Contemporary Activism, Pluto Press, London.

VICE News 2018, ‘China’s “Social Credit System” Has Caused More Than Just Public Shaming’, HBO, 12 December, viewed 10 January 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkw15LkZ_Kw

[kastojan-blog]

I can see how a social credit system would be useful in a highly populated country like China. I am not sure if it would be necessary in Australia? Certainly not in South Australia. I have not had a bad experience using public transport or on a plane in Australia. 

[madimda20009-blog]

Week 7: Trolling and social media conflict

In week 7 we looked at trolling and social media conflict. This was a week I found very insightful and interesting and was lucky enough to be in the group presenting in this week. The first topic we looked at was trolling, trolling or a troll can be seen as a person who deliberately starts arguments on the internet with the aim of provoking an individual or group into a reaction (The Sun 2019). Looking into this topic for me personally, showed how social media applications should be reviewing and preventing online trolling and social media bullying from happening.

As explained in our presentation this week with the data through ReachOut Australia In December 2016, ReachOut Australia conducted an online survey of 1000 young people aged 14-25 years from across Australia. Out of the 229 young people who experienced bullying, over half (52%) indicated that they experienced bullying at school, followed by the workplace (25.3%) and online (25.3%) (ReachOut Australia 2017). These numbers are incredibly high and I don’t believe applications such as Instagram have the correct ways to deal with this issue. For example, if somebody is being ‘trolled’ by a cyber bully on Instagram all they can do is report and block the user, this doesn’t stop the user creating a new account and doing the same thing or, rallying other users to also bully the same victim. I understand this is a complex issue but with young children using the app this issue needs to be dealt with in a more substantial and long-term manner, and have policies and repercussions involved for the perpetrators.  

A view that I agree on from one of readings this week was from Antony McCosker. He encourages people to look further into online 'trolling’ or 'hating’ on social spaces, as he thinks it is good that parts of society are contested sometimes. He argues that conflict will always be apparent and can prove beneficial and productive to society, the connectedness of social media platforms facilitate a place where people can share passions and also receive contested interaction (McCosker A 2014). I agree with McCosker to some extent, I agree that people have the ability to share their passions and write relatively freely on topics they are interested and being on a public space, they can then receive positive or negative criticism. I feel this is good at light level when people are questioning the topic they are talking on or have alternative views, but when the issue starts to become personal and personal attacks that effective another person I believe there should be restrictions to limit bullying activity. What are your thoughts on this?  

References: 

McCosker, A 2014, 'YouTrolling as provocation: YouTube’s agonistics publics’, Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies , vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 201-217, viewed 31 January 2019, < https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1354856513501413?rss=1 >.

ReachOut Australia 2017, Research Summary - Bullying and young Australians, viewed 20 November 2018 <https://about.au.reachout.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Bullying-Research-Summary_FINAL.pdf>.

The Sun 2019, What is an internet troll, what is trolling, which celebrities have been victims and what’s the UK law?. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3169348/internet-troll-twitter-online-celebrities-uk-nicola-roberts/. [Accessed 30 January 2019].

[kastojan-blog]

Hi Madi,

I really enjoyed learning and researching about Trolling and Social Media Conflict. It was great having you in my presentation group. I was very happy with the outcome of our presentation. 

I agree that people should have the right to voice their opinion but lines can be easily crossed. Trolling is a major problem in 2019. I particularly liked reading about Facebook’s fight against trolling and internet security and the measures they are putting in place to ensure that Facebook is a safer place for people to connect.

[the-digital-communique-blog]

Trolls under the bridge

The concept of trolling is an interesting one. I certainly would never condone the online bullying and belittling that happens over the internet but it must be hard to decipher sometimes. The banter that my friends and I use to communicate could easily be taken out of context by somebody who didn’t know we were friends. Olweus (cited in Boyd 2014, p. 131) defined bullying as an act requiring aggression, repetition, and an imbalance in power, and must contain all three of these factors. Trolling takes a similar mentality online by using controversial online messaging to creating discord and emotive responses (Urbandictionary 2019, n.p.). It is interesting to think about whether trolling meets all of Olweus’s criteria, and I would argue that in a lot of cases trolls are not acting aggressively. But does that mean that it is not bullying? To me bullying is more about how the other person feels, and whether the act continues after the victim has expressed a desire for it to stop.

McCosker (2014, p. 201) argues that acts of trolling should be examined through the correct cultural and geographical context to properly understand both the effect and meaning of act. This is an interesting point as cultural differences or even subtle differences in the use of language can change the meaning/interpretation of a message.

A case in point for me is Shannon Noll’s Facebook page. He gets an absolute barrage of comments and takes it all in good humour thankfully, I personally think they are hilarious but perhaps another viewer may not….

He was even good natured enough to make a sports bet add where he read out some of the comments.

According to Boyd (2014, p. 130) parents and journalists believe that social media significantly increases bullying, an assumption that is refuted by the data. This has led to a strong focus on teen suicide from the unquantified journalistic view that the majority of youths are bullied online (Boyd 2014, p. 131). McCosker (2014, p. 202) aligns social media conflict with agnostic pluralism, speaking to the necessity of having a contested space which allows for passionate debate and contested interactions. A study conducted on a short and highly provocative anti-Islam film found that interactions between the content creator, Dutch MP Geert Wilders, and those who commented was minimal (McCosker 2014, p. 206).

YouTube by numbers (Aslam 2019) link: 1.9 billion monthly active users 5+ billion videos shared to date 150 million hours of YouTube watched daily YouTube services 95% of all internet users

After conducting his analysis on YouTube commentary accrued on videos regarding the Christchurch earthquake and a flash haka, McCosker (2014, p. 213) describes YouTube as a “participatory space that incorporates and perhaps also accommodates conflict and cruelty”. The work of Thelwall and Sud (2012, p. 616) found that certain themes, such as religion, trigger lengthy discussion while other genres such as music and comedy were the least commented on. I think overall these works show that emotive subjects are far more likely to attract comment and debate, which also makes them a likely target for trolls who are able to find easy trigger points to gain a response.

References

Aslam, S 2019, ‘YouTube by the Numbers: Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts’, Omnicore, viewed 11 January 2019, https://www.omnicoreagency.com/youtube-statistics/

Boyd, D 2014, It’s complicated: the social lives of networked teens, Yale University Press, New Haven.

McCosker, A 2014, ‘Trolling as provocation: YouTube’s agonistic publics’, Journal of Research into New Mdia Technologies, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 201-217.

Thelwall, M & Sud, P 2012, ‘Commenting on YouTube Videos: From Guatemalan Rock to El Big Bang’, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, vol. 63, no. 3, pp. 616-629.

Urban Dictionary 2019, ‘Trolling’, Urban Dictionary, viewed 11 January 2019, https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Trolling

[kastojan-blog]

Good point re identifying the difference between banter vs trolling. It really does depend on the severity, who is involved in the situation and how they react. 

After reading your blog, it made me think of all of my friends who make jokes and are inappropriate on Snapchat and other social media platforms.

Trolling can be harmless at times!

[the-digital-communique-blog]

Saved by the Crowd

Social media has taken on a leading role in disaster relief and times of crisis. The ability to instantly publish minute by minute updates as a situation unfolds is akin to having reporters positioned everywhere. Social media analysis of the 2011 Queensland floods conducted by Bruns, Burgess, Crawford, and Shaw (2012, p. 7) shows that the Twitter hashtag of #qldfloods became the primary method of Twitter communication, with more than 35000 tweets occurring over 10-16 January 2011. While #qldfloods had the larger volume of tweets, @QPSMedia were able to effectively disseminate targeted messaging that provided situational awareness and advice to those in need (Bruns et al. 2012, p. 8). With the Black Saturday and Qld flood experiences as a reference point, the ABC have established multiple social media accounts to enable a scalable response (Posetti & Lo 2012, p. 35). The use of social media during times of crisis has also been important during my time in the military, and is one of the reasons I have chosen this subject as an elective. We are responsible (if called upon) to provide HADR (humanitarian assistance disaster relief) support to countries within Australia’s near region. Part of my role is to monitor social media to try and get an insight of what to expect when we arrive and also to assist in planning, including finding the trending hashtags and sites. I can only imagine what it would be like trying to find out that kind info prior to social media!

Sharks at the golf course after the floods

A major step forward in crisis induced crowd sourcing came in 2007 with the creation of a program called Ushahidi. Ushahidi is a ‘liberation’ platform that was created in 2007 to afford ordinary citizens a means to report human rights abuses during the Kenyan presidential elections (Ford 2012, p. 33). It enabled Kenyans to document via text message the abuses felt by over 45,000 people, giving a voice to those otherwise silenced by the government enforced media ban (Ford 2012, p. 35). Morrow, Mock, Papendieck and Kocmich (2011, p. 4) found the use of Ushahidi during the 2010 earthquate in Haiti provided an impressive proof of concept for what can be achieved through crowdsourcing in times of crisis. Platforms such as Ushahidi allow people to share views from disparate locations and can become an important tool for the dissemination of politically motivated content (Ford 2012, p. 33). They found crisis mapping in the aftermath of this natural disaster provided geographically precise and accurate information prior to the deployment of the UN and other organisations, especially in the early stages (Morrow et al. 2011, p. 4) The ABC trialled the platform after seeing its effectiveness during natural disasters in Pakistan and Haiti, but also struggled with how to ensure that information is verified (Posetti & Lo 2012, p. 3). The future for this kind of project involves ‘big data’ verification, which cross references key words and phrases to digitalise the verification process (Ford 2012, p. 39).

Ushahidi Mapping Example

This short video explain Ushahidi in 40 seconds

References

Bruns, A, Burgess, J, Crawford, K & Shaw, F 2012, ‘#qldfloods and @QPSMedia: Crisis Communication on Twitter in the 2011 South East Queensland Floods, Brisbane ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, viewed 11 January 2019, https://eprints.qut.edu.au/48241/1/floodsreport.pdf

Ford, H 2012, ‘Crowd Wisdom’, Digital Frontiers, viewed 11 January 2019, https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1177/0306422012465800

Morrow, N, Mock, N, Papendieck, A & Kocmich, N 2011, ‘Independent Evaluation of the Ushahidi Haiti Project’ Research Gate, viewed 12 January 2019, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nathan_Morrow/publication/265059793_Ushahidi_Haiti_Project_Evaluation_Independent_Evaluation_of_the_Ushahidi_Haiti_Project/links/5451ef8f0cf2bf864cbaaca9/Ushahidi-Haiti-Project-Evaluation-Independent-Evaluation-of-the-Ushahidi-Haiti-Project.pdf

Posetti, J & Lo, P, ‘The Twitterisation of ABC’s emergency and disaster communication’, Australian Journal of Emergency Management, The, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 34-39.

Images

Haiti Earthquake Mapping - Ushahidi 2010, retrieved from https://www.ushahidi.com/blog/2010/04/14/crisis-mapping-haiti-some-final-reflections

Now that’s what you call a water hazard! Flooding brings killer shark to golf course (2011), retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2047291/Killer-sharks-invade-golf-course-Australia-flooding.html

[kastojan-blog]

Its great to hear your experience of using social media in the military to find out information to help people in crisis. Your real life experience is directly relevant to the weekly readings.

 There is no way you could rely on the news or television to update you on smaller cities and communities experiencing a crisis. The ability to share images and text instantly is really powerful and can be very helpful to the military, government, police and other crisis aid. 

[madimda20009-blog]

Week 8: Crowdsourcing in times of crisis

In week 8 we looked at crowdsourcing in times of crisis, this topic I find very relevant for the reality we currently live in. Often when you are flicking through the news and a natural disaster is being shown such as a hurricane, strong winds, high tides or even flash flooding a lot of the imagery being shown is from everyday citizens. The modern smart phone has given individuals the opportunity to become photographers in their own right, as these individuals are involved in the incident they have the best view and opportunity to get quality footage. News agencies can then use this real time footage to show the public the extent of damage or severity of the disaster, and not footage when a camera crew has finally got to the event as the footage may not be as good.

Working in a tech company we often talk about wonder if ‘they are listening’, who are 'they’ well who knows, essentially we are referring to your phone or any of your technology that might be 'listening’ or storing information without you knowing. It is very common to search something and then find advertisements plastered all through your own social media accounts due to cookies and cache, this kind of activity can make people very uneasy and cautious with the information they have stored within their technological devices, myself included. I often walk around the office and spot many employees with the small cover up sticker on their webcam, I have always wondered what 'they’ could take from this? How could 'they’ take it? Again, who are 'they’ well again, I don’t know, people, hackers, data collection companies somehow accessing data you do not want accessed. This being the side often not talked about when looking into the topic crowdsourcing, if they can access this information in times of crisis, what is stopping them accessing the information whenever they want. What are your views on this?

Crowdsourcing can be used in multiple types of crisis, a company that is facilitating this is Go Fund Me. Go Fund Me helps start campaigns aimed at raising funds for people in need such as medical costs, education, funerals or volunteer mission programs and any other campaign one wants to raise money for (Go Fund Me, 2019). I witnessed this style of crowdsourcing on my own Instagram recently, a young Byron Bay surfer was injured in a near fatal car accident and needed funds for all the extensive surgeries, rehab, doctor’s appointments etc. The community rallied together started a Go Fund Me page and started posting this on all their own social media accounts and raised thousands of dollars to help the surfer and her family with all the medical costs. This is an incredible way people are utilising digital communities to help others that are in need.

Reference:

Go Fund Me, 2019, Common Questions, viewed 4 January 2019 <https://www.gofundme.com/questions>

[kastojan-blog]

Hi Madi,

First of all, I must say I really enjoy reading your posts. 

I have been reminiscing on when I received my first mobile phone that also had no camera. Crazy!

Being the age we are we have experienced times when we didn't use social media at all. Now social media is apart of everyday life, business, and a great tool to stayed updated about national and international news including crisis information. I thank social media for times when I have travelled.  When the Barcelona terrorist attacks took place my boyfriend used social media to contact our families to ensure that we were safe. We were staying on Las Ramblas days before the attack, so we had lots of messages worried about our safety. 

[the-digital-communique-blog]

Hold on, I’m just taking a quick selfie....

The use of social media selfies and Snapchat has become the new norm for digital natives. A topic of ‘considerable debate’, the selfie dominates social media and sometimes considered narcissistic (Murray 2015, p. 490). Murray (2015, p. 490) believes that when studied collectively, the self-representations of young women feels like an aggressive and revolutionary reclamation of the female body. The selfie has further evolved on Facebook and Instagram to allow the same short videos made popular by Snapchat, and everyone is doing it. On Saturday night, I was heading into Brisbane CBD in an Uber and noticed a car driving pretty erratically in front of ours. When we pulled alongside at the lights, sure enough it was some young women taking a selfie. The popularity of Snapchat has led its creator, Evan Spiegel, to declare that profile based social media experiences are being phased out in favour of Snapchat’s more communicative features (cited in Herman 2014, n.p.). Snapchat’s goal is to communicate through photos not around them, with the primary tool being the selfie (Herman 2014, n.p).

“The selfie is both adored and reviled; yet it flourishes as one of the most effective outlets for self-definition” (Murray 2015, p. 490).

Prior to the readily accessible Snapchat selfies YouTube was the main form of video communication, bringing the potential for both fame and fortune for a successful user. Lange (2009, p. 70) believed that at the time of writing, YouTube videos were mainly evaluated by their value as a marketable product. While it is difficult to ascertain just how much YouTube makes as a part of Google, an estimated $5.6 billion in revenue was brought in during 2013 (Worstall 2013, n.p.). After a period in which YouTubers were really cashing in, several high-profile advertising scandals have seen a change in policy (Bishop 2018, n.p.). The change has been brought about due to concerns regarding YouTube’s inability to regulate its content, leading to big names such as Mars and Pepsi to leave the platform (Bishop 2018, n.p.).

YouTube’s most popular video is Despacito ft. Daddy Yankee which has made approximately $3.3 million dollars from advertising on the platform.

Like it was alluded to by the owner of Snapchat, people are now using videos and pictures to tell a story. I recently got back from Japan where every mechanism and selfie taking device was in play. People at the snow had GoPro’s either on a selfie stick or attacked to their helmets to record and publish their experiences. Elsewhere the increasingly popular selfie stick was visible around every major (or minor) Japanese landmark. This fits in neatly with the theory of an attention economy, proposing that a certain amount of effort and originality is required to gain and maintain somebody’s attention (Lange 2009, p. 72). Over the 10 years since Lange’s article was published, we have seen these changes from posting photos and status updates, to the micro videos that people now use to communicate. Murray (2015, p. 490) sees the selfie as a powerful modern tool for self-expression, encouraging users to share the most pronounced and intimate experiences of their lives. One thing is clear to me, these forms of new media communication form the connective tissue that binds the online generation together.

References

Bishop, S 2018, ‘Why it’s harder than ever to make money on YouTube’, The Conversation, 07 February, viewed 14 January 2019,

Herrman, J 2014, ‘Meet The Man Who Got Inside Snapchat’s Head’, Buzzfeednews, 27 January, viewed on 14 January 2019, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jwherrman/meet-the-unlikely-academic-behind-snapchats-new-pitch#3dlvjg2

Lange, P 2009, ‘Videos of affinity on Youtube’, in P Snickars (ed), The Youtube Reader, National Library of Sweden, Stockholm, pp. 70-88.

Mamiverse Team 2016, ‘In Defence of the Selfie Stick’, Mamiverse, 16 January, viewed 15 January 2019, http://053.f7d.mwp.accessdomain.com/defending-selfie-stick-91170/

[kastojan-blog]

I completely agree that “these forms of new media communication form the connective tissue that binds the online generation together”. 

I wonder how teenagers these days react to their friends who decide to stay away from social media?

I remember my friends thought it was strange when I deleted Facebook 10 years ago. It seems as though kids are becoming more involved with Facebook and other social media platforms as time goes on. 

[madimda20009-blog]

Week 9: Visual communities and social imaging

In week 9 we looked at visual communities and social imaging a topic within this I found very interesting was the selfie culture. It is interesting to consider when I first got a mobile phone in my teens (it was a nokia with no camera #oldschool) to teens now who have mobile phones and are caught up in this selfie culture. Applications that are enforcing the selfie culture are applications such as Snapchat and Instagram, Snapchat sends a selfie photo or video to who the sender wants to receive this and then the receiver can only view this once and then it is instantaneously lost. I believe there are major issue with this selfie culture as both of these applications offer filters for your selfie essentially enhancing or changing the way you look to make your selfie cooler or more interesting, this not being properly managed can lead to self-esteem issues I believe. If you are constantly sending photos to others looking ‘cooler or more interesting’ this make open issues of young children wanting to wear make-up or change their appearance when they are actually seeing people in public. It also means that teenagers and young children are documenting their lives and uploading them onto their social channels, if their parents are not managing or monitoring their activity this information might end up in the wrong hands.

The selfie culture I believe started as a fun light-hearted way for people to express them self and in some cases, help people who are self-conscious feel more comfortable in front of the camera (Swinburne Online 2019). But has turned into something that like many other things on the internet, needs to be monitored.

Looking into videos of affinity, this being videos that aim to transmit feelings of sharing a particular moment (Lange 2009, p. 74). I found myself guilty of indulging in these styles of videos quiet frequently, I believe influencers do this to be relatable with their audience, keep up with creating current content and convince their audience that they are just your average individuals who do normal everyday activities. Just to try it with friends I have tried to create videos displaying normal everyday life activities but in fact for me, it feels very unauthentic. I enjoy watching videos of affinity but I do not enjoying filming or taking part in these styles of videos. Has anyone else ever tried this?

References:

Lange, P 2009, 'Videos of affinity’, in Snickars, P, The Youtube Reader, National Library of Sweden, Stockholm, pp. 70-88

Swinburne Online 2019, 9.3 Networked visuality, [online] available at: <https://swinburneonline.instructure.com/courses/704/pages/9-dot-3-networked-visuality?module_item_id=60109> Accessed January 31 2019

[kastojan-blog]

I completely agree that the ‘Selfie culture’ is out of control. I deleted Instagram years ago as as I was sick of scrolling through unauthentic images. One of my friends daughters who is only 11 years old constantly sends me Selfie filter Snap chat's. I would assume that is what her friends are doing too. 

I personally do not film my self on social media. I simply use Snapchat to chat to my friends and take funny photos when out and about. 

I do understand that influencers film themselves to create income through endorsing products or services and that is fine. I do however think it is inappropriate when young children are filming themselves and taking selfies everyday. 

Should there be an age limit for social media? 

[rosezarucky]

I’m Player One

Online gaming is pretty much unavoidable in the game world these days. It is hard to even play PS4 without having to hook it up to the wifi and register your games online. The majority of games now come with the option to verse opponents online, whether it’s Call of Duty, Fortnite, NBA, FIFA, even Super Smash Bros. People can choose whether to communicate with their online friends through speaking or typing, or can just play alongside them.

The use of smartphones has also expanded the online gaming world, with millions of games being playable on your phone. Games like Words with Friends and Draw Something allow turn taking and prolonged games with your opponent, rather than playing in one session.

Platforms like Club Penguin and Runescape allow for younger players to get a taste of the online environment, but play under pseudonyms and with stricter monitoring of the platform. Similar to the other readings, with anonymity and freedom comes harassment and bullying, even during gaming. Players might abuse you for losing, making you a noob, for winning, or just for the sake of being a troll. This is something that should be kept in mind when allowing younger children and teenagers play online games. I have noticed particularly in shooting games, people tend to get more aggressive and start verbally abusing online players.  

I remember how excited I got using pictochat on my Nintendo DS, as I could talk to my brothers even though they were in the next room and verse them in Mario Kart. It seems lame now but the notion of connecting through games is enjoyable and exciting for many. It gives you a chance to play against different people and entertain yourself and friends. This used to only be possible if you were in the same room and had enough controllers.

[kastojan-blog]

I miss the days of Nintendo and Playstation 1! 

Call of Duty and the likes are so violent. Its such a shame to see kids gaming all day when they can be down at the beach or playing soccer with friends. 

What can be done to ensure these 18+ games are not played by young children? 

[madimda20009-blog]

Week 10: Social gaming

In week 10 we looked at social gaming, this is a topic that I found very interesting as I do not have a lot of exposure to gaming. I find it interesting that there can be both positive and negative interactions within social interaction on a gaming interface. The example used in the presentation for this week was World of Warcraft, I am not familiar with gaming but have heard of this game and have heard it is very violent. It was interesting to then learn that there can be quiet a toxic culture within interactions of players of the game and that measures have been taken to prevent and stop this anti-social behaviour. World of Warcraft has implemented player reporting tools and specific regulations to hold players accountable for their actions and behaviours whilst in the game (De Zwart & Humphreys 2014, p. 80). It was then interesting to find that this had not solved all problems as it is hard to deem what is acceptable behaviour as the line between virtual and real world is blurred within the gaming industry.

Personally, not having any involvement within the gaming industry has made me very curious on this topic and I have asked people about their experiences with gaming and their social interactions. I have a friend who finds gaming therapeutic and has only praise for the interaction he has on the games he plays, as an introvert some social interactions can be very daunting and ‘sparking up’ conversation can be terrifying, but interacting with fellow like-minded gamers comes seamlessly as he knows that he is interacting with similar people, and there is the added bonus of not having to have conversations face-to-face but rather digitally.

I believe that this positive example of social interaction within gaming is shown through the players maturity. The question “What onus is there on the games creators to intervene and manage player behaviour online?” was asked during this teaching week and it got me thinking; I believe that developers are there to create a fun addictive game but, it is at the maturity of the gamers using the game to interact with fellow gamers in a mature fashion. Within young children I believe the interaction should be monitored by their parents, but developers can develop basic rules and outlines for their game, but they are not the law, and I don’t believe they should be reinforcing it through their games when people are misusing it. Does anyone else have this same view or something different? Would love to hear.

Reference:

De Zwart, M 2010, 'Contractual Communities: Effective Governance of Virtual Worlds’, University of New South Wales Law Journal, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 605-627, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 January 2019, <https://search-informit-com-au.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/fullText;dn=20111239;res=AGISPT>.

[kastojan-blog]

The last time I played a PlayStation or Nintendo game was when I was a child. I remember games like Crash Bandicoot and Need for Speed.  It is fascinating how gaming has evolved in the last 10 years and how gaming can negatively impact so many people lives. 

Someone I know has issues with her teenage son who was constantly gaming, he is addicted to violent PlayStation games. He use to be an athletic, bright and happy kids. Now he doesn’t complete his homework, he has stopped playing sports and became very antisocial. I think it is so important for parents to become educated and understand the games they are giving their children to play. 

[kastojan-blog]

Week 10

Hi everyone,

I particularly enjoyed week 10’s additional reading named ‘Virtual World’s Scandal’ which discusses the blurred lines/laws involved in online gaming.

Gamers self inject in to online communities with rules they may not be aware of before entering (De Zwart & Humphreys 2014 p 2). In virtual gaming worlds terms of service are rarely read or understood by gamers, meaning the “consent” is false and therefore the game favours the providers over the participant (De Zwart & Humphreys 2014 p2). I personally have never read terms of service before entering a game or application on my iPhone. Ethically online games should have terms of service that is easy to read and understand before purchasing or playing.

Virtual World’s Scandal discusses how resolution of disputes in virtual communities depends on the understanding of consent and the construction of the community (De Zwart & Humphreys 2014 p3). It is important for the law to understand the differences and interplay between terms of service, rules in use and social norms to ensure that gamers are treated fairly (De Zwart & Humphreys 2014 p3).Decisions should only be made by those who have understanding of formal rules of the community and the informal rules of online social behaviour and social norms (De Zwart & Humphreys 2014 p3).

Liam Hackett the chief executive of a global campaign against online gaming bulling has stated that bullying with online gaming environments is a real issue (BBC 2017). A recent report reveals 47% of those surveyed said they had been threatened in an online game (BBC 2017). Nearly half of the people interviewed said that additional human moderation would help reduce bullying in virtual communities (BBC 2017). Dr Ian Rivers a psychologist at the University of Strathclyde believes we need to look at the different ways in which people interact online whilst gaming (BBC 2017).

My 14 year old brother disagrees with the above statement. He and his friends believe it is socially acceptable to make fun of each other during online virtual gaming. My brother assured me that it is apart of online gaming culture and that he finds the banter funny.

I personally believe the way the online world is developing there needs to be strict laws put in place and a increase in human moderation to ensure participants are protected in the online world.

References:

123rf, (2019), Vector Illustration [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.123rf.com/photo_67509870_stock-vector-vector-illustration-in-trendy-linear-style-and-blue-colors-cybersport-and-gaming-online-concept-hand.html [Accessed 25 January 2019]. IMAGE

BBC News. 2017. 'One in two' young online gamers bullied, report finds. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40092541. [Accessed 25 January 2019].

De Zwart, M & Humphreys, S 2014 ‘Evaluating consent and legitimacy amongst shifting community norms: An EVE Online case’ Journal of Virtual World’s Research, vol. 20, no.3 pp. 1-14 study Viewed: 25/1/19 Available at: <https://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/index.php/jvwr/article/view/6409/6325>

[kastojan-blog]

Week 9 Blog Visual Communities and Social Imaging

Now that internet is everywhere it means that the old conception of the world separated in to online and offline spaces is not longer relevant (Herrman 2014). Traditional social media required users to experience life in the offline world and then post online to recreate the experience with friends and followers (Herrman 2014).

The Snapchat Buzz feed article expresses the use of Snapchat and instant photographic conversations. Over 10 years ago the photographic process was too slow for back and forth photographic conversations (Herrman 2014). Today, the Snapchat app technology allows people to express themselves through images not just text or likes and comments. Snapchat was crated in 2011 by Evan Spiegel and Boby Murphy (Benner 2016). The Snapchat app allows people to send messages that disappear (Benner 2016). In 2016 Snapchat was used by more than 158 million people every day (Benner 2016). Snapchat is the only app I use due to the deleting text and image function.  

Working in the real estate industry, I notice agents constantly using Snapchat and Instagram stories to post instant self promotional posts to their friends and followers.

According to CNBC millennials are falling out of love with Facebook and are posting less about less trivial matters (Seth 2016). This is because they don’t want every friend on Facebook having access to their lives (Seth 2016). People on Facebook are less likely to post about their lives authentically and more likely to post selectively, this is called selective sharing (Seth 2016).

I used Facebook when I was 14- 20 years old. I haven’t used Facebook for 7 years as I felt pressure to post unnecessary status updates and photographs. I did not like the idea of my whole Facebook network seeing my posts and photographs. I had over 3000 friends on Facebook and most of them were acquaintances.

I enjoy using Snapchat because my friends send unfiltered messages and pictures of their everyday life. I deleted Instagram because I was sick of the superficial posts in my feed. Because we can access the internet from our smart phones, we can upload pictures of what we are doing from anywhere in the world. On Snapchat there is less pressure to display yourself in a certain way because the message and images are deleted afterwards unlike other platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

 References:

Benner. 2016. How Snapchat Is Shaping Social Media. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/30/technology/how-snapchat-works.html. [Accessed 17 January 2019].

Herrman, J 2014, ‘Meet the Man Who Got Inside Snapchat’s Head’, BuzzFeed, 28 January, viewed 26 September 2018, <http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/meet-the-unlikely-academic-behind-snapchats-new-pitch#3dlvjg2>

Seth. 2016. Why Snapchat is better than Facebook. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/05/why-snapchat-is-better-than-facebook-commentary.html. [Accessed 17 January 2019].

Image:

New York Times, (2018), A guide to Snapchat for people who dont get Snapchat [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/smarter-living/snapchat-guide.html [Accessed 17 January 2019].

[kastojan-blog]

Crowd sourcing in times of crisis

In January 2011 more than 15,000 Twitter users participated in 35,000 #qldfloods tweets to spread important information and photographs during the Queensland floods (Bruns  2012 p7). Research shows that social media can help with risk amplification, managing the expectations of resources and management of the public in emergency situations (Panagiotopoulos 2016).  Social media gives opportunity for the government, crisis aid, hospitals and police to rapidly share important information, at the same time they can influence the reactions of the public in crisis situations (Panagiotopoulos 2016).

Twitter is useful in crisis situations because of the retweet functions. You can retweet important messages posted by other people to make them visible to more people (Bruns  2012 p7). In the Queensland floods 30-40% of tweets included links to helpful information and 50-60% of the #qldfloods tweets were retweets to spread news and updates (Bruns  2012 p7).

Government,emergency services and media organisations need to ensure that their social media posts do not include conflicting messages (Bruns 2012 p9). This requires communication and coordination between agencies before posting. Throughout the floods Queensland Police media unit focused on tweeting easy to follow situational information and advice, they did not promote schemes to fund raise money but did provide information on how to become a volunteer in the time of need (Bruns  2012 p8).

This weeks reading made me think of the advantages of social media platforms especially in times of crisis . I departed Barcelona 2 days before the terrorist attacks took place in 2017. Our hotel was 100 meters away from La Rambla. I didn’t hear about the news until 24 hours after the attack because we were travelling between destinations and didn’t spend much time online or watching TV. It is difficult when you don’t speak the language, you are unable to read newspapers and are unable to understand television reports. When using Twitter you can search for particular topics or follow particular hash tags. Social media is particularly helpful when travelling and a crisis occurs. By using social media you can stay updated with international news in any location. 

References:

Bruns, A, Burgess, J, Crawford, K & Shaw, F 2012, #qldfloods and @QPSMedia: Crisis Communication on Twitter in the 2011 South East Queensland Floods, Arc Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, pp. 7-10, viewed 26 September 2018, <http://www.cci.edu.au/floodsreport.pdf>.

Panagiotopoulos, P, 2016. Social media in emergency management: Twitter as a tool for communicating risks to the public. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, [Online]. Volume 111, Pages 86-96. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162516301196 [Accessed 12 January 2019].

Image:

Lynda, (2019), Improving Communication [ONLINE]. Available at: lynda.com [Accessed 12 January 2019]. 

[kastojan-blog]

Trolling and Social Media Conflict

Trolling has been my favourite topic so far this teaching period. I was lucky enough to have Trolling and Social Media Conflict as a topic for our group presentation assessment. Throughout the research process I learnt a surprising amount of information and found the specific case studies particularly interesting. Cyber bullying is defined as, “performative, interpersonal conflict that takes place in front of an active, engaged audience, often on social media" (Boyd 2014, p. 138).

After reading the set readings and researching trolling it brought back memories of bullying in the school yard. What I thought was acceptable in my school years I would not tolerate now.

Research shows that trolling can create serious harm to individuals mental state. In 2016, Reach Out Australia conducted a online survey of 1000 Australians aged 14–25 years old. 22.9% of these people experienced bullying, 52% indicated that they experienced bullying at school, followed by 25.3% in the workplace and 25.3% on online platforms (Reach Out Australia 2017).

After conducting research for the group presentation, I found multiple case studies relevant to trolling on Facebook. Facebook is a platform that individuals can use to stalk others, create fake accounts and inflict political, sexual and racial antagonism. Facebook is a place that shares provocation and has been named a new home for bullying (Boyd 2014, p 132).

When I was in year 12, I started to wear red lipstick on the weekends. I kept the rest of my make up light. No one else wore red lipstick so this became my trademark look. Girls at school who were meant to be my best friends mocked me and uploaded a folder of pictures on Facebook of themselves at a gathering with red lipstick smudged all over their lips and faces. I knew they uploaded these pictures to embarrass me. At the time the Facebook post didn’t upset me. I didn’t call them out on their behaviour as I felt their actions were childish and others would think the same. I feel sorry for the children who experience trolling or social media abuse and don’t have anyone to speak to.

Its so important for parents and siblings to speak to children and ensure their emotional state is OK. To ensure that bullying is not effecting their lives, and if it is, how to deal with bullies in an appropriate manner.

Find references:

Boyd, D 2014, 'Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty?', in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University Press, New Haven, USA pp. 128-52.

ReachOut Australia 2017, Research Summary - Bullying and young Australians, viewed 20 November 2018<https://about.au.reachout.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Bullying-Research-Summary_FINAL.pdf>.

Image:

Kotaku, (2015), Trolling [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/08/10-former-internet-trolls-explain-why-they-quit-being-jerks/ [Accessed 12 January 2019].

[kastojan-blog]

Social Media and Activism:

‘Tweets and the Streets’ describes social media activism as a place of individuals connecting over common symbols, anger, pride and victimhood (Gerbaudo 2012 p14). Social media is a place to signify unity even though the individuals may be diverse in demographics or location (Gerbaudo 2012 p14).

Social media is now the equivalent of the newspaper or direct mail, news can be posted immediately to reach people across the globe (Gerbaudo 2012 p 4). I remember 10 years ago my neighbours and I would have newspapers delivered daily. In recent years more people use the internet or social media to stay updated with local and international news.

Shirky believes social media has made the communication landscape more complex and denser because social media and the internet gives individuals access to greater information and opportunity to engage public speech and create collective action instantly (Gerbaudo 2012 p 7). People have the opportunity to share news and at the same time share their opinion or activist approach to educate others on certain topics.

I have a friend who is passionate about zero waste and often shares images and articles on her social media to educate others on how they can live a zero waste lifestyle. Her posts are effective and are often shared by other profiles. I can see why activists turn to social media to inform others of their opinions as it is so easy to send a message to reach a large amount of people at the same time. According to The Cultureist infographic created in 2013, 500 million people log into Facebook every day and 175 million tweets are tweeted globally daily (Khan-Ibarra 2014)

The second part of the reading shares a conflicting point of view on social media activism. Morozov labels online activism as ‘slacktivism’ a feel good activism that has no political or social impact, all that online activism does is demand someone join a Facebook group (Gerbaudo 2012 p 7). Current research shows that majority of people who "like" a Facebook page for a cause don't follow up that gesture with a donation (Tostevin 2014). Gladwell agrees with Morozov and stated that social media provides weak ties and is unsuitable for government or global action (Gerbaudo 2012 p 8).

What are your thoughts on social media activism/slacktivsm? 

I prefer watching the news or reading news websites to stay updated with current events. I don’t spend time on social media entertaining activist topics. However, if there were certain issues that I felt strongly about I would use social media platforms to join others with the same views.

References:

Gerbaudo, P 2012, Tweets and the Streets : Social Media and Contemporary Activism, Pluto, London.

Khan-Ibarra. 2014. The Case For Social Media and Hashtag Activism. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/sabina-khanibarra/the-case-for-social-media_b_6149974.html. [Accessed 12 January 2019].

Tostevin. 2014. Online activism: it's easy to click, but just as easy to disengage. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/mar/14/online-activism-social-media-engage. [Accessed 12 January 2019].

 Image:

Wired, (2014), INTERNET ACTIVISM WORKED TODAY. HERE'S HOW TO KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.wired.com/2014/07/unlocking-activism/ [Accessed 12 January 2019].

[annagpellegrino]

‘Connected, but Alone?’

In week one, we looked at an introduction to digital communities and social media platforms. As technology has evolved and we have come accustomed to living life on our phones it raises the question; are we actually being more social or rather distancing ourselves from the real world? We have new ways of being connected and keeping contact with people, however, in Sherry Turkle’s TED talk she challenges this idea of virtual connectedness. 

“Technology appeals to us most where we are most vulnerable…we’re lonely but we’re afraid of intimacy” (Turkle 2012)

 This statement from Turkle suggests that we are all ultimately alone and seeking connectedness through our devices and social media apps, however, by doing this we are further distancing ourselves from real communication. We don’t want to be alone, yet we also don’t want to truly connect with people in real life. Nowadays we can edit and change what we say via technology and we can appear the way we choose to. This creates false expectations and is a leading factor in social media-driven depression and anxiety. 

Its known that social media has a causal link to depression and anxiety rates especially amongst younger age groups. In a study by psychologist Melissa Hunt, she states that

 “It is a little ironic that reducing your use of social media actually makes you feel less lonely,” (M, Berger 2018).

It has been proven that reduce your social media consumption does wonders for your mental health. I, myself have wanted to go on one of those social media cleanses for the longest time but the most I’ve done is a week without my phone and I had a serious case of FOMO. Turkle also addresses this idea of FOMO or Fear Of Missing Out. She discusses how “people want to be with each other but also elsewhere”, we all can’t stand the thought of missing out and not seeing what’s happening in other peoples lives via social media. This is to the point in which you could be in a room full of people yet you would still be more interested in connecting with those who are elsewhere. I can definitely say I'm guilty of this as I’ve found myself on a number of occasions being surrounded by friends and family yet still on my phone contacting those who aren’t present or just simply looking through my social media feed seeing what others are up to. It is a toxic habit.

Keep reading

[maverickdiculous-blog]

I’ll admit at most times I look at my phone for no reason when I’m surrounded by company… but after the weekend just gone, I’ve realised it all depends on the atmosphere and the people you are with. I went away to a 3-day event last weekend with a group of friends and I managed to ‘lose my phone’ for pretty much the whole weekend. I would be in conversation with someone and only until I wanted to show them a photo did I realise my phone was not with me. Most of my friends who I would share my daily experiences with on social media were there by my side and experiencing it for themselves. For that weekend all my social needs weren’t virtual… and you know what… it was much better than living it out of a screen 😊

[madimda20009-blog]

Awesome blog post! I find this “connected but alone” such an interesting concept. We are always scrolling through our phones liking photos, commenting on posts etc but are truely connected to the creator of the image or the post. Sometimes it is nice to put the phone down and be truely connected with people face to face rather than through a phone. Awesome blog! 

[kastojan-blog]

There are pros and cons to being offline, and everyone has a different relationship with social media.If you feel your relationship is toxic with social media I highly recommend going on a social media cleanse for a longer period of time. The feeling of FOMO eventually disappears after a few weeks :) 

Deleting my social media apps pushed me to pick up the phone and call my friends regularly to catch up on their days and to organise catch ups on the weekends. 

[the-digital-communique-blog]

Hi fellow bloggers, I have decided to relate weeks 1&2 to my experiences in the Military.

I am currently employed by the Australian army, and will use this perspective to examine how social media is used to convert latent ties to weak ties, and in some instances strong friendships. New media has profoundly changed the way that people interact, which has led to new theories regarding relationships and socialisation (Siapera 2012, p. 192). Social network sites encourage users to display increasing amounts of personal data while providing a platform of digital connectivity that allows users to remain peripherally connected to one another (McCosker & Wilken 2014, p. 292). Schmidt, Lelchook and Martin (2016, p. 440) describe two types of social capital gained through social media use. The first is from relationships with close connections such as family and friends while the second is comes from bridging social capital which is gained from weaker ties to work colleagues or acquaintances. These weaker ties between work colleagues or acquaintances are particularly important in military life as a person’s work location is likely to move between states every 2-3 years. Research conducted by Schmidt, Lelchook and Martin (2016, p. 439) found that Facebook and Twitter usage is no longer confined to personal life and acquaintances, with studies showing that around 60% of people report having at least one work colleague as a Facebook “friend”. I would say in the military the number would be closer to 100%. From my observations, this is due to shared hardships, being in a new location with few established friends, and the likelihood of working with people from a shared background and demographic.

The importance of social media to a military member can be viewed in two ways. Firstly, the conversion of latent ties to weak ties creates social capital and allows a greater support network to be established (Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe, 2010, p. 873). By “Friending” colleagues on Facebook, a person is able to share readily accessible information about their lives (be it holidays, illnesses, breakups etc) which can then be used to reduce social tensions (Boyd 2012, p. 75). This is essential when moving to a new workplace/location as it enables you to find people with shared interests and experiences. Secondly, social media allows strong friendships to move back the other way to former weaker ties. Research has shown that people are only able to maintain a certain number of stable social relationships, and while social media platforms may increase this number, people will almost certainly accumulate more “friends” than they can maintain meaningful relationships with (Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe 2010, p. 878). I can certainly relate to this. Since joining the army over 10 years ago, I have had some of my closest friends move to the other side of Australia and there may be some of them that I never see again. Social media allows me to remain connected to them, holding the potential to re-establish a strong relationship if location permits.

Thanks for reading!

References 

Boyd, D 2012, ‘Participating in the Always-On Lifestyle’, in M Madiberg (ed), The Social Media Reader, New York University Press, New York, pp. 71-76.

 Ellison, N, Steinfield, C & Lampe, C 2010, ‘Connection strategies: Social capital implications of Facebook-enabled communication practices’, New Media & Society, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 873-892. 

McCosker, A & Wilken, R 2014, ‘Social Selves’, in S Cunningham and S Turnbull (eds), The media & communications in Australia, 4th edn, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, pp. 291-295. 

Schmidt, G, Lelchook, A & Martin, J 2016, ‘The relationship between social media co-worker connections and work-related attitudes’, Computers in Human Behaviour, vol. 55, pp. 439-445. 

Siapera, E 2012, Understanding New Media, Sage, London.

[kastojan-blog]

Great post focusing on the pros of using social media in the military. 

Facebook is a fantastic tool to stay connected with other troops, family and friends.

I really like your point about keeping connected/socially tied to people through FB. I deleted Facebook about 5 years ago and this post has reminded me that keeping connected with friends and family over seas is what I miss most about the platform. 

Thanks for sharing a great perspective!

Kristina 

[kastojan-blog]

Blog 1b: Week 5

Politics and civic culture

“The sparks that sets things off can come from anywhere, and the revolutionary fire is now more likely to be spread by social media” (Jericho  2012 p258). Politicians are now using social media platforms to announce important news to Australians.

Week 5’s reading explains how politician’s can use social media as a tool to capture the nations attention, connect with Australians, sway topics in their favour and stay updated with current views.

The idea of politicians on Twitter is not to criticise and blast others its to make real connections with people (Jericho 2012 p264.) Social media is a way of releasing facts without the medias spin. YouGov research states that the number of Aussies following Politian’s is growing each year. In 2013 13% of the participants stated they follower politicians and parties on social media. In 2017 percentage grew to 20% (The Guardian 2017). 201% of participants surveyed by YouGov stated they followed politics because they prefer to be informed directly without the medias take on the situation (The Guardian 2017).

Throughout the next Australian election politicians will need to have a serious social media plan strategy. Think of the reach of Facebook, You tube and live blogging (Jericho 2012 p264).Politicians need to make the effort to be online. They cannot miss opportunities to connect with Australians. Michael Turnbull is an example of a politician who used twitter to drive their position, Turnbull showed his real personality and engaged with voters to gather information (Jericho 2012 p296). In 2017 Malcolm Turnbull used Facebook to announce the government’s changes to 457 visas instead of holding a media conference or interview (The Guardian 2017).

When the Australia “Ban Live Exports” livestock saga occurred on Twitter the Australian governments response was slow and didn’t manage to harness the emotion of Australians. This would have been a perfect opportunity for politicians to steer the emotion in their favour (Jericho 2012 p261).

Young Australians should be in touch with the movement of politics. Staying connected to politicians through Twitter means you can have unfiltered media releases about important topics. After reading this article I am considering opening a Twitter account so I can stay in the loop of happenings relevant to the Australian government.

 References:

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

The Guardian. 2017. More Australians follow politicians on social media due to mainstream dissatisfaction – report. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jun/22/more-australians-follow-politicians-on-social-media-due-to-mainstream-dissatisfaction-report. [Accessed 9 December 2018].