Maisie Mitchell

This is my blog that I created for my Digital Communities unit. I will be posting my weekly reflections. Enjoy!

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Week 10: Digital Citizenship and Conflict: Social Media Governance

One of the cons of being able to share your opinions and life online is the conflict that comes with it. The power that social media has to create digital communities opens up areas for hate and negativity which is becoming increasingly more worrying with the number of young people on these platforms.

Gaslighting is a term that was defined in one of this week's readings as "psychological manipulation of a person in order to erode their sense of self and sanity" (Gleeson, 2018). The term came from the 1944 film, Gaslight, where a woman was deliberately and gradually manipulated by her husband into believing she is insane. You may have been gaslit by someone you know or witnessed it on social media. You may have even gaslight someone before and not have known. Common tactics can include manipulating your words, denying your feelings, insist things happened a certain way or making you feel inferior.

Governments and organisations have put in place social media codes of practice to protect users when online and may find themselves in a situation of conflict. This doesn't have to just be gaslighting, it can be in different forms of bullying, trolling or hating from anonymous accounts and hidden identities. The anonymity that social media creates is a big factor in why conflict arises when someone is hidden behind their keyboard.

Conflict ties together topics that we have discussed over the semester such as digital citizenship, activism, regulation, platforms, community and inclusion. The increased availability of internet services has grown the amount of conflict and activism that occurs online. Whether there is conflict in the comments of a Facebook post about depicting breastfeeding or a female has posted a bikini photo on Instagram and is now receiving hateful speech and threats in her direct messages.

Regulations for your social media use may be controlled by your school, your workplace or the specific app you may be using. These interests can sometimes have conflicting interests depending on the industry bodies who are developing these standards, however, they all play a part in protecting us online.

Although there is some form of social media governance already in place, Marwick and Caplan gave an example of a Youtube channel that posts video online that are blatantly portraying harassment of women. These videos have gained a lot of attention and views and yet nothing has been done to take these sorts of videos down. This example is one of many that prove we still have a long way to go in making the online public sphere a safer place.

References

Gleeson, J 2018, Explainer: what does ‘gaslighting’ mean?, The Conversation, viewed 14 May 2021, <https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-gaslighting-mean-107888 >.

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

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Week 9: Digital Citizenship Case Study: Social Media Influencers and the Slow Fashion Movement

Slow fashion has become a sustainable consumption movement that is the opposite of fast fashion (Chi et al, 2021). Environmental sustainability is becoming a high priority for the fashion industry and consumers are becoming more and more aware of how their clothes are made and the ethical and environmental procedures behind companies. With social media influencers being held to higher standards, many are choosing to ditch partnerships with fast fashion brands and become more sustainable for the sake of benefiting their engagement.

Fast fashion businesses like Pretty Little Thing, Princess Polly and Boohoo are constantly on my Instagram feed with sponsored content from large Australian influencers with over 500k followers. These influencers are receiving large parcels weekly of clothes that they will wear once and then toss out, contributing to waste and fast fashion. I can admit I've fallen for many of these ads and have come to discover that a lot of my choices in my wardrobe are not from sustainable brands. The economic benefits that these fast fashion businesses create seem to keep them up and running and avoid large scale criticism (Chi et al, 2021).

Brands I shop at frequently like Glassons, ASOS or The Iconic have introduced 'Sustainability' pages on their websites over the past few years. However, a quick search at https://directory.goodonyou.eco/ provides the information that they are not the best places to be putting my money. The advertised sustainability commitments of these brands made me very surprised to see that they aren't as good for the environment as I initially thought, they are simply just trying to satisfy the concerns of consumers and not making any attempt to change their business model (Cavender & Lee, 2018).

Slow fashion has longer product life, higher quality and a much greater effect on the environment which often increases the cost. Consumers who are used to purchasing off of websites with constant '70% storewide sales' can be less inclined to switch to slow fashion brands due to the price tag.

A consumer purchase of slow fashion products is one way in which consumers can help combat the issue of over-consumption and waste of fashion products (Jung & Jin, 2016). Influencers have a huge impact on the purchasing decisions of consumers and the slow fashion movement is majorly underrepresented by larger platforms.

References

Cavender, R. C., & Lee, M. Y 2018, Exploring the influence of sustainability knowledge and orientation to slow consumption on fashion leaders’ drivers of fast fashion avoidance, American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Business, 4(3), 90–101.

Chi, T, Gerard, J, Yu, Y & Wang, Y 2021, ‘A study of U.S. consumers intention to purchase slow fashion apparel: understanding the key determinants’, International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 101-112.

Jung, S., & Jin, B 2016, Sustainable development of slow fashion businesses: Customer value approach, Sustainability, 8(6), 540–555.

Lai, Z, Henninger C.E, Alevizou P.J 2017, An Exploration of Consumers Perceptions Towards Sustainable Fashion – A Qualitative Study in the UK’ in: C Henninger, P Alevizou, H Goworek & D Ryding (eds), Sustainability in Fashion, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, pp. 81-101.

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Week 8: Gaming Communities, Social Gaming and Live Streaming

Gaming has a long history of connecting people and forming communities. Most early gaming offered multiplayer options, especially in arcades. Early multiplayer worlds were some of the first to explore what it meant to live life online (Taylor, 2018). Although the generalised consensus is that games are made and played for children, a lot of the arcade games were initially tailored to adults. From the beginning, gamer communities have been developed in different ways and forms to connect individuals.

Esports or Competitive Computer Gaming is a form of live-streamed gameplay. It has become popular through a broadcast platform called Twitch. By 2017, the platform had over 2.2 million unique broadcasters per month and 10 million daily active users (Taylor, 2018). They have a variety of games, genres and streamers to choose from 24/7. Live-streamed gaming also appears on other platforms like Youtube and Facebook.

Although regular televised sporting events are still more popular, esports overall growth through live streaming is paving the way for new forms of broadcasting game content. Live streaming benefits the professional players by building their brand and expanding their audiences. Monetisation is made possible for creators on platforms like Twitch as they can set a fee for their subscribers or even produce sponsored content. A creator who is posting content across multiple platforms and has a large audience could be earning substantial amounts of money.

In this digital era, social gaming is thriving off of the many newly developed platforms. We can do most things online at our fingertips and gaming plays a large role in that. For example, you don't have to go to a Casino to play a card game, you can choose from an array of games on your computer or phone and even bet real money. Online gaming is one of the fastest-growing industries and it will continue to grow as the market expands.

References

Chia, A, Keogh, B, Leorke, D & Nicoll, B 2020, ‘Platformisation in game development’, Internet Policy Review, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 1-28.

Taylor, TL 2018, ‘Broadcasting ourselves’ (chapter 1), in Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming, Princeton University Press, pp.1-23

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Week 7: Digital Citizenship and Software literacy: Instagram Filters

Instagram filters have come a long way from the days where the most a filter would change was the exposure and brightness. Now, they are going too far with altering people's appearance. As I was scrolling through Instagram filters and trying them on myself, I noticed how it's always the same features that are changing. My lips are getting bigger, my skin is smoothed and my nose and face are slimmed out.

Most influencers and micro-celebrities that I see on my Instagram feed almost always are using a filter on themselves whether they are talking about a beauty product or updating us on their day. It's sad to see that many people have shifted towards that as a normal thing.

These filters are augmenting reality so much that there was a ban placed in the UK on using 'misleading' filters when promoting beauty brands, ruled by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in 2020. Whilst this is the UK's advertising regulator and rules do not apply necessarily apply in Australia, I believe it's a step in a positive direction and to end misleading advertisements on social media. An ASA spokesperson stated that “an ongoing focus of our work in this area continues to be on raising awareness of the rules and supporting influencers with the guidance and tools they need to help get their ads right." (British Beauty Council, 2021). This ban is to stop false advertisement of 'results' of beauty products. For example, an influencer showing how amazing and streak-free a fake tan is whilst using a filter that smooths and darkens her skin.

Here is a ruling of an influencer who breached this ban with the brand Tanologist Tan on the ASA website:  (Links to an external site.)https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/we-are-luxe-ltd-t-a-tanologist-tan-in-association-with-cinzia-baylis-zullo.html (Links to an external site.)

In this weeks reading it was highlighted that there is an unnecessary pressure to alter your image online to comply with society and women are attempting “to strive for a more “perfected” image of self” (Coy-Dibley 2016, p. 9).

I believe that Instagram filters are augmenting reality and are damaging positive engagement with digital technologies. If the ASA has to make regulations to stop the use of filters, it is a sign that things are going too far and are restricting us from seeing what is real and what is augmented.

References:

ASA, 2021, We Are Luxe Ltd t/a TANOLOGIST TAN, in association with Cinzia Baylis-Zullo, viewed 19 April, 2021, https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/we-are-luxe-ltd-t-a-tanologist-tan-in-association-with-cinzia-baylis-zullo.html (Links to an external site.).

BBC, 2021, Influencers told not to use 'misleading' beauty filters, viewed 19 April, 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-55824936 (Links to an external site.).

British Beauty Council, 2021, ASA Bans Misleading Filters, viewed 19 April, 2021, https://britishbeautycouncil.com/asa-bans-misleading-filters/ (Links to an external site.).

Coy-Dibley, I 2016, ‘ “Digitized Dysmorphia” of the female body: the re/disfigurement of the image’, Palgrave Communications, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-9.

News, C 2021, The (mis)use of social media beauty filters when advertising cosmetic products, viewed 19 April, 2021, https://www.asa.org.uk/news/the-mis-use-of-social-media-beauty-filters-when-advertising-cosmetic-products.html (Links to an external site.).

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Week 6: Digital Citizenship and Health Education: Body Modification on Visual Social Media

With the increased representation of micro-celebrities on social media, body modifications are at an all-time high. Whether this is through beauty practices, lighting and posing, editing and photo-enhancing apps or surgical procedures. (Drenten, Gurrieri & Tyler, 2019) stated that "the body plays a critical role in the ‘selfies’ that are the end product of their prosumer labour." Influencers are using themselves as a selling point for products and brands and the way their body looks is seen as a fundamental factor in gaining attention.

Influencers are a type of ‘micro-celebrity,' which is a type of online presence where an individual attempts to grow their popularity through digital media technologies (Senft, 2012). In 2021, this is most popularly done on Instagram or TikTok. Creating a niche group of followers that are interested in what they are wearing, eating, doing etc... With digital communities like Instagram being predominantly about the appearance and look of things, these micro-celebrities are constantly shifting themselves to fit beauty standards. Apps like FaceTune or Photoshop are being used to slim waists or smooth skin so undetectably that the young impressionable audiences watching are questioning why they don't look like that and are wanting to permanently modify themselves through surgical procedures.

In this weeks reading it was discovered that statistics from 2017 by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery showed "42% of surgeons report that their patients are seeking aesthetic surgery to improve their appearance on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and other social media channels." (Dorfman, Vaca, Mahmood, Fine & Schierle, 2018). This statistic displays the extent that people will go to improve their online aesthetic and to match expectations.

'Sexualised labour' is becoming mainstreamed onto our social media feeds and it begs the question, are these women empowering us or just adding unrealistic beauty standards?

References

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

Robert G Dorfman, Elbert E Vaca, Eitezaz Mahmood, Neil A Fine and Clark F Schierle 2018, ‘Plastic Surgery-Related Hashtag Utilization on Instagram: Implications for Education and Marketing’, Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Volume 38, Issue 3, pp 332–338

Senft, T 2013, Microcelebrity and The Branded Self, 1st edn, Blackwell Publishing.

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Week 5: What is Digital Citizenship? Hashtag Publics, Political Engagement and Activism

Digital Citizenship can be defined as "an acceptance and upholding of the norms of appropriate, responsible behaviour with regard to the use of digital technologies" (Australian Curriculum, 2010). A good digital citizen is a person who has the skills to effectively used digital technologies and platforms in a way that positively impacts society. Political engagement has changed in the contemporary era and with the recent involvement of social media in political discussions, digital citizenship is very relevant.

In this weeks reading, Vromen states that "the ubiquity of social media in the everyday lives of citizens fosters the development of digital citizenship' (Vromen, 2017). Individuals are adapting to the increased use of social media as a form of broadcasting and communication. New advances of these platforms increase the distribution of individuals ideas and view on certain topics, specifically politics. Hashtag publics allow specific communities about different topics to be bundled together and streamline all ideas and content in one place. Over the past few years, we have seen many publics be created, such as #AusPol, #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, #StopAsianHate etc... Most of these hashtags being activism based, they segment people's experiences and opinions in one area and often share contrasting opinions and discussions. Many established political organisations are turning to social media platforms to engage and promote their political processes.

A recent example of this is the 2016 US presidential election campaign. During this campaign social media platforms were increasingly used as direct sources of news, bypassing the editorial media (Enli, 2017). Both Trump and Clinton had millions of followers on Twitter and it became a platform for mass communication and debate. Enli's article explores both Clinton and Trumps tweets and the digital citizenship that they did or did not possess. Donald Trump for example had published many tweets that incorporated name calling, insults and stylistic devices. These platformed discussions during the election created a channel for sharing of political views and voter activation that would not be so widely spread without the use of hashtag publics and political engagement on social media.

References

Australian Curriculum 2010, Glossary, https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/english/Glossary/?term=types+of+texts.

Enli, G 2017, "Twitter as arena for the authentic outsider: exploring the social media campaigns of Trump and Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election", European Journal of Communication, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 50-61.

Vromen, A 2017, Digital Citizenship and Political Engagement, Palgrave Macmillan UK, London, pp. 1-7.

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Week 4: Digital Community and Fandom: Reality TV Case Study

Reality TV is something you either love or hate whether you want to admit it or not. In Australia, it has been around for nearly 30 years. Most of the reality TV shows that have been around since the early 90's and 2000's are still popular and airing today. Such as Big Brother, The Block, Dancing With The Stars and Survivor. But if ratings are consistently high and these shows have been around for decades, then why does no one want to admit that they enjoy watching Reality TV?

A recent study by AMPD Research showed 66% of Australians admit they watch reality TV (specifically dating shows), however, 34% of those Australians lie about it. Participants revealed they lied because they feel ashamed to admit it. The paradox of these Australians lying to each other is quite humorous. Imagine a group of work colleagues all telling each other they didn't watch the latest season of "trash TV" when in reality they are all secretly going home and tuning into Married At First Sight. With social media being thrown into the mix over the last decade, reality TV is expanding to more platforms than just television.

Social Media has had a huge role in how reality TV is being consumed and broadcasted. Producers are generating audience engagement through social media and it is now the centre of their marketing strategy. L'Hoiry described this approach as a "feedback loop whereby television and social media content feedback onto each other in a cycle." This is pushing the audience to engage across multiple platforms. Producers are uploading "first looks" and "exclusive behind the scenes content" to their social media accounts and creating memes about the show that makes viewers want to share.

Reality TV has created multi-platform engagement through social media and is producing increased audience participation and new markets. Although there is a large taboo around the admittance to watching reality TV, the increased consumption across platforms is extending viewer engagement regardless of whether the audience is admitting it or not.

References

AMPD Research 2019, Australia: SVOD Study, pp. 3-16.

Graham, T & Hajru, A 2011, "Reality TV as a trigger of everyday political talk in the net-based public sphere", European Journal of Communication, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 18-32.

L'Hoiry, X 2019, "Love Island, Social Media, and Sousveillance: New Pathways of Challenging Realism in Reality TV", Frontiers in Sociology, vol. 4.

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How does Tumblr function as a digital community?

Tumblr has been known as a blogging and social networking site since 2007 (Haimson et al. 2019). The freedom to post about any topic you'd like has filled its archives with over 150 billion posts across just under 500 million users. These users come together by liking or reblogging each other’s thoughts and opinions, which forms a digital community amongst one another.

The anonymity that Tumblr provides allows users to share what they are most passionate about without feeling exposed or connected to their outside selves (McCracken, 2020). Individual personalities can be embraced in a community that is specific to their particular interests. Whether that's a community for film, cooking, LGBTQI+ or fashion, you'll be able to find a home to express yourself. Asking a question to another user anonymously or having your username be a pseudonym are just a few of the ways that Tumblr users are given a safe space to express themselves. These low monitoring limits and anonymity features lead to creating a stronger sense of community amongst the platform.

In one of our weekly readings, Keller defines an online community as a distinct, bounded group that can easily be identified, approached and studied. She specifically relates this to the digital feminism platforms on Tumblr. The expressiveness that comes from these platforms gives teenage girls easier access to engage in feminists discussions and develop connections with other like-minded people outside of their local communities. Young girls have described Tumblr as a "proper black hole" (Keller, 2019) as nobody knows who anyone is and there are no restraints on freedom of speech. There is a unique form of communication on this platform that sets it apart from other networks.

Tumblr functions as a digital community through its freedom and non-judgemental communities. Social exclusion is reduced due to anonymity of race, gender, age and economic situation. All these factors allow Tumblr to function as a safe digital community for the world to enjoy.

References

Anon 2020, Tumblr: total number of blogs 2020 | Statista, viewed 24 March, 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/256235/total-cumulative-number-of-tumblr-blogs/.

Anon 2019, Tumblr: total number of posts 2019 | Statista, viewed 23 March, 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/221565/total-cumulative-number-of-tumblr-posts/.

Haimson, O, Dame-Griff, A, Capello, E & Richter, Z 2019, Tumblr was a trans technology: the meaning, importance, history, and future of trans technologies.

Keller, J 2019, ‘ “Oh, She’s a Tumblr Feminist”: Exploring the Platform Vernacular of Girls’ Social Media Feminisms’, Social Media + Society.

McCracken, A 2020, ‘Going Down the Rabbit Hole: An Interview with Amanda Brennan, Head of Content Insights and Social, Tumblr’, in A McCracken, A Cho, L Stein & IN Hoch (eds), A Tumblr Book: Platform and Cultures, University of Michigan Press.