Digital Communities @mishcommunication - Tumblr Blog

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Ever heard of "Outside," a free-to-play MMORPG developed by Deity Games? No? Huh, that's weird. It's the most popular game out there, with over 7 billion active players! Hey, wait a minute...

Social Gaming

I am not a huge fan of online gaming, but I do remember when my brother or friends felt like escaping reality and delving into a fantasy world, I would be right there beside them having a laugh, discussing strategies and helping them fight wars or complete quests. Gaming, once considered anti-social behaviour, now has the ability to create some of the biggest online communities, especially through MMPORG’s (Massively multi-player online role playing game).

Today the internet offers the opportunity for avid gamers to immerse themselves into these fantasy worlds, integrating the multiplayer aspect on a global level, playing with or against other individuals synchronously.

“To be successful, games have to allow players to think of an imaginary world as a real place with real rules. These rules cover everything from physics, like what happens when a character jumps off a waterfall, to etiquette, like what happens when one player in a group cheats others out of their loot.” (Wilson 2016).

But with every online community whether it is terms and conditions for using social media platforms, websites or user centred gaming, there needs to be underlying framework or an End User License Agreement. A common problem that is encountered with such immersive MMORPG is economy interaction (Smith 2006). When individuals are driven to fight another player or build a successful online world for themselves, they will start to purchase game currency with real currency and blur that line between online and offline worlds.

The significant impact that role playing and the interaction between users has on game play, urges game developers to either hire volunteers or paid employees to enforce laws and monitor online environments. A classic example is with the Council of Stellar Management (CSM) on EVE online (de Zwart & Humphreys 2014).

Social interaction and forming an affiliation is not just through MMO games, social media platforms incorporate this community whether it is in the ability for online gamers to discover new games, sharing frustration about game play or giving one another tips. The desire in forming an online community is based on the individual and their affiliation with the content (Lange 2009).

The above image is a classic example of Micro-transactions for gaming prior to online gaming communities...

#mda20009

A picture is worth a thousand words

As humans we have a never ending desire to belong and stay connected with one another. Therefore, we have constantly adapted online networks and the affordances of social media in order to create, publish and distribute material more effectively and efficiently. But as the old saying goes, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ we are constantly using images to communicate content and create more of a connection with another individual, whether it is through a selfie accompanied with words to explain a scenario or display facial expressions, or images and hashtags through Instagram and Twitter.

As bandwidth has increased the sharing of video content has also been used as a main communicative tool. YouTube became a popular social media platform after its introduction in 2005. Since then the platform has established an online community, whether it is between businesses and global partners, innovators and mentors or as Patricia Lange states simply though ‘videos of affinity’ (Lange 2009).

Videos of affinity relate to Barry Wellman’s term ‘Networked Individualism’ (Siapera 2012, p. 197), the connection is dependant on the individual. Whether is it developed through strong ties or between weaker ties, the connection is an affiliation with the content and not the quality.

#mda20009

bevsblog-world-blog

Blog 4 - Activism & Protest

We started this week by reading about how social media is a magnet for activism and protests. The first reading was “Tweets and the streets”. People use social media when they witness a protest or riot. The first thing we do these days is reach into our bags, grab our smart phones and either take a picture or record a video of what we are seeing in the streets. Gerbaudo (2012) witnessed this exact behaviour while observing a protest in Cairo. A woman standing nearby took a picture of the violent arrest that was happening in front of us and as Gerbaudo watched on, he presumes she was posting onto a social media site (Gerbaudo 2012).

Culture jamming is about activists using their freedom of speech, by sabotaging a poster or billboard advertisement from a company using words of negativity. Culture jamming is a way for people to express their dislike to the way a company is advertising their brand.

www.mrcheddahcheese.files.wordpress.com /2011/11/starbucks-coffee-culture-jamming-copy.jpg

An example of a website devoted to culture jamming is www.Adbusters.org. Upon researching this website, I started to realise how popular this culture jamming is. Adbusters is a not for profit organisation voicing their opinions on political and social issues.

www. 2030now.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/slacktivism.png

Upon reading about slacktivism I was faced with the reality of being guilty of slacktivism. Joining Facebook and twitter groups, liking, commenting and sharing to support a cause is classed as slacktivism. By using social media to show your concern or support for a particular cause, can reach groups around the world at the click of your mouse. This process takes no effort at all.

www.notenoughgood.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/hashtag-2.jpg

Activists who use social media to advertise their protest is called clicktivism. This is just another way for activists to voice their opinion and reach an audience all over the world. Sometimes this “voice” or “opinion” is not always right, but in the eyes of an activist who is passionate about a particular topic, they feel empowered by expressing their opinion.

References

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

mishcommunication

Yeah I am guilty of 'slacktivism' as well. But I don't see it as a bad thing necessarily. I believe creating awareness is more effective than not doing anything or having any knowledge at all. If it weren't for hashtag protests on Twitter or different culture jamming images etc I would have no clue of some of the global crises that are occurring and therefore would be still cruising along in my little perfect world, naive bubble! Even though in some cases we literally may not be able to help directly, by sharing information we can hope that someone else sees it and works towards taking further action. Showing support can get the ball rolling.

martha-browning-blog

Digital citizenship // Politics and civic cultures

The relationship between politics and social media is rapidly growing as we progress into a very digitally focused world and it is important that the presence of politics on social media continues to grow if politicians want to keep up with the times. But on the other hand, is also integral that they use it appropriately and in a way that benefits them, so as not to cause negative repercussions or embarrassment. It is a way for politicians to increase their campaign visibility if done well.

Political parties began using social media as an opportunity to not only broaden their following but also to get younger generations involved and on board as supporters (Swinburne Online 2015 Week 5). The University of Queensland’s ARC Centre describes social media as a double-edged sword though that can cause more harm than good, and hinder a campaign if the party posts a bad tweet or social media post. They also found that the penalties of a bad tweet can significantly outweigh the benefits of a good one (Bruns n.d.).

It isn’t just Facebook and Twitter that politicians have started using though, they’re also using Youtube and blogs where ordinary citizens can weigh in and circulate non-official political media content, an interesting strategy that can be used to their advantage by politicians to spread their word and campaign further (Swinburne Online 2015 Week 5). It is a way that a conversation can be started and get people involved and aware of policies and plans.

I don’t personally follow any politicians on social media, but I have noticed, as Bruns found, that I do become aware of them when they mess up and a major issue arises in relation to their social media, as this is when they go viral. For example, Donald Trump’s twitter page for the upcoming US election is often in the media for his inappropriate tweets that I feel are inconsiderate and obnoxious // see below.

I generally feel that politicians can sometimes seem to be ‘trying too hard’ to attract the younger generations, and doing it wrong, for example take Hillary Clinton’s attempt at having students use only emoji’s to talk about their thoughts on student debt in the US - this backlashed majorly while she was trying to connect with the younger generation (Walsh 2015).

References

Bruns, A n.d., ‘Social Media a ‘double-edged sword’ for politicians’, Arc centre of excellence for creative industries and innovation (CCI), The University of Queensland, viewed 27 November 2015, <http://www.cci.edu.au/node/1597>

Swinburne Online 2015, ‘Week 5: Digital Citizenship 1 - Politics and Civic Culture’, Swinburne University, learning materials, November 2015, viewed 28 November 2015.

Walsh, B 2015, ‘Hilary Clinton’s attempt to use emoji backfires’, MSNBC, viewed 28 November 2015, <http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clintons-attempt-use-emoji-backfires>.

mishcommunication

Very true. I don't really follow politics as such, but as more and more politicians start using social media I am constantly aware of their social media fails and have a laugh at how ridiculous they are. Whether it is Donald Trump being shockingly inappropriate and borderline illiterate or Hilary Clinton having no concept what so ever on the function of social media these are shared more amongst my network than the actual political campaigns. Politicians need to realise that delving into the world of social media is a tough game and can result in them being a target for all the wrong reasons.

Crowdsourcing – The rise of the Citizen Journalist.

Amongst different crisis situations social media has been crucial in order for mass media to partake in the concept of ‘gatewatching’ (Bruns 2008).

Journalism and media was once monologic; audiences would absorb the information being displayed on their TV Screens or broadcasted on the radio. As social media and the internet developed so did the concept of dialogic media, the audience were no longer consumers but also ‘prosumers’ (Victoria441 2013).

Traditional journalism used gatekeepers that filtered truthful and newsworthy information. However, as the benefits and affordances of social media became evident to the general public, gatewatchers, also known as citizen journalists, formed (Bruns 2008). These individuals are a crucial element in social media during a time of crisis. Gatewatchers gather information on social media and distribute based on truth and reoccurrence of a topic, theme or trend (Bruns 2008). Throughout the years it has been observed that news is disseminated quicker on social media platforms such as Twitter, rather than through traditional journalism. Therefore, Government bodies, emergency services and mass media corporations have taken to social media to provide updated, timely and accurate information during a time of crisis.

“During emergencies, social media can supplement traditional information dissemination and sourcing methods by emergency services organisations.” (Bruns et al. 2012, p. 15).

However, our reliance on social media and other crowdsourcing tools has affected our ability to interpret credible and reliable information online. There are tools to assist in filtering through authoritative online information, but corners are cut as the urgency to create, produce or share information in the public sphere increases.

“Information—both accurate and not—spreads faster thanks to sites like Twitter and Facebook.” (Luckerson 2014)

For example, following the media release of an Ebola case in the United States on September 30th 2015, Twitter was flooded with more than 6,000 reports per minute. Though cases of the outbreak were reported false by health officials, people were still misinformed on how the virus was contracted and spread (Luckerson 2014). This in turn caused panic around the world. Researchers have labelled these types of social media users as the “infected”, they quickly spread and share inaccurate information that engage other internet users, who then continue to reiterate these inaccuracies (Luckerson 2014).

The Pew Research Center found that as of July 2015, “63% of American Facebook and Twitter users now say each platform serves as a source for news about events and issues.” (Pew Research Center 2015). “People tend to trust information that comes from people they know” (Luckerson 2014). In moments of crisis, fear obscures people’s judgement. In the case of the Ebola outbreak rumours, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) had to quickly use social media to clarify any false information in regards to the spread of the disease (Luckerson 2014). For an emergency crisis like this, crowdsourcing through social media sometimes inhibits progress towards a resolution.

Examples of the negative impact that crowdsourcing had during a crisis:

“During the confusion following the bombing of the 2013 Boston Marathon, would-be online sleuths misidentified a missing college student as a primary suspect in the case. His name ended up trending nationally on Twitter, though he had nothing to do with the attack” (Luckerson 2014).

“When hackers broke into the Associated Press’s Twitter account last spring and posted a message claiming that the White House had been attacked, the S&P 500 Index immediately tumbled, briefly wiping out about $130 billion in value” (Luckerson 2014).

#mda20009

While social media platforms offer us a chance to connect with it other, they also open up routes of verbal attack. Internet trolls send abusive messages – from threats of rape and death to suicide prompts – without fear of consequence, and many are able to successfully hide behind their keyboards using anonymity to spread hateful speech across the web. But who are these elusive trolls, and why do they do what they do?

Would be an interesting watch.

#louise mensch

There is always at least one…

Today social media and internet trolls go hand in hand.

An internet troll can be defined as: An individual that deliberately joins an online community and attempts to deceive other members by starting arguments and provoking an emotional response (Wilson, Fuller & McCrea 2013).

As Judith Donath states “Trolling is a game about identity deception” (Wilson, Fuller & McCrea 2013). Social media hasn’t created trolling, but encouraged the ability of anonymity (boyd 2014). As an online community we are still trying to determine signs and develop new strategies in identifying fake online profiles. Anonymity makes it easier for internet trolls to exist without experiencing any ramifications.

Digital citizenship is so prominent in our everyday lives, danah boyd expresses this as the ‘always on’ lifestyle (boyd 2012). As part of an online community we need to focus on creating an environment where people can feel safe. Any unethical behaviour needs to be addressed with the help of Social Media co-operations and correct reporting procedures through our Government bodies.

https://www.humanrights.gov.au/cyberbullying-what-it-and-how-get-help-violence-harassment-and-bullying-fact-sheet

There needs to be a zero tolerance approach to any type of bullying, whether it is cyber, trolling or ‘teenage drama’ (boyd 2014), whether it is between school students or adults, the appropriate actions need to be taken. I am a strong believer that cyber-bullying and/or internet trolling is not acceptable and it should not be tolerated. Just because ‘keyboard warriors’ lie behind a mask and feel safe in their own environment, does not make it okay to target and harass other individuals. It is not tolerated in our offline community so why should the online community be immune? Public shaming individuals who partake in face-to-face racist and discriminative behaviour with online videos, is a step in the right direction. This needs to translate to any online racist and discriminative behaviour as well. Clementine Ford demonstrated this by calling out and public shaming individuals who lowered themselves to name calling and had partaken in verbal abuse on her social media profiles (Ford 2016).

I read an interesting article, “The Sadistic Psychology of Internet Trolls.” In this article, Jennifer Golbeck tries to comprehend the development of an internet troll by referring to a published study done in 2014 (Buckels E E, Trapnell P D & Paulhus D L, 2014, 'Trolls just want to have fun', The Dark Triad of Personality, vol. 67, no. 1, pp. 97-102). In psychology there is a study of the ‘Dark Tetrad’, a group of four personality traits that include Narcissism, Machiavellianism, Psychopathy and Sadism. Researchers conducted a variety of tests and studies on 1,200 individuals, measuring how they enjoyed time online with their Dark Tetrad scores. Majority of individuals in the study had close to normal scores on their personality test, except for people who like to troll. Trolls had extremely high scores on all four Dark Tetrad personality traits. Scientists developed a connection between trolling and sadists (Golbeck 2015), individuals who enjoy being cruel and seeing others in distress.

As I further examine the realm of digital citizenship, one thing I have observed is how attention is becoming a commodity, as social media increases there is an underlying obsession with attention (Solis 2015). The online community can spread information and news across the globe faster than ever before, this news is usually replaced with something different just as quickly. Internet trolls feed off attention and what lingers after the actual breaking story is the argument within the comments. Internet trolls thrive off grabbing and maintaining this attention.

#mda20009

suaybreeze-blog

Digital Citizenship 1: Politics - Can social media influence voters?

Social media is an increasingly important campaign strategy for political candidates as they compete to attract, and influence voters. One of the most important and sort after voting demographics, is the younger voter, the Millennials and generation Z, who are passionate social media users, and constantly shift their preference for engaging and creative content channels (Brousell 2015).

In order to get the attention of Millennials and generation Z, and motivate them to share the content across their vast networks, the message they receive must resonate with them. Therefore, effective political campaigns need to be adaptable to develop social media initiatives that utilise features to attract the younger demographic such as video, live streaming, photos and images. Political candidates wanting to ‘perform’ well should consider embracing niche social network sites such as YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, and Spotify, to complement their mainstream audience channels of Facebook and Twitter.

A closer look at YouTube reveals that it has evolved into a vital social media channel for politicians and the campaigns that they run. As a strategic tool YouTube provides a powerful platform that plays a pivotal role in connecting politicians with their grassroots constituents, adversaries, and other political observers. In fact, when a political video is launched it has the potential to create an even larger audience of online publics and counterpublics depending on the political communication disseminated. Yet, it is interesting to remember that while YouTube is trusted as a political news source, and delivers tangible information about the candidate, and/or the political party it also retains, in the public sphere, historical material published by candidates about their past opinions on key issues (Lisi 2015).

This is a pertinent point because in the case of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s stance on key policy issues has been inconsistent over the years on topics such as free trade, same-sex marriage, and the Iraq war (Popp 2015), whereas Sanders has been historically very consistent with his online commentary. Therefore, Clinton’s current social media campaign runs the risk of being unsuccessful with her intended audience because her contradictory actions are so obvious to the extensive online community.

One well-known and famous political campaign was Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in 2009. It was unique because of the groundbreaking and effective use of social media platforms, and social networking sites. According to Harris & Harrigan (2015, p. 257) ‘the ladder of engagement encouraged supporters to progress from registration, to conversation, to contribution, and finally advocacy’ while using engaging forms of content including posting comments, photos, blogs, and video sharing. The social media strategy highlighted the enormous potential for politicians, and voters to not only share information using interactive social media communication and platforms, but it provided opportunity for all participants to have a voice to engage, comment, respond, and receive feedback about political issues within the political arena.

[Source: Google Images, Image by blog.hedgeuganda.com]

Reference List

Blog.hedgeuganda.com, Google Images, [image], viewed 4 December 2015, <<https://www.google.com/search/politics_and_social_media>

Brousell, L 2015, ‘Why social media could swing the 2016 presidential election’, CIO, viewed 3 December 2015, <http://www.cio.com/article/2976083/social-networking/why-social-media-could-swing-the-2016-presidential-election.html>

Harris, L, Harrigan, P, 2015, Social Media in Politics: The Ultimate Voter Engagement Tool or Simply an Echo Chamber, Journal of Political Marketing, Tandfonline

Lisi, J 2015, ‘Could YouTube Help Bernie Sanders – and Hurt Hillary Clinton?’, Popmatters, viewed 4 December 2015, <http://www.popmatters.com/column/196923-could-youtube-help-bernie-sanders-and-hurt-hillary-clinton/>

Popp, E 2015, ‘Hillary Clinton’s Leftward Flip-Flops’, Consortiumnews.com, viewed 4 December 2015, < https://consortiumnews.com/2015/07/22/hillary-clintons-leftward-flip-flops/>

mishcommunication

I like how you highlight the importance of politicians incorporating social media in their campaigns. Not only to capture the attention of millennials but to engage potential voters and expand the audience. You have made really insightful observations on the downfalls of combining social media with politics comparing Hilary Clinton's online presence with Bernie Sanders'.

New managing director for Europe points to petition website’s successes and asks what the ‘chatterati’ are doing beyond whingeing about problems

#uk news #internet #technology #digital media #protest

CNN's Nick Valencia introduces us to a group who is using social media to make social change.

Social Media Activism: Slacktivism or Clicktivism?

Activism is a collective process of campaigning against a political or social issue, initiating the development of a community that share a mutual opinion on a specific debate (Martin 2007, pp. 19-20). These efforts are successful when there is cooperation from a large group of individuals protesting for action and/or change. With the rise of social media and the quick dissemination of information, activism can now assemble individuals on a global level (Gerbaudo 2012, p. 12); geographical location is no longer a limitation.

The positive of combining social media and activist groups?

It allows quick access and collation of required information, communicates efficiently to all individuals involved and assists with organisation of timely global protesting and campaigning (Youmans & York 2012, p. 315). As the internet continues to provide globally accessed platforms for the sharing of information, the constant improvement of these platforms make it easier than ever before to be involved in online activist groups; hence the rise of ‘Clicktivism’ (Elgot 2015).

However, with every positive movement there is always a negating view - Enter the coined term ‘Slacktivism’ (Gerbaudo 2012, p. 7). The increase in global access has also seen an exponential increase in anonymous indirect involvement within these activist groups. But is that such a bad thing?

The definition of activism:

“a doctrine or practice that emphasises direct vigorous action especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue” (Merriam-Webster n.d.).

Interestingly, this definition does not eliminate the process of creating awareness under the term activism.

The issue lies in the responsibility of these activist groups, who initiate online protesting and their ability to provide education and allow the correct dissemination of information (Youmans & York 2012, p. 317). Creating awareness is the beginning and needs to be integrated with the appropriate companies, lawmakers and other online platforms that support donations, in order to achieve the best possible outcome (Merelli 2015).

Look at the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Ice Bucket Challenge – Jonathan Ling, an author in the research paper discovering a faulty protein in ALS patients, reported $220 million was raised in donations as a result of this ice bucket challenge. These donations will assist in developing therapy that slows down the progression of ALS (Merelli 2015).

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/349/6248/650.abstract

The Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) saw a large increase in donations last September as an image of a Syrian boy’s body washed up on Turkish shores and was released to newspaper outlets and social media platforms. The publishing of this image was a call to create awareness to stop the unnecessary deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean (Merelli 2015).

As Nicolas Kristoff states “So think of armchair activism as a gateway drug. It exposes people to causes and sometimes gets them hooked. And while it doesn’t always solve problems, it tends to build awareness of crises — a necessary but not sufficient step to getting them resolved.” (Kristoff 2015).

The backlash from the downfall of one of the biggest clicktivism campaigns, KONY 2012 saw a rise in overall criticism and skepticism on the effects of online protesting. However, majority of activist groups have ascertained and developed on this and continued to pull individuals out of their filter bubbles, whether it is online or offline.

“We need to welcome people as they get involved with activism and social change, at any level, not judge them or say 'that’s not enough.’ The challenge with slacktivism is to build a digital ladder of engagement, that turns a hashtag or Facebook like into a larger action and deeper engagement,” says Jennifer Hollett (Harthouseuoft 2015).

#mda20009

A complete history of one of Twitter's most popular hashtags.

And not long after... #libspill arrived...

#libspill #auspol

He has millions of followers and likes on Facebook, Twitter, Vine and Instagram. He uses YouTube and Periscope. His polling numbers remain high. Could Trump’s social media strategy really win him the biggest job of all?

“Despite his strong polling numbers, it is probably unlikely. But Trump, thanks to the fact he can rack up 3.6 m Facebook engagements just by announcing his candidacy, has taught us that in 2015 it’s not enough for politicians to be able to adeptly read an Autocue. They’d better be able to take a decent selfie and understand a meme, too.” (Hannah Jane Parkinson 2015).

#internet #technology #twitter #social media #donald trump

Online political self-expression

Ever since I can remember I was told to never discuss politics and religion in a public setting, “it creates unnecessary arguments and awkward situations.”

As social media developed and users increased there was a surge in online self-expression and especially political online self-expression (Bond et al. 2012, p. 295). The development of different social media platforms constantly blurred the lines between public and private and online and offline. Whether it was Facebook with a combination of strong and weak ties or anyone in the Twittersphere, the tiniest gesture such as a like, share and retweet indicated to our family, friends and followers our particular stance on a topic, thought, or argument within a debate. Political discussions had become a part of our everyday lives, at times unknowingly.

Social media was once a thing of millennials, politics was once a thing openly discussed by ‘professionals’ who studied and lived in the political world. The thought of combining the two seemed outlandish. But today with the variety and correlation of different social media platforms, individuals continue to form a comprehensive online presence. Studies continue to highlight social media complimenting the research behind the “Strength in Weak Ties” (Granovetter 1973). Social media self-expression and online political self-expression is now embraced by modern society (Young 2010), the increase in social media users has amplified our ability to receive, process and share information.

“Age differences: Seniors make strides – Young adults (ages 18 to 29) are the most likely to use social media – fully 90% do. Still, usage among those 65 and older has more than tripled since 2010 when 11% used social media. Today, 35% of all those 65 and older report using social media, compared with just 2% in 2005.” (PewResearch 2014)

Politicians and advisers have seen these trends as a perfect opportunity to not only create an edge and impact the younger generation, but to expand their audience (Rice 2013). Research has revealed particular voting behavior in a network, even though studies indicate that political social media will have more of an impact and influence with strong ties on Facebook, the weak ties create an ability to share and reach a larger audience (Bond et al. 2012, p. 297). Political campaigns that incorporate a variety of social media platforms such a Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, ensures that political messages are well received by users.

As Simeon Duncan, former digital campaign adviser to Tony Abbott stated "As we know, politicians aren't the most trusted people in the country but we do trust people like ourselves, we trust our friends." (Rice 2013)

Barack Obama demonstrated the importance of social media for grassroots mobilization; connect with society and provide more options for individuals to have a say in the political process (Rice 2013). The affordances of social media to monitor engagement and the instant ability to target, record and express a message, has improved politicians’ insight into their potential voters. Individuals are attracted to online political discussions due to the ease and timeless ability to choose a discussion of their liking and gather information as they please, developing their own opinion.

Social media provides politicians with the opportunity to connect and respond on a personal level with other media outlets, other political parties and especially potential voters. Social media assists in the public formation and development of a politician’s story (Jericho 2012, pp. 254-255).

Whether we enjoy it or not, the combination of social media and politics today is not about the trend in these politicians being able to use these platforms, but how they go about using these platforms. Understanding the public is more crucial than informing the public. However, their heavy involvement with social media can lead to an increase in public scrutiny (Jericho 2012, p. 273).

#mda20009

A quick presentation on not only the importance of blogging for businesses, but the importance of maintaining personality in blogs to connect with the networked public.

virtualm-blog1

To think that out of all these people adding things to the internet only 7.1% of those [are] over 51 (Cross, 2011). Our children (for those of us under 51) are going to be able to look back and know so much about us. Whether it’s photos, our thoughts at 15, what we thought about the stock markets; they’ll be able to find it, organised on a website somewhere. Those not blogging over 51 though, will be lost to the world in 100 years (unless they write a book).

In 100 years time when looking back at the family tree there won’t be any question about that your great, great, great aunts cousin was a fully thinking, 3 dimensional person. Or what she did for her final year art degree project.

You’ll be able to search her old account. At the moment though my family tree is just hundreds of names. I always wonder what is behind their name, what they did, think and felt. What did they look like on an average day? That creepy, super long exposure photo doesn’t represent them at all, she isn’t even smiling. Was she a happy person?

All I know about them is their name, age and if they had one their partner’s same information. People from my family in 100 years time can know everything about me. Or at least my ‘highlights reel’.

P.S hey there cousin Jade’s great-great-great niece.

Cross, Mary 2011, Bloggerati, Twitterati : How Blogs and Twitter Are Transforming Popular Culture:How Blogs and Twitter are Transforming Popular Culture, pg 38, e-book, accessed 06 December 2015, <http://SWIN.eblib.com.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=713477>.

mishcommunication

I love this! A really good reflection on blogging and social media in general. It is true, I am doing my family tree with my grandparents and even though there are images and records, I have no idea how my ancestors lived their lives unless they have written stories and letters. Today with the ability to link social media platforms together, future generations will easily have access to different aspects of our lives. My Facebook feed would highlight the glamorous part of my life though 😏 but I feel blogging would really reflect my stance in society and my thoughts and feelings for that particular time. What I write now could possibly be connecting with my future descendants!! ...What an insightful read for a Monday morning. Thanks!

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