Tumblesofweeds

MDA20009 Learning Group 2 Sarah Catanese 

[kateayoung-blog]

Clicking your way to freedom - does social media activism translate to real world change?

In 2011, Time Magazine named Wael Ghonim as one of the Most Influential People of the Year. Via a Facebook group he had led the call for thousands to take to the streets of Cairo, the start of a series of events that would inevitably lead to the overthrow of a 30-year regime (ElBaradei 2011). Reaching the masses via Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, this “Facebook revolution”, as the media liked to call it (Shearlaw 2016), was one of many events that would occur in the middle east and surrounding areas during the Arab Spring. Social media platforms proved themselves as an incredibly useful tool for mobilisation, as well as for spreading news to the outside world in a regime-controlled media landscape, setting the benchmark for future activists. 

Indeed, two years later when revolution occurred again in Egypt, it was social media calls that brought the masses back to Tahrir Square (Shearlaw 2016). Across the Mediterranean, the people of Turkey too were feeling the buzz of the Arab Spring. When protests broke out in Istanbul, Twitter and Facebook became the primary sources of information for those occupying Gezi Park and foreign news outlets alike, circumventing the news blackouts sanctioned by the Turkish government and broadcasters (Hutchinson 2013). Rattled by the wavelike effect of social platforms, the Prime Minister of Turkey went as far as calling them a “menace to society” (Knibbs 2013). But looking back on these events, is it the hashtags or the images of thousands gathered in public squares that are burnt in your memory?

Whilst the likes of Facebook and Twitter undoubtedly played important roles in mobilising support, to credit them with the success of actual change is to do a disservice to those who were on the ground and their circumstances. In 2013, I decided to pack a bag and head off to Turkey and Egypt. Unbeknownst to me (or perhaps due to my inability to follow the news), I was about to waltz into two countries on the brink of revolution. I was quickly made aware of my error when I pranced out of my hostel in Istanbul on Day 1, straight into a cloud of tear gas – word to the wise, the term “tear gas” is a gross understatement of where exactly it’s going to hurt i.e. everywhere. On the day we went up to Taksim Square, we weren’t met with a mob of thousands, armed with their phones, fiercely tweeting, but rather a disillusioned public physically occupying a space, whilst being met with a violent pushback by police. The protests that defined these pro-democracy uprisings across the middle east certainly had social media in common, but so too were their factors of years of state repression and social issues, and a people ready for change (Shearlaw 2016; Youmans & York 2012, p. 316).

In the digital age, where the activist population is equipped with mobile technology, social media serves the same role that the newspaper or flyer did for previous movements (Gerbaudo 2012, p. 4). Offering a public space for expression and information distribution, anger, pride and shared experience combine in online forums and often translate into real world action (Gerbaudo 2012, p. 14; Youmans & York 2012, p. 315). Posting the locations and intentions of protestors on public forums, however, comes with its risks. Open to the public also means open to government security officials, and with that a risk to personal safety. These causes also fall victim to the trolls that run rampant on the internet and ever-present instigators of moral outrage. As put by Ghonim, when speaking about the current state of activism in Egypt, “the same tool that united us to topple dictators eventually tore us apart” (Shearlaw 2016). 

Opening the gates of a movement to anybody who has a social media account also places unrealistic expectations on its success. The ease of action means users are quick to identify as supporters when it comes to clicking ‘Join’ or ‘Like’, or adding the odd hashtag to a selfie at a safe distance from the action, but not so quick to picket. Yet those whose social feeds are filled with their symbolic good deeds reap the same satisfaction of meaningful impact as those camping out in city centres – and this mentality trickles all the way down from revolutions to charity fundraisers. In fact, studies suggest that those who offer token support are no more likely at all to offer substantial monetary or physical contributions to a cause (Kristofferson, White & Peloza 2014).

In a society driven by likes and followers, and the perceived social status they award, adding the title of ‘Activist’ to your profile is all too appealing. Whether it boils down to laziness or a genuine belief that a retweet will feed a starving child in Africa or end a civil war, the role of social media in creating meaningful change is dubious. I appreciate the positive effects social campaigns like #MeToo and #NeverAgainMSD have had on raising awareness of existing social issues and mobilising supporters, but I’m yet to be convinced that social media really deserves the “revolutionary” praise it receives. But unlike almost everything else in my life, I’d love to be proven wrong on this one!

References

ElBaradei, M 2011, ‘The 2011 Time 100: Wael Ghonim’, Time, 21 April 2011, Available at <http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367_2066369_2066437,00.html> (Accessed 11 May 2018).

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

Hutchinson, S 2013, 'Social media plays major role in Turkey protests’, BBC News, 4 June 2013, Available at <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22772352> (Accessed 12 May 2018).

Knibbs, K 2013, 'Arrested for tweeting in Turkey: The social media machine of the #Occupygezi movement’, Digital Trends, viewed 11 May 2018, <https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/the-invaluable-role-of-social-media-in-occupygezi-and-protest-culture/>.

Kristofferson, K, White, K & Peloza, J 2014, 'The Nature of Slacktivism: How the Social Observability of an Initial Act of Token Support Affects Subsequent Prosocial Action’, Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 1149-1166.

Shearlaw, M 2016, 'Egypt five years on: was it ever a 'social media revolution’?’, The Guardian, 25 January 2016, Available at <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/25/egypt-5-years-on-was-it-ever-a-social-media-revolution> (Accessed 10 May 2018).

Images and video

‘A man during the 2011 Egyptian protests carrying a card saying “Facebook, #jan25, The Egyptian Social Network” illustrating the vital role played by social networks in initiating the uprising.’ 2011 [image], Essay Sharaf, viewed 12 May 2018, <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2011_Egyptian_protests_Facebook_%26_jan25_card.jpg>.

‘Hashtag activism’ 2017 [image], Eric Allie, Furious Diaper, viewed 11 May 2018, <http://furiousdiaper.com/2014/05/14/hashtag-activism/>.

‘Your ‘Like’ Doesn’t Help Charities, It’s Just Slacktivism’ 2013 [video], DNews, Seeker, viewed 10 May 2018, <https://youtu.be/efVFiLigmbc>.

[sarahcat26-blog]

You make for some very interesting point with your thread and I appreciate that you’ve noted the different aspects of protests how its become beneficial and on the other hand the security and forewarning to gov agencies can be alerted. However in all these organised protests I have seen text messages being sent around Melbourne in regards to upcoming protests. This could be a way to get around the authorities along with Messenger where you can create large scale group chats as this is a social platform thats ‘behind closed doors’. 

Thanks for sharing ! 

[irenephillips79-blog]

Like for Like - Politicians on Social Media

Social media platforms have emerged to become one of the strongest methods of building a brand and are no longer an optional extra. Platforms like #Facebook and #Twitter are an essential tool for engaging with digital citizens especially as the world moves further away from traditional media sources for news.

Through this evolution, the rise of politicians and political parties now using social media has become commonplace and Jessica Strutt from ABC News agrees, “for most politicians, social media has become a critical tool to engage with voters” (Strutt 2018). Although most party leaders are enjoying a high engagement rate this does not necessarily translate into votes come election time.

Our Australian politicians were perhaps one of the slowest groups to jump on board, and Jericho (2012) stated that “since 2009, many Australian politicians have joined Twitter, but only a few have embraced the medium with any verve”. Although our political parties are falling short there are some that are not.

Palestinian Queen Rania, who is an avid user of social media platforms believes using these platforms is important and they are the way of the future saying “These are powerful networks and I think increasingly we are going to be able to use these communities to share resources to bring about important changes” (Red Herring 2017).

The Queen of Bhutan also uses social media to promote a brand, her mix of media on Instagram is a solid representation of her people, family, religious worship and her country. She has also been noted as, “Queen Jetsun’s Instagram account has many photos of the couple publicly displaying affection — something new for citizens to see” (Grozanick 2017). In complete contrast, Donald Trump’s Instagram account is unsurprisingly all about him. 

Below are the account comparisons. Click on their account handles for full bio.

                                           @queenjetsunpema

                                             @realdonaltrump

This shift for politicians to move into the social media arena, although strategic, gives publics the opportunity to interact on a one-to-one level with party leaders, which in turn promotes civic cultures and sees an increase in participation of civic duties which is exactly what our democratic political system is built on. With so many digital citizens following world leaders, the reason they do so are important to note and “fall under 2 categories; 1) To hear directly from a politicians or party (48%), and 2) Politician/party reference (46%)” (Digital News Report 2018).

Are there particular leaders you follow on social media? 

Also if you would like to see which of the world leaders are cracking the social media matrix click here. **Spoiler - It’s not who you think.**

REFERENCES

Grozanick, R 2017, The who’s who of politicians on social media, Digital Trends, 5 May 2018, <https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/politicians-to-follow-on-social-media/>.

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

Kalogeropoulos, A 2018, Following politicians in social media, Digital News Report, viewed 5 May 2018, <http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/survey/2017/following-politicians-social-media-2017/>.

Red Herring 2017, The top politicians on Social Media, Red Herring, viewed 5 May 2018, <https://www.redherring.com/social/top-politicians-social-media/>. 

Strutt, J 2018, Facebook and Twitter form the poisoned chalice of social media for politicians, ABC News, viewed 5 May 2018, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-03/facebook-twitter-the-poisoned-chalice-of-social-media-for-mps/9391368>.

[sarahcat26-blog]

From a perspective of managing a Facebook private group politics comes with interesting views and opinions. I for one don’t like to have political views posted on my groups as members of a party are generally solid believers of that party and can be very defensive causing tension in the community.

I’m not a follower of any polis however with Trump in seat you can;t avoid but hear what he’s up to only a daily notion due to radio stations and news reporters reporting on his Twitter threads.

Thanks for sharing! 

[hellosaxonsmama]

Instant Karma

Visual communities and social imaging are so intrinscially linked to our day to day life now, that it is hard to imagine there was ever a time when we weren’t posting selfies or photos of our breakfast or screenshots of the weather! The idea that social media is a curated version of our real life is interesting and one that I can certainly relate to. Like many others, I don’t post photos of myself online that aren’t flattering. And I don’t post pictures or updates depicting the dullness of everyday life, because who wants to see the bathroom I have to clean or the laundry I have to do? I don’t have the talent for wittisicisms to accompany such pics, or I at least don’t have the time to spend thinking about them! And so I save my visual uploads for cute photos of my little boy or other occasions that make me happy, such as travel, concerts, celebrations or a nice glass of wine with my husband on a Sunday afternoon. This documentation of my life is certainly a curation, and although I am not consciously trying to create a certain image, I don’t post about negative experiences. Jurgenson (2014) describes the origins of photography as the ability to self-document, in which the photo would act as a record of past events, to be shared with family and friends via a slide show or photo album. These days, he argues, there is the same ability to self-document (albiet instantly ) but the difference is the audience, and that audience is driving the way the event or photo is framed, flitered, hashtagged and uploaded. And so the ‘social photo’ (Jurgenson 2014) has emerged, where the primary reason for the photo is the social media reaction, versus the photography subject. Further to the topic of audience is the feelings of affinity or connectedness that can be evoked by certain types of content (Swinburne p73). My Instagram account has high privacy settings, and so when I post content, I know who is receiving my content. On Instagram, I am intentionally trying to connect with my audience, as they are select friends and family, who are interested in my son, my husband and our lives. Although when typing this, I have been looking at my Insta account and there is a little bit of showing off too!! ;) As part of the pre-selfie generation, I think I can be more critical of the content I consume and find that my self worth is not too tied up in other people’s content, but I can certainly understand how young people can be effected by unrealistic celebrity images and even more from ‘real’ images which are tweaked as per the YouTube clip “Are You Living An Insta Lie? Social Media vs Reality” (2017) which was shared by Team F.

[sarahcat26-blog]

Thanks for sharing! I have similar feelings in regards to Insta and being pretty private I don’t like to share too much online as seeing some horrible stories online of stalking and fake profiles I like to avoid these possibilities. Like me I’m only sharing pics to the people I choose. I don’t believe this has anything to do with you age - more so your personality and how open you are to the public. I don’t know how celebs do it! People watching and snapping photos of you day and night then sharing them publicly online

[hellosaxonsmama]

Crushing Candy

I was about to say that my own experience in online gaming was basically non-existent, but I realised that that is not entirely true. While I definitely do not identify as a gamer I have certainly played my fair share of Candy Crush. I feel like I may have even solved Candy Crush, but could that be my ego playing tricks on me? I have also been known to play Words with Friends with my brother in New Zealand, however he is super competitive and I am a combination of tired, busy and distracted so he inevitably beats me EVEN THOUGH I am a better speller. But the trick with games like Scrabble is all about the word placement isnt it? Rather than the word itself? Anyway, I think he was bored by winning all the time. The information about Farmville this week really made me giggle, because I remember when people started sending requests for Farmville on facebook, and how batty it used to drive me and many of my friends. And I remember people posting status updates about how they wouldn’t be sending a life to anyone on Farmville and to stop requesting them. As I mentioned, I am not a gamer but I did grow up in a household with brothers and they were massively into Nintendo, Playstation & Xbox. One of them is now 36 and plays Fortnite with my 18 year old stepson so I can really understand the way that gaming appeals to people of all ages and backgrounds. I also understand that if someone does not feel connected to people in real life, gaming would provide a community and anonymity which could positively impact that person. It is interesting to consider that MMOG or massively multiplayer online gaming (Zewart & Humphreys 2014) requires rules of conduct and a form of governance, but of course it makes total sense. It could be said that anonymity online provides an opportunity to present a different version of ourselves to a different audience and in a different environment, without proper consequence. In the case of MMOG EVE, as outlined in The Lawless Frontier of Deep Space, Code as Law in EVE Online (Zeward & Humphrey 2014), there are terms of use and codes of conduct governing players, however players expectations regarding the enforcement of these rules differ. It seems that in virtual environments, the policing of behaviours can be via other gamers, within their own circle of acceptable gameplay. The game EVE is ‘deliberately designed as a lawless frontier’ and players are rewarded for ‘ruthless gameplay including murder, sabotage & piracy’. Having no experience as a gamer, I can only imagine how entrenched someone can become in such as an environment and how difficult it must then be to engage with real life.

[sarahcat26-blog]

Go old Candy Crush! One game I forgot about when I was blogging - all i could think about was The Sims, Mario Karts & Words with Friends. However I still find Candy Crush to be a disconnecting game to the real world. Look at people on the train commuting to work and I do happen to see many playing Candy Crush I also noticed the demo-graph of users and its certainly not limited to an individual group. Thanks for sharing very interesting  

[hellosaxonsmama]

[sarahcat26-blog]

I love this! Initially I fear the thought of all these shooting games online etc however this comes as a very valid point. Thanks for sharing! 

[sarahcat26-blog]

Social Gaming

They way online gaming has gone is crazy, who plays basketball in the street anymore when you can play it online in the comfort of your own home? Internet has enabled users to now play games online with your friends. If you’re a diehard online game you could have this type of setup

Who doesn’t love playing games. I for one love games, any form of stimulation for my brain keeps me focused and amused. I’m not quite to the point of the above setup. However I still love playing cards, board games or online games. Currently one of my favourite online games is The Sims as Goffman suggests that we tend to experience and negotiate life through a series of frames in which we present different aspects of ourselves and perform different roles to different audiences (Humpreys, De Zwart 2014, p. 81) I find Sims has this effect where you can create a whole new life and be something you are not in the real world. I have been fond of this game for many years and play it periodically however even though it’s an online game doesn’t prove to make me anymore social.

Which brings me to the next topic. Are all online games social?

I could be scrabble online with a complete stranger with no actual communication except for the motions of the game once the game is over you instantly move on to the next game with no intentions of playing that person again. Is this what we what class as social gaming? Or then you have die hard gamers with the above picture setup and they jump online to play a shooting game and start chatting away on their headphones but would never contact that person again after that game. In my opinion you’d be better off getting a friend over to play a game of Mario Karts on the Wii or similar. Not only are you playing together in the same room you are sharing social engagement having human interaction and possibly hanging out together afterwards.  

De Zwart, M & Humphreys, S 2014, "The Lawless Frontier of Deep Space: Code as Law in EVE Online", Cultural Studies Review, vol. 20, no. 1, p. 81.

Photo Credit 

Anon 2016, "Charming Best Gaming Set Up 44 In Online with Best Gaming Set Up - cannbe.com", cannbe.com, viewed 2 June, 2018, <http://www.cannbe.com/best-gaming-set-up/charming-best-gaming-set-up-44-in-online-with-best-gaming-set-up/>.

[sarahcat26-blog]

Visual Communities & Social Imaging

The selfie, according to the urban dictionary selfies are a style of photography wherein the photographer's own face is included in the photograph and the camera is held by the photographer when the photo is taken (Urban, 2014). The term is fairly new and was introduced amongst social media in 2003. Along with the selfie comes platforms to share your selfie photos. 

  Social media has grown so has the ability to post and share pictures online to anyone with internet access. Particular social media platforms which enable instant photo sharing are Instagram and Snapchat. These creative medium allows us to share our best moments of the day with our friends or follow the latest trends in whatever feed we desire (Nováková 2017). Whilst I use both these mediums I find Instagram can be used for motivation, to keep on track of my health goals or to check out a restaurants meals (food porn at its finest!). I notice many people use these platforms to show the best in themselves and make the audience believe they are living the perfect world which leads to more audience and becoming “Insta-famous”. Whilst the photo they have posted looks perfect it may have taken many attempts to get this one photo perfect.

Snapchat has a different take of visual communication method, whilst people still take photos they are sent to people of choice and they can only see for a limited time before they disappear. Some interesting facts include 71% are under the age of 34 years and that 70% of users are female. It would also take you 10 years to watch a an hours worth of snapchats loaded worldwide (Aslam 2017). 

Whilst i do engage in both these social media platforms they still to me aren’t something I rely on, I do enjoy seeing what my friends have been up to.These platforms however can also lead to minimal connection person to person as no longer the need to describe where you have been - most your followers have seen the places you been leading to minimal conversation  

Aslam, S 2017, "• Snapchat by the Numbers (2018): Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts", Omnicoreagency.com, viewed 30 May, 2018, <https://www.omnicoreagency.com/snapchat-statistics/>.

Nováková, M 2017, "25 Instagram facts that you want to know - PastBook", PastBook Blog, viewed 30 May, 2018, <https://www.pastbook.com/txt/25-instagram-facts-that-you-want-to-know/>.

Otisepote 2014, "Urban Dictionary: Selfie", Urban Dictionary, viewed 26 May, 2018, <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Selfie>.

[sarahcat26-blog]

Trolling & Social Media Conflict

Bullying has been around for hundreds of years, with the introduction of technology brings social media and the newest platform where trolling occurs. A social media troll, by definition, is someone who creates conflict on sites like Twitter, Facebook and Reddit by posting messages that are particularly controversial or inflammatory with the sole intent of provoking an emotional response from other users (Huffington Post, 2017). People posting personal information about themselves online and others manipulate this information to portray someone leaving the person vulnerable. Vulnerability is defined as ‘uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure’ (Taylor, 2016). Bullying Zero Australia 2017 reports that teenage girls are most vulnerable to trolling online.

Trolling online can result in lifestyle problems for the victims such as

*Disconnection to peers

*Low academic achievements

*Low self esteem

*Increase of depression and substance use

*Higher indication of vulnerability leading to further bullying

*In extreme cases, suicidal behaviour and thoughts. (Victorian State Government,2017)

Whilst I was going through my teen years social media was only being introduced. In fact Myspace was most common to have whilst I used to sneak on the old dial up internet to have a chat with my friends on MSN Messenger. Looking back I don’t recall social media trolling, there was a lot less platforms to join to meaning less opinions expressed and less objections to other opinions which reduces trolling, similar to when a city gets larger so does the crime.

Trolling is unavoidable and not everyone gets along civil there is always someone who speaks their mind.It can be anonymous, direct, indirect and sometimes accidental. 

Whilst there is law in place under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) it is an offence to use the Internet, social media or a telephone to menace, harass or cause offence. The maximum penalty for this offence is three years imprisonment or a fine of more than $30,000 (Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network, 2018). Whilst there are anonymous ways to post could the law be avoided due to this? Or is there the ability to trace this anonymous troll? I think all social media platforms should have a profile created and confirmed. But will that stop the nasty trolls from creating ‘fake profiles’?

Fuller (2014) makes a suggestion - should all social media platforms make all user under 16 have parental approval to have a social media account. Which leads me to the question, do you think this is appropriate? I’m not a parent however I fear for my future children and their social media experiences. I feel this could help limit teens creating accounts with parental knowledge but however what would stop teens from forging their parents approval?

Anon 2018, "Troll Stock Illustrations. 2,405 Troll clip art images and royalty free illustrations available to search from thousands of EPS vector clipart and stock art producers.", Canstockphoto.com.au, viewed 30 April, 2018, <https://www.canstockphoto.com.au/illustration/troll.html>.

Australian Cybercrime Reporting Network, 2018, Cyberbulling, Australian Cybercrime Reporting Network, viewed 20th April 2018

https://www.acorn.gov.au/learn-about-cybercrime/cyber-bullying

Fuller, G 2014, "'Cyber-safety': what are we actually talking about?", The Conversation, viewed 28 April, 2018, <https://theconversation.com/cyber-safety-what-are-we-actually-talking-about-23505>.

The Huffington Post. (2017). Answering a Social Troll - What You Need to Know. [online] viewed 20 April 2018, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andre-bourque/answering-a-social-troll_b_6625654.html

Taylor, J 2016, Vulnerability Is, Habits For Wellbeing, viewed April 22 2018

State Government of Victoria, 2017, The Impact of Bullying, Department of Education, viewed 24 April, 2018, .

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/bullystoppers/Pages/impact.aspx

[10thingsirateaboutyou-blog]

Week 8: Crowdsourcing - it used to annoy me because I’m a terrible person

When I was researching crowdsourcing for our group assignment, what surprised me was how ubiquitous it was and how, for the most part, it greatly annoyed me. I had previously thought of crowdsourcing almost exclusively as crowdfunding (which in reality is just a subset of crwodsourcing), but I realised it was present in many of my least favourite social media interactions: friends getting upset at me for not taking part in the ice bucket challenge; people posting no make up selfies; being spammed by people to vote for their baby/dog in baby/dog modelling contests; constant social media posts to raise money for this or that triathlon. I mean, well done everyone, you’re very brave/strong/motivated/your child is beautiful, but I don’t care and I’m really just here for the cat gifs so please stop clogging up my feed.

Real talk though: I challenge anyone to tell me - without looking it up - what the #nomakeupselfie was in aid of. Or what the ice bucket challenge raised awareness for. So it’s fair to say that I did not think much of crowdsourcing, and the above examples often seemed more about an individual’s vanity than an actual concern for a cause. None of my friends had ever shown a great concern for any of these causes before they offered a chance to be beautiful / hilarious on social media**. 

Source: https://twitter.com/jtmlsn/status/446100295643189251

However, finding out that Shutterstock, the photo sharing website (which I use every day at work) and Wikipedia (oh, I would cite thee in every assignment if I was allowed to) are two early examples of crowdsourcing (Howe, 2006), suddenly I had a whole lot more time for it. Then when I started reading about the innovative ways in which crowdsourcing was used in response to natural disasters and crises, I started to see how valuable it could be. A simple, and very efficient, way of sharing information or directing the actions of those who wanted to help, for example the hashtag #bakedrelief was used after the Christchurch earthquakes to direct donations to where they were needed most.

Given that we now live in an always-on world, what became apparent during crises such as the Christchurch earthquake and New Zealand floods, was that news moved faster on social media than it did through traditional news outlets (Ford, 2012). Furthermore, the virtual communities that sprang up during these events helped bring a sense of camaraderie and support to those who were most directly affected. These instances of crowdsourcing developed quite organically, and led organisations such as QPS Media to look into setting up more systematic online crowdsourcing systems to harness the velocity of social media during crises, such as information verification methods (Bruns et al. 2012). Information verification is a crucial part of crowdsourcing during crises, with incorrect or intentionally misleading information potentially directing resources away from where they are needed most.

Source: http://www.performancemagazine.org/on-data-quality-and-crowdsourcing-calvin-and-hobbes/

Crowdsourcing has now become an in-built feature on many social media platforms (think Twitter hashtags and Facebook’s Safety Check feature), and most of us can’t remember a time when we didn’t turn directly to social media for information around these events. With the right tools in place, crowdsourcing has become a really powerful and positive affordance of digital communities.

**I realise I’m painting a picture of my friends as narcissistic jerks and they’re really not. I’m just trying to illustrate a point. #drama

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, Brisbane.

Ford, H 2012, ‘Crowd Wisdom’, Index on Censorship, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 33-39.

Howe, J 2006, ‘The Rise of Crowdsourcing’, Wired, 1 June, last viewed 18 April 2018, <https://www.wired.com/2006/06/crowds/>.

[sarahcat26-blog]

Reading your post I can highly relate to. I’m not into the Ice bucket challenges etc and I do see the underlying reason for them. However the fact we have mentioned them has done exactly its purpose to become more known to the public and we also have an understanding of why they were done (to support a charity). Whilst I was doing my post I found this interesting being that companies reach out to the public to help them name particular item or assist with their next innovation. I loved seeing that sometimes they also do fail. Thanks for sharing your post! 

[sarahcat26-blog]

Activism & Protests

Activism and protests when I think about these I think about blocking off Flinders Street in Melbourne and people rallying in groups with signs trying to present and fight for their rights/opinions.

As technology evolves so does surrounding concepts. Smartphones and the internet have changed the way political events, protests and movements are organised, helping to mobilise thousands of new supporters to a diverse range of causes (Karatzogianni 2016). Protest have noticeably adapted to social media by ways of posts and even text messages. I do recall taxi drivers protesting to stop short fares from the airport. During this time a co-worker had a taxi driver friend who received a text message with the details of the protest. Technology has allowed quicker communication for a last minute protest.  

However in bigger scenarios people like Kim Jong-un who can protest about war with opposing countries. What scares me with the online protest is that Kim Jong-un can protest online and they aren’t hidden from anyone - they are visible worldwide.

Whilst digital activism emerges it helps to assist the people in need and to gather more support for various campaigns. Social Media has made a big impact on how people give to particular causes but especially when integrated with art and technology, it can become a powerful and unforgettable tool, helping us not to be and feel alone (Piekut, 2013). Social media is no longer just a quick plain text post online, It can be way of various visual engagements which can make you feel as though you are involved in the campaign of interest. If you refer to gofundme page, anyone can post up their story along with videos and updates to support the reason to fund their story with a monetary value. Whilst some may not be true Gofundme has raised $5 billion in 8 years (Gofundme, 2018).

Culture jamming is a form of activism and a resistance movement to the hegemony of popular culture, based on the ideas of "guerrilla communication" and the "detournement" of popular icons and ideas (Marshall, 2004). Whilst culture jamming has been around for sometime I find many of the posts very entertaining whilst most contradict the initial post it’s very creative to see the way one logo or slogan can be adapted also known as destruction or defacement of the primary goal, it then has the opposite effect of the initial target.  

Its surprises me how a protest can come from a group of individuals alike who insist on change, even though most had never met they still manage to rally together to and organise such a movement all by the ways of social media. What will happen next? Will there be completely online protests as opposed to taking to the streets?

Gofundme 2018, "About Us", Au.gofundme.com, viewed 20 May, 2018, <https://au.gofundme.com/about-us>.

Karatzogianni, A 2016, "Beyond hashtags: how a new wave of digital activists is changing society", The Conversation, viewed 5 May, 2018, <https://theconversation.com/beyond-hashtags-how-a-new-wave-of-digital-activists-is-changing-society-57502>.

Marshall, L 2004, "Urban Dictionary: culture jam", Urban Dictionary, viewed 5 May, 2018, <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=culture%20jam>.

Piekut, K 2013, "Four examples of digital activism: using art and digital to fight a cause", Econsultancy, viewed 5 May, 2018, <https://www.econsultancy.com/blog/63220-four-examples-of-digital-activism-using-art-and-digital-to-fight-a-cause>.

Smith, S 2015, "City shuts down as thousands protest", Heraldsun.com.au, viewed 28 April, 2018, <http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/brace-for-friday-night-commuting-chaos-as-protesters-hit-the-cbd/news-story/c5f8ff118a10426ff2c1db6efc5075ec>.

[10thingsirateaboutyou-blog]

Week 7: Send in the trolls

When I was at high school, MySpace was still several years away. For my friends and I, the new, sparkly internet was all about online chat rooms, and it was in many ways an extension of our friendships at school. Furthermore, we found we were able to be more of who we were in these chat rooms. A quiet group at school, we weren’t picked on but we certainly weren’t ‘cool’, and one of the affordances of chat rooms for us, was finding a place that we fit in, where we were deemed cool for being ourselves. Online bullying definitely existed then, but the concept of trolling was a few years away from being well-known. To me a fundamental point about trolling is that is not always targeted like bullying is; while bullying falls under the umbrella of trolling, trolling also has a broader audience: trolls often simply have the intention of causing havoc and upsetting anyone (Phillips, 2015) - the more the merrier. 

Picture: Amazon

Part of the appeal of social media, and of having access to a much wider network than is afforded to you in your physical world, is the potential for validation. Strangers can connect with you over shared interests, you can garner thousands of likes on a witty comment or flattering photo - short of being a celebrity or a performer, there is probably no offline equivalent where you can amass such validation. However, the flip side of having access to this invisible audience is that they can also be negative, and cruel - even more so because they can do so without revealing their identity. This wider audience can also have a knock-on effect of other people joining in, which can increase the trauma of the targeted individual (boyd, 2014); in fact even the expectation of support from their peers can encourage someone to post in a trolling manner (Bastiaensens et al. 2014).

The issue is that, in some ways, trolls are behaving as all digital citizens do: engaging and responding to conten’t around them, albeit in a destructive way. Commenting and sharing are fundamental affordances of most digital communities, and there is no real way to filter trolls out while maintaining those affordances for everyone else. Furthermore, this brings up problematic questions of what should be allowed under the right to free speech, and what level of conflict is healthy versus problematic (McCosker, 2014). And as we’ve spoken about earlier, the affordance of anonymity is also an important one for many people in online communities; not because they want to cause conflict, but because it allows them a freedom of expression that they would not otherwise have access to.

So what to do? Do we just accept that trolling is an inevitable side-effect of freedom of speech in the social media age? When we react to trolls, we inevitably give them more fuel and air time which is arguably just the kind of attention they’re after. My mum used to say to me that the worst thing you can do to a bully is not react, and maybe that’s our best bet with combatting trolls too.

References

Bastiaensens, S, Vandebosch, H, Poels, K, Van Cleemput, K, DeSmet, A & De Bourdeaudhuij, I 2014, ‘Cyberbullying on social network sites. An experimental study into bystanders’ behavioural intentions to help the victim or reinforce the bully’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 31, pp.259-271.

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.

McCosker, A 2014, YouTrolling as provocation: Tube’s agonistics publics, Convergence, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 201-217.

Phillips, WA 2015, ‘This is why we can’t have nice things: mapping the relationship between online trolling and mainstream culture’, London, England: The MIT Press.

[sarahcat26-blog]

During my high school years we used myspace and msn messenger, I don’t recall much trolling occurring however now being more social media platforms I feel there are more ways to troll. I would relate this to a population matter where the more people in one city the higher the crime. It’s unavoidable but we need to understand how to react when someone is being a troll to you so it’s not taken to affect of your mental health  

[kateayoung-blog]

Dealing with cyberbullies in the online playground

Not so long ago, the internet was a very different place. In the year 2000, it was all dial tones and askjeeves.com, and social connectivity meant sending emails back and forth. Now the internet isn’t so much a tool as it is an augmentation of ourselves, where your online presence is just as (if not more) important, as your physical presence. Your friends, family and strangers alike are always with you, in a digital form at least, ready and willing to offer their two cents with the click of a button. But in this new virtual space, the rules are somehow different. There’s no need for niceties or genuine human interaction, and ethical norms and social conventions are challenged and renegotiated every day (boyd 2012, p. 75). We live in an “economy of attention”(McCosker 2014, p. 203), and being seen and heard matters above all else.

Code Name Melania - click here to see the rest - it’s worth it

Cyberbullying and trolling are hot topics in the media these days. Even Melania Trump, has named fighting cyberbullies as her chosen cause (an interesting choice, for obvious reasons). Taking schoolyard fights online is the norm now (boyd 2014, p. 130), following kids home with a relentless verbal bashing in the palm of their hand. And it’s not just the youths that have gone wild. Fully grown adults are tearing each other apart all over the internet from the comfort of their own homes, some more sinister, and others just messing with people for fun. Our inability to be decent human beings when given a platform has reached epidemic proportions, but the question remains – is this a social media issue, or have our real-world conflicts just found a new home?

My schooling experience seemed to coincide with a major shift in online behaviours. In primary school, I had nothing more than an e-mail address (cyber_kitty – in hindsight a terrible idea) and a Neopets account. My tweenage years saw a boom in instant messaging, and the couple of valuable hours of internet access I had each afternoon were spent discussing (and causing) drama amongst my friendship circles. The scariest things on the internet were perverted chat rooms, which I was strictly forbidden from entering. LiveJournal, Bebo and MySpace changed the game though. Suddenly our young lives and tortured teenage souls were on show to the outside world and an influx of ‘anonymous’ users. Meanness had always existed, but on notes passed around the classroom or in a lunchtime gossip session. With social media though, the attacks could come from anywhere and anyone, long after the school bell had rung. The difference for my Nokia 3310-wielding generation though was that we had the choice to disconnect – an affordance that isn’t plausible for many in 2018.

These online behaviours have serious consequences. Studies suggest that over 33% of youths in the U.S. have been the victim of cyberbullying and that young victims are twice as likely to attempt suicide and/or self-harm. Most alarmingly, there is a rising trend of young people bullying themselves via anonymous or fake social media accounts (boyd 2014, p. 141; Fraga 2018), perhaps for attention or maybe to validate their own feelings of hopelessness. There is no doubt that young people, who seem particularly attached to their devices, are especially susceptible to these kinds of attacks, however, it is also important to consider that many victims are often also perpetrators (Ewens 2017). The veil of anonymity that platforms offer, combined with this strange perceived notion that online activities don’t have real-world consequences, have taken “freedom of speech” to a scary new level. This “cyberbullying” umbrella term has also blurred the lines between plain old conflict and downright harassment, further changing our perceptions of how we are allowed to treat each other, and what the ramifications will be when we do so (boyd 2014, p. 132).

Bullying and general nastiness have always existed. And there is no doubt that this new constant state of connectivity and public exposure has upped the ante, and unpoliced social media platforms are the weapon of choice. It seems inappropriate to approach this as a “social media issue” though, and nor does it seem right to say our antics have moved to a “new home”. There is no longer a separation between cyberspace and the physical universe, and with the affordances of constant communication, it makes sense for an exponential rise in meanness to coincide. I see no end in sight, as platform-based regulation can only ever truly be as effective as our own abilities to be decent human beings. And is logging off truly worth the risk of becoming invisible?

References

boyd, d 2012, ‘Participating in the Always-On Lifestyle’, in M Mandiberg (ed.) The Social Media Reader,  NYU Press, New York, pp. 71-76.

boyd, d 2014, It’s complicated: the social lives of networked teens, Yale University Press, New Haven, USA.

Ewens, H 2017, ‘The Ugly Evolution of Cyberbullying’, Vice, 1 September, Available at <https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/gyy8kq/the-ugly-evolution-of-cyberbullying> (Accessed 22 May 2018).

Fraga, J 2018, 'When Teens Cyberbully Themselves’, NPR, 21 April, Available at <https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/04/21/604073315/when-teens-cyberbully-themselves> (Accessed 22 May 2018).

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

Images and video

‘Celebrities Read Mean Tweets #7’ 2014 [video], Jimmy Kimmel Live, viewed 27 May 2018, <https://youtu.be/imW392e6XR0>.

‘Code Name Melania: Secret Agent Fighting Cyber Bullying’ 2017 [image], Ward Sutton, The New Yorker, viewed 27 May 2018, <https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/code-name-melania-secret-agent-fighting-cyberbullying>.

[studentwizard99-blog]

You are right when you said that ‘There is no longer a separation between cyberspace and the physical universe’. The question is, how do we truly disconnect? 

[sarahcat26-blog]

Disconnection was easily achieved 10 years ago, now I’m not sure that can be done. Children are given ipads to keep them quiet rather than actually engaging with them. Parents are seen to use their phones to achieve many things. Growing up now, I can understand that children know nothing more than the how to interact with technology which concerns me with your above question how will people disconnect... I wonder what the future holds for this complex online universe.

[sarahcat26-blog]

Politics & Civic Cultures

Not only is social media used for daily social interaction, you’ll also notice that politicians are also becoming more engaged with social media. As younger demographics don’t really follow or read the daily newspapers or watch tv all the focus is on social media. Politicians have accounted for this and are now turning to social media to gain more interest and be able to express themselves to different demographics.

As a politician the ability to publish content and broadcast it to millions of people instantaneously allows campaigns to carefully manage their candidates’ images based on rich sets of analytics in real time and at almost no cost (Murse and Murse, 2016). This is a achievable way to reach more peers quicker. Generally the hardest part of gaining followers on social media platforms would be getting the interest.

For Obama in 2008 his team used social media in its campaign as a major focus of their strategy (Jericho, 2012). To follow on his previous campaign he used social media to his advantage along with all his followers August 2012 Obama took to Reddit with a post ‘Ask me Anything’. This gained many followers with the ability to ask him anything from home life to work life questions. This campaign strategy was used to gain more minority voters within the 2012 election, where the questions ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime — and others simply showed admiration for Obama choosing to use Reddit as a platform for discussion (Thompson, 2012). The key indicator for the politician to gain more votes was to find something that every person can relate to. If there was something posted that relates to everyday life we all experience it would provide If this is done well there name becomes household known and when it comes to voting their name is much more familiar than others leading to the potential of higher votes.

Whilst I’m not too interested in politics it’s very entertaining watching politicians post on social media and the attention it brings whether good or bad its still associates their name to the dinner table discussion.  I look forward to see the next president’s idea of  gaining public attention considering Trump’s recent social media engagements where he immediately posts what he thinks. I wonder how far politicians will go and to and what extreme they will go to to spark the younger generations interest and get the vote of the future community.

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

Murse, T. and Murse, T. (2016). Social Media in Politics - Twitter and Facebook as Campaigns Tools. [online] About.com News & Issues, viewed 20 April 2018. Available at: http://uspolitics.about.com/od/CampaignsElections/tp/How-Social-Media-Has-Changed-Politics.htm

Thompson, C 2012, "'Coolest President Ever?' Obama Takes to Reddit to Answer Questions", CNBC, viewed 20 April, 2018, <https://www.cnbc.com/id/48832307>.

[sarahcat26-blog]

Crowdsourcing in Time of Crisis

Whilst this weeks learning was about Crowdsourcing I was unaware of this being a particular topic related to digital communities. I had never thought of it in this aspect however upon researching this topic I discovered I use it more often than I thought. Crowdsourcing is traditionally referred to as an open call – or open invitation for a “crowd” (aka: a group of people) to offer their expertise to complete a task for your business (Business Review, 2014). CFA and local authorities express the current situations to all the followers to ensure we are all safe. On another level we express our concerns when a pet goes missing and with the power of social media and sharing threads some outcomes become positive ones due to the power of people online. We also can relate when a community doesn’t approve of a councils movement a petition will be created to try and be heard as a group of people with the same opinions.

While there are many benefits to Crowdsourcing, there are also some scenarios that have gone wrong. When customers become disgruntled by a business they may react in a negative way or just come up with very bad ideas. M&M’s put out to its consumers for some new flavour ideas. This resulted in chilli M&Ms, whilst dark chocolate and chilli does work this combination for M&Ms did not (Zetland 2016). Another similar experience of Lay’s crowdsourcing new flavours, consumers went to the vote with cappuccino flavoured chips. Who knew that this would even be thought of, I do love coffee however having it as a chip flavour just doesn't sit well with me.

Throughout times of crisis the ability to reach multiple thousands of people within an instant can be a lifesaver for some. Whilst it’s cheap and easily accessed for many, emergencies authorities need to ensure that they are using the resources they have effectively otherwise crowds may share informations that can often be inaccurate or misrepresented, particularly in emergency response situations (Ford, 2012).

Overall crowdsourcing is an effective tool for many companies or crisis. With technology always improving the overall accuracy of crisis situations can be better managed with the use of crowdsourcing. There still may need improvements to legality of some crisis situations (due to the possibility of misleading events) however overall with newer adaptations continually evolving I look forward to seeing more adaptations with crowdsourcing in the near future.   

Business Review Australia 2014, Top 10 movers & shakers in Australian crowdsourcing, Businessreviewaustralia.com, viewed 15th May 2018, <http://www.businessreviewaustralia.com/top10/1172/Top-10-movers-shakers-in-Australian-crowdsourcing>.

Daily Mail 2014, "Lays to start selling 'Cappuccino' potato chips", Mail Online, viewed 20 May, 2018, <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2694519/Wake-smell-coffee-flavored-potato-chips-Lays-start-selling-Cappuccino-crisps.html>.

Ford, H 2012, ‘Crowd Wisdom’, Index on Censorship, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 33-39.

Zetland, M 2016, "The 5 Biggest Crowdsourcing Fails of All Time", Inc.com, viewed 20 May, 2018, <https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/the-5-biggest-crowdsourcing-fails-of-all-time-.html>.

[aathorus-blog]

Facebook is no longer comfortable.

I belong to a very specific generation, somewhere between Gen X and Millenials, who happened to have been born between 1976 and 1983. We grew up in the time before the internet and mobile phones. We remember when you used to go to a friend’s house not knowing if they were home or not. Talking for hours to our friends on the landline phone. Sending and receiving letters. We were the first generation to embrace the internet. We chatted on MSN or Yahoo messenger. We learned to code with Myspace and saw it superseded by Facebook. It’s been interesting to observe the way these technologies ingratiate themselves into our lives and society.

According to McCosker and Wilkin (2014) Social network sites “enable constant communication and connection, while encouraging increasingly public levels of self-disclosure or exposure.” This means that we are using these platforms to enable us to stay in constant contact while at the same time encouraging one another to disclose more personal information. But according to Mandiberg (2012) “Humans are both curious and social critters. We want to understand and interact. Technology introduces new possibilities for doing so”. While many may assume that we are addicted to the technology, Mandiberg tends to see it as facilitating and enhancing human interactions (Mandiberg, 2012). In my own experience as of late I’ve been quite concerned about the privacy of my Facebook account. I don’t use many social media platforms, I have a Twitter account which I barely ever use. I use Facebook quite frequently but when the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke I’ve wanted to delete my Facebook account but found that the connections I have with friends from all over the world were too valuable to just throw away. I have a lot of friends who I can communicate with cheaply in real time from places like America, Pakistan and South East Asia and it would truly pain me to lose these connections. Sure I could move to a different social network but there’s no platform as commonly used or easily accessible as Facebook. I guess this is what is meant by the term ‘social capital’, but who is really capitalising? Is it us or is it Mark Zuckerberg?

  References:

Mandiberg, M. 2012, The Social Media Reader. NYU Press, New York. ProQuest Ebook Central. Viewed 14 April 2018 <https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/swin/reader.action?docID=865738&ppg=84>

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

[sarahcat26-blog]

Thanks for sharing! I’m an 80′s born girl and I love that idea of just going to someones house to play, no plans needed to be made it was such a great childhood. Receiving a letter was so exciting as a child. I think children will never truely understand those small things we took for granted. 

Being a facebook user myself. I purely use it for connecting in a way I don’t think I could elsewhere. School is a great example! However my concern is for the children and teenagers being introduced to this platform.. How young is too young?   

[sarahcat26-blog]

It all begins here.....

Are we being caught?!

Within the past 15 years it’s amazing what technology has done, children will soon grow up with no understanding of what it was like using a walkman or rewinding the cassette tapes back with a grey lead. Amongst technology and the rapid growth of various electronics, started with the standard mobile which is now an extension to the everyday communication tool. This concurred in the existence of the communication platform; Social Media.  

The term “social media” refers to the wide range of internet based and mobile services that  allow users to participate in online exchanges, contribute to user created content or join online communities (Dewing, 2012).

Looking at the current statistics associated with social media, Facebook and Youtube are the stand out platforms with 15,000,000 users/visitors per month in Australia alone (Cowling, 2018), considering the Australian population is 24,000,000 (Worldometers, 2018) which equates to about 62% of the population using one of the two platforms. Does this way of socialisation limited our actual social skills? Are we becoming more anti social with the increased engagement of social media? Take a look at this video (right down the bottom), I come across this over a year ago and every now and then I look around when in a public area and in the back of my mind this is the video that comes to mind when I see majority of heads in a mobile phone.

Are we missing out on opportunities? I can really relate to this video where I rely on mobile phones. Sadly this video has only 80,000 views compared to a top 40 music video hitting millions of views in a week.

Reforming of communities digitally

As Ferdinand Tönnies suggested in his two forms of sociality; communities and society. Where communities are cooperatively kept together with the interest of all members trying to achieve the same goals with social control. Society relates the the broader community who is controlled by laws, tribunals and police.

Whilst we all belong in a society we also branch out into communities which become of interest to each individual. However, others such as Turkle, believe that social media causes more of a disconnection than a positive interaction where Robert Putnam believes we are creating a virtual reality where technology is reducing the social associations we have with each other and relying on technology to keep social.

Getting to know platforms

Being a minor user of social media, I tend to stick to what I know. Whilst there are many platforms to choose from it’s important to understand what and how to use them. We define social network sites as web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system (Boy & Ellison, 2010). Twitter and Reddit are new to me (along with Tumblr) and it’s not an easy task for me to facilitate a new platform (canvas is also another great example). I find that what I have works for the integration I need to be recognised online. However sometimes you need to get out of your comfort zones and try new things (yikes)! So whilst looking at reddit jumping onto the front page O’Gara suggests the front page looks only slightly better than the original Space Jam website, which I can relate to. This platform does not appeal to me being that I can not fathom why I would use this platform however could see my partner using it (avid youtube user).

Twitter is also a platform that never took my fancy, however the media speak of it alot. The nightly news programs relate to particular people's twitter feeds to get an understanding of particular politicians opinions and current projects in the pipeline. I understand this platform and why people use it. It’s opinion based and only exists due to the conversations which are provided from one person to another. In the past I do like to recall that it has created an open door for celebrities to attack each other whilst on view for the world on social media to watch.  Looking at the Twitter top 100 most followers, I note that these people or brands were famous prior to the launch of this platform.  

Whilst I enjoy my time on social media I don’t want it to take over the ability to sit down and catch up over a coffee (i love coffee too much to loose that interaction). However I appreciate the connections I have created online with student, teachers and long distances friends. Look forward to connecting with this teaching periods bunch of peers and sharing some posts and opinions.   

"Australia Population (2018) - Worldometers", viewed 15th April 2018, <http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/australia-population/>.

Boyd, D & Ellison, N 2010, "Social network sites: definition, history, and scholarship", IEEE Engineering Management Review, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 16-31

Cowling, 2018 "Social Media Statistics Australia – March 2018", viewed <https://www.socialmedianews.com.au/social-media-statistics-australia-march-2018/>.

C-SPAN 2012, Robert Putnam - Bowling Alone, 19 December, viewed 3 August 2016, <http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4236758/robert-putnam-bowling-alone>.

Dewing, M 2012, "Social Media: An introduction", Library of Parliament, vol. 2010-03-E, p. 1.

“Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft - New World Encyclopedia", viewed <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Gemeinschaft_and_Gesellschaft>.

O’Gara 2017, "Digitaltrends.com", viewed 14th April 2018 <https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/what-is-reddit/>.

[irenephillips79-blog]

Social Media - Trend or Fad, And How It Is Changing Society.

We are all interconnected within digital communities. Whether it be the chat group you use in Messenger, the Mummy blog you read on Wordpress, the work Facebook group you share industry related memes in, or the forum you use for advice with your weekend DIY project on Reddit. In 2018 we are all interconnected. The biggest digital communities are the social media platforms. From the inception of social media in 2002 when Friendster launched, in 2004 where Facebook not only launched but reached one million members that same year (Infoplease, 2017). To now, where your choice of social media platform is more complex than a coffee order at Starbucks. The question remains, how will this relatively new form of communication affect us individually and as a community? Although some would still like to believe social media is simply a fad, the ‘fad’ is in fact here to stay. As discussed in the YouTube video 'Social Media Revolution’ which can be seen here,  people are more connected via social media platforms than ever before and the stats are there to back it up. In 2017 there were an estimated 3.773 billion internet users, with 2.789 billion active social media users and a whopping 2.549 billion active mobile social users (Hootsuite, 2017). Since the injection into our everyday lives, consumers are moving away from the traditional desktop and we are getting our “fix” predominantly via our phones, and these numbers will continue to rise. Our phone is no longer just a communication tool, but a personal item and an extension of us, as pointed out by Robert Putnam in his talk with C-SPAN 'Bowling Alone’. Putnam states a mobile phone is such a personal item we wouldn’t consider sharing it with another person without much consideration first (CSPAN, 2012). With such immense interconnectedness do we really know what the implications will be of our social media consumer? Sherry Turkle has deep concerns and she addresses these in her TED Talk 'Connected, But Alone’ found here. Turkle delves into the what if’s of over-consumption. Will future generations be able to socially assimilate, will we need to re-learn that being alone is advantageous to the individual, and what will be the overall social implications of our over consumption? Turkle raises these hypotheticals plus more. Ferdinand Tonnies, the 19th-century sociologist, theories also correlate to Turkle’s concerns. Tonnies’ studies on what holds a society together when we are all strangers still relevant today, he found a link between individual segregation and the break down of societal bonds. So does our isolation with increased use of mobile devices divide us as much as it brings us together? It’s not all doom and gloom. As our bandwidth grows and out technological capability builds so do digital communities. Universities Australia estimates that over one million people are enrolled to study online (Universities Australia, 2017) with major cities enrolments still the highest but have noted a steady influx of rural students enrolments also. Another socially challenging example is the recent 'March for Our Lives’ rallies that took place earlier in 2018, which were organised and lead by the group Never Again whose sole arena for informing and mobilising people in perusing change was via social media platforms and the use of the hashtags such as #NeverAgain and #EnoughisEnough. Even our political candidates are participating in social media to stay in touch with constituents, and thus the use of this two-way communication system has changed the social media landscape from its intended use. I wonder if Mark Zuckerberg realized when creating Facebook how vast its affordances would actually be, to the point that now, social media is reinvigorating the estates of democracy by being the 5th. As you read these examples and questions about social media and its implications via a microblogging community, the irony is not lost that these ideas are being presented on a social media platform.

REFERENCES Buzzz Social Media 2011, The Social Media Revolution 2014, 23 October, viewed 8 April 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eUeL3n7fDs>.

CNN, 2018, What you should know about the March for Our Lives, 23 March, viewed 13 April 2018, <https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/21/us/march-for-our-lives-explainer/index.html>. C-SPAN 2012, Robert Putnam - Bowling Alone, 19 December, viewed 8 April 2018, <http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4236758/robert-putnam-bowling-alone>. HootSuite 2017,  New research reveals global social media use increased by 21 percent in 2016, Hootsuite, viewed 11 April 2018, <https://hootsuite.com/it/newsroom/press-releases/digital-in-2017-report>.

Infoplease 2017, Timeline: Social Media, 2000-2017, viewed 13 April 2018, <https://www.infoplease.com/science/timeline-social-media/>.

TED-Ed 2013, Connected, but alone?- Sherry Turkle, 19 April, viewed 13 April 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv0g8TsnA6c>. Universities Australia 2017, Higher education and research facts and figures, 27 March, viewed 13 April 2018, <https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/australias-universities/key-facts-and-data#.WtChYSiFOV4>.

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