the fox files

Rambles on the digital and social world we live in...

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

The sociability of the Gamer

As I am writing this, I am at the library and behind me, a man has his headphones on and is playing a game on his computer.

I wouldn’t normally be interested, in fact, I’d probably be annoyed by the incessant clicking and the sound that is coming from his headphones. I’ve been here four hours and he was here before me. At one point he phones his friend. From this brief observation, it’s clear that social interaction is part of the game, what starts online also transfers to offline and that relationships can be built through this. I also note that through the specific terms and language, there is a gaming sub-culture with its own lingo and slang. But it also makes me wonder how this man feels, and interacts with others when he turns off his game and leaves.

Gaming is often stereotyped as a geeky, antisocial activity that should be outgrown after adolescence. Most people have played or know of video games, but the gaming world is even bigger online, and not as antisocial as people think. Studies suggest that Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMOPRGs) are social network centred around gaming that attracts players and fulfils human needs like belonging, social identity, connection and reciprocity (O’Connor, et al. 2015). This is because MMORPGs encourage social connectivity through a virtual world with various characters requiring interactive story-telling and role playing, missions and evolution of the game that requires people to form groups and communities and invest a lot of time in order to reach higher levels (Yee 2006). Popular games include World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars 2, Clash of Clans, and many others.

Although these games and interactions occur in a virtual environment with fantasy or imagined worlds and characters, it is unrealistic to assume it is all ‘pretend’. In fact, social gamers take these interactions very seriously and it even affects them in their everyday lives (Kasumovic 2014). Relationships built online can be so fulfilling, and

Yee (2006) highlights that romantic and platonic relationships occurring through social games are significant and meaningful and more intimate and positive in cases (Yee 2006, pp. 197). But could that also be because their relationships outside the game are not as developed and they are not as invested?

 One could argue that social gamers not only build relationships online through their gaming community, but they can also strengthen ties with friends they interact with outside with whom they also play online, giving them a shared interest to bond over.  

 However, on the other hand, research also highlights the excessive nature of MMORPGs, with one finding showing that MMORPG players typically spent longer playing than other game users and experienced anguish when not playing, as it consumed their thoughts and feelings, and they felt it affected their work, study, and relationships (Kasumovic 2014).

Maybe MMORPG social gaming communities are fulfilling and contribute to players’ feelings of belonging, self-concept and relationships…But can this translate offline?

 References

Kasumovic, M 2014, Gamer Disclaimer: Virtual worlds can be as fulfilling as real life’, The Conversation, viewed 8 February, < https://theconversation.com/gamer-disclaimer-virtual-worlds-can-be-as-fulfilling-as-real-life-29571>

O’Connor, E, Longman, H, White K & Obst, P 2015, ‘Sense of Community, Social Identity and Social Support among players of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs): A qualitative analysis: Social relationships between MMOG players’ Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, vol 25, no. 6, pp. 459 – 473.

Online Gamers [image], ‘Study finds gamers don’t fit the antisocial basement-dwellers stereotype’ PsyPost, viewed 7 February, < http://www.psypost.org/2014/03/study-finds-gamers-dont-fit-the-antisocial-basement-dwellers-stereotype-23982>

World of Warcraft [image], World of Warcraft, https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/

Yee, N 2006, ‘The Psychology of MMORPGs: Emotional Investment, Motivations, Relationship Formation and Problematic usage’ in Schroeder, R & Axelsson, A (eds.) Avatars at Work and Play: Collaboration and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments, London, pp. 187- 207, Available at: <https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/content/pdf/10.1007%2F1-4020-3898-4.pdf>

[branuworld-blog]

Blog #7 Visual communities and social imaging

Networked visuality

Following the explosion of smartphones and high quality built-in cameras, images and videos are not only being used increasingly in our communications, but in some instances, they are the sole vehicles of our communication (Hjorth & Gu 2012 p. 699). In other words, when it comes to how we express ourselves, increasingly it is through our photos and videos, as opposed to our written text. As the proverb goes, “a picture paints a thousand words”! Consider how much can be conveyed by an image. Often no words are needed. However, the visual can lead to interpretative ambiguity (Highfield & Lever 2016, p. 48), and yet it can be clarified with further images. Take, for example, the Instagram dad who trolled his daughter by replicating her Snapchat photos (Harrison 2016). In isolation, his photos are bizarre and make little sense. However, when coupled with the photos of his daughter which he attempts to replicate, we understand his intent - playful mockery in response to his unease at the racy selfies his daughter has posted (Gould-Bourn 2016). No words are necessary.

Social media platforms such as Snapchat afford users the ability to nurture our social networks through visuality. Emphasis is put upon the image or video that is shared, rather than the text. As Spiegel stated, “The selfie makes sense as the fundamental unit of communication on Snapchat because it marks the transition between digital media as self-expression and digital media as communication.” (Herrman 2014).

The selfie phenomenon – is it harmful?

Jurgensen posits that “The tension between experience for its own sake and experience we pursue just to put on Facebook is reaching its breaking point. That breaking point is called Snapchat.” (Herrman 2014).

With the increased use of photos and videos as a means of communicating on social media, selfies have also become hugely popular, especially among young people. But is selfie culture affecting their self-esteem? According to Capdevila and Lazard (2017), the research is mixed. Smartphones and digital cameras allow us to take multiple selfies until we find the image we like best to upload (Capdevila & Lazard 2017). This careful choreography in selfie selection makes it easy to assume self-esteem might be affected by seeing only the best images of friends on their social media pages. However, long before the internet, young women (especially) have always struggled with body dissatisfaction and an increased emphasis placed upon their appearance (Capdevila & Lazard 2017). Yet, young people report that, with the internet being less anonymous these days, it is not in their best interests to misrepresent themselves online, for fear of being labelled as ‘fake’ (Capdevila & Lazard 2017).

Capdevila and Lazard remind us that “… we currently live in a world that places great importance on physical beauty, self-improvement and the pressure to always look our best. This is the world in which selfie culture emerged – selfie culture did not create it.”

References:

Boredpanda n.d., Dad trolls his daughter by recreating her selfies, Boredpanda, viewed 31 January 2018, <https://www.boredpanda.com/dad-recreates-daughter-selfie-cassie-martin-chris-martin/>

Capdevila, R & Lazard, L 2017, ‘Selfie culture isn’t the root of all evil’, The Conversation, 12 April, viewed 01 February 2018, <https://theconversation.com/selfie-culture-isnt-the-root-of-all-evil-73581>

Harrison, S 2016, ‘Dad recreates daughter’s snapchat selfies’, Awesomeness TV, 29 June, viewed 31 January 2018, <https://awesomenesstv.com/lifestyle/dad-recreates-daughters-snapchat-selfies/?utm_term=.qdAfKvmSM#.s1KsYtV1b>

Herrman, J 2014, ‘Meet the man that got inside Snapchat’s head’, Buzzfeed News, 28 January, viewed 30 January 2018, <https://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/meet-the-unlikely-academic-behind-snapchats-new-pitch?utm_term=.jfNOeDlvXj#.wtje84o5mB>

Highfield, T & Lever, T 2016, ‘Instagrammatics and digital methods: studying visual social media, from selfies and GIFs to memes and emoji’, Communication Research and Practice, vol. 2 no. 1, pp. 47-62, viewed on 31 January 2018, via Routledge

Hjorth, L & Gu, K 2012, ‘The place of emplaced visualities: A case study of smartphone visuality and location-based social media in Shanghai, China’, Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 699-713, viewed 31 January 2018, via Routledge

Know your pose, 22 June., image, viewed 1 February 2018, <https://www.popsugar.com.au/fashion/How-Take-Mirror-Selfie-40554470?utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=US:AU&utm_source=www.google.com.au#photo-40554459>

Snapchat-cyreneq, n.d., image, viewed 1 February 2018, < https://hoodietshirt.com/2017/03/snapchat-selfie-cyreneq-ele-shirts-collection.html>

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

This is an interesting idea

“… we currently live in a world that places great importance on physical beauty, self-improvement and the pressure to always look our best. This is the world in which selfie culture emerged – selfie culture did not create it.”

Selfie culture may have emerged from this world of high pressure beauty standards... but I believe it magnifies the issues. I love the Instagram Dad, Chinventures and a few other people on social media who are highlighting how unrealistic and sometimes ridiculous, and unnecessarily competitive posting curated selfies on Instagram can be.  My one rule for selfies - I only take selfies with dogs! Or one day if I can get there maybe a quokka !

Lincoln Lewis Instagram 

[allthingsdigitalandsocial-deact]

Crowdsourcing in times of crisis

Coined by Jeff Howe and Mark Robinson, the term crowdsourcing can be defined as “an online distributed problem-solving and production model” (Brabham 2008, p. 76). Further to this, there are varying definitions of the term: crowdsourcing exists among diverse categories, but is typically interpreted from either a business or technique domain perspective (Zhao et al. 2016). Luz (et al. 2014) adds that despite its affordances of use, all forms of crowdsourcing are task orientated. Some of the most popular and globally recognised crowdsourcing systems are Wikipedia, Yahoo Answers and Zhihu. Take Wikipedia for example, the system relies on its users to complete tasks through the crowdsourcing process. As a result, Wikipedia “produces the most extensive and up-to-date form of encyclopaedic knowledge” available online today (‘8.2 Crowdsourcing’ 2017).

The Pseudo-ER model: The crowdsourcing process

[image] Zhao et al. 2016, p. 946.

When exploring the impact that crowdsourcing can play in times of crisis; “social media is an effective tool for monitoring and engaging public discourse during the crisis process” (Tinker et al. 2009, p. 25).

[image] Hill, S 2014

Social media proved to be a key influencer in shaping a global understanding following the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. As events unfolded in real time, digital citizens were quick to capture what was happening using camera and video functionalities on their smartphones. As a result, media outlets all over the world were able to share information and broadcast attack locations across the city; to ensure that Parisians stayed safe and avoided these areas.

Meanwhile on Twitter, digital citizens self-organised support networks using #porteOuverte, which means open door. The hashtag was used as a means to offer support, help, and love to those in need following the tragic attacks. Similarly, #rechercheParis became the means by which Parisian citizens “tried to find traces of loved ones from whom they hadn’t heard” from (Walter 2015).

[image] CCTVNews 2015

Furthermore, Facebook activated its Safety Check tool, which allowed nearby users in affected areas to let their friends and family know that they were safe (Zuckerberg 2014). You can read more about Facebooks Safety Check tool here (Gleit et al. 2014).  

[image] Kille. W, L 2015

Facebook also made a profile picture filter of the French flag. Users had the ability to change their profile picture to show their support for France and Parisians.  

[image] Strange 2015, ‘Facebook profile picture of French flag following the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks’

Gao (et al. 2011) argues that leveraging crowdsourcing for disaster relief and emergency management has three distinct advantages:

1. User requests and data reports are automatically generated, which “allows relief organisations to identify and respond to urgent cases in time” (Gao et al. 2011, p. 11).

2. Data collected can be categorised and structured; identifying the most important relief efforts required.

3. Geo-tagging information and maps, such as Facebook’s Safety Check tool “can help relief organisations accurately locate specific requests for help” (Gao et al. 2011, p. 11).

It is important to note that Gao (et al. 2011) also argue that there are a number of shortfalls in crowdsourcing for crisis and emergency management. That being said, it can be argued that generally, crowdsourcing applications provide organisations with relevant and timely information and data to help and support people in need in times of crisis.

Word Count: 507 words 

References:

‘8.2 Crowdsourcing’ 2017, MDA20009 Digital Communities, WEEK 8: Crowdsourcing in times of crisis on Canvas, Swinburne Online, Teaching Period 3, viewed 14 January 2018, <https://swinburneonline.instructure.com/courses/77/pages/8-dot-2-crowdsourcing?module_item_id=6789>.

Brabham. C, D 2008, ‘Crowdsourcing as a Model for Problem Solving: An Introduction and Cases’, The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 75 – 90.

CCTVNews 2015, ‘Parisians launch hashtag’ #porteouverte, meaning “open door”, offering shelter to people after the #parisattacks’ [image], Scoopnest, viewed 9 January 2018, <https://www.scoopnest.com/user/cctvnews/665453402013442049-parisians-launch-hashtag-porteouverte-meaning-open-door-offering-shelter-to-people-after-the-parisattacks>.

Gao, H, Barbier, G & Goolsby, R 2011, ‘Harnessing the Crowdsourcing Power of Social Media for Disaster Relief’, IEEE Intelligent Systems, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 10 – 14.

Gleit, N, Zeng, S & Cottle, P 2014, ‘Introducing Safety Check’, Facebook newsroom, 15 October, viewed 14 January 2018, <https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/10/introducing-safety-check/>.

Hill, S 2014, ‘Crowdsourcing’ [image], 5 reasons crowdsourcing is ideal for usability testing, Crowdsourcedtesting.com, viewed 14 January 2018, <https://crowdsourcedtesting.com/resources/crowdsourcing-usability-testing/>.

Kille. W, L 2015, ‘How social media shaped our understanding of the Paris attacks’ [image], How social media shaped our understanding of the Paris attacks, The Conversation, viewed 14 January 2018, <https://theconversation.com/how-social-media-shaped-our-understanding-of-the-paris-attacks-50814>.

Luz, N, Silva, N & Novais, P 2014, ‘A survey of task-oriented crowdsourcing’, Artificial Intelligence Review, vol. 44 no. 2, pp. 1 – 27.

Strange, A 2015, ‘Facebook profile picture of French flag following the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks’ [image], Facebook lets you support Paris in your profile photo with one click, Mashable Australia, viewed 14 January 2018, <http://mashable.com/2015/11/14/facebook-paris-filter/#n5lDtEz298qQ>.

Tinker, L.T, Dumlao, M & McLaughlin, G 2009, ‘Effective Social Media Strategies During Times of Crisis: Learning from the CDC, HHS, FEMA, the American Red Cross and NPR in Crisis Management, The Strategist, Summer, pp. 25 – 39.  

Walter, L 2015, How social media shaped our understanding of the Paris attacks, The Conversation, 17 November, viewed 9 January 2018, <https://theconversation.com/how-social-media-shaped-our-understanding-of-the-paris-attacks-50814>.

Zhao, Z & Zhu, Q 2016, ‘Conceptualizing task affordance in online crowdsourcing context’ [image], Online Information Review, viewed 9 January 2018, p. 946.

Zhao, Z & Zhu, Q 2016, ‘Conceptualizing task affordance in online crowdsourcing context’, Online Information Review, vol. 40, no. 7, pp. 938 – 958.

Zuckerberg, M 2014, Today we announced the launch of Safety Check on Facebook, Facebook, viewed 14 January 2018, <https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10101699265809491>.

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

I remember Je Suis Charlie porte ouverte as i was just arriving in Paris at the time. There was a scary feeling in the streets but it was heartwarming to see people open up their homes. Through social media it can all happen quite quickly and we have had many examples here in Aus. with #illridewithyou following the Lindt siege in Sydney, and one example close to home following the bush fires in the blue mountains in October, a woman started a crowdsourcing campaign for girls who had their formals coming up but lost everything in the fire. Formal dresses of all sizes and styles were donated and it was such a fantastic community driven initiative. 

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

Communicating visually - selfies, snapchat and beauty standards.

Gone are the ‘one shot’ pictures of the film cameras. Today we over-snap and share our best landscape, our good angle, the right light, the cute filter. We live a lifestyle of visual abundance and photography is ubiquitous. We take 3 or 20 of every photo – just in case one is slightly better than the others… because choice is important, it might get you those extra likes on Instagram.

Source: Carma https://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/Selfie_240064

Smartphones with in-built cameras have revolutionised the way we chat, call and experience. Today, the photos we take of the memories we have created are uploaded online and shared in a way that highlights a much more public communication than what the mobile phone and the personal camera were traditionally for (Villi 2012).

Now, anytime a photo is posted to social media such as Reddit, Flikr, Facebook or Instagram, it can be tagged, localised and traced and adds to a collection of photos of the same genre, with the same person, in the same place etc. Tagging features bring about some issues regarding authorisation, privacy, image management and surveillance (Hand 2013) with access extending far wider than the, perhaps, intended audience. Technological features mean the content is accessible, visible and allow for visible publics to engage, redistribute, react and exchange (Ito 2008; Hand 2013). Snapchat, a photo sharing app, is a bit different to other forms of visual media and can be compared to ‘visual chitchat’ (Swinburne 2018). Rather than just sending a text message, you can send a photo or video, add text, bitmojis, emojis and it only lasts seconds before disappearing. It emphasises the transition of the self-portrait as a form of self-expression to presently as a form of communication (Spiegel 2014 in Herrman 2014).

The ‘Selfie’, the self-portrait taken in extending the arm, or if you are inclined, using the selfie stick that does all the work for you, has become a common behaviour. However, while it can be a great shot to get, combining it with social apps like Instagram or snapchat can be worrisome in excess. Studies have linked selfies to narcissism, with editing and using filters associated with inflating self-image and underlying insecurity (Gregoire 2015).

While Instagram allows users to edit photos and add filters, before posting, Snapchat was the first to use filters that shaped the face in selfie-mode and allow recording or photos using the filter. So, what is that doing to our self-image and insecurities? Filters include flower crowns, dog faces, face swap with others or simply a beautifying effect of smoothing skin, brightening eyes and sliming the facial features. It has received criticism for ‘whitewashing’ people of colour (Donato 2016) and portraying an unrealistic ideal of beauty. Both Instagram and Snapchat have been found to have detrimental effect on young people’s mental health, specifically inducing anxiety and even depression over self-image, and self-esteem (Wakeman 2018).

But not all who use Instagram and snapchat post their most flattering selfie. Some, like the wonderfully hilarious Michelle Liu, defy all unrealistic beauty standards and expectations associated with selfies by “chinning” and reminds us all to show all our chins, laugh at ourselves and that there is more than one way to get likes for a selfie.

Source: Michelle Liu Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chinventures/?hl=en

References

Donato, A 2016, ‘Snapchat Controversy Arises over ‘Whitewashing’ Beauty Filters’, Huffington Post, viewed 2 February, <http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/05/17/snapchat-whitewashing-controversy_n_10011062.html>

Gregoire, C 2015, ‘Study Links Selfies Narcissism and Psychopathy’, Huffington Post, Viewed 2 February  <http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/selfies-narcissism-psychopathy_n_6429358>

Hand, M 2013, Ubiquitous Photography, Oxford, Polity Press.

Speigel 2014, Herrman, J 2014, ‘Meet the Man Who Got Inside Snapchat’s Head’, Buzzfeed, viewed February 1 <https://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/meet-the-unlikely-academic-behind-snapchats-new-pitch?utm_term=.wePzXGgmXo#.knPav3zAve>

Wakeman, J 2018, ‘Your Favourite Selfie Filter could be contributing to a mental health crisis’, CNN, viewed 2 February, <https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/your-favorite-selfie-filter-could-be-contributing-mental-health-crisis-ncna837376>

Villi, M 2012, ‘Visual Chitchat: The use of camera phones in visual interpersonal communications’, Interactions: Studies in Communication and Culture, vol. 3, no.1, pp. 39-54.

[digitalcommunitiesblog-blog1]

Turning your smartphone into a walkie-talkie

Walkie-talkie app, Zello, is proving very useful when a hurricane arrives or in search and rescue situations. CNN's Richard Quest spoke with the company's CEO, Bill Moore.

Crowdsourcing a Crisis

The ubiquity of social media platforms has provided never before seen opportunities for people all over the globe to contribute immediate and relevant knowledge, especially in crisis situations. This is known as ‘crowdsourcing’.

First described by Jeff Howe in Wired magazine, crowdsourcing can be defined as a ‘method for recruiting and organising ad-hoc labour, using an open-call for participation’ (Schimak et al 2011). This method of generating up to date information has enormous potential in crisis management. Successful management of crowdsourcing ‘can result in nearly instantaneous situation awareness’ (Schimak et al 2011).

In the US there seems to be a lot of opportunities for crowd-sourcing - the recent shooting in Las Vegas unfolding in real time across social media, and Cyclone Harvey and Irma being prime examples from the last year. In Houston, a group of boatmen from Louisiana - the Cajun Navy - banded together, and with the help of an app called Zello (a walkie-talkie style cellphone app) along with Google Maps, set up their own search and rescue service (Flournoy 2017). The CEO of Zello (see video above) likened the app to a ‘crowdsourced 911 system’. Flood victims were asked to put their address into a centralised Google form which was then fed directly to rescuers in that area using Google maps to pinpoint their exact location. This app has been so successful that it’s been banned in several countries as it’s been an effective tool for organising protest activities (Flournoy 2017).

Image: Cajun Navy Rescue Operation, Texas, 2017. Source: <https://www.facebook.com/CajunNavy2016/photos/a.1184653214890259.1073741827.1184536864901894/1556260201062890/?type=3&theater>

One of the most popular crisis mapping tools internationally is Ushahidi (meaning ‘Witness’ in Kiswahili). Developed as ‘a way of reporting eye-witness accounts of violence’ during Kenya’s disputed elections in 2007 (Poblet and Casanovas 2012), Ushahidi is an interactive mapping platform. Users send text messages to Ushahidi volunteers who chart them onto Google Maps. A crowdsourced version of the app ‘Crowdmap’ was released in 2010, allowing people to ‘check-in’ their current location and add information pertaining to that location (Poblet and Casanovas 2012).

One site that has been actively using the Ushahidi platform since 2011 is ‘Syria Tracker’, which is a project of ‘Humanitarian Tracker’. Syria Tracker is a crisis mapping system that ‘uses crowdsourced text, photo and video reports and data mining techniques’ that form a live map of the conflict (Syria Tracker 2018).

The site provides:

A continually updated list of eye witness reports from within Syria, often accompanied by media links

Aggregate reports including analysis and visualisations of deaths and atrocities in Syria

A stream of content-filtered media from news, social media (Twitter and Facebook) and official sources

(Source: Syria Tracker 2018)

Reports filed in the first two weeks of 2018 alone include a story about a suspected government chlorine gas attack in Damascus, and a report on incidences of a cVDPV2 (vaccine-derived polio) outbreak in Syria.

Image: Reports filed on Syria Tracker Source: Syria Tracker 2018

Reports shown in the image above include everything from water tampering to revenge killings and are a sobering reminder of an as-yet-unresolved situation.

References

Flournoy, D 2017, The Power of Emergency Crowdsourcing: How Social Media Helped Rescuers During Harvey, Storyful, viewed 14 January 2018, <https://storyful.com/blog/2017/09/07/power-emergency-crowdsourcing-social-media-helped-rescuers-harvey/>.

Howe, J 2006, The Rise of Crowdsourcing, Wired, viewed 15 January 2018, <https://www.wired.com/2006/06/crowds/>.

Poblet, M & Casanovas, P 2012, Crowdsourced crisis mapping: how it works and why it matters, The Conversation, viewed 15 January 2018, <https://theconversation.com/crowdsourced-crisis-mapping-how-it-works-and-why-it-matters-7014>.

Schimak, G, Havlik, D & Pielorz, J 2011, Crowdsourcing in Crisis and Disaster Management – Challenges and Considerations, Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Vienna

Syria Tracker 2018, Humanitarian Tracker, Ushahidi, viewed 15 January 2018, <https://syriatracker.crowdmap.com/main>.

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

Another great example of Crowd Sourcing - 

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

Connectivity, crisis & crowdsourcing

In today’s society, there are so many distractions online and it can be very overwhelming navigating the internet and social media, however in times of crisis, it becomes evident that the keyboards can click in unison and scroll in formation to provide support services and quick aid. Through this global connectivity, disaster services and managements world-wide can utilise the internet and social media effectively to benefit from crowdsourcing (Riccardi 2016).

 Coined by Howe in Wired magazine, the term crowdsourcing refers to leveraging the skills of the networked public to perform tasks, mediated by internet connectivity (Howe 2006). It is widely used for example, by businesses who need specific skills (e.g. graphic design task) and can outsource work to professionals in that field for perhaps lower cost than hiring one themselves.

During natural disasters and other crises, social media becomes a platform of support, hope and aid. Digital volunteerism is at its best during times of struggle and stress and self-organised community response efforts are facilitated by hashtags, live maps and ‘check-ins’ (Starbird 2014).

The most notable crowdsourcing site, Ushahidi emerged in 2007 during the Kenyan Civil conflict and filters all incoming social media and web updates onto the same map, known as crowdmapping. Whether it be for organising political protests, signalling violent outbreaks and attacks, or requesting aid, Ushahidi allowed power to the public to report and act and has been revolutionary for social movements and technology (Ford 2012). Other examples of crisis maps include Google MyMaps, and OpenStreetMap (Starbird 2012) and one study found over 219 smartphone apps relevant to disaster response, terrorism, disaster planning and preparedness (Bachmann et al. 2015). With anyone able to contribute however, one major challenge to crowdsourcing during crises is the verification of information and many emergency responders are reluctant to use crisismapping in case of misinformation, which can be costly and time consuming (Ford 2012).

 There are numerous examples of utilising a crowdmapping or crowdsourcing application during trying times, e.g. Haiti earthquake, The QLD floods, London protests, the Boston Marathon Bombings, just to name a few. In my community, we were hit with horrible bush fires in 2013 and the whole area of the Blue Mountains rallied together to provide support. The Rural Fire Service social media provided crowdmapping data for locations of fires and evacuation routes and #NSWFires #nswbushfires and #redoctober were used for fire updates and donations to the Salvations Army in Springwood for all essentials for families who’d lost their homes. This was the first time I realised how powerful Facebook, Twitter and other social media communication could be in my community during crises. It also revealed how targeted filtering of Facebook showing me the information relevant to my location was so useful in this time, while previously has frustrated me that my Facebook feed is tailored.

 However, sometimes it all starts with an individual. Just recently, the impending Day Zero in South Africa, where Cape Town will run out of water by April, has seen a social media campaign starting on WhatsApp become a national phenomenon. A woman feeding her child realised the water shortage would impact mothers needing to feed their babies formula and sent out a simple message to 300 people she knew in East London, which yielded an incredible response and spread rapidly to other parts of South Africa. Donations flooded in and businesses provided courier services, and schools were used as drop off points. What started as a message for mothers, turned into support for the whole city with over 50,000 five litre bottles donated with more coming from abroad as well (Mezzofiore 2018).

Have you been part of a crowdsourcing effort during a crisis?

References

Bachmann, D, Jamison, N, Martin, A, Delgado J & Kman, E 2015, ‘Emergency Prepardness and Disaster Response: There’s an App for That’, Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, vol. 30, no.5, pp. 486-490.

Ford, H 2012, ‘Crowd Wisdom’, Digital Frontiers, http://journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1177/0306422012465800, vol 41, no. 4, pp. 33-39

Howe, J 2006, ‘The Rise of Crowdsourcing’. Wired. Issue 14.06 Available at: http://www. wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds.html

Mezzofiore, G 2018, ‘Social Media Steps in to ease Cape Town water Crisis’, CNN,  viewed February 2 <https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/30/africa/cape-town-water-campaign-intl/index.html>

Riccardi, M 2016, ‘The Power of Crowdsourcing Disaster Response Operations’, International journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, vol 20, no.1, 123-128.

Starbird, K 2014 ‘Crowds, Crisis and Convergence: Crowdsourcing in the context of disasters’ in Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2013 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, pp. 11-16

[furtherleft-blog]

Cloudy with a chance of #BlackLivesMatter

The introduction of social media has been a significant enabler for individuals to participate in protest and activism online.

Social media, unlike traditional forms such as screen and print media, affords a voice and an audience to the everyday citizen. For the online individual, social media is an easily accessible, inexpensive and powerful tool for challenging the norms of mainstream and popular culture (Lievrouw 2011, p. 2).

A key benefit of social media is the way in which it bridges geographical and cultural borders. In the online space geography is no longer a barrier, with people able to connect with one another from anywhere in the world providing they have an internet connection (Newsmaker Group n.d).

Source: Facebook 2018

This new level of connection has unlocked countless possibilities for using social media platforms for protest and activism, including a heightened awareness of the disasters, injustices and corruption taking place throughout the world. Online individuals have found the confidence through social media to speak out against these events, participating in and forming online movements to share information with others, resist authority, and question dominant and long held views.

In 2013 the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement was born, following the shooting death of black teen Treyvon Martin in Florida. The movement, using the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media, grew rapidly following the 2014 deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York City (Bonilla & Rose 2015). In the years since, powered by social media, the focus of the BLM movement has expanded from police to violence to situating itself as “an ideological and political intervention” (Bonilla & Rose 2015) striving to end the racial vilification of blacks worldwide.

Source: Klein 2013

There has been significant criticism of what has come to be known as ‘clicktivism’, amidst claims that much of online activism is merely a passive awareness rather than an active, online movement. For some, digital modes of activism represent “fleeting moments of awareness, quickly replaced by the customary innocuousness of social media pleasantries” (Bonilla & Rose 2015).

Opponents to this viewpoint believe that clicktivism, while present, can and does lead to passive, online individuals transforming themselves into active, real world activists. 25-year-old student Johnetta Elzie believes her role as a protester today has occurred as a direct result of her awareness of #BlackLivesMatter.  “We saw it with Trayvon Martin. We saw it with Jordan Davis – but I always felt away from everything. Then I saw Brown’s body laying out there, and I said, ‘Damn, they did it again!’ But now that it happened in my home, I’m not just going to tweet about it from the comfort of my bed. So I went down there. You could still see the bloodstains deeply and darkly in the streets after they moved his body.”

Source: Libertarian Republic 2015

Reference List:

Bonilla, Y & Rose, J 2015, ‘#Ferguson: Digital protest, hashtag ethnography, and the racial politics of social media in the United States’, American Ethnologist, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 4-17.

Hsieh, S & Rakia, R 2014, ‘After #Ferguson’, The Nation, 27 October, viewed 2 January 2018, <www.thenation.com/article/after-ferguson/>.

Facebook 2018, ‘Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life’ [image], Create and account, Facebook, viewed 2 January 2018, <www.facebook.com>.

Klein, A 2013, ‘Grassroots group actually front for shady figures’ [image], Trayvon Martin Protest Leaders Revealed, WND, viewed 2 January 2018, <http://www.wnd.com/2013/07/trayvon-martin-protest-leaders-revealed>/.

Libertarian Republic 2015, ‘Clinton Shouted Down By Black Lives Matter Protesters’ [image], Clinton Shouted Down By Black Lives Matter Protesters, Libertarian Republic, viewed 2 January 2018, <https://thelibertarianrepublic.com/clinton-shouted-down-by-black-lives-matter-protesters/>.

Lievrouw, L 2011, Alternative & Activist New Media, Polity, Cambridge, U.K, P. 2.

Newsmaker Group n.d, Social media has no geographical barriers, Newsmaker Group, viewed 2 January 2018, <www.newsmakergroup.com/social-media-has-no-geographical-barriers/>.

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

Clicktivism makes people feel like they contribute, yet not get their hands dirty. 

How many of us have come across a petition and thought - here’s my good deed, yes I will sign this. Tick that box, move on. Yet we never really bother to follow up to see what comes of it, unless maybe it is something that is truly close to our hearts. I believe clicktivism can be passive and lazy. But I also can appreciate the power of social media to create and help change. It’s a bit of a snowball effect. 

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

When did we get so lazy? 

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

This is my jam

Culture Jamming 

 Some days, during my commute to work, I have tunnel vision and I look only where I am heading, headphones in, immune to any visual grab from advertisers. Other days I take in the sights around, the busy city buzz, the graffiti tags spoiling the architecture and natural spaces I pass. As I wait for the bus there are ads for the latest TV show. As I get on the train I look out and see a billboard for McDonald’s promoting summer fun. I realise I barely flinch, if anything maybe I roll my eyes, or I remain unaffected. In contrast, seeing a beautiful graffiti art mural makes me stop, stare and appreciate. Tongue-in-cheek graffiti is even more appealing to see, and ads on billboards that really make you stop and think - the culture jamming type. What is it you say? Culture jamming is something that has really caught my eye and captured my interest.

Traditional culture jamming is a form of public activism that attempts to disrupt and expose the mainstream cultural institutions and the stronghold of mass media advertising, often utilising political satire, thought provoking art, or other guerrilla communication tactics to stimulate reactions, and social change (Dery 2010).

There have been a number of notable groups involved in culture jamming including most famously Adbusters, Guerilla Girls ,The Yes Men ,Brandalism, and Billboard Liberation Front  among many other groups and individuals who strive to alter, intercept and adapt messages to create noise and encourage interpretations and reactions that counter those of the original source (Lilleker 2013).

Since the 80s, when the term was first coined, there have been many techniques used for culture jamming messages (Delaure & Fink 2017). These include modifying billboards or posters (billboard banditry), subverting, hijacking logos (detournement), media hoaxing, flashmobs and other performance arts demonstrations, as well as simple graffiti (Dery, 2010; Harold 2004; Lilleker 2013).

Mixing politics, advertising, consumerism, with creativity and satire makes it an exciting form of activism and art. These are a few images that I enjoyed.

Detournement

Billboard hacking

Political graffiti mural during the London Olympics

Culture digi-jamming 

The aforementioned culture jamming techniques are all effective in stimulating visual experiences in the real world and are still relevant despite the fast-paced transition to the online world as these can be shared through mobile phones and social media.

With the constant improvements and developments in technology and the growing online livelihood, modern consumption is much more centred online and it makes me ponder where culture jamming is heading.

With more ads curated to user’s online experiences, it is difficult for culture jammers to transform and hack advertisements for others due to the personal and private nature of online activity (Madrigal 2012). It will be interesting to see the shift of culture jamming online. Already this is evident through Facebook videos and memes, but with advertisements it is more complicated. Madrigal (2012) suggests that perhaps the online culture jamming shift may come from ‘click’ ads.

Advertisers are paid per click, so ignoring ads and remaining passive costs the advertisers nothing and is actually more effective. As Hartley (2002) explains, culture jammers “refuse to be passive recipients of corporate-produced culture”, therefore targeting the click-ads should be to disrupt this corporate power. Madrigal foresees this by over-clicking per se, not only charging companies excessively, but if the collective action is large enough, it would also confound and clutter the data collected with this “statistical noisemaking” resembling culture jamming protest (Madrigal 2012).

Culture jamming will always be relevant, however it’s methods and techniques may evolve with our culture and technology. Where do you see it heading?

References

‘Coca Cola Love Profit’ [image], The Atlantic, viewed 18 January <https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/the-new-culture-jamming-how-activists-will-respond-to-online-advertising/257176/>

DeLaure, M &  Fink, M 2017, Culture Jamming: Activism and the Art of Cultural Resistance, New York University Press, New York.

Dery, M 2010, ‘Culture Jamming Hacking, slashing and sniping in the Empire of Signs’viewed 19 December 2018, http://markdery.com/?page_id=154.

Hartley, J 2002, Communication, Cultural and Media Studies: The Key Concepts. New York: Routledge.

Harold, C 2004 ‘Pranking Rhetoric: ‘Culture Jamming’ as Media Activism.’ Critical Studies in Media Communication, 2004, 21(3), 189–211.


Lilleker, D.G 2013, ‘Empowering Citizens? Political communication, co-production and the harnessed crowd’ in Scullion, R, Gerodimos, R, Jackson, D &  Lilleker, D (eds). The Media, Political Participation and Empowerment. London: Routledge, pp. 23-28.

Madrigal, A 2012 , ‘The New Culture Jamming: How Activists will Respond to Online Advertising’, The Atlantic, viewed 18 January 2018<https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/the-new-culture-jamming-how-activists-will-respond-to-online-advertising/257176/>

‘McDonald’s Fat Logo Detournement’ [image], Just Something, viewed 20 January 2018,http://justsomething.co/8-clever-fast-food-logos-redesigned-with-a-fat-look/

 ‘Paris Climate Bilboard Brandalism’ [image], City Lab, viewed 20 January <https://www.citylab.com/design/2015/11/cop21-paris-climate-billboard-artist-volkswagen-brandalism/417897/>

 ‘Tongue in Cheek Olympics’ [image], Guest of a Guest, viewed 22 January <http://guestofaguest.com/london/olympics/tongue-in-cheek-olympics-the-funniest-unauthorized-olympic-signs>

[amandafelb09-blog]

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

I'm Truly Sorry (Short Bullying Movie)

All credits go to the 'Mormon Channel'. I thought the message of this was great and wanted to change it up a little. I do not take credit for the video I sim...

From @insanjuniperowetrust

[digitalcommunitiesblog-blog1]

Don’t feed the trolls

Image: Artur Debat, Getty Images

Being a fairly private person and not one to give away too much online, I can’t say that I’ve ever been trolled. The closest has been a few commenters on Instagram pointing out that my picture was stupid and theirs was way better. At first my curiosity got the better of me and I clicked over to see. Of course, their pictures, if they had any, looked like they’d been taken by a visually impaired terrier who accidentally stepped on an iPhone. The intent, I discovered, was not to engage in constructive photographic critique, but to annoy, frustrate and provoke a reaction.

An extensive recent study by Cornell University found that there are two main triggers that motivate individuals to troll: ‘the individual’s mood, and the surrounding context of a discussion’ (Cheng et al 2017) - meaning, if one person leaves a trolling comment, others will follow.

An informative video further discussing the psychology of trolls can be seen here:

Video source: YouTube / SciShow (2016)

Of course not all negative commenters or ‘angry posters’ are trolls. Many are just ordinary people expressing an opinion. As writer Tim Dowling describes:

(Dowling 2012)

A troll’s intent, by comparison, is to ‘deliberately provoke others online, typically through inflammatory, offensive or provocative comments’ (Walters 2015). In fact, ‘trolls may not believe a word of what they write’ (Walters 2015), their only intent is to ‘derail rational discourse through mindless abuse, needling, hectoring or even threats of violence’ (Dowling 2012).

The truth is, anywhere there’s a comments section, on any website, trolls can be found. The next question is, what can you do about it?

Walters (2015) has a list of suggestions.

Listen and correct mistakes

Ignore them

Respond with facts

Diffuse the situation with humour

Block or ban, when appropriate, or

Come up with your own response.

In regard to the final suggestion, Walters uses the example of Susan Carland who is an Australian Muslim academic and the target of a large amount of trolling. Carland decided to turn the negative energy into something positive.

Another well-known personality who dealt with social media conflict creatively is American comedian Sarah Silverman. With her high-profile career and 12.4 million followers on Twitter, Silverman is an easy target.

In late December 2017, a twitter user named Jeremy left an offensive one-word tweet on a reply she had made to someone else. Rather than deleting or ignoring, Silverman took the time to click on his name and get an insight into his life. She explains that she did this because:

“…I saw it and clicked on u and saw you were just trying to get kicked off Twitter. I saw the rage and pain. And looked at your avatar and just… saw so much in you. In your eyes I guess. Dunno”

She discovered that Jeremy was battling a lot of physical and emotional problems and ‘replied with a series of sympathetic and compassionate tweets’ (Klein 2018). She also ‘rallied her Twitter followers to help the man get medical assistance for his hurt back’. This was successful, as was Jeremy’s ‘GoFundMe’ campaign to help with medical bills. Here’s a partial thread of the conversation:

This story illustrates the finding from the Cornell study mentioned above - most trolls are not psychopaths, but ordinary people in some kind of pain, trying to make themselves feel better by getting a reaction from a stranger. Learning how to deal with them thoughtfully and responsibly, while not feeding them, will help us to ensure that our digital communities are enriching and supportive places to be.

References

Cheng, J et al 2017, Anyone Can Become a Troll: Causes of Trolling Behaviour in Online Discussions, Cornell University Library, viewed 9 January 2018, <https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.01119v1>.

Dowling, T 2012, Dealing with trolls: a guide, The Guardian, viewed 9 January 2018, <https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jun/12/how-to-deal-with-trolls>.

Klein, A 2018, A sexist troll attacked Sarah Silverman. She responded by helping him with his problems, Washington Post, viewed 9 January 2018, <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2018/01/08/a-man-trolled-sarah-silverman-on-twitter-she-ended-up-helping-him-with-his-medical-problems/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_sarah-silverman-2pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.60369fa3c490>.

Walters, K 2015, How to deal with trolls on social media, Hootsuite, viewed 9 January 2018, <https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-deal-with-trolls-on-social-media/>.

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

Great post !! Loved reading about this.. especially after having my own experience with a troll on twitter - only a very mild case of about 15 tweets from an absolute nobody with 0 followers following 8 people... obviously an account created just to troll. As with real world bullies we are told to ignore... I think using humour is beneficial too. And many celebrities that I have noticed who have been trolled often ‘public shame’ the tweets too which can create a sort of fan vs troll war online. it’s amazing how “keyboard warriors” can be so set on insulting, and affecting people - especially celebrities. I read an article stating that Men are more likely be trolls and narcissism is directly linked with antisocial tendencies that result in their social media habits centering around hurting, provoking and bring others down (Hosie 2017).

 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/men-online-trolls-narcissism-twitter-women-more-likely-bully-a7947841.html

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

Public shaming - the funny.

On a lighter note... 

Here are some dogs being publicly shamed. 

If you want more dog shaming - https://barkpost.com/dog-shaming-awards-2014/

Public shaming has widely been used by dissatisfied and frustrated customers of companies who don’t seem to take notice of their complaints…. Until they’re viral. Customers can now take to Facebook or twitter to publicly rant, shame, humour the companies they are unable to get in touch with. For example, this woman who made a hilarious public complaint on Facebook to Telstra that got over 4500 comments and 1500 shares. An excerpt below (Mcphee, 2017).

Have you publicly shamed a company?  

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

Kids & adults - no one is safe from social media conflict

Cyberbullying

While bullying was once reserved to the playground, it is now an issue that comes home in the school backpack. Mean, vengeful, cruel acts – whether emotional, or physical, can be considered bullying if they are aggressive, repetitive and highlight imbalance of power (Boyd 2014).

With access to networked devices, cyberbullying becomes a major concern for children and the effects can be devastating, resulting in mental health issues e.g. anxiety and depression, and in severe cases, suicide. Youth suicide rates have doubled over the past ten years, with statistics showing that students who are bullied are nine times more likely to attempt or contemplate suicide (No Bullying 2017).

Teenagers dub it ‘drama’ which Boyd and colleagues describe as ‘performative, interpersonal conflict that takes place in front of an active engaged audience, often on social media’ (Boyd 2014, pp. 138). As identity and social circles are forming, status and popularity become key elements to the social self in the school environment, and it is not surprising that nastiness and bullying arise to upset power balance (Boyd 2014).

Unfortunately, it seems it takes another tragedy before cyberbullying comes to the fore again and campaigns are activated. #DoItForDolly, a campaign encouraging people to ‘speak out, even if your voice shakes’ and seek help to stop cyberbullying, was created after the terribly sad passing of 14 year-old Amy Everett who took her own life after months of cyberbullying (O’Brien 2018). Social media devices accentuate the reach and also immortalise the harmful content, yet because the wounds aren’t physical, silent suffering can be more dangerous. Raising awareness is important, but understanding motives and behaviours behind it more so.

Public Shaming – “think before you tweet”

Children are not the only ones affected by social media conflict. Public shaming is one such example that can parallel the ‘drama’ behaviours of teens.

As a millennial growing up in a digital world, “Think before you tweet”, & “don’t post something you wouldn’t want your grandma to see” became engrained in my internet habits, as a reminder to be cautious when posting online. There are countless stories of quick fingers posting too quickly and the repercussions, although partly brought on by themselves, can be excessive and harmful. Famous Australian swimmer, Stephanie Rice, lost many sponsors and credibility over a homophobic Rugby tweet to her thousands of followers, damaging her reputation, tarnishing her image, not to mention earning her haters and trolls (AAP 2010). On a much wider scale and for a lesser-known person, the case of Lindsey Stone, exemplifies the harm and uncontrollable spread that one ‘stupid photo’ of her joking around in front of a war memorial can do. Lindsey’s friend posted a photo on Facebook and tagged her. Within hours it had been commented on, shared and gone viral in a series of angry posts that even lead to a Facebook page being created to get her fired from her job. Within a day, Lindsey had lost the respect of her family, friends, colleagues and lost her job, which resulted in a year-long bout of depression she is still recovering from (Ronson 2015).

It was disrespectful and silly to post it online, but should she have received this treatment that lead to her depression? Public shaming in this context is anger-driven, but there are many instances where it is much more light-hearted and people are turned into laughing stock and memes without us realising the harm it may causing them. Think before your tweet, but maybe think before you share too…

References

AAP 2010, ‘Stephanie Rice in trouble over homophobic tweet’, Sydney Morning Herald, viewed 19 January <http://www.smh.com.au/sport/swimming/stephanie-rice-in-trouble-over-homophobic-tweet-20100905-14wb9.html>

Boyd, D, 2014, ‘Bullying: Is social media amplifying meanness and cruelty’ in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University Press pp. 130-152

No Bullying 2017, ‘Bullying and Suicide statistics US, Australia and New Zealand’, No Bullying, viewed 12 January 2018 < https://nobullying.com/suicide-statistics/>

O’Brien, K, 2018, ‘Dolly Everett: Mourners gather to remember girl following suiced over alleged bullying’, ABC, viewed 18 January <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-12/dolly-everett-memorial-in-katherine/9323118>

Ronson, J, 2015, ‘Overnight, everything I loved was gone’: the internet shaming of Lindsey Stone’, The Guardian, viewed January 12 <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/21/internet-shaming-lindsey-stone-jon-ronson>

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

'Mummy bloggers’

In this blog post, I am blogging about blogging.

Blogging has been around since the 90’s and shows no symptoms of extinction, just evolution(Chandler & Munday 2016).

Blogging is a form of social media that is accessible, free, and appeals to people of all walks of life – all you need is a keyboard, internet connection and something to say – and we all have something to say, whether that is blogging about the social digital world, reviewing fishing rods, arts and crafts, chick flick movie reviews –whatever! The topics are limitless.

Blogging is a form of “citizen journalism” an open platform of amateur journalists to share their perspective without the restrictions of traditional print media outlets (Goode, 2009). It is not only a means of voicing opinions, helping others, or just unloading your thoughts in an online diary. Blogging has the potential to be a money-making machine with many blogs selling merchandise, other products they review, affiliate programs, providing services,  earning through ads and commission from other businesses, offering premium content through paid memberships and many other ways (Andrews, 2017).  Today, blogs are not restricted to a blogspot.com or wordpress site. Long posts on Facebook and Instagram could be considered blog posts themselves, although many bloggers use social media to leverage their blogging sites.

One popular (yet stigmatised) category of bloggers is the “mummy bloggers”. Writers who blog about their experiences in parenting, family life, work/life balance, and reviewing products and issues for all things kids. These bloggers become publics figures and influencers, with many businesses recognizing the potential and impact bloggers and social media influencers have. Today’s modern generation spends much more time online and are no longer prone to the intended effects of traditional digital advertising, utilising ad blockers and recognising the staged and scripted social media promotions (Patel 2017). A mummy blogger providing an organic, authentic story about her daily struggles with her child and revelling at a toy, technique, food, product that has improved her situation is more likely to appeal to another mother in a similar situation, establish trust and empathy and create a strong community.  

Constance Hall, for example, is one of the most popular “mummy bloggers” with over one million followers on her Facebook. Starting out posting and writing about motherhood in an honest, blunt and controversial way has seen her become a celebrity in the online world earning her many fans… but also a few haters. Constance has grown her followers whom she calls her “Queens” where women are encouraged to be real and raw.

The mummy bloggers are a rather new job field, and while a mother is forever a mother, these blogs are generally centred around babies and kids topics… so what happens when the kids grow up? Either way, blog topics are limitless and as long as you have something to say, or nothing to say – a blog is a blog but remaining relevant is crucial in this fast-paced digital world.

References

Andrews, A.L., 2017, ‘How to make money blogging’, Amy Lynn Andrews, viewed 20th December< https://amylynnandrews.com/how-to-make-money-blogging/> 

‘Blogging Joke’[image], Shivani Goyal, viewed 11 January <https://shivanigoyal3691.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/top-10-blogging-jokes.html>

‘Constance Hall’[image], Facebook Constance Hall, viewed 12 January

<https://www.facebook.com/mrsconstancehall/photos/a.1019725431405615.1073741827.1019711431407015/1747523365292481/?type=1&theater>

Goode, L, 2009, Social News, citizen Journalism and Democracy,

New Media and Society, vol. 11, no. 8.  

 ‘Mean Girls The Limit Does Not Exist’[image], 2017 Giphy, viewed 12 January,<https://giphy.com/explore/the-limit-does-not-exist>

 ‘Mummy Bloggers’ [image], Greenhouse PR, viewed 18 January

<https://greenhousepr.co.uk/working-with-mummy-bloggers-food-bloggers-online-campaigns/>

Patel, D, 2017, ‘Influencer Marketing Is Evolving (and this Influencer House is a prime example)’, Forbes, viewed 12 January https://www.forbes.com/sites/deeppatel/2017/06/12/influencer-marketing-is-evolving-and-this-influencer-house-is-a-prime-example/#10d459ca2e09

[laubao]

mood

[alookintodigicom-blog]

How much is too much?

About a week ago, a friend of mine mentioned that one of her work colleagues was spending just under 2 hours of her week scrolling through her Instagram feed. Surprised and quite perplexed, she explained how she couldn’t understand how someone could spend so much time on social media over a week. “But how did she get that final number?” I thought. Oblivious and obviously not overly tech-savvy, my friend began to explain to me that in the iPhone settings, you can see which Apps your battery is using the most in the last 24 hours and also over the past 7 days. After saying our good-byes I couldn’t help but wonder and question how many hours out of my week was being taken up by mindlessly double-tapping, liking and tagging my friends in funny memes. I jumped on straight away, and I’m glad I didn’t in front of my judgemental friend. 2.9 hours! How could this be? Sure a scroll here and there, a scroll before I hit the pillow, another scroll sitting on the tram passing time. I started to question whether or not this in fact was too much time and if I was starting to have an unhealthy addiction.

Boyd (2012) outlines that to an outsider, wanting to be ‘always-on’ is all too often labelled as an addiction and may seem even pathological. It is assumed, that it is the technology we are addicted to, but on the contrary humans want to interact, connect with others, and are always curious. They take advantage of the affordances that these social media platforms (such as Instagram) provide to their sense of being part of a community, belonging and feeling connected (Boyd 2102).

An Australian documentary by Eva Orner called “It’s people like us” was released in September this year, to expose the dependence Australians have on smartphones and questions how they have developed into an extension of ourselves. The documentary follows five young Australians who agree to be filmed over a week period whilst driving, and the results are more than alarming. Each participant is filmed being drawn to their screens, staring down at their phones with several near-misses caught on tape. Taking selfies, sending snapchats, checking Facebook are all activities these participants were guilty of whilst driving. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnJqHhkvtNs Orner (2017) explains that the film aims to start a community conversation about using mobile phones at inappropriate times, and argues that it is people like us who are doing it, and people like us who can also decide that it’s not okay. Although the concept of being ‘always on’ has many benefits such as connectedness and a sense of belonging, it is key to find a balance between when and how we should use social media and how it is going to affect others. References: Boyd, D 2012, ‘Participating in the always-on lifestyle’, in M Mandiberg (ed) The Social Media Reader, NYU Press, pp. 71-76 Kuss, D 2017 ‘Social Networking Sites and Addiction: Ten Lessons Learned’, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 14, no.3, pp.311  Omer, E 2017, It’s People Like Us Documentary, Positive Ape, viewed 1 December 2017, < http://www.itspeoplelikeus.com.au>.

[thefoxfiles-blog1]

Time for a social media detox?