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Global case: China

This blog is used strictly for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

In terms of scale, China is now the world’s largest economy (Worstall, 2014). According to Worldometers' latest UN data, as of Sunday, November 24, 2019, China's current population is 1,435,995,463. China's population accounts for 18.59% of the world's total population. China ranks first among countries and affiliated countries by population.In 2019, the sex ratio in China was 51.29% for men and 48.71% for women (Worldometers.info, 2019).

According to the China Labor Force Participation Data provided by the World Bank, China accounted for 68.72% of the labor force in 2018. Among these labor force participation rates, male employees accounted for 75.81% and female employees accounted for 61.26%. In 1990, China had 73.2% of female employees, but fell to 61.26% in 2018 (TheGlobalEconomy.com, n.d.).China’s economic reforms have caused women to suffer various setbacks. This is because Chinese people have gender stereotypes and discriminatory language is widely used in job advertisements. In the 2018 civil service position, 19% of the positions listed the requirements or preferences for male candidates and led to a decrease in women's employment opportunities. In job advertisements for women, many positions include requirements for women with children and specific physical characteristics such as height, weight, and aesthetics. In addition, the widening of the gender wage gap and the rise of traditional stereotypes about women’s work have also led to a decline in women’s employment in China. The early retirement age of Chinese women limits their career development opportunities, and promotion reduces their pensions and reduces their social security benefits (Catalyst, 2019).

In 2019, there are 708.4 million of population in China are using social media.  Due to the “umbrella movement” in the 2014 Hong Kong protests, China has banned the use of social networking services such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and other foreign websites.In order to calm down Chinese citizens who are tied to social media platforms from other countries, China has created its own social media platforms, such as Sina Weibo, WeChat, Toudou Youku, TikTok, Tencent QQ, Baidu Tieba, etc. Due to employment barriers, many younger generations, especially women, are more likely to become online bloggers. Because of this, companies in China found a new way to promote their products and services. 

In China, there are some female blogger are having contract with some companies which allow female bloggers to promote their platforms. However, female bloggers can get less benefit because the viewer's money, car or gift, female bloggers can only get 20% of the proceeds. In some cases, female bloggers with contracts need to be sexy which asked by the companies to attract more viewers, especially male viewers. Or, they are forced to make new and interesting content, or content that the viewer asks without the will of the female blogger.

I believe that although China is a fast-growing economic power, there are serious problems in women's gender discrimination and gender inequality. Women in China are not treated equally in workplaces and salaries payment. In social media, current blog law in China will mainly bring advantage to male bloggers, but female bloggers do not have much revenue (Chinahearsay.com, 2012).

References

Worstall, T. (2014). China's Now The World Number One Economy And It Doesn't Matter A Darn. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2014/12/07/chinas-now-the-world-number-one-economy-and-it-doesnt-matter-a-darn/#569ab5ff39fc [Accessed 25 Nov. 2019].

Worldometers.info. (2019). China Population (2019) - Worldometers. [online] Available at: https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/china-population/ [Accessed 25 Nov. 2019].

TheGlobalEconomy.com. (n.d.). China Female labor force participation - data, chart | TheGlobalEconomy.com. [online] Available at: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/China/Female_labor_force_participation/ [Accessed 25 Nov. 2019]. 

Catalyst. (2019). Women in the Workforce - China: Quick Take - Catalyst. [online] Available at: https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-the-workforce-china/ [Accessed 25 Nov. 2019].

Chinahearsay.com. (2012). Study: China’s Female Bloggers Write About Useless Fluff | China Hearsay. [online] Available at: http://www.chinahearsay.com/study-chinas-female-bloggers-write-about-useless-fluff/ [Accessed 25 Nov. 2019].

[thochiayie]

Social Gaming and its effect

This blog is used strictly for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

The game is one of the most interesting and fun ways to entertain on Earth. Although it is very exciting to play alone, it is even better to play with other people. This has made online social games popular, and more and more people are spending time and money on playing games with friends, family and other gamers in the online world (Fried, 2019).

In the past few years, the game industry has undoubtedly moved toward social games such as Fortnite, Call of Duty: Blackout and PUBG come to the fore. While some people may not immediately consider these games to be social types, they all offer players the opportunity to work with others to win. Fortnite has quickly become one of the greatest games of all time, and to a certain extent it brings people back to the game and reunites with friends to enjoy the royal action in battle.

Minecraft and Roblox are also considered by many to be great social games, and the two games have proven to be very popular on a variety of devices. "My World" swept the world when it was first released, especially because the game has no rules or goals. Players are free to play their own games as they wish, and can play with other people in a multi-person server, which brings the popularity of the game to a whole new level. Roblox is committed to creativity and imagination, and is able to share with others, making it a social game that people of all ages will love (Fried, 2019).

Playing social games is good or bad?

Playing games indeed will bring positive effects, but it also come along with negative effects. The main benefits of playing social games include enhancing mental skills, including problem solving and logic, hand-eye coordination, fine motor and spatial skills, planning, resource management and logistics, quick thinking, making fast analysis and decisions, and etc. Most of the bad effects of the game are blamed on the violence involved in the game. Parents may think that the more violent a child playing video games, the more likely their aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors will increase, while the help of prosocial society will decrease. In addition, they believe that children's long-term exposure to violent video games is not only related to lower empathy, but also to emotional indifference (Raise Smart Kid, n.d.).

From my point of view, playing social games both brings us benefits and disadvantages. It depends on the way we play games and the types of games we play. We should not think that this is harmful to our lives. We can observe life, but we should try to promote games that are more meaningful and educational, making our lives happier and better.

Reference Lists

Fried, N. (2019). The Most Popular Online Social Games. [online] Fupping. Available at: https://fupping.com/natty/2019/05/07/the-most-popular-online-social-games/ [Accessed 17 Nov. 2019].

Raise Smart Kid. (n.d.). 25+ Positive and Negative Effects of Video Games - Raise Smart Kid. [online] Available at: https://www.raisesmartkid.com/3-to-6-years-old/4-articles/34-the-good-and-bad-effects-of-video-games [Accessed 17 Nov. 2019].

[thochiayie]

Fan Communities & Activism

This blog is used strictly for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

What is fan?

A person who likes, is interested, and has some or many knowledge of others, especially celebrities, is called a fan.

What is fan community?

Fan community is also known as fan club. Fan club is a community which is a group of organized people who appreciate the same person or thing, such as pop singers or pop bands. Members of the Fan Club receive information and can participate in activities such as concerts (Collinsdictionary.com, n.d.).

As technology evolves, business and technical staff are creating more and more new social media platforms. Facebook, Tumblr, twitter, Instagram is a well-known social media platform used by celebrities or famous person, the same as today's younger generation, some of which may have different accounts. Because celebrities or famous person use social media platforms to interact, attract and publish work or daily life information, it has a huge impact on the younger generation. These effects can lead to good and bad results.

For example, a well-known female celebrity is posting a blog or picture about her slim figure. Female celebrity behavior will lead to two outcomes. First of all, fans are envious of them and try to make slim bodies or erect bodies, faces and hair (PS: for me that is more like a clone) like female celebrities without proper healthy diets. They may also start to discriminate against fat fans and start to tease them. on the other hand, some of the fans also will admire her slim body shape but the fans are acting positively and no discrimination happen. 

What is fan activism?

Fan activism can be defined as a form of civic engagement and political participation that is generated by the passion of fan groups and fan culture. Fan sports can be fan-driven efforts to engage and resolve civil, social and political issues (A Fan's guide to fan activism, n.d.).

Fan activism occurs on the Internet, and many people usually think that this is a matter of course, which has led to controversy and speculation, and later turned into a dispute. In a sense, it has been forced to persecute by differences, because people with different opinions will argue and later evolve into an online war. However, most of these fans or companions come together and form their keen position, so unless people start to abuse the power of social media identity to persecute the difference, fan activism is still acceptable.

References lists

Collinsdictionary.com. (n.d.). Fan club definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary. [online] Available at: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/fan-club [Accessed 17 Nov. 2019].

A Fan's guide to fan activism. (n.d.). Fan Activism. [online] Available at: https://fanactivism.weebly.com/fan-activism.html [Accessed 17 Nov. 2019].

[thochiayie]

Crowdsourcing & Crowdfunding

This blog is used strictly for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

Crowdsourcing is a term used to describe the process of getting work or money from a large group of people in an online environment. The basic concept of the term is to use a large group of people's skills, ideas and participation to generate content or to help promote the creation of content or products. Crowdsourcing can occur at many different levels and in various industries. Thanks to our ever-increasing connectivity, individuals are now more than ever able to make a collective contribution to a project or career, whether by ideas, time, expertise or funding. This collective mobilization is (Goodrich, 2013). 

For example, LEGO, the famous toy company around the world is probably one of the best crowdsourcing cases we have seen. The company allows users to design new products while testing requirements. Any user can submit a design that other users can vote on. The idea of getting the most votes was put into production, and the creator received a 1% royalty of net income. LEGO has successfully increased the number of product ideas and increased customer engagement. This particular form of participation can produce a certain snoring, and any other way is difficult to reproduce. Like McDonald's, creators are also working hard to promote their ideas and promote the development of LEGO (KEARNS, 2018).

Crowdfunding is a way to raise money through the joint efforts of friends, family, clients and individual investors. This approach takes advantage of the collective efforts of a large number of people, primarily through social media and crowdfunding platforms, and uses their networks to expand reach and exposure.

Crowdfunding is essentially the opposite of mainstream corporate financing. Traditionally, if someone wants to raise money to start a business or launch a new product, they need to package business plans, market research and prototypes, and then sell their ideas to a limited group of people or rich people or institutions. These sources of funding include banks, angel investors and venture capital firms, which effectively limit their options to several major players. This kind of fundraising method can be seen as a funnel, they and their investment are wide-ranging, and their investor group is closed. It is impossible to point the funnel at the right time to the right investor or company, which is the loss of time and money.

On the other hand, the crowdfunding platform has turned this channel into an end. Building and presenting their marketing resources through a single platform that provides entrepreneurs with many people greatly simplifies traditional models. Traditionally, people spend months sifting through personal networks, reviewing potential investors, and spending their time and money to attract them. With crowdfunding, many people can more easily get opportunities in front of more interested groups and provide them with more ways to help them grow their business, from investing thousands of dollars in exchange for equity to a minimum investment in exchange for the first-run product or other rewards (Fundable, n.d.).

Pebble E-Paper Watch is known for its breakthrough success on Kickstarter and raised $10,266,845 in 37 days. Crowdfunding supporters became one of the first people to own a Pebble watch, one of the first affordable smart watches on the market. As time went by, supporters felt uneasy when the production of watches stagnated and returned empty-handed. It raises questions about their ability to complete large orders with limited funds in a short period of time and leads to the announcement that "Kickstarter is not a store." Pebble delivered the first round of smart watches ten months after the end of its crowdfunding campaign.

In my opinion, although crowdsourcing and crowdfunding are a powerful tool for gathering information, people or funds, but sometimes people still need to be careful with the information or videos that provide by other people because those information or videos might be fake.

References

Goodrich, R. (2013). What is Crowdsourcing?. [online] Business News Daily. Available at:https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4025-what-is-crowdsourcing.html [Accessed 6 Nov. 2019].

KEARNS, K. (2018). 9 Great Examples of Crowdsourcing in the Age of Empowered Consumers - Tweak Your Biz. [online] Tweak Your Biz. Available at: https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/9-great-examples-crowdsourcing-age-empowered-consumers [Accessed 6 Nov. 2019].

Fundable. (n.d.). What is Crowdfunding? Clear, Simple Answer Here.. [online] Available at: https://www.fundable.com/learn/resources/guides/crowdfunding/what-is-crowdfunding [Accessed 6 Nov. 2019].

[thochiayie]

Trolling & Social Media Conflict

This blog is used strictly for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

What is TROLLING?

Online trolls are most similar to the playground fighters you meet at school. These people often deliberately cause disputes and struggles on social media and forums by saying the least sensitive and offensive words (Panda Security Mediacenter, n.d.).

The purpose of the troll is to stimulate the emotional reactions of other online users for their own entertainment purposes. Trolling is defined as a hostile interaction between online users, often involving insults and defamation (Computer Business Review, 2019).Trolling can also be done on sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Facebook became particularly fierce when domestic or international events occurred. Accessing a conservative or free Facebook page is like typing a text in a boxing match. There is a constant stream of controversy, and opinions that both parties want to extract from each other often appear in the topic. There are many people who do trolling  because they think it is interesting. In fact, is NOT. It is not considered, cruel, harmful, and can lead to serious consequences, such as frustration, self-harm, and even forcing those who have experienced trolls to contemplate or attempt to commit suicide and leave family and friends to coexist with the consequences.

One of the example that trolling lead to death is “Sulli’s death”. In 14 October 2019, Sulli, a K-pop celebrity was found death in her home. She suicides because her cannot  accept any trolling anymore. From what i found from the news, i notice that she had been trolling by those trolls at least 6-8 years. Besides than that, after hours of Sulli’s death, there was a troll asked Girl’s Day star Minah, ‘do you want to go next, you b****’.

Social media is a great way to interact with the world around you and a great way for brands and companies to interact with their users. Not letting those trolls make a mess of social networking sites.In my opinion, there must be some laws that can delay the trolls, no matter what size they write to the victim. This may prevents more suicide or injury from being caused by the online trolling.

References

Panda Security Mediacenter. (n.d.). What is an online troll? What do you need to know about it?. [online] Available at: https://www.pandasecurity.com/mediacenter/security/what-is-an-online-troll/

Computer Business Review. (2019). What is trolling? - Computer Business Review. [online] Available at: https://www.cbronline.com/what-is/what-is-trolling-4941741/#2

[thochiayie]

Activism & Protest

This blog is used strictly for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

Activism is just taking action to achieve social change. This can occur in a variety of ways and in many forms. It is usually associated with “how to change the world” through social, political, economic or environmental changes. This can be led by individuals, but it is usually done collectively through social movements (Permanentculturenow.com, n.d.) .

Protest is an official statement made by a person of interest or concern about certain actions that are about to be or has been carried out, and dissenting or disapproving of it, or confirming that the act is contrary to his will or belief. The purpose is usually to save some that can be The right that he acquiesces in the loss of his rights, or his responsibility to expressly or voluntarily participate in the act, unless he expressly refuses or voluntarily participates in the act (The Law Dictionary, n.d.).

The influence of social media

Social media is a tool that makes it easy for people to access different types of social platforms, especially for the younger generation. Social media is often seen as a new platform for political and social activism. But while it's easy to start a social campaign on Twitter or Facebook, turning it into actual policy change is quite different (Malchik, 2019). The benefit of using social media in an activist movement is that social media can spread information at an unprecedented rate. This seems to be a clear benefit, but it has completely changed the way we receive, conceptualize and share information. For example, some people want to participate in activism or protests, but they are “lazy people” or they don’t want to show up in public, they can use the social media platform “like” the pages and send pages or messages to support others. Other than that, the protester also will use social media platform to spread or receive information form other to prevent themselves get caught by the police and let other protesters know where are they going and when they are leaving.

In my opinion, there is no right or wrong when using social media as a platform for activism and protest. It only depends on how people use it, because social media is designed to be a platform for people around the world to communicate.

References

Permanentculturenow.com. (n.d.). Introduction to Activism | Permanent Culture Now. [online] Available at: https://www.permanentculturenow.com/what-is-activism/ [Accessed 16 Oct. 2019].

The Law Dictionary. (n.d.). What is PROTEST? definition of PROTEST (Black's Law Dictionary). [online] Available at: https://thelawdictionary.org/protest/ [Accessed 16 Oct. 2019].

Malchik, A. (2019). The Problem With Social-Media Protests. [online] The Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/05/in-person-protests-stronger-online-activism-a-walking-life/578905/ [Accessed 16 Oct. 2019].

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Political Engagement

This blog is used strictly for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

Social media’s use of political activity or participation has increased since John Edwards, the first person who post his presidential candidate on his website in 2006.The use of social media in politics, including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, has dramatically changed the way campaigns run and how Americans interact with elected officials (ThoughtCo, 2019). Although social media is an important source of collecting volunteers and funds, its main purpose is to affirm political beliefs and strengthen the political foundation. Another limitation of the way social media is used in political campaigns is that politicians have no control over dialogue.

Social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube allow politicians to speak directly to voters without spending a penny. Using social media allows politicians to circumvent traditional methods of attracting voters through paid advertising or money-making media.It has become quite common for political campaigns to create advertisements and publish advertisements on YouTube for free, instead of spending time or supplementing them on television or radio.

Although politicians are easy to use social media to carry out their programs, it also has a negative impact on others. When programs such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are used for political messaging, even if the messages they carry are real and not conspiracy, they bring political processes into the political process. From the printing era, these media have become a threat to coherent political speech. 

Social media is sometimes addictive. However, as entertainment, mobility does not seem to threaten the social structure. The problem is because social media has become the main platform for political information and discussion. According to data from the Pew Research Center, 68% of Americans received at least some news from social media in 2018. Both mainstream politicians and extremist groups use Facebook and Twitter to spread information (Bolter, 2019).

Based on my conclusion, I think social media plays an important role in political participation, because all news may be false news, but by looking at the position and status of politicians, we can learn more about this person, it’s like getting to know someone. Like individuals, this has changed many decisions people make. This helps them gain more knowledge about what is happening in the political world and what problems the country is currently facing.

References

ThoughtCo. (2019). Social Media in Politics - Twitter and Facebook as Campaigns Tools. [online] Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/how-social-media-has-changed-politics-3367534 [Accessed 7 Oct. 2019].

Bolter, J. (2019). Social Media Are Ruining Political Discourse. [online] The Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/05/why-social-media-ruining-political-discourse/589108/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2019].

[thochiayie]

Is Tumblr a Blog or a Social Media Site?

This blog is used strictly for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

A blog is an online journal or information website that displays information in reverse time, with the latest articles appearing first. On this platform, writers or even a group of writers can express their opinions on their respective themes (Skrba, 2019).

Since I started using social media, blogs have been posted on Facebook or Weibo and are very common. But I am only a reader or viewer of these blogs. Therefore, blogs are definitely new to me because I have never had the experience of blogging before.

To differentiate whether Tumblr is a blog or social media site, this is a little bit complicate to my understanding and my brain.  A social networking site is an online platform that allows users to create public profiles and interact with other users on the site. Social networking sites typically let new users enter a list of people with whom they share connections, and then allow people in the list to confirm or reject the connection (Techopedia.com, 2019).  Social media site such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Weibo help us to interact with people we don’t knew. As for blog, its more focus on  blogger themselves. Same as when you visit to other person’s blog, you only see him or her blogs. from what i see and experience with Tumblr, i think Tumblur is the mixture of both blog and social media site. This is because Tumblur, this platform help me to meet new people by using “following” and followers that interest on my posts. at the same time, Tumblr allow me to write my own blog and allow other people to see what i’m witting about  

References

Skrba, A. (2019). What is a Blog? - Explanation of Terms Blog, Blogging & Blogger (2019). [online] Firstsiteguide.com. Available at: https://firstsiteguide.com/what-is-blog/ [Accessed 1 Oct. 2019].

Techopedia.com. (2019). What is a Social Networking Site (SNS)? - Definition from Techopedia. [online] Available at: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4956/social-networking-site-sns#targetText=A%20social%20networking%20site%20is,confirm%20or%20deny%20the%20connection. [Accessed 1 Oct. 2019].