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Blog #4 ~ Activism & Protest

Technology has resulted in a revolutionary change and has impacted significantly on human behaviour. Activism is an act of gathering in public to be heard, it initiates movement and promotes change in society. Many organisations actively use social media platforms to spread awareness and raise funds for their campaigns as the internet is now the quickest way of getting information around and gaining support. Prior to the internet, activism was achieved through protests and poster, by physically being there to receive attention. However, today digital citizenship has changed human practices and the way in which individuals and groups seek to express their voices.

Digital citizenship is based around the idea that new forms of technology and media have enabled greater membership and more participation in society. Although, this largely depends on the nature of civic culture, which determines how well prepared citizens are to get involved in the public sphere based on importance and classification. The internet is an inexpensive and powerful tool and therefore campaigns and social groups have greater chance of success and better opportunities for change. ‘Information technologies have become indispensable to reformers, revolutionaries, and contemporary democracy movements. They withhold shared expression of dissent, dissemination of information, and collective action.’ (Youmans & York 2012, pp.315)

Social media isn’t always the key to activism, especially when there is a difference in social class amongst citizens but agreement on what is being demanded. Large groups and great populations often gather with powerful voices and unpredictable acts and protest in the streets. Much in the same way that Egyptians didn’t entirely depend on digital means of expression in the rise of the Egyptian revolution (2011) but rather filled the streets with huge energy, seeking to remove president Hosni Mubarak and lead a mass protest movement. However, Gerbaudo shares her memory of a young Egyptian who reached for her phone to capture a picture of the ‘violent arrest,’ desperately positing it on social media to share the current experience with the rest of the world. (Gerbaudo 2012, pp.1)

Hence, ‘modern media has always constituted a channel where social movements organise their actions and mobilise their constituencies through digital means of communication.’ (Gerbaudo 2012, pp.4) During such revolutionary crisis, social media was just a tool that helped frame the situation and release news to the rest of the world. However, the movement was coming almost instantly from the people of the country who didn’t want anything more than immediate change and a chance to be heard in with millions of other voices all at once. The debate as to whether social media leads to activism or not continues as social media efforts and social gathering efforts are both unclear and unmeasured during revolutionary history.

References:

Gerbaudo, P 2012, Title: Tweets and the Streets : Social Media and Contemporary Activism, Pluto Press, London, pp. 1-17, viewed 23 January, 2018, http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=7a9a3b95-2a20-4a5d-8056-309856285a15%40sessionmgr104&ppid=pp_1&vid=0&format=EB

Youmans, W & York, J 2012, Social Media and the Activist Toolkit: User Agreements, Corporate Interests, and the Information Infrastructure of Modern Social Movements, University of Michigan, San Francisco, pp. 315-325, viewed 24 January, 2018, http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=3f2bff94-957b-4740-b937-ba0341a0562f%40sessionmgr104

Feng, J 2018, What Does Everyday Radical Activism Mean?, viewed 23 January, 2018, https://thebodyisnotanapology.com/magazine/what-does-everyday-radical-activism-mean/

Insight 2015, Mizzou Protests Set Off Wave of Student Activism on College Campuses, viewed 24 January, 2018, https://www.google.com.eg/search?q=activism&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjd7d-tmP7YAhXPL1AKHQphCEUQ_AUICigB&biw=1113&bih=825#imgrc=tnXo0rbwvqJX9M:

tundihun-blog

A really good angle on the way social media actually benefits activism. Rather than being the source for activism it just acts as a supportive tool to demonstration in the physical form. I too cannot see that social media creates the need for activism but certainly aids those who wish to do so. Enjoyed reading :)

#mda20009

Powerful Pictures

I can remember back in the early days of social media in forums like “MySpace” and MSN Messenger, users were simply excited by being able to have immediate online interaction with their friends and communities. Over the years though there has been a stronger shift towards more visual social interaction in the forms of sharing photos and videos as opposed to the written text.

It seems that in this modern age, people don’t just want to read about other people’s lives, they want to see the proof ie the phrase “Pics or it didn’t happen” was coined by this visually driven generation or social media users (Silverman 2015). Whilst some critics might say that this increase in the use of visual content in social media is driven by a sense of narcissim in the creators I tend to disagree and rather look at it from the other point of view, the eye of the beholder (Tamplin 2017). If it weren’t for the voyeur would there even be the need or the urge to portray oneself visually online? There is an additional benefit to these online visual communities and that is they serve as a visual evidence for an idea or suggestion.

In Facebook statistics alone it is clearly visible that posts containing photos and even more so video are the highest engaging as opposed to texts or website links (Cohen 2014). This just shows that people want to “see to believe”. People want to be able to compare their roast pork dinner with that of the recipe they are following, they want to be able to see the dress they want to buy on a range of different figures to compare it to their own, they want to see what eating and exercising a certain way does to one’s body – they want evidence of the content they are ingesting and the producers in these visual communities are aware of this and flourish.

So brought about the development of Instagram and Snapchat, social media platforms that allow users to interact almost solely via photo and video. The popularity of these platforms is ever increasing, and some say are even more influential than Facebook and it is not hard to see why. These media platforms provide a great outlook for people to be able to visually absorb and compare ideas. The added benefit of this type of visual communication is that is bridges language barriers and thus there is a very strong multicultural presence in these social media platforms that do not have to rely on language to function and interact. I can only foresee this type of communication increasing as we become more and more interactive with many cultures across the globe. Why talk when you can show?

Cohen, D 2014, “STUDY: Photos Make Up Most Facebook Page Posts, But Videos Draw Huge Engagement”, Adweek –Digital, viewed 26 January 2018, < http://www.adweek.com/digital/gatorade-intersport-twitter-thedebut-high-school-basketball-livestreams/>.

Silverman, J 2015, “‘Pics or it didn’t happen’ – the mantra of the Instagram era”, The Guardian, viewed 26 January 2018, < https://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/26/pics-or-it-didnt-happen-mantra-instagram-era-facebook-twitter>.

Tamplin, H 2017, “Instagram Users Are Massive Narcissists, Study Shows”, Elite Daily, viewed 26 January 2018, < https://www.elitedaily.com/social-news/instagram-study-narcissistic-social-media-site/1848268>.

How Instagram made it so Big

#mda20009

The Slack Activist - Don’t cut them some slack!

SLACKTIVIST – probably the best word ever to have been created for the online vocabulary.

The term “slacktivist” roughly refers to a person who has the best intentions and suggestions towards supporting a cause or maintain a protest but does not take any physical action. The internet has bred the largest forum and community of slacktivists this world has probably seen but will more than likely continue to grow (Dewey 2014).

Previously, people would only hear about great tragedies on the news in their own homes, would feel remorse, and then move on with their lives knowing that whilst a tragedy there was nothing they could do at that very moment in time. Perhaps a few people would get off their butts and do something but this post does not refer to those people.

Nowadays, when people see or hear about a tragedy it is not only reported on the news but also on a million website and social media channels. So now these same people are hearing this news from multiple sources and being hammered by how guilty they should feel about this tragedy, but again these same people feel they can do nothing BUT now they have an opportunity to “appear” as if they are doing something via an online activist protest. So now they feel a little less guilt, joining a whole crowd of guilt-ridden people trying to feel better about themselves but not actually achieving anything.

Most commonly known representations of these “protests” are the hundreds of hashtag movements seen almost now on a weekly basis. #prayforparis is a perfect of example of where a tragedy sparked an online slacktivist support movement which had absolutely no power or influence. No arrests were made as a result, no families of those killed or injured received extra care of support from this hashtag community. It was simply a way for those on the other side of the world, living in peaceful happy homes to show their empathy for the situation (Garber 2015). #Bringbackourgirls was another great hashtag protest that failed to have any real impact or resolution with the majority of the 276 kidnapped Nigerian girls still missing despite even highly influential people such as Michelle Obama and popstar Rhianna jumping on this slactivist tag (France-Presse 2016).

This online artificial world we interact with it seems has confused people into believing that you can solves the world’s problems from your living rooms or offices when in reality the only way things will change is if people turn of their computers and get out there and make a real difference.

Dewey, C 2014, “#Bringbackourgirls, #Kony2012, and the complete, divisive history of ‘hashtag activism’”, The Washington Post, viewed 26 January 2018, <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/05/08/bringbackourgirls-kony2012-and-the-complete-divisive-history-of-hashtag-activism/?utm_term=.d3e79be1603a>.

France-Presse, A 2016, “Hashtag fail? Two years after the first #BringBackOurGirls tweet not much has changed”, Public Radio International, viewed 26 January 2018, <https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-04-13/hashtag-fail-two-years-after-first-bringbackourgirls-tweet-not-much-has-changed>.

Garber, M 2015, “#PrayForParis: When Empathy Becomes a Meme”, The Atlantic, viewed 26 January 2018, < https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/11/pray-for-paris-empathy-facebook/416196/>.

Check out the video “ Your 'Like' Doesn't Help Charities, It's Just Slacktivism”

#mda20009

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>

tundihun-blog

Great post - definitely agree that the internet has becoming a shaming ground with no repercussions. I often think, would the people doing the bullying and shaming online do the same thing in real life? Probably not. Perhaps I will start asking this of people who are quick to jump on these witch hunts! But then again you will have people that will say the internet was created with freedom of speech in mind so in essence the internet and all its users have created this monster...lets go back to the days of websites and google haha! Thanks for sharing :)

maelynd-blog

WoW in the Workplace? Maybe not yet. (BP8)

I joined my first raiding guild in World of Warcraft in 2005, and rose through the ranks of the guild from an initiate under probation, to a fully-fledged raiding member, to a guild officer. It was during my tenure as a guild officer where I really began to appreciate the pressure and responsibility of raid leadership.

Source: https://imgur.com/r/wow/B10py

I remember coming across a thread on reddit where people were discussing whether it was appropriate to put raid or guild leadership on a resume, with most of the responders saying that it was a bad idea. Learning guru John Seely Brown states that he would hire an expert WoW player over someone with an MBA (Seely Brown 2016), but not all employers will feel the same way. I believe that an employer would have to understand the complex role of a raid or guild leader before you can understand how the skills that they’ve gained in a game can be used in the workplace.

[Video link here - embedding didn’t work!]

It’s the raid leader’s job to organise the raid, from the initial scheduling, to making sure the group is balanced correctly, to setting the strategy for each fight, to doling out the loot after each successful kill. A lot of the raid boss encounters are quite unforgiving, meaning that if you have just one player who doesn’t do the right thing, it means certain death for the other players. While the group is learning a new fight, the raid leader has to be aware of what everyone is doing, adjust the strategy when needed, and be prepared to manage anyone who isn’t learning or adapting fast enough.

A lot of the skills required for a successful raid leader are equivalent to skills which a good manager needs to have in the workplace. Clear communication, setting guidelines for behaviour, delegating tasks, analysing the group’s performance, managing under-performing players, time management and scheduling are just some of the skills that raid leaders need (Luchelle 2016). The raid leader needs to inspire when times are tough, adhere to the guild’s rules, and make decisions for the betterment of the group. Basically, they need to be a leader!

Torres (2012) writes that while they agree that raid and guild leadership skills such as time management, leadership, and drama avoidance are translatable to valid workplace skills, they don’t believe that applicants should be listing in-game achievements on their resumes. People who don’t play games won’t understand how in-game skills are relevant to the workplace, and it might make a potential employee look bad if they admit just how much time they spend playing a video game. Even though video games are often used as education tools, especially for kids, they have yet to make it as an acceptable workplace training tool.

References

Luchelle 2016, Luchelle’s Raid Leadership Guide, World of Warcraft Forums, viewed 24 January 2018, <https://eu.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/17613201523>.

Seely Brown, J 2012, How World of Warcraft Could Save Your Business and The Economy, 7 August, viewed 24 January 2018, <http://bigthink.com/videos/how-world-of-warcraft-could-save-your-business-and-the-economy-2>.

Torres, R 2012, World of Warcraft skills in the workplace, Engadget, viewed 24 January 2018, <https://www.engadget.com/2012/07/07/world-of-warcraft-skills-in-the-workplace/>.

tundihun-blog

I can’t disagree more with this post and I found it quite disturbing that people believe that the skills used in online environment are comparable to those in real life situations #thisgenerationworriesme What happens online is very different to real-life. Being able to “manage” an online team with whom you never experience real emotion or face to face human interaction, but rather only online chatting & messaging is a whole different kettle of fish and I doubt many of these people would have the interaction skills to be able to handle real life work situations. Such as having to let someone go from their sole source of income and having to see them break down into tears in front of you yet knowing how to respond. Or having to successfully mange inter-staff conflict, either emotional or physical, takes years of watching human contact and interaction in a work environment and being able to read body language and decode verbal nuances. None of these skills are built in an online environment and in many cases those who thrive in these online environments struggle even with day to day social situations and often have social anxiety or simply lack social skills. I would not be surprised if this increase in gaming and online usage is the reason why today there are so many people in management positions who have no idea about how to manage people. Management in the workplace is not just about deadlines, delegating, timelines, and scheduling, its about knowing & understanding people and being able to use social skills with your team at work and in some cases beyond - not just unplugging at the end of the day knowing you’ve hit the “save” button in your game...

Social Playground of Horrors

Social gaming in more recent years has grown exponentially in popularity and in technological advancement. There are so many different variations of social gaming now available to the public from simple two play simulations fed through social media like “Words with Friends” all the way to highly complex multi-player, multi-level, multi-platform games such as “Destiny” that allow an infinite number of players, possibilities and outcomes in the online gaming world (Andronico 2014).

With so many groups and communities coming together online now to play and interact it begs the question as to the quality and security of these online relationships that are building built through online gaming networks.

Many of the multiplayer online games are more interested in selling their product than creating a safe and secure gaming environment. Take the game “Roblox” for example which is a online gaming network for young children which last year came under fire when several children under the age of 12 received sexually explicit messages in the online social chatroom within the gaming website (News Corp Australia Network 2017). Despite many companies suggesting they prioritise security and safety within their gaming communities, the truth is that many predators are still slipping through the cracks causing anger and distress within community members.

The other important fact to realise with online gaming communities is that in many cases they are just that, online communities. However many people become so entrenched and absorbed by these online communities it can become an addiction causing people to lose touch with real life. The documentary Life 2.0, which is a documentary about the online virtual life game called “Second Life”, clearly illustrates the negative and damaging consequences of becoming too involved with online communities. These online gaming networks and communities provide an escape from a reality which may be unsatisfying for some. Whilst the relief is temporary, people in these addicted states often soon find their real life falling to pieces in favour of their online life (artsallianceamerica 2012).

Whilst many people are in favour of online gaming communities and believe they are creating a new fun and easily accessible way to communicate and interact, I fear that the repercussions of such a transition will result in a world confused between reality and a virtual world. A world where a 10 year old boy shoots his parents in the belief that they will “re-spawn”. Is this really a healthy existence? Are we doomed to remain in a zombie nation with our heads glued to our screens, making virtual friendships and living virtural lives? I certainly hope not.

News Corp Australia Network 2017, “‘It’s a paedophile’s gateway’: Australian kids targeted by predators on gaming site Roblox”, news.com.au, viewed 12 January 2018, <http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/its-a-paedophiles-gateway-australian-kids-targeted-by-predators-on-gaming-site-roblox/news-story/1976cde2ff2f988796b6123884eaeb02>.

Andronico, M 2014, “Destiny the Game: Everything You Need to Know”, Tom’s Guide, viewed 12 January 2018, < https://www.tomsguide.com/us/destiny-the-game-faq,news-19221.html>.

#mda20009

Finding the real Troll

Trolling aims to create discord on social media sites through derogatory and inflammatory remarks. The intention of the troll is not to contribute in a meaningful way to online-discussions, rather it is to shock, and disrupt. A troll will post a variety of comments, photos, videos GIFs intending to interrupt an otherwise normal discussion and watch it sink into a chaotic off-the-topic slinging match (Smith et. al. 2008).

While we often see trolling as “harmless fun”, media attention in recent years has equated trolling with online harassment or cyberbullying , especially where posts include rumors, threats, sexual remarks, a victims' personal information, or hate speech.

Trolls seek a big audience as well as anonymity and accordingly, you will find them in Facebook threads, on Twitter message boards, YouTube video comments, news sites, discussion forums, game chats, and places where people can freely post to express their thoughts and opinions. This makes controlling them difficult. While online forum participants know that ignoring trolls is the best way to deal with them, in serious cases more stringent measures are required. Persistent and harmful trolling where messages are "grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character" will be considered an offence and can carry a prison sentence. For example, several people have been imprisoned in the UK for online harassment (Englander 2012).

In Australia, the Daily Telegraph started a campaign in 2012 to take action against "Twitter trolls", who engaged in abuse and personal threats. The paper identified some high-profile Australians including Charlotte Dawson, Robbie Farah, Laura Dundovic, who have been victims of this phenomenon (Jones 2012)

In February 2010, the Australian government became involved after users defaced the Facebook tribute pages of murdered children Trinity Bates and Elliott Fletcher. Australian communications minister Stephen Conroy condemned the attacks stating, "This argument that the Internet is some mystical creation that no laws should apply to, that is a recipe for anarchy and the wild west” (The Wayback Machine 2010).

While laws are necessary to curtail the incidence of harmful trolling there is an element of risk whereby strict laws may violate free speech. So where do we draw the line? For example, the word ‘ troll’ can be abused with some readers characterizing a post as trolling, while others may regard the same post as a genuine contribution to the discussion, even if controversial (Postmes, Spears & Lea 1998) Then again there are those who argue that in protecting free speech leads to toleration of trolling behavior, making it difficult for members to maintain an open and supportive discussion area, especially for sensitive topics such as race, gender, and sexuality (Lea et. al. 1992)

There are more negatives with trolling than positives given its potential harmful effects. However, one benefit of trolling without impinging on free speech is that often members unite or rally to protect their site from trolling through blocking and reporting.

Here is another positive use of the term Troll which certainly shines a better light on the word and a bit of humour :P

Smith, P, Mahdavi, J, Carvalho, M, Fisher, S, Russell, S & Tippett, N 2008, "Cyberbullying: its nature and impact in secondary school pupils", The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 376–385, doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01846.x.

Englander, E 2012, "Digital Self-Harm: Frequency, Type, Motivations, and Outcomes", MARC Research Reports, Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, Bridgewater State University, pp. 5.

Jones, G 2012, "Time is up for Twitter trolls and bullies", News.com.au, viewed 11 January 2018.

"Internet without laws a 'recipe for anarchy', 2010, The Wayback Machine, viewed 11 January 2018, <news.ninemsn.com.au>.

Postmes, T, Spears, R, Lea, M 1998, "Breaching or building social boundaries? SIDE-effects of computer-mediated communication", Communication Research, vol. 25, pp. 689–715.

Lea, M, O'Shea, T, Fung, P & Spears, R 1992, "'Flaming' in Computer-Mediated Communication: observation, explanations, implications”, Contexts of Computer-Mediated Communication, pp. 89–112.

#mda20009

Crowdsourcing: Friend or Foe

There is nothing more powerful than the power of the crowd and this is certainly true when it comes to sourcing and providing information in the online space. We live in an age where information from the deepest darkest corners of the world can be broadcast across the internet and media. This has proven to be a very powerful and in many cases a positive tool.

Once such example is the community spirit that can grow from the spread of information in a crisis. The NSW Fires are a perfect example of where information shared from local communities brought together a nation to help restore and rebuild lives that were traumatized and damaged. As a preventative approach the NSW Rural Fire Service saw such a benefit from the communications through social media that they created an alert app which was downloaded almost 200,000 times since its release (Flew & Bruns 2015). It was only after the fact that the media directly reported on how the community had been brought together through social media to provide this report and in fact represented the Rural Fire Crews App very little in their reports. Social media alerts like are both beneficial to those effected by a crisis as well as making the issues within a crisis more transparent to the general public who may have an opportunity to assist or even just learn from the information at hand.

A more controversial use of crowdsourcing is the online activist hacker group Anonymous who set their sights in particular on unjust politicians, religions, corporations and financial institution. They very often source the information they need to attack one of these high profile groups via contacts from within the online community, in a hope to essentially provide a form of vigilante justice. Anonymous has both a great following and great critics. The critic’s biggest concern is that since Anonymous mostly relies on crowdsourced information as the basis to their campaigns, they believe the information to be unsourced and invalid. However many a time their attacks have proven valid and ethical, like the subsequent arrest of Chris Forcand in 2007 who Anonymous exposed as an internet predator or the case of hacking into DarkNet child pornography sites and passing on the information to authorities in 2011 (Walters 2012). However there is always the concern that all it would take is one piece of unsubstantiated crowdsourced evidence to potentially hang an innocent.

Walters, R 2012, ‘Anonymous: Powerful activist group or disillusioned youngsters?’, Extreme Tech, viewed 10 January 2018, <https://www.extremetech.com/internet/116955-anonymous-powerful-activist-group-or-disillusioned-youngsters/2>.

Bruns, A & Flew, T 2015, ‘Crisis communication: saving time and lives in disasters through smarter social media’, The Conversation, viewed on 10 January 2018, <http://theconversation.com/crisis-communication-saving-time-and-lives-in-disasters-through-smarter-social-media-50403>.

Here are a few examples of ways in which online crowdsourcing of information has helped to solve crimes:

The Richest 2015, Shocking Crimes That The Internet Solved, April 7, viewed 10 January 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UovSs2yrG-E>.

#mda20009

Online Political Transparency Myth

Social media in more recent times has shifted from being a medium to simply interact and enjoy the online company of others to an overly funded influencing machine. From high profile celebrities to everyday businesses to multinational brands, it seems everyone on social media today is out there to make a buck or sell an idea. And who is the best seller of ideas? Politicians.

It was a no brainer for today’s politicians to jump on the social influencer band wagon in an attempt to grow their presence and spread their message. Is it not enough that these politicians already draw physical and email campaign advertising funds, travel and accommodation funds and not to mention 6 figure retirements funds from all our pockets? By being online they now have the added online advertising funds to play with as well all of come straight from the pockets of hard working tax payers (Bains 2017).

Which may be all fair in love and war until you realise that nearly 95% of politicians aren’t the actual creators of their online presence and materials but rather a highly skills marketing and advertising team (Bains 2017). Politicians talk about reaching out to the community and being amongst the people, which is made extremely easy thanks to social media, but still many rely on their teams to manage their platforms.

I do think there could be great benefits from politicians interacting on social media, as long as it is actually the politician themselves and not someone from a well-versed spokesperson team. Take Donald Trump for example, yes his tweets and posts may not be “politically correct” or community sensitive but at least you know they are coming from the filter-free man himself (McCaskill 2017). Compare this to say the posts of Malcolm Turnbull who often has perfectly constructed, well-written Facebook posts that ensure to highlight and tag appropriate affiliates. Smells like a marketing team to me.

If politicians want to make an impact on social media I think there has to be a greater sense of transparency and honesty in their approach to the platforms. Social media is considered a medium to allow for honest and open interactions which is not possible if politicians remain guarded and filtered through their PR teams. If we as the tax payers are continuing to pay for their online presence on social media than the least expectation would be that those dollars are being spent on giving us all the access and honest interaction we deserve, directly with the politicians themselves.

Bains, R 2017, ‘ Social media and sleek websites: How politicians are spending taxpayer dollars in the internet age’, ABC News, viewed 10 January 2018, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-25/how-politicians-spend-taxpayer-dollars-in-internet-age/8840210>.

McCaskill, N 2017, ‘ Trump credits social media for his election’, Politico, viewed 10 January 2018, <https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/20/trump-social-media-election-244009>.

‘Political Analyst’ [image], Brown, G, viewed 10 January 2018, <https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/p/political_analyst.asp>.

#mda20009

maelynd-blog

Social Change via Social Media

One of the perks of social media is that everything has the potential to “go viral”. Activists and others who desire social change have taken to their keyboards (and digital cameras) to spread their message, with the hope that their content will be seen by the world. The ease at which content can be shared on social media websites has led to a rise in slacktivism, which is defined as “a willingness to perform a relatively costless, token display of support for a social cause, with an accompanying lack of willingness to devote signiﬁcant effort to enact meaningful change” (Kristofferson et al. 2014, p. 1149).

When defined in this manner, the concept of slacktivism is not a new one. I remember selling Daffodil Day (Cancer Council) merchandise in high school, and every year around Remembrance Day you can buy poppies. These small tokens can be purchased cheaply and don’t require the purchaser to put in any additional effort other than stopping and reaching for their loose change. Social media has really revamped the concept of slacktivism, and it now costs people almost nothing to hit Like or Share on a Facebook post and this content will be broadcast to all their Facebook friends.

Does slacktivism work? Karen Skinner, the Australian Director of the Change.org website, claims that it does (Gillespie 2016). There have been a number of online petitions created on Change.org which have actually managed to achieve social change, such as one calling for medical cannabis reform, and another calling for education about domestic violence for school students. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find statistics which compared the success and failure rates of Change.org petitions (unsurprisingly the Change.org website only talks about the successful ones!), but I would imagine that for every successful one, there are countless others that fail.

Social media is a useful tool for spreading the word about social and world issues, both by gaining the attention of people previously unaware about the issue, and also solidifying support from existing sympathisers. Technology also allows different kinds of content to be shared, and by attaching a celebrity to the message such as The Farm Project’s video included below (The Farm Project 2017), the message is guaranteed to be seen by a wider audience (this particular video had 28 million views and has only been online for 3 weeks!).

The majority of successful acts of activism still require people to leave their homes to make their voices heard (McCafferty 2011). Social media can play an important role for these acts by allowing interested parties to communicate and coordinate (Gerbaudo 2012), and it can also provide visibility of the group’s actions to those who are outside the geographical area or otherwise unable or unwilling to attend in person.

It’s important to remember that just getting people to click Like or Share is not really the end goal for activists. What they’re really after is people to donate or join their cause. UNICEF Sweden produced this video Likes Don’t Save Lives to draw attention to the need for people to take actual action.

References

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

Gillespie, K 2016, The Director of Change.org Australia Explains How Slacktivism Is a Myth, Vice, viewed 1 January 2018, <https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/bnkdad/the-director-of-changeorg-australia-about-medicinal-cannabis-gay-panic-and-the-myth-of-slacktivism>.

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.

McCafferty, D 2011, ‘Activism vs. Slacktivism’, Communications of the ACM, vol. 54, no. 12, pp. 17-19.

The Farm Project 2017, Plastic Bottle Addiction, 11 December, viewed 1 January 2018, <https://www.facebook.com/thefarmproject/videos/1588594141176039/>.

UNICEF Sverige 2014, Likes Don’t Save Lives, April 23, viewed 1 January 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_M0SDk3ZaM>.

tundihun-blog

Hahaha I absolutely loved this post!!! Slacktivism is rampant but then again so is corruption within charities so it’s pretty much a lose lose situation. In such a modern age where these so called “Celebrities” are sharing their millions (supposedly) how is there even still poverty? Why? Corruption, that’s why. All we can do is count ourselves lucky and make small differences in the lives of those we can but to have thoughts of saving the world are just deluded grandeur with or without social media. #mda20009

charluetc-blog

Prepare for unforeseen consequences

While before the Internet age, members of parliament needed to be careful that things they’d done in the past didn’t come back to bite them, it’s now quite obvious that a person’s life online can be equally as detrimental.

Sharing your opinions online can come back to haunt you, particularly if you’re a politician. It certainly can have its benefits too, like increased exposure, especially with a younger audience, but it opens up the arena for the public to share whatever they want, right back at you.

This proves that social media goes both ways, and just as the politician can share their - or their party’s thoughts, members of society can have a say that’s equally, or sometimes even more, influential (Jericho 2013, p. 256), like in the case of Tina Fey’s Saturday Night Live impersonation of Sarah Palin creating more engagement than any of Palin’s YouTube clips ever will.

While being present on social media as a member of parliament or political figure definitely has its risks, not being present at all could potentially miss out on engagement that couldn’t be reached any other way.

Donald Trump is the perfect example of a politician with a huge presence on social media, reaching millions of people with his outlandishly blunt tweets and many Youtube montages of his ridiculous behaviour.

However, people tend to be attracted to the entertainment and the humour, and even if Trump isn’t sharing a message you agree with, if the other candidate isn’t as entertaining, their potentially more appropriate messages or thoughts could be disregarded.

Jodi Dean (2013) brought up some interesting points in her lecture explaining the negative influence that social media can have over democracy. Dean refers to these effects as ‘communicative capitalism’ in which ultimately, our communication is exploited.

She reiterates that when we take ‘action’ on social media in regards to a cause, a lot of the time it’s the Facebook or Twitter post that becomes ‘the story,’ “leaving people dying on the streets,” for example.

I believe a political candidate who invests money in campaigning across social media platforms will have a definite advantage over those who choose not to (whether we like it or not).

However, we must be careful, as ‘digital citizens’ not to let entertainment or popularity of a candidate define our views. On the other hand, we must be aware that simply contributing to democratic discourse (Dean 2013) isn’t always the most effective means to change.

Being present and protesting on the streets can illustrate a deeper layer of influence, and irrespective of all the magic social media can bring, should not be forgotten.

References:

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

DCU School of Communication 2013, IAMCR 2013 Plenary No. 3 - Jodi Dean, 3 July, viewed 3 August 2016, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5ABPuNQ6IU>.

tundihun-blog

I agree with this discussion in that being on social media will allow politicians to gain better coverage for their campaigns however I do not agree with it being a positive method of change but rather another way that politicians can rape our pockets to fund their egotistical ventures. To think that these politicians are doing social media on their own free whim is naive when they are most likely paying a team of marketing experts to carefully shock or engage their audience’s for a set fee.

mrsshawworld-blog

Think Before You Tweet

As someone who uses social media on a daily basis, I used to follow only my friends and celebrities who interested me. Nowadays, I not only follow friends and celebrities but I also follow both local and international politicians. Part of me does this so I can read their war of words between each other, however there is also a part of me that does it to keep up to date with news in the political world. Twitter as an example, has up to the minute reaction news and is now seen to be breaking new stories (ABC News, 2017), so why would I got to a media website where the information could be skewed and delayed?

Social Media is not only a space for Politicians to voice their opinions, concerns and points of views; however it’s also becoming a platform where the public can express their own thoughts. Jericho (2012, p 254) asks us, how many voters are on Twitter? I believe he is implying that there can be people voicing strong opinions on Social Media but are they really voting in that direction? In the United States, it was led to believe that Hilary Clinton was a clear front runner for the American Presidency. The media outlets had reported this and it seemed like the obvious choice with the amount of anti-Donald Trump propaganda that was released through Social Media. This was not the case. Donald Trump won the Presidency and is now the 45th President of the United States.

Whilst people are now expressing more opinions through their Social Media accounts, there is a need to be careful about what you post. Jericho (2012, pg 255) gives an example of an ALP Candidate in Queensland, Peter Watson, who had made homophobic comments on his social media accounts. Another example is One Nation candidate, Richard Eldridge. Richard Eldridge was running for the local council in Perth, when old Tweets were released. These tweets were to be of a derogatory nature and he ended up standing down from the election (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2017). American President Obama once gave the advice to a group of high school students, “I want everyone here to be careful about what they post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life”. This advice is something that I will use throughout all of my online endeavours. Whilst it can seem easy to do a quick tweet or Facebook post with an opinion, it’s something that is permanently out there, therefore there is a greater need to think before you tweet.

References:

ABC News. (2017). Is Twitter the news outlet for the 21st century?. [online] ABC News. Available at: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=7979891&page=1 [Accessed 11 Dec. 2017].

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

The Sydney Morning Herald. (2017). One Nation, do you even speak to your WA candidates?. [online] Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/view-from-the-street/one-nation-do-you-even-speak-to-your-wa-candidates-20170216-gueb4s.html [Accessed 11 Dec. 2017].

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tundihun-blog

A very interesting account into the dangers of the immediacy of the internet. My concern about this post is that it tries to highlight how voicing your opinion in its purity and honesty should not be allowed on the internet. If it weren’t for people voicing their true opinions we would already be in a nanny state....oh wait...we already are :P

Are the Affordances of Social Media Affordable?

In this new era of social media there has been an epic shift in the way we interact and communicate with each other. So much so that many social experiences will soon be extinct in favour of an online replication tied up in the social media sphere. Social media has brought about such a wide range of affordances that go well beyond the initial ideal of having an online space to simply interact.

One such affordance is Facebook and its ability to provide its users with a type of “online event calendar” which allows users to get information on events relating to them personally or in their local area using geotagging technology. Long gone are the days when people would send invitations or make a phone call to invite friends to an event, it is now as simple as entering the details into Facebook and linking in all the attendees. This technology has all but completely saturated the social invitation experience. People who do not use Facebook in general often find themselves missing out on many “digital invitations” as the concept of the “Facebook invite” has become the norm for contacting friends and acquaintances for gatherings and events. Now as many businesses have also followed suit for their events it is highly anticipated that the written invitation will soon become a relic of the past (Paris, Lee & Seery 2010, pp 531-541).

Another social experience that has been bound to a social media platform is the activity of photo creation and sharing. Before the rise of technology the printed photograph would be shared with family and friends by printing several copies and sending via post, or by bringing everyone together to view a newly created photo album. Social media, through the many photo sharing platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, now allow users to instantly share photos with anyone around the world. It is an instantaneous and yet highly interactive way to share photos. Users can not only share these images but they can also now ‘tag’ other users in photos, create a running commentary and discussion around the photos and even share the photos outside of their own personal communities (Safko & Brake 2009). Just like the invitation, the printed photograph has now become almost obsolete and rather serves its place as a personal decorative memento than serving a social purpose.

As these social media platforms become more and more intelligent and functional we see more and more of our familiar, face to face, social experiences dissolve into the digital screen. It is true these platforms make these experiences more efficient and convenient but the real question will be whether they maintain the integrity of the genuine human experience.

Paris, CM, Lee, W & Seery, P 2010, The role of social media in promoting special events: acceptance of Facebook ‘events’. Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism, pp. 531-541.

Safko, L & Brake, D 2009, The social media bible, ExecuGo media.

This discussion from Paul Miller really touches on how much a part of our social experiences social media has becomes and how the online affordances have become part of every day life.

#mda20009

Empty Engagement

Social Media, in all its various shapes and forms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blogs), claims to provide a platform in which users can connect, build relationships, make new friendships and nourish old ones. However this relationship building process is not a true representation of the relationships we build in our offline lives but more so a type of virtual relationship that carries less weight and value (Centola 2010). In essence how much value can one really place on a relationship where at the end of the day you can simply unplug and carry on with your regular life.

It would seem that social media sets online relationship goals that users should strive to achieve and these benchmarks once achieve provide the user with some sense of social status or satisfaction. For example many social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have a “friends” count, where anyone choosing to connect with or “follow” a user will form part of a connected “friendship” group (Kietzmann et. Al. 2011). Using the term friends likens these people to our friends in our everyday life, however when this number starts to reach into the hundreds is it really fair to call all of them friends, especially ones that you had never met in real life?! Nonetheless users find it rewarding to see their friends list grow, despite the lack of connection with many of them. So the value in social media friendships is placed more on the quantity rather than the quality of the relationships being developed. This is reinforced even more so by users celebrating reaching a certain number of “friends” or “followers” and by companies choosing to sponsor users with the highest followings.

Another of these relationship goals created by social media is “engagement” otherwise known as the interactions between users and their online friends or followers. Facebook, Instagram and Blogs all encourage online users to utilize comments, likes and shares as a way to interact with each other. However unlike a conversation with your friend on the telephone where you discuss your daily activities then lead into more emotional, personal and in-depth topics, online interactions often are very short, meaningless and sadly in some cases are just for self-promotion (Moon et. Al. 2016). Instead of explaining why you loved the video of your friend’s wedding so much, it seems that a like followed by a love heart emoji <3 is sufficient to express your entire thoughts and feelings. Or on Instagram for example users will like and comment on posts not for the content itself but in the hope that you might return the favour in liking their page or content.

It is sad to think that many of our relationships, instead of being nourished have in fact on analysis been reduced by social media to a daily achievement or simple acknowledgement of each other.

Centola, D 2010, The spread of behavior in an online social network experiment, Science, vol. 329, no. 5996, pp.1194-1197.

Kietzmann, JH, Hermkens, K, McCarthy, IP and Silvestre, BS 2011, Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media, Business horizons, no. 54 vol. 3, pp.241-251.

Moon, JH, Lee, E, Lee, JA, Choi, TR and Sung, Y 2016, The role of narcissism in self-promotion on Instagram, Personality and Individual Differences, vol. 101, pp.22-25.

“The Death of Friendship”

#mda20009

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