simon97king

[simon97king]

Week 10 Social Gaming

What is Social Gaming?

Usually, gaming is where the specific person would enjoy spending his or her time playing games. Games today, evolve to online gaming in line with the Internet being widely accessible across the world. Through playing games online, people are actually playing against one another and then form a social bond which then leads to social gaming. Logan (2021) defines social gaming into three categories namely multi-player, social platform and awareness & interaction. Firstly, 'multi-player' is a social game where it is played by multiple players at the same time. Players may work together or compete against one another (Logan 2021). Secondly, 'social platform' is where social games are built on a platform that allows people to engage with one another. Social games may either 'piggyback' on current social platforms (enabling players to use their current social networks) or be built from the ground up (Logan 2021). Lastly, 'awareness & interaction' is where an individual player in a social game is aware of the existence, activities, and successes of other players. Players in social games can also communicate with one another (Logan 2021).

What are the implications of social gaming?

From a positive point of view, it would give loads of possibilities as the internet is very broad and versatile (Digicult 2021). Physically we can only contact with only a limited number of people however online we have more chances to engage in communication with millions of other people (Digicult 2021). We may have a board game but have no one to play with but through online gaming, we could play our favourite game with people online. Moreover, Digicult (2021) has also stated that social gaming is also advantageous as it could help with a charity that will contribute to real-world issues.

Furthermore, social gaming is also one of the fastest-growing industries. Digicult (2021) has said that research that was completed at the end of 2012, the social gaming sector was worth an estimated US$5.4 billion. It projected that the sector would develop quickly, with the market reaching a whopping $17.4 billion in less than seven years (Digicult 2021).

Nonetheless, there is also a downside of social gaming which is known as gaming toxicity. This could come in many forms mainly sexual harassment, threats of violence, invasions of privacy, and aggressive spamming (Ratan 2021). Additionally, according to the Anti-Defamation League's study of gaming toxicity, over 80% of multiplayer gamers had recently experienced some sort of toxicity, the majority of which is related to gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or ability (Ratan 2021). Over a tenth of players stated the toxicity caused them to have melancholy or suicidal thoughts, and more than 20% claimed it prompted them to stop playing. Besides that, women are more prone than men to be victims of gaming toxicity, therefore these negative impacts are especially devastating to them (Ratan 2021). It is important for us to know how to avoid situations like this especially for those who have gone through this problem, they should seek help if the effects prolong.

Conclusion

To conclude, social gaming is a very is now a huge industry until it has its own championship and is internationally recognised as a type of sport named Esports. We can connect with other gamers all around and make new friends. However, the toxicity in the social gaming community should be known by the public in order to avoid themselves engaging nor be influenced by that behaviour.

References

Digicult, R 2021, The Insane Growth of Social Gaming, viewed 18 May 2021, <http://digicult.it/articles/web/the-insane-growth-of-social-gaming/>.

Logan, B 2021, Social gaming – A usability perspective, viewed 18 May 2021, <https://www.spotless.co.uk/insights/social-gaming-usability/>.

Ratan, R 2021, Faculty voice: Gaming and toxicity, viewed 18 May 2021, <https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2021/faculty-voice-gaming-and-toxicity>.

[simon97king]

Week 11 - Case Study - China (The Chinese Internet Ecosystem)

What is the Internet like in China?

According to Song (2021), although the Internet is available all over China, but still, not all of the Internet is available. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are blocked and people need technology like VPN to gain access to those sites. Even though they are quite restricted in accessing some sites, their internet services is quite wide across the country if you're in bigger cities. There are free Wi-Fis available in almost every hotel, restaurant and café. One can just sit down and ask for the Wi-Fi from the staff working at the place, it is very common. The downside is, if you wander too far away from urban areas, you might not have Internet access in places that are considered more rural and that is the difference between metropolis and village town (Song, 2021). Ekström (n.d.) stated that the number of Internet users in China today is growing fast. which makes up more than 650 million Internet users and also the country that has the largest number of Internet users in the world. This is because that the Chinese government is aiming for nationwide broadband connectivity to digitalize the economy and help push the growth of the online sectors.

Internet Café are not available for foreign travelers

Most of the time, Internet Café will not provide wireless connection as computers are prepared inside the café for their customers to use. In order to gain access to the Internet on the computer, the customer will need to show their identity card but passports and Visa are not accepted. This causes foreign visitors not being able to really use the Internet in the café. This is to prevent them from connecting to insecure or wrong network.

Internet Censorship in China

According to Poetker (2019), one of the countries in the world that has the strictest Internet control and surveillance is China. The government blocks various websites that are related to historical independence, freedom of speech, pornography and more. This is a way that they use to stop spread of fake news that's quite popular in social media nowadays. Internet censorship also stops identity theft better because less websites requires identity information, helping their community to have more privacy. For example, Facebook knows your name, age, birthday and even phone number. This can be a way for potential criminal to steal information and use it for unauthorized access towards other unknown field for their own benefits. Although it protects the community but it still has its cons. It stops them from having the chance to speak up which means no freedom of speech and too much information are restricted and they do not get information as fast as other parts of the world.

China's plan on alternative applications

If you don't know about this, this might shock you. Gadgets Now Bureau (2020) stated that there are 10 popular applications that are actually banned in China including Google and YouTube. Can you believe that? The world's most popular search engine is not allowed in China. Of course they do not just ban it without a plan. The Chinese government have their own alternative applications to replace the ones that are banned. For example, BaiDu replaces Google, Youku replaces YouTube, WeChat replaces WhatsApp and lastly Weibo replaces Twitter. They have their own applications which only feed appropriate information to their people and making sure that they are the one controlling what their community sees. Nevertheless, there are still many people living in China uses VPN to gain access to sites like YouTube to watch more content that they never had the chance to experience.

List of References

Ekström, D., n.d. What You Need to Know About the Internet in China. [online] startupgrind. Available at: <https://www.startupgrind.com/blog/what-you-need-to-know-about-internet-in-china/> [Accessed 21 May 2021].

Gadgets Now. 2020. 10 popular apps and websites blocked in China | Gadgets Now. [online] Available at: <https://www.gadgetsnow.com/slideshows/10-popular-apps-and-websites-blocked-in-china/instagram/photolist/76806131.cms> [Accessed 21 May 2021].

Poetker, B., 2019. How Internet Censorship Affects You (+Pros & Cons). [online] G2. Available at: <https://www.g2.com/articles/internet-censorship> [Accessed 21 May 2021].

Song, C., 2021. Internet Access in China — Wi-Fi, the China Firewall, VPNs. [online] Chinahighlights.com. Available at: <https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/article-internet-access-in-china.htm> [Accessed 21 May 2021].

[simon97king]

Week 11 Global Social Media: China

The introduction of China’s the Great Firewall

What is ‘The Great Firewall’? Generally, we know that a firewall is a network security that monitors and filters the things that are on the Internet. However, this firewall is unique yet powerful and it is heavily controlled by the Chinese Government. Xinmen (2019) has said that The Great Firewall is a common name for this scheme, but it is not an official name used by the Chinese government, which employs ambiguous policies and tactics to access the internet. Moreover, the word has become a popular acronym for the laws and technology used to enact China's digital censorship since it first appeared in a Wired article in 1997 (Xinmen 2019).

About a decade after the first email was transmitted from China, the Great Firewall then began to emerge (Xinmen 2019). Internet cafes began to grow up across China's major cities when China gained access to the internet in 1994 (Xinmen 2019). The government and the country's early netizens both realized that the free flow of information may have major political ramifications (Xinmen 2019). In other words, this could disrupt the peace in the county and may cause a stir in the community.

The government knew it had no choice but to act. It has already begun taking attempts to restrict the internet by 1996. The government later issued a State Council order that year named “Temporary Regulations Governing Computer Information Networks and the Internet.” It specified that all direct internet connections must be routed through international ports established and managed by the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and that no group or individual may establish or use any other method of obtaining internet access (Xinmen 2019).

Furthermore, when China's internet usage reached 2.1 million individuals in 1998, the government openly stated how seriously it took online activity (Xinmen 2019). In the same year, Lin Hai, a 30-year-old software developer, provided 30,000 Chinese email addresses to a pro-democracy journal in the United States. Lin was arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced in the country's first-ever trial for a political offence committed entirely online (Economy 2018). Besides that, the spiritual organization Falun Gong used email and cellphones to organize a silent protest of over 10,000 adherents outside the Communist Party's central complex, Zhongnanhai, the following year, to protest their inability to practice freely (Economy 2018).

Subsequently, Fang Binxing emerged as the man in charge of the government's technology endeavours. Fang worked on the “Golden Shield” programme in the late 1990s, which allowed the government to inspect any data being received or delivered, as well as block destination IP addresses and domain names. His efforts were rewarded with a meteoric climb in politics (Economy 2018). This action taken by the Chinese government has helped to filter and take full control of what is on social media. The main motive was to stop spreading information on what the Chinese government is doing behind closed doors and the citizens cannot voice out their opinions nor express how they felt if the government is implementing a new law for instance.

Does China’s Great Firewall exist outside of China?

Yes, but it is not technically a firewall to block the contents on the Internet. It is a software that is owned by China but is being used worldwide called TikTok and has something quite similar to a firewall where it filters the content inside the software. Hern (2019) has said that the documents, which were made public for the first time by the Guardian, detail how ByteDance, the Beijing-based technology firm that owns TikTok, is using the app to further Chinese foreign policy goals. This proofs that the software indeed has its own filter. The disclosures come amid growing suspicions that discussion of the Hong Kong demonstrations on TikTok is being suppressed for political reasons: a search for the city-state on the platform earlier this month found “barely a trace of turmoil insight,” according to a Washington Post investigation (Hern 2019).

The software’s regulations separate prohibited material into two categories: certain content is labelled as a "violation," which results in it being removed from the site altogether and can result in a user being banned. Minor infractions, on the other hand, are designated as "visible to self," which keeps the item up but restricts its distribution through TikTok's algorithmically selected stream (Hern 2019). A section controlling "hate speech and religion" contains the majority of the guidelines applicable to China. They are always set in a context that makes the rules appear to be general rather than specific exceptions (Hern 2019). A general restriction on "criticism/attack towards policies, social rules of any nation, such as constitutional monarchy, monarchy, parliamentary system, separation of powers, socialism system, etc." includes a prohibition on criticism of China's socialist system. Therefore, this clearly demonstrates that TikTok, owned by ByteDance is filtering the videos that have opinions or criticizing the Chinese government will be removed or filtered so that the video will not be widely spread around the social media network.

References

Economy, CE 2018, The great firewall of China: Xi Jinping’s internet shutdown, viewed 22 May 2021, <https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jun/29/the-great-firewall-of-china-xi-jinpings-internet-shutdown>.

Hern, A 2019, Revealed: how TikTok censors videos that do not please Beijing, viewed 22 May 2021, <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/25/revealed-how-tiktok-censors-videos-that-do-not-please-beijinghttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/25/revealed-how-tiktok-censors-videos-that-do-not-please-beijing>.

Xinmei, S 2019, The story of China’s Great Firewall, the world’s most sophisticated censorship system, viewed 22 May 2021, <https://www.scmp.com/abacus/who-what/what/article/3089836/story-chinas-great-firewall-worlds-most-sophisticated>.

[simon97king]

Week 11 - Case Study [The Chinese Internet Ecosystem]

China Internet Ecosystem

China is one of the exceptional nations that prefer to develop its internet ecosystem. Internet platforms such as Google, Facebook, and YouTube are not accessible from China as these platforms are prohibited (Sampi 2020). Although the China government has allowed these big brands to share China's Internet market, these platforms cannot compete with local services such as Baidu, Weibo, and Tencent Video. The community of China has adapted to the system created by the local services, and they prefer China's brand compared to Western platforms. Nowadays, nations such as Singapore instead choose to learn from China's internet ecosystems, and their system is more user-friendly (Chua, Soo & Deng 2018). China may have a better internet service than the United States of America design (Lee 2017).

The Great Firewall of China

China claimed that the Great Firewall was build to protect their citizen from harmful information. The Great Firewall acts as a filter or a barrier to keep the China Internet Ecosystem free from pollutants (Barme & Ye 1997). Most people said that this is because the Communist Party of China wishes to control the information the citizen of China will receive. Controlling the information network is equals to control the citizen mindset directly. The Great Firewall effectively prevents dangerous and information that is unfavorable to the government from spreading. It also allowed the China Internet ecosystem to be always controllable by the government of China (Economy 2018).

China Social Credit System

China created the social credit system to monitor and rate their citizen. China citizens will be rated based on their economic status, trustworthiness, shopping habits, etc. China started experimenting with the social credit system in 2007 and make it official in 2014 (Kobie 2019). Data such as financial, criminal, and government records are also collected and analyzed to obtain an individual social credit ((Lee 2020). People with less credibility will face difficulties in society as people will consider the citizen's social credibility in many cases such as loans and investments. China's social credit system ranked the citizen to decide their trustworthiness. The social credit system is an effective way to decide citizen trustworthiness more systematically. China's social credit system are often online and protected by the China government's Great Firewall to avoid data leak. Having the social credit system online ensures the tracking and monitoring of information be done more effectively.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, China has a unique Internet ecosystem that adapts better to its citizen. The main reason for the Great Firewall of China is to protect and secure its citizen from harmful information. Moreover, with the social credit system, the China government can monitor its citizen more effectively.

Reference List:

Barme, G. and Ye, S., 2021. The Great Firewall of China. [online] Wired. Available at: <https://www.wired.com/1997/06/china-3/> [Accessed 25 May 2021].

Economy, E., 2021. The great firewall of China: Xi Jinping’s internet shutdown. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jun/29/the-great-firewall-of-china-xi-jinpings-internet-shutdown> [Accessed 25 May 2021].

Kobie, N., 2021. The complicated truth about China's social credit system. [online] WIRED UK. Available at: <https://www.wired.co.uk/article/china-social-credit-system-explained> [Accessed 25 May 2021].

Kong Ho, C., Soo, Z. and Deng, I., 2021. The digital world is looking to China, not Silicon Valley – here’s why. [online] South China Morning Post. Available at: <https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/2155155/chinas-internet-ecosystem-model-increasingly-being-copied-globally> [Accessed 25 May 2021].

Lee, A., 2021. What is China’s social credit system and why is it controversial?. [online] South China Morning Post. Available at: <https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3096090/what-chinas-social-credit-system-and-why-it-controversial> [Accessed 25 May 2021].

Lee, J., 2021. The rise of China’s tech sector: The making of an internet empire. [online] Lowyinstitute.org. Available at: <https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/rise-china-s-tech-sector-making-internet-empire> [Accessed 25 May 2021].

Sampi.co. 2021. Infographics: Chinese Internet Ecosystem And Stats. [online] Available at: <https://sampi.co/chinese-internet-ecosystem/> [Accessed 25 May 2021].

Youtube.com. 2021. How China Created Its Own Internet. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBksg5JPLz0> [Accessed 25 May 2021].

Youtube.com. 2021. How It Works: The Great Firewall of China. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oKDPZ7Xuto> [Accessed 25 May 2021].

[simon97king]

Week 10 - Social Gaming

What is Social Gaming?

Social gaming comes in all forms, multiplayer shooting games, multiplayer racing games, multiplayer board games, and social network games. It would be best to realize that all these games come with the word "multiplayer" or "social". Let me tell you why. Social gaming is called social gaming because such online games, it allowed and required the social interaction between player, is social gaming. (Clement 2021). A few famous examples of social gaming are DOTA 2, Player Unknown Battleground, Rust, and Fortnite. All these games required players to build any forms of communication, either text messages or voice chats, to communicate with each other in the game. Recently, the demand for social gaming increased significantly. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the number of participants (Heikkinen 2021). Social gaming acted as a platform for people stuck in their houses to interact and have fun with other people with similar conditions.

Social Gaming Fostering Connection

Social gaming is all about creating a gaming community that allowed people with similar gaming interests to interact. It builds a special bond that is as real as friendship in reality (Gossett 2020). Some would say the relationship in the virtual gaming environment might not be accurate, but studies showed otherwise. The research team found that people who played social games results in less loneliness (Gossett 2020). Social gaming has proven to be effective in fostering connections between the players uniquely. Thus, appropriate social gaming will benefit peoples who might be facing difficulty in blending into the community.

Toxic Gaming Environment

Nonetheless, there are cons to social gaming. Some of the time, players might turn toxic when they face unfavorable gameplay. Gaming toxicity might appear in some forms, such as sexual harassment, threats of violence, and aggressive spamming (Ratan 2021). Gaming Toxicity has turned common as the enforcement of rules and guidelines is below expectation. The game authorities, admins, or game masters should strictly supervise the gaming environment and ensure everyone has a safe and comfortable social gaming environment. At the same time, strictly enforce the rules designed to protect and maintain the social gaming environment.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, social gaming is a double-edged sword that fosters a unique relationship between the players, but sometimes it might abuse players psychologically due to gaming toxicity. However, it is humans' power to decide if social gaming is a tool to create a harmonious gaming community or a platform to express feeling negative.

Reference List:

Clement, J., 2021. Topic: Social gaming. [online] Statista. Available at: <https://www.statista.com/topics/2965/social-gaming/#dossierSummary> [Accessed 23 May 2021].

Gossett, S., 2021. The Real Social Benefits of Video Games. [online] Built In. Available at: <https://builtin.com/media-gaming/online-gaming-social-benefits> [Accessed 23 May 2021].

Heikkinen, K., 2021. Are we entering the new era of mobile social gaming?. [online] GamesIndustry.biz. Available at: <https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-03-10-are-we-entering-the-new-era-of-mobile-social-gaming> [Accessed 23 May 2021].\

Ratan, R., 2021. Faculty voice: Gaming and toxicity. [online] MSUToday. Available at: <https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2021/faculty-voice-gaming-and-toxicity#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20study%20of,sexual%20orientation%2C%20religion%20or%20ability.> [Accessed 23 May 2021].

Youtube.com. 2021. What Defines "Social Gaming"?. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh2UrfeEKtQ> [Accessed 23 May 2021].

[simon97king]

Week 9 - Fandom

Fandom is the state of being a fan over someone or something but in the case, I will be touching on fandom towards celebrities regardless they are singers, dancers or bands. Although I personally have almost zero experience with fandom, I can still see why certain group of people are obsessed with who they like and what they are doing. There's nothing wrong with it when you're trying to support someone just because you love the songs they wrote or just their personality, but if you're going overboard with it and starts to influence people around you, the person you're support will sure be upset too. Being the most powerful fandom - a south Korean boy band, BTS, according to MTV (2018), has achieved a global success with two consecutive number 1 albums on the billboard charts, a sold-out world tour, and a historic stadium show at citi field in which had over 40,000 fans in attendance. They named their fan base ARMY just like Beliebers for Justin Bieber, Swifties for Taylor Swift and Arianators for Ariana Grande (Ross, 2020). This creates a bond between fellow celebrities and their fans indirectly.

Impact of social media towards Fandom

In the presence of social media, there is also where fans will be able to get an update on what their idols are doing. But through social media, there are always pros and cons. Are these fans being too extreme and weird? One of the example for pros is that sometimes ‘Emotional support K-pop boys’ can help fans with their mental health (Yeo, 2021). He or she will be able to motivate their fans to do better and aim bigger in their lives. Laffan is from the National Anti Bullying Center at Dublin City University stated that Emotional attachment to an idol can be fairly healthy too. Although it might sound ridiculous but some fans are really living for their idols.

Way back in 2017, Jonghyun from SHINee had passed away at the age of 27 and according to BBC (2017), the hashtag #YouDidWellJonghyun and #StayStrongShawols went viral on Twitter (shawols is the term what fans of SHINee called themselves) as they have come together to pay tribute on social media.

Yes Spread Love but...

Through this, fans can unite as one and continue to spread love just because they have so much love towards the same idol. But here also comes the cons of it. For example, some might be expressing their negative sides on social media too. Especially when their idols passed away or found out actually taking drugs, they might act differently and somewhat being over extreme on social media platform. This negative energy will then influence everyone else that have the same thoughts on the incident and some might try to hurt themselves or commit suicide due to disappointment or when they are not able to accept the fact. Dam-young (2017) stated that an Indonesia fan attempts suicide following the death of Jonghyun. As mentioned by the fan who attempted to suicide in her Twitter post that she had lost both her parents and now her idol, she is thinking of giving up her life instead.

Extreme? "Weird"? Social Media Abuse?

Some extremist might even post pictures of them hurting themselves on Twitter or Facebook just to let the community know how upset they were and how important this idol is to them. This is totally against the law as some other people that are thinking of committing suicide might have really done it after seeing someone with similar experience had already done so, therefore following on attempting suicide.

Fandom Wars

Another effect of social media is that fans tend to abuse social media by using it to leave hate speech on posts by other celebrities that they either don't support or their competition such as the rivalry of EXO-Ls and VIPs in 2015 according to Koreaboo (2018). They often compare to each other and argue which is better.

This really creates a bad trend on the social media as you're scrolling your new feeds, you see hate speeches everywhere, attacking, insulting each other. It acceptable to support who you love but don't hate because they are your rivals. In fact, some of these groups are from the same entertainment company and are good friends, so why should fans hate each other for no reason at all. Fans get raged when their group did not win any awards and get jealous when other groups won the title and start backlashing them through social media behind screens.

Conclusion

So is fandom normal? Are they extreme and "weird"? According to Arzadon (2020), there is nothing wrong with fandom culture and to be a fan of someone or something but most importantly there are still standards of behavior that needs to be met and understood by everyone involved. We shouldn't be over obsessive, violent and bully because in the end, everyone is still a person that needs to live a normal life.

Lastly, is fandom a beautiful thing?

Yes!

Is it dangerous?

Yes!

List of References

Arzadon, L., 2021. Is Fandom Culture Bad?. [online] The Tower. Available at: <https://sbadamsthetower.com/4622/ae/arts-entertainment/is-fandom-culture-bad/> [Accessed 9 May 2021].

BBC News. 2017. Jonghyun fans take comfort in 'pearl aqua Moon' images. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42436476> [Accessed 9 May 2021].

Dam-young, H., 2017. Indonesian fan attempts suicide following Jonghyun‘s death. [online] Koreaherald.com. Available at: <http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20171221000714> [Accessed 9 May 2021].

Koreaboo. 2018. 6 Biggest Fanwars In K-Pop History That We’re Thankful Are In The Past. [online] Available at: <https://www.koreaboo.com/lists/kpop-history-remember-biggest-fanwars/> [Accessed 9 May 2021].

MTV. 2018. ARMY: Inside The World's Most Powerful Fandom - | MTV. [online] Available at: <https://www.mtv.com/video-clips/romgsq/army-inside-the-world-s-most-powerful-fandom> [Accessed 7 May 2021].

Ross, A., 2020. The best fandom names in pop. [online] Planetradio.co.uk. Available at: <https://planetradio.co.uk/hits-radio/entertainment/music/pop-fan-nicknames/> [Accessed 7 May 2021].

Yeo, A., 2021. ‘Emotional support K-pop boys’ help fans with their mental health. [online] Mashable SEA. Available at: <https://sea.mashable.com/social-good/11974/emotional-support-k-pop-boys-help-fans-with-their-mental-health> [Accessed 8 May 2021].

[simon97king]

Is Korean Fandom a friendly space for Malaysian fan?

In this era filled with digital technology, lots of activities could be done on the internet, especially the social media, one of it will be fandom. When I see the word 'fandom', the first direct terms that came into my mind are K-pop, K-drama, all sorts of 'Hallyu' , a global phenomenon that signifies the spread of Korean popular culture, such as their pop music, dramas, etc. Other than 'Hallyu', I know there is also other types of fandom, such as anime fandom, movies fandom, western countries pop singers, etc. Anything that have a state or attitude of being a fan, that will be fandom. So, you have guessed it right! Today's topic is more interesting, which is fandom, and we will also be discussing about fandom in Malaysian fans, is it a friendly space or not? Below is the main cast of drama Vincenzo that I "fandomed" recently 😜

The Term 'Fandom'

'Fan' refers to "an enthusiastic devotee usually as a spectator" (Merriam Webster 2021).

'Fandom' refers to "the state of being a fan of someone or something, especially a very enthusiastic one" (Cambridge Dictionary 2021).

By the definition, fan and fandom are correlated to each other. Fandom provides fans a medium to engage and communicate with other fans that shares same interests (Abd Rahim 2019). It is an essential mediating factor of relationship between fans and the object fans their fanaticism, and between individual fans themselves (Abd Rahim 2019).

In this era of arising digital technology, fans participated in a variety of online discussions related to their interests. They form groups to devote to specific music genres and individual stars, encourage daily interactions within the fandom, between fans and the music industry (Abd Rahim 2019).

Here comes an example of fandom: I remember when the k-drama, Vincenzo first premiered on Netflix, there are already a lot of discussions on the drama itself, and also the casts. When I scroll through my social media (Instagram, YouTube), there are quite a number of fan-made videos, short scenes of the funny moments, and others. When I googled the drama, there are also a lot of discussions regarding the drama's plot, and nevertheless shipping the main cast to be in a relationship (that happened every time in romance genre 😂).

Healthy and Toxic Fandom

Fandom has the advantage of creating sense of community and help boost self-esteem of a person. However, it also has downsides, it is sometimes detrimental, where fandom could foster toxicity around a given figure or franchise. To illustrate, a South Korean celebrity, Sulli was found dead caused by suicide, and the reason was guessed to be the attacked by the community, together suffering from depression (Boroweic 2019).

Good fandom is healthy, appreciative, that support each other in a collaborative community. The opposite is only toxic and abusive.

Influences of Fandom

Korean fandom have appeared to be influencing, industries such as food and cosmetics have been using them to market their products. Below is a video shows a Korean celebrity, Siwon Choi, doing advertisement for Mi Sedap new flavor Korean Spicy Soup instant noodle. Mi Sedap is a top-leading instant noodle company from Malaysia.

(Link to Mi Sedaap Facebook 2020)

And the comments on the video posts are quite engaging and positive, showing that the celebrity did somehow boost the product visibility. Another thing will be the Malaysia community towards this 'Hallyu' fandom is mostly accepted.

(Image captured from Mi Sedaap Facebook 2020)

In addition, in a news post from Syok (2021) stated that Malaysian K-pop fans composed of the 7th biggest market for K-pop-related conversations on Twitter by tweet volume, according to statistics collected by Twitter and fandom data observatory K-pop Radar.

Again, these shows that Malaysian are having high acceptance on Korean fandom, we couldn't say there are no toxic fandom within Malaysian, but based on the statistics, majority are accepting and loving it.

To conclude...

Everyone have different likes and dislikes, even Korean fandom will have somebody that hates it. I believe fandom is a friendly space for Malaysian, where the condition to share the same interests. Apart from that, Malaysian generally also act ethically on the Internet, especially social media. This will ensure that people don't get conflicted easily, and make the internet a friendly space, and a friendly space for fandom.

———————- This is a cute ending line ————————-

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! 😍

References

Abd-Rahim, A. (2019). Online Fandom: Social Identity and Social Hierarchy of Hallyu Fans. Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography, 9(1), 65–66. https://doi.org/10.15273/jue.v9i1.8885

Borowiec, S. (2021, January 29). Is South Korea’s caustic obsession with celebrity to blame for the early demise of another young starlet? Steven Borowiec discusses the soul-searching in the country after Sulli’s death. CNA. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/south-korea-celebrity-sulli-f-x--suicide-cause-death-12018318

Cambridge University Press. (n.d.). Fan. In Cambridge University Press. Retrieved May 9, 2021, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fandom

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Fan. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved May 9, 2021, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fan

Syok. (2021, February 4). Malaysia Ranks Seventh Among Countries With Most Tweets About K-pop. https://en.syok.my/viral/malaysia-ranks-seventh-among-countries-with-most-t

This is a blog post for educational purpose only for unit MDA20009 Digital Communities.

[simon97king]

Week 9 - Fandom

What is fandom?

Fandom, a word that spread rapidly through nations, often means a community formed by the fans of a particular game, books, actor and actress, movies, and many more (Hunt 2016). Some people might consider themselves not being part of fandom. Still, never they know that they have already been part of the fandom community whenever you started to loop a piece of certain music, begin to follow a game streamer, or even watching a drama series constantly. All these can be considered as an act of fandom. Fandom has been a part of the community in various ways, and it has been affecting the community. Let us watch the video below to find out more about fandom:

How does fandom work?

Fandom is formed through having a common interest among a group of strangers. These strangers will group and form their community that spread worldwide through the power of social media (Pursey 2018). Brands and media often take advantage of the news spreading speed of social media to create more members to join the fandom community. People will somehow be interested in something, and that is how these brands and media get you. The constant growth of fandom in social media is tremendous, causing social media to become the platform where the brands and media target their consumers. Let us find out more about how does fandom work in the video below:

Social media in fandom. Good or bad?

Social media has always served as a double-edged sword in almost every event that happens worldwide. The success of an artist strongly depends on fan activism. Through social media, fandom can boost an artist's popularity by sharing information and promoting their idol. However, at the exact moment, fans with a toxic mentality like assume an artist is an object and "I made that artist who they are" often cause a negative influence on the fandoms (Derseh 2019). This made us think twice; social media in fandom help artists to succeed in their career, also might causing them to fail at the same time. Remember, the network is amplifying your thoughts (Lindsay 2019). Now, what do you think? Watch the video below and think again.

Conclusion:

Is fandom excellent or bad? I guess you already have a thought in your mind, but I would like to share mine. Fandom is good but only when it is treated positively, and self-control will is essential to keep it that way. When a person is too extreme in the fandom culture, things might go the different way that we want it. In conclusion, fandom culture is cool when you keep it that way.

Reference list:

Derseh, M., 2018. Social Media in fandom. [online] Medium. Available at: <https://medium.com/meron-d3r53h/social-media-in-fandom-9f1382d76eb8> [Accessed 9 May 2021].

Hunt, S., 2016. What Being A Part Of A 'Fandom' Means. [online] The Odyssey Online. Available at: <https://www.theodysseyonline.com/fandom-meaning> [Accessed 9 May 2021].

Lindsay, K., 2019. The Good, The Bad, The Loud: Welcome To Fandom Fridays. [online] Refinery29.com. Available at: <https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/06/234404/fandom-fridays-introduction> [Accessed 9 May 2021].

Pursey, T., 2018. Building audiences and delighting fandoms on social media: six insights. [online] Medium. Available at: <https://medium.com/flyingobject/building-audiences-and-delighting-fandoms-on-social-media-six-insights-4db4de8fa4ae> [Accessed 9 May 2021].

Youtube. 2014. How Does Fandom Work?. [online] Available at: <https://youtu.be/EmuuOJms62s> [Accessed 9 May 2021].

Youtube. 2017. Are Fandoms Good or Unhealthy Obsessions?. [online] Available at: <https://youtu.be/onxeBOnjWnU> [Accessed 9 May 2021].

Youtube. 2021. Fandoms (Animation). [online] Available at: <https://youtu.be/clO20WqStuw> [Accessed 9 May 2021].

[simon97king]

Week 8 - Crowdsourcing & Crowdfunding

So how can we incorporate crowdsourcing and social media together effectively? Zote (2019) stated crowdsourcing is asking people for their opinions and the information is used to feed either product development, customer service or marketing campaigns. Zote (2019) also mentioned that social media crowdsourcing can provide valuable insights about customers and how they feel about your business. This can allows the company to have a brief idea on what to improve for their current product or services in order to suit the taste of their targeted cuuch it is as it can be in a form of money, a medium of exchanging goods and services.

Examples of Crowdsourcing through Social Media

So how can we incorporate crowdsourcing and social media together effectively? Zote (2019) stated crowdsourcing is asking people for their opinions and the information is used to feed either product development, customer service or marketing campaigns. Zote (2019) also mentioned that social media crowdsourcing can provide valuable insights about customers and how they feel about your business. This can allows the company to have a brief idea on what to improve for their current product or services in order to suit the taste of their targeted customer.

Current crowdsourcing campaigns almost always use social media to obtain a higher number of contributions, in theory leading to a better quality idea, service or whatever the desired end-product might be (Marchionda, n.d.). This is why most companies starts to own Facebook pages, Instagram and Twitter accounts to reach to more customers as out of 7.82 billion people in the world, 50.64% of the population use social networks, regardless of age or internet access (Dean, 2021). It a huge opportunity to get ideas from the crowd.

Examples of Crowdfunding through Social Media

According to Wu (2015), there are many tips for social media to help in crowdfunding campaigns such as choosing the right social channel that will provide the most impact and also by selecting a campaign hashtag so once it's shared to the public, people might not remember the name of the campaign but they sure will remember the short and catchy campaign hashtag. Campaign hashtag will allow the admin to organize all posts into one single topic page, through this the community can view all of the relevant information all in just one place. There are some example on crowdfunding campaigns that uses social media to help kids out that are struggling with COVID-19, cancer or education funds. These campaign can be promoted through social media in the form of posters with very straight away information for users to understand instantly. This is because while we are browsing through social media like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, we often don't go into details and just scroll through them therefore having a attractive but relatively straight forward poster is important to catch the eyes of the social media user so that the message can be passed on.

Sometimes although the main goal is to raise funds, but donation is not always the most important part of the campaign when you are on social media but is to ask for shares (Nigel, n.d.). This is to widen your reach and raising awareness about your crowdfunding campaigns. The timing is also important, therefore it is important to know the peak time for you to post what you need on different social media platform. Nigel (n.d.) stated that Peak times on Facebook are between 6:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. while peak times on Twitter are between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., choose time to post wisely to get maximum reach!

To conclude, social media has grown tremendously over the decades and both crowdsourcing, crowdfunding should really make full use of them. Developers for different social platform had also given authorized organization to add a donate button for communities to directly donate funds to the organization be it about the environment, education or saving animals. Organizations can also host competitions such as "MightMinds" for anyone to participate around the globe to get amazing ideas with the help from the crowd.

List of References

Dean, B., 2021. How Many People Use Social Media in 2021? (65+ Statistics). [online] Backlinko. Available at: <https://backlinko.com/social-media-users> [Accessed 29 April 2021].

Fundly. n.d. Sharing Your Crowdfunding Campaign: 3 Terrific Tips. [online] Available at: <https://blog.fundly.com/sharing-crowdfunding-campaign/> [Accessed 1 May 2021].

Marchionda, M., n.d. Crowdsourcing Spreading like Wildfire with Social Media — Intranet design, intranet consultant, intranet consulting, digital workplace consultant - Prescient Digital Media. [online] Prescientdigital.com. Available at: <https://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/crowdsourcing-spreading-like-wildfire-with-social-media#:~:text=Crowdsourcing%20is%20the%20practice%20of,a%20large%20group%20of%20people.&text=Social%20media%20is%20becoming%20an,more%20efficiently%20than%20ever%20before.> [Accessed 30 April 2021].

McGowan, E., 2018. Crowdfunding vs. Crowdsourcing. [online] Startups.com. Available at: <https://www.startups.com/library/expert-advice/crowdfunding-vs-crowdsourcing#:~:text=Crowdfunding%20is%20the%20process%20of,group%20or%20groups%20of%20people.> [Accessed 28 April 2021].

Wu, R., 2015. How to Use Social Media for Crowdfunding Campaigns. [online] Social Media Examiner. Available at: <https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-for-crowdfunding/> [Accessed 1 May 2021].

Zote, J., 2019. How to use social media crowdsourcing effectively. [online] Sprout Social. Available at: <https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-crowdsourcing/> [Accessed 29 April 2021].

[simon97king]

Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding, What are Those?

I believe when people heard or see about crowdsourcing and crowdfunding, they will be confused, including me. These two terms are quite similar in a way that both encourage mass-community collaboration. However, there are two different things entirely. Let's look into further about what is "crowdsourcing" and "crowdfunding" and also the effect of fake news on crowdsourced information!

Definition of Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding

Crowdsourcing is the act of getting work, information or ideas from a mass group of community that submit their data using the Internet, social media, and smart phone applications (Hargrave 2019).

For instance, an GPS assistant and traffic app called Waze encourage users to report road conditions such as accidents to provide live updated information to other app users.

Crowdfunding is the use of small amounts of capital collected from a mass group of community to finance a new business venture (Smith 2021).

It brings investors and entrepreneurs together to increase entrepreneurship by making use of easy accessibility of vast networks of people through social media and crowdfunding websites. Some well-known crowdfunding websites include Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe.

Crowdsourcing: Pros and Cons

Pros #1: Newer Perspectives and True Feedback

For many big companies such as Apple, opt for crowdsourcing as it allows for testing with all kinds of different parameters. Crowdsourcing provides newer perspectives and true feedback as it has greater diversity of thinking. For example, the Lego company setup a portal for their fans around the world to submit their idea for new Lego sets, then the company gets access to a truly diverse set of thoughts and preferences and ends up with suggestions for new products (Peters III 2019).

Pros #2: Cost-Effective

Cost-Effective will be the best part about crowdsourcing. It is very cheap as compared to all other alternatives such as hiring third parties - new designer or innovator. In addition, you will also save a lot of time and money by eliminating processes like brainstorming and validating. In traditional work relationships, company pays hourly wages or salaries, however in crowdsourcing, it provides work-based payments that increase cost effectiveness. Employees are paid according to the type and complexity of the task. In this way, company will also receive value for every cent that are spent (Chrum 2012).

Cons #1: Confidentiality

The limitation about crowdsourcing is that it doesn't leave much room for confidentiality. Like almost everything on Internet could be accessed by almost everyone. Company that have highly sensitive information linked with the problem they are trying to solve may have this concern (Bakire 2021). The company will need to be aware that the information provided does not give competitors a chance to benefits from it.

Cons #2: Brings Poor Qualities Entries

As some ideas from the crowds might not be professional and suitable always, crowdsourcing could also brings poor qualities entries (Fournier 2019).

Company have to know that people are paid higher because of their expertise, while being cost-effective, the outcomes of crowdsourcing will also be inconsistent.

Crowdfunding: Pros and Cons

Pros #1: Ability to Test Market

Crowdfunding allows company to constantly test its design, marketing strategy, and more. As compared to the traditional funding methods, you need a clear strategy to implement before you begin (Startups.com 2021). Company could get feedback about their ideas and understand how to improve it.

Pros #2: Gauge Interest

Company could gauge public interest in its product before the company works on it. Company that successfully crowdfunded a project could get a huge amounts of attention, whether on social media and elsewhere, which could also helps them to grow beyond the amount that were raised. Company wouldn't need to invest thousands to make prototypes of a product that customers are not interested.

Cons #1: Exposes An Entrepreneurs' Idea

Although crowdfunding have all sorts of benefits, it also have some drawbacks. For instance, crowdfunding will expose entrepreneurs' ideas and detailed insider information to potential competitors. This increases the risk that the owner's idea to be plagiarized, especially if the competition are having better finance.

Cons #2: Limited Amount of Money To be Raised

Another downsides of crowdfunding is that the amount of money that could be raised are limited, although it is a fast way to raise finance. Crowdfunding caps the maximum amount allowed to be raised. Because of this, most companies benefit far more from venture capitalists if they were seeking a substantial amount of capital (Nesterenko 2016).

To summarize...

I believe now you will understand more about what are crowdsourcing and crowdfunding. Knowing that social media also adds value to both crowdsourcing and crowdfunding, making them more effective, people should also be aware on the downsides.

———————- This is a cute ending line ————————-

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! 😍

References

Bakire, H. (n.d.). The Top 5 Crowdsourcing Advantages and Disadvantages. HeroX. Retrieved May 1, 2021, from https://www.herox.com/blog/972-the-top-5-crowdsourcing-advantages-and-disadvantag

Chrum, A. (2015, November 30). The Business Value of Enterprise Crowdsourcing Part 3: Increased Cost Effectiveness. CrowdSource. https://www.crowdsource.com/blog/2012/08/the-business-value-of-enterprise-crowdsourcing-part-3-increased-cost-effectiveness/

Crowdfunding: Pros and Cons. (2018, May 11). Startups.Com. https://www.startups.com/library/expert-advice/crowdfunding-pros-cons

Fournier, A. (2019, October 25). 6 Great Advantages of Crowdsourcing You Can Benefit From. Braineet. https://www.braineet.com/blog/crowdsourcing-benefits/

Hargrave, M. (2019, July 8). Crowdsourcing. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crowdsourcing.asp

Nesterenko, O. (2017, April 20). The Pros and Cons of Crowdfunding. Medium. https://medium.com/@OleksiyNesterenko/the-pros-and-cons-of-crowdfunding-aeb05803ba31

Peters, B. (2020, December 18). What is crowdsourcing? What are its advantages and disadvantages? Medium. https://medium.com/assist-2-develop/what-is-crowdsourcing-what-are-its-advantages-and-disadvantages-d754551b57b3

Smith, T. (2021, March 18). Crowdfunding. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crowdfunding.asp

This is a blog post for educational purpose only for unit MDA20009 Digital Communities.

[simon97king]

Week 8 Crowdsourcing & crowdfunding

What is Crowdsourcing?

Crowdsourcing is the process of gathering jobs, facts, or thoughts from a wide number of people who send their information through the Internet, social media, and mobile apps (Hargrave, 2019). Crowdsourcing participants can serve as paying freelancers at times, while others perform minor tasks on a volunteer basis.According to Hargrave (2019), traffic apps allow drivers to monitor crashes and other road violations in order to provide smartphone users with real-time updates.

Benefits of Crowdsourcing

The benefits of crowdsourcing include cost savings, increased speed, and the potential to collaborate with individuals who have expertise that an in-house team can lack. If an assignment normally takes one person a week to complete, a company may reduce the turnaround period to a couple of hours by splitting the job down into several smaller pieces and assigning those components to a crowd of employees (Hargrave, 2019).

According to Hargrave (2019), businesses who only require those work completed on occasion, such as coding or graphic design, will crowdsource certain duties and save money on hiring a full-time in-house employee.

Example of Crowdsourcing

1. Waze

Waze is one of the most influential crowd-sourced start-ups. It is an app that helps users to report traffic delays and provides predictive guidance for the right path to take. Waze crowd sources data by calculating drivers’ speeds to assess traffic delays and asking users to track road closures (Kearns, 2018).

2. Samsung

Even the big boys, like Samsung, recognize the importance of crowdsourcing. In Palo Alto, Samsung has the biggest Crowdsourcing facility. They are looking for new alternatives for current electronic goods and technology from others. They also pursue partnerships with other businesses and individuals who are involved (Kearns, 2018).

What is Crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is the use of small sums of money by a vast group of people to support a new business idea. Crowdfunding leverages the easy connectivity of large networks of people through social media and crowdfunding platforms to connect investors and entrepreneurs, with the ability to increase entrepreneurship by widening the pool of investors beyond the conventional circle of founders, families, and venture capitalists (Smith, 2021).

Types of crowdfunding

Donation

Debt

Rewards

Equity

Crowdsourcing vs. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding, as opposed to crowdsourcing, seeks funds to finance individuals, causes, or startup businesses. People may donate to crowdfunding requests with no intention of return, or businesses may offer contributors stock in the company (Hargrave, 2019).

Reference List

Hargrave, M., 2019. How Crowdsourcing Works, viewed 2 May 2021, <https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crowdsourcing.asp>

Kearns, K., 2018. 9 Great Examples of Crowdsourcing in the Age of Empowered Consumers - Tweak Your Biz, viewed 2 May 2021, <https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/9-great-examples-crowdsourcing-age-empowered-consumers>

Smith, T., 2021. Crowdfunding, viewed 2 May 2021, <https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crowdfunding.asp>

[simon97king]

Week 8 - Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding

What is crowdsourcing?

What is crowdsourcing? Crowdsourcing is the process of gathering ideas and information from the public. Companies and organizations often obtain this information and work from social media or smartphone applications. For example, when you are using Waze, the famous GPS mobile application, you may report the condition of the road you are on. You might think that you are just sharing information around you, but got those companies who entirely use this information might gain a massive amount of value out of it. You might not know you are contributors to crowdsourcing, but you have always been part of this process without you knowing. Watch the video below to find out more:

What is crowdfunding?

Now, what is crowdfunding? Crowdfunding means gathering funds from the crowd. Unlike most of the business with only one or two major investors, crowdfunding is gathering a small amount of donation from many people, mainly from the public community to fund the business or organization. Crowdfunding allows a necessary cash boost for the ventures to start a new project or business from scratch. This campaign often exists on the internet platform and comes in four types of ways to receive money. Crowdfunding can be donation-based, debt-based, reward-based, and equity-based. The details of each type of crowdfunding will be explained in the video below:

How to use crowdsourcing and crowdfunding effectively through social media?

Social media, a digital community platform, is an influential news spreader and information miner in this era. Social media help people effectively gather information about your consumers. Their ideas, opinion, preference, and even what they ate for breakfast every morning is a piece of valuable information that will affect your business strategies. Social media allowed you to find out more about your consumers through the information and news feed they share online. Gathering and analyzing the information allowed you to produce a better product or service to serve your consumers better. Constantly improving and upgrading your product or service is essential to keep yourself competing against other competitors. Defining your goals and expectations is essential to ensure you will not lose your way and will not gather unnecessary information for the crowdsourcing you are working on. Choosing the right tactics and channels are also essential to ensure you tackle your target group of consumers effectively.

References:

Brunelli, L., 2021. What Is Crowdsourcing?. [online] The Balance Careers. Available at: <https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-crowdsourcing-3542321> [Accessed 2 May 2021].

Forward. 2021. The power of crowdsourcing in social media campaigns. [online] Available at: <https://forward.agency/insights/the-power-of-crowdsourcing-in-social-media-campaigns/> [Accessed 2 May 2021].

Johnson, S., 2021. What is Crowdfunding?. [online] Businessnewsdaily.com. Available at: <https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4134-what-is-crowdfunding.html> [Accessed 2 May 2021].

Wu, R., 2021. How to Use Social Media for Crowdfunding Campaigns. [online] Social Media Examiner. Available at: <https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-for-crowdfunding/> [Accessed 2 May 2021].

Youtube. 2021. What is Crowdsourcing ?. [online] Available at: <https://youtu.be/nIUFz4DwuK8> [Accessed 2 May 2021].

Youtube.com. 2021. What is Social Media Crowdfunding, Crowdsourcing and Crowdsharing. - Explained. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQFYSSHnp68> [Accessed 2 May 2021].

Youtube.com. 2021. Your Guide to Understanding Crowdfunding. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voF1plqqZJA> [Accessed 2 May 2021].

Zote, J., 2021. How to use social media crowdsourcing effectively. [online] Sprout Social. Available at: <https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-crowdsourcing/> [Accessed 2 May 2021].

[simon97king]

Public health campaigns & communities

What is public health?

The WHO Regional Office for Europe (2021), stated that public health the art and science of preventing illness, extending life, and fostering health through society's active cooperation. Activities are aimed at strengthening public health capacity and services seek to create opportunities that enable people to stay healthy, increase their health and welfare, or keep their health from deteriorating. Public health is concerned with all aspects of health and well-being, not just the eradication of specific illnesses. Many events, such as wellness programmes, are aimed at specific groups. Personal care to individuals, such as vaccines, behavioural counselling, or nutritional recommendations, are included in public health services (WHO Regional Office for Europe 2021). Public health can come in many forms in different social media platform based on their target audience in order for them to share and spread important information to the public society.

What are the examples of public health activity and campaign online?

1. World Health Day: World Health Organization

The day devoted to raising awareness and appreciation of universal health care is known as World Health Day. In 2018, the World Health Organization developed a dedicated ‘campaign basics' page that provided people with the resources they needed to promote World Health Day and spread the word. A fact sheet, an infographic, an official hashtag, free social media squares, and videos were all included on this list. The aim was to encourage people to share locally to attract a larger audience internationally (Rogers 2018). Since the content is available on social media and widely accessible, it is easier for it to spread online.

2. Organ Donation Wales

Organ Donation Wales has a proven track record in inspiring people to discuss the benefits of organ donation. They also took the bold step of hijacking people's coffee orders, which was a subtle way of highlighting the issue of families ignoring their loved ones' wishes (Butteriss & Bradley 2019). The video was very inspiring, and it could impact the people who will watch it on social media.

The dangers to excessive reliance on social media for public health campaign and activity.

Sometimes if a person relied too much on social media for information, it could lead to many problems such as stumbling upon fake news and end up believing about it. The UICC (2020) has also stated that for many years, false and inaccurate medical information about a variety of diseases has been commonly circulated on social media, posing a possible danger to public health due to its fast and successful dissemination. These misinformation activities may be planned and avoiding the risks they pose would take both collaborative and individual actions. Among other instances, the dissemination of false information is simply due to a lack of knowledge of where to obtain accurate information (UICC 2020).

Conclusion

In conclusion, public health is very important, as a campaign to spread awareness between the communities and society for good use. They come in many forms and are promoted differently on different social media platform based on their target demographic. Moreover, it is essential as we should be aware of fake news that is circulating on social media and we should think twice before we chose to share or to believe in the news.

References

Butteriss, C & Bradley, J 2019, The World’s Best Public Health Social Media Campaigns, viewed 24 April 2021, <https://www.bangthetable.com/blog/public-health-social-media-campaigns/>.

Rogers, N 2018, 5 Best Health Social Media Campaigns, viewed 24 April 2021, <https://www.meltwater.com/en/blog/5-best-health-social-media-campaigns#>.

UICC 2020, Fake news: a threat to public health, viewed 24 April 2021, <https://www.uicc.org/news/fake-news-threat-public-health>.

WHO Regional Office for Europe 2021, Public health services, viewed 23 April 2021, <https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/Health-systems/public-health-services>.

[simon97king]

Week 7 - Public Health Campaigns and Communities

We humans nowadays living a much better life as compared to the communities way back in the 60s and 70s but with all of the technologies invented and also how convenient our lives have become, health problems are getting "younger" due to the high standard of living. For the past years, health issues had increased significantly among teenagers and young adults. It normal now to just pour some hot water and get yourself a cup noodle for lunch or when you're thirsty, just pop open a can of soft drink. But are all of these good for our health? Not to mention that junk foods are also getting more and more popular nowadays where mostly are either too sweet, too salty and with lots of preservatives. Smoking, alcohols, unhealthy diets are all causes of health problems in this era.

It's also funny that eat healthy cost more than unhealthy food like KFC and McDonald's. Do public health campaigns really have an impact on the communities? Let's find out!

Public Health Campaigns in Malaysia

There are many types of "killer" in Malaysia - "Heart attack, Cancer, Obesity, Diabetes", especially with COVID-19 all around the world now, if you're having health issues you will be in high risk. Several NGOs and also the government did organize some public health campaigns such as "1 Health 1 Malaysia", "Prevent Obesity" and "Tak Nak". Speaking of "Tak Nak" anti-smoking campaign, it had been so popular way back in around 15 years ago when it started in 2004. There are posters all around Malaysia and students are often given talks about how bad is smoking and how will it harm our health. These are all of the effort in introducing the disadvantages of smoking to the students at a young age so that they will know not to touch those in the future. Tobacco also accounts for a large portion of the disease burden in developing countries, and currently ranked fourth in the world in its contribution to years of life (Ministry of Health Malaysia, 2021). “According to Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL), it was reported that there were 25,688 dialysis patients and 1,884 registered kidney receivers at the end of 2011. As such, health campaigns like this help foster greater awareness on kidney disease, and the importance of healthcare and preventive methods.

Role social media can play in public health

Newberry (2020) stated that social media and healthcare are a powerful combination and social networks have become an important health resource, and not just for millennials. She also mentioned that nearly 90% of older adults have used social media to seek and share health information. Social media is a key way to raise public awareness about new, emerging, and annual health concerns in this modern era. There are now many online fitness classes in different platforms such as YouTube and Facebook trying to reach out to as many people as they could to spread the awareness of being healthy. Even the Malaysian government utilizes Facebook to share on the news about COVID-19 everyday so that it can reach everyone who are using social media which is fairly common now. People can then share the post in their new feeds and reach out even more crowd. The biggest benefit of social media in healthcare is information dissemination where it allows health institutions and organizations to share discoveries, research, health tips and recommendations, and relevant news to the people (Patient Empowerment Network, 2019).

Social Media vs Mental Illness

Social media has become a prominent fixture in the lives of many individuals facing the challenges of mental illness (Naslud et al., 2020). Those who are suffering from mental illness are unlikely to just say it out to people around them but prefer to just express their feelings on the social media, keeping themselves anonymous. This is to protect themselves from others judging them. Other the other hand, most of the time, an act of commit suicide are shown through social media which then alarms everyone around the person that is about to commit suicide and hopefully prevent that horrible tragedy from happening. In the eras where social media don't exist, people suffering from mental illness have no where to "go", they might "locked" themselves down without anyone knowing it and it's really dangerous that way. If they can express through social media and their friends are aware of it, there might still be a chance in helping them get out from that box. Among individuals with serious mental illness receiving community-based mental health services, a recent study found equivalent rates of social media use as the general population, even exceeding 70% of participants (Naslund et al. 2016).

The connection of social media and health

In fact, social media never left us when we talk about health, even through a small act. From YouTubers demonstrating how to eat clean, workout, stay fit to healthcare professionals sharing their thoughts on health and diseases that we are facing in 21st century. Checking COVID-19 reports provided by Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia had became a daily task for everyone to keep themselves updated about the cases around Malaysia and how to avoid them. It had turned into a way for the community to remind themselves to stay safe at all times, protecting themselves and also others. Hashtags like #kitajagakita is also use to remind everyone to keep it hands sanitized, follow the SOPs to prevent the spread of COVID-19. There are also many examples of people successfully cut down their weight after hitting the gym and eating healthy to overcome their obesity problems. The before and after effect will surely impact some ratio of the community to be motivated in also follow their path to get healthy.

With that, we can really see that how important social media is towards the health and how we can promote public health campaigns through it to reach to the maximum people that we can. Hopefully, the overall average health of the community will be getting better with the help of social media and people motivating each other to stay health for what's really called a "better life" in the future. Would you rather enjoy high standard living when you're young and ignoring your health but end up in hospitals for the rest of your life when you body collapse due to health issues? That's up to your choice but the truth is - Health is the most precious treasure anyone can own; Health is everything.

List of References

A.Naslund, J., Bondre, A., Torous, J. and A.Aschbrenner, K., 2020. Social Media and Mental Health: Benefits, Risks, and Opportunities for Research and Practice. [online] Springer Link. Available at: <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41347-020-00134-x> [Accessed 23 April 2021].

Austin, M., 2019. Health Care and Social Media: Importance of Facing Their Challenges - Patient Empowerment Network. [online] Patient Empowerment Network. Available at: <https://powerfulpatients.org/2019/12/18/health-care-and-social-media-importance-of-facing-their-challenges/> [Accessed 23 April 2021].

Newberry, C., 2020. How to Use Social Media in Healthcare: A Guide for Health Professionals. [online] Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard. Available at: <https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-health-care/> [Accessed 21 April 2021].

TAK NAK MEROKOK. n.d. Cigarette Tax Strategy - TAK NAK MEROKOK. [online] Available at: <http://taknak.myhealth.gov.my/en/cigarette-tax-strategy/> [Accessed 23 April 2021].

UCSI University. 2013. 12th Public Health Campaign draws large crowd. [online] Available at: <https://www.ucsiuniversity.edu.my/12th-public-health-campaign-draws-large-crowd> [Accessed 22 April 2021].

[simon97king]

Week 7 - Public Health: Campaign and communities

What is public health?

Public health is the scientific study on the human communities to protect and improve people's health. Public health focuses on securing the health of the entire population, from tiny neighborhoods to large regions. Public health does not merely protect passively. Public health also tends to develop solutions or prevention methods to avoid health issues from happening in the communities. In conclusion, public health's primary goals are to save resources, improve life quality and reduce human suffering.

Public health social media campaign

Social media has been a practical tool to spread public health awareness. Social media have allowed people to share information and collect feedback from the community. Data collected can be used to improve public health. There are several engaging public health social media campaign shared below:

#1 World heart day

The World Heart Federation launched this social media campaign in September 2016 to reduce cardiovascular heart disease (CVDs) and strokes by 2025. CVDs have been taking the life of people approximately 17.9 million people yearly. The World Heart Federation promotes affordable and effective solutions with tests to prevent CVDs more effectively.

#2 Ice bucket challenges: ALS association

ALS stands for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord that cause the loss of body muscle control. This challenge was started by three men pouring a bucket of ice water on themselves to simulate the effect of ALS disease. After the challenge, each man will name a person to continue the challenge. Over a month, 17 million people accepted the challenge and uploaded their videos to social media. The challenge has increased the funding of The ALS Association, allowing them to make a significant scientific research breakthrough.

It is obvious that public health can be promoted with the power of social media, and more people will contribute to it. Social media have been supportive tools to boost the power and the influence of public health to create a better and healthier community.

References:

Cdcfoundation.org. 2021. What is Public Health? | CDC Foundation. [online] Available at: <https://www.cdcfoundation.org/what-public-health> [Accessed 25 April 2021].

Howard, A., 2021. 10 Effective Public Health Social Media Campaigns. [online] SSML. Available at: <https://strategicsocialmedialab.com/10-effective-public-health-social-media-campaigns/> [Accessed 25 April 2021].

The ALS Association. 2021. Ice Bucket Challenge dramatically accelerated the fight against ALS. [online] Available at: <https://www.als.org/stories-news/ice-bucket-challenge-dramatically-accelerated-fight-against-als> [Accessed 25 April 2021].

World Health Organization. 2021. World Heart Day. [online] Available at: <https://www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseases/world-heart-day/en/> [Accessed 25 April 2021].

Youtube.com. 2021. Before you continue to YouTube. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDmx4jMT6NY&t=5s> [Accessed 25 April 2021].

Youtube.com. 2021. Before you continue to YouTube. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqTxhoN507c> [Accessed 25 April 2021].

Youtube.com. 2021. Before you continue to YouTube. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_eWESXTnic> [Accessed 25 April 2021].

[simon97king]

Week 6 - Digital Citizenship 2: Activism & Protest

What is Activism?

Activism could come in many meanings. It could be an ideology, an effort, or even a policy. However, these events or thoughts of activism are eventually moving toward the same goal, to achieve a political or social goal through actions and effort. Activism can come in a variety of forms, from writing letters to having campaigns or protests.

One recent activism case is the Xin Jiang cotton incident. Almost all the actor and actresses from China boycotts and or terminated their contracts with premium brands such as Nike, H&M, and many other popular western brands.

What is Protest?

A protest is an event or action when many people group to voice their opinions on society's incident. Protest often aiming to influence public opinion, draw public attention, promote public policy, appeal for justice, and many more. In the past, people protest through public speeches, street marches, boycotts, and rallies. However, these have been proven to be inactive and dangerous, especially during this Covid 19 pandemic. Grouping together only gave the virus the best opportunity to spread among the people. It causes loss of life and country image.

Ever think of digital protest?

Why would you risk your precious life to protest on the street? Why waste your energy when you can speak out your opinion more effectively? Well, digital and online activism is a great way to increase the spreading of news and the rate of communication between the citizens. Use your internet tools such as Facebook and Instagram, blogs such as Tumblr, and many other online platforms and tools to help you spread the news.

References:

Anti-Defamation League. 2021. The Purpose and Power of Protest. [online] Available at: <https://www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/the-purpose-and-power-of-protest> [Accessed 11 April 2021].

CNN. 2021. H&M, Nike, and other brands face boycott in China over 'Xinjiang cotton' concerns - CNN Video. [online] Available at: <https://edition.cnn.com/videos/business/2021/03/25/china-boycott-hm-nike-intl-hnk-vpx.cnn> [Accessed 11 April 2021].

RESET.to. 2021. Digital and Online Activism | Responsibility. [online] Available at: <https://en.reset.org/knowledge/digital-and-online-activism> [Accessed 11 April 2021].

Youtube.com. 2021. Before you continue to YouTube. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxXLV8VIJj8> [Accessed 11 April 2021].

Youtube.com. 2021. Before you continue to YouTube. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3za3TdhrRE> [Accessed 11 April 2021].

[simon97king]

WEEK 5- DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP 1: POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT

What is Digital Citizenship?

We all know what it means by digital and what it means by citizenship when they stand alone, but do you know what does it mean when both of these words combined? Citizenship is the value of a person react to its membership in a community (Heick 2018). Citizenship does not mean an individual is legally staying in a country. Still, at the same time, an individual also has to take responsibility and present its value as a member of society. Thus, we can say that digital citizenship means a person affecting the digital community through the value of individual behavior. Let us find out why is it essential:

What is Political Engagement?

Political engagement happens when the citizen speaks out their opinion and starts to get involved in making the decision that will affect their lives and how the world should be governed. Political campaign and speech are a few of the common ways citizens engage in politics ( Wike & Castillo 2018). Young and educated citizens are more likely to participate in political engagement activities. They are more prepared and rational in participating the political engagement. The advancement of social media has brought social engagement to another level. Educated youngsters have found an effective way to share their political thought, which is through social media. Political engagement through social media is low-cost and effective.

List of References:

Bournemouth.ac.uk. n.d. Understanding political engagement | Bournemouth University. [online] Available at: <https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/projects/understanding-political-engagement> [Accessed 4 April 2021].

Heick, T 2018, The definition of digital citizenship | teachthought.[online] Available at: <https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/the-definition-of-digital-citzenship/> [Accessed 4 April 2021].

Wike, R. and Castillo, A., 2021. Political Engagement Around the World. [online] Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project. Available at: <https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2018/10/17/international-political-engagement/> [Accessed 25 May 2021].

Youtube.com. 2021. Before you continue to YouTube. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIll6YjE2ds&t=45s> [Accessed 5 April 2021].

Youtube.com. 2021. What is political participation?. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHe6TMMJmDQ> [Accessed 25 May 2021].