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Official Blog Post #8

 Global Media: Taking on China

China is currently by far the world’s most active social-media population(Chiu et al. 2012).  Internet usage within China has expanded significantly, with some 58 percent of consumers reporting that they used a smartphone to browse social-media sites at least once a week, compared with 43 percent of consumers in the United States (Chiu et al. 2012). Although China has an online presence of about 731 million,  China does have a very different approach to social media then say the western world, and this is due to the highly government restricted censorship called the great firewall of china. This can be more commonly referred to as the golden shield project. The government action was to block the accessibility of certain sites on the internet, including sites such as Gmail, Google Doc, Facebook, Youtube and Twitter and to slow down cross-border internet traffic (Wikipedia, 2018). The great firewall has been considered the largest, most advanced internet censorship in the world ( Hoffman, 2016) as the Chinese control the internet gateways through a configuration of proxy and firewalls, manipulating the traffic that travels through china and the rest of the internet (Hoffman, 2016).        

Because of the great firewall, Chinas social media is very different to the wester worlds with domestic developers introducing safe network sites that ultimately mimic popular social media sites that the rest of the world would have normal access to. For example:

Whats app >  WeChat 

Whats app is an app that allows users to instantaneously stay in touch with families and friends through direct messages and calls on all mobile devices. However, a company in China called Tencent, implemented their own replicated version of Whats app and named it Wechat. The app worked similarly to that of Whatsapp however all users in China who use Wechat are voluntarily allowing the Chinese government to share and access their information (BBC, 2017). 

Twitter > Weibo

After a protest was formed online  in 2009, it saw Twitter being blocked as a way for the Chinese government to take action and tackle and control what is shared online, especially talk of politics.  Weibo micro blog mimics twitter with the 140 word character count, however the difference is more users prefer to share information about their families and friends then say talk politics or troll celebrities, and this can be an outcome of the whole censorship restrictions and how strict the Chinese government is (BBC, 2017). 

Facebook Messanger > QQ

Just like Wechat, QQ is another social media app that is owned and run by the company Tencent. In competition with Facebook messenger, QQ was introduced. Similar to Facebook messenger, QQ to is an instant messaging software developed to offer people in China with an app that provides access to online social games, online shopping, group chats and more. As of April 2014, QQ had over 200 million recorded users ( Wikipedia, 2018) dominating the online social networks amongst China (BBC, 2017). 

While messaging and sharing posts and photos are particularly popular in China, it has been predominant that social media usage has had a greater influence on Chinese publics purchasing decision than anywhere else in the world (Chiu et al. 2012). Social media in china has opened greater doors to the increasing popularity of purchase decision making online, with more than 2,000 companies fuelled by e-commerce are now trying to be like Amazon, however the Chinese version (Chiu et al. 2012). It is said that the advertisement of certain products on social media sites has led consumers to more likely consider buying the product, significantly if it was a friend recommending the product online. Personally i highly agree with this as i tend to do the same thing. So its fair to admit that social media now plays a large role in a companies overall success. 

Amongst the social media sites used in China, there is a distinct categorisation of six different social media groups (Chiu et al. 2012):

1. Social enthusiasts: About 15% of social media users are categorised as social enthusiasts, typically using social media to build and maintain friendships and are commonly younger adolescents.

2. Resenders: Typically 15% of participants who use social media as a means to promote themselves, actively spend long period of time online and often have a large following despite rarely posting their own content and reposting form external sources. 

3. Readers: Accounts for14% of users that devote their social online time to reading others work than posting and commenting on blog posts. 

4. Opinionated users: Makes up 14% of users that  build large personal followings through expressing their own opinions. 

5. QQ spillovers: Individuals who gain access to social media sites through the use of QQ and their developer Tencent. 

6. Inactives: While these particular individuals do belong to social media sites, they however do not participate in a meaningful way. 

Its very clear that social media in China is greatly different to social media within the Western World. I dont think that i could personally live if sites such as Facebook and youtube were banned, especially google?? How do they google their symptoms to see if they are dying or not? 

Anyway, it will be interesting to see just how far China grows with such censorship restrictions and if the rest of the world might follow this trend as a way to properly control the mess that social media has become.

References:

Chiu, C. Lin, D. Silverman, A 2012, ‘China’s social-media boom’, McKinsey & Company, pp.1-7 [Accessed 28 May 2018].

Websites blocked in mainland China - Wikipedia. 2018. Websites blocked in mainland China - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Websites_blocked_in_mainland_China. [Accessed 28 May 2018].

Tencent QQ - Wikipedia. 2018. Tencent QQ - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tencent_QQ. [Accessed 28 May 2018].

How the “Great Firewall of China” Works to Censor China’s Internet . 2018. How the “Great Firewall of China” Works to Censor China’s Internet . [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.howtogeek.com/162092/htg-explains-how-the-great-firewall-of-china-works/. [Accessed 28 May 2018].

Social media and censorship in China: how is it different to the West? - BBC Newsbeat. 2018. Social media and censorship in China: how is it different to the West? - BBC Newsbeat. [ONLINE] Available at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/41398423/social-media-and-censorship-in-china-how-is-it-different-to-the-west

. [Accessed 29 May 2018].Bloomberg.com. 2018. The Great Firewall of China - Bloomberg. [ONLINE] Available at:

https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/great-firewall-of-china

. [Accessed 29 May 2018].

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A teenager in Gansu Province who commented on police brutality has been detained as part of the government’s crackdown on online rumors.

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Official Blog Post #7

Social Gaming: Playing the Crowd

I would not entirely give myself the label of a regular gamer, but i do play a lot of xbox and PS3 from time to time, which is odd because i’m a girl right?

Just kidding, lets not get into that debate....

So getting back on track, this week was all things surrounding the magnificent creation of social gaming.  Playing video games in the past was a social experience, gaming meant arcades and in home gaming. But now Social gaming has evolved rapidly and the gaming community is increasingly expanding by the day. Social media is a key contributor in this. In fact, research shows that about one-half of social network users play games on social media sites at least occasionally with 15 percent of the time users spend on Facebook is spent playing games (Stevens j, 2017). Pretty much everyone who uses Facebook users for example are exposed to social gaming each and every time they log in. Your classic examples of games on Facebook include Farmville, Zynga poker, Candy crush and words with friends to name a few. Acknowledging how many people use social media, its not uncommon that gaming companies would want to shift their games made solely for computers and consoles to social media. Games that are made entirely online can be played on pretty much any device, making them available 24/7. This is one of the main reasons why gaming online has become such a huge industry.  

So What is meant by the term ‘to play’? Play is a free activity standing quite consciously outside ordinary life as being ‘Not serious’ but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly (Homo Ludens, 1938).  What we can see happening more and more with the term “play” is that people are shifting away from normal social gaming and are finding ways to be social using social media platforms, particularly for video game channels through their desktops at home or on their smartphones. A clear example of this is the well known Swedish Youtuber Pewdiepie. The popular "Let's Play" Youtuber who is the most subscribed individual on YouTube with over 61 million subscribers literally makes money off filming videos of himself playing video games. Difficult as it may be to believe, but online audiences seek to watch strangers play video games with Let’s Plays surging in popularity. 

The rise of online gaming allows players to perceive themselves in alternate ways in imagined worlds. Player identification is one of the outcomes of gameplay experiences in these worlds, enabling individuals with the opportunity for people to create new identities, through custom player identification. Such changes can include gender, bodily structure, beauty features and ethnicity for example. This allows individuals to have strong attachments with their custom avatars, particularly in multiple online role-playing games (MMORPGs). However, Avatar-based customisation has the potential to impact player identification by shaping the relationship between the player and the character.  

Social gaming online has also opened new opportunities for individuals to connect and create friendships. Over 70% of gamers play with a friend, by playing against each other or working cooperatively in a team.  Games such as World of warcraft open up virtual worlds and communities that extend far beyond the computer screen, giving gamers the ability to connect with players locally or team up with people from countries around the world. Games such as FarmVille may improve players' social skills and encourage pro-social behaviours. Social benefits of playing video games are greatest when players play games specifically designed to reward pro-social behaviours such as effective cooperation, support, and helping other players, with studies suggesting that children who played more pro-social games at the beginning of the school year were more likely to exhibit helpful behaviours later that year (Wilber J, 2017).  Individuals would rather communicate online then in person. According to Pew Pew research, playing online video games helps 78 percent of teens feel more connected to those they already know; 52 percent also report feeling closer to friends whom they only know online (ESA, 2018). 

Social gaming is a $2.7 billion industry, and according to casino org, out of all of the people who gamble on social media, 61% of them do it on Facebook. It was said that the global social casino market through online social networking sites such as Facebook was set to hit $4.2 billion by 2016. Online gambling has been highly evident with Players at the Royal Vegas Australian Casino being able to play on their desktop or portable computers, smartphones and tablets (Talk Business). Because online gaming can be a billion dollar industry, it is evident why exclusively online play is being highly focused on. 

  A downside to social gaming online has been that social media can damage the reputation of some online gaming companies, especially when people who test out the games are quick to take to social media to review the product on Twitter or youtube. With just how viral  bad reports can be within the gaming community, it can ultimately damage the reputation of the games company. 

Another negative factor from social online gaming is the addiction that can quickly stem from online gaming. Personally, my mum is a massive addict to candy crush. To the point where she is on level 500 and something, crazy right. She could spend hours on it and not even realise just how quickly time has flown past and at times takes to social media to receive help from friends on levels. It is also evident that people spend actual money towards games, either paying for more lives or tools to help them pass certain levels. So while social gaming online can be easily accessible and fun way of connecting online, it also has its negatives that we need to be cautious of as it continues to expand rapidly. 

References:

How Social Media Is Changing the Gaming World – Adweek. 2018. How Social Media Is Changing the Gaming World – Adweek. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.adweek.com/digital/john-stevens-hosting-facts-guest-post-how-social-media-is-changing-the-gaming-world/. [Accessed 22 May 2018].https://levelskip.com/misc/The-Many-Social-Benefits-of-Playing-Video-Games

The Entertainment Software Association. 2018. Video Games Help Make Lifelong Friendships - The Entertainment Software Association. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theesa.com/article/video-games-help-make-lifelong-friendships/. [Accessed 22 May 2018].http://www.theesa.com/article/video-games-help-make-lifelong-friendships/

The evolution of the Internet and online gaming | Talk Business. 2018. The evolution of the Internet and online gaming | Talk Business. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.talk-business.co.uk/2016/05/06/evolution-internet-online-gaming/. [Accessed 22 May 2018].

Social Gambling 2018: A Guide to Casino Games on Facebook. 2018. Social Gambling 2018: A Guide to Casino Games on Facebook. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.casino.org/social/. [Accessed 22 May 2018].

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I just can’t help myself

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The original. The standard. The now.

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The wonderful @magical-latte made me this amazing gif :)

Thank you so much

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Official Blog Post #6

  Public Health Campaigns &  Communities 

The concept of “health” refers to personal and communal well-being, both physically and mentally (Dosemagen and Aese, 2017). Social communities have long relied heavily on network channels to raise awareness of public health-related issue and facilitate behaviour or change.  Using Social Media Platforms to promote Health campaigns on social media not only brings awareness, however amplifies Public Health Messages. Social media blogs have been widely adopted by individuals experiencing serious, chronic 2 and life-threatening illness as a way of documenting and sharing experiences, exploring treatment options, and connecting with others who have knowledge or experience with a particular illness (McCosker, 2008; Kotliar, 2015). Personally,  when i was a typical 14 year old who used tumblr excessively, i would take to social media to share my thoughts and opinions on basically anything. Social media offered myself with the freedom to comfortably express myself in conversations, especially with individuals that ultimately shared similar mental health issues. In addition, its easy to assume that there are thousands of other individuals that would use social media the same way to express their thoughts and opinions. For this reason, Campaigns surrounding mental health have been strongly active through social media platforms due to the large number of people who live in the world and those who use social media. The power of social networking is such that the number of worldwide users is expected to reach some 3.02 billion monthly active social media users by 2021, around a third of Earth’s entire population (Statista, 2017). Some examples of social media benefitting campaigns includes:

ALS ice Bucket Challenge

 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, also known as Amyotrphic lateral sclerosis, is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.  In the summer of 2014, three men who suffered from the ALS disease  motivated the rest of the world to douse buckets of cold water, filming and posting online in an attempt to promote awareness of the disease. If those who were nominated did not undertake the challenge within 24 hours they were to donate money towards the ALS/MND organisation. The Ice Bucket Challenge may be one of the most powerful examples of the influence of social media over our behaviour, as the number of participants soared, donations to the ALS Association skyrocketed. Videos uploaded to Facebook in 2014 saw more than 17 million people participating in the craze, with videos being watched by an audience of around 440 million, 10 billion times (ALSA, 2014).  According to ALSA organisation website, from July 25th, 2014 to September 15th, 2014, the ALSA received over $114 million in donations, compared with approximately $5 million from the same time period in 2013 (ALSA, 2014).  ALSA social media activity also saw a significant boost in followers with 2014 stats representing a total 9,000 followers on twitter and Facebook 350 likes, when compared to 2018 ALS association has 920,000 likes on Facebook and 30.5k followers on twitter. This ice bucket challenge greatly altered the traditional methods of fundraising and gaining awareness and has shown how significant  social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are when reaching millions of people, while also putting a new element of fun and excitement into donating towards a cause. 

Another relevant example of social media and health campaigns is the Movember campaign.

Movember is a charity event concerned with men’s health. The event takes place during November and predominantly involves male participants (mobros) being sponsored to grow a moustache and document the activity (Burgess, cassidy & Light, 2013).  Movember is a great case in point about how social media can be used to highlight a cause, have some fun and get those donations pouring in. Social media is practically the core of Movember, with Movember  having presences on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Twitter (Burgess, cassidy & Light, 2013).  In 2011, it was recorded that more than 850,000 “Mo Bros and “Mo sistas” participated in Movember, raising $126 Million. It is established that Facebook contributed to such a large number due to the sginificant encouragement of participants and supporters of Movember, promoting the campaign through uploaded photos. In an article conducted by Justin lafferty, Lafferty interviewed Movember CEO Adam Garone. Garone shared how Facebook helped the campaign grow stating that Movember’s online and offline platforms combined raised$126 million in 2011, changing the face of mens health. And this was fulfilled due to participants using Facebook pages to start conversations about the issue of men’s health, post photos and videos to drive awareness and promote the movember.com website, enabling public communities with an accessible link to donate towards the cause. 

As great as social media is in promoting campaigns and gaining awareness and donations, it has also been linked to creating more mental health issues for individuals. Social media can be a toxic place when individuals are exposed to bullying, harassment, societies standards of beauty online and living expectations. A survey conducted by the London-based Royal Society for Public Health found that young adolescents were affected by social media with social media sites such as Instagram that primarily focus on people’s physical appearance were “contributing to a generation of young people with body image and body confidence issues” (Theweek, 2018). One recent psychological survey has investigated ‘the FOMO factor’, or the fear of missing out, as a contributor to anxiety and depression among young users of social media (Australian Psychological Society, 2015) while other studies suggesting that approximately 45% of Australian teenagers feel that their peers are having more rewarding experiences than them. McCosker states that social media changes the way health experiences and mental wellbeing are made publicly visible. With more and more encounters of individuals publicly sharing and promoting mental health, It is easy for anyone to share photos and #depression or #suicide, drawing negative attention on serious matters and triggering those who seriously suffer from such health issues. 

So while social media is excellent for helping public health issues gain awareness and reach millions, we must also acknowledge that social media definitely wont put an end in fighting all major health problems, and that social media can in fact be a contributing factor that creates and causes such problems for individuals that we are growing awareness of.... confusing right?.

References: 

Statista. 2018. Social media - Statistics & Facts | Statista. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.statista.com/topics/1164/social-networks/. [Accessed 21 May 2018]

The CPA Journal. 2018. Redeeming Value of Social Media: How the Ice Bucket Challenge Invigorated the ALS Association - The CPA Journal. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.cpajournal.com/2017/08/16/redeeming-value-social-media-ice-bucket-challenge-invigorated-als-association/. [Accessed 18 May 2018]. 

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: The Impact of Social Media on Health Communication | Tufts Public Health. 2018. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: The Impact of Social Media on Health Communication | Tufts Public Health. [ONLINE] Available at: https://sites.tufts.edu/publichealth/2014/09/18/the-als-ice-bucket-challenge-the-impact-of-social-media-on-health-communication/. [Accessed 18 May 2018].

Facebook, Movember Teamed Up To Raise Millions For Men’s Health – Adweek. 2018. Facebook, Movember Teamed Up To Raise Millions For Men’s Health – Adweek. [ONLINE] Available at http://www.adweek.com/digital/movember-facebook/ [Accessed 18 May 2018].

Burgess, J., Cassidy, E., & Light, B. (2014). ‘Deeply superficial Digital Media Engagement? The Case of Twitter and Movember 2013’. Paper presented at AoIR 15, Daegu, Korea. [Accessed 18 May 2018].

McCosker, A. (2016) 'Digital Mental Health and Visibility: Tagging Depression', in P. Messaris and L. Humphreys, Digital Media: Transformations in Human Communication (2nd edn), Peter Lang.[Accessed 18 May 2018].

The Week UK. 2018. Fact Check: Are social media and mobile phones bad for your mental health? | The Week UK. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theweek.co.uk/checked-out/90557/is-social-media-bad-for-your-mental-health. [Accessed 18 May 2018].

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Public health campaigns and communities

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Official Blog Post #5

Crowd Sourcing in times of crisis

Crowdsourcing refers to a way for like minded individuals to connect through social media networks to achieve a common goal (Farrell 2018). Due to social media playing such a vital role in crisis communication and emergency management (Bruns and Burgess, 2012, p.9) the use of social media for crisis communication is still emerging and thanks to our growing connectivity, it is now easier than ever for individuals to collectively contribute ideas, time, expertise or funds to a project or cause (Houlihan and Harvey, 2018). Anyone, anywhere from around the globe are able to keep updated with information about disastrous events, through this concept of crowd sourcing.  

So why social media? You see, Social network sites are now seen as integral to the way information about disastrous events has come to ‘break’ and circulate ( Farrell, 2018). Due to the social nature of social media being a global platform for mass contribution, when disasters occur, social media plays a large role in the process of information being shared amongst networks at a rapidly fast rate.  Its fair to say that social media has amplified crowd sourcing with platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and twitter all serving as powerful agents for crisis communication.  social media offers any individual who may be experiencing the disaster or incident first-hand, the ability to actively document the event with imagery (Photos and videos) or post general statuses to update their personal social feeds, allowing time relevant information and immediate awareness/action. This is a significant transformation to the way we used to become aware of disasters  in the past, where we used to have to wait for public announcements on local radio stations or the news. 

A relevant example can be established by Facebooks safety check system that is activated  during crisis events such as natural disasters or terrorist attacks. This particular safety feature allows Facebook users to mark that they are safe from the crisis, while also alerting the community of the disaster taking place. This is a strong example of the positives social media plays on spreading awareness of events. One of the earliest instances of this tool being used for crowdsourcing is the 2015 Paris attacks. 2015 saw Paris shaken by a whirl of terrorist attacks, January a deadly assault was unleashed on a popular magazine company , Charlie Hebdo. A pair of Islamist militants armed with assault rifles burst into the magazine’s Paris offices and murdered 11 people, and over the following 48 hours, six more people were killed in attacks in and around Paris. November 2015 saw more terrorist attack take place, with suicide bombers detonating around a soccer stadium, and gun rampages on innocent city bars and clubs. 

The response to the 2015 Paris attacks was massive online. The  safety button was first activated ever for a terrorist attack (Goel & Ember, 2015).  Facebook also provided users with the option to change their profile pictures to the French colours/ Eiffel tower symbol, offering communities to engage and globally support the people of paris and those involved in the attacks online. 

Twitter was also used during this event.  Twitter updated the public on the social network with live statuses in real time as well as allowed people to come together and retweet about the incident. This gave the opportunity for the awareness to spread like wildfire and reach millions, in fact, within 24 hours of the terror attack that claimed many lives, reached 70 million people world wide trough the use of social media ( Laurent, 2015) with most interactions stemming from instagram hashtags #Prayforparis, #Jesuisparis, #prayfortheworld.   

 Its not just online users that are taking to social media to communicate,  larger companies that are classified as national news services have converted to communicating emergency information through social media as well. In an interview conducted by social media researcher, Julie Posetti, found that the ABC relies on social media as ‘employing well-organised social media could have a profound impact in an emergency situation’. The ABC social media coordinator also stated that social media makes a huge impact on reaching the younger demographic who wouldn’t think to turn on their radio in times of an emergency.  This further demonstrates  the positive effect social media as larger businesses are incorporating social media to reach more publics because they know social media can, and will, spread news and events in a fast and accessible way. 

I know that for myself, growing up in an era of social media, i know that i would definitely take to social media to communicate and spread awareness. Crowdsourcing online is one of the most effective ways to connect with others, it is a quick and efficient method of ensuring  everyone has the important, and at times life-saving, information and is much faster than traditional radio alerts and live news because chances are, more people use social media more religiously.  

References:

Encyclopedia Britannica. 2018. Paris attacks of 2015 | Timeline, Events, & Aftermath | Britannica.com. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/event/Paris-attacks-of-2015. [Accessed 17 May 2018].

Executive Summary: ‘#qldfloods and @QPSMedia: Crisis Communication on Twitter in the 2011 South East Queensland Floods’, pp 7-10.Bruns, A., Burgess, J., Crawford, K., Shaw, F. (2012)

Farrell C 2018, ‘Crowd sourcing, MDA2009 Digital Communities, Learning Materials on blackboard, Swinburne University of Technology.

Goel, V & Emver, S 2015, ‘As Paris Terror Attacks Unfolded, Social Media Tools offered help in crisis’, The New York Tmes, 14 November, Viewed 5 May 2018,

Posetti, J 2012, ‘The tTwitterisation of ABC’s Emergency and Disaster Communication’, The Australian Jounrla of Emergency Management, vol.27, no.1, pp. 34-39.

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Official Blog Post #4

Trolling and Social Media Conflict

If you consider yourself to be pretty active on social media, you may have experienced a few encounters  with what many savvy internet users call “online Trolls”. In attempt to best explain what a Troll is, it is best described as a member of an online social community who deliberately tries to disrupt, attack, offend or generally cause trouble within the community by posting certain comments, photos, videos, GIFs or some other form of online content. (Moreau, 2018).  Growing up us a teenager during the rise of social media usage amongst our generation, i have witnessed countless acts of trolling amongst most social media platforms e.g Facebook and Youtube. 

Alongside Trolling  accompanies the act of Bullying. Bullying isn't something new, but it has certainly change drastically over years, and this is due to social media. Swedish psychologist, Dan Olweus, views bullying as a practice in which someone of differential physical or social power subjects another person to repeated psychological, physical, or social aggression (Boyd, 2014, P. 131). Acknowledging that social media grants society full anonymity online and enables a place for individuals to speak their minds freely, it creates a new dimension  on how bullying is constructed and delivered amongst networked publics. 

Social media has become a magnet for cyber bullying due to the social freedoms that the sites allow us to have. Cyber bullying is the act of using technology to hurt someone else by sending hurtful messages, pictures or comments (Kids help, 2018). Cyber bullying is now the second most common form of bullying in Australia. Some behave with no responsibility while others are just plain ruthless. Similar to bullying, cyber bullying however can have a much greater impact than bullying in person. Cyberbullying can lead to mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, and even suicide. According to Anthony McCosker, Pew research identified that the majority of internet users have witnessed forms of online harassment, and that 40% of all internet users report experiencing at least one form of online harassment. 

Cyber bullying and trolling online is so accessible in our generation, you see it everywhere on social media sites. I know that  see it with famous celebrities such as Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, they all receive hate. You even have people going further and creating hate pages dedicated to those individuals. Social media presents a place for the scales of bullying to be significantly high and this is due to the large audiences across social media and the attention they can gain so rapidly if your name circulates across the Platforms.  There have been several stories in the new over the past several years about young adolescents, that were victims of cyberbullying, taking their own lives because they could no longer stand the ridicule. 

Amanda Todd, a young 15 year old Canadian girl committed suicide after she was ridiculed online when she was introduced to an anonymous person on Facebook, the anonymous person liked her so much he convinced Todd to send a nude picture. A year later, the pictures were distributed online, creating a mass bullying epidemic to the point Amanda was forced to move schools in order to escape the bullying. Before her death, Amanda distributed a video on youtube which captures herself sitting in a room with flash cards, sharing her story. The video was titled “My Story” and was seen as a cry for help video, however the means of cyber bullying online was much stronger with individuals mocking and ridiculing her video, which led to Amanda hanging herself a month after the video was posted.  This is a strong example of the effects of social media and bullying. 

Being able to provide a platform that allows anyone, anywhere, to target individuals and utilise their platforms to distribute negativity and harm is a dangerous reality, and this begs the question,  are we doing enough to stop cyber bullying?  In 2015, the Australian Government implemented ‘The enhancing online Safety’ act to further help with protecting online safety of all Australians (Esafety commissioner, 2018).  The government also provides helplines to assist any of whom have experienced bullying on social media E.g Kids helpline, Child protection and lifeline to name a few. Social media platforms such as instagram, Facebook and twitter all implement tools to target hate and harassment by creating buttons for users to press when they want a post removed or blocked. This is beneficial when removing the hate crimes, however does not succeed in actually putting a stop to bullying and trolls. 

Social media is an uninviting place when it comes to Trolling and cyber bullying  and there is no way that we can fully stop people from continuing the disgusting trend unless we put foreword stricter laws against committing the crime and teach people to stand up if they see bullying, or better yet, delete the internet?

References:

Lifewire. 2018. 10 Types of Internet Trolls You'll Meet Online. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.lifewire.com/types-of-internet-trolls-3485894. [Accessed 25 April 2018].

 . 2018. Bullying | Kids Helpline. [ONLINE] Available at: https://kidshelpline.com.au/teens/issues/bullying. [Accessed 25 April 2018].

Boyd, d. (2014) ‘Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty?’, in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, pp.131

McCosker, A. (2016) ‘Managing Digital Citizenship: Cyber Safety as Three Layers of Control’ pp. 3 

Office of the eSafety Commissioner. 2018. Legislation | Office of the eSafety Commissioner. [ONLINE] Available at:

https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-the-office/legislation

. [Accessed 26 April 2018].

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*mic drops*

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Official Blog Post #3

Digital Citizenship: Activism & Protest

This week we discussed digital citizenship, with a major focus on activism and protests amongst online social media platforms. Social media platforms are utilised extensively by activists in a variety of political systems, and it is fair to say that over the past couple of years, activism has become much easier thanks to our digital age.  Social media has had a profound effect on society, people now have a chance of having their voice heard, and every issue has the ability to be widespread, empowering citizens of all nations with the power of being heard. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all serve as venues for the shared expression of dissent, dissemination of information, and collective action (Youmans  and York 2012, P. 315). Social medias ability to start a movement and impact societies political engagement is very real, and this is because social media invites everyone to part take in online political discussion and social movements.  A social movement is a social process through which a collective of activists articulate their interests, and proposed solutions to identified problems by engaging in a variety of collective actions. Actions can include Hashtags, marches, signs and posters.  It is clear that social media platforms have played a vital role in expanding the reach of communications and in helping like-minded activists to meet (Sigal and Biddle, 2015), this can be clearly demonstrated through current and past movements such as #Blacklivesmatter, #Metoo, #Jesuischarlie and #Bringbackourgirls. Such movements have gained wide media spread due to the large social media followings, and this is simply  because social media allows online activists to raise awareness and spread a global message at a significant rate. 

Metoo Movement:  A clear example of this is the The Me too movement. Founded in 2006 by Tarana Burke, the Metoo movement is a movement against sexual harassment, and works to help survivors of sexual violence (Metoomvmt, 2018). Burke said, "It was a catchphrase to be used from survivor to survivor” and "It wasn't built to be a viral campaign or a hashtag that is here today and forgotten tomorrow”.  The #Metoo movement went viral after actress, Allysa Milano, encouraged all woman, Men and LGBT to step foreward and share the hashtag #metoo. Social media acted as one large voice for all victims, as activists used Twitter to spread the discussion and share their personal stories, creating a united community amongst the world.  In the wake of this powerful movement, #Metoo saw a significant event take place, in which after twenty years, more than 150 women came forward to voice the sexual horror by a US National Gymnastics medic, Larry Nassar.  Due to the #Metoo hashtag, victims realised they were not alone and it gave them the confidence and support to speak up about the horror they faced. From this, Larry was finally sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for his crimes.  This is another clear example of the impact that social media has on the overall outcome of protests due to large participation of people, which is created through the spread of awareness through social media. 

The viral conversation was so successful amongst twitter it reached 85 countries that had at least 1,000 #MeToo tweets. Following the widespread discussion amongst social media, a march also took place November of 2017. The 2017 women’s march was one of the largest protests in American history, drawing crowds of over 3 million nationwide ( Fortune, 2018). The mass assembly of survivors demonstrates the power social media has on Protests, and its vital role it plays on connecting one another and creating/spreading awareness of issues. 

Although social media has not changed traditional ways of protesting, it has however played a large role in the revolution of activism and protests since it has taught people a new way to create groups, spread information all over the globe and created  place for them to freely voice their opinion unanimously.  

References:

FCJMESH-007 Our Enduring Confusion About the Power of Digital Tools in Protest | The Fibreculture Journal : 26. 2018. FCJMESH-007 Our Enduring Confusion About the Power of Digital Tools in Protest | The Fibreculture Journal : 26. [ONLINE] Available at:

http://twentysix.fibreculturejournal.org/fcjmesh-007-our-enduring-confusion-about-the-power-of-digital-tools-in-protest/

. [Accessed 19 April 2018].

Lafi Youmans, W. & York, J, 2012, ‘Social Media and Activists Toolkit’, Journal of Communication, pp 315-329.. 2018. https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-7037448-dt-content-rid-40224729_2/courses/2018-HS1-MDA20009-227427/Lafi%20Youmans%20%26%20York_Social%20Media%20%26%20the%20Activist%20Toolkit_JOC_2012.pdf. [Accessed 19 April 2018]. 

 Over 1 Million People Attended Women's Marches This Year | Fortune. [ONLINE] Available at: http://fortune.com/2018/01/22/womens-march-2018-numbers/. [Accessed 19 April 2018].

UKEssays. November 2013. Social Media As A Tool For Protest. [online]. Available from: http://www.ukessays.com/essays/media/social-media-as-a-tool-for-protest-media-essay.php?vref=1 [Accessed 19 April 2018].

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