arcticclaymore

[arcticclaymore]

China's Social Media Environment

It is no small secret that social media is the primary source for information and communication in the present day world. All around the world we use a similar collection of social media apps to interact with each other, these apps everyone is familiar with but the social media scene is not quite the same in the country of China. China has strict censorship rules and the government over there imposes high level surveillance, so life for the Chinese citizens is controlled and they have to go about living their personal and digital lives a little differently.

[Image taken from fg-a 2021]

Social Media Applications of China

Applications that we could never imagine living without are not available to the citizens of China, they have no choice but to adopt Chinese versions of popular, well-established applications. Within China the rules are strict and the government has barred any access to apps such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram etc. These apps are rather replaced with Chinese originated apps such as WeChat, Weibo, Renren, YouKu. which are substitutes to some of these popular apps that we use (BBC News 2012).

China's Internet Censorship

Not too long ago the Chinese youth was becoming more internet savvy, they were becoming increasingly used to hearing outsider opinions for and against their country, there were instances of the Chinese public being introduced to new ideologies which could circumnavigate their minds and enable them to think individually, but then in recent years all that changed, the narrative in China shifted and every media outlet had to be nationalistic.

Propaganda had risen up in the previous few years and any sort of medium which was even slightly mocking the government and its rulers in charge, was banned and its participants were labelled traitors (Wang 2020). This complete shut down of the internet and the distance from global social media is a era for China which has been labelled as the 'Great Firewall', the sole purpose of which is to completely control content in China, President Xi Jinping has made remarks about respecting the internet but as the world moves on we can see that progress is a limitation when it comes to social media in China. (Economy 2018).

China's Surveillance On the Public

Privacy is dead, you can rarely live a private life in these times and China has taken it even further. The citizens in China are monitored through various ways every day, cameras are abundant over there and people are looked down upon by the camera lenses every day, provinces such as Henan are adopting face scanning technologies which will help recognize civilians and rogue journalists (Clayton 2021). The Chinese people are not only trapped digitally but they are also trapped in every day life.

Conclusive Remarks

China is touching the sky in every sector but they have a ways to go when it comes to freedom, China has a complicated relationship with the digital world and people are starting to notice, only time will tell if China can suppress its civilians for longer or will there be a change for the better.

References

BBC News 2012, “How are social media sites changing China?,” www.bbc.com, 11 September, viewed <https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-china-19399773>.

Wang, Y 2020, “In China, the ‘Great Firewall’ Is Changing a Generation,” Human Rights Watch, viewed <https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/01/china-great-firewall-changing-generation>.

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

Clayton, J 2021, “China surveillance of journalists to use ‘traffic-light’ system,” BBC News, 29 November, viewed 2 December, 2021, <https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-59441379>.

fg-a 2021, “Free Animated China Flag Gifs - Chinese Clipart,” www.fg-a.com, viewed 5 December, 2021, <https://www.fg-a.com/flags24.shtml>.

[arcticclaymore]

Gaming is Fun, Kind of Toxic but Still Fun

I wish I wasn't so busy so I could game again, I rarely find the time to game anymore I still remember my school days like it was yesterday, coming back from school on a Friday and spending the whole day playing online video games with my friends, me shouting at them to "take cover", them shouting at me to "advance forward", then my mother coming into the room telling me to quiet down because I was being so loud. It was a frenzy but boy was it fun, just a couple of teenagers bonding over video games while playing online through the comfort of our homes and that is our topic for today, social gaming. Social gaming is the practice of playing games online with other players on the same platform, it involves players playing together, players being aware of each others actions and players communicating and collaborating on the same platform (Logan 2012). It is just an experience that gives you nothing but joy, now however the communities are expanding and they are growing more vulgar and the experience might not be the same anymore.

That's Just Rude

It is, don't even think about it the gaming community is toxic, there is no doubt about it, the vulgar insults, the negative comments, the hate speech, social gaming has every possible toxic trait you can think about. The players get to belittle, clown and berate each other very easily because they sort of disassociate themselves with the game and their real human self, they act like the characters they are in the game because they know there are going to be little to no repercussions (Fu 2018). The perpetrators of these acts are usually young individuals who are impulsive and act on their first instincts, they keep with these toxic traits and later it translates to negative effects in their actual real life behavior (Wired 2020).

Toxic Gaming Communities

There are a lot of gaming communities which have been marked as toxic and which many of us are a part of now. Social gaming communities like League of Legends and Dota 2 consists of players who are very deeply tied to the game, now this might seem competitive but to some it might come up as a bit obnoxious. The players use voice chat and texts to completely abuse other players, these games especially have very complex mechanics, so a person making even the simplest of mistakes is punished and reprimanded. These actions make these gaming communities seem unwelcoming which further distorts the image of the brand itself. Other toxic gaming communities include CS:GO, in which players do a lot of smurfing and cheating, on the other hand, gaming communities like Overwatch actually have supportive communities where new players are welcome and any criticism is appreciated (ESB Staff 2020).

[Image taken from Sean 2021]

Conclusive Remarks

I know we have punched the social gaming communities repeatedly but we cannot take away the fact that gaming online with friends is extremely fun, sure you have toxic communities which sort of bar your gaming experiences but that should not take away from the fact that playing together with heightened competitive instincts and controlled risk can lead to a great dopamine hit and a time well spent.

References

Logan, B 2013, “Social gaming – A usability perspective,” Spotless, viewed 13 November, 2021, <https://www.spotless.co.uk/insights/social-gaming-usability>.

Fu, D 2018, A Look at Gaming Culture and Gaming Related Problems: From a Gamer’s Perspective, viewed <http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/gaming.pdf>.

Wired 2020, “Toxicity in Gaming Is Dangerous. Here’s How to Stand Up to It,” Wired, viewed <https://www.wired.com/story/toxicity-in-gaming-is-dangerous-heres-how-to-stand-up-to-it/>.

ESB Staff 2020, “Toxic Gaming Communities || The world’s most toxic gaming communities,” EsportsBets.com, viewed <https://www.esportsbets.com/news/toxic-gaming-communities/>.

Sean 2021, “League of Legends: Wild Rift to launch in China on September 15,” Gizmochina, viewed 5 December, 2021, <https://www.gizmochina.com/2021/09/14/league-of-legends-wild-rift-launch-china-sept-15/>.

[arcticclaymore]

Fandoms, Support and Complications

Ahh Fandoms, we live in the era of fandoms, now more than ever you can be a fan of so much, you can be a fan of K-Pop groups, you can be a fan of anime, you can be a fan of movies, a fan of tv series, a fan of professional wrestling, a fan of sports or you can even be a fan of toy collections!!! Let me not get ahead of myself though, we need to answer what exactly is a fan and what are these so called fandoms? Now dont get clever here, I am not talking about a cooling apparatus, I am talking about the other kind of fan, the human one, the individual, the person who is an ardent and loyal admirer of a specific interest or even an object, that is the fan I am talking about, a person who exhibits the kind of interest and love for an entity that sometimes exceeds normality (Wang 2020). A fandom is an accumulation of fans who are as a community interested in an interest or an object. So now that the definitions are clear lets look into the strongest of fandoms, shall we.

The Strongest of Fandoms

I don't even have to really lob up and start the subject and I guarantee when you saw 'strongest' and 'fandom' together you were thinking of K-Pop and more specifically about BTS. They are a very, I dont think there is an adjective to describe them, but I will rephrase and say they are an extremely popular 7 member boy band group that practice the arts of dance and music and if you haven't heard of them you are either dead or you are lying because there is no way you haven't heard of them. They have earned tremendous success through their craft and on their journey they have cultivated the strongest fandom of all time called, the BTS Army (Milakovic 2021). In a controlled census the results showed they have a whopping 44+ million fans all over the globe, thus further proving that they sit atop the fandom throne (Ali 2021). Other strong fandoms include the Potterheads, the fans of the Harry Potter Franchise, and who can forget the Directioners, perhaps the greatest fandom of all time, a fandom that is still holding out hope that their favorite band gets back together.

Fandom Toxicity

You feel like you are in a metal prison when there is a community that is toxic and unbearably difficult. Fandoms are a community and the participants of these communities aren't always the most easy going people but rather they can be extremely toxic. The fans of these groups tend to be supportive of their interests but they can get slightly rambunctious and possessive for instance, Japanese Pop Idol groups are essentially considered to be entitled to their fans and they are expected to operate under them, if a member of a pop idol group does something that displeases them they will react negatively to this member in forms of harassment and abuse (Lefler 2021). Even if the fans are supportive of their interests they can be very rude or critical of other people that might have something to say about their fandoms or the interests they support. There could be posts of people asking well-intentioned genuine questions about fandoms but they get disrespected just because the fans are being overprotective of their groups (Bailey 2021). These fans feel like they are uplifting their fandoms, but in fact they are disrupting them and giving them bad press which could then lead to inaccurate stereotyping.

Fandom Positivity

Fandoms might get a bad rep sometimes, but when communities come together in support of each other, a lot of positives can result from it. There are a lot of positive acts these fandoms have done which have led to the societies around them being affected in a positive manner. For example, the BTS Army through the help of social media started a trend with the hashtag of #btsdonorarmy, in this trend the members of the ARMY donated blood to the American Red Cross which helped potentially save a lot of lives, furthermore the ARMY also helped donate money to UNICEF to help children with disabilities (Koreaboo 2018). If fandoms keep banding together with the goal of not only supporting their groups but also making a positive impact the world would simply be a better place.

References

Wang, L 2020, Handbook of research on the impact of fandom in society and consumerism, 출판사: Hershey, Pa Igi Global.

Milakovic, H 2021, “10 Biggest And Best Fandom In The World RANKED (2021),” Fiction Horizon, viewed 4 December, 2021, <https://fictionhorizon.com/biggest-and-best-fandom/>.

Ali, H 2021, “ARMY CENSUS ‘SHOCKING RESULTS’: How big and diverse is the BTS fanbase? - The Silly TV,” Silly TV, viewed 4 December, 2021, <https://www.thesillytv.com/bts-news-army-census-shocking-results-how-big-and-diverse-is-the-bts-fanbase/>.

Lefler, R 2021, “What’s Toxic Fandom, and What Creates It?,” ReelRundown - Entertainment, viewed <https://reelrundown.com/misc/5-Factors-that-Can-Cause-Toxic-Fandom-to-Arise>.

Bailey, L 2021, “Why Your Favourite Fandom is So Gotdamn Toxic,” FanFare, viewed 4 December, 2021, <https://medium.com/fan-fare/why-your-favourite-fandom-is-so-gotdamn-toxic-903c35f4076d#:~:text=Toxic%20Fandoms>.

Koreaboo 2018, “16 Things A.R.M.Y Did For BTS That’ll Make You Proud,” Koreaboo, viewed <https://www.koreaboo.com/lists/16-things-army-did-for-bts-make-you-proud/>.

[arcticclaymore]

Exploring Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing? Crowdsourcing? Crowdsourcing...? I know you have probably heard the word before but you do not know what it is exactly, don't worry I got you covered. Crowdsourcing means the collection of knowledge, goods, services or wisdom from a group of people striving to achieve the same goal. This collection of information is usually done online through requests made from a certain organization and people responding to these online requests through an online medium, such as a crowdsourcing focused platform. The respondents involved in this process are usually volunteers but they might sometimes be paid depending on the organization or the scenario. To visualize crowdsourcing you can potentially think of reviews like google reviews on restaurants, places, events etc. (Livescault 2021).

[Image taken from Ivanov 2017]

Implementing Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is very important and to reach common audiences, organizations have to have a healthy crowdsourcing relationship with their consumers. A lot of companies struggle with getting volunteers to open up about their product and thoroughly state their preferences but if they do not attempt to crowdsource better, they will be left going down a rabbit hole because there will be an essential disconnect between the producer and the consumer thus causing the consumers to have heart burning discontent. Lego is an example of a company that uses direct customer participation to help improve their goods and services, they have a platform where the fans of the product can deliver their own design and they can also comment on the design produced by Lego itself. Amazon is another great utilizer of crowdsourcing, they have different variants of the practice, one involves an invite only platform where the general consumers can test their products and comment on them and another way they crowdsource is by using pilots for the Amazon exclusive shows, if the pilot is well liked by the audiences the show will be given a full season but if the opposite is true then the show will be canned. Social media can also be utilized during crowdsourcing just like PepsiCo did when they started a #DoUsAFlavor challenge, to pander to the millennial audiences and gain their input through social media applications such as Twitter, Facebook or Instagram (PlanBox 2018).

[Image taken from GameNGadgets 2014]

Any Disadvantages ?

There are a ton of advantages to crowdsourcing, which has been made clear by the content written previously. But as the saying goes every advantage has its own corresponding disadvantage, if you were to look at the negatives you would find that crowdsourcing can actually pose a threat as there is a danger of being, manipulated by forced false feedback, furthermore, conflicts in the boardroom might occur as people might have conflicting viewpoints and they might not take too lightly to the suggestions and lastly another disadvantage that might unfold is the company might lose their image or position in the industry as a result of an incomplete or unprofessional item or service being released for review (Thieringer 2019).

In Conclusion

Crowdsourcing might have its disadvantages but they are nothing to be worried about if you compare it to the massive advantages you receive as company. Crowdsourcing is for the consumer to input in and that is very important because you are selling to the same consumer, so when you know what they want and what they need, you will be able to deliver the best possible solution to their problems without any limitations.

References

Livescault, J 2021, “What is Crowdsourcing? (in 2021) - Braineet,” www.braineet.com, viewed <https://www.braineet.com/blog/crowdsourcing>.

PlanBox 2018, “4 Companies That are Killing It with Crowdsourcing,” Planbox, viewed <https://www.planbox.com/4-companies-that-are-killing-it-with-crowdsourcing/>.

Thieringer, J 2019, “Crowdsourcing – Pros and Cons and How You can Profit from It,” www.ispo.com, viewed 4 December, 2021, <https://www.ispo.com/en/markets/crowdsourcing-pros-and-cons-and-how-you-can-profit-it>.

Thieringer, J 2019, “Crowdsourcing – Pros and Cons and How You can Profit from It,” www.ispo.com, viewed 4 December, 2021, <https://www.ispo.com/en/markets/crowdsourcing-pros-and-cons-and-how-you-can-profit-it>.

Ivanov, E 2017, “Don’t confuse crowdsourcing with brainstorming,” Innovation Observer, viewed 4 December, 2021, <https://innovationobserver.com/2017/03/06/dont-confuse-crowdsourcing-with-brainstorming/>.

GameNGadgets 2014, “New LEGO Headquarters in Denmark Will Be Built With Lego Bricks,” GameNGadgets, viewed 4 December, 2021, <https://www.gamengadgets.com/new-lego-headquarters-denmark-will-built-lego-bricks/>.

[arcticclaymore]

Social Media's Fight Against Covid-19

Let's get in a metaphorical time machine and go back to the start of 2020, the world was progressing fine, students were going to universities, teenagers were going out on Friday nights, the bars and clubs were packed, concerts were blowing the roof of the stadiums, but then in Wuhan, a city in China's Hubei province, there were some early reports of novel pneumonia in some patients which were then discovered to be a cause of a virus called SARS-CoV-2 or more commonly referred to as the Coronavirus (Andersen et al. 2020). The virus started with a single person and within months it had taken over the whole world.

The world was in shock and panic, every country was taking their own measures to ensure the virus did not spread further. Generally all countries banned local gatherings and a very strict lockdown was set which permitted no civilians to venture outside their residences, restrictions were put on travelling, major events like the Olympics were postponed or in some cases cancelled.

Now we stand in 2021 and according to worldometer (2021) the Covid-19 Pandemic has affected 222 countries and territories, it has accumulated around 265 million cases and it has caused around 5 million deaths (Wood 2020).

Social Media Aid

During this tumultuous time, as people were looking for answers and information along came the benefit of Social Media. Social media had already become the primary source of information so it was only right that people looked at it for further knowledge on what to do, people took shelter under the roof of social media as that was their first instinct. The news and information on social media spread like wildfire and that is how most people found out about the new government rules, as well as the symptoms of the virus and the precautions to take in order to defend against the virus itself. Social media further helped empower all citizens around the globe as many public figures and celebrities shared their stories about their battles with the virus. Locally, here in Malaysia the health authorities and the disaster management communities utilized Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep the public updated about the lockdowns, the SOPs and the total number of cases (White 2020).

Misinformation and Lies

Social media is a vast space, it consists of a heap of information which might not always be truthful. When you have a tool which is abundant in resources of information, that tool also risks spreading misinformation and potential lies. Social media spreads news easily but the consumers have no way of actually verifying the source so this medium poses as a double edged sword. The pandemic has been tough on everyone and the misinformation spread by social media has not been very helpful. There were 500 million tweets made regarding Covid-19 and a research showed that about 50% of the tweets were responsible in spreading completely fabricated information (Cinelli et al. 2020).

For instance, there were many cases of people posting fraudulent cures such as injecting bleach into you body will make you immune to the virus or some uncertified people claimed making drinks with certain ingredients will help you remove the virus from your body. Furthermore, there were fraudulent conspiracies as well, one such conspiracy stated "the virus was made in a lab in order to topple distinct governments" (van der Linden, 2021). Spreading of such misinformation can lead to a lot of commotion or even worse it can lead to someone harming themselves.

References

Worldometer 2021, “Coronavirus toll update: Cases & deaths by country,” Worldometers, viewed <https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/>.

Andersen, KG, Rambaut, A, Lipkin, WI, Holmes, EC & Garry, RF 2020, “The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2,” Nature Medicine, vol. 26, no. 450–452, viewed <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9>.

Wood, J 2020, “Coronavirus – this is how the world is responding,” World Economic Forum, viewed <https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/coronavirus-this-is-how-the-world-is-responding/>.

White, A 2020, “TechDay - How Can Social Media Help Combat the Coronavirus Pandemic?,” Techdayhq.com, viewed <https://techdayhq.com/community/articles/how-can-social-media-help-combat-the-coronavirus-pandemic>.

Cinelli, M, Quattrociocchi, W, Galeazzi, A, Valensise, CM, Brugnoli, E, Schmidt, AL, Zola, P, Zollo, F & Scala, A 2020, “The COVID-19 Social Media Infodemic,” Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. 1, viewed <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73510-5>.

van der Linden, S, Roozenbeek, J & Compton, J 1AD, “Inoculating against fake news about COVID-19,” Frontiers, Frontiers, viewed 4 December, 2021, <https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566790/full>pa

[arcticclaymore]

Activism and Social Media

Injustices, inequalities, passion and community have led many people to become activists and adopt the practice of Activism. As Innosanto Nagara (2016) cleverly puts it an Activist is nothing but an advocate, an ally, a abolitionist actively answering a call to an action. Activism itself is the act of campaigning publicly for a cause that can bring about change (Collins 2019). Activism has been prevalent for all of eternity, in one way or another people have been practicing that act for centuries now, from Women's Suffrage to the Civil Rights Movement to Anti-Capitalism to the Black Lives Matter Movement, activists and their acts alike have caused a quite a bit of commotion in order to instate social and political change.

[Image taken from iStock 2021]

Social Media Impact

Social Media now has become prevalent and has caused more and more people to join in and support these Activist Movements. Social media alone has not pushed the rise of these activist movements but it is rather the audiences on these social media platforms. Social media has in some way given rise to these movements and in some cases it has helped them organize the movements as well (Hu, J 2020).

[Image taken from Anderson et al. 2018]

Black Lives Matter

Social media has traversed the scenes around us and its affects on activism has been the same, the best examples come from movements like Black Lives Matter, this movement started with one post on a social media platform and took over the whole world. The growth of this movement has been at an exponential level, the social media presence along with the unfortunate events of the law authorities have all contributed to leading the meteoric rise of this movement for equality. Way back in 2013, a person by the name of George Zimmerman was found not guilty after he fatally shot and killed a young teenager by the name of Trayvon Martin, this event sparked national outrage and consequently led to a Facebook post being made about the issue with the title "Black Lives Matter" and the rest is history.

[Image taken from Tan 2020]

This movement started 7 years ago and it has now taken over the social political scene not only in America but over the whole world. Compared to the civil rights movements, BLM caught fire quite quickly and its publicity and impact surged through out the globe. Whilst the civil right movement was historic and very effective its potential was on a national level and it did not have the impact BLM had on the activists societies all around the globe (Maqbool 2020).

Conclusion

Activism is really important because it gives people a motive to strive for change and fight against unjust situations and oppressive behaviors. Activism has existed long before the name was given to it, the practice has remained the same all through out history, only recently has social media became a factor in kickstarting and wide spreading activist movements, by how the scene is set up it is obvious to us all that social media will remain a big part of Activism going forward.

References

Innosanto Nagara 2016, A is for activist, Seven Stories Press, New York.

Collins 2019, “Activism definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary,” Collinsdictionary.com, viewed <https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/activism>.

Hu, J 2020, “The Second Act of Social-Media Activism,” The New Yorker, viewed <https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-second-act-of-social-media-activism>.

Maqbool, A 2020, “How BLM went from Facebook post to global movement,” BBC News, 9 July, viewed <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53273381>.

iStock 2021, “Protest Illustrations, Royalty-Free Vector Graphics & Clip Art - iStock,” www.istockphoto.com, viewed 2 December, 2021, <https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/protest>.

Tan, R 2020, “How Netflix, Instagram, and other tech and social media platforms are responding to the #BLM movemen,” BURO., viewed <https://www.buro247.my/lifestyle/technology/tech-social-media-platforms-black-lives-matters.html>.

Anderson, M, Toor, S, Rainie, L & Smith, A 2018, “Activism in the Social Media Age,” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, viewed <https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/07/11/activism-in-the-social-media-age/>.

[arcticclaymore]

Social Media and Politics.

Politics no longer conform to the old mediums of media, politicians no longer just voice their opinions in televised speeches and newspapers, they now seem to be branching out and using social media as a tool to spread their opinions further and gain political advantage over their political adversaries.

As the graph below suggests, ever since social media has become a mainstay of spreading opinions and information, politicians have grown to adopt it as their own weapon for a war of words (Ortiz-Ospina 2019).

Why do Politicians Use Social Media?

John F. Kennedy took over the hearts of millions of voters through his passionate and elegant gestures via the television, nowadays a politician must emulate the same passion but through social media, but why though? Why the medium of social media? Firstly, the name of the game is interaction, now more than ever through social media politicians can communicate their message effectively and in a more widespread manner. As these politicians rise in popularity they receive extra monetary aid from their growing number of supporters which in turn helps them extend their campaign. A prominent politicians like the representative of New York, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (shown below) could have never gained recognition if the world went back 30 years when social media wasn't as gargantuan, a lot of the politicians now have a lot of props to give to social media (Lartaud 2020).

[Image Taken from Baldoni 2020]

Political advertising via social media has changed the way the game of politics is played, ever since Obama in 2008 started advertising his agendas on social media platforms every other politician has followed suit, politicians went from spending 22.5 million usd on online ad s to spending 1.4 billion usd in 2016. Additionally, Social media advertising helps reach the younger audience as well, as the tide is turning more and more youngsters are getting interested in politics and they have power to shift the political power in charge. Reportedly, in 2016 Trump's campaign manager stated that one of the main reasons for the upset against Clinton was the effective social media campaign that they so expertly ran (Nott 2020).

[Image Taken from Collier 2020]

Is Social Media Damaging Politics?

Social media in politics might hold it benefits but it also holds its downsides as well, news on social media runs rampant like wildfire in Australia or like Bolt in the Olympics, but if that news contains misinformation it could severely tarnish the reputation of a party or a person in a matter of seconds. Politicians can furthermore use social media as a vessel for lying which could end up causing a negative wave of worry and hate within the country (Lartaud 2020). Moreover, politicians can be the cause of great shame to their allegiance if they are turned into memes or disparaging jokes by the online audience they are pandering to. Nowadays, it is very common to see a politician being turned into a meme for comedic purposes and for a laugh. If a meme catches on, the politician maybe cast away because they are considered nothing but a silly gag and all seriousness that they hold with their campaign might be snatched away from them.

[Image Taken from KnowYourMeme 2020]

Conclusive Remarks

Politics has never been the same after the inclusion of social media, as a politician you cannot ignore its effects on the country, we need to acknowledge that there is a new era and social media has to be utilized by politicians. The practice will have some cons but overall, social media helps give rise to opinions which would have never been heard in the olden times, social media has to be availed for the sake of the individual politician and for the sake of the public and their right to hear every single opinion.

References

KnowYourMeme 2020, “I Am Once Again Asking for Your Financial Support,” Know Your Meme, viewed <https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-am-once-again-asking-for-your-financial-support>.

Collier, K 2020, “Facebook to remove misleading Trump ‘census’ ads,” the Guardian, viewed 5 November, 2021, <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/05/facebook-removes-misleading-trump-ads>.

Baldoni, J 2020, “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: It’s Not Personal. It’s Cultural,” Forbes, viewed 4 November, 2021, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnbaldoni/2020/07/23/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-its-not-personal-its-cultural/>.

Ortiz-Ospina, E 2019, “The rise of social media,” Our World in Data, University of Oxford, viewed <https://ourworldindata.org/rise-of-social-media>.

Lartaud, D 2020, “How (and WHY) Politicians Use Social Media | KQED Education,” KQED, viewed <https://www.kqed.org/education/534692/how-and-why-politicians-use-social-media>.

Nott, L 2020, “Political Advertising on Social Media Platforms,” www.americanbar.org, viewed <https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/voting-in-2020/political-advertising-on-social-media-platforms/>.

[arcticclaymore]

Week 4: Is blogging still relevant in the age of TikToks and Instagrams?

*Laugh* next, *interested look* next, *concerned look* next, *hahaha* next, *haha* next, swiping away for hours on end, the smell of desperation and the scent of longing for engagement and short-term entertainment is rancid in society nowadays. Without imposing anymore judgement, we know people are content with social media applications, so why do we still continue with blogging? Do people even care about us bloggers? Are we still relevant? Let’s take a deep dive then, shall we?

Blogging is Sacred

A blog as defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary states that a blog is “a website that contains online personal reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks, videos, and photographs provided by the writer”, I know that sounds bland, that’s because it is, blogging is much more than that it is a platform that spreads intrigue, laughter and intellect through stories and other pieces of texts (Bump 2021). Furthermore blogs bring everyone together they have been successful in connecting people from different parts of the globe over the years, Steven Hughes a prominent blogger describes blogs as a catalyst for connecting and he further elaborates that blogging helps society evolve as everyone’s comes out of their box and is introduced to new learning experiences(Hughes 2012). Blogging was really prevalent in its time but now it seems to have fallen of a little as people talk less and less about it. The graph below illustrates Google Trends pertaining to decline of blogs over the years, this furthermore suggests people are moving away from this medium of entertainment and now they are adopting new ways of being entertained (Bretous 2021). 

[Image taken from Bretous 2021]

Curious Case of TikTok and Instagram

TikTok, Instagram and other social media services are thriving nowadays, only if you have been living under a rock have you not seen or used one of these apps. As technology is spreading all over the world and the internet is being accessed more over, subsequently people are joining social network services such as TikTok and Instagram. An article published by Kaya Yurieff, representing the publication The Information, includes a graph that shows rapid growth of these social media platforms thus proving the point an new era has taken shape (Yurieff 2021). So what makes applications like TikTok and Instagram so mind-numbingly addictive?

[Image taken from Yurieff 2021]

The answer is, the content both of these applications put out are tailor made for the current population’s short attention spans, the population eats up the exciting and trendy information delivered to them in a short amount of time, this allows them to give their full attention to the application thus making them unknowingly addicted in the process (Sandikar 2021).

Verdict: To Blog or Not to Blog

Although different mediums of entertainment have now partly occupied social networking services and entertainment, blogging very much remains relevant, recent studies done show that 20 billion blog pages are read monthly and there is over a 12% increase in the last 5 years. Furthermore, blogs very much remain a reliable source on information and about 77% internet users chimed in and said they like to read blogs, advertising companies nowadays have also taken a liking to blogs as 53% of the marketers choose them as their primary source of advertisements (Sanders 2019). 

In conclusion, blogs are relevant to this day and they are not going to stop being relevant for a long time, they are in fact here to stay.

References

Sanders, K 2019, “Are Blogs and Blogging Still Relevant in 2020? Should I Still Blog Today?,” Neal Schaffer - Social Media Marketing Speaker, Consultant & Influencer, viewed <https://nealschaffer.com/are-blogs-still-relevant-in-2019/>.

Sandikar, A 2021, “Why are reels and TikToks so addictive?,” The Bridge Chronicle, viewed 29 October, 2021, <https://www.thebridgechronicle.com/tech/apps/why-are-reels-and-tik-toks-so-addictive>.

Yurieff, K 2021, “How TikTok Outpaced Instagram in Rise to 1 Billion Users,” The Information, viewed 29 October, 2021, <https://www.theinformation.com/articles/how-tiktok-outpaced-instagram-in-rise-to-1-billion-users>.

Bretous, M 2021, “Are Blogs Dead in 2021? We Asked 10 Marketing Experts,” blog.hubspot.com, viewed <https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/are-blogs-dead>.

Bump, P 2021, “The Top 3 Reasons Consumers Read Blogs in 2020 [New Research],” blog.hubspot.com, viewed <https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/why-do-people-read-blogs>.

Merriam-Webster 2019, “Definition of BLOG,” Merriam-webster.com, viewed <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blog>.

Hughes, S 2012, “6 Reasons Why Blogging is Incredibly Awesome,” Business 2 Community, viewed 29 October, 2021, <https://www.business2community.com/blogging/6-reasons-why-blogging-is-incredibly-awesome-0427037>.