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Social Gaming

Social gaming is a great time waster, I remember being on public transport and needing a way to make the ride go faster. I used to love playing Candy Crush or Farmville, it was addictive. I remember receiving requests from family or friends wanting to help them grow corn or send them a life so they could try the level again. Especially, Candy Crush the competitive edge was getting to me, I really wanted to get ahead of my friends.

When playing these games, I would always think what is the point in playing this. It doesn’t benefit me, it’s just a way to fill the time. This week’s topic has provided the opportunity to dig deeper beyond the simple concept of social gaming.  

When Facebook launched, it was only a short time later that people were establishing the popularity of gaming and saw that there would be a long-term demand for it. Facebook was very discreet in integrating it into its platform (O’Neill, N. 2008). Social gaming is now a $9 billion market, it is the fastest growing segment of entertainment, providing engagement content for millions of users (Weber, K. n.d). Game developers have also utilised social gaming to make a positive impact in the world. Virtual goods are being sold, bought or won for charitable causes, and this is showing as very popular amongst users. Social gaming is an opportunity to connect players with causes they care about (Weber, K. n.d). Water.org raised $1 million from Farmville2 and Chefville2 (Weber, K. n.d). Social good app developers create games that are all about doing good for society, including Wetopia which is one their most popular games. Wetopia allow their players to earn points and convert them into monetary donations to a charity. Since its creation, Wetopia has provided:

·       1,000,000 days of school for kids in Haiti

·       7,000,000 liters of clean, safe drinking water in Haiti

·       700,000 hot meals for children in need

·       45,000 meals for children in Las Vegas

·       32,000 hours of nutrition and literacy programs for U.S. students

·       9,000 papaya and moringa trees

·       6,500 coats, shoes, and shirts for children around the world

·       4,000 books for elementary school children

·       3,400 vitamins for children

·       1,000 medical check-ups for children in New Yorkand Haiti

(Swallow,E. 2013).

Wetopia is a free game, and it allows their players to build a virtual village. Points are earnt when acts like building a school is completed. Even Ellen DeGeneres has endorsed this game, catapulting its popularity further. Social gaming is oftenly snubbed as a time filler, as mentioned above, I felt the same way. But knowing that playing will therefore help someone else has provided me with the appreciation for it.

Heinz, E. 2011. Facebook Game 'WeTopia' Allows Players To Donate To Charity By Building Virtual Village. Huffington Post. Viewed 1 February 2018 http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/wetopia-facebook-game-charity_n_1117549

O’Neill, N. 2008, What Exactly are Social Games? AdWeek. Viewed 1 February 2018 http://www.adweek.com/digital/john-stevens-hosting-facts-guest-post-how-social-media-is-changing-the-gaming-world/

Swallow,E. 2013. How Social Games Are Changing the World. Forbes. Viewed 1 February 2018 https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericaswallow/2013/03/23/social-games/#57970b32377e

 Weber, K. n.d. How The Gaming Industry Help People Help The World. Video Game Voters Network. Viewed 1 February 2018 https://videogamevoters.org/news/details/how-the-gaming-industry-helps-people-help-the-world

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Crowdsourcing

“Give the power to the consumer” is becoming a very popular term for businesses and why not, it’s a great idea. Let them tell you what they want, rather than the company spending time and money on something that the consumer may not like. That’s why crowdsourcing has become so popular in recent times. It’s important to note that crowdsourcing isn’t a recent development, the first known use of it was by the British Government when finding a solution to the longitude problem. Alternatively, Napoleon used crowdsourcing about what nutritious food to supply his troops when they were fighting away from home (Dahlander, L. Piezunka, H, 2017). 

Crowdsourcing can be defined as companies or institutions utilising people outside to contribute work. Consumers can provide guidance and answers to design marketing, researching and problem resolution (Goodrich, R, 2013). It’s an effective marketing tool as companies can leverage resources from its own audience. It increases productivity within the company but it also gives the consumer a reason to engage with the business. It establishes loyalty and it gives them a reason to maintain the engagement. 

Crowdsourcing is becoming more widespread, and the potential for its success is undeniable. The most recognizable example of crowdsourcing is Wikipedia, which is all about utilising the publics knowledge to provide information to the reader. Anyone can upload to the site. Even NASA has utilized crowdsourcing to reduce exposure to cosmic rays on the International Space Station. More then 1,000 people assisted.

Another example of crowdsourcing I have come across is Waze. A traffic monitoring application encouraging consumers to work together to outsmart the traffic, therefore, getting the best route. It’s about community cooperation and helping each other out. By creating a common goal, it’s understandable why this application has become so successful. The video below shows how the application works. 

The consumer’s voice is becoming louder and louder in the market and it’s contributing to the success of a number of businesses. It makes sense for the consumer to help as they are the ones potentially purchasing the product or service. This is the direction marketing is heading, and it’s exciting to see how it will continue to evolve.  

References

Dahlander, L. Piezunka, H, 2017, Why Some Crowdsourcing Efforts Work and Others Don't. Harvard Business Review. viewed 31 January 2018. https://hbr.org/2017/02/why-some-crowdsourcing-efforts-work-and-others-dont

Floren, C, 2012. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Crowdsourcing to Improve your Commerce Business. My ECommerce. Viewed 31 January 2018 http://myecommerce.biz/blog/2012/07/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-using-crowdsourcing-to-improve-your-ecommerce-business/

Goodrich, R, 2013, What is Crowdsourcing? Business News Daily. Viewed 31 January 2018 https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4025-what-is-crowdsourcing.html

Waze, 2018. Get to know Waze. Waze. viewed 31 January 2018 https://www.waze.com 

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Do not feed the trolls!

“Being a prick on the internet because you can. Typically unleashing one or more cynical or sarcastic remarks on an innocent by-stander, because it's the internet and, hey, you can.” - (Moreau E, 2018)

Trolling is something that has been around since internet was invented. It seems now it has just become a part of everyday life as social media continues to take off (Moreau E, 2018). I have witnessed trolling but I have never experienced, and looking how far it has reached is unbelievable, and it looks like it’s never going away. 

Trolls are mythological creature that lives in dark places, like caves or underneath bridges (Moreau E, 2018). They are also ugly and dirty. This is a good representation of the modern day troll. The quote above sums up the definition of trolling perfectly. From the comments, the trolls lures others into a pointless and time consuming debate (Herring, S., Job-Sluder, K., Scheckler, R. and Barab, S., 2002). They are agents of chaos on the internet, exploiting issues to make users react in an emotional manner (Buckels, E.E., Trapnell, P.D. and Paulhus, D.L., 2014). 

Social media has embedded itself into everyday, it has its positive and negative affects, including trolling. Social media platforms have provided the opportunity for anyone to become a troll. They have the luxury to do it safely in an isolated environment, behind their computer or mobile device. Due to the high number of trolls, sites like Instagram and YouTube have introduced comment control features. Giving the power to the user and letting them decide who can comment on their post. Despite these measures, trolls are still causing trouble and it’s unlikely it will slow down. As a user, we have to ignore the troll and not feed them. By retaliating to their comments, we are giving them exactly what they want.

Erin Buckels (Lewis, J. 2014) conducted a survey to find out who, exactly these trolls are. From the 419 participants interviewed, 51% actively comment, with a tenth admitting trolling was their favourite activity. The participants would spend an average of one hour per day commenting on content they found. The questionnaire looked “Dark Tetrad of personality” and determined that most participants were sadists. Therefore, writing comments to hurt others. 

Trolling is an ongoing issue for social network users, and the best way to combat them is to ignore them as their purpose is to get a response. The comments being posted aren’t necessarily a reflection on the the content, but on the troll. 

  Buckels, E.E., Trapnell, P.D. and Paulhus, D.L., 2014. Trolls just want to have fun. Personality and individual Differences, 67, pp.97-102.

Herring, S., Job-Sluder, K., Scheckler, R. and Barab, S., 2002. Searching for safety online: Managing" trolling" in a feminist forum. The Information Society, 18(5), pp.371-384.

Lewis, J. 2014. Internet trolls are also real-life trolls. The Guardian. viewed 20 January 2018 https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2014/feb/25/internet-trolls-are-also-real-life-trolls

Moreau, E. 2018. Internet trolling: How Do You Spot a Real Troll? Lifewire. Viewed 20 January 2018. https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-internet-trolling-3485891

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Social media activism

Whenever I scroll through Facebook or Instagram, there is always someone expressing their opinion about a cause, whether it be charitable, humanitarian or social. People have a lot to say and social media has created an environment where people are comfortable to do so. Teich, R 2016 states that social media is only creating awareness, that we are becoming slacktivists. However, Rutledge, P 2010 argues, social media has simply rewritten the rules of activism.

Social activism was strongly demonstrated via social media in the last 6 months by the Marriage Equality supporters, who adopted it to spread the word of their cause. They harnessed social media and encouraged Australians to vote in the postal survey. People were given the opportunity to show their support to the cause by posting their own pictures using #postboxselfie and sharing amongst friends. Facebook also gave their users the option to add an Australian Marriage Equality banner to their profile picture, turning people into activists. When the victory of Marriage equality, people took to Social media to celebrate by sharing a link or photo or posting their own celebratory photo. Within hours, multiple articles and videos were being shared. I am happy to be in that crowd, as soon as I heard the result I shared a photo. I wouldn’t consider myself an activist, but I supported and believed in the cause, so I wanted to express that view via social media.

Post Box Selfie, 2016 https://postboxselfie.com/

Social media creates awareness hassle free, the information people share circulates immediately. It is creating the foundation for change (Rutledge, P 2010). During times of crisis, people come together through Facebook to mourn and show support. One of the biggest social media campaigns was during the Refugee Crisis, when a picture of a drowned Syrian boy was posted online. This sparked an outcry on Facebook and Twitter with human right activist demanding refugees to be accepted by European countries. This was shared by millions of users with people expressing their condolences and anger over the incident. Activism and change doesn’t have to happen the same way it did before internet, and it’s not a terrible thing.

Social media is engaging more people and distributing material faster than ever. Change isn’t about the tools, it’s about the people and what they believe (Rutledge, P 2010). Social media is so powerful in a society that is so heavily reliant on technology. No matter the motivations for why we post every bit of awareness is one step closer to changing society for the better. 

Hill, J, 2017 Social Media A ‘Once In a Lifetime tool’ for Marriage Equality Supporters, The Huffington Post. Viewed 8 January 2018: http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/09/23/social-media-a-once-in-a-lifetime-tool-for-marriage-equality-supporters_a_23220664/

Post Box Selfie, 2016 https://postboxselfie.com/

Rutledge, P 2010   https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/positively-media/201010/four-ways-social-media-is-redefining-activism

Teich, R 2016 Three Big Problems With Facebook Activism Big Think, viewed 8 January 2018:  http://bigthink.com/praxis/facebook-is-fraying-not-saving-the-world

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Did Twitter help Trump win?

The way politicians are campaigning and connecting with the public has no doubt changed because of the internet, and more in particularly because of social media. All politicians are adopting this new form of technology to make announcements and communicate directly with their voters (Stieglitz, S. and Dang-Xuan, L., 2013).

During the 2008 presidential campaign, 74% of Americans went online to follow the campaign, they even used social media to create their own political material (Calamur, K 2017). There is no surprise that the trend has continued to boom through the most recent presidential election. For the last year, we have seen plenty of Donald Trump’s posts, that make us scratch our head and wonder why he does it. Politicians are constantly scrutinized for what they say and do, however Trump seems to just keep doing it. Despite many commentators, advising him to abandon his Twitter rampage he continues to use Social media to bypass the mainstream media to connect directly with the public. His tweets have created legal problems and caused diplomatic incidents, and has contradicted his cabinet officials by posting tweets on Twitter. My question is, did Twitter help Donald Trump win the 2016 election?  Donald Trump believes so, with him saying that he wouldn’t have been able win without Facebook or Twitter. He also claims that because of social media he didn’t spend as much money on advertising as compared to the Clinton campaign (Bickart, B Fournier, S Nisenholtz, M 2017).

Facebook and Twitter provided Donald Trump with a platform that no other media outlet would offer, he was able to speak his mind without it being misconstrued or twisted. As Trump says, the media is all fake news, nobody can believe what they say. Before election day, Donald Trump had 19 million Twitter followers and 18 million Facebook fans (Bickart, B Fournier, S Nisenholtz, M 2017) and now he has 44.8 million followers (Twitter, 2017). Every tweet he posted planted a seed, it doesn’t matter what they were about his tweets were creating a conversation, therefore awareness. The public were getting to know Donald Trump without the media feeding it to them. Even though the Donald Trump’s tweets were not ideal, they worked people that supporting him were retweeting and spreading the conversation, even those who didn’t support him would’ve helped his overall campaign. Through social media he received the equivalent of $2 billion dollars of free advertising (Bickart, B Fournier, S Nisenholtz, M 2017).

You may say that his method was questionable, but it got the job done, he won the election. It will be interesting to see what happens at the next election, if Twitter will make or break his campaign.  

Bickart, B Fournier, S Nisenholtz, M 2017. What Trump Understands About Using Social Media to Drive Attention. Harvard Business Review. Viewed 20 December 2017 https://hbr.org/2017/03/what-trump-understands-about-using-social-media-to-drive-attention

Calamur, K, 2017. The International Incidents Sparked by Trump’s Twitter Feed in 2017. The Atlantic. Viewed 20 December 2017 https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/12/trump-tweets-foreign-policy/547892/

Stieglitz, S. and Dang-Xuan, L., 2013. Social media and political communication: a social media analytics framework. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 3(4), pp.1277-1291.

Twitter, 2017. Donald Trump, viewed 20 December 2017 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

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Social media affordances

In this is new age of social media, there is new denying it has changed the way we communicate and interact with each other. Our social experiences have changed as a result of the numerous social platforms and their affordances. 

Sharing photos is about sharing memories with family and friends, social media has changed the way we do this, there is no longer a need for printed photos, instead people use Facebook. Instagram and Snapchat. Photo sharing on Facebook is instantaneous, and directly from a mobile device. Facebook allows users to edit the picture, crop and add special effects before sharing. Once they have been shared, users can add captions, titles and organize their photos into albums (Safko, L & Brake, D 2009). All these affordances have made sharing photos and memories simple and easy, as someone who likes to travel, sharing my photos and videos is important. My family like to know where I am and it allows them to see what I am experiencing. By posting pictures, Facebook will help you relive them with the ‘memories’ feature, seeing what the user did this day last year or two years ago. By loading the pictures, they are accessed easily, compared to the printed pictures that most likely end up in a book shelf or under a bed collecting dust. 

Linkedin has changed our social experiences and has a number of affordances that have changed how people job search and network with people. Linkedin is similar to Facebook and Twitter however instead of becoming friends or following someone, you connect. The site has posting abilities however, the content is mostly relating to the user’s work. The site has a messaging service giving recruiters the ability to contact directly with the user. Linkedin’s profiles are like resumes, users can load their work history, education, skills and interests, the need for paper resumes are no longer with this platform. The site allows its users to search for jobs and endorse other people that you have connected with. There are less companies posting jobs and with 238 million users, it’s changed the recruitment process (Halzack, S 2013). The functionality allows recruiters to sift through users based on their profile information and contact them via messaging service if they are suitable. Recruiters are possibly going after people are not necessarily looking for a new job but those who are open to new experiences or challenges (Halzack, S 2013). LinkedIn is allowing those working in the same industry to get to know each other without having to attend events, it is making networking easier. Even as a university student studying marketing, it’s important to have a Linkedin profile as connecting with people is a requirement and being connected is crucial to being successful.

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

Halzack, S 2013, LinkedIn has changed the way businesses hunt talent, The Washington Post, viewed 11 December 2017

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/linkedin-has-changed-the-way-businesses-hunt-talent/2013/08/04/3470860e-e269-11e2-aef3-339619eab080_story.html?utm_term=.a55b12030a74

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Social media is a community

Social media has revolutionized how communities and neighbors interact with each other. It has given us the ability to communicate with people that have similar interests. Many people are participating in a number of different virtual communities, adding or following strangers, stepping away from the physical interaction within their own neighbourhood. People are forming communities of choice via online, where they feel included. They are choosing to isolate themselves from physical communities. Many researchers state that social media is negatively impacting our communities (Siapera, E 2012). Ferdinand concluded that we have moved away from communities (Siapera, E 2012). Some may agree with this research; social media has become so ingrained in our lives, we struggle to leave the house without it. We are preferring to connect with strangers on social media and we are addicted to it.

Despite these factors, social media has changed how our communities operate and interact for the better. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram are helping to build up our communities (Niven, R, 2011), and making the activity within them more visible (Hothi, M, 2012).

Many groups are using social media to engage and communicate with their audience. Recently joining a group called Slow Cooker Recipes 4 Families, there are over 500,000 members sharing advice, recipes and ideas. This community has audience members from all over the world, and the participation is implausible.

Social media is also being adopted to help communities during times of disaster, with emergency departments and individuals using Twitter and Facebook to provide information. During the Boston Marathon bombing, people were being informed about what was happening instantly through the Boston Police Facebook page. In Australia, CFS used Facebook to advise towns about evacuation plans during the Sampson flat bushfires. Social media has also brought communities together during these disasters, spreading support and love to those affected. It’s giving those that are not directly impact to mourn. During the Paris attacks, #standwithparis was being shared along with people changing their profile pictures. Social media brings people together, we stand together as a community with social media.  

Social media is not impacting our community negatively, it is creating cooperation amongst neighbours, and as stated by Rheingold, the internet breathes new life into a different form of community (Siapera, E 2012).

Niven, R 2011, ‘The role of social media in community building and development’, in The Guardian viewed 8 December 2017: https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/community-action-blog/2011/dec/08/facebook-social-media-community-development

Hothi, M 2012, ‘Does social really empower communities?’, in The Guardian viewed 8 December 2017:  https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/community-action-blog/2012/mar/01/social-media-empower-communities

Siapera, E 2012, 'Socialities and Social Media', in Understanding New Media, Sage, London, pp. 191-208