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Three assignments due all in the same week send out an sos

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Global Social Media- China

As China is the most highly populated country in the world, it does not surprise me that China is “leading the way’ with social media as its “exploding worldwide”. It is said that internet usage has vastly expanded in China than anywhere else, as in December 2011, China had an outstanding 513 million active internet users in comparison to other counties such as the United States (245 million), India (121 million) and Germany (67 million). Despite that China are the most dominating country using the internet and social media, it’s said to have the “worlds most active social media population” with over 50% spending over 12 hours weekly online, selected age groups such as under 35’s, are the ones who are the largest internet users. Surprisingly, Facebook and Twitter are social media sites in which are restricted in China, therefore its local social media sites are commonly used. Sites that is of public interest in China are sites such as, Ozone which is a social media site which is similar to Myspace as you can create your own webpage to “post updates, photos and videos”, Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo which has similar features as to those of Facebook and Twitter as you have a 140 character limit and are able to post updates, photos and videos as well as message others, Renren as well as Kaixin are also similar to Facebook Renren targets primarily university students and early graduates and Kaixin appeals to white- collar office workers (Chiu et al, 2012).

Sources cited-

Chiu. C, Lin. D, Silverman. A, 2012, China’s Social Media Boom, McKinsey&Company, Viewed 23/5/17, available at: https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-6273096-dt-content-rid-34296541_2/courses/2017-HS1-MDA20009-220271/McKinsey-Chinas-Social-Media-Boom1_2012.pdf

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Social Gaming

Massive multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs), has rapidly increased on the web on a globally in game players participation. With the help of the internet, online gaming has become a social platform where users can interact with others online in real time and develop online relationships, based upon common interests from the gaming world. MMORPGs allows players to interact with each-other through sending messages with the players in their group, as well as playing against other groups. By individuals taking part in MMORPGs allows players to develop and use social skills such as team work, as they are playing with and against others and have to work together to ‘win’ and move onto higher levels in the game. Participating in playing groups such as MMORPGs, promotes players to actively get involved in a social network activity as players who tend to play online games on their own, don't have the same social connection as group players do (Kim et al, 2013). 

sources cited- 

Kim. K, Yoo. B, Kauffman. R, 2-13, Valuation of Participation in Social Gaming, viewed 15/5/17, available at: http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=90d79d23-f9ae-4b5d-a1ab-ce0c3ec04d2d%40sessionmgr102&vid=1&hid=124

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My friend posted this on Snapchat.

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Me studying for my exam be like

After my exams:

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Public Health X Social Media

Social media can be a very helpful tool in promoting public health as social media can assist in educating, informing, and to empower individuals about health issues (Thackeray et al. 2012). Health information being available on the web provides the general public with “answers to medical questions” which can ultimately be cost effective since you are saving the trip to the doctors (Schulz et al, 2013). 

Even though we all know Google isn't the most effective nor accurate place to check for symptoms, I'm sure Google has tried to tell us at some point we are basically dying when really it was just a cold...But approximately 83% of people who use the internet seek health information on the web (MDA2009 Lecture, 2017). 

Campaigns that primarily promote public health such as ‘ R U OK?’ and ‘Movember’, use social media as a promotional platform to create an online trend to raise awareness (MDA2009 Lecture, 2017). #RUOK is an online trend in which it is a day to ask your family and friends if they are okay open and open up about mental illnesses intended to make personal conversations public (MDA2009 Lecture, 2017). Movember is an event that progresses over the month of November where men grow their ‘mo’ to raise awareness and funds for mens health specifically “prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention” (Movember Foundation, 2017)

Social media sites such as YouTube is also a platform which interlinks public health and social media as people who have personal experiences with possible depression or a cancer story, tend to share their experience with the world through videos or vlogs sharing information about symptoms, diagnosis and treatments (Schulz et al ,2013). 

Sources cited- 

MDA2009 Lecture, 2017, Public health Campaigns and Communities, Week 9, Swinburne University of Technology 

Movember Foundation, 2017, About us, Viewed 8/5/17, available at: https://au.movember.com/about/foundation

Thackeray. R, Neiger. B, Smith. A, Wagenen. S, 2012, Adoption and Use of Social Media Among Public Health Departments, viewed 8/5/17 available at: http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/367/art%253A10.1186%252F1471-2458-12-242.pdf?originUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fbmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com%2Farticle%2F10.1186%2F1471-2458-12-242&token2=exp=1494240379~acl=%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2F367%2Fart%25253A10.1186%25252F1471-2458-12-242.pdf*~hmac=8d5e894bc71e7ae9de630cb318e02da0b6f8e1be3bce1cb0facbcf4a01f613ef

Schulz. P, Auvinen. A, Crotty. B, 2013, A New Dimension of Health Care: Systematic Review of the Uses, Benefits, and Limitations of Social Media for Health Communication, viewed 8/5/17, available at: https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/pmc/articles/PMC3636326/

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Social Crowdsourcing

As social media is an avenue in which keeps us all connected with people locally and around the globe, it also acts as an important and critical feature when disasters happen somewhere in the world as it becomes an “information propagator that can be leveraged for disaster relief” (Gao et al. 2011). Social crowdsourcing is a service used during a time of crisis that is generated through social media in order “to increase situational awareness during crisis events” (Starbird & Palen, 2011). Social crowdsourcing basically is needing services, ideas and content contributions employed by a large group of people more so from the online community rather than aid employees and suppliers (MDA2009, 2017). In January 2010 when Haiti was struck with the disastrous earthquake, its economic damages were estimated to “13.9 billion with 200,000 to 250,000 lives lost” (Starboard & Palen, 2011). During this horrific time, people were posting photos and videos online of the destruction and their personal experiences via platforms such as Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, and YouTube (Gao et al. 2011). In just 48 hours it is said the Red Cross had received “US$8 Million in donations directly from texts” which highlights the power of social media and its social crowdsourcing (Gao et al. 2011). 

sources cited- 

Gao. H, & Barbier. G, 2011, Goolsby. R, Harnessing the Crowdsourcing Power of Social Media for Disaster Relief, viewed 1/4/17, available at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=5898447

Starbird. K, Palen. L, 2011, “Voluntweeters” Self Organizing by Digital Volunteers in Times of Crisis, viewed 1/4/17, available: http://delivery.acm.org.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/10.1145/1980000/1979102/p1071-starbird.pdf?ip=136.186.1.81&id=1979102&acc=ACTIVE%20SERVICE&key=65D80644F295BC0D%2E8CC58AB4E41E133F%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35&CFID=757300300&CFTOKEN=15223274&__acm__=1493642292_02c9dce3f5a5ce8dd465cb0a18c41b8c

MDA2009, 2017, Crowdsourcing in Times of Crisis, Week 8 Lecture Slides, Swinburne University 

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going into week 9 feels

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i failed a student for their midterm grade, and they just sent me an email that just says “bruh.”

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Trolling and Cyberbullying

Now more than ever have we seen an increase in cyber-bullying and trolling over the internet. As technology exposure is becoming more significant amongst users of all ages, to surf the internet to find out information, communicate and use the internet as a “entertainment medium”, (Christodulaki &Fragopoulou, 2009) consequently enables cyberbullying and trolling to become more visible online with the rapid growth of technology and increased growth of mobile devices (Nicol, 2012). 

Cyberbullying can be referred to as “using technology to deliberately and repeatedly cause harm and distress” while similarly trolling can be defined as “deliberately trying to distress someone online but usually just to disrupt and often anonymously. It is frequently inflammatory and abusive” (Nicol, 2012).

Internet users of all ages are susceptible to being face to face with inappropriate material (Christodulaki & Fragopoulou, 2009), and it not only targets the every day person but also famous celebrities. 

People who spend their time cyberbullying and trolling are just keyboard warriors who act anonymously to inflict hurt onto its victims.

As the 21st century is subsequently about the digital age there have been helplines and laws put into place to stop and prevent cyberbullying and trolling. One of the Australian laws applying to cyberbullying is the Criminal Code Act 1995, which states the offence of using the internet, social media or telephone use “to menace, harass or cause offence” (ACORN, 2017). 

If yourself or others you may know are dealing with this sort of issue the anonymous Australian helplines available to Australians are: 

KidsHelpline (yrs 13-25): 1800 55 1800 

ReachOut Australia/LifeLine: 13 11 14 

Sources cited- 

Nicol, Sarah. Cyber-bullying and trolling [online].  Youth Studies Australia, Vol. 31, No. 4, Dec 2012: 3-4. Availability:<http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=961674521346309;res=IELHSS> ISSN: 1038-2569. [cited 18 Apr 17]

Christodoulaki. Meltini, Fragopoulou. Paraskevi, 2009, SafeLine: Reporting Illegal Internet Content, accessed: 18/04/17, available: http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/09685221011035269

ACORN, 2017, Cyberbullying, Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network, accessed: 18/04/17, available at: https://www.acorn.gov.au/learn-about-cybercrime/cyber-bullying

-Celebrities reading out mean tweets videos- 

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Activism and Protest

As social media is now becoming the home for individuals to freely express themselves, social media has become a way for people to actively engage with protesting and activism on issues all around the globe. 

Activism can be defined as, “citizen activism expresses a collective enterprise for keeping the state accountable to the needs of civil society” (Bang, 2005). 

By people openly expressing their thoughts and participating in activism through social media platforms, this can be referred to as digital citizenship. Digital citizenship can be described as assertively and positively participating with digital technology (esafety.gov.au, 2017). 

Some current day examples where we have seen protests and activism take place through the involvement of digital citizenship were events like Kony 2012 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and Facebook defaults filters e.g the french flag. 

Kony 2012, a movement which was a viral success, created by a charity called Invisible Children, created a short film promoting activism and protest about the “plight of children in Uganda at the hands of the warlord Joseph Kony”. The short film dominated twitter on a global scale with the hashtag #StopKony and the video “having one of the fastest ever take-offs on YouTube” (Curtis & McCarthy, 2012) . The support for  the campaign was to stop Kony and by doing that people were encouraged to get the word out and put “Kony’s name everywhere” (Invisible Children, 2012). People were advised to get an ‘Active Kit’ which was filled with flyers, stickers, two wristbands, in order to “cover”  the streets on April 20th 2012, with the activism against Kony (Invisible Children, 2012).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc#action=share  - Kony Film 

ALS (A Life Story Foundation) created the ice bucket challenge trend in order to raise awareness, educate people and money for the disease ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). The challenge took the world by storm, people began to engage in the ALS  disease awareness activism by doing the ice bucket challenge, and posting it on social media later nominating friends whist donating to the charity. There was also a trending hashtag,”#ALSicebucketchallenge”which allowed others to communicate and educate people around the globe on the infamous trend (A Life Story Foundation, 2017. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuFytc9YLDs - Kim Kardashian Ice Bucket Challenge on Ellen 

Facebook introducing a feature which allowed Facebook users to use a filter over their default, is an example of activism as users show them taking a stand on an issue. Some of the issues Facebook used its platform to allow its users to engage with activism, were some of the most popular filters which included the gay rights rainbow flag as well as the French Flag after the tourist attack in Nice, France. As Facebook is a universal social media platform used by millions around the world indicates, by being part of the default filters invites us all to somewhat stand together showing unity and fight for what we believe in such as gay rights and anti terrorism. 

Sources cited- 

Bang, Henrik. "Among everyday makers and expert citizens." Remaking governance: Peoples, politics and the public sphere (2005): 159-178.

Esaftey.gov.au, 2017, Digital Citizenship, Australian Government, Viewed 10/4/17, https://www.esafety.gov.au/education-resources/classroom-resources/digital-citizenship

A Life Story Foundation, 2017, Learn, ALS, Viewed 10/4/17, https://www.alifestoryfoundation.org/learn/?gclid=CLrup5v1mdMCFZIKKgodGkYCRg 

Curtis. P, McCarthy.T, 2012, Kony 2012: what's the real story?, The Guardian, Viewed 10/4/17, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2012/mar/08/kony-2012-what-s-the-story 

Invisible Children, 2012, Kony 2012, Youtube, Viewed 10/4/17 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc#action=share

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Amethyst 80′s inspired

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Political Engagement and Social Media

Former President of the United States, Barack Obama who was referred to as the “first social media President” (Eilperin, 2015) as he embraced “the rise of social media” (Kosoff, 2017) illustrates the importance of creating the tie between political engagement and social media. In Obamas 2008 election campaign, which was his first time running for presidency, it was essential he targeted his audience demographic and trends, to ultimately put himself out there and gain the likings of his people. In order to specifically target his audience, using micro-targeting, a system where “the idea of being able to identify exactly the desired audience and aim messages to them directly” was said to be crucial in his political operation (Eilperin, 2015). Through the help of social media platforms such as Facebook (@WhiteHouse/@barackobma) and Twitter (@BarackObama), Obama was able to communicate and promote himself via a medium in which his target audience were using. Not only did self-promotion and communication through online platforms help reach out to his audience, during his election campaign he teamed up with A List celebrities including, Usher and Oprah Winfrey, and The Black Eye Peas to create a ‘Pro Obama’ music video where singers such as Will.I.am, John Legend and many more got together and created the song called “Yes We Can” (Newton-Small, 2008). By adopting celebrity influences to capture his audience to engage with politics in a form of which they understand, he used the celebrities’ voices to help build up his support and promotion in his election campaign, which brought great influence to his followers both young and old to get out and vote. Using mediums such as social media to promote political engagement has its benefits as, it reaches to more people worldwide in real time and can directly communicate with its audience such as people like you and me via twitter. It becomes financially cost effective as it won’t cost millions of dollars to do promotion such as advertisements on traditional media such as television, radio and billboards (Carr, 2008). Despite the benefits of politics moving onto social media, it is also said social media Governance “cheapens the power of presidency” as creating a hashtag trend can replace “serious policymaking” (Eilperin, 2015).

Kosoff, Maya. "President Obama Warns Social Media Is Becoming A Threat To Democracy". The Hive. N.p., 2017. Web. 27 Mar. 2017. http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/01/president-obama-warns-social-media-is-becoming-a-threat-to-democracy

Eilperin, Juliet. "Here’s How The First President Of The Social Media Age Has Chosen To Connect With Americans". Washington Post. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2015/05/26/heres-how-the-first-president-of-the-social-media-age-has-chosen-to-connect-with-americans/?utm_term=.195c5298f0b7

 Carr, David. "How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power". The New York Times. N.p., 2008. Web. 27 Mar. 2017 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/media/10carr.html

 Newton-Small, Jay. "Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.Com". TIME.com. N.p., 2008. Web. 27 Mar. 2017 http://content.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1709745,00.html

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Is Tumblr a Blog or a Social Media Platform?

Tumblr is a unique form of a media medium as it is a site which allows your imagination to go wild. Tumblr describes itself as a place where it “empowers people to create something extraordinary” (Tumblr, 2017), but I mean what exactly is Tumblr? Would we say its a social media platform or would we respectively suggest that it is just a blog site? 

Well...lets look at the two. Firstly, social media can be defined as something to “create highly interactive platforms to enable people to communicate, share, collaborate and modify user generated content...” (Power, 2014). On the other hand, a blog which is short for ‘web log’ can be generally viewed as “journals on the internet” (Spellos, 2004) which can be seen as a place to “express yourself to the world” (Bryd, 2015). 

If we have a look at these two, yes, Tumblr does have characteristics outlining it is a part of the social media network but some may argue it is just purely for blogging as its purpose is to only blog. 

Tumblr does enable people to communicate and share more so on a worldwide scale, as people are encouraged to utilise the blog site as a “place to share your thoughts and passions” (Bryd, 2015). Tumblr specifically allows individuals who use the site to creatively illustrate their personality, passions, thoughts/viewpoints (Nardi, Schiano, Gumbrecht & Swartz, 2004) which is communicated to others through their posts. 

As Tumblr is a site which is heavily reliant on its user generated content, it is a “...highly interactive platform...” (Power, 2014 ) as it is constantly being updated with ideas to share. 

Despite Tumblr being a medium where you can blog and not merely have the same formatting and purpose as what Twitter or Facebook might have, I still believe Tumblr should be considered as a social media platform rather than just a blog site. 

Instagram I believe has some sort of similarity with Tumblr, as some of its users use the social media platform as a ‘pin board’ of ones personality and lifestyle with possibly some added aesthetic. 

Users post photos of what they're doing, posting a #MotivationalMonday quote,  the food posts you know the ones where you think cmon Emily we get it you instagramed a Acai bowl about three times this week all of a sudden you're a health freak *sighs*, or where they're at - because your whole instagram feed isn't *inserts sarcasm* filled with uploads of people at that one event everybody seemed to be at but you *inserts MASSIVE fomo*. 

How can we label one that has a similarity in posting about ones life and personality as a social media platform and the other just as a blog? i believe the two tie together and shouldn't be labelled as seperate as Tumblr can communicate ideas just as much as Facebook or twitter can despite it is a blog. 

Let me know what you think below. :) 

References- 

Spellos, J 2004, What is a Blog?, administrative assistants update, pp. 5 http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/docview/225226180?accountid=14205&rfr_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo

Power, A, 2014, British Journal of Midwifery, Vol. 22(12), pp. 896-897https://librarysearch.swinburne.edu.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=TN_scopus2-s2.0-84915764291&context=PC&vid=SWIN2&lang=en_US&search_scope=Blended&adaptor=primo_central_multiple_fe&tab=combined&query=any,contains,what%20is%20social%20media&sortby=rank&facet=tlevel,include,peer_reviewed&offset=0 

Bryd, K, 2015, What is a Blog

Nardi, B, Schiano, D, Gumbrecht, M, Swartz, L, 2004, Why We Blog, http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=50b8054e-aed9-4136-8f98-c13857d7e46d%40sessionmgr120