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Social Gaming with FB & EVE

Social gaming: how many of you play or engage with gaming online? The only game on the computer I ever played was Age of Empires (how much fun was that!) so I am not too familiar with the online gaming community! I will be diving into the Facebook gaming sensation and where it all begun!

‘Facebook opened its platform to developers in 2006 and it was ‘game on’ for social gaming—and arguably one of the reasons Facebook’s user base climbed so rapidly to its current 1.25 billion level.’ (Swinburne, 2017)  Facebook has come a very long way since the days of “Farmville” (remember all of the annoying notifications we would get to join into the game?). "Facebook plays a critical role in how people connect to the games they love and share them," the global games director Leo Olebe states. Social gaming is described as people interacting with one another online and involve chatting, trading etc.  Facebook played a huge role in social media and online gaming but through my research this week one game I have been fascinated about is Eve Online.  

Eve Online: https://www.eveonline.com/

Even online is a sophisticated space-themed massively multiplayer online game (MMO) with an economy and living communities which was released in 2003. It has half a million subscribers and encourages player participation in game 78 VOLUME20 NUMBER1 MAR2014 management (Zwart, 2014).

‘The game is renowned for its scale and complexity with regards to player interactions — in its single-shard game world, players engage in unscripted economic competition, warfare, and political schemes with other players.’ (Savage, 2016) EVE is a whole universe in itself where players call the shots, it is simply peerless. No other developer has attempted or even managed to pull off a similar online game.  

Online games have similar rules to those which are played in reality. If players do not follow the rules they will be banned from the game or even removed completely. EVE recently suspended a player known as ‘The Mittani’ from the game in relation to comments he made about another player. It was a thirty day suspension because he breached the terms of service. This has generated significant controversy in the associated game media. (Zwart, 2014) Another player was suspended in 2009 when they hacked an enemy’s corporation to find valuable blueprints – this is all too nerdy for me I think! Check out the website, even for me EVE Online looks pretty damn cool..

References

EVE Online, 2014, viewed 3 August 2016, <www.eveonline.com>.

Savage, P 2016, The 50 most important PC games of all time, viewed 26 January 2018, < http://www.pcgamer.com/most-important-pc-games/10/>.

Zwart, M & Humphreys, S 2014,' The Lawless Frontier of Deep Space: Code as Law in EVE Online', Cultural Studies Review, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 77-99.

 Image

Avard, A 2017, That Big Million Dollar EVE Online War Happened, viewed 25 January 2018, http://www.gamesradar.com/the-next-big-eve-online-war-is-about-to-break-out-and-it-could-cost-one-million-dollars-wait-what/>

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Boston Bombers

‘Businesses, non-profit organizations and government agencies regularly integrate the creative energies of online communities into day-to-day operations. This deliberate blend of bottom up creativity is called Crowdsourcing.’ (Brabham, 2013) So to put it simply it’s a crowd of people getting something done. It was a buzz word which was first published in Wired Magazine in 2006 by author Jeff Howe but the process of crowdsourcing was invented as early as 1714.

In 1714 the first recorded practice of crowdsourcing was when the British government were trying to find a way to measure a ship’s longitude position. This was called the ‘longitude prize’ which they offered the public for whomever could come up with the best solution. (Crowdsourcing.org, 2012) Nowadays a successful and well-known example of crowdsourcing is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is the most extensive and largely used form of encyclopaedic knowledge available on the internet.

 Hunt for the ‘Boston bombers’

On 15 April 2013 two bombs blasted during the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring over 170 others. What followed this was one of the biggest investigations and manhunts in US history. ‘The suspects were identified, and then located, as a result of one of the most coordinated, technologically sophisticated efforts  by local, state and federal law enforcement.’ (Huey, 2015) FBI agent Richard DesLauriers lead the investigation and appealed for everybody who was located where the bombs went off to come forward with photos or videos they may have taken, in hope that it may lead police to a potential lead. The FBI was hoping to get an extraordinary amount of data such as images which they successfully did.

‘Those tasked with analyzing the media will be spend hours trawling through images and videos, cross-referencing these with facial recognition software and complex algorithms to try and shed light on what happened.’ (Wheatley, 2013) They examined thousands of people whom were captured in the images about why they were there, whether to watch the race, for business, or possible malicious reasons. The suspects ended up being identified as a result of one of the biggest crowdsourcing examples in recent time.

Users on Reddit were quick to post images onto the subreddit FINDBOSTONBOMBERS. Some of these images sparked clues which the FBI were quick to analysis. The photo below shows two images side by side with a suspect holding a bag in one and no bag in the other. Some users said that the bag may have been too heavy to carry and others would shut down that theory. As you can see his attention in the first photo is not on the marathon, does this mean he could be a suspect? Many Reddit users certainly had their say.

‘The Boston Marathon bombing incident was a pivotal moment in citizen participation in policing. It was the first time online communities were actively involved in conducting their own investigation into a terrorist attack concurrently with the official police investigation.’ (Huey, 2015) In my opinion FBI agent Richard DesLauriers did a fantastic job crowdsourcing all of the Boston images to find the bombers responsible.

  References

Brabham, D 2013, The International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication, ‘Crowdsourcing’, viewed 15 January 2018.

Crowdsourcing.org, 2012, ‘A Brief history of Crowdsourcing’, viewed 14 January 2018.

Heuy, L 2015, The British Journal of Criminology, ‘Digilantism: An Analysis of Crowdsourcing and the Boston Marathon Bombings’ pp 341–361.

Wheatley, M 2013, ‘FBI Uses Big Data & Crowdsourcing To Hunt The Boston Bomber’, viewed 14 January 2018, https://siliconangle.com/blog/2013/04/17/fbi-uses-big-data-crowdsourcing-to-hunt-the-boston-bomber/>.

 Images

Heuy, L 2015, The British Journal of Criminology, ‘Digilantism: An Analysis of Crowdsourcing and the Boston Marathon Bombings’ pp 341–361.

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Selfies and Videos of Affinity

Who loves a good ‘Selfie’?!?!?! (I know I do!) This week we learnt about networked visuality which is the way images have become a huge foundation of social networking. I‘ll be discussing the ‘selfie culture’ (which I have to say I am definitely guilty with this one) and how the rise in selfies have changed the way we take photos forever! I will also be exploring what ‘Videos of Affinity’ are and how they connect to YouTube viewers.  

Selfie Culture

‘Over the past couple of decades, the cultural field formerly known as ‘domestic’, and later ‘personal’ photography has been remediated and transformed as part of the social web, with its convergence of personal expression, interpersonal communication and online social networks’ (Vivenne & Burgess, 2013). Changes in technology have changed how we remember, communicate and capture personal images of everyday life. Personal photography begins with the introduction of the Kodak camera in 1888 which delivered a photographic system that ‘would place all of the complexities of photography in the hands of the manufacturer and a simple camera in the hands of nearly everyone six years or older’ (Jenkins, 2014). Selfies have become a part of our everyday lives, it used to be seen as a narcissistic trait but nowadays the so called ‘selfie’ is a common way to capture images.

Would you see this as narcissistic? You cannot log into a social network without seeing at least a few of these captured images, they are certainly just a part of the digital age. There are some risks with ‘Selfie’ taking for example the infamous Paris attack on Kin Kardashian comes to mind. The reality TV star posted a selfie showing off her millions of dollar jewelry then a few hours later was robbed at gun point. Now this is obviously a rare and huge example to use but with the technology on social media, anyone can have access to your location or piece together your online puzzle and BAM there you are… scary huh…  

Videos of Affinity  

First of all ‘Affinity’ can be described as 'feelings of membership in a social network, or feelings of attraction to people, things or ideas' (Lange, 2009). Patricia Lange looks into the ideas of social imaging through vlogging on YouTube (vlogging is posting videos about certain topics or products to your subscribers)! People have many times of affiliation such as hobbies or ideologies which are shown in many videos across YouTube. Videos of affinity true to establish communicative networks to people, they attempt to maintain feelings of connection with the viewers of the videos. They interest delineated groups of people who wish to remain socially connected to the video maker (Lange, 2009).  

A popular example of this would be a home-made video on Christmas Day or a family’s birthday, this is called ‘home-made communication’. Have you noticed these videos are usually always taken by the Father? (Maybe not so much these days since the rise of cameras and selfie culture!) This mainstream video would interest viewers and subscribers as they are not only interested in the video maker’s life but they can often relate to what is being filmed.

So as you can see selfies and vlogging are so basic in today’s digital age, what do you think about that? What will be the next big thing? It’s so hard to imagine life before all this technology, I tend to think maybe it would have been a lot easier… Ironic huh

References

Lange, P 2009, The YouTube Reader, Videos of Affinity on YouTube, chapter pp 70-88.

Jenkins, R 1975, Technology and the market: George Eastman and the origins of mass amateur photography, pp 1–19.

Vivenne, J & S, Burgess, Journal of Media Culture: The remediation of the personal photograph and the politics of self-representation in digital storytelling, pp 280-284.

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Trolling with Michael Brutsch

Has anyone experienced internet trolling? Unfortunately when you are successful or have a high social media following, or even say something someone else doesn’t necessarily agree with – there will always be trolling over social media and the internet. I know you’re thinking ‘what a coward’, because I certainly am, how could someone sit in front of a computer screen and become so negative and cruel to complete strangers, or even people they know… I will be researching into the psychology of trolling with the example of the infamous Reddit troll Michael Brutsch.

‘First of all, there is far too much variation within the behavioural category of trolling to affix any singular, unified purpose to constituent trolls’ actions. Given trolls’ anonymity, this assumption simply isn’t verifiable.’ (Phillips, 2015) Social Media networking is constantly growing but unfortunately this means so has the amount of internet abuse. Trolls try to trying to aggravate users online to receive a response. Anonymity allows trolls to engage in behaviours they would now use in a public setting because specific behaviours would be considered socially unacceptable.

‘Trolling refers to the deliberate provocation of conflict by posting messages that are inflammatory, controversial, insulting, and/or provocative.’ (Tuten, 2016) Trolls on social media are not your average users, they are online bullies with trolling simply being a hobby to them. Michael Brutsch is an infamous Reddit troll who uses the handle ‘Violentacrez’. He creates offensive subreddits (topics on Reddit) with a simple goal of aggravating and enraging other Reddit users. Brutsch has awarded himself with the title ‘The biggest troll on the web” which seems un-human to any normal person but Brutsch is certainly not one. He offends almost everyone he possibly can on the online forum Reddit, posting images of underage girls, porn, gore, misogyny and much more. ‘Since Brutsch stumbled on Reddit he has pushed the boundaries of Reddit's free-speech culture. He has done this mostly through creating offensive subreddits to troll sensitive users.’ (Chen, 2012)

So what goes inside the minds of trolls such as Brutsch? Why do they commit or say such insensitive things and what do they think about the people on the receiving end of trolling?!

Online, people are not in proximity of each other, this means the trolled are not real people; they are only usernames. Trollers may think these people do not feel or experience pain, therefore it may be hard to imagine them seeing or reading something you wrote. Sociologists have shown, the greater the distance between us and our victims, the easier it may be to cause pain. (Chen, 2012) These trolls like Brutsch have very low levels of guilt, empathy and responsibility of their actions. Psychologists suggest that trolls ‘show higher motivation to achieve negative social rewards, like creating social mayhem and disruption.’ (March, 2017)

Cognitive behaviour therapy, self-help groups and even family therapy are all ways to help internet addiction. These trolls will not stop until they get a responsive, so as long as the trolled aren’t giving them what they want maybe there will be less trolling over time – well let’s certainly hope so.

  References

Bishop, J 2012, ‘The Psychology of Trolling and Lurking: The Role of Defriending and Gamification for Increasing Participation in Online Communities Using Seductive Narratives’, viewed 07 January 2018, Chapter 10, pp 160-176. 

Chen, A 2012, ‘Unmasking Reddit’s Violentacrez, The Biggest Troll on the Web’, viewed 07 January 2018, < http://gawker.com/5950981/unmasking-reddits-violentacrez-the-biggest-troll-on-the-web>.

March, E 2017, ‘Psychology of Internet Trolls’, viewed 07 January 2018, < http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-13/trolls-understand-what-hurts-people-but-they-simply-dont-care/8701424>.

Phillips, W 2015, ‘This is why we can’t have nice things’, viewed 05 January 2018, https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=pjYhBwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=trolling+&ots=TFK17LXm9B&sig=GTf_YQsv7pRQIb0AQlCUEzhtayQ#v=onepage&q=trolling&f=false.

Tuten, Tracy 2016, ‘Social Media Marketing’, viewed 05 January 2018, https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XQg_DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT15&dq=trolling+on+social+media&ots=tP91wT0mqF&sig=xWRWwVJdcyYLsnOiufQJZyQzcAE#v=onepage&q=trolling&f=false.

 Image

Chen, A 2012, ‘Unmasking Reddit’s Violentacrez, The Biggest Troll on the Web’, viewed 07 January 2018, < http://gawker.com/5950981/unmasking-reddits-violentacrez-the-biggest-troll-on-the-web>.

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Greenpeace & Culture Jamming!

During week six we learnt about Slacktivism, Clicktivism and Culture Jamming, and what an interesting week it was! Throughout this blog I will be expanding on slacktivism and how Greenpeace uses this technique, as well as culture jamming and what this term means to us (plus some hilarious examples too)! 

Greenpeace Movement

Slacktivism is signing an online petition or joining a campaign group on a social media website (Swinburne, 2017). Slacktivism has only recently been brought to life because of the increased technology usage around the world. The internet is an effective way to gain viewers’ attention and reinforce a core message – this is what Greenpeace do. But are electronic petitions just as credible as paper ones?

First of all I visited the Greenpeace website http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/en/ where they have an online petition to stop new coal projects in Australia! It states that over 100,000 of Australians have called on Commbank to dump coal and the up-coming projects. There have been hundreds of posters and thousands of comments on the Commbank social media page supporting Greenpeace (Moylan, 2017). Greenpeace also have numerous movements to join and support. They have done such an incredible job with the amount of work they have achieved and I would have to agree that online petitions are just as successful as paper ones, if not more! Many more Australians are using technology day to day; this means with a simple click of a button they can sign almost anything on the internet…

 Culture Jamming

You’ve all seen those hilarious logos that have been changed and manipulated by anti-consumerist social movement’s right? These are called ‘Culture Jamming’.

Culture jamming has been around a while, it predates social media, but is given new life through the digital tools and distribution networks now available. It is the act of using existing media to comment on those very media themselves, and on political and social conditions more broadly. Social media can be utilised to critique the sociocultural and political hegemony that dominates modern societies—that is, the prevailing beliefs and ways of thinking and acting in a society.

It was originally based on the idea that advertising can be turned against itself to point up the flaws, inequalities and unethical elements of consumer culture and capitalism. The phrase ‘culture jamming’, popularised by Mark Dery 'comes from the idea of radio jamming: public frequencies can be pirated and subverted for independent communication, or to disrupt dominant frequencies (Dery, 1990).

Culture jamming has involved “billboard banditry” by the defacing of billboards to produce a new meaning that undermines the advertisers’ intention (Cammaerts, 2007, p.71). This action constitutes political activism in its intention, rather than vandalism, though it may be viewed as vandalism. In my opinion defacing billboards and signs is vandalism but I don’t see anything wrong with ‘altering’ a photo or advertisement online, quite frankly most of them are hilarious.

These are some of my favourite ‘culture jamming’ photos – let me know what you think!!

For more photos and a laugh head on down to http://www.adbusters.org/

References

Dery, M 1990, ‘The Merry Pranksters and the art of the hoax’, viewed December 29 http://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/23/arts/the-merry-pranksters-and-the-art-of-the-hoax.html.

Hearn, K 2009, ‘Culture Jamming: From Activism to Hacktivism’, viewed 29 December 2017, http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=isw.

Moyland, J 2017, ‘7 things you need to know about Commbank’s decision to move away from coal’, viewed 01 January 2018, https://www.greenpeace.org.au/blog/coalbank-commbank-leaving-coal/.

Soar, M 2010, ‘THE FIRST THINGS FIRST MANIFESTO AND THE POLITICS OF CULTURE JAMMING: TOWARDS A CULTURAL ECONOMY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN AND ADVERTISING’, viewed 29 December 2017,

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09502380210139124

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Images

Financial Tribune, ‘Greenpeace Doubts Climate Progress, viewed 29 December 2017, https://financialtribune.com/articles/people-environment/31400/greenpeace-doubts-climate-progress.

Viewed 30 December 2017, http://culture-jams.blogspot.com/2010/03/adbusting-culture-jamming.html

Viewed 01 January 2018, http://crookedlooks.blogspot.com/2010/10/culture-jamming.html

Viewed 30 December 2017,

https://convergentdivergent.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/culture-jamming-16/

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Kevin 07′

I can honestly say I have very limited knowledge on Politics! How about you? Before this week I just thought these politicians all gathered together in a red or green room and argued and argued until a decision about something was made. Simple right? After reading through scholarly articles and this week’s reading of ‘Politics and Civic Cultures’ I can safely say that politics are so much more than that. I will be discussing the way in which politicians use social media to connect with younger viewers, expanding on Kevin Rudd’s Campaign ‘Kevin 07’. I guess some polis can be cool right? Right.

‘Many politicians across the world are utilizing new technologies to not only reach out to a larger audience but also a younger audience.’ (Swinburne, 2017) In my opinion what better way to reach a large and diverse audience than utilizing social media, good PR I must say. These politicians are now creating an online presence through the use of social media platforms to attract votes.

‘Essential Media (2012) found that 97% of those under 25 use Facebook. This means young Australians have the highest use of social media in the world’ (Chen & Vromen, 2012). For politicians to engage the younger voters the most effective method is through social media usage.

Does anyone else remember the year Kevin Rudd was chosen to be PM? I only really remember the year he was elected because of the witty slogan Kevin 07’! His campaign seemed to be very modern and ‘cutting edge’ seeking out to obtain the younger generations votes. The 2007 election was the very first social media election and Kevin Rudd certainly started this. ‘The campaign incorporated a moderately interactive website, blog, email YouTube, Myspace (back when it was hip) and Facebook to generate political interest among young voters who slapped Kevin07 t-shirts on their backs and added slogan bumper stickers to their cars’ (Posetti, 2010). Rudd had successfully established a personality online and built up a ‘cool’ reputation, portraying himself as relatable.

 In conclusion Rudd was successful through his use of social media and definitely started a trend through parliament ever since. ‘Since 2007 the total number of social media sites federally politicians used have more than doubled and the number of politicians on Facebook jumped from 8-146.’ (Macnamara & Kenning, 2011) Whilst Australian politicians have been growing their presence on social media in the last three years, the majority of them ‘use social media primarily for one-way transmission of political messages, rather than citizen engagement or listening to the electorate’ (Macnamara & Kenning, 2011).

Too bad you lost your role three years later Rudd, but hey you did a hell of a good job!!

  References

Chen, P J & Vromen, A 2012, ‘Social Media, Youth Participation and Australian Elections’, viewed 15 December 2017, <http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/research/caber/1b.htm>.

Macnamara, J & Kenning, G 2011, ‘E-electioneering 2010: Trends in Social Media Use in Australian Political Communication’, Media International Australia, vol. 139, pp. 7-22.

‘Social media and youth political engagement within democracy’, viewed 15 December 2017 <http://www.youthengagement.com.au/political-engagement/case-study-australia/>.

Posetti, J 2010, ‘5 Moments When Digital Media Transformed Australian Politics’, viewed 05 December 2017 <http://mediashift.org/2010/11/5-moments-when-digital-media-transformed-australian-politics308/>.

Image

ABC News, 2007, ‘ 'Kevin 07' just a media tart: Govt ‘, viewed 15December 2017, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-08-07/kevin-07-just-a-media-tart-govt/2523956>.

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Blog 2 - Facey and Insta!

Hello everybody! Question… which social media platforms do you use in your everyday life? The two I use frequently are Instagram and Facebook. Classic time wasters if you ask me BUT both have their very own benefits in business and society. I will be discussing how our social experiences bound up with social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, what their affordances are, and how we may use them in business. ‘The value of a well-designed object is when it has such a rich set of affordances that the people who use it can do things with it that the designer never imagines.’ (Norman, 2011)

Even within the field of media and communication studies there is no single way that scholars have come to understand the concept of affordance (Butcher, 2017). To develop a clearer understanding of the meaning of ‘affordances’, take a look at the 1994 YouTube video by Don Norman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK1Zb_5VxuM

First of all let’s talk about the differences between the two platforms. Facebook is a social networking site which is used to connect people with organizations and also connects people to their friends and family. Facebook also have their own ‘Messenger’ app which allows users to start up a conversation with their Facebook friends or anyone all over the world in fact! As of April 2017 the mobile messenger had 1.2 billion monthly active users worldwide. (Statistica, 2017)

Instagram is a media sharing network which allows users to share and post photos to their followers. It gives people a site to find photos and videos of their favourite people e.g. celebrities and destinations e.g. holiday snaps! Followers can also engage in posts by adding comments, likes and sharing of photos. ‘Instagram users have shared over 40 billion photos to date and share an average of 95 million photos and videos per day.’ (Parker, 2016)

‘These networks have become hubs that transform nearly every aspect of modern life – from reading news to sharing vacation photos to finding a new job – into a social experience.’ (Foreman, 2017) People use both Instagram and Facebook for personal benefit but I will be exploring what benefits businesses can receive from these networks!  Whilst these sites have their different affordances they are both valuable for brand awareness, audience engagement and social marketing.

Facebook and Instagram have their own advertising channels businesses can use to sponsor themselves. Social Media has played such a big part in marketing businesses use this tool instead of the classic ways like billboards and newspaper!

We spend copious amounts of time and energy on these social media sites but when used for business purposes they actually have a solid foundation and meaning to them! Whether it be connecting to consumers or friends or sharing photos and ideas to followers, both Instagram and Facebook are beneficial to all of us :-) 

References

Butcher, T 2017, ‘The Affordance of Social Media Platforms’, viewed 02 December 2017, http://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/9115828/BucherHelmond_SocialMediaAffordances_preprit.pdf.

Costill, A 2014, 30 Things you absolutely need to know about Instagram, viewed 27 November 2017, http://www.searchenginejournal.com/30-things-absolutely-need-to-know-instagram/85991/

Foreman, C 2017, ‘How Social Media can Influence your Business’, viewed 3 December, < https://blog.hootsuite.com/types-of-social-media/> .

Interaction-Design.org 2011, Affordances (Don Norman, 1994), 15 February, viewed 04 December 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK1Zb_5VxuM>.

Statistica, 2017, Number of active Facebook Messenger Users, viewed 05 December 2017, < https://www.statista.com/statistics/417295/facebook-messenger-monthly-active-users/>.

Parker, S 2016, Instagram Statistics that Marketers need to know’, viewed 05 December, < https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-statistics/>.

 Images

Da Cunha, M 2015, 10 Instagram marketing tips to make people love your brand, viewed 27 November 2017, http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/01/06/instagram-marketing>.

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Blog 1 - Digital Communities

When you read the titles ‘Digital Communities’ and ‘Social Media’ what do these terms mean to you? I was interested and excited to start this topic and it has proved to be an interesting and stimulating one. Digital communities and the world of social media have a number of topics in relation to them. I will be discussing statistics within social media and how it works within our lives, networked publics and what this means to us and the rise and success of blogging!

‘What do we actually know about the impact and more broadly about the meditating role of social media?’ (Siapera, 2012 p. 203). Social media channels are used every day and have become a part of our daily lives.. I know how much I use it!! In 2017 1 in 2 Australians are currently using Facebook on a daily basis (Cowling, 2017). “Technology not only changes what we do, but also changes who we are”. (TED-Ed, 2013) This suggests that social media and technology change the way we are and changes the things we do? This is correct though right? I mean, we now use technology to write, talk, and communicate! We no longer write essays, or even use paper to write our loved ones a letter, we rely souly on technology to communicate with one another. Times have changed but some would argue for the better – how easy is it now to communicate with people from all over the world? Very!

Check this link out called ‘The Internet in real time’ to share an understanding of how much we rely and use social media! They’re such surprising and incredible statistics! http://bit.ly/2iY2amC

Blogging is also a social epidemic which has been around for 20 years but has only become a popular sensation for the last 5 or so. “Blogs, those individual, idiosyncratic commentaries, usually written by one person or a group and posted on a regular basis on the Internet, are a major phenomenon of digital culture.” (Cross, 2011) Whether it be a travel blog, mommy blog, fashion and lifestyle blog or an academic blog (yes this ones the best ;) ) there is one type of blog for everyone! Blogs can be linked to one’s social media page which means society follow their favourite ‘social media influencers’ and bloggers and genuinely value their opinion. I think we can all agree that the best type of bloggers are the realists and genuine people who express their opinions without receiving anything in return!

References

Cowling, D 2017, ‘Social Media Statistics Australia’ viewed 20 November 2017, < https://www.socialmedianews.com.au/social-media-statistics-australia-september-2017/>.

Cross, M 2011, Got Blog, in Bloggerati, Twitterati: How blogs and Twitter are transforming popular culture, Praeger, Santa Barbara.

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

TED-Ed 2013, Connected, but alone?- Sherry Turkle, 19 April, viewed 20 November 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv0g8TsnA6c>.

Image

Gaitho, M 2017, viewed 20 November 2017, https://www.simplilearn.com/real-impact-social-media-article>.

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