digitalis-socialis-blog

[digitalis-socialis-blog]

Trolling, Gaslighting and the #MeToo Movement

For the final post of this Tumblr, a discussion of Internet trolls using gaslighting techniques in the presence of the #MeToo Movement is presented within the following text. 

Social media conflict can arise in many different forms, including; Trolling. Trolling is described as the art of deliberately and cleverly pissing people off via the internet (Wilson et al, 2013). It also isn’t simply just being rude, or spamming hate comments-trolling’s essential aspect is that they convince the victim that they truly believe in what they’re saying, even if it is completely crazy (Wilson et al, 2013). Trolling is a part of online harassment and creates social media conflict (Milne, 2020), and today we will apply trolling in the terms of gaslighting and how it affects the #MeToo movement.

The #MeToo movement is a social media campaign created by Tarana Burker to assist survivors of sexual violence and allows women to speak up on social media using the hashtag to not feel alone (Codrea-Rado, 2017). With such a big movement that stems from a very sensitive topic that has high stigma around it, it brought women from all over the world in the digital community together, but also targets them (Balakrishnan, 2018). Social media is home to a broad digital community, and there are also a large community of feminists, and also anti-feminists, which already is an issue within itself, but gaslighting women speaking about sexual harassment further stimulates the stigma and cliche that women make up rape accusations (Gleeson, 2018). Trolling in the form of gaslighting is harmful as gaslighting described by Gleeson (2018) is the psychological manipulation of an individual in order to erode their sanity and sense of self, which is also used as a method of power and control. Wilson et al (2013) correlates with the previous statement that gaslighting is a method of power, as power is the basis of trolling.

The topic of women accusing their harassers has always been an issue where many do not believe the woman and even tell victims and survivors that they “imagined the harassment” or that “it was probably something you did” (Balakrishnan, 2018). Having such a vocal movement like #MeToo where victims vocalise their experience on social media platforms (figure 1) is a large step for many, if not all, victims, and these trolls gaslighting in comments against the victims that have spoken out, further insinuates the classic cliches talked about previously. Trolls, in their eyes, are joking-and the point of trolling, is that the victim knows the person is trolling (Wilson et al, 2018), but with a sensitive topic, using gaslighting techniques to troll a victim of sexual harassment is just point-blank harmful. Yes, you may be joking, yes, we many know you’re joking-but using the same gaslighting techniques still in its pure trolling form, invalidates the victim and makes it harder for victims to speak out.

Figure 1)

Trolling may be a form of joking around, and harmless in the eyes of the troll-but once applied to a highly sensitive topic where victims already experience gaslighting from friends, relatives and their abuser-affects a large community and although the #MeToo movement brought a digital community together, it also allowed for trolls to infiltrate.

References

- Balakrishnan, R 2018, ‘as #MeToo grows bigger, ‘gaslighting’ begins to burn victims and survivors’, Your Story, 18 October, viewed 28 May 2020, <https://yourstory.com/2018/10/metoo-gaslighting-begins?utm_pageloadtype=scroll>

- Codrea-Rado, A 2017, ‘#MeToo floods social media with stories of harassment and assault’, NY Times, 16 October, viewed 28 May 2020, <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/16/technology/metoo-twitter-facebook.html>

- Gleeson, J 2018, ‘Explainer: what does ‘gaslighting’ mean?’, The Conversation, 6 December, viewed 28 May 2020, < https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-gaslighting-mean-107888>

- Milne, E 2020, ‘Week 11: Digital Communities and trolls: understanding social media conflict’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology, 27 May 2020, viewed 27 May 2020

- Wilson, J., Fuller, G. & McCrea, C. 2013, ‘Troll Theory’, Fibre Culture Journal, issue. 22, pp. 1-325

[digitalis-socialis-blog]

This is Travis Scott’s performance on gaming platform, Fortnite, previously mentioned in the post this week!

Such a diverse way of how the digital gaming community comes together

Astronomical!

[digitalis-socialis-blog]

Gaming Platform Communities, Stereotypes and Diverse Platform Usage

Today we discuss gaming platforms, their communities, the effects of covid-19 on diverse platform usage, and also the rise of Instagram Influencers on Twitch in comparison to well-known gamer, PewDiePie on Youtube.

There are 2.5 billion gamers worldwide and the industry is expected to grow to $300 billion USD by 2025, along with the recent covid-19 pandemic, more users are logging online to kill time (Kim, 2020). Gaming over the years has been prominent on platforms such as; YouTube, but it has also created dedicated livestream gaming platforms like; Twitch (Mediakix, 2020). Hardwick (2020) states that the typical gamer is considered to be young, caucasian or East Asian, and more importantly, male. As a community, this creates a very masculine dominated culture (Hardwick, 2020), and brings me to the topic of Esther Ng on Twitch.

Esther Ng is the owner of emerging label, PRIX, and has 138k followers on Instagram (Instagram, 2020), and regularly livestreams on Twitch (Kim, 2020) (figure 1). Twitch is a platform where broadcasters can pull thousands of viewers per session (Taylor, T.L, 2018). Esther is a woman of asian descent and primarily a designer and artist-who breaks the typical stereotype mentioned before. Esther speaks out about the derogatory terms against race and gender on gaming platforms and how it is common masculine culture and very difficult to deal with (Kim, 2020). Esther has made a name for herself as a designer, brand owner and influencer before stepping into the gaming community publicly, thus allowing her to gain lots of streamers on Twitch due to her already large following. This brings a new element into the gaming community as Esther is known as a designer on Instagram, but a gamer on Twitch.

Figure 1)

(Kim, 2020)

In comparison to this, gaming Youtuber PewDiePie made a name for himself and a following of viewers through gaming, and is known as a gamer on all platforms. PewDiePie, has over 104 million YouTube subscribers and recently will only stream exclusively on YouTube (Park, 2020). PewDiePie fits the stereotype mentioned previously, and along with how Esther talks about the use of offensive terms used in these platforms she receives, PewDiePie is on the opposite end, having many controversies of saying racist terms on these gaming platforms and livestreams (Park, 2020). This shows the different dynamics of different people in the same community.

On another aspect of the gaming community, covid-19 has allowed everyone to find new ways of communicating, along with Travis Scott, American rapper, to have a virtual concert on gaming platform, Fortnite (Hogan, 2020). Virtual concerts have been around for over 10 years (Hogan, 2020), and even clubs have been live streaming their DJ’s on Instagram, but using a gaming platform to have a literal concert-has definitely changed perspectives of how far the digital gaming community can go. Hogan (2020) states that 27.7 million gamers attended the digital concert 45.8 million times. This brings a whole new aspect of the platform and community, as now the community can use the platform in different ways.

Overall, platforms are always changing, and with Esther Ng using Twitch to show her gamer side whilst also being a designer and influencer on Instagram, breaking the stereotype that PewDiePie fits in to, and Travis Scott using the gaming community on Fortnite as his audience, shows how the digital community is evolving.

References

- Hardwick, T 2020, ‘Gaming Communities, social gaming and live streaming’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology, 19 May 2020, viewed 20 May 2020,

- Hogan, M 2020, ‘Where can virtual concerts go after Travis Scott’s Fortnite extravaganza?’, Pitchfork, 5 May, viewed 20 May 2020, <https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/virtual-concerts-travis-scotts-fortnite-100-gecs-minecraft/>

- Instagram c. 2020, _estherng, Instagram, viewed 20 May 2020, <https://www.instagram.com/_estherng/?hl=en>

- Kim, Y 2020, ‘What it’s like to enter the gaming world as a woman’, Hypebae, 7 April, viewed 20 May 2020, <https://hypebae.com/2020/4/video-gaming-for-women-beginners-prix-workshop-founder-designer-esther-ng-interview>

- Mediakix 2020, ’30 Top Gaming Influencers to follow’, Mediakix, viewed 20 May 2020, <https://mediakix.com/blog/top-gaming-influencers/>

- Park, G 2020, ‘PewDiePie, YouTube’s controversial but popular creator, signs exclusive streaming deal’, The Washinton Post, 5 May 2020, viewed 20 May 2020, <https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/05/04/pewdiepie-youtubes-controversial-popular-creator-signs-exclusive-streaming-deal/>

- Taylor, T.L 2018, Watch Me Play, Princeton University Press, JStor.

[digitalis-socialis-blog]

This was an image shared around as part of the activism for Ahmaud Arbery’s killers to be arrested. 

The police had a belated investigation for this case, and pictures like these were shared to inform the world on two things:

1- Ahmaud Arbery is dead, gunned down in broad daylight. 

2- His killers are not arrested yet, it has been 2 months, and the police have not taken this seriously. 

After social media was flooded with these images and videos, the law were pressured to act quickly, and finally arrested them. Social media activism did its work, it made the law listen, they engaged in it. We did this, as digital communities, we helped. 

This needs to be talked about! Justice for him and his family! we live in a world where shit like this continues to happen and nothing is really done about it. Don’t look away! Share this please. This can’t keep happening! Black lives effing matter and his family deserves justice!

[digitalis-socialis-blog]

Political Engagement and Activism-The Case of Ahmaud Arbery

On this blog, we have discussed social media as a way to gather and share interests, shown negative impacts of digital communities, whilst also touching on politics and hashtag activism. Today we discuss political engagement and activism, on the perspective of activism of gun violence on social media with the intention to communicate to politically involved persons, such as; police.

A recent death has occurred, referred to the “modern day lynching” of Ahmaud Arbery, 25 (The Associated Press, 2020). The young, african-american was jogging down a street, when two caucasian males, father and son, shot him in broad daylight. The primary issue with this unfortunate death, was the belated investigation by police enforcement (ABC News, 2020). The modern-day lynching was videotaped by a witness of the crime, with clear footage that shows Arbery innocently exercising before the killers arrived. This is a form of sousveillance, a coined term that refers to citizens being able to watch the government, in simple terms-and the most common way this is used, is through citizens collecting videos and photos of incidents where power is abused and crimes are ignored (Reset, 2020).

This is where social media took their stance to inform others about Ahmaud Arbery, spreading posts (figure 1) and the horrid video to all corners of the world to engage with police enforcement to take the case seriously. On May 7th, his killers were finally arrested, after the murder that happened on February 23rd, over two months later, an enormous amount of shares on the video itself, hashtag activism, politicians (figure 2) and celebrities speaking out. This immediately shows how significant activism on social media can be for citizens to engage with enforcements and politicians. Networked technologies, such as social media allow access and participation to political action, any place, any time (Alvarez et al, 2019). The video was released to the public online on May 5th, and most certainly sped up the arrest process, correlating with Alvarez et al (2019) and their statement that digital activism allows for performance actions to quickly happen. 

Figure 1) 

Figure 2)

Social media on this blog has been talked of in negative ways, but this in particular shows how every corner of the world can be connected by social media as a digital community, and use their voices to influence engagement from enforcement and politicians to listen to their activism. 

References

- ABC News 2020, ‘Joe Biden, LeBron James outraged over shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia’, ABC News, 7 May, viewed 14 May 2020, <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-07/joe-biden-lebron-james-death-of-ahmaud-arbery/12222958>

- Alvarez, N., Lauzon, C. & Zainotz, K. 2019, ‘On sustainable tools for precarious times: An introduction’, Contemporary Performance Interactions, pp. 1-25

- Griffith, J 2020, ‘Ahmaud Arbery shooting: A timeline of the case’, NBC News, 12 May, viewed 14 May 2020, < https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ahmaud-arbery-shooting-timeline-case-n1204306>

- The Associated Press 2020, ‘Ahmaud Arbery’s death called a modern day lynching’, AL, 10 May, viewed 14 May 2020, < https://www.al.com/news/2020/05/ahmaud-arberys-death-called-a-modern-day-lynching.html>

- Reset, 2020, Sousveillance, Reset, viewed 14 May 2020, <https://en.reset.org/knowledge/sourveillance-11152016>

[digitalis-socialis-blog]

Negative Impacts of Sexualised Labour on Instagram’s Young Audiences

Instagram as a digital community has become a breeding ground for influencers to share various pieces, including the spread of sexualised labour. Sexualised labour, referred to as work that becomes associated with sexual-desire, pleasure and sexuality (Drenten et al, 2018) can be applied to selfies (figure 1 +2). Both female and male influencers feed into building a brand image to receive attention and high followings through porn chic poses and the use of pornographication. Pornographication, defined by Drenten et al (2018) refers to aspects of pornographic imagery blurring into digital communities that traditionally have a non-pornographic culture. In this case, is the digital community of Instagram, where young teenagers are exposed to these aesthetics daily. So, what happens when young audiences (under 18) are a part of the said audiences that are exposed to the porn chic poses and gestures that create such a high engagement and following?

Figure 1)

Figure 2)

Drenten et al (2019) states the easiest way to gain attention on social media is through a high sexualised aesthetic, and Fardouly et al (2017) confirms that social media usage links toward self-objectification, which further amplifies the aesthetic. Sexualised labour feeds into the old, timeless marketing strategy of ‘sex sells’, and building a brand image of oneself relates to self-commodification, a term referred to as personal branding and a means of cultivating an image of one-self that can be manipulated for economic gain. Even though the porn chic photos posted by these influencers can be monetised through brand deals for example, which is beneficial for the influencer, it is not beneficial for younger audiences. 

The primary negative impact for audiences observing pornographication on social media, is the issue of young audiences copying the same porn chic poses of grown women to gain attention and validation. Sales (2016) emphasises that teenage girls are in fact posting photos in this manner to gain likes, influenced by what they see on social media. It is most certain that under 18 girls posting porn chic aesthetic photos is controversy, as it can be linked to underaged soft-porn, and attract unwanted audiences. 

Along with young audiences needing validation from the copied poses, further issues are created when young girls compare their underdeveloped body to selfies of grown women, some who have even undergone surgery to achieve that body, is a starting point for disorders like; body dysmorphia. Adkins (2018) states that social media is dangerous for teens for this very exact reason. Exposure to sexualsied labour on Instagram by young audiences can lead to self-objectification at a very young age of even 13 and builds a confidence downer when their validation is not met, thus affecting the way young audiences feel about their own body. 

Overall, exposing sexualised labour to young teenagers is unhealthy and dangerous as it leads to the audience mirroring the elements of pronographication and porn chic poses, which can turn horrible when kids do not get the same validation they wanted, causing body dysmorphia and the feeling that they are not enough because they do not get the same likes as grown influencers.

References

- Adkins, A 2018, ‘How social media contributes to Body Dysmorphic Behaviour’, The Lexington Online, 9 May, viewed 9 May 2020, <https://www.thelexingtonline.com/blog/2018/5/7/how-social-media-contributes-to-body-dysmorphic-behaviors>

- Donnelly, A 2016, ‘Instafamous: How teenage girls are using sex, selfies and social media to sell themselves online’, National Post, 21 March, viewed 9 May 2020, <https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/books/instafamous-how-teenage-girls-are-using-sex-selfies-and-social-media-to-sell-themselves-online>

- Drenten, J., Gurrieri, L. & Tyler, M. 2018, ‘Sexualised labour in digital culture: Instagram influencers, porn chic and the monetization of attention’, Gender Work Organisation, pp. 41-66

- Drenten, J., Gurrieri, L. & Tyler, M 2019, ‘How highly sexualised imagery is shaping ‘influence’ on Instagram-and harassment is rife’, The Conversation, 8 May, viewed 9 May 2020, < https://theconversation.com/how-highly-sexualised-imagery-is-shaping-influence-on-instagram-and-harassment-is-rife-113030>

- Fardouly, J. 2017, ‘Instagram use and young women’s body image concerns and self-objectification: Testing mediational pathways’, New Media and Society, vol. 20, issue. 4, pp. 1380-1395

- Sales, N.J, 2016, ‘American Girls; How social media is disrupting the lives of teenagers’, Time, viewed 9 May 2020, < https://time.com/americangirls/>

[digitalis-socialis-blog]

In relation to Digital Citizenship and The Slow Fashion Movement,

Sustainable fashion has been a large movement for decades, and these pictures show in this day and age our behaviour is reflected on social media as digital citizenship. 

We once used to have to sneak into fashion shows, jump onto the runway and make a scene to be heard by a large audience to contribute to the fashion movement. Now, influencers all over the world are able to just post one post and be able to show it to a large following. 

Times have changed, yet fashion is still so slow to jump onboard with slow fashion, how ironic. 

dolce & gabbana s/s 2006

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Digital Citizenship + The Slow Fashion Movement and Instagram Influencers

Previously on last week’s post, digital citizenship was focused on the basis of political aspects, this week-we discuss it in relation to the Slow Fashion Movement.

The slow fashion movement refers to; eco-friendly fashion and sustainable practices within the fashion industry and has been a grand movement for a long time. For example; the anti-fur campaigns in the 80’s, and also protests against unethical working conditions in the 90’s/00’s (Lai et al, 2017). Currently in modern day 2020, influencers on social media platforms like; Instagram, are able to assist this movement to be broadcasted to a large following. Digital Citizenship can be referred to behaviours on social media platforms, and there are influencers that promote slow fashion, but there are also many that promote fast fashion.

Fast fashion is affordable and widely available everywhere we look-what more can we want? I mean, if the quality is bad, we can just throw it out and buy a new one, right? Wrong. The fashion industry produces 10% of the entire populations carbon emissions and is currently the 2nd largest consumer of the earth’s water supply, whilst also polluting the water with microfibers (Mcfall-Johnsen, 2019). Menashy (2019) states that 80% of manufactured clothing end in landfill and big retailers like; Zara restock twice a week to keep up with the constant demands of trends (Linkfluence, 2020). Slow fashion is a necessity to fight climate change and is also increasing in importance (Lai et al, 2017).

There are many influencers on social media who are very compassionate about the movement and regularly inform and educate others about it. This includes; Venetia La Manna (@venetiafalconer), with 81.6k followers (Instagram, 2020) (figure 1).

Figure 1)

On the other hand, brands such as; Pretty Little Thing, Boohoo and Fashion Nova are big fast fashion brands that use social media influencers to promote their brand. Mya Mills (@myamills) 443k followers (Instagram, 2020) (figure 2) and Danielle Metz (@daninellemetz) 289k followers (Instagram, 2020) (figure 3) have larger followings than Venetia and fast fashion brands appeal towards the younger generation due to the affordability, and the influencers they use.

Figure 2)

Figure 3)  

The main issue here is; will slow fashion influencers be able to cut through the noise of fast fashion influencers? Lai et al (2017) discusses that the slow fashion industry lack key information that hinders potential consumers to purchase as they do not have an informed choice. Slow fashion is also perceived as less aesthetically pleasing in trends compared to fast fashion brands (Lai et al, 2017) which is potentially why fast fashion influencers are more successful. On the other hand, secondhand stores are booming again (Linkfluence, 2020) and if fast fashion influencers posted about ‘thrifting’, it can positively impact the slow fashion movement, and be considered a good digital citizen.

References:

- Instagram, 2020, daniellemetz, Instagram, viewed 29 April 2020, <https://www.instagram.com/daniellemetz/?hl=en>

- Instagram, 2020, myamills, Instagram, viewed 29 April 2020, <https://www.instagram.com/myamills/?hl=en>

- Instagram, 2020, venetiafalconer, Instagram, viewed 29 April 2020, <https://www.instagram.com/venetiafalconer/?hl=en>

- Lai, Z., Henninger, C.E. & Alevizou, P.J. 2017, ‘An exploration of consumers’ perceptions towards sustainable fashion-a qualitative study in the UK’, Sustainability in fashion a cradle to upcycle approach, pp. 81-101.

- Linkfluence, 2020, Ethical Clothing: Fast Fashion & Sustainability on Social Media, Chan, J, viewed 29 April 2020, < https://www.linkfluence.com/blog/ethical-clothing-fast-fashion-sustainability-on-social-media>

- McFall-Johnsen, M 2019, ‘The fashion industry emits more carbon than international flights and maritime shipping combine. Here are the biggest ways it impacts the planet.’, Business Insider, 18 October, viewed 29 April 2020, < https://www.businessinsider.com.au/fast-fashion-environmental-impact-pollution-emissions-waste-water-2019-10?r=US&IR=T>

- Menashy, S 2019, ‘Fashion has a waste problem (and why we invested in Unmade)’, Medium, 10 July, viewed 20 March 2020, < https://medium.com/mmc-writes/fashion-waste-unmade-3f325849d819>

[digitalis-socialis-blog]

Political Elections and Hashtag Activism

The primary focus in this discussion relates to how social media is heavily used within political elections and how hashtag activism played a role within this. Digital citizenship is also shown through the participation of both the politicians and community within this topic.

Political parties and politicians are now able to connect with their audiences on a deeper level through social media platforms like; Twitter. In relation to political communication, Twitter is used as an appropriate arena for political discussion, where discussions and political gaffes are prominent (Nelimarkka et al, 2020). Audiences can get updates right from the politician themselves, and not their PR team, which creates a more ‘human’ interaction feel, but this can also be negative. Trump for example, who constantly uses Twitter to insult others;

“Crooked Hillary has ZERO leadership ability. As Bernie Sanders says, she has bad judgement. Constantly playing the women’s card-it is sad!” (06 May 2016) (Enli, 2017).

While his followers may take this as “speaking his mind”, others can look at this in disgust, and view the tweet as immature, and straying away from voting for Trump.

On a positive note, using social media during elections is beneficial, as politicians can target specific audiences for specific messages through social media (Bhat, 2019). This concept is similar to Obama’s 2008 campaign strategies, as his campaigns used social media to produce personalised appeals, assisted by data analytics which, furthermore, aided targeted messaging (Owen, 2018).

Along with how politicians interact with their community, citizens and even social media users in different countries, can also communicate with one another through political hashtags, creating a digital community. On various social media platforms such as; Tumblr, Instagram, and more importantly-Twitter, hashtags are used to place posts in a designated location where similar posts are (Nierman, 2019). Whether it be for fashion, amusement, or for deeper posts like; activism (#BlackLivesMatter) and political debates (#MakeAmericaGreatAgain). Rozpedowski (2018) describes the hashtag as a salient symbol for free speech that has revolutionised political activity and that participating in hashtag activism is our duty and obligation, a form of digital citizenship. The hashtags relating towards political elections are a tool for different views and aspects of the elections, where users can communicate with one another about the same topic, whilst also allowing the politicians to be able to see in black and white, what the community is saying. 

Overall, social media has transformed the way political election campaigns are used and comprehended by the community, both negatively and positively through targeted audiences and hashtags and can be seen as a form of digital citizenship for the digital community participating.  

References

- Bhat, A 2019, ‘Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media on Politics’, Thrive Global, 25 April, viewed 24 April 2020, < https://thriveglobal.com/stories/positive-and-negative-effects-of-social-media-on-politics/>

- Enli, G 2017, ‘Twitter as arena for the authentic outsider: exploring the social media campaigns of Trump and Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election’, European Journal of Communication, vol. 32, issue. 1, pp. 51-60.

- Nierman, E 2019, ‘The Beginner’s Guide To ‘Hashtagging’ Like A Pro’, Forbes, 4 June, viewed 24 April 2020, < https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2019/06/04/the-beginners-guide-to-hashtagging-like-a-pro/#15c0dc754158>

- Nelimarkka, M., Laaksonen, S., Tuokko, M. & Valkonen, T. 2020, ‘Platformed Interactions: How Social Media Platforms Relate to Candidate-Constituent Interaction During Finnish 2015 Election Campaigning’, Social Media + Society, vol. 1, issue 17.

- Owen, D 2018, ‘The Past Decade and Future of Political Media: The Ascendance of  Social Media’, BBVA Open Mind, viewed 24 April 2020, <https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/articles/the-past-decade-and-future-of-political-media-the-ascendance-of-social-media/>

- Rozpedowski, J 2018, ‘How the hashtag is transforming world politics’, Independent, 1 November, viewed 24 April 2020, < https://www.independent.co.uk/politics/hashtag-social-media-politics-activism-metoo-sexual-harrassment-rohingya-muslims-a8611506.html>

[digitalis-socialis-blog]

Lucy explains how Tumblr functions as a digital community in depth and I definitely agree that Tumblr is a unique medium that allows people to communicate in diverse ways. This statement Lucy wrote i believe sums up in a simple sentence, what Tumblr is. Also while connecting macro force external factors that are currently happening (coronavirus outbreak) to the post is very interesting, as Tumblr as a digital community will indeed get stronger. Even if Tumblr is not used as highly as Facebook is, as Lucy mentioned-Tumblr still has a strong community base for various individuals, including the use of portfolios to communicate with one another, which ties into how Lucy stated that Tumblr allows for people to communicate in diverse ways. A brilliant tie-in to how Tumblr functions as a digital community! 

Tumblr as a Digital Community.

Hello! My name is Lucy and I am studying MDA20009 (Digital Communities) this semester! I am exploring the way in which this social media platform; Tumblr has played a role in creating and functioning the digital community individuals engage in every day. 

Tumblr allows for the expression of creativity and control over what content is produced (Bromwich, J, 2019) which enables users of the application to feel apart of a ‘digital community’. Tumblr has a range of specific features exploring how exactly it acts as a digital community, these features enable users of the application to come together virtually and connect, whether it be for personal or business purposes (Scolere, L, Pruchniewska, U & Duffy, B. E, 2018). 

Since July 2019, Tumblr has 472 million blog accounts, in comparison to Facebook, the worlds most popular application, it seems as though Tumblr is not used as often as other mediums (Petrov, C, 2019). Facebook has 2.5 billion active daily users, this highlights the extreme difference in numbers between the two platforms (Statista.com, 2019). However, these statistics do show that Tumblr is a unique medium which allows people to communicate in diverse ways, also though it may not be considered the ‘usual’ form of social media is can still be used for diverse purposes through its blog format. 

Unlike other applications, when you sign up to a Tumblr account, you have the ability to follow, create and share content by any digital user globally. Tumblr users have the capability to make new friends based off having similar interests and things they chose to follow. It also allows viewers to share content with friends or to a private blog, so users have the option to interact on a global level or just to their friends through the application (Menedez, S, 2013). These features create digital communities as users virtually come together through the sharing of content online. Tumblr’s simple user interface enables users to create unique portfolios which is another great way for people to communicate through the use of art. Portfolios allow for people to upload and view content that is relevant to their own, again, allowing for the creation of digital communities through the application (Menedez, S, 2013). 

As a result of the recent COVID-19 outbreak, the use of digital media has become even more prevalent in recent times due to self-distancing and isolation. Hence why more and more people have turned to online sources and media outlets to spend time and communicate with others. According to the Digital Information World, it is predicted that the use of online media will increase due to the need to self-isolate as well as keep distracted during this time (Muhammad, Z, 2020). The ability to create digital communities is crucial in times such as this as people rely on each other to get through everyday activities, including work, socialising with family and friends and education. 

References: 

Bromwich, J, 2019, What’s next for Tumblr?, viewed 30 March 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/style/tumblr-matt-mullenweg-interview.html. 

Getty Images, 2020, ‘Coronavirus Outbreak through use of Social Media Platforms’, Volkin, S, 2020, SOCIAL MEDIA FUELS SPREAD OF COVID-19 INFORMATION—AND MISINFORMATION, John Hopkins University Hub, viewed 30 March 2020, https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/03/27/mark-dredze-social-media-misinformation/. 

Menendez, S, 2013, The 7 Best Uses for Tumblr, viewed 30 March 2020, https://mashable.com/2013/12/09/tumblr-uses/. 

Muhammad, Z, 2020, The Coronavirus Pandemic Will Increase Social Media Usage, viewed 30 March 2020, https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2020/03/66-percent-of-consumers-expect-their-social-media-consumption-to-increase-during-coronavirus-confinement.html. 

Petrov, C, 2019, Tumblr Statistics 2020, TechJury, viewed 30 March 2020, https://techjury.net/stats-about/tumblr/#gref. 

Scolere, L., Pruchniewska, U. and Duffy, B. E., 2018, Constructing the Platform-Specific Self-Brand: The Labor of Social Media Promotion, SAGE Journals, viewed 30 March 2020, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305118784768#articleCitationDownloadContainer. 

Statista.com, 2019, Number of monthly active Facebook users worldwide as of 4th quarter 2019, Statista, viewed 30 March 2020, https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/

[digitalis-socialis-blog]

How Tumblr Functions as a Digital Community

Hi! My name is Nurul and i discussed how Tumblr functions as a digital community by taking on the aspect of how different Tumblr is compared to other social media platforms due to their diverse, open, inclusive and anonymous DNA Tumblr has. Tumblr has various elements that many other platforms such as; Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have, like; a ‘following’ system, the ability to post pictures, images and videos, re-blogging/sharing other users’ posts, and more. Yet Tumblr is such a different platform to these 3 mentioned previously. 

In my opinion, this is primarily due to the openness and diverse image Tumblr has ingrained within their DNA by building their community from 2007 (Tumblr, 2020), continuing onto the present day. Tumblr holds a platform for various individuals and groups to express themselves, their interests, passions and their voices. Even though users of Tumblr are very open and expressive with what they post, unlike Facebook and Instagram, a “personal” Tumblr may not even have the users’ real identity (picture + name) associated with the blog. Keller (2019) states that the flexible personal profiles on Tumblr are majorly focused around pseudonyms instead of real identities, allowing users to keep their identities private. This part of Tumblr was never forced by Tumblr and created to be a social norm on Tumblr by the community, no one ever told them they shouldn’t put their personal details on their Tumblr-it just became a social norm through years of the trend. With the anonymity of the blogs, this allows users to speak without fear (Reeve, 2016), and this is very useful in countries like Iran where Iran has considered death penalties for blog users who don’t agree with the government’s views (Cross, 2011), and with a lot of Tumblr blogs speaking about activism and politics, this is helpful for them. 

This is a very interesting aspect of Tumblr, as, these users have a different identity online, and are in a community with others whilst not knowing who they are, unlike Facebook, where you are encouraged to only add people you know, Tumblr’s community encourages the opposite. Along with another comparison, Twitter users are majorly not anonymous, which does allow viewers to find old tweets and use them against celebrities for example (example: many celebrities have been found to use racial slurs many, many years ago before becoming famous, letting it tarnish their current image) (Abad-Santos, 2018). Tumblr as a digital community functions through common interests instead (Tumblr, 2020), and with this-users can create as many Tumblr’s as they want, one for each interest (Reeve, 2016). 

Tumblr allows for openness and a community that has something for everyone, from fashion blogging, Harry Potter fan pages, or even Barack Obama-Harry Styles slashfic (Reeve, 2016). This is very important as to how Tumblr functions as a digital community, as it shows how diverse, anonymous to the point where having a whole blog about Barack Obama and Harry Styles is made without fear that someone will find out who created it, open and inclusive Tumblr is. 

REFERENCES:

Abad-Santos, A 2018, ‘Laura Lee, Jeffree Star, and the racism scandal upending the YouTube beauty community, explained’, Vox, 31 August, viewed 9 April 2020, <https://www.vox.com/2018/8/28/17769996/laura-lee-jeffree-star-racism-subscriber-count> 

Cross, M. 2011, ‘Got Blog’ in Bloggerati, Twitterati: how blogs and twitter are transforming popular culture, Praeger, EBL eBook Library, p. 42

Keller, J. 2019, ‘”Oh, she’s a Tumblr feminist”: Exploring the platform vernacular of girls’ social media feminisms’, Social Media + Society, vol. 5, no. 3

Reeve, E 2016, ‘The secret lives of Tumblr teens’, The New Republic, 17 February, viewed 8 April 2020, <https://newrepublic.com/article/129002/secret-lives-tumblr-teens> 

Tumblr, 2020, About, Tumblr, viewed 9 April 2020, < https://www.tumblr.com/about>