digitalwhirl-d-blog

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China & Social Media

Did you know that social media in China is a completely different world? What we know as the most popular social networking sites in our everyday life pretty much do not exist in China and it’s because they’re restricted. There are more than sixty online restrictions created by the Government of China, according to CNN, China’s Internet censorship is considered more extensive and advanced than any other country in the world. So instead of the sites that the Western world know as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, the people of China have their own social media platforms so that the government can heavily monitor what they’re accessing.

The most popular social media app in China is known as WeChat. The app was born as a direct replica of the well-known messenger app ‘WhatsApp’ but now is used for a lot more than just messaging and calling as users can play games, socialise, online shop and pay for things through WeChat Pay. Every month the app sees over 1 billion monthly users as it has become a crucial element of everyday life in China and has launched in more than 15 countries world-wide. The app’s censorship includes the filtering of particular words and phrases blocking them and the user if they are used. They also restrict the use of sites that involve gambling and pornography through the app.

In 2009, the popular micro-blogging site Twitter was blocked from use in China after it allegedly assisted in the formation of a protest and in its place Weibo was created allowing a stronger censorship for users who want to get their thoughts out in 140 characters or less. The site differs from Twitter’s use as posts usually contain more about family and personal life rather than political commentary like Twitter does. It has over 340 million monthly users and is quickly catching up to WeChat in popularity.

YouTube is another website that is blocked in China so instead they have ‘YouKu’. YouKu is where anyone is able to upload their own videos and users are also able to stream Netflix or Amazon-style original TV shows. The site is heavily monitored by the Chinese government and if any content is found to be criticising the Communist Party then it is swiftly removed.

China is the world largest social network market as over 800 million users are looking to share their opinions, ask for product recommendations, and connect with others and it can be hard to grasp the fact that there is an entire generation of people that knows nothing of the internet like how we in the West do. Growing up I always believed that Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were just a commonality that allowed me to connect to other young people around the world. Although growing up in different cultures, with different languages we all have this general knowledge about how we can connect. It is specifically interesting to me that although the internet has allowed societies to become more open with those around them, China has managed to become the biggest powerhouse in the market yet have still stayed so closed off. This next generation of people who know nothing about Facebook and Twitter are perfectly okay with the way they are living and the way they are censored.

Overall I am left questioning the way that China leads their social networking lives. Is the way that China monitors and censors people okay because they like the way that it is? Or are the people okay with being monitored, censored and not having access to the Western social media sites because they have never known anything else?

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At first, we played video games because we were friends; now we’re friends because we played video games. - Peter Suderman

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The fine line between fantasy and reality - social gaming

What exactly is Social Gaming? I wasn’t too sure when first faced with the topic even though I’ve been surrounded by video gamers my whole life. I think what confused me about the concept was whether or not it was limited to games played through social media or it included the online component that many computer and game console games offer as well.

With its conception in 2007, Facebook brought along many categories of applications that were available to the users on the social networking site and one of those opened a whole new world into what gaming was because it became so accessible for users. Farmville and Candy Crush are probably two of the most notable social games known for their prominence on Facebook with players being able to connect to their profile to request lives and objects from their friends who also play the games. The downfall of these games was the negative reputation they gained due to people becoming annoyed by the constant notifications they were receiving from people who obviously didn’t have a whole lot else to do other than spend their time by playing the games.

In his opinion piece for The New York Times, Peter Suderman posed the question whether video games are now becoming one of the best forms of social networks as a new wave of games have been designed to be a way to hang out with friends. Still living at home means there are many late nights that I am woken up by my younger brother yelling and laughing as he is playing video games online with his friends, one of their favourites being PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or ‘PUBG’. The game is an online multiplayer battle royale style where players are dropped onto an island and fight to either be the last man or last team standing – very much like The Hunger Games.

The game allows players to connect with people around the world and actually talk to one another through their microphone or through typed text that comes up on the screen. It’s available of PC, Xbox, PlayStation and mobile platforms iOS and Android.

Video games used to just be about an escape from reality, a way to disconnect from the real world. Now, millions of people around the world are able to gain interconnectedness because of gaming. A sense of hyperreality is seen to now occur when we look at the way gaming is used in our social world as the line between being able to distinguish what is real and what isn’t becomes blended together. Players are taking their gaming to new levels and with the introduction of virtual reality and artificial intelligence technology before we know it those lines could become almost non-existent.

Ernest Cline’s bestselling book ‘Ready Player One’ which was recently turned into a movie by one of Hollywood’s best ever filmmakers Steven Spielberg, is about the world in the year 2045, where citizens of Earth find solace in the expansive virtual reality universe OASIS. 

This story, although many years ago may have just seemed like a fantasy – now these days, and especially looking towards the future of technology and gaming could definitely be seen as our reality.

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#IDEFY

On the 44th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the historic Supreme Court case that made it a constituted right to have access to safe and legal abortion in the U.S., Planned Parenthood Federation of America announced the launch of their social media campaign #IDEFY. 

The campaign set out to inspire young people to share on social media exactly what they defy whether that be discrimination, intolerance, abortion stigma, homophobia, slut-shaming, xenophobia, transphobia, subpar sex ed, racism and other forces that obstruct justice and block individual opportunity. To participate people were asked to post an image of themselves of social media with the word DEFY written on their fist and using the hashtag #IDEFY in their caption. The campaign began with a number of videos featuring prominent celebrity figures sharing their perspectives on abortion stigma, biphobia, whitewashing or simply what they defy and quickly the campaign rose to having 110 million impressions world-wide.

(Actress, Constance Wu showing her support)

The importance of the campaign spoke volumes to many people who participated. Director of Generation Z, Planned Parenthood Federation - Kersha Deibel said “young people today have never lived in a world where abortion wasn’t safe and legal, but we have not taken that right for granted. We know that our ability to achieve reproductive freedom is tied to our ability to live free from the threat of violence and discrimination in all forms. We don’t abide by outdated social norms, we understand that all of the pieces of our identity overlap and either make us more likely to experience privilege or to experience discrimination. We are the most inclusive generation this country has ever seen. This campaign is for us. We are calling on you to join our fight to defy hate and ignorance and create the world we want to see.”

The effectiveness of the campaign could be seen in the interactivity and reach it had overall. The announcement of the #IDEFY campaign on the Live Facebook Event had over 470,000 viewers 

and Planned Parenthood gained 160,000 new followers in the just 48hrs following the event. Following the launch over 70k shared their defiance with #IDEFY and over 14 Million engaged with the campaign. Virtual communities came together to share their stories, what they defy and their support for people who are isolated and discriminated against. 

Virtual communities are networks of people who interact through social media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals. Through this campaign a domino effect occurred leading for the participation around the world with other hashtags being formed like #JeDefie and #YoLucho which translates to #IDEFY in French and Spanish. 

In today’s world of global connectedness, utilising social media as a tool to spread these kinds of messages allows people who feel discriminated against, or isolated, to no longer feel so alone. The comradery found within these virtual communities helps people stand tall and fight for what they believe in and slowly but surely make a change. 

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‘Crashing’ the Mould

Each year, as sports fans sit down to watch the Super Bowl, what many look forward to the most- next to the half-time show, is the advertising that occurs throughout the game. Last year, Super Bowl LIII, although said to have a ‘disappointing’ outcome with ratings still attracted 98.2 million viewers. This has become an advertiser’s dream because of the reach their marketing campaigns can make with not only the audience viewing the Super Bowl, but with the sharing of the advertising after the game has finished. But with the elevated exposure and a guaranteed audience, the advertising slots evidently come at a much higher price with it costing up to $5 million just for a thirty second spot during the show which for a lot of companies can be a high risk if their campaign is a flop. 

Starting in 2006, Frito-Lay ran their first “Crash The Super Bowl” campaign where they enlisted consumers to create a 30 second advertisement for Doritos products. 

The winner would have their commercial shown during the Super Bowl XLI as well as winning a cash prize of $10,000 and a trip for two to the city in which the Super Bowl was being held, Detroit. Over the past decade the commercials produced for the “Crash The Super Bowl” campaign have proved to be more than successful with the winning ads earning a spot in the top-five rankings on the USA Today Ad Meter every year they aired and Doritos being ranked over Pepsi, Coke and Budweiser at number 1 on the Ace Metrix list of the most effective Super Bowl advertised brands from 2010-2015.

Through the use of crowdsourcing, Doritos was able to grow their U.S. brand from $1.54 billion in 2006 to $2.2 billion in 2016. According to Prescient Digital Media crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people. The concept of crowdsourcing is actually quite old but it has been with the growth of the digital age that it has become such a powerful tool in harnessing the voice of the people. Network structures have facilitated crowdsourcing in ways that have never been seen before the internet and social media. The Crash Doritos campaign became a distributed network as it has allowed maximum efficiency in the creation of the campaign on a ‘shoestring budget’. Instead of utilising a vast amount of money and resources by hiring a single advertising provider to create their campaign, they allowed their publics to take charge - creating content by their audience, for their audience and voted for by their audience.

Just like Frito-Lay, many other organisations have adopted crowdsourcing as a cheaper and more connected method of advertising their brand. Starbucks’ ‘White Cup’, AirBnb’s ‘Hollywood and Vines’ and the LEGO ideas are all campaigns have also been successful in their use of crowdsourcing. 

Crowdsourcing, accelerated by social media, has become what can be seen as a monumental shift in media and advertising. It is allowing consumers to have a voice and to be able to connect with the brands that they love in a way that has never been done before. 

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YouTube, the Wild Wild West for Trolls

Since its conception in 2005, YouTube.com has continuously grown to be a community of users sharing video content about anything and everything. Now, fourteen years later I don’t think anyone could have predicted what the site has become.

YouTube is one of the best examples of sociality occurring in the digital sphere. It has become a significant platform where individuals that agree with and value the same things come together to view a person - or multiple people talking about those things that they love. Whether it be gaming, cooking, beauty, reviews, music, lifestyle or a plethora of many other subjects, there seems to be a virtual community for everyone. Unfortunately though, there is one (very prominent) group that really aren’t welcome within any of the communities - trolls... and I’m not talking about these ones: 

Internet Trolls are online users who ‘deliberately make random unsolicited and/or controversial comments on internet forums with the intent to provoke an emotional knee jerk reaction from unsuspecting readers to engage in a fight or argument’. These “people” aren’t scared to fire their shots from behind their keyboard because more times than not, they aren’t going to receive any real life ramifications for doing so. Psychological studies have shown that people who troll have high levels of psychopathy traits like low levels of empathy, guilt and responsibility for their actions. They become obsessed and invested in making the people on the other side, reading the comments lives miserable. 

This is the Saccone-Jolys - a family from the UK who have a YouTube channel with nearly 2 million subscribers. 

Everyday for almost nine years Jonathan and Anna have uploaded videos documenting the intimate details of their lives like their proposal, wedding, and the birth of their puppies and all four of their children. The vlogs are lighthearted and family friendly, yet somehow they have been a major target for online trolls. In 2012, after the birth of their first daughter - the couple started to receive horrific comments from users saying they hoped the child would be stillborn, and this was only the beginning. Trolls continued to not only post hateful comments on their channel, but also continuously take their hate to real life, where the family have had to deal with their address being revealed, their car being keyed and people making reports to the RSPCA and local Child Welfare Services about their dogs and children living in ‘destitution and disorder’. After the miscarriage of what would have been their third child, Anna took a break from being in the videos after a slew of hate comments about how “she deserved it” understandably affected her mental health. 

Taking a break from videos has become a common pattern with YouTubers because as it can be seen, it isn’t as simple for the victims of trolling to simply “ignore it”, especially when it starts to affect their personal life and their mental health. Sure it’s easy to pose the question “why don’t these people just quit YouTube?” - but what a lot don’t understand is that this is a full-time job. YouTube for many is not only providing a means in which to live off (like any other job) but it’s also what these people love to do, its what makes them happy despite the hate they receive. In the end quitting would mean allowing the trolls to win so taking the steps to care for their mental health is what many YouTubers are now advocating for.

YouTuber and Blogger Victoria Magrath (or InTheFrow) writes that she is quite happy to block anyone from her feed who feels like they have the “right to spread hatred, incite hatred or insult me”. Over time YouTube, and other social media platforms have made it easier in becoming more vigilant in the monitoring of trolling with procedures being put into place to protect their content creators. YouTube has set up a system where content creators are able to block comments when certain words are being used or review them before allowing them below their videos. Another tactic more YouTubers seem to be adopting is hiring a ‘comment monitor’ who goes through and deletes and blocks any hateful comments they come across. This may seem ridiculous but big beauty YouTube stars like Stephanie Nicole and Jaclyn Hill who are notoriously known for receiving online hate have found that after doing so, YouTube is becoming an enjoyable place to be again.

At the end of the day it’s important for people to be happy, and do what makes them happy as long as no one is getting hurt in the process. As long as the internet exists, so will the trolls, but it is our job as digital citizens to take care of ourselves, promote positive messages to our followers and not let the haters bring us down.

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All my love and support to the Women’s March today xx

This movement is important, and I’m so proud of everyone who believes in it

(Image Source: @ womensmarch - Instagram)

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Social Media, a tool for the wrong kind of activism?

Social activist groups voice, educate and agitate for change, targeting crisis’s that tend to have a global effect and with with the growth of the digital age, the voice of activism has become louder than ever before. This doesn’t necessarily mean that there are more activists than there was say twenty years ago, but there is now the public sphere has grown and therefore allow for more publics to express their views. 

In the current climate of #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, #TimesUp and #NeverAgain, online social activists wield the power of the internet to further spread their message. The internet has created a social affordance through its original intended use of permitting people to connect with others around the world, because through this connection users have been able to form themselves into smaller digital communities representing a new wave of sociality. Except with the positive, comes the negative and with the sociality power the world wide web has created, it is also being utilised by those people who are not only fighting against the causes listed above but who are also advocating for their own radical agendas that call upon violence, hate and bigotry, and sometimes it feels as though these negative voices are louder than the positive. 

Since 2016, there has been a significant increase in radical right activity online  within these virtual communities as many believe that the internet is a revolutionary way to tap into the voice of the people. Benjamin Lee, a senior research associate on security threats says that “what social media does is it allows people to find each other and establish digital communities and relationships” and although this can be a positive for those who endeavour to make real, progressive change, it allows for racism, sexism, homophobia and more to fester and grow.

‘Gab’ created by tech entrepreneur Andrew Torba, is a censorship-free version of Twitter where users basically are allowed to post whatever they want without being reprimanded as they would on other sites, and as a result, the social media platform has become the favourite for alt-right activists. 

With platforms like Gab, allowing a largely uncensored collection of public opinion and calls to action, including acts of violence, hatred and bigotry available for all to access, it is important that we as digital citizens are educated enough to the understand that not all activism is the right kind of activism. It is ignorant to believe that the solution for these public forums is to solely delete them when ten more will just pop up in its place. So it is our responsibility to be educated enough to deduct whether or not what we are reading is true or false and to understand that a lot of the information spouted out by these “activists” have a sole purpose to instil fear and a sense of hopelessness as a way to have the reader absorb a similar viewpoint to their own. 

In time social media is only going to allow the voices of activism to become louder, stronger. With more education into activism and the role that it has on social media, organisations like the alt-right will lose their damaging voice that they do not deserve. 

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Keep it Real Po[liticians]

It’s absolutely no secret that politicians are able to seriously benefit from the use of social media - it helps them come into direct contact with voters, allows their campaigns to go viral and even energises young voters to actually go out and vote, but not every politician can be an expert on how to use social media. Sometimes in an effort to seem ‘relatable and cool’, politicians can instead come across as out-of-touch and quite simple - a joke. 

Take the Australian Prime Minister as an example - which is this guy:

...in case you were wondering, although by the time you’re reading this that very well could have changed. 

Scott Morrison or “ScoMo”, has been a self-inflicted victim to many social media faux pas. In September of 2018, Scott Morrison posted a video to his personal Twitter account showing him getting the coalition members to raise their hands in question time - the video was played with the song ‘Be Faithful’ by Fatman Scoop. Although the PM was obviously trying to be seen as ‘hip’, the video definitely meant to provide a different message than the one it did. The lyrics to the song produced a far more sexual meaning than what ScoMo, or any politician for that matter, would be comfortable with. This then of course lead to the inevitable wave of new memes.

This isn’t the only slip up the Prime Minister’s office has seen, which just goes to show that although members of his social media team may be young and personally engage with social media that doesn’t replace formal social media training - politicians don’t need to be cool to gain popularity, they just need to be honest. 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a perfect example of social media being used in the right way by a politician. The U.S. Representative of the D-NY 14th District is well known for her social media presence, being referenced to using social media as a ‘jiu-jitsu’ against republicans. She even went live on Instagram, cooking macaroni and cheese while discussing politics with what grew to thousands of viewers and people loved it.

She really knows how to utilise her platforms to best reach her audience, and as a result she is giving lessons to her fellow senior democrats on how to use platforms like Twitter to their advantage. Connecticut Representative Jim Himes, also assisting fellow democrats with their social medias, said in a statement “The older generation of members and senators is pretty clueless on the social media platforms. It’s pretty clear that a lot of members have 25-year-olds in their offices [running their social media].”  

Essentially social media is necessary for politics, but it’s more necessary that politicians learn the fine line between trying to be relatable and just being themselves. 

In the era of fake news, the last thing we need is fake personalities.

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Blog or Social Media? The real question.

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Tumblr - Social Network or Blog?

Tumblr began as a blogging platform where millions of people around the world could share literally whatever they wanted. Whether that be thoughts, ideas, pictures, gifs or memes - anything was allowed on the blogging website. The idea of microblogging was becoming more mainstream and with the launch of Tumblr in November 2007, the history of microblogging was changed forever. Microblogging is a term that refers to the combination of blogging and instant messaging, allowing users to create messages to be shared with an online audience (Lifewire 2018). Today, Tumblr is a safe space for users to share their thoughts in a way that is creatve and different from any other blogging sites. As Tumblr has gained popularity throughout the years, it has grown to a point where it’s considered to be a part of the big leagues with social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

So if the blogging website is being considered under the same umbrella as some of the biggest names in social networking media, what does that classify Tumblr as in todays digital world? Is it a social networking site, or is it a blog? To find this answer let’s have a look at the definitions of both.

A social networking site is an online platform that allows users to create a public profile, an ‘online-identity’, to then interact with other users of that website (Technopedia). A blog is an online journal-like website that displays the information posted in chronological order, with the latest of posts appearing first (Firstsiteguide.com 2019). 

Really, both of these definitions fit into the culture of what Tumblr portrays itself to be. Firstly users of Tumblr are able to publish their own, self-written journal-like posts to their customisable blog site to then be displayed in chronological order on their page. People are also able to ‘like’, comment on and ‘reblog’ publisher’s posts which in turn is creating interactions between users much like of what is seen on social networking sites. See the connection here?

Tumblr really is a social media network, just like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram just with a stronger undertone of blogging. The difference is though that unlike Tumblr, many users of Twitter and Facebook are chastised for over-using their platforms to pour out every emotion they’re feeling. On Tumblr, many feel safer to use the platform as an online version of a journal because of the anonymity their online identity can obtain and because people are following for the content that they post, rather than who they are as a person.

So yes, Tumblr really is a hybrid of both a blog and a social networking site - BUT it is important to acknowledge the depth at which Tumblr allows users to be themselves. As a result of the blogging format of the the website, there is less pressure for users to reveal parts of themselves they might not necessarily want to (like their real names, or the gender they were born with rather than the one they identify as) and conform to the roles Facebook, Twitter and Instagram want you to play.