Digital Family

I will wholeheartedly admit that I am not a gamer but a self-proclaimed dabbler. I dabble in social games on Facebook for a period of time and then lose interest completely for a number of months. At no stage have I ever paid for the privilege of lining up jewels or candy to achieve a higher level in the game. My interest completely wanes when mention of warfare, medieval fantasy or building cities enters the conversation or my notifications feed. However, even as an ‘outsider’ to these online gaming communities, I found this week’s research a familiar game of competition.

Photo credit: Ronrik n.d.

So what communities exist online? Social gaming communities are social network digital citizens who play with their friends list (Swinburne Online 2015). Players can help each other by gifting extra lives or equipment to help their friends. Alternatively, each player can pay for certain luxuries of the game to speed up their level achieved. When the emphasis of the game is on teamwork, the community is generally more supportive and friendly (O’Halloran 2013).

Larger online gaming communities are accessed by the Internet on PC or gaming consoles or, to a lesser extent, accessed through social media networks. These games are mostly quest style games or massively multiple online role-playing games (MMORPG) where it is generally team against team. The difference is there are leaders amongst the teams and thus self-governance and hierarchy come in to play (Suzor & Woodford 2013, p. 2). 

How do these gaming communities break down? Democracy tends to be forgotten in online gaming communities leading to power struggles and trolling. Take the EVE online scandal where one player publicly targeted a rival at a games convention (de Zwart & Humphreys 2014, p. 78). Although not anonymous, his actions were in line with anti-social behaviour. Accepted online social norms are exploited by ‘keyboard warriors’ where the name of the game is to beat the competition or to proclaim the other has been pwned or defeated. The love of the win is like an addiction.

Photo credit: bellezaelaena 2014 

Of note, online gaming can lead to social and psychological problems. The capability of players to purchase items to advance in the game can lead to financial break down. Families can be torn apart by the isolation experienced by addicted online gamers choosing to play with their online networks rather than their family. 

Where does the future of online gaming stand? Online gaming continues to grow, solidifying its presence in our everyday digital lives (Go-Gulf 2013). Game developers see the profits as online gamers seek the need to purchase add-ons to compete, level up or conquer their digital peers. Some games thrive under team efforts. Some games are failing at self-governance. Overall more families are becoming gaming ‘widows’, indicating a much more serious social break down. Thankfully, health professionals have research opportunities to investigate the social and psychological effects of online gaming so that in the future parents may have the opportunity to prepare their children for the games that lie ahead. For me, I will be sticking to my jewels and candy.

References bellezaelaena 2014, ‘Online gaming has a good and bad impact’ [image 7], 24 September, viewed 31 January 2015, < http://bellezaelaena10.blogspot.com.au/>. 

de 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.

Go-Gulf 2013, ‘Social gaming industry – statistics & trends [infographic]’, Go-Gulf, 18 April, viewed 29 January 2015, < http://www.go-gulf.com/blog/social-gaming-industry/>. 

O’Halloran, B 2013, ‘7 best online gaming communities’, Whatculture, 12 January, viewed 29 January 2015, < http://whatculture.com/gaming/7-best-online-gaming-communities.php>. 

Ronrik n.d., ‘Mobile phone social games – play when you would like’[image], Ronrik, viewed 31 January 2015, < http://ronrik.com/augmented-reality-blog/mobile-phone-social-games-play-when-you-would-like/>. 

Suzor, N & Woodford, D 2013, 'Evaluating consent and legitimacy amongst shifting community norms: An EVE Online case study', Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 1-14.

My Dad was the video pioneer of our family especially around 1985. He had purchased video recording equipment which harboured a VHS tape and often my siblings and I would watch the ice skating concerts, family messages for our Australian relatives, and general birthdays and major events on the trusty VHS player. These were and still are great memories that we can recount for as long as the VHS will last.

Photo credit: Santell 2014

Traditional video making was a memory-aid whereas social media has taken video and images as a means of communication (Lange 2009, p. 74) making way for the ‘selfie’ and digital storytelling movement (Vivienne & Burgess 2013, p. 279). Take Snapchat where self-expression through selfies has evolved into ephemeral digital communication (Herrman 2013). Each image, video or user made drawing is only able to share with a designated list for a limited time and each viewer is recorded or even reported for capturing a screenshot and then it is deleted. New features of the application also allow these images to be viewed for 24 hours thus giving way to the storytelling capabilities of the software (Dredge 2013).

The platform provides an opportunity for users to erase their ‘digital tracks’ (Dredge 2013) and still have fun without fear of permanence or being open to ridicule if a similar communication were to be posted on Facebook, with or without the users permission.

Photo credit: Someecards 2015

Facebook allows its users to tag other users thus creating a link to the tagged users’ profile. The privacy settings on Facebook can be changed to allow the tagged user the right to add it to their profile timeline or to remove the tag link (Facebook 2015). Recently, I encountered an anxious moment when I saw my name tagged on a relationship status.  I had been dating this fellow for a number of weeks and we hadn’t even discussed exclusivity let alone making it 100% ‘official’ by posting a Facebook relationship status update.  I also had other reasons to feel uncertain even though we were completely committed. Luckily, I had my privacy settings to review any tags and I was able to have a quick chat and decision to allow the relationship status change to occur.

Visual communication has featured in digital citizenship by providing an object to assist the bonding and interactions amongst social networks (Vivienne & Burgess 2013, p. 281). Some argue that those who post biographical updates could be diagnosed as narcissistic (Lange 2009, p. 70) however others such as Nathan Jurgenson (2013) believe:

'The true narcissism of social media isn’t self-love but instead our collective preoccupation with regulating these rituals of connectivity.'

Overall, I do believe that self-expression through image and video is the new communication however social media etiquette and regulation is still evolving. Perhaps in the future our digital identities will be more authentic rather than questioned by our peers.

    References

Dredge, S 2013, ‘Ten things you need to know about Snapchat’, TheGuardian, 14 November, viewed 25 January 2015, <http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/13/snapchat-app-sexting-lawsuits-valuation>.

Facebook 2015, What is tagging and how does it work?, viewed 25 January 2015, <https://www.facebook.com/help/124970597582337>.

Herrman, J 2014, ‘Meet the Man Who Got Inside Snapchat’s Head’, BuzzFeed, 28 January, viewed 23 January 2015, <http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/meet-the-unlikely-academic-behind-snapchats-new-pitch#3dlvjg2>.

Jason Farman 2014, Photography, Self Documentation, & Social Media: An Interview with Nathan Jurgenson, 16 June, viewed 23 January 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnPtZ5lKDHo>.

Jurgenson, N 2013, ‘The disconnectionists’, The New Inquiry, 13 November, viewed 25 January 2015, < http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/the-disconnectionists/>.

Lange, P 2009, ‘Videos of Affinity on YouTube’, in P, Snickars & P, Vonderau (eds), The YouTube Reader, National Library of Sweden, Stockholm, pp 70-88.

Santell, M 2014, ‘Reflections on having a true dialogue’ [image], LinkedIn, 13 June, viewed 25 January 2015, <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140613225012-258025375-reflections-on-having-a-true-dialogue>.

Someecards 2015, Thanks [image], viewed 25 January 2015, <http://www.someecards.com/thanks-cards/thanks-for-tagging-me-in-a-facebook-photo>.

"Social media provide ordinary citizens with the ability to become key players in the construction and framing of crises” – Phillips & Young in Ford (2011)

Australia has had their fair share of natural emergencies over the decades. In recent times social media has played a pivotal role in information dissemination during these emergencies.  Crisis communication through social media in the corporate world mean organisations should have a comprehensive social media policy to keep up with their stakeholders’ expectations.  So how does social capital work for the greater good?

Photo credit: PlusONE n.d.

Crowdsourcing

Recent social capital studies have suggested that disaster response and resilience can benefit from online interactions where collective action is key (Meier 2013). Ordinary digital citizens are able to contribute with social media updates, photo posts or video feeds for crowdsourcing through their electronic devices. Crowdsourcing relies on the knowledge and experiences of citizens to provide critical information during emergencies and other events where timely action is required (Iacucci 2013).  This can be uploaded from mobile phones, news outlets and the web. The collected data can then be filtered into a visual map – most commonly using the Ushahidi ‘CrowdMap’ platform - to be readily understood and freely-accessible by affected citizens (Iacucci 2013).

The authentic unverified information from mapping technology has the capability of saving lives in times of natural disaster emergencies (Posetti & Ping 2012, p. 36) and the capability of organising people more quickly in the event of humanitarian crises (Ford 2012, p. 33). The highest barriers this crowdsourcing technology has to overcome are the risks of erroneous and duplicated information (Alcorn 2011). In addition, the technology has been used to provoke, incite and mobilise hate and terrorist activities (Malet 2014). 

Perhaps in the future the technology will evolve to enable timely accuracy reporting to aid in increasing the success of disaster response and ultimately reduce the loss of lives.

Photo credit: Yaxley in Gombita 2013

Corporate Crisis Communications

Too often, I hear and see a bad review sneak past my Facebook timeline. On these posts there is frequently an accusation that the organisation has deleted the bad review on their page.  What I am seeing on my timeline is the swift and damaging action of the share feature in social media. Instead of sharing the bad review with the limited audience who like the business’ page, it is shared with friends and then friends of friends within hours or even minutes. 

Social media has changed the way stakeholders communicate with organisations. Customers now expect dialogue and engagement in real-time through social media channels (Gonzalez-Hererro & Smith; Grunig; Laad & Lewis in Ford 2011, p.20).  Should this two-way communication not occur, the same social media platforms may then be used against the organisation enabling widespread exposure of issues or complaints (Grunig; Jordan-Meier in Ford 2011, p. 20).

Social media policies within organisations will need to evolve along with the rapid changing technologies and conversational needs of their stakeholders. Having social media engagement may determine the future reputation of the organisation thus having a social media policy which covers the stakeholders’ needs will be key.

References

Alcorn, A 2011, ‘CrowdMap disaster info & citizen reports with Ushahidi’, Makeuseof, 20 January, viewed 17 January 2015, < http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/crowdmap-disaster-information-citizen-reports-ushahidi/>.

Ford, H 2012, ‘Crowd wisdom’, Index on Censorship, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 33-39.

Ford, T 2011, ‘Social media and crisis communication: theories and best practices’, Masters thesis, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario.

Gombita, J 2013, 'Making sense of the impact of social media on crisis communication' [image], PR Conversations, 21 November, viewed 15 January 2015, <http://www.prconversations.com/index.php/2013/11/making-sense-of-the-impact-of-social-media-on-crisis-communication/>.

Malet, D 2014, 'Our new era of crowdsourced terrorism', The Drum, 19 September, viewed 15 January 2015, < http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-19/malet-our-new-era-of-crowdsourced-terrorism/5754818>.

Meier, P 2013, ‘Why digital social capital matters for disaster resilience and response’, iRevolutions, 22 July, viewed 18 January 2015, < http://irevolution.net/2013/07/22/why-digital-social-capital-matters-for-disaster-resilience-and-response/>.

PlusONE n.d., 'Tagcloud - crowdsourcing' [image], Shutterstock, viewed 18 January 2015, <http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-146591291/stock-photo-tagcloud-crowdsourcing.html>.

Posetti, J & Lo, P 2012, ‘The Twitterisation of ABC's emergency and disaster communication’, The Australian Journal of Emergency Management, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 34-39, viewed 17 January 2015, <http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=046926063833158;res=IELAPA>.

Circa 1993, my final year of elementary school in small city Canada, a group of students, including myself, designed a notebook titled ‘The Slam Book’. Essentially, it was a book with one page per student in our class. The name was written at the top and the rest of the page was free for comment for those ‘privileged’ enough to write in it.  Some comments were positive like “she’s awesome”. Some comments were negative like “she’s stuck up”. The book was quickly discovered, parents were contacted and stern warnings were given by the principal. I understand now that this was a ‘hurtful act of peer aggression’ as defined by Olweus (cited in Boyd 2014, p. 132).  If I were to repeat this malicious behaviour then it would likely be an act of bullying.

Photo credit: Iammarino 2011

Placed in the context of 2015, bullying still occurs but increasingly within social media. Online you are deemed a ‘troll’ and ‘trolling’ can lead to criminal harassment (Boyd 2014, p. 132).  The difficulty lies with identifying these cyber-bullies as they are often capable of using tools which can protect their anonymity (Johnson 2015).

Governments and the private sector are increasing their response with informational and interactive websites (see Cybersmart.gov.au and Digizen.org) and school campaigns for the younger generation in the hopes of preventing future cyber-bullies or victims. A social media ombudsman was campaigned by Senator Nick Xenophon (2013) to assist in expediting the removal of unlawful content. Contrarily, Attorney-General George Brandis (2014) believes that freedom of speech in Australia should involve the ‘right to be a bigot’ when referencing media pursuits of voicing one’s opinion.

The capability of governing online use and social media practice has many hurdles to overcome. An ombudsman has limited capabilities and can only enforce the statute law (McMillan 2014) and likely just be a drop in the ocean for complaints handling. Already in place is the Australian Communications and Media Authority (2014) complaints handling of ‘offensive or illegal online content’ which again may only be able to put out the spot fires of the bushfires created by online trolls.  The social media forums themselves are limited by their own ‘community standards’ (Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2014) and will only remove content or individuals deemed to go against them.  

Photo credit: Ardeon Group 2009

As discussed earlier, the anonymity of the offender is the greatest hurdle to overcome.  Only the most serious online offenders are given the resources to investigate with the intent to criminally charge them. Perhaps in the future there will be either fee for use or identification checks required to sign up for a social media account to help deter the online offenders by making the ease of access either financially or logistically difficult.

In summary, bullying has evolved from school yard to social societies online. Schools and governments have recognised this shift and have instigated preventive and legislative responses to help curb the bullying.  As the digital citizens evolve so too should the policing of its wayward citizens.

  References

Ardeon Group 2009, ‘It’s better to be safe than sorry – surf the web anonymously’ [image], Ardeon, Surf Web Anonymously, 27 May, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.ardeon.org/2009/05/its-better-to-be-safe-than-sorry-surf-the-web-anonymously/>.

Australian Communications Media Authority 2013, ‘Online content regulation’, The ACMA Story, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/About/The-ACMA-story/Regulating/internet-online-regulation>.

Boyd, D 2014, 'Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty?', in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University Press, New Haven, USA, pp 128-52.

Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2014, The Politics of Platforms, 21 January, viewed 11 January 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hxcofU_o7Y>.

Childnet International 2015, ‘Welcome to the new Dizigen website’, Digizen.org, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.digizen.org/>.

Cybersmart 2014, viewed 8 January 2015, <http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/>.

Iammarino, E 2011, ‘New website aims to help prevent cyber-bullying’[image], Social Tech Pop, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.socialtechpop.com/2011/06/new-website-aims-to-help-prevent-cyber-bullying/>.

Griffiths, E 2014, 'George Brandis defends 'right to be a bigot' amid Government plan to amend Racial Discrimination Act', ABC News, 24 March, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-24/brandis-defends-right-to-be-a-bigot/5341552>.

Johnson, C 2015, ‘Prosecutors say tools for hiding online hinder cybercrime crackdowns’, All Tech Considered, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2015/01/05/375193167/prosecutors-say-tools-for-hiding-online-hinder-cybercrime-crackdowns>.

McMillan, J 2014, ‘Future directions for Ombudsman offices – four trends, two reflections’, Australian Government Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.oaic.gov.au/news-and-events/speeches/future-directions-for-ombudsman-offices-four-trends-two-reflections>.

In 2014 we have been able to see or hear about global conflicts in real time by digital citizens, government and online news outlets. Some use social media platforms to incite peace and community action. Some use the platforms to incite violence or negative activism.

Certain critics believe that the weak ties within social media are incapable for enabling real change (Gladwell in Jericho 2012, p. 256) but other research negates these claims showing that the majority of protests arranged on social media were successfully attended (Jericho 2012, p. 256).  

Following such successes as the Occupy movement there were many calls to action in 2014 which incited peace and community activism. Of note, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge involved video recording your acceptance, nominating others and then pouring an ice bucket over your head and posting it to social media platforms.  It was a call for awareness about the devastating disease and hopefully included a donation to its research from those who took up the challenge.

The challenge also uncovered some ‘clicktivism’ or those who essentially took on the challenge but never donated a cent to the intended cause. These are ‘empty connections’ to the cause itself and generally were just after their 60 seconds of fame (Swinburne Online 2014). However, when speaking with researchers of the disease, even the cynics were worthwhile to the cause (Birks in Florance 2014).

See: Ice bucket challenge raises millions for motor neurone disease research, US ALS Association says

Social media has also been used to incite or encourage violence. The most prevalent terrorist groups such those in South Sudan have been found to mobilise human suffering between ethnic groups rather than being a force for peace (Cosmas 2014). Often without the knowledge of what they are supporting, even celebrities are caught up in the negative movements and have ‘insta-regret’(Kamin 2014).

The day after the siege at the Lindt Café in Sydney, I found myself updating my status on Facebook to support the #illridewithyou campaign. 

Photo credit: Smith 2014

It seems that in the aftermath of what might be perceived as a religious / political act will put those wearing particular religious attire will instantly persecute them and make their travels on public transport unsafe. I consciously added my two cents, asking my Facebook sphere of friends to not see this as a fleeting act but as an every day one. I suppose it will be in the months following this tragedy that we will see if this is to be a long-term effort. For now, I will continue to ride with any member of the human race.

  Note to eLA: 411 words                                                                                     

References

Cosmas, K 2014, ‘The role of social media in the South Sudan crisis’, Insight on Conflict, 21 October, viewed 15 December 2014, < http://www.insightonconflict.org/2014/10/role-social-media-south-sudan-crisis/>.

Florance, L 2014, ‘Ice bucket challenge raises millions for motor neurone disease research, US ALS Association says’, ABCNews, 17 September, viewed 15 December 2014, < http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-27/ice-bucket-challenge-raises-millions-of-dollars-for-mnd/5700716>.

Jericho, G 2012, 'How many votes are there on Twitter?', in The Rise of the Fifth Estate, Scribe, Victoria, Australia.

Kamin, D 2014, ‘Stars’ use of social media embroils them in Israeli-Palestinian conflict’, Variety¸11 September, viewed 15 December 2014, < http://variety.com/2014/digital/global/selena-gomez-jon-voight-palestinian-israeli-conflict-twitter-1201302102/>.

Smith, A 2014, ‘Calls to ban Australian Defence League following inflammatory Facebook post’, Newsweek, 15 December, viewed 16 December 2014, < http://www.newsweek.com/calls-ban-australian-defence-league-following-inflammatory-facebook-post-291986>.

Political campaigns of the past used persuasive media blitzes often involving paid advertisements on television and radio such as those found at The Living Room Candidate 

Photo: MIH 2014

Although a media strategy could target the desired public, the information was not always available at the right time to the right audience. Enter social media and a whole new world of political campaigning capable of reaching a much wider audience and in particular targeting the younger voters. The underlying question however is: do social media platforms provide an adequate forum for political debate?

A few Australian politicians have embraced social media’s campaigning capabilities amongst the Twitter platform (Jericho 2012, p. 255) and have been ‘noisier’ than the general Australian public (Grant, Moon & Busby Grant 2010, p. 1) – see Australian MP Tweets listing candidates who engage in Gov2.0 (Gruen 2010).

Former Queensland Premier Anna Bligh (cited in Canning 2009) observed:

‘Twitter in particular is a frank and spontaneous way for people to share their views and thoughts – it’s not filtered or tempered by second thoughts, it’s raw and immediate, and it’s 24/7’

To attract younger voters into these debates, a candidate will need to engage in what is seen as important to the age group. Sharing what song lists you have on Spotify, a funny video or meme on Tumblr, an event reminder on Facebook – all of these create “authentic, two-way communication” (Fetcher in Wortham 2012).

Australian politicians running in the 2013 election embraced this ideal from Barack Obama’s campaigning team; that is, sharing with supporters who then share with their friends on social media creating a trust relationship. It provides a tongue-in-cheek opportunity to engage at a ‘grassroots’ level (Rice 2013). See the Liberal Party of Australia (2013) take on this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3HtNCv3xvM

In the future social media will enable political parties to realign the messages being communicated to the information that voting citizens wish to know by researching hashtags and having real conversations (Russo in Rice 2013). 

Personally, my engagement with political parties has been very minimal. Actually I could safely say I have never engaged in any political debate nor have my friends’ opinions about candidates swayed my own choices in voting. However, I do believe that social media has the opportunity to have conversations where politicians provide ideas and policies and the voting public can support or debate them in a safe and engaging manner.

    Note to eLA: 365 words

References

Canning, S 2009, ‘Social networks a premier tool, but what’s in it for them?’, The Australian, 3 Sep, viewed 13 December 2014, <http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26019075-5006787,00.html>.

Gruen, N 2010, Government 2.0 taskforce, viewed 13 December 2014, <http://gov2.net.au/members/index.html>.

Grant, WJ, Moon, B, Busby Grant, J 2010, ‘Digital dialogue?: Australian politicians’ use of the social network tool twitter’, Australian Journal of Political Science, vol. 45, no. 4, Google Scholar, viewed 13 December 2014, <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/technology/campaigns-use-social-media-to-lure-younger-voters.html?_r=0>.

Jericho, G 2012, 'How many votes are there on Twitter?', in The Rise of the Fifth Estate, Scribe, Victoria, Australia.

Liberal Party of Australia 2013, The Headless Chooks in ‘The Gillard Experiment’, 4 May, viewed 13 December 2014, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3HtNCv3xvM>.

MIH 2014, ‘Five lessons your brand can learn from the election campaign’, image in Make it Happen, viewed 13 December 2014, <http://mih.com.au/2013/08/five-lessons-your-brand-can-learn-from-the-election-campaign/>.

Rice, D 2013, ‘Australia’s politicians look to master social media strategies in time for federal election’, ABC News, 24 May, viewed 13 December 2014, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-24/aussie-politicians-seek-inspiration-in-obamas-digital-success/4711926>.

Wortham, J 2012, ‘Campaigns use social media to lure younger voters’, The New York Times, 7 October, viewed 13 December 2014, <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/technology/campaigns-use-social-media-to-lure-younger-voters.html?_r=0>.

This week social capital will be in the spotlight.  In particular we answer the question - how do we build social capital within the varied social media platforms on offer?

Photo credit: Legay 2005

Theorists such as Pierre Bourdieu and James Coleman both contributed to the social capital theory. Robert Putnam delved a little deeper and described social capital as “connections among individuals” in “social networks” encouraging norms to be practiced and trust to be built (cited in Smith 2009). The end result is that joining and being regularly involved in organised groups can positively impact an individual, thus building their social capital (Smith 2009).  

Now Mr Putnam also presented research that social capital was eroding with the rising popularity of isolating ourselves amongst the many electronics on offer (cited in Siapera 2012, p.195).  Despite this seemingly negative view, today we look at how social capital can be positively built amongst some of the more popular social media platforms.

To understand social media platforms is to understand their affordances. These are the features, cultures of use such as norms, practices and customs along with the potential and limitations (Norman in Interaction-Design.org 2011).

The infographic below overviews the more popular social media platforms:

Photo Credit: Nappi 2014

Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram are all about followers. I have a direct sales business that encourages the use of social media for our marketing. These three platforms are a great forum as every single post I make reaches each of my followers plus any other user who happens to have the post come up in their “feed”.  However, the pure volume of posts received by a user with a high social capital, or high following, may mean that my post is actually never viewed thus losing that connection to my network.

Facebook and LinkedIn are all about networking. Facebook brings sharing to a new level amongst family, friends and acquaintances. For me Facebook has been a wonderful experience in building my own social capital. I have met many like-minded people whom I have created, joined and contributed to groups with. Not a day goes by that I feel isolated as I can just hop on to my network of ‘friends’ and see what is happening or being discussed that day.  

LinkedIn is an excellent opportunity to network with business mentors, colleagues or potential employers.  As a university student, I can see the benefit of networking whilst I am still studying as it allows those in my industry to “headhunt” me. A LinkedIn profile replete with endorsements is considered by some as “the new resume” (Joel 2014).

Overall social capital is built by how well a user of social media interacts and understands the affordances of their chosen platform.

Note to eLA: 427 words

References

Interaction-Design.org 2011, Affordances, 15 February, viewed 7 December 2014, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK1Zb_5VxuM>.

Joel, M 2014, ‘LinkedIn is the new resume’, Six Pixels of Separation – the Blog, 4 August, viewed 7 December 2014, < http://www.twistimage.com/blog/archives/linkedin-is-the-new-resume/>.

Legay, L 2005, My social network, viewed 4 December 2014, <http://www.flickr.com/photos/luc/1824234195/>.

Nappi, S 2014, ‘Social media explained’, Professional Development, Social Media, viewed 6 December 2014, <http://www.ifmaboston.org/2014/02/social-media-explained/>.

Siapera, E 2012, ‘Socialities and social media’, Understanding new media, Sage, London, pp. 191-208.

Digital communities within social media are a great catalyst of the Information Age. Theorists continue to debate whether this new media has elicited a shift in late modern sociality where opposing views attempt to determine if we are now an informational or an impersonal society.

Photo credit: SPS Library

Early sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies determined ‘Gemeinshaft’ or community as peoples’ natural organic will to form affectionate associations with people in near geographic proximity (cited in Siapera 2012, p. 193). These “easy” relationships bonded family, friends, neighbourhood and voluntary groups. Fast forward to the Internet Age, the introduction of electronic technologies and the new media which provides a global ‘digital’ platform for communities to either polarise its members (Sunstein 2009, p. 66), erode individuals’ social capital (Putnam, cited in Siapera 2012, p. 195) or encourage new individualised social organisation (Wellman, cited in Siapera 2012, p. 197) depending on which theorist you side with. 

Photo credit: Identity Graph

Leading this new media is social media.  Social media is available to those whom have access to electronic tools and enables anyone to publish and access information, collaborate on a common effort or build relationships (Jue et al., cited in Murthy 2013, pp. 7-8). It is described by cyber pioneer Howard Rheingold (cited in Siapera 2012, p. 194) as being able to breathe new life into a new form of community. Individuals network through online media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram creating ‘weak ties’ that enable connections to other networks. Most networks are described as homophilic, that is, a group of strangers who seek out like-minded individuals to connect no matter the geographic location (Wellman, cited in Siapera 2012, p. 1998).

Photo credit: Pappas 2012

My own experiences with social media, specifically Facebook, were also explored this week.  I am a fairly active member of a number of homophilic groups within the platform and having studied the research of both Wellman and Willson, I can safely determine that both theories have held true in my personal experience.  Wellman describes networked individualism as the patterns of networks created by individuals on the basis among others, of their preferences, skills, knowledge and background (cited in Siapera 2012, p. p. 197). True enough, the first ‘closed’ mothers group I was accepted into seemed to reflect my desire to connect with other mothers in my geographical location.

Willson (cited in Siapera 2012, p. 200) argued that networked individualism overlooks people caught up in power structures and sure enough the cracks began to show when the ‘admin’ of this closed mothers group undertook certain un-democratic views to which I voiced my opinion, and as a consequence, I was deleted and blocked from the group for going against the norm they had developed. Luckily, I wasn’t the only member to have received such treatment and as a result many new networks of like-minded mothers were formed.

  Note to eLA: 401 words not including in-text referencing

References

'Identity graph' [image] 2011, Authentic Organizations, viewed 23 November 2014, <http://authenticorganizations.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/201101241710.jpg>.

Murthy, D 2013, Twitter: Social Communication in the Twitter Age, Wiley, pp 1-13, EBL Book Library.

Pappas, P 2009, ‘Engage student discussion: use the social network in your classroom’, Copy/Paste, 12 May, viewed 23 November 2014, < http://www.peterpappas.com/2009/05/engage-student-discussion-use-the-social-network-in-your-classroom.html>.

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