Mohammed Waliul

Have you ever wondered if the government could be controlling the people? Or did you ever imagine the social networking sites that you regularly have access to, let alone have access to the histories/tragedies of your own country could be censored by your government? That has become the reality of China. According to (Spencer 2021), “the estimated number of active users in China are 930 million” and increasing “that’s three times the population of USA”. Interestingly enough, they actually do have their own unique alternatives for social media sites such as your “Google” is their “Baidu”, “Facebook” is “Ren Ren”, “WhatsApp” is “WeChat” and so on. Alongside, China also has an app that keep tabs on their citizen’s, even their thoughts! Although, China has made its mark as the ‘leader of e – commerce of the world’, the Chinese government and communist party believes that the ‘Western influence’ imposes as a threat to the unity of the citizens and further might cause them to seek liberation (why social media is banned in China? 2019).

The Great Firewall of China: “Golden Shield”

The Chinese controlled internet is already a world that is far apart from the world we live in. According to Chan (2018), “China is able to control such a vast ocean of content through the largest system of censorship in the world, aptly known as the Great Firewall.” In a nutshell, the project was initially started off at 1998, anti – china propaganda and anything that promotes or leads to the ‘western influence’ in the country or on its citizen’s is censored, which is EVERYTHING! For example, The Tiananmen Square massacre is a tragedy that took place in the year 1989, which were initially “student – led” protests for “democracy, free speech and a free press in China” that led to the arrest of “10,000 protestors and killing of hundreds and thousands (History 2020). This tragic incident was condemned by the U.S and the Soviet is still highly censored on the Chinese internet platforms (History 2020). As of now, China has hired and paid people to post positive content about the communist party policy that would win the support of public opinion (Hoffman 2017).

Besides blocking the world’s most popular social media platforms, it also blocks hate and humiliation towards the leaders, explicit sites, using abusive language, harmful information or news that would trigger the citizens or in any way exploiting their views. According to Economy (2018), “The challenge for China’s leadership is to maintain what it perceives as the benefits of the internet – advancing commerce and innovation – without letting technology accelerate political change”.

According to Denyer (2016), “As it pursues a broad crackdown on free speech and civil society, China has tightened the screws on virtual private network (VPN) providers that allow people to tunnel under the Firewall”. Yes, it may be frustrating to us but we definitely cannot relate to those living there. Although, there are hefty problems with foreign trade and business because of the censorship, China continues to excel its economic growth abroad while silencing the critics and continuing its controlled regime back at home. Chinese government have already taken steps to strengthen its digital censorship to make it all the more sophisticated, convenient, protected and advanced space.

Is China’s AI technology the answer to future?

China, the most recognized and the most populous in the world, both offline and online, that very much exists with digital dictatorship as well as internet censorship. The country is rapidly increasing towards growth in all fields with a great pace, especially in the field of technology and its innovations. AI is widespread in China, given its sheer usage of mobile phones of all ages for all tasks, it may really be the face of the future (Lee 2020). It reached its recent milestone which was the “Social Credit System”, where every citizen is under the governmental surveillance every hour of the day. The theory is where the citizens’ loyalty is tested through their activities and behavior “from all the sources” composing a score (Lo 2019). According to the score, the “loyal” citizens are able to get benefits be it financially, politically or generally in their lifestyle, but with a low score the government could impose restrictions on them, fine them and blacklist them (Carney 2020).

Today, we might look at China’s apps as copycats but they were already “building a global artificial intelligence empire, and seeding the tech eco system of the future” (Webb 2018). AI Businesses and the government have come together and seriously making progress towards becoming “the world’s primary AI innovation center by 2030” (Webb 2018). According to (Webb 2018), “China abolished Xi’s term limits and will effectively allow him to remain in power for life. That gives China an incredible advantage over the West. It also gives three of China’s biggest companies – Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent – superpowers. BAT is a part of that well capitalized, highly organized AI plan. The BAT is important to you even if you’ve never used them and don’t do business in China”. People’s Republic of China will one day display enormous impact in e – commerce, “autonomous vehicles” and a prolonged “race to the outer space” (Webb 2018).

Reference : 

Webb, A 2018, China Is Leading in Artificial Intelligence--and American Businesses Should Take NoteIf you think of China as a country that copies rather than innovates--think again, INC, viewed 23 May <https://www.inc.com/magazine/201809/amy-webb/china-artificial-intelligence.html>.

History 2020, Tiananmen Square Protests, History viewed 23 May <https://www.history.com/topics/china/tiananmen-square>.

Hoffman, C 2017, How The “Great Firewall Of China” Works to Censor China’s Internet, How to Geek viewed 23 May <https://www.howtogeek.com/162092/htg-explains-how-the-great-firewall-of-china-works/>.

Bloomberg 2018, The Great Firewall of China, Bloomberg viewed 23 May <https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/great-firewall-of-china>.

Economy, CE 2018, Xi Jinping’s internet shutdown, The Guardian, viewed 24 May <https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jun/29/the-great-firewall-of-china-xi-jinpings-internet-shutdown>.

Denyer, S 2016, China’s scary lesson to the world: Censoring the Internet works, The Washington Post, viewed 24 May <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinas-scary-lesson-to-the-world-censoring-the-internet-works/2016/05/23/413afe78-fff3-11e5-8bb1-f124a43f84dc_story.html>.

Shillberg, J 2021, Social Gaming- How Its Changing the Gaming Industry, Gaming, viewed 24 May <https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/social-gaming-how-its-changing-the-gaming-industry/>.

King D L, Delfabbro PH, Gainsbury SM, Dreier M, Greere N & Billieux J2019, ‘Computer in Human Behaviour’, Elsevier, vol: 101, pp:131-143, viewed 25 May

SocialNewsDaily 2019, Why Social Media is Banned in China, SocialNewsDaily, viewed 24 May <https://www.socialnewsdaily.com/87079/why-social-media-is-banned-in-china/>.

Lee, K F 2020, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work: A Chinese Perspective, Openmind BBVA, viewed 24 May <https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/articles/artificial-intelligence-and-the-future-of-work-chinese-perspective/>.

Spencer, J 2021, Chinese Social Media Statistics And Trends Infographics, make a website hub.com, viewed 25 May <https://makeawebsitehub.com/chinese-social-media-statistics/>.

Back when real arcades and board games were the excitement but if we look around us now, most of us have already turned towards online gaming with hours and hours spent behind them on our favorable choice of games. With the technology improving day by day, it is fascinating to see how the gaming industry is most affected by it. The way we engage and interact with each other online has drastically changed over the many decades we have come past through captivating innovations. This week, I will be talking about Social gaming and its effect on society.

What is Social Gaming and How Did We Get Here? / A Quick Brief on Social Gaming 

The engagement and social interaction between players in the online games that features multi player gameplay modes which are played through online networks is known as Social Gaming.  In the year 1940 at the “New York World Fair” was when video games were first introduced and had drawn a lot of people towards it. Eventually, companies such as Atari and Sega introduced arcade games “in the late 60’s to early 70’s” (Zigelman 2020). In 1983, “Nintendo Gameboy” was introduced and since then the video games empire has never looked back since. They were initially browser-based PC games but since the emergence of smartphones, it shifted to mobile phones for accessibility and availability for everyone (Shillberg 2021). The types of games may vary such as social network games, massive multiplayer online games, multiplayer board and card games and Social online casinos. Most popular social gaming platforms are Facebook, Twitch and Discord. Here’s a collage of the most popular online multiplayer games.

Impacts of Social Gaming

Social Gaming has had a cultural impact on us and has its fair share of good and bad impacts.

Positive Impacts – Did you know that video games actually make you smarter? According to Lal (2020), “Video games increase your attention span, improve decision making and problem-solving capabilities in competitive environments, and improve memory and learning. Video games improve the cognitive abilities that society values.” Studies show that patients with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia can benefit from gaming. Learning capacity of a gamer is higher than a non-gamer or at least who do not play on a regular basis (Kim 2017). Light games fix a person’s mood or wards off anxiety, whereas, an action game actually increases concentration, creativity and critical-thinking (Bowen 2014). According to Lufkin (2020), “With the rise of social media, gamers – particularly in Gen Z – have perfected the art of building communities in and around video games. Gamers don’t just compete with strangers on the internet, but forge genuine, enduring friendships.”

Negative Impacts – It is very important to keep in mind that most of the addiction that forms through video games is solely because of excessive use or not have a productive plan laid out beforehand (Lal 2020). Video games or social media platforms are not to be blamed for addiction, since every want is addicting but it is our self-control that takes us a step back from it. Most common negative effects are demotivation, depression, stress and anxiety, “relationship issues”, “social disconnection”, unproductivity, escaping the reality and overall becoming a couch potato (Lal 2020). “Video game players” who preferred violent games used these games as a form of escapism, had “poorer social skills and lower levels of empathy” (Conmy, 2010). These video gamers in real life are violent at nature when approached in real life and while online they build a different persona. According to, Conmy (2010), “Video game addiction is a problem that affects a minority of individuals in early adolescence.”

However, it still remains a hot topic if whether social is gaming good or bad for the society

Are gaming communities becoming less about play and more about monetization?

As the world evolves, yes, it is becoming one but I don’t think it is harmful. When we think about monetization in gaming, we think about in-game purchases (from $1 - $5) or subscription to play the rest of the game that occurs or loot/treasure boxes that pop up every now and then while playing a game. According to King, Delfabbro, Gainsbury, Dreier, Greer & Billieux (2019), “some in – gaming purchases could be characterized as unfair and exploitative.” I believe if we look at the flip side, although the studies are not wrong but a little too exaggerated because we are at a time and age where modernization has taken place and is a great kickstart for any game developers or even GAMERS to earn money. How you ask? Simply through committing themselves to playing online games like “Fortnite” on online social gaming platforms such as Twitch. In today’s time, if we accept services then we must also give back and that is the only way it’s fair. For instance, Tyler Blevins known as Ninja and is a popular gamer who streams on Twitch who at 27, found his enormous success through “Fortnite” by Epic Games and had been making $1 million a month playing it (Montag & Jr 2019). There are already successful game developers making billions (for example, World of Warcraft; Blizzard entertainment have generated over $10 billion revenue) and with new game developers emerging, the business has been touching its peak. Monetization and the gaming industry go hand in hand. You are either in the cycle of monetization or you are not.

Reference : 

Lal, K. (2021, January 27). Video Games Make You Smarter: Backed up by Research. Healthy Gamer. https://www.healthygamer.gg/video-games-make-you-smarter-backed-up-by-research/.

Kim, B. K. (2017, October 16). Are Gamers Smarter?: Neuroscience. Labroots. https://www.labroots.com/trending/neuroscience/7098/gamers-smarter.

Lal, K. (2021, January 27). 10 Negative Effects of Video Games. Healthy Gamer. https://www.healthygamer.gg/10-negative-effects-of-video-games/.

BBC. (2020, December 2016). How online gaming has become a social lifeline. BBC Worklife. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20201215-how-online-gaming-has-become-a-social-lifeline.

Shillberg, J. (2021, April 9). Social Gaming – How It's Changing The Gaming Industry. HeadStuff. https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/social-gaming-how-its-changing-the-gaming-industry/.

Zigelman, K. (2020, March 23). From Arcades to MMOs: The history of social gaming. Spectrum Labs AI. https://www.spectrumlabsai.com/the-blog/from-arcades-to-mmos-the-history-of-social-gaming.

American Psychological Association. (2014, February). Video game play may provide learning, health, social benefits, review finds. Monitor on Psychology. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/02/video-game.

The Impact of Online Games on Social Behavior. Blog. (2020, July 22). https://www.neurotrackerx.com/post/the-impact-of-online-games-on-social-behavior.

King, D. L., Delfabbro, P. H., Gainsbury, S. M., Dreier, M., Greer, N., & Billieux, J. (2019, July 16). Unfair play? Video games as exploitative monetized services: An examination of game patents from a consumer protection perspective. Computers in Human Behavior. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563219302602.

Montag, A & Jr T H, (2019, January 4). How gamer Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins went from working at a fast food joint to making almost $1 million a month playing Fortnite. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/04/ninja-blevins-from-a-fast-food-job-to-millionaire-fortnite-gamer.html

In today’s world, everyone has had a memory of a significant impact on pop culture with a varied choice of interest of different parts of the industry. Undoubtedly, we have all come across a point in life where we have watched our favourite cartoons/series/movies with our eyes glued to the screen or listened and sang to our favourite songs out loud or didn’t mind playing our favourite games all day or read our favourite books. We were fascinated as well as influenced and, in some way, had been affected by it in our daily lifestyle. Almost, everyone has been a fan of something since we shared a deeper connection with our favourites. This week, I will be shedding light on the topic of fandom and further elaborate with definite examples.  

So What is Fandom? 

Fandom simply refers to a community or subculture of fans that share mutual deep emotional interests towards a particular section of pop culture such as music band, movie, comic, video games, book, etc. According to (Rutherford-Morrison 2016), fandom is “a space where fans create their own language and communities, and where they reimagine characters and worlds into something that is uniquely theirs.” Fandom originated very early on but was official with the emergence of ‘sci-fi cons’ during the ’30s, now known as ‘the first fandom’. Then around the ’60s, the media fandom began at a ‘Beatles’ concert where “crazy fanatics” were seen. Media Fandoms are dedicated to expressing their passion through fan art, fan-fiction, cosplay, etc., through which their obsession sometimes leads them to alter their lifestyle and create their own reality revolving around their chosen fictional characters.

How Does Fandom Work? 

Fans are vocal as well as loyal towards their engagement in source materials. Fandoms are the consumers/audiences also known as the ‘unofficial media producers’. According to (Distillery 2021), in 1977 when the first Star Wars movie was released, the fandom increased quickly as fan clubs were created and increasing in number as more people were influenced and wanted to be a part of the excitement. Their creative versions of fan art and fanzines and actively expressing their understanding for the movie was worthy to not be ignored. “Fans with their passion and sense of solidarity can be so powerful that they need to be managed and cared for.” (Distillery 2021). Lucas Films has dedicated an entire department for fans since then. Gradually as the digital era began, many fandoms have been committed to the unique content they create and influence on various social media sites such as Tumblr, Instagram whilst conveying their feedback or opinions through Twitter. Fandoms are a strong clan and hold a lot of power and are capable of changing not just their community but also the society in the modern world. The businesses are moulding their marketing campaigns according to the fandoms. For instance, Mary Franklin a Star Wars fanatic was contacted by LucasFilms for consultation on the likes and dislikes of the Star Wars Online Fan Club (Penas 2020). Along with being the first film to hop into marketing, after the release of the first film in 1977 “LucasFilm has licensed nearly $25 billion worth of products for action figures to videogames to books.” (Togerson 2017). This initiative was taken to have active fan participation in sales and good publicity. According to (Togerson 2017), “In the 2011 census, the United Kingdom had 177,000 people declare themselves as Jedi (followers of Jediism) making it the 7th most popular religion in the U.K.” That is really cool. Here’s a video for a more visual and elaborate understanding. 

Fandom Can Sometimes Get Really Scary!

Social Media in itself is a rocky place where everybody put ahead of their candid perspectives on the table without thinking if the person might be impacted negatively. Often the use of speech is very wrong and a certain character is called out or bullied until the person takes uncertain measures due to immense stress and anxiety. Sometimes the fictional hatred can cross too many lines and the outcomes are often very unsettling. Back in 2017, the Star Wars movie ‘The Last Jedi’ had starred Kelly Marie Tran as mechanic-turned-Resistance fighter Rose Tico, had faced a fierce backlash from some fans who pointed fingers at her for her ethnicity and appearance as she was the first woman of colour to play a lead role in the iconic series (BBC 2018). The Vietnamese-American actress had been criticized her Star Wars character and directed their hatred at her personally receiving abusive comments, her character name from the Star Wars encyclopedia, Wookieepedia, was changed only to replace a racial slur used to mock the East Asian accent and also numerous comments that were critical of her weight (BBC 2018). Fandoms do help artists succeed but also pulls them down. Tran had later deleted her posts on Instagram.

In Conclusion

I believe that Fandom has its pros and cons. Specifically, in a pool of people, most of them are only expertise in the field of the shared source of interest, not vice versa. I think it is very important to put ourselves in other's shoes and give it a thought before stepping onto others. Fandom is wonderful and will continue to be so till it is kept that way but as long as the immature mentality isn’t fixed it could get toxic after a certain period of time.

References : 

BBC 2018, Star Wars actress Kelly Marie Tran deletes Instagram posts after abuse,  BBC, viewed 11 May 2021 <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44379473>.

Distillery 2021,  The history of fandom, viewed 11 May 2021 <https://www.wearedistillery.co/we-think/the-history-of-fandom>.

Penas, E D 2020,  Fan engagement: Why businesses should target fandoms, Ambidextr, viewed 11 May 2020 <https://ambidextr.media/fan-engagement-why-businesses-should-target-fandoms/>.

What is Crowdsourcing? 

Crowdsourcing is the process of gathering work, information, or opinions from a large group of people via the Internet, social media, or smartphone apps. Crowdsourcing participants work as paid freelancers in some cases, while others perform small tasks for free. Traffic apps, for example, encourage drivers to report accidents and other road incidents so that app users can get real-time updates (Hargrave 2019). 

Two great examples provided by Kearns (2015) are:

1. Waze is one of the most successful crowd-sourced start-ups. It's an app that lets users report traffic jams and gives them automatic directions for the best route to take. Waze gathers data by measuring drivers' speeds to determine traffic jams and asking users to report road closures. It's a fantastic app that demonstrates how a dedicated crowd can sometimes be all a company requires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TyhmaQt3ZU

2. McDonald's decided to give their customers free rein in 2014, allowing them to submit ideas for new burgers they'd like to see in stores. They could design their ideal burgers online and have the rest of the country vote on which ones were the best. In Germany, creators were also encouraged to launch their own campaigns, which included viral videos and other valuable content marketing, all of which came at no cost to McDonald's. McDonald's released the burgers weekly after the winners were announced, along with a picture and brief bio of the creator.

In an era filled with fake news, what effect can this have on crowdsourced information?

Reviews are also a good example of crowdsourcing and reviews done by the public under companies are an important way for customers to choose a certain company they want their work to be done by. Unfair and negative reviews can have a negative impact on sales. Unfairly positive reviews, on the other hand, are a problem that can lead to buyer's remorse.

Michael and Diana, a retired couple from southwest London, needed a roofer to repair their leaking roof. They used RatedPeople to find a good builder and paid him £2,000 to complete the job. A week later, the roof began to leak again. He refused to come back and finish it properly. A subsequent survey revealed that he had exacerbated the problem. The couple later discovered that the person they had chosen had subcontracted the work to someone else without their knowledge, implying that the reviews they had read did not apply to the person who had visited their home.

According to Giorgos Zervas, an assistant professor of marketing at Boston University, the number of suspicious reviews has been increasing. Mr Zervas stated, "Reviews are becoming a more integral part of consumer decision-making. I believe algorithms can only detect fake reviews to a certain extent." In the end, creating a legitimate-looking fake review isn't difficult, and review fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated." (Gordon 2014).

Crowdfunding - Small money making big changes : 

Crowdfunding is the practice of raising small amounts of money from a large number of people to fund a project or venture. Similar concepts can also be implemented through mail-order subscriptions, benefit events, and other methods. Crowdfunding is a type of alternative finance and crowdsourcing.

Examples of successful crowdfunding are : 

Since 2009, Kickstarter has been a rewards-based donation platform that has assisted businesses in raising funds. More than $5 billion has been raised for more than 182,000 projects thanks to it. The ease of use of Kickstarter is one of the reasons for its success. You choose a monetary goal and a time frame for achieving it, then tell the story of your campaign (Business News Daily Staff 2021). 

The Pebble E-Paper Watch is famous for being Kickstarter's breakout success, raising $10,266,845 in 37 days. Backers of the Pebble watch, one of the first affordable smartwatches on the market, jumped at the chance to be among the first to own one. Pebble started shipping smartwatches 10 months after their Kickstarter campaign ended (Business News Daily Staff 2021).  

In Conclusion:

Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding are amazing ways for things to move forward. Such as crowdsourcing provides information from a large number of people which helps to analyze information but the same way fake crowdsourced news will cause problems of the same level. Crowdfunding is a great way for small companies to get funds and get the push they need to start, but misuse of crowdfunding is also present which might cause trust issues among people to further help in the future.

References : 

Hargrave,M (2019), Crowdsourcing, Investopedia, viewed 1 May 2021 <https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crowdsourcing.asp>.

Kearns,K (2015), 9 Great Examples Of Crowding In The Age Of Empowered Consumers, TYB, viewed 2 May 2021 <https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/9-great-examples-crowdsourcing-age-empowered-consumers>.

Johnson,S (2021), What Is Crowdfunding?, Business News Daily, viewed 1 May 20121 <https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4134-what-is-crowdfunding.html>.

Schroter.W (2014), Top 10 Business Crowding Campaigns Of All Time, Forbes, viewed 2 2021 <https://www.forbes.com/sites/wilschroter/2014/04/16/top-10-business-crowdfunding-campaigns-of-all-time/?sh=7932c65f3e9f>.

We live in a world today where we are at the peak of medical excellence, we know more about our bodies and how to treat certain diseases the best, yet there are situations where many diseases cannot be cured.  Public health campaigns are a small yet big contribution to our society, public health campaigns promote health, encourage a healthier lifestyle and prevents diseases across the entire population, these are done by sharing information on do’s and do nots on what might help our body and what might harm it. Flyers, posters, websites, social media posts are examples of how these campaigns/communities reach people. All the public health campaigns are non-profit organizations and are usually run by donations. Campaigns such as these might be state based or even international. Example of such campaigns is the breast cancer research foundation.

Despite having or not having public health campaigns, most people gain or at least look for information regarding their health through the internet and social media. So, how does social media play a role on public health?

You may or may not know, but Social Media plays a big role : 

Vance, Howe, Dellavalle (2009) stated that YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Second Life are rapidly becoming popular sources of health information, particularly among teenagers and young adults. Low cost, rapid transmission through a large community, and user interaction are all advantages of social media marketing. People all over the world use social media to get the "inside scoop" from official social media platforms and to find out what their family and friends are saying about a current health issue. Social media sites can be used for public health social media campaigns by reputable and respected health publications, institutions, and individuals (MPH Online 2021). Heldman, Schindelar, Weaver III (2013) stated that they can target and reach a wide range of audiences using social media. Some audiences prefer to receive health information and communicate with public health organizations online, just as some audiences prefer to receive health information via print materials or from their peers. Indeed, 59 percent of internet-using adults in the United States said they looked online for health information in the previous year17,18, with 35 percent saying they went online specifically to learn about a new health condition.  A good example of social media public health campaign is The World Heart Foundation launched several social media campaigns on various social media platforms with the goal of reducing cardiovascular heart disease and stroke cases by 2025. People have been posting exercise and health-related photos with the hashtag ‘Healthy Heart Selfies' recently. #PowerYourLife and #WorldHeartDay hashtags (Howard 2019). The YouTube video below is posted by The World Heart Foundation to raise awareness to take care of your heart, give it a watch to appreciate your valuable organ. 

Another example is the The Ice Bucket Challenge, also known as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, was an activity in which a bucket of ice water was poured over a person's head, either by another person or by the person themselves, to raise awareness of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and to encourage donations to research. This particular challenge went viral and the video below shows this challenge being done in a popular show named “Ellen”. 

But can you trust the information provided on the Internet and on Social Media?

Vance, Howe, Dellavalle (2009) stated that blind authorship, a lack of source citations, and the presentation of opinion as fact are all disadvantages. Dermatologists and other health-care professionals should be aware of the importance of social media websites and their potential for disseminating health information. Control of the message has been lost. Loss of control of the message, giving credence and credibility to "junk science," and reputational concerns are all potential risks and fears associated with social media engagement. There are valid concerns about negative comments distorting and reshaping the message and conversation, also known as "online incivility". These concerns should be factored into an organization's social media engagement strategy, as well as the need to proactively engage with social media influencers to encourage a thoughtful dialogue on public health topics where there is common ground (Heldman, Schindelar, Weaver III 2013). 

Waszak & Kubanek (2018) stated that between 2012 and 2017, a number of the most popular shared health web links in Polish language social media were evaluated using the BuzzSumo application. They used the keywords cancer, neoplasm, heart attack, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, vaccinations, HIV, and AIDS, which were all related to the most common diseases and causes of death. Each of the links were checked for presence of fake news. The results showed that 40 percent of the most widely shared links contained text that they labelled as fake news. These have been shared over 450,000 times. Vaccines had the most misleading content, while news about cardiovascular diseases was generally well-sourced and informative. One source was responsible for more than 20% of the dangerous links in our content. Of the 1225 fake news stories examined, social media was responsible for spreading half of them (619, or 50.5 percent) about COVID19. The remaining 50% of sources are made up of multiple sources: individuals, Donald Trump, websites, and tabloids/newspapers. The image below shows shows the sources of fake news stories by number of occurrences. 

In Conclusion : 

There are multiple campaigns and online pages/sites where they provide legitimate information about health likewise there are fake and wrong information providing pages. Before accepting an information, see if the page is legit, try putting logic to what it is saying and do your research before believing it. 

References :

Staff Writer 2021, What is the impact of Social Media on Public Health?, MPH, viewed 25 April 2021 <https://www.mphonline.org/social-media-and-public-health/>. Vance, K , Howe, W, Dellavalle, R 2019, Social Internet Sites as a Source of Public Health Information, Science Direct, viewed 25 April 2021, <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0733863508001083>.

Heldman, A Schindelar, J, Weaver, J 2013, Social Media Engagement and Public Health Communication: Implications for Public Health Organizations Being Truly “Social”, Public Health Reviews, viewed 25 April 2021, <https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2FBF03391698.pdf>.

Howard, A 2019, 10 Effective Public Health Social Media Campaign, SSML, viewed 25 April 2021, <https://strategicsocialmedialab.com/10-effective-public-health-social-media-campaigns/>.

This week I will be talking about activism and protests. Activism and protests have always been there, the frequency only fluctuates for different circumstances, nonetheless, there are both good and bad sides to protests and activism. The new addition to the typical protests and activism is social media. Social media brought a different way how protesters show their stand. In this blog, I will walk you through what activism and protests are and how social media impacted them.

Activism : 

Activism is an involvement in political, social, economic or environmental change with an intention to make certain changes in the society, these are mostly intended for the welfare of the society, to correct social injustice and to make social improvements (Spark 2014). Activism can consist of a single person (usually with many supporters) or a group of people where all of them act together for the change they desire. There are different types of activism, they can range from boycotts, street marches, writing a letter, contributing to a political campaign, hunger strikes (Egbe 2014). Activism can also be expressed through forms such as art, volunteering, grassroots activism. There are many activists to look up to, such as Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, they put their lives at risk at the front line for social justice. Langston Hughes, Nina Simone and Jean Michel Basquiat were also activists who spoke through their songs, poems and art.  One can be an activist in their sector on what they love to do, if you love graphic design, make flyers and websites, an economy student can host fundraisers (Spark 2014). A good example of activism is the “Boycott French products” in the Muslim world, it all when the French president said “Islam is a religion in crisis”, Islamic countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE called for French product boycotting (CNBC 2020). France also showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad which is considered taboo in Islam (BBC 2020), furthermore, a local Muslim school teacher was beheaded by a teenage extremist due to the backlash faced by the Muslims. People from Pakistan and Bangladesh joined campaigns to boycott French products, the Pakistani government helped by endorsing a boycott of French products (BBC 2020).

Protest : 

Protest are done by the public to express objection or dissent towards a certain order/idea, typically these are political. Like activism, protests can also be individual but usually done by a group of people with the same mind-set to achieve the same goal. Protests can take different forms, some protests are short lived, while others go for days. Some maybe harmless while others leave protesters killed or even injured by the government. Protesting is a commitment that is expressed publicly by the people who are influenced by the initial matter and eventually the groups outgrow in number. One such recent example would be the Indian Farmers Protest that is known to have been the country’s biggest ever protest in history. On September, 2020 The Indian government had passed three new laws that has very much angered the Indian farmers, from the outskirts of Delhi. Under the light of the previous laws, the farmers were able to sell their goods at auction at the state’s Agricultural Produce committee and they were guaranteed a certain amount of price agreed by the government (Yeung 2021). There were certain restrictions on who could buy and on the prices on the significant goods respectively. These laws that were initiated by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, suggests to undo just that and instead directly sell to the second party at any price without a middleman. Modi also speaks about how this law might be unexpected to the farmers but in the long run it would be better for them and would also improve the agricultural condition of the country. Soon after the laws were passed, the farmers especially from Haryana and Punjab got down to protest for their rights and made sure their voices were heard with peaceful signs and driving their tractors around. The farmers demands are clear, they want the three laws to be cancelled. They believe that negotiating with big companies will not go well and in turn the demand and supply of the goods would be much higher and the prices would be lower than expected, thus struggling to earn their livelihood. Yeung (2021) also stated that, since November, the protestors have looked forward for peaceful protesting as they were marching towards the central government in New Delhi. The protestors have been camping in the outskirts of Delhi but had to also face a sprawl of violence from the police firing tear gas and water cannons to halt their protest and tractor parade. This resulted in a lot of backlash for the prime minister and his government.

How does social media impact protests and activism?

We know what protest and activism are, but how does social media play a role in this? Well, social media plays a big role. Social media helps a certain slogan, protest, social injustice or a simple objection all around the world within hours. Social media has changed civil rights protests, social media is helping publicize police brutality (Ovide 2020). There is no boundary for netizens to comment or share certain content, everyone has a say no matter their skin colour, religion or where they’re from. Raw videos and photos of amateur photojournalism are witnesses of injustice and have gained new currency, these videos go viral and thus protests breakout, these protests then lead to justice. An example of this is the death of George Floyd. On May 25, George Floyd was arrested by Minneapolis police, he was pinned by three police officers and which stopped him from breathing (Hill, Tiefenthäler, Triebert, et al 2020). The videos from the bystanders and security cameras went viral and thus a protest broke out saying he was killed because of his skin colour and that had no reason to be arrested let alone kill him because of carrying cigarettes. The New York times 2020 had a newsletter heading of “Black Lives Matter May Be The Largest Movement in U.S. History”. The BlackLivesMatter hashtag started with the killing of George Floyd. The officers were soon identified and fired from the Minneapolis police department (Hill, Tiefenthäler, Triebert, et al 2020). The video attached below is the video generated from the bystanders and security camera footage, disclaimer: it might be disturbing, contains violence.

Another example which I used earlier was boycotting French products, Islam being spread all over the world, the evidence of all that happened in France soon spread all over the internet and to the general public. People changed their profile pictures on Facebook me being one of them to support the movement. In conclusion, social media brings a whole new ground when it comes to activism and protests, there are both good and bad sides to this (good being quick spread of news and thus justice is served and bad being spreading of fake information), but it is what it is and the world is and will be imperfect with its perfections.

Reference :

BBC 2020. Pakistan 'to boycott French products' over cartoons, viewed 12 April <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54971409>.

Evan Hill, Ainara Tiefenthäler, Christiaan Triebert et al 2020. How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody. The New York Times. <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html>.

CNBC 2020. Explained: Why calls to boycott French products are growing in the Muslim world, viewed 12 April. <https://www.cnbctv18.com/world/explained-why-calls-to-boycott-french-products-are-growing-in-the-muslim-world-7313721.htm>.

Spark 2014. Different forms of activism op-ed, viewed 12 April. <http://www.sparkrj.org/website/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Activism-Op-Ed.pdf>.

Mashal Mujib, Schmall Emily, Goldman Russell 2021. Why Are Farmers Protesting in India? The New York Times. Viewed 12 April. <https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/world/asia/india-farmer-protest.html>.

Egbe Anna 2014. Activism Creates Distinction, LAGA – Camaroon, viewed 12 April. < https://www.laga-enforcement.org/media/presentations/power%20point%20presentation%20-%20Activism%201.pdf>.

ADL 2021. The Purpose and Power of Protest. Viewed 12 April. <https://www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/the-purpose-and-power-of-protest>.

St. John Barned-Smith, "How We Rage: This Is Not Your Parents' Protest," Current (Winter 2007): 17–25, viewed 12 April.

Ovide Shira 2020. How Social Media Has Changed Civil Rights Protests. The New York Times. <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/technology/social-media-protests.html>.

So, politics can be a controversial topic. Many may agree with a certain view while others might have a completely different view, but all of it is done for the best of one’s country. I am not very fond of politics because of all the mind games, corruption, tricks and all that fake stuff involved in it. However, being a person who is at voting age, I must have some knowledge and interest to understand how the world goes about and to choose the right leader for my country when the voting time comes. Most of my knowledge about politics is gained from the internet (mostly social media). This blog will give you an idea of how social media has a significant role in political engagement and what political engagement is. 

Political engagement, what exactly does it mean?

According to Khasnabis C, Heinicke Motsch K, Achu K, et al (2010), political engagement is an expansive scope of activities through which individuals create and express their opinions on to the world and how it is administered, it is an attempt to take part and help to make decisions that influence their and other citizens life. These activities range from social issues, such as joining handicapped individuals' associations or different gatherings, social activities which may be individual or family level, and campaigning at the national level or maybe just at the local neighborhood. All of this may be a way to the process into formal politics, such as voting, joining a political party, or standing for elections.

As stated by the Pew Research Center (2018), numerous Americans take part in politics, either by donating, by volunteering to campaigns, going to meetings, gatherings and protests, reaching out to officials or by sharing their views via social media.

Generally, most of them (67%) reported having taken part in at least one of the activities in the previous five years; almost half (46%) say they have done as such in the previous year alone. Generally, the older more ideological and educated Americans have reported being more engaged in more types of political activities rather than the younger generation, who tend to be less educated and less ideological adults. However, in any case, there are some eminent exemptions for these patterns (Pew Research Center 2018).

Social Media and Politics:

Social Media has been a great tool for politics. Many politicians such as Barack Obama, John Edwards and Donald Trump used social media to help them win their elections. Barack Obama won the 2008 United States presidential election on November 4, 2008. During the campaign, by using social media and mobilizing the general public online, Obama was able to raise awareness and financial support for his campaign. Obama used over 15 social networking sites (Lutz M, 2009).

Well, social media can be used to reach a much larger audience number, mostly the younger generation is very much active in social media and can be used to influence them to vote for a certain party. An online survey conducted by Ahmad, Taufiq, Alvi et al (2019), ( N = 200) of both male and female, and both graduates and undergraduates from the University of Narowal, Pakistan. They used Qualtrics software to distribute their survey among the students for collection of data purposes. The results showed that most of the students use social media for political awareness and information. Political success is significantly based on online political participation. Moreover, social media is an imperative stage for netizens to take part in actual political happening in real life. In conclusion, the findings show that online political activities strongly correlate to political awareness and even encourage to take part in offline political activities.  

Reference:

NCBI, (2003), Political Participation. Viewed 2 April. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK310967/#:~:text=Political%20participation%20includes%20a%20broad,decisions%20that%20affect%20their%20lives>.

Pew Research Center, (2008), Political engagement, knowing and the midterms. Viewed 2 April. <https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/04/26/10-political-engagement-knowledge-and-the-midterms/>.

Ahmad.T. (2019), The Use of Social Media on Participation Among University Students: An Analysis of Survey Results From Rural Pakistan. Viewed 3 April. <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244019864484>.

When I first heard about Tumblr, I didn't know what it was and what is its function. Later on with the research, I found that Tumblr is a website, but I was not sure if it is a blogging site or a social network site. Tumblr holds characteristics of both a social network site as well as a blogging site. This confusion has arisen for most people. But with further research, a conclusion may be met on if it is an SNS or a blogging site or both.

What's a blog? 

There is no easy way to explain what a blog is. Traditionally writings were written as journals, a blog can be related to that since it is a diary styled informal text, and rather than being written on a diary, it is posted on blogging websites. What makes blogs special is the fact that blogs allow one to be free and express their thoughts, one doesn’t need any certain skill to blog (Boyd 2021). There are different types of blogs to share one's thought (Personal blogs, corporate blogs, niche blogs, etcetera) different blogs are posted on different topics to share information about that certain topic (Randy 2018). Blogs are updated on a regular basis, usually, single individuals to small groups are the ones who are in charge of the writing and changes being made. Blogs are referred to as posts on the websites and these posts are usually presented in reverse chronological arrangement, making the latest post to be on top of the webpage (Mutum, Dilip; Wang, Qing 2010).

What is a Social Networking Site?

When it comes to explaining Social Networking Sites (SNS), it shouldn’t be too difficult, since we all have been using them a whole lot. Well as we would think the purpose of social media is to connect everyone (friends, family, colleagues).

 it is also largely used for business purposes. SNS is a place where businesses seek engaging customers. The most popular sites include Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. How exactly does SNS help us to be connected? Well, people such as parents who live far may be connected with their children by messaging each other through social media. Furthermore, images (posts and stories), videos and statuses are uploaded regularly to keep people connected on the life events of an individual. Individuals can also share other peoples contents to keep others updated or to maybe just share a thought (Kenton 2021).  This video represents the influence of social media to our world. 

What is Tumblr then exactly?

Tumblr holds the characteristic of both a social networking site and a blogging site. Tumblr can be strictly be used as a blogging site or even a social networking site, however, the platform shines when one uses both of the characteristics it holds. Where blogging traditionally is mostly writing, in Tumblr, a blog can be expressed through both writing and the share of media (audio, video or images) to express one thought and be informal – that is what makes Tumblr unique and special. A Tumblr page can be modified (change colours and fonts) to personalize it in accordance to one's content theme or maybe just however they like it. It has characteristics of both Twitter (a blogging site) and Facebook (an SNS site). Businesses also use Tumblr to target customers and engage them (Moreau 2020). If you’re still confused take a look at this video.

References :

Mutum, Dilip; Wang, Qing (2010). "Consumer Generated Advertising in Blogs", In Neal M. Burns; Terry Daugherty; Matthew S. Eastin. Handbook of Research on Digital Media and Advertising: User Generated Content Consumption. Global. Pp 248 t- 261,  viewed 28 March 2021,  <https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiS6PeQtNTvAhWcIbcAHVdvDB4QFjABegQIBBAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fpureportal.coventry.ac.uk%2Ffiles%2F3939909%2FConsumer%2520generated%2520advertising.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2m_YBEMusK36p-o39IVGXC>.

Randy A Brown 2018, 12 Types of Blogs and When They’re Most Successful, Elegant, viewed 28 March 2021, <https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/marketing/types-of-blogs>. 

Kenton.W 2021, Social Networking, ‘Investopedia’, viewed 28 March 2021,  <https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-networking.asp>. 

Boyd, D & Ellison, N 2007, ‘Social network sites: definition, history, and scholarship’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, viewed 27 March 2021, <https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/13/1/210/4583062>.