Digital Communities

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Wikipedia (2015) describes the term ‘coca-colonisation’ to imply an infusion of mostly American cultural values that competes with the local culture. Consequently, social media including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been blocked by the Chinese government. This action, added to years of Western media influenced perceptions of China being a closed Communist country and that Chinese people are not free, swayed the West to believe Chinese citizens are missing out on the social media revolution (Blackboard 2015).  

 China has embraced capitalism since 1976 and its spectacular economic growth has it positioned as a juggernaut. In fact, as of May 2014 the United States owes China a debt of US 1250 billion dollars, which is 20% of America’s total foreign debt (Manuel 2015). With more prosperity comes more freedom and vice versa (Li 2012). With this in mind and the magnitude of its population, it was no surprise to me that China is leading the way in the worldwide social media explosion (Chiu et al. 2012, p.1). Why?

 Despite the government controlling all forms of media in China (Gao 2012), social media is a larger phenomenon in the world’s second-biggest economy than in the rest of the world. Further, China has the world’s biggest internet user base, more than double that of the United States (Chiu et al. 2012, p.1). With an estimated one billion plus social media users, China rivals the total combined number of Facebook users in the entire world (Fong 2012).

 The distrust of the country’s traditional media, which has regularly covered up scandals has lead the Chinese to increasingly turn to social media for information and news (Gao 2012). There are little signs of this trend slowing, partly attributable to its break-neck speed allowing government censors little time to check facts or enrich editorial. With such trust issues, young people have created their own online visual language to bypass the censors (Lee cited in DLDconference 2013). This factor shapes the Chinese consumer, content and platforms market (Chiu et al. 2012, p.2), leading Duncan Clark (DLDconference 2013) to remark that the Chinese are “digital people with an analogue government”.

 So whilst in the West we laud the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and the late Steve Jobs, Chinese technology, telephone and media entrepreneurs like Jack Ma (whose wealth almost matches Michael Dell) are slowly making their way up the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires (Dolan & Kroll 2014). Interestingly, Fong (2012) explains that Facebook would never dominate in China, a viewpoint shared by Kevin Lee (DLDconference 2013). This is because Facebook’s primary revenue source is advertising – and this, like state-approved announcements is strictly regulated in China. 

 References

Chiu, C, Ip, C & Silverman, A 2012, ‘Understanding social media in China’, McKinsey Quarterly, pp. 1-4, viewed 4 February 2015, <http://asia.udp.cl/Informes/2012/chinamedia.pdf>.

Chiu, C, Lin, D & Silverman, A 2012, ‘Week 11: Global Social Media: Case Study China’, China’s social-media boom, Learning materials on Blackboard, Swinburne University online, 2 February, viewed 4 February 2015.

DLDconference 2013, ‘Week 11: Global Social Media: Case Study China’, DLD13 – How social media is changing China and Asia (Kevin Lee, Duncan Clark, Kitty Lun), Learning materials on Blackboard, Swinburne University online, 2 February, viewed 4 February 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG3z2ucaR6A#t=2005>.

Dolan, KA & Kroll, L 2014, Inside the 2014 Forbes billionaires list: Facts and Figures, Forbes, viewed 5 February 2015, <http://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2014/03/03/inside-the-2014-forbes-billionaires-list-facts-and-figures/>.

Fong, H 2012, 5 things you need to know about Chinese social media, Forbes, viewed 4 February 2015, <http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/10/25/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-chinese-social-media/>.

Gao, H 2012, Rumour, lies and Weibo: how social media is changing the nature of truth in China, The Atlantic, viewed 4 February 2015, <http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/04/rumor-lies-and-weibo-how-social-media-is-changing-the-nature-of-truth-in-china/255916/>.

Li, F 2012, Top-10 American misconceptions about China, Global Economic Intersection, viewed 4 January 2015, http://econintersect.com/b2evolution/blog2.php/2012/03/09/top-10-american-misconceptions-about-china.

 Manuel, D 2015, U.S. National Debt Clock February 2015, Dave Manuel, viewed 4 February 2015, <http://www.davemanuel.com/us-national-debt-clock.php>.

William Golding’s 1954 novel, ‘Lord of the Flies’ tells the tale of a group of school boys stranded on a deserted island. In the absence of adults, the freedom of unrestricted playing eventually clashes with real world responsibility and the formed ‘communities’ break down. The book is a commentary on the evils that exist within mankind and the havoc wreaked by situations of unsupervised and uncivilised citizenship.

 This synopsis snippet is dark and the association to digital citizenship amongst online gamers may appear a stretch. Yet the story contains clans, a central antagonist and protagonist, high level players, the thinkers, the hunters and the followers, the ‘trolls’ that tease ‘Piggy’ and the ‘littleuns’ that are the ‘newbs’. Eroded civility is a facet pertinent to the breakdown of gaming communities and publics similar to the book’s narrative.

 Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), without spatial or temporal boundaries allow players to adopt a virtual persona. The object of these games is to progress up a level, acquire status and power by challenging and dominating others and admiration earned by the gaming community is a motivator to keep playing (Kuss 2013). This doesn’t read too dissimilar to the goings on amongst the schoolboys. Whilst the social factor associated to MMORPG’s is important, it denotes a complex interaction between real and virtual social networks, often with blurred boundaries (Taylor 2006 cited in Kuss).

  Research verifies that online games can be a hostile environment for certain players (Gray 2012 cited in Fox & Tang), especially those perceived as outsiders or others that do not conform to expected behaviours (Fox & Tang 2014). These same traits contribute the implosion of the schoolboys’ co-existence within the novel above.

  A ‘newb’ is a derogatory slang term referring to low level or inexperienced players in a multiplayer gaming environment. They are also easy targets to attack (Jansen 2015), as World of Warcraft player Tibbault discovered, peeved enough to question whether they should report being bullied or ‘suck it up’ (2013). The same quandary extends to racism, misogyny, trolling and sexism. 

  Gaming has long been considered a man’s world by the characters and storylines portrayed, for example, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards. Expectation to conform to online masculinity norms can affect how men interact with women, by have accepting attitudes towards sexual harassment and unfavourable views towards gender equality. Due to anonymity, users may experience a sense of loss of self in the social context, as those on the outer are stereotyped and depersonalised. These anonymous users may engage in anti-normative behaviours, the bane of digital citizenship.

  References

Fox, F & Tang, WY 2014, Sexism in online video games: The role of conformity to masculine norms and social dominance orientation, Computers in Human Behaviour, vol. 33, pp. 314-320, ScienceDirect, Swinburne University online library.

Jansen, C 2015, Noob, Techopedia, viewed 31 January 2015, <http://www.techopedia.com/definition/12944/noob>.

Kuss, DJ 2013, ‘Internet gaming addiction: current perspectives’, Psychology Research and Behavior Management, vol. 6, pp. 125-137, Academic OneFile, Swinburne University online library.

“Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” questioned the Evil Queen of the magic mirror. The mirror satisfied her obsession with beauty by always confirming that she was the ‘fairest of all’…. up to a point. Consequently, with developments in camera technology, digitisation and social media (Blackboard 2015), why consult only the mirror about her personal and social imaging – when she can ask the world!

A ‘selfie’ is a photograph taken of oneself by oneself but usually not for oneself (Menaker 2013). Selfies have changed aspects of social interaction, body language, self-awareness, privacy and humour, altering temporality, irony, and public behaviour (Saltz 2014). The Evil Queen adorns herself with objects of desire (clothes and jewels). The similarity to a selfie is the desire to control the aesthetic appeal portrayed within the image projected. In the traditional rendition of Snow White, the tale is a caution against narcissism. 

                      Research by Epley & Whitechurch (2008, p.1160) found emerging consensus that people’s automatic and intuitive associations to the self tend to be objectively positive. This is substantiated by a decline in altruism levels despite global social connectivity, with people less interested in others, except when wishing to know what others think about us (Chammorro-Premuzic 2014).

The Evil Queen may have overcome her self-consciousness had she access to Snapchat, the photo and video sharing self-destructing application. “With ephemerality, communication is done through photos rather than around them” (Jurgenson cited in Herman 2014) justifying Snapchat selfies as a fundamental unit of communication rather than self-expression (Spiegal cited in Herman 2014). Rather than be dictated by the mirror or social media’s data warehousing business model, Snapchat gives users control over the duration of their data (Kosner 2012) by refusing image permanency.

Snapchat alleviates insecurity felt surrounding the storage of personal images which may be copied or shared without permission or knowledge (Blackboard 2015). Tags are keywords that may be added to photos and other texts to better enable searches of related topics and connect them. A person tagged becomes part of any conversation around that image, thus providing a means of finding and being found (Blackboard 2015), sparking heated debates surrounding exactly what tagging is good for.

The Evil Queen consulted the magic mirror to learn of Snow White’s location, alternatively she could have searched #snowwhite for any photos taken by the dwarves outside their cottage. Tensions have resulted around the ‘politics of tagging and being tagged’ illustrated in Table 1.1 (Smith 2007, p.15).

With today’s social media channels, the Evil Queen could have controlled and curated her own personal brand and ensured she never looked ‘un-glam’.

Reference list

Andy 2014, ‘Evil Queen’ [image], in Disney Selfies, thaeger, viewed 23 January 2015, http://thaeger.com/disney-selfies/.

Charro-Premuzic, T 2014, ‘Sharing the (self) love: the rise of the selfie and digital narcissism’, Media Network, 14 March, viewed 24 January 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/mar/13/selfie-social-media-love-digital-narcassism.

Cobb, C 2013, ‘Girl takes amazing selfie’ [image], in Share some laughs, Pinterest, viewed 23 January 2015, <http://www.pinterest.com/pin/432345632950465131/>. 

Disney fan sites, Evil Queen and magic mirror’ [image], in The story with pictures, Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, viewed 23 January 2015, <http://dopey1937.disneyfansites.com/english011.html>.   

Epley, N & Whitchurch, E 2008, ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall: Enhancement in self-recognition’, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, vol. 39, no. 9, pp. 1159-1170, viewed 24 January, 2014, SAGE Publications, Swinburne University online library.

Herman, J 2014, ‘Meet the man who got inside Snapchat’s head’, Week 9: Visual communities and social imaging, Learning materials on blackboard, Swinburne University Online, 28 January, viewed 24 January 2015.

Kosner, AW 2012, Wait a minute, Facebook, the kids like Snapchat because it’s NOT Facebook, Forbes, viewed 24 January 2015, <http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/12/19/wait-a-minute-facebook-the-kids-like-snapchat-because-its-not-facebook/>.  

Menaker, D 2013, ‘Taking Our Selfies Seriously’, New York Times, 23 November, viewed 24 January 2015, Academic OneFile, Swinburne University Online library.

Saltz, J 2014, ‘Art at Arm’s Length: A History of the Selfie’, Week 9: Visual communities and social imaging, Learning materials on blackboard, Swinburne University Online, 26 January, viewed 21 January 2015 http://www.vulture.com/2014/01/history-of-the-selfie.html.

Smith, G 2007, Tagging: People-powered Metadata for the Social Web, Safari, New Riders, Google eBook.

“Anyone can be a weather reporter now” proclaims crowdsourcing app, ‘Weddar’, the first people powered weather report service in the world. Reasoning that it is passé to rely on inaccurate weather bureau forecasts, when crowdsourcing provides location based weather reports done by real people (Weddar 2011).

Coined in 2006, the concept of ‘crowdsourcing’ - the action of outsourcing a task to achieve a goal by collecting many contributions from an unidentified public – is nothing new. In 1901, the crowdsourcing initiative of asking the Australian public to design the national flag received 32,823 entries.

However, the modern phenomenon of online social sharing, gives crowdsourcing greater communication efficiency across wider publics, thus facilitating an expansion of its many applications. Internet access to three crowdsourcing categories is a first world privilege (Stevens 2014).

Crowdfunding: This is the funding of projects by a large group of people. Nble causes like making electricity more accessible in countries like Kenya (Practical Action) or a more self-centred approach (Gimmeabuck).

Crowdsourced design: Funded projects for a community to design something, in this case it was a car (Rally Fighter).

Crowdwisdom: This is the most common, where people ask the online universe any question on any topic (Yahoo Answers), answered by users willing to offer a solution. At the press of a button, this mining and collation of collective intelligence permits composing a shared encyclopedia – Wikipedia, asking for travel recommendations – Tripadvisor, even connecting musicians and their fans to organise a private concerts – Owngig, all in real time.

These are first world indulgences, but what of those in greater need? How can civilians connect with a cause to help effect social change extending beyond monetary contribution yet life changing? Crowdsourcing can help.

Imagine the widespread existence of crowdsourcing technology in developing countries and the vital impact it could enact. The luxurious benefit of searching for a restaurant review (Urbanspoon) could be replaced with a search for the nearest hospital, or fresh water source or mapping breakouts of violence and riots in post-election Kenya (Kerschberg 2012).

Amidst these 2008 riots, Ushahidi, a crowdsourcing platform came to being with the aim to gather and verify local reports of violence. These were in turned plotted using Google maps providing rapid intervention by ensuring people had essential information available to them. The same idea was used to track and measure radiation, due to failing nuclear reactors in Japan, by crowdsourcing people with Geiger counters (geigercrowd) (Rosenberg 2011).

Crowdsourcing is distributed problem solving (Mashable 2015). Farmers can use the technology to share information that may improve their crops or it can assist squabbling couples settle arguments online (Reddit/couplescourt). Or, instead of partaking in meaningless conversation about the weather, report it!

  References

Freebase 2015, Crowdsourcing, Mashable, viewed 18 January 2015, <http://mashable.com/category/crowdsourcing/>.

  Kerschberg, B 2012, How crowdsourcing is tackling poverty in the developing world, Forbes, 21 March, viewed 18 January 2015, <http://www.forbes.com/sites/benkerschberg/2012/03/21/how-crowdsourcing-is-tackling-poverty-in-the-developing-world/>.

  Rosenberg, T 2011, Crowdsourcing a better world’, Opinionator, 28 March, viewed 18 January 2015, <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/crowdsourcing-a-better-world/?_r=1>.

  Stevens, D 2014, ‘Crowdsourcing: Pros, Cons and More’, Hongkiat, viewed 18 January 2015, <http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/what-is-crowdsourcing/>.

Applying abstract parallels between the 1986 movie, ‘Labyrinth’ and today, the labyrinth would be social networking, the Goblin King branded a predator and cyber bully, whilst the troll would happily add provocation. Further modern day relevance, is the film’s central thought to encourage teenagers to realise they must take responsibility for their lives, reflected in the teenage heroine’s attempt to rescue her baby stepbrother from the Goblin King.

    (Film Club 2013)                  

Mouffe (cited in McCosker 2014) reasons democratic sociality stems from conflict hosted effectively by social platforms allowing contested interaction. Terms of use on social networking sites prohibit users from abusing the sites for activities such as harassment of other users and dissemination of objectionable materials (Choo 2009, p.67). Are online social forums dealing with misuse? Google receives thousands of requests from government agencies for private data (Greenberg 2011), however Google’s compliance is restrained (eg) Gonzalez v Google 2006 (Quimbee 2013).

boyd (2014, p.152) believes youth are crying out for attention and that conflict won’t disappear by tightening technology access. A view supported by Valetk (cited in ALRC) who cautions against rushing to apply regulatory approaches, possibly failing to grasp the cultural nuances of virtual communities and implications of interventions. Even though several liberal western democracies already apply internet filters, escaping bad publicity because they advocate freedom of information (Choo 2009, p.59).   

Naturally, legislators and commentators have sought to safeguard children and young people, from oversharing personal information whilst engaging in social networking, which may potentially become misused. Keeley (cited in Carrick 2014) is unsure such legislation is required, preferring the introduction of an e-safety commissioner. The free speech argument would also be an argument for not addressing school yard bullying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41FwxLZYkbE  (Rachel Loves Tennis 2011)

  The stance by Senator Brandis to dilute racial vilification laws, permitting people to say and communicate bigoted and offensive things is ill informed. There is an array of laws to stop this (ABC 2014). The Postal service law was used in 2011 to convict Man Horan Manis of disseminating hate mail to parents of killed soldiers serving in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, this same man was responsible for the Sydney siege in December 2014.

The 2013 suicide of teenager Chloe Whitehill, as a result of cyber bullying, led the Australian government to canvass legislative reform. Typing ‘cyber bullying suicide’ into Google video search, reveals a list of tragic deaths. “We have a collective responsibility to each other, that’s what living in a society is all about” (Parnis cited in Chung 2014).  Children and young people must be educated to understand the importance of protecting themselves, their online identities and their reputations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I47ltgfkkik   (FlocabularyYT 2014)

  References

ABC 2014, ‘Attorney-General George Brandis ill-informed on people's 'right to be bigots'’, ABC, 30 April, viewed 27 December 2014, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-30/george-brandis-ill-informed-on-right-to-be-bigots/5375302.

Australian Government, ‘Children, Young People and Attitudes to Privacy: Online social networking’, Australian Law Reform Commission, viewed 27 December 2014, http://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/67.%20Children,%20Young%20People%20and%20%20Attitudes%20to%20Privacy/online-social-networking.

boyd, d 2014, ‘Digital Citizenship 3 – Trolling and Social Media’, Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Learning materials on Blackboard, Swinburne University Online, 5 January 2015, viewed 27 December 2014.

Carrick, D 2014, ‘Can a cyber-bullying commissioner protect our kids?’, ABC, 27 February, viewed 27 December 2014, http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lawreport/5286036.

Choo, KR 2009, ‘Online child grooming: a literature review on the misuse of social networking sites for grooming children for sexual offences’, Australian Institute of Criminology Reports: Research and Public Policy Series, no. 103, pp. 1-108, viewed 27 December 2014, <http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/3/C/1/%7B3C162CF7-94B1-4203-8C57-79F827168DD8%7Drpp103.pdf>.

Chung, F 2014, ‘Plain packaging, bicycle helmet laws, nightclub lockouts: Has the nanny state gone too far?’, News.com.au, 3 September, viewed 27 December 2014, <http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/plain-packaging-bicycle-helmet-laws-nightclub-lockouts-has-the-nanny-state-gone-too-far/story-e6frflo9-1227046385962>.

Film Club 2013, ‘Labyrinth’ [image], in Into Film, Film Club, viewed 28 December 2014, http://www.filmclub.org/whats-new/details/1383/david-bowie-review-writing-competition-read-the-winning-entry.

FlocabularyYT 2014, Oversharing – Digital Citizenship, 7 August, viewed 23 December 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I47ltgfkkik

Greenberg, A 2012, U.S. Government Requests For Google Users' Private Data Jump 37% In One Year, Forbes, viewed 27 December 2014, < http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/06/17/u-s-government-requests-for-google-users-private-data-spike-37-in-one-year/>.

McCosker, A 2014, ‘Digital Citizenship 3 – Trolling and Social Media’, Trolling as provocation: YouTube’s agonistic publics, Learning materials on Blackboard, Swinburne University Online, 5 January 2015, viewed 27 December 2014.

Rachel Loves Tennis 2011, Cyber-Bullying Digital Harassment, 9 March, viewed 26 December 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41FwxLZYkbE.

The new tools of social media have reinvented social activism (Sivitanides & Shah 2011).                                                                                    

A digital activist campaign is an organised public making collective claims on target authorities using digital media (Edwards et al 2013). The New York Times (Shane 2011) described how social networking helped accelerate Tunisia's revolution and in the process ignited desire for democracy that traversed the Arab world at breathtaking speed. Social media platforms featured in these struggles by modifying the communication process through digitalisation, convergence and mobility (Viera 2013). The internet, Facebook and Twitter were essential sources of information and Ben Mhenni, a blogger named 'A Tunisian Girl', rose to prominence providing the world firsthand accounts in three languages (Ayari 2011).

                    Interestingly, Arab activists strongly reject the notion that the uprisings were spurred by an online revolution. "The revolution was made by people" said Mhenni (Ayari 2011), a view reinforced by Gladwell's observation that East Germany overturned a government in 1989 when only 13% had landline phones (socialcapital 2011). To mobilise citizens, social media must complement the cause prompting action. The consolation act of 'liking' a movement on Facebook or a retweet, referred to a 'clicktivism' does not suffice. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcSZsjlqs4E  (UNICEF Sverige 2013).

  By not participating in digital activism, mine is a 'persistent perspective' (Sivitanides & Shah 2011), meaning I believe digital tools facilitate activities that were already possible offline, just quicker and cheaper. Viral videos including KONY 2012 and 'ice bucket challenge' raised enormous awareness about issues by getting people to talk. Unfortunately, talk is mostly all people did. Clicktivism (or slacktivism) is criticised for its failure to convert awareness into real world action. This disparity was highlighted by UNICEF Sweden with their 'Likes don't save lives’ campaign. The perception is, instead of money, one donates their valued time and valued social post to generate greater awareness, though this lacks substance and long term impact (Kosinski 2014). Harling (2013) cites examples where slacktivism proved successful (eg. SOPA protests) arguing that it can provide a launch pad for wannabe activists.

  The SOPA protest was against a proposed anti-piracy law preventing the hosting of copyright content. Culture jamming combines political communication with raising awareness of eroded cultural, political and social values by commercial environments (CCCE). Culture jamming is the practice of parodying advertisements to drastically alter their message (Klein cited in Activist Facts 2014), predominately by memes used to circulate transformed politics and communication.

  The integration of new media tools and innovative practices would best serve activists in the future. Applied activism should remain first and foremost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_RjndG0IX8 (Do Something, West 2014)

   References

Activist Facts 2014, Adbusters, Activist Facts, viewed 13 December 2014, https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/36-adbusters/.

Ayari, C 2011, ‘Tunisian Girl’ blogs for freedom and democracy’, Deutsche Welle, 12 December, viewed 13 December 2014, http://www.dw.de/tunisian-girl-blogs-for-freedom-and-democracy/a-15174603.

Center for Communication & Civic Engagement, Culture Jamming, Center for Communication & Civic Engagement, viewed 13 December 2014, http://depts.washington.edu/ccce/polcommcampaigns/CultureJamming.htm. 

Edwards, F, Howard, P & Joyce, M 2013, Digital Activism & Non-Violent Conflict, Yale Law School, viewed 13 December 2014,  http://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/conference/gmjs14_Edwardsetal_DigitalActivismandNonViolentConflict.pdf.

Harling, J 2013, Slacktivism – campaign killer or campaign thriller?, Reason Digital, viewed 13 December 2014, < http://www.reasondigital.com/advice-and-training/slacktivism-campaign-killer-or-campaign-thriller/>.

Kosinski, B 2014, ‘#IceBucketChallenge: Why You’re Not Really Helping’, Huffington Post, 7 August, viewed 13 December 2014, < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-kosinski/icebucketchallenge-why-yo_b_5656649.html>.

MatthewWestVEVO 2014, Matthew West - Do Something, 28 January, viewed 13 December 2014, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_RjndG0IX8>.

Nelson, S 2011, ‘WITNESS An Egyptian man recorded the turmoil on his cellphone video camera’ [image], in Spotlight Again Falls on Web Tools and Change, The New York Times, viewed 13 December 2014, < http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/weekinreview/30shane.html?hp&_r=1&>.

Shane, S 2011, ‘Spotlight Again Falls on Web Tools and Change’, The New York Times, 29 January, viewed 13 December 2014,  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/weekinreview/30shane.html?hp&_r=1&.

Sivitanides, M & Shah, V 2011, ‘The Era Of Digital Activism’, 2011 CONISAR Proceedings presented at the Conference for Information Systems Applied Research, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA, viewed 13 December 2014, http://proc.conisar.org/2011/pdf/1842.pdf.

Socialcapital 2011, ‘Twitter, Facebook and YouTube’s role in Arab Spring (Middle East uprisings) [UPDATED 7/7/13]’, Social Capital Blog, 26 January, viewed 13 December 2014, http://socialcapital.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/twitter-facebook-and-youtubes-role-in-tunisia-uprising/.

Storck, M 2011, The Role of Social Media in Political Mobilisation: a Case Study of the January 2011 Egyptian Uprising, institute for cultural diplomacy, viewed 13 December 2014, < http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/content/pdf/participant-papers/2012-02-bifef/The_Role_of_Social_Media_in_Political_Mobilisation_-_Madeline_Storck.pdf>.

UNICEF Sverige 2013, Likes don't save lives - Unicef Sweden - the restaurant, 25 April, viewed 13 December 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcSZsjlqs4E.

A survey of Britons aged between 17-21 highlighted young people becoming increasingly disengaged from politics. “Young people’s voices don’t get heard…” (Stringer cited in Whitehouse 2013). Sani (Whitehouse 2013) insists political parties need to try harder to engage younger people in a way they understand, a view shared on the home front by Demouche (2014) endorsing the empowerment of youth.

 Australians under 25 have the highest social media use in the world (Chen & Vromen 2013). By understanding the use and importance of interacting through widespread social media to reach young people, a political candidate may perform well by potentially increasing young people’s political engagement.

Source: AEC 2013

A politician's prime asset is their charisma (Sprokkreeff 2013), how they make you feel when personally communicating their campaign values. Portraying himself as a progressive geek, ‘Kevin07’, ‘The Ruddster’ or ‘K-rudd’ has long used social media to differentiate himself from his competitors (McClelland 2013). Trimble (2014) feels it shows Rudd at binary opposites, a venerable and vulnerable leader who is in tune with real Australians, particularly young people. Out of 2.2 million Twitter users in Australia, @KRuddMP has an astonishing 1.3 million followers.

   In contrast, Young (2010 p213) doubts that people without previous political inclination would suddenly become interested just because political news was communicated via a new medium.

  Well before YouTube, the importance of an aesthetically pleasing candidate, was proven in 1960 by the first ever televised debate between the two Presidential aspirants. By this time, 88% of all American households had television attracting an estimated 74 million viewers (Webley 2010). Richard Nixon appeared pale, sweaty and had a five o’clock shadow, whereas John F. Kennedy looked handsome, tanned and relaxed. Kennedy’s election victory was sealed by television.       

In 1960, television was seen as an entertainment medium and not a forum for serious discourse (Schroeder cited in Webley 2010). Holmes (2013) maintains a similar modern day outlook, insisting Facebook and Twitter are not platforms for announcing policy, nor for building rapport with voters at the cost of mainstream media coverage. That which keeps viewers watching is considered ‘good television’, politics must conform to this required level of entertainment. Political media events are ready-made political entertainment, delivered in a format cheap to cover and easy to broadcast (Balkin 1998).

  Future electioneering may spell the end of polling booths, via improved fingerprint technology. Law reforms could be shaped quicker from online feedback. A politician could ‘attend’ several engagements nationally by use of virtual presence. Social media will serve as ‘gatekeeper’ and the forum for public interaction, micro-activism and counter publics.

  References:

B&T Magazine 2013, ‘Australian politics just went social’ [image], in Uncategorised, B&T Magazine, viewed 6 December 2014, < http://www.bandt.com.au/uncategorised/Australian-politics-just-went-social>.

Balkin, JM 1998, ‘How Mass Media Stimulate Political Transparency’, Writings Online, viewed 6 December 2014, <http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/jbalkin/articles/media01.htm>.

Chen, PJ & Vromen, A 2013, Social Media, Youth Participation and Australian Elections, Australian Electoral Commission, viewed 6 December 2014,  <http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/research/caber/1b.htm>.

Demouche, D 2014, ‘Week 5 Activity: Blog post’, MDA20009 Politics and Civil Cultures, discussion board post on Blackboard, Swinburne University Online, 1 December, viewed 5 December 2014.

Holmes, D 2013, Can social media swing votes in this election campaign, The Conversation, viewed 6 December 2014, <http://theconversation.com/can-social-media-swing-votes-in-this-election-campaign-17679>.

Levy, A 2010, ‘Flyer of first presidential debate held on Sept. 26, 1960 between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon’ [image], in Media Myth Surrounding the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon Presidential Debates & the Boston Globe, You’re Entitled To Be Wrong, viewed 6 December 2014, <http://angelialevy.com/2010/05/09/media-myth-surrounding-the-1960-kennedy-nixon-presidential-debates/>.

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Sprokkreeff, P 2013, Abbott falls short in the social media election, ABC, viewed 6 December 2014, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-06/sprokkreeff-social-media-election/4866960>.

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