-Rachel-

Although this generation has change drastically after social media exist. Social media has been used for various purpose all across the world. You may think that everyone has access to social media anywhere and anytime, but not China. We all know that China has ban a lot of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The reason they ban those social media is because the government wants to restrict the content on the internet. So instead of using Facebook, they use Qzone or RenRen. They use Sina Weibo instead of Twitter, and Tudou and Youku instead of YouTube. Jones (2016) stated that these networks are good for marketing purposes. This causes the marketing in China are very successful. Having all these social media in China has turned into a big part of their individual lives, it had become almost like an everyday job for them.

 Is China’s AI technology the answer to the future?

AI technology stands for artificial intelligence. It has been widely used in China. It helps the people of China in a lot of field including education. They have gotten their idea of entering the AI technology from the United States. From then, they build their own artificial intelligence from there. China’s artificial intelligence technology might be the answer to the future. According to Chen (2017), artificial intelligence is going to be part of the police department in helping them organise and examine documents.

In my opinion, China’s artificial intelligence is going to the answer in the future as it will soon develop into something bigger. The world is constantly moving forward and growing bigger into the future, so with AI technology already existing in some countries, sooner or later, it is going to be available in every country. Every country will rely on AI technology to be part of the job.

 Is the Social Credit System a way to instil good behaviour and provide safety to citizens? At what cost?

It is a good way to instil good behaviour, and of course it can provide safety to the citizens. According to Zhou (2018), since the population in China is huge, China uses face recognition to recognize their people. This can help control the people of China. For example, China uses facial recognition to check student’s attention in class. Through this, we know that China has really develop into a very independent country. They would continue to grow and grow bigger in the next few years.

Social gaming: the activity or practice of playing an online game on a social media platform.

Social gaming has been around for quite a while now. It is growing in a fast rate throughout the year. Gamers uses social media platform such as Twitch and Mixer. Gamers would use these platforms to stream their gaming session, all for various reasons, some are to entertain audience, some are doing it as a hobby. There are even some that play games just to raise funds for different charity. There are gamers such as Pewdiepie, Shroud and Ninja that contribute their part in playing game to give back to the society, which honestly, is a good platform for people to make donation to charity as the internet is a big thing. Social gaming is so big that you can connect with people all over the world. Gamers and users have more access to talk to more people online compared to real life (Digicult, 2015).

Gaming community being toxic

Gaming community has been labelled as toxic ever since the rise of social gaming. It is possible to run into toxic players (Castello, 2018). But the question is, is it really toxic? Gaming community can be toxic sometimes depending on the other users. Some even argue that gaming community is not toxic. It is the gamers that cross the line to make offensive remarks about other players, such as racism, LGBT and women. Doesn’t mean an offensive player being toxic makes the whole community toxic. A toxic player doesn’t make the whole group toxic (Medium, 2017).

 Addiction in gaming community

Many gamers grow to become addicted to the game they often play. There are people who would skip meals and shower just to play game. Once gaming dominates your daily life, it is possible that you are addicted to gaming (Game Quitters, n.d.). There are many cases all around the world where people get too engage in video games until they sit in front of the computer for days. There is a case about a 17-year-old boy who collapsed in front of his computer due to addiction in gaming.

In this new era, it is impossible to not be a fan of something or someone. Everyone is a fan of something or someone. Being a fan of someone or something is what bring people together as a community where they can share their similar interest together. Whether you are a fan of a specific book or an idol, you are bound to form a community.

Tumblr is currently the preferred social space for fans, how do these fans formulate the boundaries of their communities?

Tumblr is a common platform where fandom goes to, for them to share their interest. Tumblr is known for its flexibility when it comes to posting, whether you want to post a video or a photo or just simply a quote, it easy to use. It caught a lot of people and therefore, starts a fan community on the platform. Fans can create a group and people can share their opinion and experience with other people with the same interest. Tumblr is also where they would post a lot of updates on the things that they are fans of. According to Thompson (2018), fans can use any language without filter to express themselves and to be closer to other fans.

Are media representation of fans as ‘weird’ and ‘overly emotional’ fair? What is your own experience of fandom?

In my opinion, it isn’t fair for the media to present these fans are weird. It is common for people to have interest on something and there is nothing wrong with it. There is nothing wrong with being a fan but when you start to lose touch with reality and fantasies about things that aren’t going to happen, then, you should take a notch down. After all, it’s awful to be called celebrity worship syndrome, which means being obsessively addictive to a celebrity. There are a lot of television shows on the television nowadays, so it is going to attract a lot of fans. But what happened if we get too attached with these stars? According to Norman (2015), we are bound to experience a sense of loss.

I have never get too attached to anything because I don’t want to drag myself into a community that may be toxic. There is a lot of news about celebrities being in danger because of their overly obsessed fans. For example, Selena Quintanilla was tragically murdered by her own fan. Or the time when celebrities got attacked on stage by fans while performing. Apart from the singers and the celebrities, youtubers has a lot of fans as well.

As a conclusion, it is important to know what you are getting yourself into. When you get to obsessed being a fan of someone or something, step back from social media and think properly, if that is worth it?

 Disclaimer: This blog is used strictly for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

References:

Norman, A. (2015) ‘Behind Faves: Why We Grow Emotionally Attached to Celebrities’ The Mary Sue [online] Available at: https://www.themarysue.com/science-behind-celebrities/ (Accessed: 10 Nov 2019).

Crowdsourcing has been around for hundreds of decades now. That is why it is not a new concept. The idea of crowdsourcing has helped a lot of people and industries. Whether if it is a start of a new project or an upcoming business, crowdsourcing is making the progress goes easily and smother. Besides, in this generation, the internet is used globally, this can invite more participant to be a part of something as they connect to each other either through social media or campaigns.

An example of crowdsourcing is the iStock by Getty Images organisation which was found in the year 2000. It is a platform where photographers and artist can share their pictures and illustrations. There are tons of images that users can choose from. Although you must pay for some of them, there are also a few that are free to use. When iStock by Getty Images first started, there were only a group of 6 person. With the help of crowdsourcing, they can gather more than a hundred thousand creators.

 Crowdfunding is a fund-raising project or raising money from people who contribute a small amount. This is often applied through the internet. There are numbers of things we can do with crowdfunding. This includes reaching out to people to spectate your project, presenting pitch ideas for audiences, coming up with different types of concepts and many more. There are different types of crowdfunding which includes, donation-based, rewards-based and equality crowdfunding (Fundable, 2019).

A good example that uses crowdfunding is Patreon. Patreon is a website where content creators or venture creators can share their creativity. Not only are they sharing and exposing their work but also gets paid by audiences. Some where people can donate to their favourite creators that can encourage these people to share more of their creativity on the internet. Jack Conte, the Youtube musician come up with this idea because of how little he was earning from his job, so he decided to find a way that can make things work for him and other creators, therefore, Patreon was created (Patreon, 2019).

Another example that uses crowdfunding is Thorn Organisation. Thorn is a organisation where they spread awareness that child sex trafficking is happening all around the world. It is an organisation that builds technology and find ways to save these kids. The public can donate however amount of money for them in order to help thousands and thousands of children all over the world. There are also people who volunteer to participate in the organisation, and some are even willing to go through certain extend just to help the organisation.  

Disclaimer: This blog is used strictly for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

References:

Conte, J. (2019) Patreon [Online]. Available at: https://www.patreon.com/about (Accessed: 3 Nov 2019).

 Hall, K. (2019) ‘What is Crowdfunding’ Fundable [online]. Available at: https://www.fundable.com/learn/resources/guides/crowdfunding/what-is-crowdfunding (Accessed: 3 Nov 2019).

 Kim, L. (2018) ‘Top 10 Crowdfunding Platforms of 2018’ Inc [online]. Available at: https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/op-10-crowdfunding-platforms-of-2018.html (Accessed: 3 Nov 2019).

 Lynch, A. (2010) ‘Crowdsourcing Is Not New – The History of Crowdsourcing (1714 to 2010)’ DesignCrowd [online]. Available at: https://blog.designcrowd.com/article/202/crowdsourcing-is-not-new--the-history-of-crowdsourcing-1714-to-2010 (Accessed: 3 Nov 2019).

📖Troll: make a deliberately offensive or provocative online post with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them

 In my opinion, trolling is a form of hatred to another individual that doesn’t even profit them in any way. It is simply to just say means things about someone, and literally, just to watch the victim gets upset over those comments.

Although trolling mostly exists on the internet, some may think that nothing can get to them through a smart phone or a computer. Unfortunately, different people cope with things differently and that leads to a lot of cases that rise the awareness of trolling and hatred on the internet. Trolling on the internet will actually affect someone personally and can mess with their mental thinking. Amanda Todd’s case was the first case that I came across with the question, “How can internet cause a teen to take her own life?”

There are a lot of other cases that are similar. I came upon a tragic headline that says a young mother was bullied to death. It was upsetting to read about a young mother who has a son took her own life all because of the internet trolls. Leanne Morrison, 23, a mother to a four-year-old son, took her own life on her 23rd birthday due to depression and the online bully and trolls she received. 

The worst part is that even after her death, trolls continue to say mean things to her. Trolling people can lead to someone’s death, it is the words that affect them and cause them to think so lowly of themselves when they are not. It is those trolls that make these people starts to think negatively of themselves, how these trolls plant a toxic idea into the minds of these innocent people. Not only does it change someone’s life and someone’s perspective on life, but it can take away their lives entirely.

So, to answer these few questions,

Does internet and social media governance work?

Yes, it does. Depending on how users uses it. Posting something particular important on the internet whether if it’s about the economy or the latest news update can do no harm to anyone. However, it should be used with cautions.

Is social media trolling ever a productive practice?

Of course not. Trolling someone that you only know through the internet is as bad as killing someone in real life. Some words may be sensitive to some people and you will never know what are they going to do next. Bad things may happen to them. Trolling not only means when someone is trolling but those to participate in it are also considered trolling. So, to differentiate mean comments and expressing themselves in a different perspective can help those who communicate their thoughts and those undesirable individuals (Ketchell, 2017).

 You are likely to come across a trolling experience on social media (Hanson, 2018). Since there are a lot of people who enjoys seeing other people’s downfall, it is best not to entertain those who are spreading hate comments on the internet. There is no need to reply as it will start an even bigger chaos.

 Disclaimer: This blog is used strictly for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

References:

Cambridge, E. (2017). Bullied to Death Tragic Young Mum Took Her Own Life on Her 23rd Birthday After Internet Trolls Made Her Life Hell – And Even Post Vile Comments After Her Death. The Sun. Available at: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4385423/mum-died-birthday-internet-trolls/ [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019].

Hanson, J. (2018). Trolls and Their Impact on Social Media. N James Hanson. Available at: https://unlcms.unl.edu/engineering/james-hanson/trolls-and-their-impact-social-media [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019].

Ketchell, M. (2017). Our Experiments Taught Us Why People Troll. The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/our-experiments-taught-us-why-people-troll-72798 [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019].

Activism: the policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change

Protest: a statement or action expressing disapproval of or objection to something

How activist uses social media? 

Today, once you log on to any social media, you are bound to stumble upon an activist related post or hashtags that people use to raise awareness. Activist uses social media to voice out and talk about their opinions and thoughts as social media reaches a wider audience compared to tv news and also newspapers. They also use social media to start a topic or protest on important topic that are trending or doesn’t has enough social media coverage. They also keep their followers updated with the latest news that they can get.

The most notable hashtag is the #BlackLivesMatter which sparks up a very huge discussions among the nation. Because of how big this hashtag become, the people of the country start a few hashtags such as #MeToo and #MAGA (Make America Great Again). These social media platforms have proven to be a very important and useful platform for the Black and the Hispanic (Anderson, 2018).

  How fake news propaganda factor into the use of social media for activist and protesters?

There have been a lot of fake news on the internet nowadays, which is why it is important to know where the source and information is from. The start of fake news propaganda is nothing more that just a start of riot to me. The misleading information may start up a huge argument about the topic itself and also can cause to serious issues. A lot of people abuse the social media and uses it in the wrong way to spread rumors and lies. Thankfully, the governments are taking actions on this fake news by debunking their stories to let people know which is fake and which is real (TrendMicro, 2017).

  How does graffiti/street art become symbols of a protest?

There are many different ways that protesters protest their way through. Some would use social media as their platform to voice out their opinion. Some has a different approach such as using street art to show their feelings. Graffiti is a form social protest as well although some may agree that it is a type of vandalism. There have been different types of graffiti all across the world. In some countries, artist spray the walls to spread awareness and some protest shows a meaningful message such as the graffiti in the Middle East and Africa. For example, there are graffiti that request for the release of Nelson Mandela in South Africa (ZayahWorld 2017).

A well-known street artist, Banksy, has made his way to the top as a street artist by doing graffiti and signing off anonymously. He moved to various countries keeping his identity a secret while doing graffiti arts to show his feelings.

           Equality in both genders have been around since the late 19th century. This movement is more popularize in the Western countries. The movement’s goal is to practice equal rights and opportunities in this modern society. Gender equality is very important because there are still a lot of countries out there that are gender bias, it is their culture to think that men are the key to problems.

           In my opinion, this gender equality issues should be brought to light years ago or even decades ago in every country. This is because the lack of knowledge in a society of how much a woman can change something. Gender equality is not only about how much you get paid or how important is women’s rights compared to men’s rights, it is also about how the industries sees the potential in a woman. Just because a man appears to be stronger, doesn’t mean he is mentally stronger than a woman. There are a few celebrities that are shine the light on gender equality because of how they are treated in the entertainment industries. Celebrities such as Emma Watson, Jennifer Lawrence and Brie Larson had voiced out what they think of gender equality and how they were treated in the entertaining businesses. In a movie set, if a woman doesn’t fit into her suit then her job is probably over, but man get the opportunities to have custom made fitted clothes for their role (Brie Larson, 2017).

           I once stumble upon an interview between a celebrity and a host, where the celebrity was talking about how she gets paid less compared to her co-star who is a man. Their roles are equality important in the movie but the amount she got paid were not equality as high compared to the male actor.  Then, I did a few more research regarding the issues and I found out there were a lot of actresses who gets paid less although their roles are equally important to the movie. The Greatest Showman actress, Michelle Williams, was allegedly being paid less than her male co-start while shooting a movie called All the Money in the World (Berry, 2018). The reason why I mentioned a lot of celebrities is because, they are more exposed to the world, and if the politics are not doing anything to encourage gender equality, what more to say the normal people in small countries whose voice doesn’t reach out.

           Social movements such as gender equality and many more should be politicized because let us all admit that without the politics, the nation is not going to go anywhere. With the help of politics in these social movements, big changes are bound to happened.

Theme: Is Tumblr a blog or a social network site?

           In order for me to identify if Tumblr is a blog or a social network site, I have to understand how Tumblr works. Tumblr was first created in 2007 by David Karp. Tumblr has a lot of function that allows users to do all sorts of different activities such as posting text, photo, quote, link, chat, audio and video. The wide variation of performance Tumblr can do is what makes people debate weather if it is a blog or a social network site. There is no answer to this debate as it depends on how each individual user use Tumblr. Therefore, in my opinion, it falls in the category of both blog and social network site. So, Is Tumblr a blog or a social network site?

           I think Tumblr is a blog. Why? Because I am able to post long paragraphs like how I did on Blogger. The ability to choose if I want to post a long paragraph of my thoughts or just a short quote I find, inspiring makes Tumblr fun in blogging. Basically, it is a fun blogging platform as users can add in images, videos, and gifs to make their post looks more relatable and exciting to look at. It is easier to attract audience with using images on Tumblr post as people gravitates towards pictures (Ismail, 2018). From there, users can build a community that has the same interest and re-blog posts.

           This is why, I think that Tumblr is a social network site as well. The advance of users to have conversation with their audience makes it a social networking site. Tumblr has easier access to communication compared to Blogger and WordPress. Why I think it is a social network is because, when you think of any social network, you think of users posting pictures, communicating with each other, sharing their pictures. On Tumblr, users do what social network applications are suppose to do as well. Your opinion and creativity can be shared on Tumblr (Ramsden, 2018). So, that is exactly what Facebook, Twitter and Instagram users are doing, they use a platform to share all their thoughts, reviews and sometimes, their creativity shines through.

           Overall, Tumblr is a blog and a social network site. It has the potential to let users post blogs and also designing it in the process of doing it makes it easy for users to write. Besides, Tumblr builds up different types of community that let them interact with one another and share exciting stuff, making them keeping up to date with whatever they are interested in.