we are all living in a digital world.

In 2012, Mckinsey & company released a paper that presented the findings of some very extensive research into Chinas Social Media Boom. 

“Social media is exploding world wide, and China is leading the way” 

Firstly to discuss the statistics. The Mckinsey survey of 5,700 internet users in China found that 95% of those living in Beijing (Tier 1), Guangzhou (Tier 2) and Shanghai/Shenzhen (Tier 3) are registered on at least one social media site; in addition, the country has by far the worlds most active social-media population, with 91% of respondents saying they visited a social media site in the previous 6 months, compared with 30% in Japan, 67% in the US and 70% in South Korea. This survey is the first of its kind in China, exploring the behaviour of Chinese consumers on social networks.

When further investigating Chinas unique social media landscape, local chinese sites mostly dominate it. While Facebook and Twitter are fixtures of daily online use in the West and in other Asian countries, there is no access to these sites in China. instead Chinese consumers are favouring sites that are exclusive to them. these sites go by the names of Qzone, Sina Weibo and Ren Ren.

In Terms of Facebook like services, RenRen is the one that is most commonly used amongst university students. Of all the social networking sites in China, RenRen is most similar to Facebook in its functionality and appearance. interestingly the site is organised by School and graduations classes. 

The only Western social networking platform that is commonly used in China and is probably the only site that manages to filter through the great firewall is LinkedIn. Only 100 million Chinese are actively on the site, not that that is a small amount of people, However it is considerably less than native social networking sites that host 6 times the amount of active users.

I think its fair to say that China isn't really missing out on an awful lot by having the great firewall in place. Of course there are things that are blocked due to censorship, however, on more of a social or daily usage level what they have on offer sounds fantastic. 

With the increasing popularity of social media and social networks, the increased availability of a “new” genre of gaming that integrates these networks to create a social platform for game lovers across the globe. The games can otherwise be known as “online social games” and revolve around an experience to be had from the comfort of your own home. Forget social anxieties and awkward small talk. The gamer can become a better version of them self, by creating Avatars with a pretend alias. However, in many respects, these games are based on the same easy to learn and casual play model as many other traditional games; but the gamer can become more involved and connect with their character and their counterparts on a much more “social” level. 

Social Games are still a relatively new concept, so a universal agreement on a an exact definition has not yet been created. However, there are some major features that characterise an online game.

Based on social platforms and communities - The game is hosted on a social media platform such as Facebook.

Available for access readily through phone Apps and mobile social networks

Social aspects are prominent/heavy emphasis on social interaction

Casual Gaming - Designed to be played purely for entertainment on a casual basis, not for long intensive periods of time.

Easy - The games are easy to learn and easy to play. Normally provide step by step tutorial.

Free to play - The large majority of online social games are available through social media sites, meaning players only need to download application to play.

Virtual currency - The offer to make “in game” purchases to better their position throughout the games.

Concern has been expressed on the matter that is “social gaming” suggesting that it is unhealthy and can feed addictions (gambling/casino style games) and also cause the gamer to become introvert and forget how to use basic social skills on a day to day basis. The reality is that we don’t live in a virtual world and there needs to be a balance between a gamers social gaming life and the gamers REAL LIFE. 

Here are some links to further educate on social gaming and also to participate in some social games, if desired. 

http://www.sgn.com/

http://www.addisonslawyers.com.au/knowledge/assetdoc/1496179efe668027/Online%20Social%20Games%20-%20The%20Australian%20Position.pdf

https://www.evolvehq.com/welcome

“Photo tagging is a popular feature of many social network sites that allows users to annotate uploaded images with those who are in them, explicitly linking the photo to each person’s profile” Andrew Besmer & Heather Richter Lipford - Department of Software and Information Systems.

The internet knows a lot about us, whether its in our knowledge or not. With just a click of a button, participants of the social media realm can access information and images of anyone they please. 

Facebook is the largest photo sharing site on the Internet with 1 billion photos uploaded monthly (Besmer & Lipford 2010) Integrating photo sharing within social network sites has also provided the opportunity for user-tagging, annotating and linking images to the identities of the people in them. This feature further increases the opportunities to share photos among people with established offline relationships and has been largely successful.

Facebook and Instagram are both used to portray an individual however they please. People can upload, tag and untag images to their liking. For example, if you don’t for whatever reason approve of a photo that someone else has uploaded, you can delete or untag to avoid ‘the public’ laying their eyes on it. On the other hand, you can upload photos that have been specially edited and chosen to reflect the way you want to be perceived by the public; the public being millions of people sitting behind a screen.

Is it really healthy? to use social media as a social imaging platform? What about our self esteem? We can be whatever or whoever we want behind the black mirror, but what about reality? It’s concerning that people of the social media world find solace in the idea that they can play a character in their own little made up world. We are all guilty of it in one way or another, whether its for attention seeking purposes or just for your own guilty pleasures. We all play the game to some degree. 

What is crowd sourcing ?

Can be a central coordinating tool for emergency services 

Helpful tool to find and distribute information

critical information can be passed along

can act as amplifiers for emergency information

Crowdsourcing is the process of getting work or funding, usually online, from a crowd of people. The word is a combination of the words ‘crowd’ and ‘outsourcing’. Basically, the idea of crowdsourcing is to take a body of work and outsource it to a body of workers. 

An example of crowd sourcing is Wikipedia. Instead of designing their own encyclopedia, they source writers, editors and people that specialise in specific areas to contribute their knowledge to create a comprehensive encyclopedia. Essentially, anyone can contribute, which is beneficial as more information is documented online. However, this can at times be misleading or untrustworthy as it is unknown whether the people contributing are academics or heir source is reliable.  

Social media can play an important role in crisis and emergency communication and management. It’s a great way to express the urgency for much needed help and support from the population and the wider user community is generally willing to support and assist the work of emergency services. 

Nepal’s devastating earthquake that hit hard a few Saturdays ago is now the culprit of killing almost a staggering 4,000 people.This horrifying news has rocked the population as updates of the aftermath spread fast. Reconstruction is estimated to cost billions. International aid efforts are underway, but aftershocks are rattling survivor’s nerves and making the recovery even more challenging. 

“Large scale crowd sourcing is a relatively new strategy in the humanitarian world but it being deployed with increasing frequency” Robert Munro

Both Twitter and Facebook have been helping to raise funds as well as awareness through social media adverts. An example of some of the non-profits that are providing information management software that has been specifically designed to aid in times of crisis are Ushahidi , Sahana,CrisisMappers, Arcgis  and the UN Humanitarian Data Exchange. In response, people can search social media for information and updates on damage reports and people requesting help and assistance.

In recent times, the online and digital worlds have facilitated for an endless bevy of different progressive tools for advancement and change.

The internet allows us to delve deeper into our own personal regions of interest and tastes. It’s progressed to the point that we are completely customising our online experiences.

An Online Rebellion

With nearly 2 billion people using the internet and within that, 1.47 billion people using social media in some capacity, a huge percentage of these users are critical thinkers, striving for freedom and liberty through the use of an extraordinarily powerful tool.

The internet allows us to delve deeper into our own personal regions of interest and tastes. It’s progressing to the point that we are completely customising our online experiences.

So when it comes to activism in the online sphere, its overwhelming when you observe the sort of astronomical figures that particular petitions or what are called “online stand ins”.

With this in mind, you could suggest that, universally, there is a bit of confusion with what being an activist actually entails.

“slacktivism” This derisive label is applied to those who support causes through simple measures, like sharing on social media, putting up posters, starting online petitions, in other words SLACK! of course its still raising awareness and every little bit counts, BUT the action of clicking, sharing or liking something does not by any means make you an activist.

An example is “Kony 2012″ an experiment that yielded the fastest growing viral video of all time. The KONY 2012 film reached 100 million views in 6 days, and 3.7 million people pledged their support for efforts to arrest Joseph Kony. This was achieved by simply watching the short film, clicking a button or signing a “pledge”.

It was inevitable that Kony 2012 would experience criticism & backlash. One of the biggest deterrents was the fact that film was making a villain famous. The idea of making one of the world's most gruesome war criminals famous by using his face as an icon of the Invisible Children campaign.

Finally, Kony 2012 was a huge generator for SLACKTIVISM. Social media users became confused into thinking that their tweets, likes or shares would make a difference and in turn stop Militant leader, Joseph Kony from recruiting child soldiers and raping women in Africa.

“we don’t even have to venture out into the mayhem of a political protest to do it: all it takes to lend our support is the click of a button. But does this click-and-share formula achieve anything? Does the armchair activist, or ‘slacktivist’, make any kind of change at all?”

Internet trolling is the posting of inflammatory material on a website which aims to offend and generate a negative emotional reaction. Its becoming more and more of an issue as social media users are becoming fed up. ‘Trolling’ is a cowardly act where one can bully another anonymously behind a computer screen... How macho! 

Facebook is one of the top social media outlets and it is also a prime suspect for distasteful and offensive language and imagery. For example, a few years ago a man was accused of defacing the internet tribute pages that were set up after 2 girls were murdered in Queensland. He was charged with 7 offences, two counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass, or cause offence, three counts of disturbing child pornography and two counts of possessing child exploitation material. As you can see, Internet trolling can be taken VERY seriously. 

With this in mind, the idea of establishing an Online Ombudsman office responsible for advocating for the removal of internet content on behalf of aggrieved social network users has been generated by this case of extreme internet trolling and presently lies before the Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety for debate (Langos 2010)

The idea of an Online Ombudsman appears to be rather plausible on this basis. Langos (2010) suggests that “Individual consumers would have an independent referee to turn to who would consider the merits of a complaint in regards to offensive content posted on the social media and make recommendations to the private company responsible to remove the content”.

However, this idea has its flaws and unfortunately is just not that simple. Limitations exist in relation to offensive internet content which is not illegal and does not violate a term of use so as not to encroach on the democratic right to freedom of expression.

Rifkind (2013) sums the idea up by simply stating that “ all this will keep happening. Nasty people will keep saying nasty things and we will keep caring even when we shouldn't and nothing will ever change”

Sooo all in all. You could suggest that the idea of introducing a social-media ombudsman will make the haters just hate even more.

Here are some further readings on the subject - 

http://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2014/feb/25/internet-trolls-are-also-real-life-trolls

http://www.nickxenophon.com.au/media/releases/show/support-social-media-ombudsman/

In what ways and to what extent do social media platforms enrich the potential for political engagement ? 

#AUSPOL

The media landscape of Australia has been subject to rapid change in recent years. This change comes from a range of sources: technological innovation and service improvement, the introduction of new and enhanced services, alterations to the political economy of media production, and the changing nature of users’ response to the technological capacities afforded to them. One of the most interesting developments in recent years has been the introduction of “social media”. (Chen, Vromen 2012) 

Politicians are scrutinised so closely that their words and messages are often misinterpreted and picked apart analytically that the end result is vastly different idea as to what they were originally set out to convey.

Social media provides the opportunity for our MP’s and other political figures to carefully craft and construct independent messages in regards to policy and counteraction of opposition ideas. This is a way of dodging bias in the media and journalistic editing. Meanwhile, they are also reaching out to a huge portion of the population that are using social media that may be on either side of the political agenda.

Here is is an example, Christine Milne, we all know her name even if we don’t know her face. She is the Australian Greens Senator and is a frequent Twitter user.

There is a large minority of Generation Y who are avid Greens supporters, therefore would follow Christine Milne to see what she is up to and what she has to say. Here are some examples of her posts. 

I personally follow Milne and enjoy reading her Tweets as i can relate to watch she stands for. I tend experience a sense of satisfaction and gratification after reading something she has posted.

As you can see, there are a lot of other people just like me who are also following her for the same reason.

If its ok for the younger generation to freely use social media to express themselves, to stand up for their own ideas, morals and beliefs, then it should be just as acceptable for people of authority to put forth what they stand for.

Chances are, majority of the population (who use social media) want to hear it for one reason or another. The political users of new media (otherwise known as social media) are a more age diverse group than commonly expected.

Social media participants have used various platforms for political engagement; young people are more likely than other groups to have used social media for political engagement and expression, like promoting political material and posting their individual thoughts and beliefs.

Here is some further information on this topic - Click the link below to read some research notes prepared by Dr Peter John Chen and Associate Proffesor Ariadne Vromen from the Department of Government and international Relations, University of Sydney.

In this globally digital and rapidly advancing technological age that we live in, humans have become well versed and incredibly accustomed to terms that previously didn’t exist only 20 years ago. 

One of the terms that encompasses the majority of relatively new and ever progressing language, is the Internet, or the World Wide Web, and within this title, words such as ‘blog’ and ‘social network’ have bloomed and created large a portion of what we refer to as the Internet. 

But what is it that distinguishes as blog from a social media site? Are they actually performed under a similar routine as each other or do they lead completely separate existences? And categorically, where exactly does tumblr fit in?

Traditionally, blogs are designed and nurtured entirely by an individual, whereby they can customise and independently administrate exactly what is being published and who it’s being published too. Generally, an individual will continuously tinker and filter their own private blogosphere, in order to either create or garner a following, whilst individualistically picking and choosing who they intend on following. 

Social networking on the other hand draws a much larger, far more impersonal and less restricted version of this, by implementing a recognisable and general template, that resembles conformity, rather than individuality. 

For the latter, such social networking sites that obviously spring to mind are things such as Facebook and Twitter, both mass involvement and generic media platforms, that engage the user in a far less personal and unique way, leaving very little for them to initiate and construct a certain level of originality. These platforms as the name suggests, serve a strictly social and more importantly public purpose, that to an extent, disallows the user to reinvent and renovate the form of the platform they are using. 

Tumblr is a key example that sits separately from the sometimes tedious and mundane lay out of social network platforms, but still employs similar operations, considering there is still an element of communal or public acceptance and integration which is a vital element of social networks.