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A good digital citizen is someone who has the skill and knowledge to effectively use technologies to enhance positive online communication and interaction (Office of the eSafety Commissioner, NSW Department of Education, 2023). Indeed, we have the rights and responsibilities to leverage a positive and equal online space. Additionally, social media platforms is a place which is “designed to ‘facilitate cooperation and prevent abuse’” (Grimmelmann, 2015, p. 47, as cited in Gorwa, 2019, p. 856). It is a powerful shield, protecting digital citizens from unwanted harm while promoting healthy discussions and engagement. 

But let’s be truthful here: the digital world is way too far from that utopia. Gorwa (2019, p. 857) noted that these governance mechanisms were strongly influenced by the corporate interests, “policy and regulatory constraints”. Besides digital users, social platforms are also shaped by businesses and platform algorithms. As being driven by corporate interests, brands and platform algorithms are willing to do whatever it takes to gain the most awareness and engagement. Unfortunately, such controversial or even negative issues are contents that generate the most engagement online. So instead of preventing harmful conflicts, letting them happen is worth much more money.  

Need an example? Nike’s 2018 “Dream Crazy” campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick will explain how in the one moment, social media governance, digital conflict and corporate-driven align and interact. 

Nike’s "Dream Crazy" Campaign

It is the controversial issue raised from Nike’s 30th anniversary “Dream Crazy” campaign in 2018. The campaign received a mass discussion for featuring Colin Kaepernick - a former North American Football (NFL) player who chose to kneel during the U.S national anthem to protest racial injustice. 

Nike's Dream Crazy campaign's backlash

At first, Nike faced an outraged backlash. People criticized the brand when choosing a figure that disrespected his nation flag and the anthem. It caused the Internet to explode with millions of posts with the trending hashtag #BoycottNike, featuring images and videos of users damaging Nike’s apparels to show their disapproval with Nike and Kaepernick. 

However, when the official advertising was released and published on Twitter, there was a new wave of digital citizens who showed their support to the Dream Crazy campaign.

Nike's Dream Crazy campaign's ads

People started to praise the campaign’s powerful message and the brand’s brave movement in taking it stand in a controversial political issue. Hashtags like #NikeDreamCrazy was widely used under reshared posts of the ads, raising their supportive voice for Nike and Kaepernick. 

In this digital battlefield, social media governance played a different critical role. It ensured users were facilitated with platform affordances to effectively amplify their opinions and connect with like-minded others while preventing online harassment between the two groups. Nevertheless, despite the offensive objection of the boycott movement, the platform governance remained still, not taking any action to limit the harassment on Nike’s reputation. But if the platform governance didn’t do anything, shouldn’t Nike do something to gain back its credibility? 

In fact, the platform governance spotted its benefit from the conflict between the two opposing groups; the more they debated on social media, the more engagement needed to be made, which inevitably benefited the platform itself. Moreover, Nike was not that dumb to let people keep criticizing it. Nike knew about the operation of the platform governance and Nike knew about the potential increase of audiences’ awareness gained from that social conflict. Therefore, a social media conflict that people believed was a place where digital citizens were provided to argue over a political issue to foster a better world, turned out to be a calculated marketing strategy that leveraged social media governance and digital conflict for corporate interests. 

From another perspective

it was sure that businesses played a vital role in shaping the perception of society. After his protest, Colin Kaepenick was immediately eliminated from the NFL, losing his professional career and becoming one of the most polarizing figures in the U.S.. He was also indirectly involved in online harassment - he was criticized across platforms for years. Social media governance can not save Kaepernick’s reputation, but Nike did. With Nike’s endorsement and its power in reshaping the society’s perception, Kaepernick not just overcame his backlash but also became a reputative activist. . 

References

Gorwa, R. (2019). What is platform governance? Information, Communication & Society, 22(6), 854–871. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1573914

The world can be divided into two typical groups, those who know love online games and those who don’t. Well, everyone loves playing games, simply just because it is fun. I still remember playing at the arcade with my friends years ago. However, as the world develops, games are also evolving. It becomes online, internationally interactive and has a more visually appealing display and advanced configuration. More than just playing games, players are able to connect, form relationships, or even make money from game live streaming. Gradually, it creates and reinforces a strong community that significantly influences mainstream culture. That is when the gap between those playing games and those don't widen. 

Those who love online games for themselves have a community where they can freely express their identities through playing games with each other, sharing information and playing experience, exchanging and bargaining goods, watching or live streaming playing games. In contrast, the other group, those who know nothing about online gaming (including me), tend to make assumptions about this community.

 Like, when someone says “gamer”, I immediately visualize those Asian boys, wearing thick glasses, having such dizzy and sleepy eyes, drinking energy drinks and constantly playing games in the dark room. Well, don’t judge me, just stereotypes!

However, the truth is gamers are not just a bunch of guys, exhaustedly playing games; they can be anyone, from young boys to teenage girls, male and female adults or even the elderly. The gaming community can be joined by anyone, discarding their appearance, geographical and social status. As long as they love online games and they devote their desire for this entertainment activity, they belong to the group.

 Another misconception? I think that the gaming community is an outsider to other aspects of the world. They tend to be carefree and pay no attention to things other than their games. But in reality, the gaming community is a space where people can directly engage with cultural issues and debate as well as shaping mainstream conversations and culture (taylor, 2018, p. 13-14). 

Despite the misunderstanding of myself toward the gaming community, there is a crucial aspect that needed to be addressed. It seems to me that my assumption of how men always be the representative for the game community is related to the issue of gender inequality. Indeed, the game community is dominated by men, is targeted on attracting men and is promoted to men. For instance, advertisements for the new game use the image of men playing to promote, or the character inside the game, even if it is female one, is also displayed in a sexualized way (with sexy outfit and showing their curves), and potentially, it adapts to male gaze.

 Moreover, female players also frequently received criticisms from men because they disrespect women's ability in playing games and look down on them. This significantly impacts the mainstream conversation, causing serious imbalance of gender and online harassment. Women in gaming spaces often have to “prove” their skills, while male players are simply accepted. This isn’t just annoying—it creates a toxic environment that discourages diversity in gaming. 

At the end of the day, gaming isn’t just a hobby, a misconception or a guy in the dark room, it is a reflection of the unequal society in the physical world. This makes me question if gaming, which was believed to center around civic and political lives (Taylor, 2018, p. 12) can actually make a difference from the reality or it once again promotes social prejudices in the name of community. 

References

Beyond promoting heteronormative beauty standards through content visibility, the digital world continuously reinforces the aesthetic privilege through beauty filters. These filters operate by detecting a face through the camera and enabling users to modify their images by adjusting colors, adding stickers, editing facial structure and body proportions (Schipper, 2018, as cited in Lavrence & Cambre, 2020). With the advanced technology, these filters have been developed to precisely scan users’ faces and offer users with features to comprehensively and structurally reconfigure their facial attributes (Lavrence & Cambre, 2020).  

It’s no surprise that these filters quickly attract users' attention and preference. That is because they boost users’ confidence by receiving positive social engagement with their conventionally prettier images. However, there is a growing wave of criticism around the beautifying effect of filters. For instance, Arata, a frequent Snapchat filter user, showed her frustration when her selfie was unrealistically adjusted to “stereotypical form of beauty” (Barker, 2020, p. 209). This highlights a significant issue of how filters systematically modify users’ features to align with the Western beauty norms, such as white skin, thin face shape, large eyes and plump lips (Barker, 2020, p. 209). 

Therefore, the platform has rapidly evolved filter technology to provide more “realistic” images. Instead of exaggerating Western beauty ideals, the algorithms tend to refine users’ facial features in a way that is hard to see but still enhances their attractiveness. Peres Martins (2017) shared that Snapchat’s new filter “barely changed anything but enough” for her to notice that she did look prettier (as cited in Barker, 2020, p. 211). Or the development of fotor.com, a beauty filter website that provides advanced tools to transform selfies into "natural" beauty images. Consequently, it quickly satisfies digital users since it advocates the most “realistic” and diverse beauty appearance yet yielding lots of social engagement.

However, the deadly point is that, in order to create such a natural and “real” appearance, the platform algorithm must maximize their efforts in collecting and analyzing users’ biometric data. In other words, the more seamlessly a filter blends with reality, the deeper the algorithm digs into our facial details. That is because machines convert things that we see, such as facial contrast, eyes, nose and lip into computational language, allowing algorithms to identify and manipulate users’ facial features from different angles (Rettberg, 2017, pp. 89-90).

As our facial identities are continuously being captured and stored online (Retberg, 2017, p. 89), the risk of biometric data misuse grows significantly. There will be a potential chance that these data could be illegally sold, leaked or stolen, which could lead to a digital exposure crisis. Then, it might be used for unauthorized deep fake content, which can directly harm the users’ privacy and reputation. 

It is clear that filters might seem like something fun but they are gradually reinforcing narrow beauty ideals and quietly stealing personal data. The more we use, the more freely we allow the system to use our biometric data. So next time, better thought twice while scrolling through several filters for your own safety. 

References

Barker, J. (2020). Making-up on mobile: The pretty filters and ugly implications of Snapchat. Fashion, Style & Popular Culture, 7, 207-221. 

Lavrence, C., & Cambre, C. (2020). “Do I Look Like My Selfie?”: Filters and the digital-forensic gaze. Social Media + Society, 6(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120955182

Digital citizens are good people! We effectively use technologies to raise society’s awareness, unify the community through communication and interaction to advocate slow fashion. But at the same time, we tend to unhealthily educate the platform algorithm and marginalize the counterparts with “heteronormative prescription of attractiveness” (Duffy, 2017, Drenten et al., 2018, p. 42). 

According to MediaKix (2018), influencer marketing is one of the most profitable industries that can yield from 5$ to 10 billion by 2020 (as cited in Dreten et al., 2018, p. 42). This industry includes microcelebrities, those who perform online to gain attention and popularity (Senft, 2008, as cited Dreten et al., 2018, p. 42) and Instagram is the ultimate vanity fair where microcelebrities can easily build their social identity and yield profit through visually appealing images. But, Instagram doesn’t show us random images, it plays with the favorites - the conventional beauty. 

Manovich (2016, as cited in Yoo et al., 2023, para. 3) indicated that Instagram has its own standard of “good” image. It is images that comply with the heteronormative prescription of attractiveness (Duffy, 2017, as cited in Drenten et al., 2018, p. 42). Heteronormative prescription of attractiveness can be defined as the societal standard of beauty that aligns with the traditional gender roles. In other words, women and men are expected to conform to the specific physical appearance of their gender to maximize their visibility on Instagram (Abidin, 2016a, as cited in Drenten et al., 2018, p. 42). For instance, images of women in slim waist, sexy poses, curves in all the “right” way receive more engagement (Figure 1). Similarly, men are also expected to embody strong and dominant appearance, which includes tall, muscular figure and tanned skin (Figure 2). Consequently, this mass sexual visual productions have naturalized users' assumptions of gendered desire and influenced their choice of media platform (Carah & Dobson, 2016). 

Figure 1: Instagram's feminine beauty

Figure 2: Instagram’s muscular beauty

But what if you don't fit 

Contents of the LTBTQ+ community, depicting themselves differently from their biological identity receive extremely low engagement, shadowbanned, or completely disappear from the platform. I have also tested this myself. I search for #lgbt to see what Instagram shows me and guess what? A flood of same-gender couples being romanticized. I am not gonna lie but something about it just felt off. It wasn't that I felt discomfort with the community (with full support for the LGBTQ+ here), but it is something in the way that the platform is trying to represent it. Maybe it is the result of my bias for the traditional beauty standard shaped by the algorithm. Or maybe Instagram purposely chose to represent the LGBTQ+ community in the most distressed way to make sure that I will not attempt to look for such contents.

No matter what, Instagram really doesn't just reflect beauty trends but it also creates, reinforces and controls them. At the same time, the algorithm is also shaped by digital users who are instinctively attracted to the opposite gender's beauty. Consequently, it doesn't just limit the visibility of those that challenge the norm but also pressures people to modify themselves to fit the platform's standard. 

References

Carah, N., & Dobson, A. (2016). Algorithmic Hotness: Young Women’s “Promotion” and “Recognition” Work via Social Media Body Images. Social Media + Society, 2(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305116672885

Drenten, J., Gurrieri, L., & Tyler, M. (2020). Sexualized labor in digital culture: Instagram influencers, porn chic and the monetization of attention. Gender, Work, and Organization , 27 (1), 41–66. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12354

A DIGITALLY METAPHORICAL BATTLE

Like they say, “In a world of chaos, a hero will always be there to save the day”. And as fast fashion behaves like a villain, pushing the environment to the brink of collapse, slow fashion emerges as the hero to counteract its destruction. However, heroes are created, not born. Likewise, slow fashion can not simply appear, and immediately reshape society's preference for fast fashion. It needs collective effort to change the norm. 

As digital citizens, it is our duty to become digitally literate, gaining knowledge and skills to effectively use technology to critically consume information, foster positive community communication and interaction that support the world’s improvement (Office of the eSafety Commissioner, NSW Department of Education, 2023).

The dark side of fast fashion

Fashion has never been “out-of-date”. Trends come and go, with new names and a higher price tag, causing the overconsumption of environmental materials and over-release of waste. Domingos et al. (2022) emphasized that the fashion industry is one of the most polluted industries within its life cycle. A prominent example of this issue is Shein. This fashion enterprise is widely known for its diverse range of apparels which are lightning produced and sold at 50% cheaper price (DW Planet A, 2022). With its speedy and mass production of new items, Shein’s exploitative practice is undeniable. 

The rise of digital activism against fast fashion 

Recognizing these issues, digital citizens have taken proactive steps to resolve this global issue. 

Social media boycott: On Twitter, hashtags such as #BoycottShein or #CancelShein are used to show their frustration that Shein has illegally stolen their designs and reposting news of Shein’s usage of child labor and slave labor. Consequently, it rapidly raised society’s awareness, forcing Shein to acknowledge criticisms, officially apologize and implement improvement.

Investigate Tik Tok content: critically analyze the Tik Tok video about Shein-sponsored brand trip, where six influencers were invited to tour the company’s facilities. The video along with those influencers’ praise on the brand were rapidly criticized because of its green-washing image. Online users pointed out that the trip was just a scripted PR product, using influencers who have a partnership with Shein to promote the brand’s images instead of an authentic investigation. 

Influencers leading the slow fashion movement 

Beyond exposing fast fashion digital citizens as well as social media influencers, have effectively used the online platforms to actively promote the slow fashion movement. 

Vietnamese Tiktok influencers nhi.hien.nguyen who gained 312.3K followers and 9.6M likes through her fashion-related contents. Beyond sharing fashion facts, she also educates her audience on slow fashion. For instance, in her video titled “Thoi trang tuan hoan” (Circulation fashion), she introduces the concept of circulation fashion and recommends REshare, a Vietnamese platform that collects, recycles, and recirculates clothes. Not only does this video provide informative content for her “312.3K followers” and suggest a solution for their unwanted clothes, it also creates a potential opportunity for this information to be widely shared and encourages more people to take action. 

for more information about circulation fashion:

Hudi Charin, founder of the Big Sister Swap (BSS), a sustainable clothing brand which allows customers to refresh their wardrobe without “breaking the bank and harming the planet” (Morgan, 2022, para. 3). By featuring Louise May Mosley, an Instagram influencer with 37.9K followers, BSS quickly achieved business success that ensured a sustainable financial future for the brand to continuously collect, swap and resell clothes to reduce the environmental waste. 

Tumblr communities generate an active discussion that shares their admiration for traditional cloth-making techniques, the artists' talents and final outcomes as well as suggest slow fashion brands for each other. For example, a post from lockerandom, sharing a list of ethical and sustainable clothing brands, has received 5392 reblogs. And within the comment section, users have shown their support for the listed brands and demand for sustainable items. 

Figure 1: Tumblr's comment

The challenge of slow fashion advocacy

But can we actually make a difference? 

Although social engagements indicate a significant change in the users’ perception, slow fashion is still being challenged. 

Limited mass appeal : Despite the informative content of hien.nhi.nguyen's “Thoi trang tuan hoan” Tiktok video, it only gains 6748 likes, whereas her other videos such as “ Gen Z's fashion ” or “ MLB brand's interesting facts ” gained much higher likes (83.9K and 12.9K respectively). This shows that despite the awareness of slow fashion, digital citizens still go for more appealing and entertaining contents. 

Business sustainability struggles : Despite the initial success, Big Sister Swap (BSS) gradually witnessed a downturn as the business did not cater to Instagram's vernaculars - its prominent marketing platform. Platform vernacular is “combination of styles, grammars, and logics” that is uniquely used on a particular social media platform (Gibbs et al., 2015, p. 257). In other words, Instagram has its own standard of “good” images (Manovich, 2016, as cited in Yoo et al., 2023, para. 3). Moreover, evidence was put forth by Jones and Lee (2021, p. 116) that experiential, brand resonance and emotional contents as well as the appearance of well-known influencers receive higher Instagram social engagement than employees' perspectives, price and promotion contents. consequently, with low attractive images (Figure 2), lack of famous influencers features (Figure 3), and price listing content (Jones & Lee, 2021, pp. 116 - 117), BSS is surpassed by other “fast fashion” clothing brands, such as H&M. As a result, Instagram's algorithm automatically limits the visibility of BSS's content, forcing the brand to lose its customers and funds to run the business, which ended up to be closed in 2024. 

Figure 2: BSS’s Instagram post vs H&M Instagram post

Figure 3: BSS vs H&M inlfuencer’s impact

Affordability concerns: Although platform users support slow fashion items (Figure 1), they still have great concern on the affordability of this type of clothes. Arguments were mentioned from a research of Lai et al. (2017, p. 95) that achieving sustainable fashion is the responsibility of fashion enterprises and manufacturers and the expensive cost for a slow fashion item is unreasonable. Therefore, to actually influence society to use slow fashion, it should be normalized and sold with reasonable cost, rather than being used as the Unique Selling Point (USP) of a product (Lai et al., 2017, p. 95) to make it visible as a sustainable item to customers. 

The battle between fast and slow fashion is far from over. Although slow fashion does spark up awareness among individuals, it is still a long journey for the world to actually sell and buy this type of clothes. However, I do have faith in the power of technology and the power that each digital citizen holds. With our awareness and advocacy, changes will be made every single day, and slowly the world will be able to sustainably breathe. 

References

DW Planet A. (2021). If you think fast fashion is bad, check out SHEIN. Www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4km0Cslcpg

Gibbs, M., Meese, J., Arnold, M., Nansen, B., & Carter, M. (2015). Funeral and Instagram: death, social media, and platform vernacular. Information, Communication & Society, 18(3), 255–268. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2014.987152

Jones, A. R., & Lee, S. E. (Joy). (2021). Factors Influencing Engagement in Fashion Brands’ Instagram Posts. Fashion Practice, 14(1), 99–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/17569370.2021.1938820

Lai, Z., Henninger, C. E., Alevizou, P. J., Ryding, D., Henninger, C. E., Goworek, H., & Alevizou, P. J. (2017). An Exploration of Consumers’ Perceptions Towards Sustainable Fashion – A Qualitative Study in the UK. In Sustainability in Fashion (pp. 81–101). Springer International Publishing AG. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51253-2_5

Morgan, L. (2022). It’s time to get to know Big Sister Swap, AKA the personalised clothes swapping service that everyone is talking about. Glamour UK. https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/big-sister-swap?utm_source=onsite-share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=glamour-uk

Within the rapid development of technology, social media has become a powerful platform not just for everyday communication and interaction but also a space for socio-political discussion. Therefore, as both producers and consumers, people need to effectively practice their digital citizenship by consistently and critically using, creating and evaluating information (Moeller et al., 2011, as cited in Choi & Cristol, 2021, p. 362). Additionally, intersectionality is one of the most essential frameworks that enables digital citizens to understand the multifaceted nature of the current digital issues (Choi & Cristol, 2021, p. 362). Collin (2015) defines intersectionality as the interaction of several social attributes, including race, ethnicity, class, age and gender, on social determinants which resulted in various societal disadvantages (as cited in Choi & Cristol, 2021, p. 363). In other words, intersectionality helps foster inclusivity and participatory democracy in digital spaces. 

A prominent example is the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. The movement began when Alicia Garza, a social media activist, posted her criticism along with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter to express her outrage over the acquittal of George Zimmerman, a white man who shot Trayvon Martin, an African-American teenager. The hashtag rapidly spread over different social media platforms, attracting millions of users and transforming these platforms into an intense forum for discussion. In this context, digital citizenship and intersectionality play a vital role in enabling people to interpret the situation through an intersectional lens, going beyond the personal feelings of sorrow and outrage over inhuman action toward addressing the issue of racial injustice. Indeed, intersectional digital citizenship shifts focus to the underlying reality: the acquittal was made in a case where the victim was a Black teenager. The BLM movement was not just a personal sympathy from Alicia Garza toward Trayvon Martin's tragic death, but rather a collective protest against human rights violations and racial discrimination toward the Black community. Consequently, Choi and Cristol (2021, p. 365) pointed out that through the connection among users and their effective digital citizenship practice, counterpublics were empowered to make an impact on societal norms. Additionally, social media platforms play an important role in amplifying underrepresented communities. Despite their political-economic authority, they provide space for users to form resistance, collective citizenship to challenge unequal norms (Duffy et al., 2019, p. 5). Without the access to these online spaces, marginalized groups would likely remain silent by the dominant ones.

In conclusion, intersectional digital citizenship not only ensures users to be critical when engaging with information on digital platforms but also promotes inclusivity and fair representation. Furthermore, it allows users to foster participatory democracy by creating opportunities for all voices to be heard. 

References

Choi, M., & Cristol, D. (2021). Digital citizenship with intersectionality lens: Towards participatory democracy driven digital citizenship education. Theory into Practice, 60(4), 361–370. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2021.1987094

Reality TV shows have gone beyond the initial purpose of entertainment to create a space for socio-political issues. As a television genre that focuses on generating topics for audiences' discussion (Deller, 2019), reality TV also has the power to shape the public discourse through its production and broadcasting decision. Moreover, with the rise of social media, audiences might be misled or form perception influenced by selective portrayals and online discussions. 

Reality TV is one the most popular genres which is designed to engage audiences in a more interactive and participatory form of entertainment. In which, audiences can share their perspectives about their favorite shows, the participant’s performance and many more (Deller, 2019, p. 153). Social media has played a vital role in transforming TV shows into ongoing discussions, satisfying audiences’ desires for connection within the shared reality (Couldry, 2003, as cited in Deller, 2019, p. 155-156). Besides entertainment, audiences also critically discuss the authenticity of these shows (Deller, 2019, p. 153). Therefore, shows that embedded themes such as gender, race, and class have gradually gained significant attention through social media. For instance, RuPaul's Drag Race (RPDR) is one of the most well-known TV shows that centered around the LGBTQ+ community. According to Lovelock (2019, p. 4), making queer identity legally visible on mainstream media was a bold move which directly challenged societal judgements of the community’s “social, ethical and commercial value, their legitimacy and acceptability”. However, perhaps due to the vibrance of the drag culture and the perceived ‘authenticity’ of the show, RPDR was supported by a large number of passionate followers and became one of the most high-rated TV programs in 2016 (Brennan and Gudelunas, 2017, p. 2). Consequently, the show’s social impact, amplified by social media, has provided many contestants the opportunity to do their own performances, “tours, films, music, and commercial work” (Brennan and Gudelunas, 2017, p. 2). 

While RPDR has reinforced a positive representation of drag queen and drag culture for national and global audiences (Brennan and Gudelunas, 2017, p. 3), Fire Island serves as a counter example, illustrating how reality TV can cause negative assumption and behavioral transgression among viewers. According to Lovelock (2019, p. 12) Fire Island was also oriented toward the LGBTQ+ community but depicted its participants engaging in arguments, bad manners, partying, and casual hookups. Those portrayals received harsh criticism. One viewer called the show “this shit” and defended a more respectful image of gay men and arguing that real gay men should be represented as “a man with a mind, an engaged mind, an enlightened mind” rather than what was shown on screen (Lovelock, 2019, p. 13). Another critique came from The Advocate, a well-known LGBTQ+ magazine, criticizing Fire Island for damaging the community reputation. The publication complained that the show misrepresented the LGBTQ+ community, which made them become the culprit of degrading the public culture and continuously faced the ongoing societal challenges (Lovelock, 2019, p. 12). Consequently, the show eventually has misleading influence on the society, which makes the community harder to be accepted and respected. 

In conclusion, despite bridging the socio-political discussion to a larger scale of audiences, reality TV is a double-edged sword. Depending on the production and broadcasting decision, this television genre can reinforce positive or negative representation toward any issue or community. Therefore, it is crucial for audiences to be critical while consuming and engaging in reality TV shows and social media to maintain an objective perspective of different aspects and social groups.

References

Brennan, N., & Gudelunas, D. (2017). Drag Culture, Global Participation and RuPaul’s Drag Race. In RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Shifting Visibility of Drag Culture (pp. 1–11). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50618-0_1

Deller, R. A. (2019). Chapter Six: Reality Television in an Age of Social Media. In Deller, R. A., Reality Television: The TV Phenomenon That Changed the World (pp. 153-175). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83909-021-920191007

Nowadays, social media has become an integral part of everyday life. Besides its function of keeping people connected with friends, family and like-minded individuals, it has also become one of the main sources of news, information and discussion on socio-political issues worldwide. With its pervasiveness, social media is believed to align with Habermas’s theory of the public sphere (Kruse et al., 2018, para. 1). This theory emphasizes unlimited access to information, equality among users, protection of users rights, and the absence of institutional influence (Kruse et al., 2018, p. 63). 

However, mainstream platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, which attract massive numbers of users, are argued not to constitute an ‘‘actual’ public sphere. Habermas (1989, as cited in Kruse et al., 2018, p. 63) claimed that the power of corporate interests has prevented social media from becoming an ideal public sphere. Evidence was put forth by Hutchinson (2021, para. 2) that these platforms are dominated by the hyper-commercial content from social influencers and organizations which aim at generating personal and business profits. Additionally, platform providers also commercialize their algorithms and policies, which contributes to audience preference manipulation and increasing the visibility and popularity of profitable content. Hutchinson (2021, para. 3) also pointed out that the commercial stakeholders, platform providers and content publishers have limited the other voices to be heard. For instance, Instagram was criticized by Gibson (2017) and Cwynar-Horta (2016) for its privilege over white and normative body presentation instead of promoting body positivity as an inclusive, self-acceptance, and empowering movement for diverse identities (as cited in Reif et al., 2022, p. 5). Similarly, women’s Facebook posts of sexually suggestive images which were used for promoting body positive movement received lots of negative comments and unjustly accused of “slut-shaming” or “victim-blaming” (Miguel, 2016, as cited in Reif et al., 2022, p. 6). Another example provided by Keller (2019, p. 6) showed that the tweets from London-based teenage girl feminist were repeatedly targeted by trolls and harassment from an unidentified group of boys. 

On the other hand, Tumblr, a more old-fashioned and less mainstream social media platform, stands out as a potential digital public sphere. According to Brennan (2017, as cited in McCracken, 2020, p. 37-38), Tumblr enables users to find communities based on their interests and freely share their passions without the disruption of commercialized contents. Furthermore, the platform’s anonymity, enhanced through hidden followers counts and the absence of identity verification marks, creates an “even playing field” (Brennan, 2017, as cited in McCracken, 2020, p. 38) ensuring users’ equal access while maintaining their privacy and identity protection. For instance, Reif et al. (2022, p. 16-17) revealed that Tumblr’s openness within the body positive movement enabled not only women but also other communities to express themselves, reclaim self-acceptance, and receive positive support. Additionally, Tumblr is also used by the counterpublics to “comment on/call out/resist dominant cultural paradigms” (Romano, 2017, as cited in McCracken, 2020, p. 64). In the same vein, Duggan (2003, as cited in Keller, 2019, p. 8) noted that Tumblr enables teenage girls to engage in feminist activism on a large scale, moving beyond the dominant liberal feminism or traditional "equality politics." 

In conclusion, despite being less mainstream, Tumblr serves as a potential digital sphere. This platform is an ideal place where users can freely engage with their interests and an inclusive space for counterpublics to challenge dominant narratives. As the digital world continues to evolve, platforms like Tumblr remain as a safe space for open discourse and diverse voices.

References

Hutchinson, J. (2021). Micro-platformization for digital activism on social media. Information, Communication & Society, 24(1), 35–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1629612

Keller, J. (2019). “Oh, She’s a Tumblr Feminist”: Exploring the Platform Vernacular of Girls’ Social Media Feminisms. Social Media + Society, 5(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119867442 

Kruse, L. M., Norris, D. R., & Flinchum, J. R. (2018). Social media as a public sphere? Politics on social media. Sociological Quarterly, 59(1), 62–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/00380253.2017.1383143

McCracken, A., (2017). Chapter 3 ‘Going down the rabbit hole: An Interview with Amanda Brennan, Head of Content Insights and Social, Tumblr’. In McCracken, A., Cho, A., Stein, L., and Hoch, N. (2020). a tumblr book: platform and cultures (pp. 37-48). University of Michigan Press. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.11537055.