The Digital Age

I’m not a huge social gamer myself. I did get into ‘Farmville’ when it was all the craze and I do play a ‘Words with Friends’ occasionally but that’s about the extent of my social gaming knowledge. Social gaming most commonly refers to online games that allow for social interaction between players. With the growing popularity of social media it led to new genres of games being integrated into social networks (Nettleton et al. 2013). These are usually the games that your aunt sends constant requests of Facebook. Social gaming is so much larger than the games you can play on social media, you have huge games like World of Warcraft and Call of Duty which is basically an online community for gaming and socializing. I may not game myself but I have many friends who do.

One friend I have comes home every day after work and plays World of Warcraft. He has a small group that he will usually play with and they all chat while gaming and over the years they became really good friends. Last year the group, who live all over the world planned a ski trip to Japan and all met for the first time. That friend is now living in Canada with one of the people he met while social gaming. When writing this blog the first thing that did come to mind was my housemate Jason. He is a HUGE gamer that plays on average 15 hours a week. He plays the game ‘Counter Strike Global Offensive’ which is a 5 vs 5, team, and first person shooter game. The objective is to eliminate the enemy team or complete the objective which will be either planting to defusing a bomb, depending what team you are on. I decided to ask Jason a few questions about why he games and what he thinks of the social aspect. Jason said the game is extremely fun and he loves the social aspect as he’s able to communicate and meet different types of people from all over the world (Clarke 2018, 3 June). I then asked him about the social aspect, does he play with the same people? And does he know these people personally or only through online platform? Jason said it depends on who’s online but he does have a small group that he plays with regularly (Clarke 2018, 3 June). He met this small group through playing Counter Strike and has now met many of them in person and he’s been able to build real friendships. He even met his first housemate playing Counter Strike.

(Throneful 2018)

Reference List

Clarke, J, 2018, 3rd June.

Nettleton, J & Chong, K, 2013, ‘Online Social Games – The Australian Position’, Addisions, 16th October, Viewed 3rd June 2018. <http://www.addisonslawyers.com.au/knowledge/assetdoc/1496179efe668027/Online%20Social%20Games%20-%20The%20Australian%20Position.pdf>

Before the internet friends and family shared photos by taking film to get developed and having hard copies in photo albums. As the years went on and the internet became more prominent these photos would be taken digitally and stored and shared online. With the internet everywhere and in the palms of our hands Burgess et al. (2013, p. 3) identified it’s changed the way we capture, remember and communicate personal images of everyday and family life. When using traditional social media such as Facebook, it requires you to live an experience offline and post it later online to relive the moment and have your friends comment which starts the conversation (Herrman 2014). Social media has now evolved with the introduction of Instagram and Snapchat. On both of these apps you are able to share photos in live time. Snapchat started this trend which allows you to communicate with friends through photos, usually a selfie and a small amount of text can be used. This social imaging can be sent to individuals or added to your story for all your contacts to see. I use Snapchat as an easy way to take a quick photo of where I am or what I’m doing or even a pretty picture of me first thing in the morning to say hello to some close friends (lucky friends I know).

(Caleb Harrower 2018)

Social imagining allows you communicate through photos, although you can use social media to be a part of a visual community.  Instagram allows us to follow pages with others who share similar interests. A community I am heavily involved in on Instagram is the “Traditional Tattoo” community. Instagram provides me with a platform to follow traditional tattoo artists and shops from all over the world. I am able to gain inspiration from tattoos they post but also (this is the best part) see if an artist is coming to your city. Instagram has even allowed tattoo artist to promote when they will be a guest artist at another shop and this could be in another state or country. Recently an artist I follow from Perth posted he was coming to Brisbane (where I live). I doubt I’m making it over to Perth in the near future so through Instagram I was able to reach out and book an appointment with him while he was in Brisbane. In traditional tattoo community shops host “flash days”, this is where each artist at the shop will design a sheet of palm size tattoos and you line up in the morning to book in for that day. During these flash days I’ve able to meet in person people I’ve shared tattoo interest with and meet artist I admire.

(Alfred Street Tattoo, 2018)

Reference List

Burgess, J & Vivienne, S, 2013, ‘The remediation of the personal photograph and the politics of self-representation in digital storytelling’, Journal of Material Culture, 18(3), pp. 1-29.

Herrman, J, 2014, ‘Meet The Man Who Got Inside Snapchat's Head’, Buzzfeed, 28th January, Viewed 3rd June 2018. <https://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/meet-the-unlikely-academic-behind-snapchats-new-pitch?utm_term=.urRjgnLYJ#.vhMRpEj1a>

Image 

Alfred Street Tattoo, 2018, Instagram, 19th May. 

The term crowdsourcing means work being done by a “crowd”. It’s a sourcing model to obtain services, ideas, or content by gaining contributions from a large group of people, typically over the internet (jon 2017). With today’s crowdsourcing technology is very important as it makes it possible to include an even larger group of people (jon 2017). It reminds me of the saying “two heads are better than one”, because you have numerous people offering their best ideas, skills and support which will be superior content (jon 2017). Crowdsourcing and the use of social media is especially helpful in times of crisis, like during the 2011 South East Queensland floods. Twitter played an extremely important role during the crisis with its short messaging system broadcasted to its followers. The use of the hashtag #qldfloods quickly became the central coordinating mechanism for floods-related user activity and following emergency service pages such as Queensland Police’s @QPSMedia account became necessary (Bruns et. al, 2012, pp. 7).

I am from Brisbane and this was an extremely tough time for everyone. Houses quickly became surrounded by water, power and houses were lost. During the floods social media was the main way my family and I would source updates on what was going on around us. Each day we would wake up and check Facebook and Twitter to discover the new devastating news. I remember not being able to sleep at night because I was so worried about the water levels around our house and being constantly worried we would need to evacuate. During the floods our neighbour was pregnant and about to burst. Because of crowdsourcing and the updates posted by emergency services and locals our neighbour was able to escape the area and get to the hospital before the flood waters engulfed the city. My family was lucky because our house is on the high part of the street but not everyone in the street was so lucky. After our neighbour and her family left for the hospital water quickly started the creep up the back of her property and lap the back steps. The whole street banded together to move all their furniture to the top level of their house. Although the flood water came into the downstairs area we were able to save their belongings. After the water subsided there was a lot of damage done to my local area many houses were destroyed and our local shopping centre had completely gone under. People began posting to local community Facebook groups announcing where they would be cleaning up and the “mud army” came. I remember how truly amazing it was to see a community come together during a devastating time for many and help each other in that time of crisis.

This is a picture I took from just outside our street (Harrison 2011)

Reference List

Bruns, A, Burgess, J, Crawford, K, Shaw, F, 2012, ‘Executive Summary’, #qldfloods and @QPSMedia:

Crisis Communication on Twitter in the 2011 South East Queensland Floods, Viewed 28th May 2018. <http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.453.2259&rep=rep1&type=pdf>

Jon, 2017, ‘What is crowdsourcing and how important is it’, Out Source Force, Viewed May 29th 2018. <https://www.outsource-force.com/blog/what-is-crowdsourcing-and-how-important-is-it/>

Amy ‘Dolly’ Everette in the Akubra campaign (Roe 2018)

Bullying can be defined in 3 words according to Boyd (2014, p. 131), aggression, repetition and imbalance. With social media on the rise a great amount of concern has been created about cyber bullying (Boyd 2014, p. 130). Cases of teen suicide driven by peer cruelty has become a national obsession (Boyd 2014, p. 130). As more teenagers are engaging in social media its giving them a platform to personally attack another peer without seeing their face which is unfortunately easier. According to Boyd (2014, p. 151 - 152) teens take part in drama or pranks that can intentionally or accidentally hurt another and the experience can be quite painful. We can’t protect all youth from online bullying, although Boyd (2014, p. 152) asserts that we can make a rigorous effort to empower teens and strengthen their resilience and help them recognise what’s going on and help them react in a more positive way. This is what Amy “Dolly” Everett’s family have done after they lost their daughter to suicide after she was bullied online.

Dolly was only 14 years old when she took her own life after being tormented through cyber bullying. Dolly’s parents Tick and Kate describe the night before the loss, Dolly seemed fine as she was a happy go lucky kind of girl. The family is from a remote cattle station in the Northern Territory and wanted better things for their daughter so Dolly was sent to boarding school for high school. At first she enjoyed it and got into sports but started having issues after the first term. The boys in particular would call her names and after Kate called the school they just swept it under the rug. For two years Dolly was bullied and made to do things that weren’t in her nature. Just before her death she had sent her parents an email from the school computer explaining what the kids were saying to her. The family had planned a holiday before school returned and Dolly’s parents found her that night after she had gone to bed (Graham 2018).

After losing Dolly her family decided to help other families by raising awareness for bullying, harassment, anxiety, depression and youth suicide. Mr Everret bravely launched an awareness campaign by posting a video to Facebook to stop bullying and share this photo of his daughter to spread awareness about the issue, using the hashtag #StopBullyingNow (Roberts and Sullivan 2018).

Watch video here: https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/videos/stop-bullying-campaign/56727/

Reference List

Boyd, D, 2014, ‘Bullying: is social media amplifying meanness and cruelty?, It's complicated : the social lives of networked teens, Yale University Press, 128-152, Viewed 27th May 2018.

Carrick, D, 2014, ‘Can a cyber-bullying commissioner protect our kids?, ABC, Viewed 27th May 2018. <http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lawreport/5286036>

Graham, B, 2018, ‘Dolly Everett’s parents reveal what led to their daughter’s death’, News Corp, Viewed 27th May 2018. <http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/dolly-everetts-parents-reveal-what-led-to-their-daughters-death/news-story/b7984758aa1ce96def787ad0c20cde93>

Roberts, L and Sullivan, R, 2018, ‘Family of Amy Everett launching campaign to raise awareness around bullying and depression after loss of daughter’, NT News, Viewed 27th May 2018. <http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/family-of-amy-everett-launching-campaign-to-raise-awareness-around-bullying-and-depression-after-loss-of-daughter/news-story/3a77d0dd2826d7e0d9fd2962ce044f13>

Contemporary activism is changing society. Digital activism has altered the way protests, events and movements are orgainsed (Karatzogianni, A 2016). Social networking sites are being used as a quick and easy way to set the date, share logistics and show the world of these protests and movements (Gerbaudo 2012, p. 3). But does social media really make a difference in the way people are mobilised and protests are organised apart from just setting dated and creating groups (Gerbaudo 2012, p. 3).

Protests around Australia are something that really interests me, I find it amazing how passionate Aussie’s are about issues not only happening in their own country but throwing their support behind issues all around the world. Like the protests around Australia against Donald Trump’s travel ban. In Sydney protesters marched to the US consulate, chanting “Dump Trump” (Doherty, B 2017). In Melbourne a march during peak hour brought the city to a standstill and in Adelaide Adam Richards and his 13-year-old son Ned, walked for 39 days from Adelaide to Canberra to protest against the conditions in offshore detention (Doherty, B 2017). Richards and his son created awareness by doing their own version of a protest and this led to a protest outside parliament house in Canberra that demanded for the camps to be closed (Doherty, B 2017).

In 2017 Australia begun its year with the Invasion Day protest. This protest was advertised through events of Facebook for states all over Australia. This protest was supposed to be a peaceful protest advocating for changing the date of Australia day but ended up turning violent. During the rally in Sydney there was violence with reports of a women getting knocked unconscious and a police officer was hospitalised during violent outbreaks (Hunjan, R, Fogarty, S and Macmillian, J, 2017). One man was charged after burning the Australian flag (Hunjan, R, Fogarty, S and Macmillian, J, 2017). The state's new Premier Gladys Berejiklian condemned the alleged violence saying "we have a democracy and everyone has a right to protest, but today is celebrating everything that brings us together, and I think most people would feel extremely disappointed at what they have seen today" Hunjan, R, Fogarty, S and Macmillian, J, 2017. Indigenous leader Warren Mundine said the violence was unacceptable. He told the ABC, "If we want to have a mature, sensible discussion and debate about a day that brings us all together as a nation then fighting ... [is] not a way to do it" (Hunjan, R, Fogarty, S and Macmillian, J, 2017). Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce commented on the rally saying “they're just miserable ... and I wish they'd crawl under a rock and hide for a little bit” (Staff Reporter 2017). This protest was believed to have had a negative impact on the issue they were trying to advocate for because of the disrespectful actions that took place.

Social media has allowed people from all over the world to connect on issues they feel passionate about and realise they aren’t alone. People have been given a simple platform to stick up for what they believe in. When some people are so passionate about an issue its shown that protests can get violent but with so many peaceful and positive protests happening in Australia its showing that protest can really work in making change.

Reference List

Doherty, B, 2017, ‘Protests held across Australia against Donald Trump's travel ban’, The Guardian, Viewed 27th May 2018. <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/04/protests-held-across-australia-against-donald-trumps-travel-ban

Gerbaudo, P, 2012, Tweets and the Streets : Social Media and Contemporary Activism, Pluto Press, London, Viewed 27th May 2018.

Hunjan, R, Fogarty, S and Macmillian, J, 2017, ‘Australia Day: Clashes between police and protesters erupt at Sydney Invasion Day march’, ABC News, Viewed 27th May 2018. <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-26/violence-erupts-at-sydney-invasion-day-march/8214332>

Karatzogianni, A, 2016, ‘Beyond hashtags: how a new wave of digital activists is changing society’, The Conversation, Viewed 27th May 2018. <http://theconversation.com/beyond-hashtags-how-a-new-wave-of-digital-activists-is-changing-society-57502>

Image Lloyd, J, 2017, ‘Police clash with protesters, spraying a fire extinguisher after a male activist tried to set fire to a flag’, News Corp Australia, Viewed 27th May 2018. <http://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/violence-at-invasion-day-protest-in-sydney/news-story/5501ab73659c57e2a2936cf24eaac591>

Social media in politics has intensely changed the way campaigns are run and politicians interact with their elected officials and voters (Murse 2017). Jericho (2013, p. 255) asserts that Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have become merely a way for politicians to broadcast. Prior to these online platforms political communications existed in the form of banners, ribbons, T-shirts, buttons and bumper stickers (Penney 2017). Moving forward to the twentieth century, politicians began to use radio and television to deliver messages and campaign advertisements (Penney 2017). According to Jericho (2013, p. 254) since 2009 many Australian politicians joined Twitter, but some are still yet to fully embrace it. Social media is such a popular way to communicate that so many people use. Are politicians going where the people are?

Social media is more popular with the younger generation and typically this is the generation not voting or not enrolling to vote. Major parties are starting to embrace these online platforms and using them to their advantage. When the Australian federal election was called in April 2016, they found just over 70 percent of 18-year-olds enrolled to vote compared to the 51 per cent two months prior (Carvalho 2016). This was because of social media advertising. In 2016 there are still more 18-24 year old missing than any other age group, that’s about 254,000 (McCormack 2016). THAT’S A LOT OF VOTES. I remember when the 2016 Australian federal election was a foot and the radio station Triple J was advertising and encouraging young people to enrol to vote even assisting anyone having trouble.

Social media in politics has made elected officials and candidates more accountable and accessible to voters. When a politician post to Facebook or Twitter it opens up the gates for follows to give their opinions, whether it be positive or negative. Donald Trump for example a politician who tweets like nothing we have ever seen before. They appear so often there never seems to be a dull moment with him. His tweets are brash, petulant, aggressive, petty, mean-spirited and often untrue (Buncombe 2018). Although they do follow a pattern with both subject matter and style. Since entering the White House he has shared 83 tweets about crooked Hilary Clinton, 183 tweets about “fake news” and 104 tweets that vow to Make America Great Again (Buncombe 2018). Since Donald Trump declared his intention to run for President and then won his tweets have shown to be remarkably effective as the media focuses more on his tweets and little on what Trump actually does. Trump tweets have almost become amusing entertainment for some but also give you an insight into his thoughts and psyche.

Buncombe, A, 2018, ‘Donald Trump one year on: How the Twitter President changed social media and the country's top office’, Independent, 17th January, Viewed 22nd May 2018. <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/the-twitter-president-how-potus-changed-social-media-and-the-presidency-a8164161.html>

Carvalho, K, 2016, ‘Election 2016: MPs turn to Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter for youth vote’, ABC News, 10th June, Viewed 21st May, 2018. < http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-10/politicians-embrace-social-media-snapchat-instagram-facebook/7498368>

McCormack, A, 2016, ‘Rate of 18-year-olds enrolled to vote jumps by 20 percentage points’, Triple J Hack, 6th June, Viewed 22nd May 2018. <http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/enrolled-to-vote/7481626>

Jericho, G, 2013, Rise of the Fifth Estate : Social Media and Blogging in Australian Politics, Scribe Publications Pty Ltd, Viewed 22nd May 2018.

Murse, T, 2017, ‘How Social Media Has Changed Politics’, ThoughtCo, 16th August, Viewed 22nd May 2018. <https://www.thoughtco.com/how-social-media-has-changed-politics-3367534>

It seems social media can be both a positive and negative. Siapera (2012, p. 196) explains new media encourages the creation of communities and these tend to be closed groups of like-minded people.

From my experiences social media allows me to join closed Facebook groups about niche interests I have such as the television show Survivor and true crime where I’m able to communicate and connect with others on the same wave length. Recently I saw a Survivor trivia event pop up onto a fan group I’m apart of on Facebook that was happening where I live. Social media allowed this event to be shared with people who want to know and through this I was able to meet face to face and share stories with people with the same interest as me. The internet is amazingly diverse and like me, according to Siapera (2012 p.196), users tend to stick to the places they are likely to meet others like them. While using Facebook, Twitter or Instagram you are able to choose what you want to see with some users rarely venturing out of the confines of their in-group. While I’m on Facebook I use it to follow news sites from all over the world, this allows me to keep up to date with the vast diversity of this world.

Social media is also an easy way to keep in contact with friends and family, especially the ones who live interstate or overseas. The fact that communication is so vast and portable is an important element to new media. Siapera (2012, p. 199) asserts that the significance of locality is lessening and the element of portability is amplifying. We are able to take our media all over the world to connect with new friends or keep in contact with old ones. Social media is real time communication that is cheaper and easier than a phone call. When I spent my gab year in Europe Facebook was my main form of communication. With the distance it was important for me to check in with Mum and Dad, and keep in contact with the close relationships I had. So Facebook video chat and group chats became my best friend.  

Although social media is used in a positive way and is so useful, it can also be used negatively. Siapera (2012, p.195) describes how new technologies use up our time and stop us from creating meaningful social relationships with others. Siapera (2012, p. 195) talks about the ‘virtual reality helmet’ which refers to people walking the streets wearing headphones, fully immersed in themselves and not what’s going on around them. Are we isolating ourselves?

 References

During the nineteenth century according to Siapera (2012, p. 192) most people lived in small villages, knowing each other and each other’s entire family. These communities were traditional and relied on face to face contact. Siapera (2012, p.192) continues to explain that eventually people began to leave their villages and move to larger cities, looking for work in factories. Towns became cities, accommodating more and more people who were strangers, this was the arrival of the industrial revolution. Communities that were once groups of friends, neighbours, voluntary organisations and families formed around this organic natural will have moved forward and introduced a new way of becoming a community and that’s virtual. Flash forward to the 21st century, with the ever increasing population and use of the internet and social media Siapera (2012, p. 194) asserts virtual communities have become an easy way to come together and share information, ideas, feelings and desires and we do this through social media. According to Qualman (2013) if Facebook were a country it would be the fourth largest in the world.

Qualman (2013) states many facts in his video that show how social media is almost taking over our lives. In 2010 Gen Y would have apparently outnumbered the Baby Boomers and 96% of them have joined social media. With so many people on social media I believe people are more open and trusting to connecting and meeting people online. Qualman (2013) states that 1 out of 8 couples in the US met via social media and all the way back here in Australia that’s how I met my boyfriend. Social media allows you to use their virtual community to meet people who share the same interests who you usually wouldn’t talk to passing them on the street or even work with.

Most people now can’t live without their mobile phones. Qualman (2013) emphasizes that 80% of Twitter usage is on the mobile and makes an interesting point for what this means for bad customer experiences. Through Facebook and Twitter you can tell all your friends and followers how much of a good or bad experience you’ve had somewhere and tag the place you’ve been so everyone know exactly where you are talking about. We are able to use social media to select our interests according to Siapera (2012 p. 199) and evaluate services, products, films, books, food and sites. You can now jump onto big or small business Facebook page and share your experience which can be shared around the world. This is the reason people care more about what their social graph ranks products and services the how Google ranks them because 78% of people trust peer recommendation rather than advertisements (Qualman, 2013).

 References

Siapera, E, 2012, Understanding new media, SAGE, London, Viewed 13th April, 2018