Tim Media Student MDA20009

As somebody who has never travelled overseas, I imagine I am a bit sheltered in terms of social media content and issues in other countries. While I knew a little bit about Chinese social media restrictions before this week, just from conversations with other people, I never really understood the extent in which it is different from Australia. I find this to be quite interesting and avant-garde in the way that this streamlining is taking pace. I was quite surprised that they had this ‘Firewall’, as my understanding was that there was no social media at all within China, so lucky I found this out! For a country that has the highest percentage of social media users in the world according to the McKinsey reading, the fact that none of them use Facebook or Twitter is astonishing! I see these two sites to be the crux of social media in this country, and their use to me is more than just personal → this is how I find out current event news, keep up with sports and keep in touch with friends from wherever they are around the world. Now as China have their own insular social media systems, most of what I mentioned above could not actually occur! Anything outside of the country could almost be deemed irrelevant in the eyes of the important few in China, with the setup of the ‘Firewall’ creating this type of divide between China and the rest of the world. Now the point of China leading the way in terms of a social media revolution is a very contentious issue. What are the indicators of being a world leader? Does conforming to the majority mean that you are in the leading group, or does uniqueness count for something? The vast population of China gives them a ‘leg up’ so to speak in terms of social media, but I don’t see their system as being world leading. To be the world leader, I feel that your model is one that must be followed around the world. Whilst this system is massive in China, and even though the vast majority of their population uses these platforms, the rest of the world will not adapt to this model. Chinese social media is designed to be an insular and non-sensationalized medium so the government doesn’t have to deal with any major issues. This kind of reminds me of ‘The Social Network’ that depicted the rise of Facebook. If Facebook had stayed within the confines of American Universities, then it would not be the same important social media tool that we all use today. It is the dissemination of this platform across the globe that has made it an integral person-to-person Internet site that allows contact from all over the world. For China to become a world leader in this field, then I feel that their platforms must be used all around the world with the same popularity that they hold within China. And that draws the semester to a close!! My first blogging experience has been a positive one, and is something I would contemplate doing again in the future! Thanks to anybody who took the time to read these posts, until next time TS

I always find it amazing to think of people playing online games way into the night. I’m not a gamer at all → love playing MarioKart, anything Mario really but I have been told that doesn’t really count to hardcore gamers! Games such as Eve and World of Warcraft almost seem like full time jobs on the outside, so I found the lecture interesting to get an insight of what actually happens within this online platform. Video games seem to be an increasing part of popular culture, kind of correlates with the rise of obesity as well unsurprisingly… This is a prime example of how social interaction has almost changed within the last 10 years. Is it social to be playing Eve online with ‘friends’ from overseas? Or is the act of being social still physically being in the same room or areas as your friends. I definitely see it being the later, but the rise in social networking and people staying in contact online is kind of blurring these lines a little bit. Where it used to be neighbours going and playing outside in the local park, it is now teens coming home from school, logging online and almost building another life. The next aspect I would like to focus on is the conversing side. Games like COD can pit players against randoms from across the world, but it is the talking through the headphones that freaks me out a bit. Though there is a contractual agreement within these games (de Zwart & Humphreys 2014, p. 78), I don’t feel that gamers have as much control over social interactions due to not being able to see other users. You could be talking to anybody, especially with the meaningless usernames that are allowed in these games. A name such as Maxi_90 gives no indication as to the age, gender, or even nationality of the person you are conversing with, and is quite tough to be monitored. This links in with week 7 where we discussed the issue of trolling. This online platform can facilitate this type of behaviour as well as online bullying, especially for high school students. Whilst the contract is enforceable to the parties within it (de Zwart & Humphreys 2014, p. 78), I still see it as a social issue. Finally, the affiliation with both the game and characters is another important aspect to think about when looking at online gaming. As mentioned in the lecture, players can get so connected to their possessions and their portrayal in these games that they actually part with real money for online supremacy and fashion! Creating this affiliation is integral to the creators of these games as it allows the players to meet people with common interests through playing online, and makes sure that they continue to pay the $30 a month for subscription! By being able to create ones identity online, players can portray themselves however they want and affiliate themselves with things they may not in the real world. The lecture opened my mind to many things about online games that I didn’t really know! Hope you all enjoyed it as well!!!! One week to go! - Melissa de Zwart & Sal Humphreys (2014) The Lawless Frontier of Deep Space: Code as Law in EVE Online' Cultural Studies Review

To me, visual communities are a really important way of staying in contact with friends and family, especially when we are separated by distance. When used correctly it allows others to get an insight into your life. Whilst not all online users will merit attention, we don’t really need to. As long as attention is received from those intended, be that friends, family or friends of friends, then this visual communication tool has had a positive affect. Tension surrounding tagging on Facebook is a great example of the visual communities within our new age media. From personal experience, it often depends on where and when the tagging occurs that is the heart of the tension. I was once given free tickets to a V8 Supercars meeting (never been before in my life!), and asked a few mates if I could tag them on Facebook. I only ever check in when I am doing something awesome and people would be jealous. Now I know that sounds really mean, but deep down I think that is why everybody uses these functions: to attempt to show that they are having a greater time than the people reading it…. Anyway everybody was happy to be tagged except one guy. His excuse was that he told his family he was at footy training because they would bag him out for being at a car race!! But it is a fair point… If we went back 30 years ago, there was much more privacy without the Internet. Your location can be given away to thousands of people at a time and individuals wouldn’t feel the urge to let the whole world know which pub they’re at, which game of footy or concert they are about to go to, and with which amazing individuals allow you to have the greatest night of your life!! Snapchat is different, as I feel like it replaces text based messaging to some extent. The photo’s or even videos are able to tell a story, and it is easy to have a conversation (multiple photos) through this Application. The transition between self-expression and communication in digital media is really important to Snapchat as mentioned in the reading (Herrman 2014) with the ‘selfie’ representing this to some extent. Everyone likes taking a selfie, though many will not own up to this, and this medium means that you can do this privately and send to only who you want to see it. Going back to week two of the semester, these forms of social media are great examples of how social interaction is lacking these days. People will be walking down the street, sitting in lecture theatres and boarding trains with their nose in their phones, looking at their latest Snapchat or heaven forbid, taking a selfie of their own in front of the general public. I suppose this is one negative in the rise of visual communities, but as mentioned above there are many positives to come out of their use. These functions mean that I can still feel connected to friends I haven’t seen in 6 months, giving me a sense of affiliation to these people through visuals (Lange 2009). As they say, a picture tells a thousand words… That’s me for this week guys, only 2 more blogs to go! Join in next week when we discuss social gaming! • Lange, P. (2009) ‘Videos of Affinity on YouTube’, Snickars & Vonderau (eds) The YouTube Reader, pp 70-88. • Herrman, J. (2014) ‘Meet the Man Who Got Inside Snapchat’s Head’ BuzzFeed.

Activism and protest is something that has been around for hundreds of years. When growing up I can remember watching cartoons of men on horses, armies charging down the castle in protest to the evil leader. These fairytale type shows made it seem possible for the little man to stand up and fight, even if they were physically no match for the evil leader…. In a funny type of way, this is how social media is used to protest. The small person with no important social standing is able to have their say, organise a rebellion, or just voice their views. New media has created a whole new way of protesting. From my point of view, the biggest factor is the ability to create communities. Geographical location is now no longer an issue when it comes to protesting. People can sit in front of computer screens on opposite sides of the globe and create headlines over the Twittersphere. Again I want to use the idea of horses and armies storming a castle…. The initial protest is like the breaking down of barriers, the walls of the castle. The difference now is that after the first group (community) has been accessed, there are now millions and millions of people all around the globe who are able to have the same affect on humanity. Each online presence essentially carries the same weight. By sharing and linking these comments over the Internet to one another, it means that there is more ‘cavalry’ waiting in the ranks if needed. Social media is utilized well through political protest (Lafi Youmans & York 2012). It is important to note that this is a major issue across the world, therefore one that large majorities of the population will have an opinion on. As mentioned in the reading, The Middle East is a great example, as social media attempts to break the states power and give alternative points of view (Lafi Youmans & York 2012). Now I know that the example I am about to give is trivial compared to other protest examples, but I like to try and link these ideas to sport as much as I can!! The tribunal within the AFL is a system that is very flawed and there has been conjecture on its outcomes for as long as the game has been around. Social media has been used in the past few years to protest decisions, penalties and interpretations of incidents from the weekend’s games. Whilst this protest in not able to change the outcome of the original decision, rule changes have occurred due to the large amounts of public backlash via social media. By airing an opinion, it is becoming increasingly likely that others will both share this opinion, and help in the protest towards a greater good..,,, The Internet means that individuals are never fighting a battle on their own. By having an opinion and protesting online, it is easy to build communities or find people with the same beliefs on key issues. Once the initial wave of people have had their say, the next lot will come up take their place, just like in the cartoons… Lafi Youmans, W. & York, J. (2012) ‘Social Media and Activists Toolkit’, Journal of Communication, pp 315-329.

When I was preparing for my group presentation this week, I began listing all of the major disasters that I can remember during my lifetime. Over 22 years, there have been too many to count, so many lives lost and changed beyond repair. Imagine having been a worried family member or friend 20 years ago during a tsunami or earthquake? Crowd sourcing wasn’t really a ‘thing’ back then. And without the Internet it is fair to say that information definitely wouldn’t be as easy to obtain or verify. As mentioned in the lecture and readings, verification is integral to disaster situations. As phone lines are often in meltdown (McCosker 2014) it can be near impossible to verify everything that comes through via social media. There have been great strides made though during the last few years, through the incorporation of smart phones and their applications. I am from rural NSW, and last summer there were fires within 100km of my hometown. Now we were never in danger, but the app was great for two reasons: Firstly we were able to make sure that external factors such as the weather conditions (especially winds) didn’t change, but also it allowed me so keep an eye on other towns and farms where we had friends and families. Until being faced with this type of situation, it is impossible to understand exactly how helpful this technology is for everyday people. This verification was very important for everybody in the area. But when it comes to verification, I still think it is very important that traditional media is kept up to date as well. Again through my own experiences, there are many people that still aren’t great with technology, especially in the country. It is often this older generation of country livers that are the ones in most danger, which means that social media wouldn’t be of any help to them. The amount of times I walk down the main street to hear an old man in a worn out singlet listening to the ABC midday news in a parked car has to be seen to be believed. So radio and news broadcasts are still very relevant, with the ABC making sure that both traditional and new media are used together (Posetti 2012). Finally, crowdsourcing is something that many people do, and not just when it comes to natural disasters. In this day and age, people don’t want to take a chance on something that they may not like or enjoy, like a restaurant or gaming console. By asking other people through an online platform, they are often able to obtain information about the multiple options they are choosing from. An example of where I have crowd sourced is through the online AFL Supercoach game. Via Facebook, there is a page that allows you to ask the experts (as they call themselves) questions, regarding which players should be traded in and out of teams. Naturally every man and his dog will have an opinion and ends up commenting on what you have to say. This is quite insightful as it can bring certain players and/or trends to my attention that I may not have realised. Whilst there is no verification as to whether they are actually talking sense or not, I am able to easily check this online to make sure. Well that is probably enough for this week, I think I have covered a few valid points when it comes to this topic. Until next week… McCosker, A 2014, ‘Week 8: Crowd sourcing in times of crisis’, MDA20009- Digital Communities, Learning materials on Blackboard, Swinburne University of Technology, 28 April, viewed 1 May 2014. Posetti, J. & Lo, P. (2012) 'The Twitterisation of ABCs Emergency & Disaster Communication'

The idea of celebrities being treated badly via social media is one that I find quite distressing. Society asks for more interaction and an insight into these people’s life, yet a group of people, all be it the minority, abuse this privileged by hating on them. I want to use the example of sport here, and specifically AFL. Twitter is a major platform for players to raise their profile, but it also puts them under intense pressure. There are two main ways that ‘trolling’ occurs in this demographic of people. Firstly, fake accounts are opened, meaning that players are quoted as commenting on an issue when it is not actually them. This issue was rectified in 2012 when players were granted authenticity tick, meaning that their profile could not be copied. The biggest issue is all of the negative comments that are thrown their way. Some players such as Tom Scully don’t even have Twitter accounts due to the amount of negativity they receive online which is not fair at all. Everybody should have the ability to have their say without vitriolic comments coming their way. This type of behaviour was in the spotlight again after Indian cricket player Yuvraj Singh received hate mail, death threats and had rocks thrown at his house after they lost the T20 World Cup. These people are just everyday citizens of the world, and we, as the audience have no idea what is going on behind closed doors in their personal lives. I think that the increased awareness of mental illness within professional sports can largely be attributed to hate on social media and from my point of view this behaviour is just totally unacceptable My final point from the readings is how parents often assume that social media increases bulling at a school level (boyd 2014). Technology can now be used almost anywhere, meaning that children are often conversing and connecting with people outside of their school hours. Whilst it is a huge issue, at least technology allows us to turn it off- children should be encouraged to use less technology in these cases if it will decrease the chances of bullying within school. Whilst parents may be able to access their children’s social media accounts, in many cases it is a mixture of online and face to face bullying, making the issue harder to solve. • McCosker, A. (2014) ‘Trolling as Provocation: YouTube’s Agonistic Publics’, Convergence. • boyd, d. (2014) ‘Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty?’, in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, pp 128-52.

When personally thinking about social media and its uses, politics doesn’t really come to mind. It isn’t something that I really follow religiously, though around election time I suppose it is hard not to be involved in some level. I can remember being on holiday in Queensland last year when K Rudd took over from Gillard, so politics is definitely something that captures the imagination of a nation. The big thing I have taken from this weeks content is the ability of people to create their own persona online that the public can see and relate to. Barrack Obama was able to use this platform to create this a huge following online, which seemed to be tapping into a different demographic of people. This sounds great in theory, but did this actually bring in more views and opinions on politics? The reading from Young (2010) makes a good point that, sure there are huge amounts of people that use the internet and social media sites everyday, but a lot of people don’t actually use it for this purpose! Just because it is available doesn’t mean that people without previous interest will actually take any notice (Young 2010, p. 213). From this point of view, people need to either like a page on Facebook or follow somebody on Twitter for this to have any type of effect. In saying this, having a social network allows for this information to be spread though mutual friends. I am going to use myself as an example here. I haven’t liked any fan pages or political pages on Facebook because they don’t really interest me. But that doesn’t stop me from being bombarded my images and quotes that all of my online friends are currently viewing and subsequently liking. The amount of Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard pictures I saw around election time was ridiculous! Though I don’t use Twitter, I assume that this is quite similar with the function of retweeting other people’s things. Going back to the ability to market yourself through social media, this can be applied to all types of famous people. Very large portions of the top 20 most followed on Twitter are pop stars, people who we as the public see to live interesting and eventful lives. This means that everybody wants to know who the new guy Taylor Swift is going to dinner with is, or what Katy Perry wears to the beach… When I think of politics, I think of dour, boring affairs held within the confines of 4 walls. But what Obama has done to some extent, is make sure that the personalities within politics have the ability to shine, and to give content to an audience that is worth their attention. Whilst I think there are only certain types of personalities that this can work for, with Obama being at the top of the list, it at least gives people the chance to view more content and feel more comfortable with our politicians…. References • Young, S. 2010, 'New, political reporting and the internet' in How Australia decides: election reporting and the media, Cambridge University Press, Australia, EBL eBook Library viewed 28 February 2012, pp 203-228.

As part of the new digital generation, I find it interesting that I have never really thought about writing a blog or starting up a Tumblr account. While new media has had a great impact on my life, I use an iPhone, Apple computer and regularly check Facebook and sporting Apps, I never once thought how blogging could be an important platform for me to get my name out there in the world. The idea that blogging is becoming the ‘fifth estate’ (Cross 2011 p. 37) shows the prominence that the internet and blogging in particular has in today’s society. Blogging is a different platform for writers to express their opinion. This virtual community opens up many different threads that can be viewed without any physical interaction at all. As a sports nut, I will use the example of fantasy football leagues. For years I have used the AFL Supercoach game online, playing against people I do not know and talking to them (occasionally) via the ‘psyche out’ box. This allows me to speak my mind under a false name if I really wanted to, as well as find out how other random supporters feel about players, games or just the sport in general. This game can also have the opposite effect, by allowing players to organise a league amongst friends. By creating this type of filter bubble (van der Negal 2013, p. 5), I can only see what my friends write. We all have similar views and live in similar areas, so I basically know the type of content that will be written at a particular time, especially post game after an upset win! To be honest, I find this more enjoyable, and I voice my opinion more, which is how the idea of filter bubbles operate and survive I suppose. The reading by Siapera (2012) also talks of the lack of social interaction now in everyday life. This is something that I have noticed especially in the last year or so in my life, and one that I don’t particular like. Things like walking down the street and sitting in the lounge room with family quickly become times were the iPhone is whipped out, or headphones plugged in, almost living in this virtual reality world instead of the physical present. We tend to operate in our own ‘little boxes’ (Siapera 2012, p. 199), more worried about our social capital. When in reality, how many followers on Twitter or ‘likes’ on Facebook you have shouldn’t matter at 9 o’clock on a Friday night watching the footy, yet almost universally it does. It’s funny how quickly these conventions have changed over time, and I will find it intriguing to see whether this becomes more prominent or less important as time goes by. References • Cross, M. 2011. ‘Got Blog’ in Bloggerati, Twitterati: how blogs and twitter are transforming popular culture, Praeger, EBL eBook Library pp 37-50 • Siapera, E. (2012) ‘Socialities and Social Media’, in Introduction to New Media, pp 191-208. • van der Negal, (2013) ‘Faceless Bodies: Negotiating Technological and Cultural Codes on reddit gonewild’, Scan, 10(2).