Social Media - A Weapon of Mass Destruction?

As the end of another unit approaches me, the end of a friendship, a relationship or even more seriously the end of a life happens every day and some of this can be caused by social media. 

Cyber bullying, hacking and cyber terrorism are all different tools to exert power over another person or group of people to create fear and self doubt through the use of social medias such as mobile phones and social media sites. This is happening too much with deaths related to cyber bullying on the rise. 

The FACTS about Cyber bullying

' Nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online' (Cyberbullying statistics, 2014).

Only 1 in 10 victims will report their abuse (Dosomething.org, 2013).

'Bullying victims are 2 to 9 times more likely to consider committing suicide.' (Dosomething.org, 2013).

Girls are more likely than boys to be victims of cyber bullying (Cyberbullying statistics, 2014).

The Generation F (Facebook) admit to checking Facebook several times a day, and inevitably stalking is bound to happen. Scary huh! This creates a mixture of emotions, when people see their friends hanging out and they were not invited or when a message on Facebook is 'seen' but there is no reply which makes people doubt their friendships and their self esteem decreases ultimately destroying relationships.

Teen Death caused from Cyber bullying - This story highlights the effects of cyber bullying which is quite provoking and alarming.

Along with cyber bullying, addiction to the cyber world is becoming more prominent in society.

68% of people admit to using social media more than 10 times a day and 45% of people admit that eating was one of the most popular times to view their social media sites and update statuses. An eye opening statistic for teachers shows that 37% of people are updating social networking sites rather than listening in the classroom. (PrLog, 2012).

It is evident from these findings that social media is taking a toll on the lives of people in society with it becoming like any bad habit such as smoking, drinking or drug abuse. However this issue is not looked at with stigma like these other bad habits that have been listed.

We have discussed cyber bullying and addiction in relation to social media being weapons of mass destruction, another issue we all face is the issue of E-Extremism. Extremist groups are now using social media as a tool to bring large audiences together to recruit people into their cause (Gerstendfeld, Grant & Chiang, 2003). An example of this is the Westboro Baptist Church who hate gay and lesbian people. Check out their site here. This is quite disturbing. Another example of this is organisations like the KKK and terrorist groups. 

So now the time has come for you to tell me what you think. Is social media a good thing or is it a weapon of mass destruction?

Signing out for now, KM!



References

Bullying Statistics (2014) Viewed 8^th February 2014 from http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html

Dosomething.org (2013) 11 Facts about cyber bullying, viewed 7^th February 2014, from http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-cyber-bullying

Gerstendfeld. P., Grant, D., & Chiang. C (2003) Hate Online: A Content Analysis of Extremist

Internet Sites, Analyses of Social Issues & Public Policy, Vol 3 (1), p29-44.

Prlog,  (2012) Cyber bulling Statistcs, viewed 8^th February 2014 from http://www.prlog.org/11971493-statistics-show-real-social-media-addiction.html

Production + Usage = Produsage

Produsage is the concept of being both a user and producer of digital content (Bruns, 2007)

This new and profound concept is not actually new, and this idea was coined in the early 1970's by Alvin Toffler who prophesised a future where a consumer would also be a producer and a producer would be a consumer (Bruns, 2007). 

There are four characteristics of produsage.

These characteristics are explained in detail below.
Open Participation - One important feature of produsage is that contributors openly participate with each other to create the content which ensures the content goes under constant evaluations and developments (Bruns, 2008).

Fluid Heterarchy and Holoptism - Continuing on from open participation, we have fluid heterarchy and holoptism which allows an equal balance of participants which forms a cohesive discussion to help produsage sites function. There is no hierarchy but leaders are chosen based on merits which is only probationary in a sense (Bruns, 2007). 

Palimpsestic artifacts and granularity - In support of the previous two features, this characteristic identifies that content is often unfinished or in other words raw. There is constant need to improve upon this and requires a coordinated collaboration.  By having the feature of palimpsest, it allows users to repeatedly add to information already provided. The palimpsestic feature allows users of diverse backgrounds and areas to contribute (Bauwens, n.d). 

Common Property, Individual rewards - The last feature relates to participants receiving rewards and recognition of their input otherwise it will most likely halt the production of produsage sites. By making content common property, each contributor is able to receive rewards. Not normally monetary but it is something of merit (Bruns, 2007). 

Examples of Produsage sites include

Although produsage has its advantages of allowing diverse views from different cultures to be shared and providing an environment where people contribute, it also has its disadvantages which include questioning of the authenticity of the information divulged and even though people are connected, they lose a social/physical connection. 

According to Jenkins (2006) participatory culture views, advancements in technology allows new tools and avenues for collaboration and sharing ideas. As produsage is a cheap and effective way to share a message, it has become more significant in a growing number of peoples lives. Produsage can be done by anyone, anywhere at any time which invites other people to participate and shared common interests about certain information. Even businesses are honing in on this useful tool as a cheap and effective way to advertise.

Whilst produsage, is a very powerful and collective way of providing content, what will happen if this gets taken over by one or a few powerful entities, perhaps the government and is then controlled by them. What then for produsage? 

I leave you now with an excellent produsage parody.

Signing out for now, See you next week, KM!



References

Bauwens, Michael. "Peer to Peer and Human Happiness

Bruns, Axel (2007) Produsage: Towards a Broader Framework for User-Led Content 

Creation. In Proceedings Creativity & Cognition 6, Washington, DC.

Bruns, Axel (2008). Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond. From Production to Produsage. Peter Lang. p. 21

Bruns, Axel (2008). "The Future Is User-Led: The Path towards Widespread Produsage". Fiber Cultural Journal 11. Retrieved 16 February 2013.

Jenkins, Henry (2006) Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press

Produsage Remix Engage - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcRTVk2ZC4Y viewed 5th February 2014

The Self, Simulation and Simulacra

SIMULACRUM MEANS SIMILARITY

Plato's view of Simulacra entails two stages.
The first stage is an exact replica of the original copy. A faithful reproduction

The second stage known as the intentionally distorted stage includes making a copy of the original but deliberately distorting it to give the impression that it is an exact copy of the original. 

Jean Baudrillard, the founder of the idea of hyper-reality proposed for stages of Simulacra.

The first stage, like Plato's view is a truthful and accurate representation of a reality. An exact copy of the original. This is known as the basic reflection of reality.

The second stage known as perversion of reality, is an untrue copy which does not reveal the true reality to us more so an obscure reality.

The third stage called the pretence of reality pretends to represent a faithful copy yet does not represent anything close to the original.

Last but not least, the fourth stage has no relationship to reality. This is known as bears no relation in reality stage. It is about pure simulation with no representation of the original object. 

 

Some examples of Simulacra include: 

'Simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time'(Baudrillard, 1988)

'The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth—it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true' (Banks, Carson, Nelson & Nicol, 2001).

Another theory by Jean Baudrillard that ties in with the idea of simulacra, is hyper-reality. The post-modern concept of hyper-reality has consumed our lives and continues to pay a major role throughout society. So what is hyper-reality? 

Hyper-reality is the inability to recognise what is real and what is a simulation/fantasy (Tiffin & Nobuyushi, 2005). Examples of these inabilities to distinguish reality from simulation are evident in media culture, language and urbanisation (Felluga, 2011).

We have discussed simulation and simulacra, now how does the self fit into this? Well have you ever created an avatar in a virtual world or a character in a video game? If you answered yes, then you are one of the majority who has been lost in the world of simulation, simulacra and hyper-reality. 

An avatar, is meant to be a more attractive representation of ourselves. People feel more comfortable saying and doing things online as an avatar then doing these things in real life.

 It is like an avatar is a security blanket. In video games, creating a character to represent yourself and hold characteristics and traits that you think you have or you wish you had is a false representation of reality. Do we lose ourselves in the virtual world?

I want to know, if you have ever created an avatar or sim of yourself and if so, what did you call it and did you represent yourself 100% truthfully or did you alter the truth to become a more attractive (physically and mentally) version of yourself. Did you find that creating an avatar and communicating online allowed you more freedom in things you would not normally say or do?

Signing out for now, see you next week, KM!

References

Baudrillard, Jean (1988). Selected writings. Cambridge, UK: Polity.

Banks, J. Carson, B. Nelson, D. Nicol (2001). Discrete-Event System Simulation. Prentice Hall

Felluga, D 2011b, 'Modules on Baudrillard: On simulation', viewed 29^th January 2014, <http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/postmodernism/modules/baudrillardsimulation.html>.

Simulacrum - http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2003/05/01.html

Tiffin, John; Nobuyoshi Terashima (2005). "Paradigm for the third millennium". Hyperreality:

Wiki-Who?

I remember when I used to catch the train to work, I would pass an area in Redfern where there was some graffiti on the wall which said 'Free Julian Assange'. At this time, I had no idea who he was, and even though I was curious, I did not go out of my way to look it up on the internet as it did not really phase me.

Over time, I would randomly hear his name on the TV or see some headline in the newspaper about it but curiosity did not kill the cat and its only now, years later that I have actually learnt who Julian Assange is and what Wikileaks does. 

Wikileaks was founded in 2006 by Julian Assange. It is a not for profit organisation whose aim is 

"to bring important news and information to the public... One of our most important activities is to publish original source material alongside our news stories so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth."(Wikileaks, n.d.)

Wikileaks focuses on leaking secret information as they believe in freedom of information which I wholeheartedly agree with (Wikileaks, n.d). Wikileaks has created a new estate known as the fifth estate, which takes the information from the media and traditional journalists and exposes people, corporations and the government (Wikileaks, n.d.). 

Although I think that even though Wikileaks is making public, secret information, is this actually doing more harm than good? What do you think? 

I also think with Wikileaks being a huge threat to the government that they could plant information that they intend for them to find and by leaking that information it could be quite catastrophic. Although Julian Assange has proven he is quite clever and witty and has outwitted the government on many occasions.

Wikileaks has proven that knowledge is power by the reactions of the governments. They say Julian Assange is a terrorist due to his actions. According to the Oxford Dictionary (2014), a terrorist is one that engages in acts or an act of terrorism. Not to get all stereotypical on you, but below is a picture of a group of terrorists and a picture of Julian Assange. Do you think he is terrorist? 

Along, with the information I have uncovered about Wikileaks, I have come across the term 
known as whistleblower. The people who work for Wikileaks are considered whistleblowers. So what is a whistleblower you ask? 

Wikileaks believes scrutiny of government and large corporations encourages them to improve their procedures and prevent corruption. It provides more support from the society as a whole and as a result of this it improves transparency in relation to publishing information and freedom of information (Wikileaks, n.d.). 

I leave you now with a clip about Barrack Obama, making changes to the transparency of documents. How conveniently interesting considering the timing of everything.

Signing out for now, See you next week!KM



References
Merriam Webster Dictionary (2014) Whistleblower, retrieved 28th January 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whistle-blower

Oxford Dictionary (2014) Terrorist, retrieved 28th January 2014, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/terrorist

Wikileaks, Retrieved 28th January 2014, from http://wikileaks.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU0m6Rxm9vU

PEACE SELLS, BUT WHO'S BUYING?

Personally, I hate politics. I generally try and keep away from the political scene and avoid any discussion of the sense. Now at the risk of offending someone I will discuss politics.

Politics according to the Oxford Dictionary is the activities which are associated with the government. Generally resulting in debates between the parties in power. 

Politicians now have the ability to campaign through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter which can ultimately enhance their image. In the recent US election, Obama spent more money than his opponents on social media and the benefits of doing so are evident in his re-election for presidency.

Social Media is significantly important in political campaigns these days due to the ability to reach a larger audience.  By using social media tools, politicians have the power to control the content (to a degree) that is delivered to society (Kennedy, 2013). 

The use of social media by politicians makes them seem more human, more real which makes it easier for people to relate to them like when Kevin Rudd's cat Jasper died. People felt apart of the experience because Kevin kept everyone updated when they visited the vet. This tactic can be very influential on the political campaigns as it creates a deeper connection to the politician.

In the endless battle of politics, social media can be a godsend and a ruthless tool to enhance ones image and put someone else down. Social media is useful in the sense that when an opponent makes an error or mistake, the opponent has the ability to hone in on this gaffe and share it numerous times to their followers making social media a great and powerful tool for competition. Although I do admit, that sometimes this can be utilised in an unfair way to make the opponent look bad. But I guess that's the world of politics! 

It has been said that social media can be both a good thing and a bad thing for politicians but in the world of politics any exposure to society will be either good or bad. Social media allows politicians access 24/7 to share and spread their messages but this requires the need for constant supervision to filter all content that might be delivered to the people of society.  One issue that the politicians have to worry about is that once its out there, it will always be out there and it will most likely resurface in the future.

Although the constant in your face posts from the politicians, it seems that they still are grasping their grounds and getting used to the ever-increasing technological world that now exists. For politicians to succeed in their electoral campaigns they do not necessarily need social media, however research indicates that social media does have a huge impact on the votes with the messages reaching a younger demographic who make up approximately 21% of all voters (Swan & Vistentin, 2013).

Below is a spoof of the Australian politicians however the video seems to be neutral and targets both the Liberal and Labour party. It is quite funny!

Signing out for now, See you next week! KM

References

Kennedy, K, 2013, ‘Use it or lose it’, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, 22 February, viewed 6 January 2014, <http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/social-media-role-young-voters-increase-future-US-elections-Obama-Facebook-Twitter>

Politics, viewed 15th January 2014, from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/politics

Swan, J & Visentin, L, 2013, ‘Political heavyweights are online, upfront and in your face’, SMH.com.au, 8 August, viewed 6 January 2014, <http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/political-heavyweights-are-online-upfront-and-in-your-face-20130807-2rgpc.html>

Wrecking Australian Politics - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as5OGE1Idng

The Digital Revolution

Click, Click, Like, Click.. it is so simple to join and support a cause. It feels like we have contributed to something important and helped to make a change and fight for whats right. But by doing this has it resulted in any significant change in society? A word that comes to mind is 'slacktivist' which is a new word to my vocabulary but basically it is somebody who clicks, likes or re-tweets an issue to make them feel like they are actively involved in making a change and fighting for a cause (Davis, 2011).

This relates to digital activism which is a revolution of campaigning. Activism refers to the collective struggle for political and social change by using methods outside of routine processes (Joyce, 2013).  The main elements and appeal of digital activism is that people have the ability to do things online that they would not normally do in person. Especially in countries or repressive societies where it is dangerous for them to take action in real life. They are able to support a cause online and they have a sense of evasion and anonymity.



Digital activism also appeals to general society as many people feel they do not have the time to attend campaigns or participate in activities related to certain issues. With digital activism they can sign a petition online and can share pages with their friends and family, making more people aware. They are able to do this on their own time. It allows people to take social and political action in front of their computers.

Digital activism is non violent and provides the feeling of safety and security but still provides people of society with a voice to fight for what they think is right. Digital activism rarely involves hackers, however there has been cases of eCulture Jamming and adbusting.

Although people can feel a sense of involvement by actively participating in online forums and campaigns, the future of digital activism will be a combination of online tools and offline tools (Joyce, 2013)

A few examples of digital activism includes Kony 2012 and the Egyptian riots in Arab Springs. Also if you get a chance, click here to view some more examples that are quite interesting.

Signing out for now, See you next week! KM


References
Davis, J (2011) Cause Marketing: Moving Beyond Corporate Slacktivism, viewed 17th December 2013

Joyce, M (2013) The future isn't digital its hybrid, http://digital-activism.org/2013/07/the-future-isnt-digital-its-hybrid/ viewed 17th December 2013
Joyce, M (2011) Complex and Contradictory: A New Way to Think of Digital Activism http://www.meta-activism.org/2011/08/complex-and-contradictory-a-new-way-to-think-of-digital-technologys-effects/, viewed 18th December 2013

Piekut, K (2013) Examples of Digital activism using art and digital to fight a cause,  http://econsultancy.com/au/blog/63220-four-examples-of-digital-activism-using-art-and-digital-to-fight-a-cause, viewed 18th December 2013

#Twitter#FollowMe#Tweet

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet

I saw this tweet, which made me laugh about the irony of being followed without literally being followed. It seems our popularity status is determinate on how many people follow us on Twitter.

So What is Twitter? 

What is its appeal to over 550 million users?

Twitter is a social network and its main focus is about real-time communication for its users to share and discover information instantly. The logo of the bird falls in line with the name Twitter which is a word that comes from frequent chirping made by birds.

Howard Rheingold would describe Twitter as a virtual community. This virtual community has been called 'Twitterverse' where businesses, organisations and celebrities can flourish. Rheingold (1994) coined the phrase Virtual Community, which he defines as a social network of individuals that emerge on the internet when enough people carry on public discussions long enough with enough emotions to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace. People using Twitter have become emotionally connected and are addicted to sharing every thought they have and every thing they do. 

So now to understand Twitter! I had no idea how Twitter actually worked until I wrote this blog, and honestly I am still not too keen on it but I can see the pros of being apart of the 'Twittersphere'. However for me it is an unnecessary thing to have in my life. 

I would most definitely find it hard to 'tweet' only 140 characters. I have way too much to say and I think that I only want to share those things with my friends and family. I think having a restriction on the word limit for updates can be both good and bad as it will enforce clear and articulate updates but will also promote laziness for spelling and grammar.

And seriously what is this hashtag? This is so confusing. In a desperate attempt to understand what this is I explored the Twitter website for more information. This is what I have found.

A Hashtag is a way to categorise subjects and help tweeters search more concisely and easily. Hashtags can occur anywhere within a tweet; the beginning, middle or the end. Words that are hashtagged which become very popular are known as trending topics! Who would have known something so simple yet so complex plays such an important role in the lifestyles of the tech savvy individuals and organisations. I have also noticed that hashtags have made their way to Facebook aswell! 

Although Twitter is mainly utilised by celebrities and also as a business tool for marketing and promoting products, Twitter is also used when there is a crisis, for example the most recent Typhoon in the Philippines or during the Black Saturday fires in Victoria. I particularly do like this feature and do like how it brings everyone together to provide support for the unfortunate people who are victim to these events. 

I leave you now with some fun #Twitterfacts I bet you did not know! I sure didn't!! 

Signing out for now, See you next week! KM

References

Rheingold, H 2013, Howard Rheingold, viewed 7th December 2013, <http://rheingold.com/>.

Twitter, viewed 7th December 2013 <https://twitter.com/>

Twittersphere (Image) <http://alfredovela.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/historiavisualdetwitter.jpg>

Twitter Fun Facts, 2012  viewed 7th December 2013 <http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/4d/ed/19/4ded19c49fc39cd0ab704244c724fe7e.jpg>