China and Social Media

The great firewall of china is both an interesting and complex concept to look at.
In 1998, china implemented the golden shield project, where the idea of censoring particular information on Chinas internet was introduced. In total there are approximately 1,337 Chinese citizens with approx. 600 million of those internet users (Background check.com). The most popular way to access the internet in china is via mobile devices, where micro blogging being used by around 309 million users. The great firewall or the golden shield project involves the censorship of particular topics and sites including;

·         Politically sensitive terms

·         Embarrassing news events

·         Religious sites

·         Pornography

·         News reporting sites

·         Political activism sites

 (backgroundcheck.com)

Chinas firewall has been called the most advanced censorship system in the world and according to Amnesty International, “Chinas internet regulations may be amongst the most extensive and restrictive in the world” (background check.com).
One of the most interesting features of the firewall is the way in which its monitored. It’s estimated that around 30,000 citizens are part of Chinas internet police, or otherwise known as the 50 cent party, where they are paid 50 cents for every time they remove content from the internet that is damaging or features particular words or phrases. These people are involved in monitoring fellow citizens and each have an assigned area to work in, such as chat rooms or blogs.

Social networking pages such as Facebook, Twitter and even YouTube are all blocked. There are many ways around these firewalls, that many Chinese have been able to figure out and can have accessed banned content. However for each of these sites, China has their own equivalent, and many of these sites are have been called ‘copycats’. Webpages such as QZone (600 million active users), Kalxin (115 million active users) and Tencent Pengyou (260 million active users) are all Chinas equivalent of Facebook, with many of these pages looking a lot like the western Facebook page. The same thing has happened with Twitter with websites such as SIna Weibo (290 million users)  and Tencent Welbo (280 million users) being formatted with character limits much like twitter.

It is interesting to consider the fact that western sites are mirrored within the Chinese internet system. But questions are raised about whether this firewall was to be removed, would the Chinese quickly scramble to use Facebook and twitter? Many believe that this wouldn’t be the case, and as seen in japan, although they have open and free access to Facebook, it is not the most popular social networking site. Chiu, Lin and Silverman (2013, p 1) claim that "Social media is exploding worldwide, and China is leading the way", and I believe that this is a very valid statement. China has utilised their own technologies, and many young people are successfully shaping new types of language and ways of communicating over the internet. Just because western cultures function with particular social networks does not particularly mean that there are not different ways of going about it as seen in china.  

 

Farrell C, 2012, LSM208 lecture 11 Social Media and China; A Case Study, Learning material on blackboard, Swinburne University, 21^st of may 2013, viewed 28^th of may 2013.

Anti, M 2011, Behind the great firewall of China, TedTalks viewed 28^th of May 2013  http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_anti_behind_the_great_firewall_of_china.html

Chiu, C, Lin, D and Silverman, A 2012, China's social-media boom, McKinsey and Company, viewed  28^th ofMay 2013, http://www.mckinseychina.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/McKinsey-Chinas-Social-Media-Boom.pdf

Backgroundcheck.org, 2013, viewed 28^th of May 2013, http://www.backgroundcheck.org/

 

http://www.blupixel.it/blog/bla-bla-bla/the-great-firewall-of-china/

 

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/03/22/social_media_a_powerful_diplomatic_tool_canadian_diplomatic_papers_reveal.html

 

 

Extreme social media

 

There is a real dark side to social media that needs to be considered, as in many cases we are always focusing on the virtues of it. Extremist groups are among the many different types of groups that are utilising social media to spread and disseminate their ideas and knowledge. According to Gardener, extremism is a “dogmatic intolerance, expressed mildly or violently, and inclines toward an inflexible obedience to an accepted authority, shaped by a common ideology or sense of group unity” (gardener, 1997). Increasingly, this idea of extremism is being carried out over platforms such as Facebook and blogging, and it’s interesting to note that groups such as these were some of the first to use these networks by utilising early internet bulletin boards.

Extremist groups, with the use of social media now have the capability to reach different and existing audiences. The internet allows these groups to gain a new kind of following and recruit new members over these networks. Not only can these groups communicate with people in their own areas, but also overseas, where new societies are being made aware of these groups and of their ideology. Without social media ideas would not be able to spread on such a mass scale so quickly and so easily.

Networks such as Facebook are being used by extremist groups and hate groups to spread their ideas. The use of a page, where any Facebook user can ‘like’, enables anyone to post an idea or image and creating a following. YouTube is also used by groups to create ‘how to videos’ where anything from how to make a bomb to mobile detonators can be found. As well as this, YouTube is full of hate groups towards Politian’s and political groups, where videos are created mocking particular person or group are often seen.

Again Rheingold’s view of a virtual community can be considered when discussing this topic. The utopian discusses how social networking has enabled the formation of ‘virtual communities’ where people can interact over message boards, Facebook and twitter, in turn creating a sense of a community online. Much the same as Rheingold’s view, extremist groups have the capability to form virtual communities around their ideologies. Online hate communities could also been seen as a virtual community and are able to spread their propaganda to others within that community.

With more and more people joining these social networks every day and as well as in increase in internet capabilities, the future of extremist groups and hate groups influence needs to be considered. It’s more than likely that in the near future these groups will be able to gain more influence and countries that have limited access to the internet now, will be able to access it more easily with new technologies.  Another major problem relates to the government and those actions that they will take to stop or influence these groups. Government control leads to human’s right to free speech being damaged, but it can also be positive as it will stop potential threats to human lives.  In terms of these social networking pages shutting down these threats, the relationship with users and those who control the pages will also become a problem and according to Deana Kjuka,
“With governments keen to cut them off, the social-media platforms will have to make the hard decisions of where to draw the line.” (Kjuka, 2013). The future of social media and extremist groups is both ambiguous and unpredictable.

Farrell C, 2013, LSM208, Lecture 10 eExtreamists, Swinburne University of Technology, 15th of May 2013, viewed 27th of May 2013
Deana Kjuka, 2013, When Terrorists Take to Social Media, viewed 27th of May 2013<http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/02/when-terrorists-take-to-social-media/273321/>

http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2011/02/26/racist-groups-online-off-what-the-research-tells-us/splc-hate-groups-chart-2010-3/ 

http://www.inspiringblogger.com/2012/12/blog-like-star.html

http://mg.co.za/article/2013-03-13-arabs-urged-to-use-social-media-to-fight-extremism
 

Virtual worlds

 

Growing up I remember when I first bought the game ‘The Sims’ at around age 11 and I had hours of fun designing homes, changing their clothes and sending them off to work each day. I even remember telling mum about how I just killed my sim by taking out the pool ladder and making them drown, which looking back was pretty cruel on my part. This idea of controlling life is something that I will always remember discovering with the first edition of the Sims, and as a child it was something that I actually had control over in my life!


This same idea of controlling and altering life has moved into a bigger community called second life, where adults are taking part in a game where they see themselves represented as an avatar. Launched in 2003, second life is an online community where users use avatars to interact with others.  As well as this the game has its own currency, worlds and use of a trade system between users (Wikipedia, 2013). With this idea of having an online avatar comes along problems surrounding the way in which people represent themselves in games such as second life. In many cases, a person’s avatar is a taller and skinner version of themselves, where they create a representation of themselves in a more idealistic way.

 According to Lee, the way in which people play with avatars can be;

ž  Projection of idealization of the self;

ž  Experimenting with identity/ies

ž  Merely a pawn – ‘a means to an end’

(lee, 2003)

This idea of a Virtual community has expanded over the last 10 odd years, specifically with the release of the Sims 2 and 3 and sites such as second life, however there are many issues that arise with the capability to customise and create an avatar in ways that were not possible only a few years ago.  Games such as second life have created an new online world/community, where many users feel emotionally attached to this concept. Studies conducted by Nick Yee suggest that “40 per cent of men and 53 per cent of women who spend time in virtual worlds said their virtual friends were equal to or better than their real life friends” and of those surveyed, it was found that most of them spent up to 20 hours playing in these virtual communities (Yee cited in Meadows, 2008). It becomes difficult to make a distinction between ones real life and virtual life, when these type of studies show just how involved these users are in virtual communities. Questions are raised about the idea of separating these two lives. Baudrillard brings up some interesting points with his idea of hyperreality and the simulacra which can be likened to second life where there is no longer and distinction between reality and its representing image (Alleyn's School Media Studies Department, 2010).

Looking towards the future of virtual communities I can only help wondering about the use of second life as a substitute for a real life. The possibility for everyone to somehow have an online representation of themselves has the potential for an virtual life to become more important than the physical life and body that we have.

 

Alleyn's School Media Studies Department, 2010, contemporary media issues, viewed 19th of may 2013 http://www.slideshare.net/mickgoogan/04-baudrillard-the-matrix-and-blade-runner-simulation-and-hyperreality

 

Farrell, C, 2013, lecture 11 ,digital characters, avatars and second life, learning materials on blackboard, Swinburne University of Technology, viewed 19th of May 2013

http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/194970-second-life
 http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Fire
http://readwrite.com/2007/07/04/digital_life_vs_life_digital

 

Produsage and Bruns

Produsage is a term that has become increasingly popular with the formation of social media platforms. Described by Axel Bruns as being a “Collaborative user-led content creation by online communities” (Bruns, 2008), Produsage entails the concept of citizens becoming not only users but also producers of content. This is an interesting idea to consider as it means that we are not only able to view information, but we are also becoming involved with extending and improving ideas without having to be a traditional distributor.(Bruns, 2008). We are no longer just passive consumers, and have the capability to continue to extend information and create what's referred to by Bruns as “the value chain” (Bruns, 2008).

According to Bruns the four main principles of produsage are;

·         Open Participation, Communal Evaluation

·         Fluid Heterarchy, Ad Hoc Meritocracy

·         Unfinished Artefacts, Continuing Process

·         Common Property, Individual Rewards

 

One of the best examples of this being Wikipedia. Launched in 2001, the website has grown in popularity daily, with 10 billion global page views every month. Along with Youtube and Blogs, Wikipedia depicts how anyone can become a producer, adding and editing information that has been added by someone before them. Wikipedia differs from a traditional encyclopaedia, firstly, because it is entirely online and secondly because it depicts participatory culture. Produsage in this sense sees how, rather than just having a website creator who provides information, Wikipedia has the ability to allow for citizens to continue to update material and add their own value to the page. Wikipedia was formed with the idea of being peer-reviewed in 2001, and this has continued to flourish and expand in popularity over its 12 year existence.

However, there are many issues surrounding Wikipedia’s ability to be updated by any user. Wikipedia prides it's self on being egalitarian and not having professional editors assigned, but on the other hand this leads to much of the information being added by a typical citizen, who are not required to have a certain amount of education or knowledge. This leads to inaccurate and difficult to reference information. Produsage can see these problems arising, and according to Henry Jenkins “within convergence culture, everyone’s a participant – although participants may have different degrees of status and influence” (Jenkins cited in Bruns, 2008 p 30). A problem with Produsage in itself is that it provides “Unfinished artefacts” (bruns, 2008).
 Jenkins discusses Participatory culture as being a type of produsage, with its benefits being the fact that it enables peer-peer learning aswell as a more empowered feeling of citizenship. (Jenkins, 2009). However he also refers to its downsides, “the problems of unequal access, lack of media transparency, and the breakdown of traditional forms of socialization” (Jenkins, 2009)

 

Bruns, A 2007 Produsage.org: From production to produsage: research into user-led content creation, viewed 8^th of April 2013, <http://produsage.org/>

Cazabon, C 2009, ‘Why Wikipedia Can’t Work’ viewed 8^th of April 2013,
http://pyropus.ca/personal/writings/wikipedia.html

http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMy1mM2ZhMjJmZWZmODU1MmM3

Jenkins, H 2008, ‘From production to produsage: interview with Axel Bruns, Confessions of an aca-fan: the official weblog of Henry Jenkins’, viewed 8^th of April 2013< <http://henryjenkins.org/2008/05/interview_with_axel_bruns.html>

Jenkins H, 2009, ‘Confronting The Challenges Of Participatory Culture’ The MIT press, viewed 8^th of april 2013 <http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/confronting-challenges-participatory-culture>

Politics and Social Media

I distinctively remember the slogan, ‘Kevin 07’, however that’s all that I remember about the political campaign. Being in year 8, politics was somewhat pointless and a waste of energy, I was much more concerned with changing my MySpace music and layout, and not offending anyone with my new choice of ‘top friends’. Life was difficult!  But for some strange reason I recently began to follow Kevin Rudd on Instagram despite the fact that my interest in politics is almost nil. I have found that I actually find some of the pictures and captions quite amusing and almost feel like Rudd is more relatable. For example the image below made me think about the fact that as a Politician he is fairly light-hearted and doesn’t take everything so seriously, which I would not have even thought about if I didn’t have some connection with him via social media.

Social media is increasingly being utilised by Politicians to communicate with the public, where having an online presence is almost expected. As I have experienced myself, particular platforms such as Facebook, twitter and Instagram are reaching people my age, who are younger and would usually not have so much of an interest in political campaigns and issues. Social media campaigning is becoming equally as important as traditional methods, such as letter drops and posters in most western nations.

The 2008 and Obama campaign was one of the most significant and early social media campaigns that we have seen. The use of Blogging, SMS, and Twitter enabled candidates to express ideas, views and opinions online, reaching a vast amount of potential voters, particularly younger people.  Obama and his team were successfully able to utilise these platforms, particularly YouTube to gain a following by the American public. The republican campaign, however, was so not successful, where it was made to look old fashioned and out-dated as it was much less sophisticated than the opposition’s techniques.
 
According to The Dragon Fly Effect , "The Obama campaign reached 5 million supporters on 15 different social Networks over the course of campaign season; by November 2008, Obama had approximately 2.5 million (some sources say as many as 3.2 million) Facebook supporters, 115,000 Twitter followers, and 50 million viewers of his YouTube channel” (The Dragonfly Effect, 2013). These statistics represent how important social media was for the politicians and his ultimate victory.

There are some weaknesses of the use of social media when it comes to political campaigning. YouTube has a vast amount of potential, but also leaves politicians open to the audience talking back via their own videos on the same platform. Parodies and videos mocking campaigns are widespread, like the video below, and politicians need to be aware that this will occur. Another issue that comes with the use of social media is the idea that politicians need to look a certain way, act in a particular manner and be appealing to the public. There becomes a problem of appearance, as many people may base their votes around ones appearance.  All in All Social media has the potential to influence generations of voters, by providing a new way to communicate to the public and new ways to influence the political landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

The Dragonfly Effect, How Obama Won with Social Media, 2013, viewed 3rd of May 2013
 http://www.dragonflyeffect.com/blog/dragonfly-in-action/case-studies/the-obama-campaign/ 

 

Farrell, C, 2013, lecture 7, Social Media Politics, learning materials on blackboard, Swinburne University of Technology, viewed 30th of April 2013
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB3Hlv7rg1M

Kindelan, K, 2011, Will President Obama bring campaigning 3.0 to 2012?, social times, viewed 3rd of may 2013 http://socialtimes.com/will-president-obama-bring-campaigning-3-0-to-2012_b58045

 

https://www.facebook.com/KevinRuddMP?sk=app_2309869772&filter=1

Wiki what?

When considering the issue of anti-corruption within governments, the name Julian Assange instantly pops into mind. The founder of the notorious ‘Wikileaks’ page, Assange is known around the world for his involvement in the hacking of government information, and the dissemination of what was once secret government information. Assange is the most well-known figure surrounding WikiLeaks due to his position as editor-in-chief as well as the spokesman for the organisation however several journalists, computer programmers, activists and even volunteers were also involved in the establishment of the website. Since its formation in 2006, several controversial leaks of information have been spread around the globe, sourced from anonymous informants, government documents and classified media. According to Assange wikiLeaks is “an un-censorable system for untraceable mass document leaking and public analysis” (Columbia university, 2012), where information that was once protected is made public.

It’s always interesting to consider the two sides of the story. It could be said that the idea of WikiLeaks and its aims enable us to be aware of issues in the world. WikiLeaks provides a place for citizens to gain an understanding of a ‘real story’ which is, in theory uncensored and enables us to see our basic human rights exercised. The organization stands up for the idea of freedom of expression and human’s desire for the truth. We are able to see the ways in which our governments control information, and WikiLeaks has the potential for citizens to be made more aware of issues such as censorship and corruption within regimes.

On the other hand, in saying that WikiLeaks will provide citizens with freedom and an understanding of the truth, there comes problems, both political and ethical that needs to be considered. Politically, WikiLeaks transparency means that governments are vulnerable and a typical hierarchy within a nation becomes damaged. In turn, this created a distrust of the government by the people which is potentially damaging to a nation and its governments credibility. There also becomes a fine line between governments protecting security whilst also providing citizens with truthful and detailed information (Yale Global Online, 2013). There is also the risk of information being wrongly reported, misunderstood or being read out of context. Ethically, the information that is being reported by WikiLeaks is classified as secret, and the reasons for the information not being readily available is obviously a good one. The identities of government members and information about individuals involvements are also released which is less than ethical.  

Currently, Julian Assange is living at the Ecuadorian embassy in London and has been for over 9 months after being offered asylum in august of 2012. Assange is facing rape and sexual assault charges in sweden, and he hopes to avoid being extradited there. As well as this, Assange also fears being extradited from Sweden to the United States in relation to his involvement in WikiLeaks. However, despite his absence, WikiLeaks is still up and running, with the most recent post being dated the 8^th of april 2013. The future of the website is ambiguous at this point in time and only time will tell the future of one of the best examples of digital activism today.

 

 

Yale Global Online, 2013, The WikiLeaks Saga , viewed 26^th of April 2013 http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/wiki-saga

Columbia University, 2012, Friend or Foe? Julian WikiLeaks and The Guardian, viewed 26^th of April 2013
https://casestudies.jrn.columbia.edu/casestudy/www/layout/standard.asp?case_id=70&id=627

http://wlcentral.org/node/2041

http://onlyhdwallpapers.com/high-definition-wallpaper/typography-julian-assange-wikileaks-typographic-portrait-desktop-hd-wallpaper-877106/

 http://www.cagle.com/members/news/wikileaksfounder/page/3/

 

Culture Jamming & Digital activism

Culture Jamming, a term popularised by Mark Dery, refers to when existing social media is commented on, where it is believed that advertising is basically propaganda. Culture jamming is a type of sub advertising particularly present in industrialised nations and resists the hegemony of advertising within a society, by altering things such as company logos, shifting existing ideas of popular icons etc.

 There are various examples of this seen in the media. Some of them include companies such as MacDonald’s and Coca-Cola, where their campaigns are in a way made fun of and resists the companies advertising.
The image above depicts the ways in which McDonald’s food is high in fats and sugars, mocking their current logo and slogan. To the left is an advertisement for Coca-Cola, where culture jammers have focused on the calorie content of the sugary drink.

Personally really enjoy this idea of culture jamming. I like the fact that in a culture so centred on advertising and dominance of large scale companies, that this can still happen.  It gives me a sense of hope to an extent that not everybody in the world will fall victim to what could be referred to as propaganda by these companies.


Another major concept is digital activism. I myself have been involved in this movement as I am sure many people who use social media have too.  Digital activism is cheap, easily assessable and can be spread audiences over social networking in small amounts of time.

 

According to Mary Joyce the 3 main characteristics of good digital activism as being;

1. Sustainable (local, low cost, self-reinforcing)
2. Effective (Long-term Strategy, appropriate technology)
3. Reproducible (other activists, other countries, other issues)

 

Digital activism has been seen in many major events around the globe, for example the Kony campaign, the Chinese earthquake, The Arab spring and more recently the Boston Bombings only a few days ago. As I scroll through my newsfeed on Facebook I become increasingly aware of how digital activism is so prominent today, where anything from a page dedicated to saving and praying for those who were affected by the bombs in Boston, to signing a petition to stop the closure of a local business can be seen. 


A particular campaign that has been seen unfolding across social networking is the vote to legalise gay marriage. Personally, I have seen several of my Facebook friends changing their profile pictures to the picture below in support of it, and there are numerous groups and pages available to like and follow on Facebook. Even hash tagging on Instagram and Twitter in reference to the campaign has been undertaken by not only the general public but also by celebrities and those in the public eye, such as Beyonce and Macklemore.  


It's clear that social media has been greatly utilised when it comes to digital activism. Campaigns can be easily spread across the world via social media and anyone can create a page in support of something whether it is within their community or relating to world issues. Culture jamming is also another interesting and entertaining way in which advertisments are rejected by many and postioned in a light hearted way.

Until next time
:)
 

 

 

 

 

http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/451191/20130328/red-equal-sign-human-rights-campaign-gay.htm

 

http://marcokrizic.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/coke-j314.jpg

 

http://convergentdivergent.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/culture-jamming-9/

 

http://mastersofmedia.hum.uva.nl/2012/09/10/28378/

Mary Joyce, 2009 http://www.slideshare.net/MaryCJoyce/introduction-to-digital-activism viewed 19th of april 2013.