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Week 10: Conflict & Social Media Governance

Harassment has always been a prevalent issue in online social environments. Despite the unspoken moral obligation to be a good digital citizen, online harassment has remained and persisted through the various established and developing governance policies. Additionally, the methods in which attacks can be employed have also evolved with greater consequence. Things like DDoS (digital denial of service) attacks, digital fraud, cyber-bullying and hacking are all real possible threats that any online user could face.

Despite this, youths are being labelled for being “a snowflake generation” by some for their intolerance to online negativity and vocal outcries (Haslop C, O’Rourke F, Southern R, 2021). The insinuation is that past generations growing up with a less regulated internet had to bear with any and all attacks as there was no support infrastructure at the time. What these claims fail to recognise is that the scope in which harassment can affect, is bigger than ever. Moreover, online harassment is not dealt out equally. Craig Haslop, Fiona O’Rourke, and Rosalynd Southern, in their research paper, identify that women and transgender people are more often and more likely the target for harassment. In contrast to the real-world where equality, regardless of gender, race, or beliefs, is a global development goal (United Nations, 2015), the digital division is a major reason for these attacks.

To further the issue, certain online communities exacerbate these themes of misogyny, racism, and hate-speech to push an agenda. The highly controversial Andrew Tate, for example, markets his teachings and personality as one that puts men ahead of women in all aspects. Under the guise of a ‘one truth’, in this case ‘masculinity’, Tate and many other online figures romanticise the idea that they can offer a “solution” to peoples’ problems (Rich B, Bujalka E, 2023). 

In relation, when these sort of like-minded social circles form around a figure, whether it is an e-celebrity, influencer, or A-list celebrity, it develops the dangerous possibility of weaponizing the masses for the purposes of online harassment. 

References:

Haslop, C., O’Rourke, F., & Southern, R. (2021). '#NoSnowflakes: The toleration of harassment and an emergent gender-related digital divide, in a UK student online culture'. Convergence, 27(5), 1418–1438. https://theconversation.com/the-draw-of-the-manosphere-understanding-andrew-tates-appeal-to-lost-men-199179

United Nations. (2015). Sustainable Development Goals. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. https://sdgs.un.org/goals

Rich B. Bujalka E. (2023). 'The draw of the ‘manosphere’: understanding Andrew Tate’s appeal to lost men'. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/the-draw-of-the-manosphere-understanding-andrew-tates-appeal-to-lost-men-199179

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Week 9: Gaming Communities, Social Gaming, and Livestreaming

Gaming is a phenomenon that is often overlooked as a major socio-technical change in society. While the term may conjure impressions of laziness, seclusiveness, or any other sort of negativity for some people, when critically assessed, gaming culture is actually inherently very social; especially considering the aspects outside of strictly playing video games.

One of the many branching prospects that emerge from the core of gaming is the volume of social communities within the greater sphere. With the internet connecting us more than ever, those that share a love for a particular franchise, genre, developer, or even niche related things like modding and cosplay, are able to interact through standard social platforms as well as specific gaming platforms like Steam or Battle.net. Brendan Keogh, in this week’s reading, referenced the Melbourne indie developer scene to be uniquely positioned as they are often discredited as both a part of the gaming sphere as well as the developers sphere. Through anecdotal analysis, Keogh remarks that the particular community is undervalued despite it truthfully being very involved with all aspects of the local and global gaming community.

If we were to look within the context of actual video games, a genre of games in recent times that play on this idea of social interaction is: social gaming. Instead of revolving around the gameplay or content, these titles aim to utilise the player’s real-world friendships to leverage enjoyment and retention rates. An example of this would be the recent ‘Wordle’ craze. While the premise of the game was simple, the accessibility factor and the concept of sharing attempts and results enabled daily conversation around the game. 

The last topic of this week’s coverage is livestreaming’s impact on a global scale. Often attributed to the launch of broadcasting platform, Twitch.tv, live streaming has been the single biggest catalyst for the culture’s exponential growth in the last several years. A key differentiator between this form of streaming and live television, is the element of immediate interactivity through a central chat box. Here, viewers culminate into their own social bubble. Instead of merely being viewers to the experience, they are directly involved with the content in front of them.

References:

Keogh, B 2021, 'The Melbourne indie game scenes: value regimes in localized game development' (Chapter 13), in P Ruffino (ed), Independent Videogames: Cultures, Networks, Techniques and Politics, Routledge, pp.209-222.

Taylor, TL 2018, ‘Broadcasting ourselves’ (chapter 1), in Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming, Princeton University Press, pp.1-23, DOI: 10.2307/j.ctvc77jqw

Bernachi, M 2022, 'Social Gaming Marketing: What It Is, Benefits, and Examples of Platforms'. Cyberclick. https://www.cyberclick.net/numericalblogen/social-gaming-what-it-is-benefits-and-examples-of-platforms.

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Week 8: Filters

By extension of the previous topic on body modification on social media, imaging filters, like those on Instagram and Snapchat, have grown into a controversial discussion on their own. The core premise of filters is to process pictures and videos to virtually augment reality as a means to highlight, modify, or completely change what would be expressed otherwise. 

Launched innocently by Snapchat in 2015 under the brand, “lenses”, filters, particularly ones for the face and body, exploded in popularity due to their ease-of-use and applicability. Previously, professional level photo processing would be a costly and timely effort; far detached from any public use let alone consideration. However, with the inception of face filters on mobile applications like Snapchat, Instagram, and FaceApp. This dynamic was flipped on its head. Now, everyone with access to a mobile device or computer has the ability to quickly make the perfect picture for any personal occasion.

In the context of selfies and body imagery on social media as a whole, usage of filters and other editing software before public view has become so standardised in industry, that its somewhat seen as brave or apart of some social movement like ‘#bodypositive’. Jessica Barker’s research identifies that there is a divide in opinions on the social implications filters have on beauty standards and self-worth. On one hand, greater accessibility to more creative forms of expression empower everyone in the public. Oppositely, the overuse of these technologies have progressively warped the standards of beauty for a new generation; fueling the ‘digitised dysmorphia’ issue (Coy-Dibley I, 2016).

Particularly for females, the encouragement to measure and maintain this sort of digital aesthetic from peers and digital citizens has prompted several other social issues. Jill Walker Rettberg (2014) interviewed a photographer who noted a feeling of dissociation, akin to that of imposter syndrome. Additionally, it was also identified that the idea of a “perfect self” was more so a lie. Rather it alluded to the concept of a “perfect looking woman” regardless of any personal features like race, skin colour, or religion. 

References:

Barker, Jessica. (2020). 'Making-up on mobile: The pretty filters and ugly implications of Snapchat'. Fashion, Style & Popular Culture. DOI: 7. 207-221. 10.1386/fspc_00015_1. 

Coy-Dibley, I. (July, 2016). “Digitised Dysmorphia” of the Female Body: The Re/Disfigurement of the Image. Palgrave Communications. 2:16040 DOI: 10.1057/palcomms.2016.40

Rettberg J.W. (2014) 'Filtered Reality'. In: Seeing Ourselves Through Technology: How We Use Selfies, Blogs and Wearable Devices to See and Shape Ourselves. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137476661_2

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Week 7: Body Modification on Visual Social Media

With the wake of digital technologies revolutionising what we would consider a job, ‘online influencer’ and its plethora of synonyms such as ‘e-celebrity’ and ‘content creator’ have all become highly sought after occupations (Duffy B, Meisner C, 2022). A report by the Morning Consult in 2019 identified in their survey of millennials that 54% would be willing to pursue the career if given the opportunity. But why? One’s exposure to an online influencer is generally through the viewing of an already successful creator. In this regard, the lifestyle has built the stigma that it's easy, gives freedom of work, and makes a lot of money. While partly true, Brooke Erin Duffy and Colten Meisner in their literature, ‘Platform governance at the margins: Social media creators’ experiences with algorithmic (in)visibility’, measured the common sentiment amongst questioned influencers to be that the career path is more stressful and jarring than people assume.

Unlike more traditional jobs, as being a creator is linked to digital platforms, many current and aspiring creators echo the feeling that effort and hardwork don’t directly correlate to growth or performance; rather they are at the mercy of a black box algorithm to decide. Without any concrete way of knowing how to increase one’s own favorability in the systems, guidance is often seeked through continuous exposure to the environment. 

A by-product this leads into, however, is the modifying of one’s self image and character in an attempt to not only seemingly appease various social media algorithms, but also contribute to the normalised ‘porn chic’ culture that seems to thrive across social platforms. Jenna Drenten, Lauren Gurrieri, and Meagan Tyler (2018) coined the concept after assessing the trend of visual and textual sexualisation in abundance. A major driver they found is that provocative labour and photo editing to appear more “beautiful” connotated to greater avenues to monetization, faster growth, and interestingly, higher self-esteem. 

With this pressure to maintain this online appearance, what we’re seeing recently is the emerging socio-issue of body dysmorphia to the most minute degree.

References

Duffy  BE and Meisner,  C 2022. “Platform governance at the margins: Social media creators’ experiences with algorithmic (in)visibility,” Media, Culture & Society. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437221111923.

Morning Consult. 2019. "The Influencer Report Engaging Gen Z And Millennials". https://morningconsult.com/influencer-report-engaging-gen-z-and-millennials/

Drenten J. Gurrieri L. Tyler M. 2018. "Sexualised labour in digital culture: Instagram influencers, porn chic and the monetisation of attention". Gender work and organisation. DOI:10.1111/gwao.12354

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Week 6: Social Media Influencers & The Slow Fashion Movement

Slow fashion is a movement that opposites that of the more known trend of 'fast fashion’. Before we get into slow fashion we first must establish the concept of fash fashion. It involves producing ‘the most amount of fashionable apparel in the shortest amount of time’ (Chi T, Gerard J, Yu T, Wang Y, 2021). Additionally, many brands have adopted fast fashion as their mission statement and become major shareholders in the apparel industry, such as H&M and Zara; in a way, synonymizing fast fashion with general fashion to the greater public. However, in recent times, these brands and the culture as a whole have been heavily criticised for sustainability concerns. In the white paper, ‘Slow Fashion Consumer Behavior: A Literature Review’, an analysis was conducted which indicated a recent mindset shift in how people viewed the products they purchased.

Slow fashion encapsulates these ideals, centering around the concept that fashion pieces should last an extended period of time. This can refer to the literal sense in using the apparel for longer than ‘intended’ or build into the sense of reusability through thrifting, donating or giving it to someone who would wear; giving it a secondary life.

A major driver in the movement is the prevalence of social media and the various fashion communities with their respective ‘online influencers’ promoting the emerging dynamic (Brewer K, 2019). Brewer discusses that these online influencers are capable of generating significant interests for any particular fad spontaneously. This element isn’t strictly related to the aesthetics of the influencer either. Having a large online presence fuels a culture of celebrity worship which in turn increases the value proposition of whatever is being promoted through celebrity endorsement marketing (Hawshaw, 2019).

Interestingly, in the aforementioned literature, the authors reference a trend in consumerism that identifies the subconscious desires to be different through the products people purchase, especially that of clothing. Theoretically this means to say slow fashion presents itself as a means to show one’s uniqueness and creativity. Additionally, younger generations are seeing clothing at more than just face value appearance. The perceived value of a piece to those within the movement sphere, connotate less temporality to equal a conscious decision by the manufacturers to become more environmentally sustainable (Domingos M, Vale V, Faria S, 2022).

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Domingos, Mariana, Vera Teixeira Vale, and Silvia Faria. (2022). "Slow Fashion Consumer Behavior: A Literature Review" Download "Slow Fashion Consumer Behavior: A Literature Review" Sustainability 14, no. 5: 2860. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052860

Ting Chi, Jenisha Gerard, Yuhfen Yu & Yuanting Wang (2021) 'A study of U.S. consumers’ intention to purchase slow fashion apparel: understanding the key determinants' Download A study of U.S. consumers’ intention to purchase slow fashion apparel: understanding the key determinants', International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 14:1, 101-112, DOI: 10.1080/17543266.2021.1872714

Hawshaw. (2019). The Effect of Celebrities in Advertisements. Chron. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/effect-celebrities-advertisements-56821.html

Mark K. Brewer, ‘Slow Fashion in a Fast Fashion World: Promoting Sustainability and Responsibility’, Laws 2019, 8(4), 24

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Week: 5 Digital Citizenship

A digital citizenship is a contemporary concept that represents an individual’s status as a capable user of digital communication technologies. It sounds complicated, however, these days the internet has become so integrated in daily life, that you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who wouldn’t be considered a digital citizen. But just being a digital citizen does not amount to much. The value of the title is dependent on how effective the individual uses the technologies and services to engage with the rest of society digitally.

Moonsun Choi and Dean Cristol, in their related research paper, identified that because of this value, researchers and educators are slowly placing greater emphasis on bettering these skills within the public. In doing so, it can help “alleviate the many problems associated with a fragmented networked society”. One of the main differentiators of online discourse is that social topics can be more nuanced from the sheer volume of unique perspectives around the world. Additionally, emerging and under-developed social issues are given more opportunities to reach an audience that will initiate real change. This can be seen in the ‘#ShoutYourAbortion’ movement that started in 2015. The polarising discussion on abortion de-stigmatisation has since grown to the point of reaching the political level from what was just a Facebook status post (Kim Y, Lee S, 2022).

What’s interesting to see is how activism has evolved in the 21st century since the inception of social media and its impact on the real world. Ariadne Vromen references a “membership decline in many traditional, collective action-oriented organisations” whilst simultaneously recording a mental shift in how people view social commitments. We can see this especially so in modern politics, where prominent figures are involving themselves with digital communities to a point that could be considered unprofessional when compared to the norm. The 2016 US presidential election exemplifies this, where Hillary Clinton’s approach has been cited as traditional in comparison to Donald Trump’s amateurism (Enli G, 2017), and we all know how that turned out.

References:

Choi M, Cristol D, 2021, Digital citizenship with intersectionality lens: Towards participatory democracy driven digital citizenship education, Theory Into Practice, Vol. 60, Issn 4, Pg 361-370

Kim Y, Lee S, 2022, #ShoutYourAbortion on Instagram: Exploring the Visual Representation of Hashtag Movement and the Public’s Responses, SAGE Journals, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440221093327

Enli G, 2017, Twitter as arena for the authentic outsider: exploring the social media campaigns of Trump and Clinton in the 2017 US presidential election, European Journal of Communication, vol 32, no 1 pp 50-61

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Week: 4 Reality TV Case Study

‘Reality TV’ is one of, if not the most polarising genre of television. One quick Google search will show you hundreds of headers titled along the lines of, ‘Reality TV is corrupting society’ or ‘It's an evil that falsifies real life’. And surveys indicate that the public view the genre with the most disdain amongst all other broadcasted genres (Morning Consult, 2018). But despite this, shows of the genre are thriving more than ever. In Australia alone, shows such as ‘Married At First Sight’, ‘The Block’, ‘LEGO Masters’, and ‘Masterchef’ held viewership numbers over 1 million during their final episode in 2022; MAFS (Married at first sight) in particular reached 2.61 million and has cemented itself as one of Australia’s favourite shows (ExpressVPN, 2023).

A major driver in the modern era that has allowed the medium to thrive with a seemingly negative audience, is the adoption of social media as a means to initialise a digital public. In doing so, the broadcast becomes that of a social experience that encourages viewers to participate in adding a sense of ‘liveness’ to the overall experience (Deller, Ruth A, 2019). By engaging the viewer on a multimedia-level, the viewer themselves act as marketing for the show through word-of-mouth and online discourse. ‘Major’ events that occur are super catalysts for these types of discussions as they often deviate into social politics; a topic where even the uninformed and uninterested can debate. An example of such can be seen in MAFS (2022), where contestant Selena Chhaur is rejected for her asian ethnicity.

Furthering this idea of multimedia marketing, the strategy doesn’t solely hinge on public reception. Contestants within these reality TV shows are encouraged to participate in other mediums, such as interviews, social media, and cameos, sometimes at the whim of the producers but interestingly, also for their own personal gain (Deller, Ruth A, 2019). Regardless of current status, merely being in these widely broadcasted shows opens the opportunity to build and extend their moment of fame by leveraging their ‘authentic’ experience.

This all culminates into a seemingly flawless self-sustaining system, where regardless of one's opinion on the genre as a whole, it is almost impossible to avoid consuming some aspect of it. This can be in the form of watching, hate-watching, commentary, memes, and even research. This very write up is proof of this concept in which the meta commentary on the intricacies funnel back down to researching specific shows and events within the genre. But seriously, why the hell would you marry someone at first sight?!

References:

Shevenock S, 2018, Reality Is America’s Least Favorite TV Genre — Yet People Are Still Watching, Morning Consult, https://morningconsult.com/2018/11/27/reality-is-americas-least-favorite-tv-genre-yet-people-are-still-watching/

ATIKA, 2023, What reality TV shows are Australians watching?, ExpressVPN, https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/what-reality-tv-shows-are-australians-watching/

Deller, Ruth A, 2019, ‘Reality television: The tv phenomenon that changed the world.’, Emerald Publishing

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Week: 3 Tumblr Case Study

Amongst the plethora of social media platforms in today's digital climate, Tumblr, the very site you’re reading this on, goes against the norm of promoting interconnecting the user’s personal life with their digital life like Facebook and Instagram. Unlike those, Tumblr enables a degree of anonymity, and allows users to blog their interests without fear of social judgement as the content is viewed and shared by like minded users through hashtags.

In this particular reading by Anne Reif, Insa Miller and Monika Taddicken, the topic of the ‘#bodypositive’ movement, that emerged after the banning of NSFW (Not Safe for Work) content on Tumblr, is assessed on its effectiveness across the multitude of different social medias and the reception it received. The fundamental purpose of the movement was to challenge unrealistic beauty standards normalised across the world and to promote the idea of accepting one’s own body for its natural beauty. To participate, users would upload a ‘selfie’ of themselves to the platform alongside the hashtag as a means to show that there is no shame in being yourself. These posts would garner positive responses from peers, and in turn would boost the self-esteem of these individuals as they knew they weren’t being viewed through the objectifying lens of modern beauty. Interestingly, this sentiment isn’t new to Tumblr however. Elena Pilipets and Susanna Paasonen identified in their research, ‘Nipples, memes, and algorithmic failure’, that the platform had already developed its own culture of positivity and inclusiveness.

The movement was not without flaws however. The act of posting selfies, especially ones that incorporate editing and filters, can be viewed as narcissistic (Miller, Reif, Taddicken, 2022). As such, there was a fair share of criticisms regarding both the ‘honesty’ of the movement as well as the seemingly unintentional self-objectification; especially so when Tumblr’s demographic comprises mostly underaged millennials (Keller, 2019). These criticisms were only furthered to hatred on other social platforms such as Instagram, where even remotely sexual imagery is seen with a level of disdain by the public.

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References:

Reif A, Miller I, Taddicken M, 2022, “Love the Skin You‘re In”: An Analysis of Women’s Self-Presentation and User Reactions to Selfies Using the Tumblr Hashtag #bodypositive

Pilipets E, Paasonen S, 2020, 'Nipples, memes, and algorithmic failure: NSFW critique of Tumblr censorship', SAGE Journals, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1461444820979280.

Keller J, 2019, “Oh, She’s a Tumblr Feminist”: Exploring the Platform Vernacular of Girls’ Social Media Feminisms