Thumbs up to Social Media in Politics

“THE intent is clear. The major political parties will be embracing social media in this seven-month election campaign on an unprecedented scale.” Explains James Griffin from The Australian.

Australian politics has been bouncing off the media for as long as Australian’s have been reading papers and listening to radios.

But now, with the social media never being so strong, politics in Australia needs to take this opportunity with both hands and spread that Red Hair’d lady party policies or that budgie smuggler wearing dude’s plan for the future.

For the 2012 election, the US spent $78 million on their online campaign. Now, obviously Australia doesn’t need to spend those kind of dollars, but fighting the social media fight is not one for the weak.

Keeping in mind, politics isn’t really my thing, however when thinking back over the last few years of Australian politics, only a few things come to mind. Climate change tax, the massive deficit after each yearly budget, and of course – Kevin Rudd caught swearing his head off and then the video leaked onto youtube.com. Boy oh boy, did I get a kick out of that. Personally, this made me like Rudd more. It made him more personable, more human, and lets be honest, it was just funny.

The link below is the video of Rudd losing it – trust me, it’s worth the watch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pNaDW0-XLQ

Without video footage and social media, politicians do not have to be the whole package. They can pretend through interviews and written word. I think social media has a positive effect on our political landscape due to it having the possibility of making people more aware of their political options.

Griffin, J, 2013, In Hyper-Local Election, Social Media is King, viewed 18^th February 2013, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/opinion/in-hyper-local-election-social-media-is-king/story-e6frg99o-1226574895743

Identifying Produsage

When I first heard the term, ‘produsage’, I thought I had no idea what this was.

However, turns out, I have been witnessing produsage since I started highschool.

Quite simply, produsage is everywhere. Wikipedia pages are easily forged as pages are able to be created by anyone. Many videos that are posted on youtube are that of produser’s work. Fail videos, car stunts, nature videos, you name it – it falls under the produsage title. Not to mention, memes and gif’s. And if you have ever accessed reddit.com, you have witnessed with your very eyes posts after posts by people promoting their own work.

Produsage is simply defined by the combination of the words, ‘production’ and ‘usage’. Produsage blurs the boundaries between passive consumption and active production.

If you have time, I would really recommend you watch the (or even some of) the Kony video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

This video has over 96million views. It’s unbelievable the impact the work of a produser had on social media

iRevolution - the impact of Digital Activism

Digital Activism is the new way to show your intelligence and to share a issue or news story that has interests you. For many, that’s as far as this activist movement goes.

Watching the Project on Channel 10 the other night, there was a battle between the generations influence on the world, and in particular, Australia. Baby Boomers and Gen X pointed out that my generation (Generation Y) thinks that they are changing the world by clicking ‘like’ or ‘share’. Despite this action getting awareness throughout society, this doesn’t necessarily bring about change.

A more recent example that caused my Facebook feed to fill up, the US election was such a hot topic, with my Facebook friends acting like political bloggers. It was like a popularity contest, with all status’ supporting Obama and showing off their knowledge and slandering the Republicans. It was all about having the most socially aware status or comment.

By reading about how the online activism in the Middle East is reminiscent of the printing press revolution in Europe, it demonstrates an obvious benefit that the digital activist movement has brought upon the world. At the time European dictators were unable to get ahead of the spread of information but by the time these tools got to the Arab world, political leaders already knew how to keep a handle on things. It brings equality for citizens globally, as people are able to receive information on many topics at any time, and contribute their opinion.

“This is just the beginning, and we will soon outgrow the current online tools. Activist journalism is now catching on. People can no longer tolerate just being aware of what’s going on, they need to be able to do something about it.”

On Change.org, anyone can write up a petition about an issue they care about, and if it concerns an American politician there’s a drop down menu where you can click their name and automatically get it sent to their Email inbox. When comparing this with some social media outlets, it is easy to see how generations before us understand how useless out ‘like’ or ‘share’ method is.

Moving past the useless ‘like’ or ‘share’ on Facebook – digital activism has introduced further ways to influence the way things are. It’s a fantastic tool and it would be empowering if we could have a similar kind of website made by people of the Middle East and in Arabic – this would bring an opportunity for citizens of the Middle East to have an outlet for their frustrations.

Digital Activism helped spark the protesting in Egypt in 2011, Online social networks being used by activists to communicate and organise anti-government protests.

Despite Egyptian authorities blocking internet and mobile services, the action from the government had come too late and Twitter and Facebook accounts had already blown the protesting on a world wide scale through these internet tools.

You snooze, you lose - the power of Social Media

To think about what the future brings and what changes are to come, can be utterly mind blowing.
Zooming in and thinking about the changes that are in the works for the social media world literally hurts my brain. I struggle to think of any area that has not been touched by creators of Twitter and Facebook, and those of the likes.

In fact,  all I needed was Facebook until a sneaky little app came along called Instagram, taking the smart phone social media world (and my world) by storm.

Neal Schaffer indicates that humans are by nature, social creatures and we have spent years and years relying on mass media. We surround ourselves with people who are like minded people or who boost an area of our personality. Will social media come down to a more personal level? I wonder...

Schaffer also points out that "the future of social media is my students, myself, you." Now, that to me sounds a little cliche. However, we are the consumers of this booming obsession, so obviously, if it is to continue, it's our usage that keeps the status' setting, tweet's being posted, photos being instagrammed, video's being youtube'd... well, you get the picture.

Considering the severe current collaboration with social media and smart phones, it is no wonder Diana Adams speaks about how our dependency on smart phones and social media is on the incline. "Our smartphones will become as personal as our own fingerprints, and we’ll use them to do everything from changing the channel on the television to starting the car to opening a beer. It makes sense when you think about how we incorporate our smartphones and our social media into our schedules even now."

To be honest, this change in the way we use social media is categorizing social media into a 'need' instead of a 'want'. Adam's continues to describe the use of smart phones as "it’s just always there, in the background, like a child needing attention." 

Is this the natural progression on where social media was going to take the world? Is our dependancy on a technology most would classify as entertainment a healthy progression of human evolution?

With the paths of its use stretching from Political campaigns, to individual's produsage of their own work - there appears to be no limits on the strong, stretched out arms of social media.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQzsQkMFgHE -- You must watch this video! It shoots out so many facts about the extreme grip that social media has on the world. The way we communicate, the way our relationships are formed, the way business is conducted, and the way we educate our children!

The social media world is fast pace, and you either keep up, or completely get left behind.


http://socialmediatoday.com/nealschaffer/1067826/future-social-media-2013-six-points-consider

http://www.bitrebels.com/social/smartphones-social-media-our-schedules/

Funny vs Cruel

 It's all fun and games til someone gets hurt

When I was at school, not everyone had smart phones. People didn't have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube etc, on them all day long, at their disposal.
I finished school 3 years ago - and the jump in the accessibility of these items and programs is unbelievable. My phone is now attached to my hand, and I am thankful that I no longer have school teachers to hide it from.

I am so easily able to take photos of my friends, people around me, things I find interesting, things I find funny. The camera phone, and the quality that now exists in everyone's palm is exciting!

However, with the good, comes the bad. Here I am, sitting in the library - and the reality is that if someone felt the need, that could photograph me without me knowing. Two days down the track, I could be minding my own business on the bus, heading home from work, when I discover a photo that is 'shared' or 'liked' of me, posted on some group that I never consented to. Instantly, I would feel embarrassed and my confidence would take a punch.

ReachOut.com describes cyberbullying as "any kind of bullying or harassment done using technology. It really sucks because it can be public, hard to take down, or affect you at home."

As mentioned above, cyber bullying is hard to take down. Whether you're the offended or the offender - the slander that is posted on the internet can have harsh consequences. It usually starts as a bit of fun, but fun at someone else's expense shouldn't be accepted. Honestly, when there are hotlines and help available to those people suffering - that should be an eye opener and a defining moment when deciphering between right and wrong.

ninemsn.com reported that by 2009, a quater of Australian children (aged between 10 - 18) reported that they have been subjected to cyber-bullying.
Parents have the responsibility to monitor the internet use of their child. Although, as I mentioned earlier, with smart phones attached to every teenager's hand, this is becoming impossible.

I ask that people are more conscious and think twice before they press 'post', 'share' or 'send'.



http://au.reachout.com/Cyberbullying

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.tickcontent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/3114527.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.tickcontent.com/features/how-social-media-is-helping-beat-cyber-bullying/&h=303&w=336&sz=27&tbnid=j9YxpHZbSV2AdM:&tbnh=108&tbnw=120&zoom=1&usg=__krz_ZWGAWJl0G6nm03gQvfqkFuE=&docid=TG3OrFbBCJndmM&sa=X&ei=WgALUdnoEeajigffqIHwAg&ved=0CH8Q9QEwCg&dur=5

http://today.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/840251/cyber-bullying

Chirp Chirp

Looking into social networking sites such a Twitter can be overwhelming. I personally don’t like the idea of Twitter – I feel it’s just the same as a Facebook status, which I already use.  Despite my opinion of Twitter, I have an account, which check a couple of times a week on my iPhone.

I use it to primarily read through my favourite comedians updates. They are always funny, and its great to see a different pathway created for them to promote their profession.

However James, a man I work with, loves to regularly check and update his Twitter because he uses it for personal tweets. I am curious what he updates, because with only 140 characters, you can’t say much!

Much like the brunette fellow in the youtube clip below (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w) I don’t see much point. I am yet to be convinced and dragged into the Twitter atmosphere. I did enjoy the explanation of the Twitter enthusiast though; “you are speaking to nobody, and everybody at the same time”

I decided to do some exploring into this phenomenon – due to millions and millions of people not agreeing with my opinion and using Twitter on the regular. The slightly bias, but most informative port of call was of course, www.twitter.com. Breaking it down into sections such as personal use, businesses, around the world, mobile apps, and community. Twitter connects businesses to customers immediately. “Businesses use Twitter to quickly share information with people interested in their products and services, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and influencers.” – That small summary from the “About Twitter” page made it hard to argue with the financial and simple benefits it can have upon any business.

So then I thought, “Ok, well then why does James from work use it?” James has no business to promote, no degree in anything or his name in the media. Referencing back to the youtube clip I spoke of earlier, “these people aren’t your friends, so why do they care?” After delving a little deeper into what makes Twitter chirp, excuse the pun – “you still have access to the voices and information surrounding all that interests you. You can contribute, or just listen in and retrieve up-to-the-second information.”

Despite my admiration for this social media site that has so clearly proven itself in the world and that has convinced many people to keep tweeting on the regular – I am still not prepared to set my first tweet…but a Facebook status – well, that’s another story. Obviously, everyone on Facebook cares when I check into Subway for my lunchtime sub…. Duh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w

About Twitter - www.twitter.com