The Social Analyst Podcast: ‘hashtag activism’, ‘slacktivism’ and the changing landscape for social media activists.

The content of this podcast was designed to help create a better understanding of social activism on the Internet in modern day. In particular, I wanted to discuss how social media plays an increasingly more relevant role within the space of activism and how digital platforms either enhance activism movements or create more risk. I also wanted to discuss the more modern concepts of both ‘hashtag activism and ‘slacktivism’, and what ideas those concepts impose for people wanting to get involved in activism online.

The works of Professor Peter Brophy and Edward Halpin helped me gain an understanding into how the introduction of the Internet has helped activism on a large-scale, organisational level through the works of non-government organisation Amnesty International. This gave great insight into the more technical level of development online activism brings beyond petitions and protests, and how the ability to intercept information and bypass government regulations in repressed countries through online channels has greatly helped people who are the victims of human rights abuse. It also opened the door to discussing larger movements we have seen online in more recent years that gained a lot of traction and participation across multiple social media platforms. This allowed me to mention different tactics used across the different social media, such as the use of hashtags or adding a specific colouring or wording to profile pictures, to help the movement become ‘clickable’ and gain more attention, especially allowing these movements to become viral on a global scale. This then led to discussing recent movements where we saw this happen, such as #BlackLivesMatter, #BringBackOurGirls and #ALSIceBucketChallenge, to emphasise ‘hashtag activism’ movements have enabled awareness for incredibly important issues within societies from across the world.

The works of Dr. Nolan Cabrera allowed me bring in concepts such as ‘slacktivism’ and ‘replacement thesis’ into the podcast, which I felt was an interesting point of discussion to help analyse the potential hindrances different types of activist behaviour on social media can bring. The concept of ‘slacktivism’ was incredibly helpful to bring an understanding of how efforts across social media, such as those mentioned previously, may feel like participation towards an activist movement, but in reality don’t really insinuate much cause for change. I wanted to discuss the concept of ‘replacement thesis’ to further push the idea that behaviour that falls under ‘slacktivism’ ultimately come down to a waste of time, where time could have been better spent participating in the movement in a different way. It also helped me draw focus towards the element of physical participation and the risks involved when choosing to participate in activism. Which led to the interesting concept of how social media has given many activists the choice to eliminate risks, and in choosing to eliminate risks, are we no longer truly being effective activists.

Most of the challenge involved in the creation of this podcast came from editing across different platforms to work towards the delivery of a clean sounding piece of work. I used both the GarageBand and iMovie applications to help create the podcast as their effects, sounds and music are royalty free, easy to access and edit. I also find this blog site, WordPress, a little confusing at the best of times and do find it a challenge to ensure my posts look presentable. But as always, there’s nothing a little search in Google can’t fix! Kudos to those who create interesting and entertaining online content. In doing this task I re-learnt that creating content is hard, and at times, confronting to be faced with both creative and technological challenges at the same time.

References

Brophy P and Halpin E (1999) ‘Through the Net to freedom: information, the internet and human rights’, Journal of Information Science, 25(5):351-364, DOI: 10.1177/016555159902500502

Cabrera N (2017) ‘Activism or Slacktivism? The Potential and Pitfalls of Social Media in Contemporary Student Activism’, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 10(4):400-415, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000061

Music: iMovie ‘Stepping Out Medium’

Tina Morlock (January 5 2020) How to Avoid Slacktivism: A Guide for Digital Activists, Medium, available at https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-avoid-slacktivism-a-guide-for-digital-activists-81b4d7b12530

Personas and Identity in Online Spaces

Today’s world is filled with an abundance of different online platforms that can be viewed as virtual playgrounds for identity exploration. These platforms, generally social in nature, give anyone the ability to portray alternate versions of themselves for simple entertainment, or even to fulfill curiosity by exploring a part of their ‘real world’, or otherwise offline personality.

Photo by Eva Elijas on Pexels.com

The presentation of self in online environments have become a perplexing area of study, with many theories that aim to explore such things such as the nature of culture, authenticity, privacy within those digital identities. ‘The availability of multiple and heterogeneous sites for self-presentation promises seemingly endless opportunities for conveying some “truth” about an “authentic” self for those with access to web technologies’ (Smith and Watson 2014:75), and the topic of authenticity is definitely an aspect of online identity that I have personally experienced and explored myself.

As we continue to portray our identity online, at what extent does curating an image become inauthentic? Is it even possible to be truly authentic in online spaces?

— Tammy Rozich (@t_rozich) December 21, 2021

In ‘interacting with online performances of self… questions arise with regard to authenticity and realness’ (Smith and Watson 2014:76) and we can clearly view this with popular social influencer personalities. We often hear many social media influencers pedaling the idea of authenticity by sharing the details of their lives, their ‘true authentic selves’, with the collection of strangers that have chosen to follow them online. These social media influencers use numerous communications tactics such as creating and publishing vlogs, pictures, and live streams to their digital social platforms to portray an image of themselves, to depict a particular type of lifestyle that is interesting or desirable enough to subscribe to. We can see this behaviour online even amongst individuals without any said social following, we see them creating a particular image or depicting a certain lifestyle, showcasing the best for their friends and family to see. This is perhaps where we can truly question authenticity in regards to an online image, in analysing our friends and family, as we have a ‘real world’ image to compare against.

Interesting how people choose to alter their online identity depending on the social media platform, it seems many feel the need to categorise content to fit particular themes or lifestyles for their audiences.

— Tammy Rozich (@t_rozich) December 21, 2021

Behaviour and depiction of image can change depending on the social media platform being used. In observing my friends and family’s identity portrayal online, I have come to my own set of opinions on how differently persona can be expressed across different platforms. Typically, I have found Instagram to be a social platform where I see the most investment in the curation of personal image. Images and video tend to be selected more carefully and in line with a particular theme or lifestyle, such as food and dieting, home renovation/DIY, fitness motivator or travelling nomad. It seems that Instagram allows the individual to adopt a character to immerse themselves within a particular area of interest, and whilst we do see the largest display of this behaviour amongst those with larger followings, I have seen some of my own friends do the same. I have seen a friend of mine take her interest in cosmetics and skincare beyond a real world, turning her Instagram page into a place full of advice, tips and tricks and reviews. She has created a following of over 15,000 people who tune in to listen to her live streams where she shows how to choose the right skincare and apply makeup expertly. She posts beautiful images of flat lay products, makeup applications and colour swatches. She has truly adopted the ‘beauty guru’ persona online, where her followers come to ask for advice.

In regards to myself looking back at my own experiences with online identity, I can remember exploring a certain part of my personality through the social media platform ‘Tumblr’, where I curated a page based on the theme of 90s fashion and pop culture, one of my big interests at the time. I can remember reposting images of thrifted outfits, screengrabs of popular 90s teen shows and movies, and just overall trying to capture the essence of the time through music, video, image and a particular colour scheme. I would also follow, interact with, and repost content from similar blogs in hopes to gain my own following in return. If you were to observe that page to gain an insight into my personality, you would likely come to the conclusion that I am constantly dressed in a 90s ‘mission brown’ outfit, adorning a choker necklace and mood ring to suit. However, this wasn’t the case. It was just a part of my personal interest that I explored, that in turn created a particular image of myself online.

Photo by Thiago Matos on Pexels.com

So where can we find authenticity of online identity? I feel that I have found a closer representation of authenticity through platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Perhaps this is because they focus on delivering content that focused on news and current events, rather than expressing creative flair. Perhaps there is no such thing as being ‘authentic’ in an online realm, were we are all posting to portray an image or convey a message.

Reference

Smith S and Watson J (2014) ‘Virtually Me: A Toolbox about Online Self-Presentation’, in Poletti A and Rak J (eds.), Identity Technologies: Constructing the Self Online, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, pp.70-95.

Watching me, watching you.

We’re all playing the role of online Big Brother in more ways than one.

Big Brother by Mao Tsé-Tung (CC BY 2.0)

Living highly technical and fast paced lives, it’s no wonder a large part of our time is being spent on social media. Constructing important elements, such as our identity, social groups and news outlets, has never been easier with affordable smart devices that give everyday people the ability to access online tools and apps. These devices allow the user to bring order, sense and structure to a world that has become rather chaotic and overloaded with information.

https://twitter.com/t_rozich/status/773531889495707651

As our society has progressed over time, surveillance has adapted and morphed into different forms, and has incorporated itself into developed online environments. Surveillance has always been an omnipresent and highly integral part of our society that over time has filtered its way into our everyday lives more than ever before.

From our quiet local streets and restaurants, to busy large-scale stations and airports, surveillance has always held the role of up-keeping security and safety in public spaces. Due to large parts of our lives consisting with online activity, surveillance has blurred the traditional lines and barriers of physical street monitoring and entered the online realms in ways that we may not entirely realise or be openly exposed to.

technology by Ioana Grecu (CC BY 2.0)

“A number of theorists have noted the ways in which surveillance, once seemingly solid and fixed, has become much more flexible and mobile, seeping and spreading into many life areas where once it had only a marginal sway.” (Lyon and Bauman, 2013 p.7).

In his book, ‘Liquid Surveillance: A Conversation’, David Lyon brings to life the idea of ‘liquid modernity’; a theory coined by Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman. Liquid modernity refers to the way in which modern society emanates fluid-like movements in the way that is it constantly changing and rapidly evolving. Lyon uses the key beliefs to liquid modernity to explain how ‘always on the move, today’s citizens, workers, consumers and travellers also find that their movements are monitored, tracked and traced’ (Lyon, 2013 p.2) and that surveillance is replicating society’s liquid state. Surveillance has found a way to flow through our online environments and intricately survey and collect individual data with ease via the servers we use and the codes we carry on our many devices.

Another largely documented and theorised concept develops from the notorious Michel Foucault, French philosopher and social theorist, who established works regarding surveillance and discussed elements of panoptic society. Establishing theories in relation to contemporary social control, privacy and contemporary city, Foucault’s theories express a way of life that is very much alive and happening today.

In this podcast, I discuss some ideas on panoptic society in relation to Foucault and Bauman, surveillance in our everyday lives online and what ‘dual nature’ (Bauman) is and how it might relate to our everyday highly digitalised and surveilled environment.

Our digital lives are fundamentally being controlled via panoptic surveillance and digital monitoring that impact our lives in many indirect ways. ‘The drive to self- monitoring through the belief that one is under constant scrutiny (Wood, D p.235)’ means that we alter our behaviour due to the belief that we never really know when someone’s watching.

 

References:

Ltd, W.F.M. 2016, Social theory Rewired. Available at: http://routledgesoc.com/category/profile-tags/liquid-modernity (Accessed: 5 September 2016).

Bauman, Z. and Lyon, D. (2013) Liquid surveillance: A conversation. Available at: https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=flpuJFmDFQYC&oi=fnd&pg=PT5&dq=surveillance+and+consumerism&ots=hkC8QSxR6O&sig=TQz8lKFJmvmgvKywrv8gPRU3q4g#v=onepage&q&f=false (Accessed: 4 September 2016).

Wood, D (date unknown), Foucault and Panopticism Revisited. Editorial. Available at:http://surveillance-and-society.org/articles1(3)/editorial.pdf.

Lights, camera, surveillance!

Have we become our own form of paparazzi?

When it comes to celebrity news and popular culture, we’re feeding our need for entertainment and gossip first hand via social media surveillance sites.

paparazzi! by Federico Borghi (CC BY 2.0)

Surveillance has always been about general, large-scale observation of society. Now with an enormous global community online, surveillance has integrated itself into the depths of the Internet and occurs in many different ways.

With people from across the world gathering together and sharing bundles of information on multiple online platforms, the desire to watch and observe other peoples lives has greatly grown in digital communities. People have more exposure than ever before with accessible information about foreign communities, activities, events and culture. Through the use of social media, content about individual lives can be shared in creative, interesting and instant ways that allow for up-to-date information to be shared to millions of people in just a few moments.

https://twitter.com/t_rozich/status/773682625487613952

Celebrity culture and gossip has experienced a dramatic change over the last decade with new ways to access celebrity information, their locations and daily activities. Not only has the platform of celebrity content changed, but also the type of celebrity we see in the media today has dramatically transformed. ‘The emergence of reality TV and of the internet, especially web 2.0 phenomena, has pushed ordinariness into the cultural forefront’ (Gamson, J 2011, p.1062). The way in which social media allows us to view celebrity lives has developed an engaging experience for users to get involved in and seek to keep up with their favourite personalities.

Paparazzi by Rob Sinclair (CC BY 2.0)

Via the use of heavily used and highly popular social sites such as Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, we have a plethora of avenues to delve into the realms of pop culture and into the lives of the people within it. For example, we’re able to view the life of Kylie Jenner through her Snapchat and Twitter and feel like we are gaining real time and personal insight into her lavish and extravagant lifestyle. We are also able to view the more personal sides to celebrities lives through these social media platforms as the famous post snippets and photos of themselves and their family/friends completing rather mundane and everyday activities that you or I complete.

https://twitter.com/t_rozich/status/773684667274756096

So why have we become so interested in the everyday mundane? Whilst our traditional celebrities (think Hollywood stars) instantly gain large followings on their social media pages, sites such as YouTube and Instagram have allowed for the birth of many everyday people rising to fame. Spend some time on YouTube and you will experience just how quickly some users gain followings of their own and how we are really living in a time where a rise in the glorification of online bloggers and vloggers is occurring. Events such as VidCon, established for all online creators to come together and meet and greet with their fans always gain mass attendance full of people eager to meet with their favourite online personalities.

VidCon attendees  by Gage Skimore (CC BY 2.0)

There is a sense of attainability that has transformed the way in which we view celebrities. The rise of social media icons nowadays is ‘not distant but attainable – touchable by the multitude’ (Marshall, D 1997, p.6). Celebrities have been brought back down to earth and are now being found in the likes of everyday people.

 

References:

Marshall, PD 1997, ‘Fame in Contemporary Culture’ in Celebrity and Power, U of Minnesota Press, pp. 1-10.

Gamson, J 2011, ‘The Unwanted Life Is Not Worth Living: The Elevation of the Ordinary in Celebrity Culture’ in USF Scholarship Repository, University of San Francisco, pp. 1061-1066.

 

 

Growing up in a 2.0 world

My oh my how times have changed!

It may be interesting to consider the idea that once upon a time humans were all sponges, meaninglessly absorbing information that the media fed us and wanted us to believe. It may also be interesting to imagine that our parents grew up as mindless sheep following the crowd, passively consuming advertisements and propaganda every time they turned on the television or tuned into their preferred radio station.

Whilst the above scenario may appear to be a more exaggerated version of how life used to be before digital technology merged itself into everyday life, imagine a time filled with no smartphones, laptops or even accessible internet available to everyday people across the globe. A time like this really did once exist, and even though it seems like a world away, it was only about 30 years ago when people began using the very early models of laptops and mobile phones.

Coming from the standpoint of a generation Y baby, the way in which we live our lives vastly contrasts to the way in which our parents (and certainly our grandparents) generations lived. Looking back today, we can see two versions of the media, an older media 1.0 with traditionalist ideals, and today’s more digitalised media 2.0.

Understanding how to utilise digital media comes as second nature to many people living in the modernised 21st century. For the last 20 years, people have grown up with and have learnt to use technology from the very early stages of their lives. For children born in the last 10 years, they haven’t lived their lives without some form of technology or digital device influencing their childhoods. We are currently raising ‘digital native‘ children living in a media 2.0 world. Parents are using technology to aid the way in which they raise children, to keep their children occupied and entertained. Institutions such as schools and workplaces are highly digitalised and knowledge about technology is almost a necessity in order to succeed. Our personal lives are becoming more integrated with online activity through social media, our access to information is more widespread than ever before, and our physical activity in everyday life is being monitored in ways we still are yet to uncover. In this 2.0 world, we are certainly living in a fast paced and digitalised time where way of life is is rapidly changing day by day.

 

I will be exploring more into digital media and surveillance topics on this blog. I can’t wait to see what unfolds and hope you enjoy reading through my thoughts!