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Social gaming - playing the crowd

Gaming has always been a social experience for players, dating back to board games played around a family’s dining room table right up until now when gamers play online with other people from around the world whom they may never have met before. One of the earliest forms of online gaming was the Bulletin Board System. Launched in 1978, Bulletin Board Systems, were accessed using a dial up line and modem, allowing users to log in and share software and data, exchange messages through chatrooms and play online games. Once the internet emerged in the 1990s the Bulletin Board System became obsolete (Edwards, 2016). The launch of the internet birthed the largest and most connected gaming community in the world. Massive Multiplayer Games such as World of Warcraft, Guild Wars and Eve online are some of the largest online multiplayer games in existence. The games allow millions of people to simultaneously exist in a digital world, creating massive online communities. This style of game is driven by the social elements of game play, allowing players to work together to complete each level. This form of social gaming then expanded to social media. In 2010, Facebook’s most popular social game, Farmville, had more than 80 million users (AdAge, 2016). The games run through Facebook increased the amount of time users were spending on Facebook, boost Facebook engagement rates and helping to increase Facebook’s revenue (AdAge, 2016).

With social media changing the way that individuals interact with another, the way politicians communicate with their constituents, the way that groups protest, and the way that individuals play games socially online, it hard to know what it will have an impact on next.

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Social media’s impact on business marketing

Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms have not revolutionised the way that individuals communicate within society but have also changed the way that businesses interact and market to their consumers. With more than 59 per cent of people accessing social media every day (Sensis 2017), it is no wonder why many businesses are now integrating social media as a core part of their digital marketing strategy. In Australia, 47 per cent of small to medium businesses have a social media presence, while 60 per cent of large businesses have social media and 90 per cent of those large business have a social media strategy in place (Sensis 2017). While many businesses started off with a business page on Facebook, they are now branching out into other platforms to raise brand awareness and connect with their consumers. For example, Instagram, a picture and video sharing application, has become one of the top social media platforms for business to advertise their products, interact with their customers and drive visitors to their website (Johnson, 2013). Many companies on social media use influencers to help promote or sell their products. An example of this was Adidas 2017 campaign in which they used well known hip-hop artists such as Snoop Dogg and Stormzy to promote their products. Adidas used the video campaign on social media to raise awareness of their ‘Originals’ line and to promote it as a part of hip-hop culture.

Businesses aren’t just using social media to push their products themselves. Businesses are tapping into ‘User-Generated Content’, which allows consumers to share their experience of a particular product with others – helping to create a more trusted brand (Hubspot 2017). User-generated content is any form of content created by users about a brand or product. User-generated content usually creates more engagement on social media, meaning it receives more likes and comments, which is great for businesses as it means more consumers are seeing their product (Hubspot, 2017). A great example of a company making the most of their user generated content is Mayfair, a furniture brand in the US. Wayfair encourages their customers to share the results of their creations by using the hashtag #WayfairAtHome. The Wayfair account then reposts these images with tags and links to the products featured, a great strategy that combines customer testimonials and design inspiration (Hubspot 2017).

More and more business are now seeing the importance of social media and how it can help them to increase brand recognition and sell more products.

References

Hubspot 2017 Best user generated content campaigns viewed online 4 February 2018 <https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-user-generated-content-campaigns>

Feb 2013, Johnson, T. The Instagram advantage: promote your business by sharing photos via this Facebook app

Sensis 2017 Sensis social media report viewed online 4 February 2018 <https://www.sensis.com.au/about/our-reports/sensis-social-media-report>

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Crowdsourcing in times of crisis

The negatives of social media often outweigh the positives in the eyes of most people; however, in times of crisis or when natural disasters strike, social media can play a vital role in how people communicate when other systems of communication fail. The use of social media during crisis was highlighted in Australia during the 2011 Queensland Floods, when more than 35,000 tweets were sent within a matter of days using the hashtag #qldfloods (CCI 2012). It wasn’t just members of the community who were actively using social media, emergency services, government agencies and organisations were all using Twitter and Facebook to spread important messages quickly and efficiently to the community (ABC 2011). The Queensland Police had the most active account and most engagement online during the floods, with many other organisations following the lead of the Queensland Police account (ABC 2011). During the 2011 floods, more than 15,000 Twitter users shared tweets using the #qldfloods haghtag, and many dedicated their accounts during this time to share these messages. Due to Twitter’s simple structure and the user’s ability to easily monitor conversations from official accounts such as the Queensland Police, it became a popular source of information during the crisis (CCI 2012).

References

ABC 2011, Emergency 2.0: How Social Media proved itself in the Queensland Floods viewed online 31 January 2018 <http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2011/04/05/3182906.htm>

CCI 2012, #qldfloods and @QPSMedia: Crisis Communication on Twitter in the 2011 South East Queensland Floods viewed 31 January 2018 [http://www.cci.edu.au/floodsreport.pdf]

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Trolling and social media conflict

Anyone who is active on social media or online is bound to have come across trolling behaviour or some sort of social media conflict. Heath (2013), describes trolling as using provocative and misleading comments online, with the intention of provoking conflict or meaningless discussion. While trolling is often looked upon as humorous or an online joke, it can at times become quite negative and have lasting impact. Trolling and social media are not necessarily new concepts, and bullying hasn’t dramatically changed because of bullying but social media has definitely made bullying more visible to people (Boyd 2014, p 152). As trolling can be done from an isolated place rather than through direct interaction, trolls often carry on with their lives with no direct consequences from their bullying or trolling (Moreau 2017). A well-known example of trolling or cyber-bullying in Australia and how it can turn ugly occurred to Charlotte Dawson, former model. In 2012, Dawson came out publicly, following her hospitalisation, to bring attention to the ugly hate she was receiving online from trolls and how it was having an impact on her mental health and wellbeing (Herald Sun, 2012). Then in 2014, news broke that Dawson had been found dead in her apartment once again highlighting the horrific impact Cyber-bullying can have on a person’s life (ABC 2014).

               Cyber-bullying and trolling doesn’t just affect celebrities or those in the spotlight; it can have a dramatic impact on young people in particular. This impact on young people is why many governments across the globe are writing legislation or introducing policies to try to protect young people from cyber-bullying. In Australia, the Federal Government in 2014 developed a discussion paper to address and highlight some of the concerns related to trolling and cyber-bullying (The Conversation 2014). One of the key issues identified in the paper is the generational and technological gap between parents and their children (The Conversation, 2014). This gap means that parents haven’t necessarily experienced what their children are going through and may not understand the whole concept of social media (The Conversation, 2014). While the discussion around trolling and cyber-bullying is still ongoing, it is positive to see the Government making some steps in the right direction to protect young people from the negative impacts it can have.

References

ABC, 2014 Charlotte Dawson death puts focus on cyber-bullying viewed online 31 January 2018 <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-23/charlotte-dawson-death-puts-focus-on-cyber-bullying/5277904>

Boyd, D 2014, Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty?, in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University Press, New Haven, USA, p 152

Heath, R L (ed.) 2013, Encyclopedia of public relations, vol. 2, SAGE Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, viewed 31 January 2018, doi: 10.4135/9781452276236.

Herald Sun, 2012 Charlotte Dawson how the cyber trolls beat me viewed online 31 January 2018 <http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/charlotte-dawson-how-the-cyber-trolls-beat-me/news-story/4cbde1d614e129f9a743a967c4efd8f5>

Moreau, E 2017, Internet Trolling: How Do You Spot a Real Troll?, Lifewire, 13 June, viewed 31 January 2018, < https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-internet-trolling-3485891>.

The Conversation Cyber safety what are we actually talking about viewed online 31 January 2018 <https://theconversation.com/cyber-safety-what-are-we-actually-talking-about-23505>

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Activism and protest

Protesting in the 21st Century has changed dramatically in comparison to the 20th Century thanks to the introduction of ‘digital activism’ and the use of the internet and smartphones. In the 1960’s protests around the Civil Rights movements in the United States were held in the streets of many cities across the country. In more recent times a different style of protest has surfaced. At the end of 2014, unrest in relation to police brutality in Ferguson and other parts of the United States led to a public outcry on social media, resulting in the start of the #BlackLivesMatter campaign (AdWeek 2015). In 2015, the movement gained more momentum following the deaths of more African-Americans because of social injustice (AdWeek 2015). The #BlackLivesMatter campaign was Tweeted more than 9 million time in 2015, and was a trending hashtag throughout the year (AdWeek 2015). Digital Activism such as the #BlackLivesMatter movement, raise awareness of social issues that are affecting minority groups, allowing those affected to share their stories collectively. These types of digital activism are designed to create change by putting pressure on political leaders to take action (The Conversation, 2016).

Another form of Digital Activism is Culture Jamming, which involves people using existing forms of media such as billboards or advertising to make comment on those very media themselves (Robertson & Cronin, 2010). Culture Jamming was prominent in the protest movements of the 1990s but social media has evolved the concept of culture jamming. Groups are now using social media to reset people’s mindsets and create more general awareness about specific issues or topics. A modern example of culture jamming is the meme on social media (Media Village 2014). Internet memes can take the form of videos, pictures, hashtags or words, and cover a range of topics. Users are using memes on Facebook and Twitter to make public comments on social issues that affect them.

Social media allows users to drive community action through its ability to read a large number of users in a short space of time. It has changed the way protests and activism take place in society, and will continue to impact on this in the future.

Reference list

AdWeek 2015, 2015s top 5 social activist campaigns – Blacklivesmattter – Lovewins and more published 28 December 2015, viewed online 25 January 2018 <http://www.adweek.com/digital/2015s-top-5-social-activism-campaigns-blacklivesmatter-lovewins-more/>

Media Village 2014, Culture jamming millennials and internet memes published on 17 March 2014, viewed 25 January 2018 <https://www.mediavillage.com/article/culture-jamming-millennials-and-internet-memes/>

Robertson, K & Cronin, JK 2010, Imagining resistance : visual culture and activism in Canada, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Waterloo, ON Slacktivism vs. Activism and its Effect on Social Profitability, n.d photograph, viewed 8 December 2017, .

The Conversations 2016, Beyond hashtags how a new wave of digital activists is changing society published 11 April 2016, viewed online 25 January 2018 <https://theconversation.com/beyond-hashtags-how-a-new-wave-of-digital-activists-is-changing-society-57502>

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Politics and social media

Social media is changing the way we are all communicating, including that of politicians and their constituents. In recent times, social media has become an important tool for politicians when campaigning. For example, both Donald Trump’s and Kevin Rudd’s used social media effectively to some degree during their recent election campaigns.

In Australian politics, if we look at the popularity of Kevin Rudd on social media versus Tony Abbott, you can understand why social media became such a powerful tool for Kevin Rudd during his election campaigns. Kevin Rudd has nearly 1.4 million followers on Twitter whereas Tony Abbott has just over 150,000 (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2013). Kevin Rudd tends to use a more personal tone on social media, whereas Tony Abbott’s profiles are more information-centric and more like he is broadcasting his messages to the community instead of using the platform to engage with them. During his 2007 campaign, Kevin Rudd utilised the use of a hashtag ‘#kevin07’, which appealed directly to the youth of Australia, and engaged them to be involved more heavily in politics than they had been in the past (Giulianotti 2002).

Donald Trump used Twitter throughout his 2016 Presidential Campaign to reach a wider-audience and share his views without going through traditional media channels. Social media has also changed the way many people receive their news.  A study from the University of Canberra highlighted that 65 per cent of people follow politicians on social media because of “concerns about the accuracy and fairness of political [news] coverage” (The Guardian, 2017). This was obvious in terms of Donald Trump’s campaign with millions of Americans following him throughout the election process. Using social media at key times throughout his campaign, meant Trump constantly had the support of his followers and they ensured his name continued to be in the media by keeping his tweets trending (Larson 2016). This resulted in traditional media, such as newspaper coverage, being impacted by the results of Twitter and other social media platforms (Larson 2016).

Social media is constantly changing the way society works and connects with one another, and this is no different in terms of the relationship between politicians and their communities. Due to the openness and transparency of social media, it feels as though there is an even closer connection now between politicians and their followers.

Reference list

Giulianotti, R 2002, Supporters, followers, fans and flaneurs: A taxonomy of of spectator identities in football, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, February, vol 26 no. 1, pp 25-46, viewed 29 January 2017.

Larson, A 2016 Donald Trump’s Twitter and His Influence on the Media: A Study of How Political Social Media Accounts Impact Press Coverage, viewed on 25 January 2018. <http://www.com.washington.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Larson-Honors-Thesis-Final.pdf>

The Guardian, 2017 More Australians follow politicians on social media due to mainstream dissatisfaction report viewed on 1 January 2018 <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jun/22/more-australians-follow-politicians-on-social-media-due-to-mainstream-dissatisfaction-report>

The Sydney Morning Herald 2013, Social Media stakes: Rudd & Abbott, viewed  25 January 2018, <http://images.smh.com.au/file/2013/08/07/4640158/Web_ElectionSocial/>.

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Social media affordances

Social media has changed the way we communicate and share information with one another. In the Nineteenth Century, our communication was limited to the people around us, relying heavily on face-to-face contact as the main form of communication (Siapera, 2012). Now, with the introduction of social media and social networking sites, we can communicate with an infinite number of people through a variety of different platforms and using a number of different styles.

Though the main purpose of social media has remained constant since its inception the social media platforms and networking sites used to communicate are constantly changing and growing due to their affordance. Affordance describes “what material artifacts, such as media technologies, allow people to do” (Bucher et al 2017).  For example, LinkedIn is a professional social media site, launched in 2003, to connect employers to potential employees. The platform allows users to create a profile, ultimately an online resume, and build an online social network representing professional relationships. LinkedIn also allows users to research companies and view current job vacancies related to their area of expertise. LinkedIn – and other job listing websites, are replacing the need for job seekers and employees to apply for positions in more traditional methods. LinkedIn users are often head hunted by companies’ due to the experience listed on their profiles, something that would have only happened to high-profile professionals in the past.

Photo sharing sites such as Instagram and Facebook have also changed the way we communicate and interact with one another. Photo sharing sites allow you to bring your followers into your world and share in your everyday life experiences. Both of these sites allow you to share photo and video content with your followers, to hashtag posts to categorise them, to view content that you find interesting to yourself and of course to comment on other users’ photos, videos and posts.  Instagram and Facebook now both have ‘stories’ which allow users to upload photos and videos that only last for 24 hours. These platforms allow users to self-curate their profiles by only showing publicly what they choose to show. Often Instagram is referred to as a ‘highlight reel’ as it isn’t necessarily a true representation of what happens in reality (Dentith, 2015).

Social media has drastically changed the way society uses technology and the way we interact and connect with one another.

Reference list

Bucher, Taina, and Anne Helmond. 2017. “The Affordances of Social Media Platforms.” In The SAGE Handbook of Social Media, edited by Jean Burgess, Thomas Poell, and Alice Marwick. London and New York: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Dentith, J 2015 Highlight reels vs reality accessed online on 10 December 2017 https://thoughtcatalog.com/jessica-dentith/2015/02/highlight-reels-vs-reality/

Siapera, E 2012, 'Socialities and Social Media', in Understanding New Media, Sage, London, pp. 191-208.

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Digital communities and social media

Social media and social media networks have become a core part of our everyday lives. Approximately 60 per cent of Australians have a Facebook profile, and 50 per cent of the country is logging in to their profile every day (Social Media News, 2017). But what is it that makes social media so popular, and how is it that it has integrated into our daily lives so easily over the past few years?

Jue (cited in Murthy 2013), defined social media as ‘the many relatively inexpensive and widely accessible electronic tools that enable anyone to publish and access information, collaborate on a common effort, or build relationships’. So, is it the ease of access, the affordability or the connections that make social media so popular in our daily lives? Through the invention of new technologies such as smartphones and tablets, and the introduction of innovative social media platforms and networks, we are now always connected to people and information. Boyd (2014) describes people who are ‘always-on’ and ‘trying to keep up with technology’ as ‘digital natives’.  To Boyd being ‘on’ isn’t just about instant gratification, it is about having the ability to enhance an experience by finding out more information or by involving your digital connections in that experience. For example, social networks such as Facebook and Instagram, allow us to share our experiences with family and friends. If I’m traveling in another country, I can involve my connections on social media in this experience by sharing videos or photos of my travels. This enhances the experience as it makes them feel like they are part of your travels and it also enables you to share your experience with others.

Social media and social networking sites constantly progress and change as people learn to use them in ways they were both designed for and in ways that were unimaginable to even the designer themselves. As Norman (2011) describes it ‘the value of a well designed object is when it has such a rich set of affordances, that the people who use it can do things with it that the designer never imagines.’ For example, if we look at the evolution of Facebook. Facebook was originally designed as a social network platform for students of Harvard University (The Guardian, 2007). The uptake of the site was so popular it was then extended to other US universities, schools and even international universities. From there the site was opened to allow anyone with an email address to create a profile and connect with people from around the world. I am sure that when they were initially designing the site they couldn’t have imagined the impact Facebook would have on the world, and that it would become an essential part of most people’s daily lives.

Social media and social networking sites are continuously changing the way that we communicate, connect and share information around the world.

Reference list

Boyd, D 2012, 'Participating in the always-on lifestyle', in M Mandiberg (ed) The Social Media Reader, NYU Press, pp. 71-76.

Interaction-Design.org 2011, Affordances (Don Norman, 1994), 15 February, viewed 3 August 2016, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK1Zb_5VxuM>.

Murthy, D 2013, Twitter: Social Communication in the Twitter Age, Polity, Cambridge.

Social Media News, 2017 Social Media Statistics Australia November 2017 accessed online 9 December 2017 <https://www.socialmedianews.com.au/social-media-statistics-australia-november-2017/>

The Guardian 2007 A Brief History of Facebook viewed online 9 December 2017 <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/jul/25/media.newmedia>

Images

Social Media Platforms <http://ieeehtc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/SocialMediaMarketing.jpg>