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Haters Gonna Hate, Trolls Gonna Troll

There are trolls hidden around almost every corner on the internet. No, not the fairytale kind that sits under the bridge. According to Moreau (2019), an internet troll is a member of an online social community who tries to disrupt, hate, offend or generally cause trouble by posting comments, photos, GIFs or some other form of content on the internet. Internet trolls are usually found humiliating and attacking others on YouTube video comment section, social networking sites, discussion forums and any other platforms that allow freedom of expression and opinions.

Why Do Internet Trolls Troll?

When people think they are anonymous, they tend to do things they otherwise wouldn’t have done with proper identity. However, even if the person’s identity is known, the inability to physically see the person on the other end causes a person to be less self-conscious. Since conversations online do not happen in real-time, people feel like they are free to quickly drop a negative comment and flee from the scene altogether. In addition to that, trolling on the internet can be seen as a way to temporarily put aside mundane concerns to discuss a specific topic without having to worry about the consequences. To them, cyberspace is a kind of game where social norms and rules of daily interaction do not apply (White, 2013).

The existence of sadists on the internet is one of the reasons online harassment and cyberbullying occurs. They spread hate, lies, deceive and cause damage to others while they enjoy watching others suffer. Sadism is a personality trait of a person that tends to enjoy the pleasure of inflicting pain. Sadists actively cause harm, motivated by the enjoyment of the aggressive act and the painful outcome instead of passively taking pleasure in others’ pain (Chester, DeWall and Enjaian, 2018). While sadists pose a serious problem on the cyberspace, others may troll just because they are depressed, angry, sad, jealous or some other emotions that are influencing their behaviour on the internet.

Amber’s Reaction to Hateful Comments

“oh my gad AMBER where ur chest”

“Wai amber’s chest so flat”

“…….amber dont have boobs?”

Amber Liu is a Taiwanese American singer active in South Korea and the United States. She is known for her short hair, tattoos and an overall boyish look. However, not everyone is a fan of her appearance. Her appearance is far from a typical female look which does not conform to society. As a result, she has attracted many hate comments and trolls on her YouTube channel regarding her physical appearances such as tattoos and flat chest. In response to the hate comments, she uploaded a YouTube video titled “Where Is My Chest?”. It’s a comical video where she addresses the haters and trolls through an adventure to find her missing chest (Lee, Choi and Atkinson, 2017). She completely trolls the troll with a sense of humour instead of feeding them with the attention and reaction that they crave.

Bibliography

Chester, D., DeWall, C. and Enjaian, B. (2018). Sadism and Aggressive Behavior: Inflicting Pain to Feel Pleasure. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, [online] 45(8), pp.1252-1268. Available at: https://swinburnedb.librarynet.com.my:2093/doi/full/10.1177/0146167218816327#_i1.

Lee, M., Choi, J. and Atkinson, S. (2017). 'Flat-chested' K-pop star fights online hate. [online] BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-42335316/flat-chested-k-pop-star-responds-to-cruel-body-comments.

Moreau, E. (2019). 10 Types of Internet Trolls You'll Meet Online. [online] Lifewire. Available at: https://www.lifewire.com/types-of-internet-trolls-3485894.

White, C. (2013). Why Do Internet Trolls Exist?. [online] Mashable. Available at: https://mashable.com/2013/02/10/internet-trolls/. 

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Activism and Protest on Social Media

It’s not surprising to know that social media surrounds our everyday lives. Believe it or not, we have probably taken part in some form of digital activism consciously or unconsciously on any social media platforms. According to McNutt and Menon (2008), digital platforms enable activists to organize more supporters with fewer resources over greater distances. Activists are able to develop information and bring their case to the decision maker.

Digital activism has undeniably transformed social activism and political protest for the past decade. Mobile phone and the internet have mobilized thousands of supporters which often bypass the traditional politics, social movements and campaigning (Karatzogianni, 2016). Digital activism commonly comes in the form of online petitions, hosting of websites, social media pages and hashtags. Hashtags such as #YouKnowMe, #MeToo, #PrayforParis, #ArabSpring as well as #IceBucketChallenge can be used to show support for the causes on any social media platforms.

Looking into #METOO movement

#MeToo movement first began in 2006 by Tarana Burke, who experienced sexual assault herself, wanted to help victims of sexual violence. Following sexual-abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Alyssa Milano tweeted the phrase “Me Too” on Twitter, which encouraged the spreading of #MeToo hashtag in an attempt to draw attention towards sexual assault and harassment. This movement connects survivors and forming communities on digital space also known as “networked publics”. Many survivors reacted to the movement and started sharing their stores with the hashtag. #MeToo movement provides a platform for those who feared or had never speak out their experience, an opportunity to share their stories with the community. They were able to empathize with each other and provided support within the community, which in this case known as digital community.

For Burke, #MeToo is beyond just a hashtag. It starts a larger conversation and a movement for community healing. The hashtag went viral; it spread and brought awareness on what happened. However, #MeToo will eventually fade away but what it brought upon the survivors were hope and inspiration. Hope and inspiration for the survivors are only sustained through work, real community work (Ohlheiser, 2017).

Beyond Hashtags

As we are aware by now that social media has the power to grow political movements and facilitates social change, but how do hashtags function as an effective tool for digital activism? According to Aalai (2018), hashtag activism can be powerful in controlling a narrative regarding a common cause that has either been neglected or misrepresented by the media and it offers an opportunity for communal participation across the globe. While raising awareness of an issue is critical through hashtag activism, it does not make one a social activist unless there is other community work being done to facilitate change. In other words, hashtags should be followed by action such as donating to a cause, involved in community work or even looking for possible ways to help with the cause. Hashtag activism can be a great way to be involved in social justice issues, but it should not be the only way for successful social activism. Overall, as digital technology continues to evolve, it is hard to predict if digital activism is still relevant for the society in the future but for the time being, social media is indeed a great tool for activism.

Bibliography

Aalai, A. (2018). What Is the Real Impact of Hashtag Activism?. [online] Psychology Today. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-first-impression/201804/what-is-the-real-impact-hashtag-activism.

Karatzogianni, A. (2016). Beyond hashtags: how a new wave of digital activists is changing society. [online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/beyond-hashtags-how-a-new-wave-of-digital-activists-is-changing-society-57502.

McNutt, J. and Menon, G. (2008). The Rise of Cyberactivism: Implications for the Future of Advocacy in the Human Services. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, [online] 89(1), pp.33-38. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1606/1044-3894.3706.

Ohlheiser, A. (2017). The woman behind ‘Me Too’ knew the power of the phrase when she created it — 10 years ago. [online] The Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/10/19/the-woman-behind-me-too-knew-the-power-of-the-phrase-when-she-created-it-10-years-ago/?utm_term=.d5d697949380.

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Social Media & Political Engagement

Social Media has become increasingly significant in influencing political affair. Social media services, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have transformed political communication globally. Political leaders and political parties are using social media to communicate and engage with citizens. This has encouraged participation among younger citizens.

According to Abdulrauf, binti Abdul Hamid and bin Ishak (2017), the cognitive engagement theory assumes that educated citizens in a society are better informed which results in a higher possibility of participation in politics. Also, cheaper access to information increases consumption of information from the media which leads to higher political knowledge and interest among citizens.

Role of Social Media in Malaysia GE14

Let’s take a closer look!

The 14th Malaysian general election social media campaigns have allowed young voters to be well informed and participate in the election. With 88% of the Malaysian population aged 25-34 access the internet on a daily basis, no doubt that social media is one of the best platforms for political parties to reach their respective young supporters. Social media quickly became a source of news on politics and the election as the mainstream media were mostly monopolised by the incumbent party. Young voters were looking into what both sides of the party had to say before deciding on their votes (Lim, 2018).

                              Source: R.AGE

Invoke Malaysia claimed that Pakatan Harapan won the 14th general election by running a targeted social media campaign based on big data. Pakatan Harapan’s data-driven campaign was focused on what citizens wanted to discuss whereas Barisan Nasional’s messages were more top-down. PH’s social media campaigns have managed to engage with more citizens as compared to BN who started their social media campaign only 2 months before the general election. In fact, PH has already won the social media campaign war even before the first vote was cast by looking at the total amount of engagement just on Facebook alone. This has been supported by campaign messages that are more interactive and entertaining as opposed to a less appealing one-way lecture (Abdullah and Anuar, 2018). A properly planned campaign strategy is able to reach and engage with a larger audience in a short span of time, especially first-time and young voters.

#PulangMengundi

#PulangMengundi movement on various social media has encouraged many university students and young working adults to return home to cast their vote. A group of young Malaysians has set up PulangMengundi.com, a website to help connect voters to travel home through car-pooling services and travel subsidies. Despite a weekday poll date, GE14 saw an 82% voter turnout rate which is the second highest in Malaysian history with a majority of registered voters aged 21-39 at about 41% of all age groups (Lim, 2018). Indeed, the social media campaign was a success in engaging young Malaysian voters and encouraging them to participate in political affairs.

                     Source: MGAG

Nothing beats the spirit of Malaysians coming together to make every vote counts through social media movement #PulangMengundi. The power of social media is that it connects Malaysians all around the world over a political affair and in this case the 14th general election. Even overseas Malaysians are closely monitoring the whole process leading up to the election results on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Overall, social media transforms political communication, encourages political involvement among the younger age group and provides real-time information for citizens.

Bibliography

Abdullah, N. and Anuar, A. (2018). Old Politics and New Media: Social Media and Malaysia’s 2018 Elections. [online] The Diplomat. Available at: https://thediplomat.com/2018/05/old-politics-and-new-media-social-media-and-malaysias-2018-elections/.

Abdulrauf, A., binti Abdul Hamid, N. and bin Ishak, M. (2017). Cognitive Engagement and Online Political Participation on Social Media among Youths in Malaysia: The Moderating role of Political Knowledge. SHS Web of Conferences, 33, p.85.

Lim, I. (2018). All you need to know about GE14 in numbers. Malay Mail. [online] Available at: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2018/05/09/all-you-need-to-know-about-ge14-in-numbers/1628878.

Lim, M. (2018). How digital marketing turned the GE14 tide - R.AGE. [online] R.AGE. Available at: https://www.rage.com.my/digital-marketing-turned-ge14-tide/.

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Tumblr, a blog or a social networking service?

Wait, so what’s a Tumblr?

According to Boone, 2012, David Karp started Tumblr in 2007 as a microblogging and social networking website. He was inspired by Chris Neukirchen, a German high school student who invented the tumblelog system as well as Marcel Molina and Sam Stephenson, two Americans who started a blog project called “Projectionist”. Tumblr is a platform for short-form blogs also known as tumblelog which consists of various content ranging from photos, videos, audios to animated GIFs. At the same time, Tumblr offers social media features such as like, reply, share, reblog, so on and so forth. With that being said, is Tumblr a blog or social networking service? Could it be both?

Let’s Explore!

A blog is an online journal or informational website displaying content in reverse chronological order with the most recent post appearing first. It’s considered as a one-way communication where writers share their thoughts on a subject to the audience without expecting much interaction. (Djuraskovic, 2018)

On the other hand, social networking service (SNS) is an online platform to build a relationship with others who share an interest, background or even real relationship. It’s considered as a two-way communication where users engage with others through liking, sharing, commenting and even instant messaging. (Kenton, 2018)

Looking at the features Tumblr has to offer, we can further break them down into blog features and social media features. As for features of a blog, Tumblr is built with seven distinct post types such as text, photo, quote, link, chat, audio and video. These options are accessible through dashboard making it a user-friendly interface as it’s straightforward. A writer is able to express thoughts and ideas creatively through a varied and content-rich platform. Blog posts created don’t have to be published immediately as it can be scheduled or queued for a certain time. Posts on Tumblr can also be set to private according to the writer’s preference. Another interesting feature would be the customization of a blog. Tumblr allows a customised URL for the page which would be a huge advantage for blog owners who are concern about SEO. An extensive theme is available for writers to customize pages which help them to create and curate content that is unique to the writer themselves and the readers.

As for social media features, every Tumblr blog can create a personal profile with information and photo. These users then follow other blogs of their specific interest similar to the following feature on Instagram and are followed in return. Any updates from these blogs will appear on the dashboard which is similar to the feed of Facebook. Blog owners are able to interact with one another through liking post, reblogging or even leaving a comment like any other social media platform such as Facebook. These social and community features encourage users to find or promote the content of interest so that they are able to interact with like-minded users. This is why memes, fandoms and even adult contents exist on Tumblr. Sharing feature on Tumblr has also encouraged the sharing of content outside Tumblr through linked Facebook or Twitter account.

Before I conclude,

Ultimately, whether Tumblr is a blog or SNS, it really depends on how a person uses and experiences Tumblr. If a person uses Tumblr to post thoughts, music or even memes, that person is most likely using Tumblr as a blog. If another person then likes and reblogs thoughts, music and other memes, then that person is probably using Tumblr as SNS. However, this doesn’t limit how and why a person uses Tumblr because it could be for both reasons as well.

Bibliography  

Boone, B. (2012). How Tumblr Works. [online] HowStuffWorks. Available at: https://computer.howstuffworks.com/tumblr.htm [Accessed 30 Mar. 2019].

Djuraskovic, O. (2018). What is a Blog? - Explanation of Terms Blog, Blogging & Blogger (2019). [online] Firstsiteguide.com. Available at: https://firstsiteguide.com/what-is-blog/ [Accessed 31 Mar. 2019].

Kenton, W. (2018). Social Networking Service (SNS). [online] Investopedia. Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-networking-service-sns.asp [Accessed 31 Mar. 2019].

Moreau, E. (2019). The Complete Beginner's Guide to Using Tumblr. [online] Lifewire. Available at: https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-tumblr-4049305 [Accessed 30 Mar. 2019].