Social Media: Maybe not as Great as we Think

As I sit here late at night on a Monday, I am reminded once again why I so love being an American.  I have just returned home from a night at the baseball field; by far one of my favorite places.  The first thing I did when I got home was to check my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media applications.  Of course, I had been checking them regularly on my smartphone all night, but what could another check on the ole' computer hurt.  As I begin to write a tweet about something of probably minuscule importance, a thought comes to mind.  I am reminded about an article recently read for class that deals with Twitter and the Iranian revolution in 2009.  After reading this particular article, which deals with the role of Twitter in the 2009 uprising, I am forced to reevaluate my views about social media as a tool for protestors in autocratic regimes (a subject of one of my earlier blog posts).

Ohh and to clarify what thought reminded me of why I was glad to be an American, for tonight it was the fact that I can post a tweet about my baseball game without worrying whether or not the government is going to use it to spy on me.  More importantly, I would be able to post a tweet critical of President Obama without the government being able to use it against me.  This is something we in the United States so often take for granted, yet it is something that not all people in the world enjoy.  But, I digress.

What struck me about this recent article that I read was the fact that repressive regimes, such as the one in Iran, can use Twitter as a weapon against their own people.  This article explained how the government was using Twitter to track the people posting anti-gvoernmemt messages and then tracking them down.  This is something I had not even though about in the past.  In fact, in my last blog post I railed about how important of a tool social media was in these uprisings.  I'm not completely changing my stance on this, I'm simply tailoring my position.

Do I think Twitter and Facebook are indispensable sites for protestors seeking change in severely repressive regimes? Of course I do.  However, I also think that we must be careful when we push these protestors to post their videos, pictures, or even live updates on these sites.  What we in the United States often fail to realize is that posting a status for some of these people could very easily put their lives in danger.  I think it is shameful for a government, such as Iran, to try to limit the free discussion of their people through violent deterrent tactics.  Further, I think it is completely inappropriate for these regimes to use social media sites as means for hunting down those prostetsors simply seeking to have a free government and to have their voices heard.

So, whats the point of this random rambling?  The point is that we often want to look at all the good the internet has done in the world and ignore the bad that it has created.  Heck, I'm as guilty of this as anyone.  I regularly tout the internet as a great resource and tool, especially for protestors.  However, as we see with Iran in 2009, a repressive government can also us the internet to hunt down and harm their own people.  Before we just expect protestors in other countries to tweet about their every action, we need to consider the consequences they face for doing so.  The right we have to freely tweet in the United States is a lot greater than we realize.  I think we all take rights like these for granted.  Maybe its time we start being thankful that we, in the United States, can use the internet freely as we please, without fear of the government hunting us down.

I will now step down from my soap box.  Sorry for the long post.

The "Awareness Generation"

In class on Monday, Dr. Hill complained about those facebook friends who change their profile picture to reflect campaigns for different causes like poverty or recently, atrocities committed by Joseph Kony. Do they raise awareness? Maybe. Does this translate into any meaningful activism? Rarely.

How many times have you seen statuses like "Post the color of the bra you're wearing right now in your status to help raise awareness for breast cancer research!" or "Post a picture of your favorite childhood cartoon character to raise awareness for Child Abuse Month."

I'm not sure that finding out my Aunt Mildred's bra is "lavender" is going to move anyone to do something more about breast cancer.

Jason Rickner, a Stetson Alum, did his senior research on the Russian Facebook's capacity to translate into qualitative discourse or activism and found that very little meaningful dialogue was taking place. Obviously, Facebook has played a big role in the recent protests in Russia, but the evidence that the social networking site has been able to encourage any other forms of social activism has been limited.

Perhaps there are positive ways "new media" outlets like Facebook can lead to substantive dialogue and activism. Facebook users can link to blogs (which we need to remember are powerful -- journalists are reading them) or take advantage of forum spaces to get an informed and specific conversation going. Instead of changing your profile picture to Bob the Builder, make a status that high lights the work being done by an organization that combats child abuse. Encourage people to make a contribution or link to the organization's website so that your friends can learn more.

We have to first get over the idea that we can solve problems just by raising awareness. It's a good place to start, and we have a lot of tools at our disposal to do it, but it hurts us if we're lulled into thinking we've done our part when really, we've only "passed the buck" onto someone else.

Tweets v. Likes

Tweets vs. likes: Ana Analysis of Monkey Cage Data

Joshua Tucker on February 26, 2012

Joshua Tucker, writer for the Monkey Cage once posted a question about why some blog posts are more likely to be “tweeted” and why others are subject to being “liked” on Facebook. Later, Georgetown student compiled data from the Monkey Cage and made an analysis of why certain blog posts are tweeted or liked.

The student’s analysis theorized that blog posts are liked based upon their graphical content. Blogs that have graphics or graphs are more likely to be “liked” on Facebook because of this social network’s graphical and picture orientated nature. On the other hand, blogs with more “wonkiness” received more tweets as Twitter is a text based network.

This basic study reveals some insight about the orientation of both social networks. Facebook is highly dependent on graphics and pictures for their internet traffic. Twitter is based on amusing, witty, and short “tweets.”

Another aspect of the tweet and like war is the public versus private spheres. Twitter is seen more as a public forum while Facebook has some “perceived” privacy towards your own friends and family. Due to this difference, Tucker commented that he is much more likely to post highly partisan ideas on the semi-private Facebook wall than on Twitter’s public forum.

He believes that this certainly has some impact on political behavior over social networks. Tucker theorizes that the difference between the public v. private domains of Facebook and Twitter will help differentiate the effects of social media on the audience.

Social media seems to counter act the hypodermic reception theory. Because users can be more selective in their media source options, the audience is more active and is not a passive recipient. The internet also balances the “agenda setting” behavior of televised news. The “agenda” on social media sites is entirely set by the users, not by the company trying to make profits off of popularizing a particular view. Therefore, social media and media on the internet may allow its audience to become more active and aware members of society.

Facebook, the Political Media and Networking Site

We are all well aware of Facebook’s absurd popularity, success, and wealth through its ability to allow devotees to post their every thought, expression, and movement on the public internet for anyone and all to view. Facebook shockingly became the world’s premier social media site, with your basic every day users acting as the company’s unpaid “reporters.” Recently, the company that encourages its popular cult to publicize their every move announced its upcoming application called “2012 Matters: What Matters Most.”

This application will allow Facebook members to interact in political affairs by answering poll questions and statuses on the issues that matter most this election. Most interesting, is Facebook’s new method of posting user data and thoughts- the very public and very large Nasdaq digital billboard in Times Square, New York.

Facebook’s direct newfound interest in politics is quite peculiar. With this new application, it will be the only major social media and networking site to inspire its users to become political activist. So why would a social media site be so concerned with giving its dedicated users this opportunity of public political activism?

Tanzina Vega, writer for the “Media Decoder” of the New York Times, cites in her discovery and coverage of Facebook’s new application that “Facts don’t spread. Emotions do spread.” This statement by Adams, a brand experience manager for Facebook, indicates the newest general trends of the media- rallying the audience towards one pole or the other by appealing to personal emotions in hopes of providing enough media coverage to influence voters towards a particular candidate. Ultimately, if that media outlet has the most influence on voter opinion, then their desired candidate will win and major profits will be had- a major win for the “winning” company’s finances and policies.

Is political activism for profit Facebook’s goal for this new application? Will this application perhaps uncover a bias in Facebook’s corporate structure? Only time will tell what the impact of the political polling application will be. One thing is certain however…users will jump at the chance to publicize their mediocre political opinions on a massive Times Square billboard.

Original Blog: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/facebook-users-to-put-political-views-up-in-lights-on-times-square/?ref=politics