msmarketinggraduate

[msmarketinggraduate]

“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

(via saltypaperdinosaur)

[msmarketinggraduate]

 Gaming Communities, Social Gaming, and Live Streaming

“The live streaming of video games is an activity where people broadcast themselves playing games to a live audience” (Wikipedia Contributors 2020). 

Gaming gives users the opportunity to partake in a form of community due to the communication and presence amongst broadcasters, players, and the audience.

When a game is being live streamed the audience can experience the broadcast alongside others which enhances their experience as it becomes more interactive and enjoyable.

Gaming aims to expand onto television due to the high levels of potential growth it has. Live streaming offers professional players and teams opportunities to build their audience, brand anc incomes while streaming their practice sessions even if they are located in their bedrooms (TL, 2O18)

Twitch is a broadcast gaming platform that is truly just dedicated to gaming and has reshaped the gaming environment and future. In 2017, “the site boasted 2.2 plus million unique broadcasters per month with 17,000 members in the Twitch Partner Program and 110,000 creators in the Affiliates program” (TL, 2018).

In recent times, the gaming and live streaming community has dramatically grown due to the impacts of covid-19. Many lockdown regulations cause people to become isolated which increased the use of gaming to keep people occupied. Due to the minimal social interaction with others in everyday life because of the pandemic, the gaming world acted as a community as more people were becoming involved to increase their social health and well-being. The live streaming service allows for online gaming communities to be a part of the public sphere where people are able to communicate and voice their opinions in an online channel. Gaming has increased rates of socializing and decreased levels of loneliness as a result. Therefore, gaming has a positive impact on the public sphere.

References

Taylor, TL 2018, ‘Broadcasting ourselves’ (chapter 1), in Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming, Princeton University Press, pp.1-23

Wikipedia Contributors 2020, Video game live streaming, Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation.

#week10 #gaming #livestreaming #digitalcommunities

[msmarketinggraduate]

Instagram Filters

There’s no denying that social media filters and editing apps have made us all question whether we should use them or let ourselves embrace being natural and unedited. The increased usage of apps like Facetune has provided anybody with the opportunity to fix anything about themselves. This includes teeth whitening, face sculpting, and body slimming…. LITERALLY ANYTHING!

The biggest problem is, that those who are choosing to not use the editing apps like the majority of women feel pressured and judged for posting an unedited photo of themselves.

“According to a new Dove Self-Esteem Project, research has revealed that a shocking 85% of girls have applied filters or used an app to change the way they look in their photos by the time they are 13; whilst 67% of girls try to change, or hide, at least one body part before posting a photo of themselves to social media” (Mind-bending and Filtered Faces, 2021).

Nowadays, media and industries aren’t the only ones who are misrepresenting female aesthetics, any person is able to alter themselves through Photoshop and apps which produce a false normativity (Coy, 2016).  Western society and media have manufactured women’s aesthetics for the likes of the male gaze despite the fact these aesthetics are deemed to be unachievable and unrealistic. However, instead of creating a society that accepts inclusiveness, an image of women’s bodies can be edited to meet the desired standards of feminity (Coy, 2016). Anyone who owns a smartphone has high accessibility to download these apps as they are free to use. Women feel pressured due to the unrealistic expectation that is portrayed for females of how a female body should look which has decreased women’s confidence and produced increased rates of body image issues.

The uprise of Digitised Dysmorphia

In recent times, there has been an increase in body dysmorphia, especially amongst women, body dysmorphia is a mental illness involving obsessive focus on a perceived flaw in appearance (Mayo Clinic 2016). Both males and females who face body dysmorphia can face extreme anxiety about their appearance and can develop obsessive and compulsive habits and routines regarding their appearance (Coy, 2016).

There are substantial similarities between body dysmorphia and digitised dysmorphia.

Digitized dysmorphia is not considered a mental illness but is fuelled by the increasing power and standards from beauty-related industries and cultural norms regarding the female body. The increase in edited photos causes women to feel like that’s how their female bodies should and need to look. Therefore, individuals who fall victim to edited photos fall into a toxic cycle of producing a false reality of themselves and are subject to having obsessive habits and routines of editing like those suffering from body dysmorphia.

#digital communities #week9 #instagramfilters #bodyimage

[msmarketinggraduate]

Body modification on Social Media

When you’re a young woman you’re trying to find out your passions, hobbies, career and short and long term goals. Majority of the younger generation and population have access to all social media every single day. However, nowadays social media has created a shift from normitivity to a society which creates a false sense of reality in relation to a persons appearance. 

Celebrities and influencers use social media on the daily to post images of themselves to reach their fan base, with some of these images can be highly sexualised . Social media platforms especially Instagram and TikTok is where these celebrities go to gain the most reactions, follows, likes and response from the public.

As a result fo these images, young woman are given a false beauty standard and put pressure on themselves to look just like their ideals and appeal to the male gaze. 

Businesses like plastic surgeons and personal trainers have taken this opportunity to advantage of young girls insecurities by providing them with a resolution by altering heir physical appearance to look like their role models and celebrities. On Instagram and Tiktok, there has been increase in the number of uploads of before and after photos which compare young girls appearance. The increase in the number of girls getting plastic surgery is due to the increased presence these businesses are having on social media. 

The biggest problem with social media is the toxic culture where users have shifted their perception of what a female body should look like. Therefore, if they themselves don’t reach that unachievable standard they lose confidence, gain insecurities and body image issues. 

However, some of the population out there are following these unrealistic  and made up body standards. A minority is using social media as a platform to gain overnight success and be attracted by the male gaze. Some women's aspiration is to alter themselves and become highly sexualised to become famous through using social media. 

I personally believe anybody can do what they want in their life and to their own body if they wish to do plastic surgery. I just hope these women are doing it for themselves and their own confidence instead of trying to follow societies unrealistic and toxic pressure they place on woman in society.

#bodyimage #digitalcommunities #week8

[msmarketinggraduate]

Social Media Governance

This week’s topic of focus is digital citizenship and conflict focusing mainly on the importance of social media governance. Let's get a better understanding of social media governance, it can be defined as the “bundle of policies, guidelines, processes, and educational resources to guide individuals and organisations to successfully present themselves in social media activities” (Dand 2010).

It aims to develop strong and safe communication in our online environment (Linke & Zerfass 2013, p.275) that focuses on an ethical, best practice approach (Aders 2013) to managing communication across various online platforms. Not only does it decrease the likelihood of social media incidents but also helps users to establish the boundaries of what content is deemed acceptable and unacceptable in our current digital environment. 

Modern day gas lighting has occurred online where it’s the behaviour used to strategically gain power and control and typically assisted with the denial, escalation, trivialisation, and countering of victim’s experiences.

In the article, The Conversations ‘Explainer: What Does Gaslighting Mean?’’ Gleeson refers to instances where survivors of abuse have shared their stories via the #MeToo movement and its hashtag, only to be shamed by their audience for ‘making up’ their experiences, highlighting the need for stronger social media governance practices to step in on the monitoring of how individuals are communicating with one another in yet another space where perpetrators are able to be otherwise faceless and not held accountable for their manipulative actions.

The ‘manosphere’ also occurs online which needs social media governance. The ‘Manosphere’, defined simply “The manosphere is a network of online men’s communities who promote anti-feminist and sexist beliefs blaming women and feminists for all sorts of problems in society”.

The Manosphere is divided into four broad groups: 

The MRAS, the Men's rights activists who claim that family law and social institutions discriminate against men. Much of their activism involves harassment and abuse towards feminists and other female public figures.   

The MGTOW, the “men going their own way” who often avoid women as they consider them as toxic. Some of the MGTOW will only date women whilst others won’t even be friends with women.

The PUAS, the pickup artists who teach strategies to seduce women. Many of these techniques involve mistreating, insulting and degrading consent. 

Incels, the Involuntary celibates who are incapable of finding a partner but believe they are entitled to one. Horrifyingly, acts of extreme violence and even murder have occurred amongst this group. 

The manosphere have developed several words and phrases which suggest someone is aware of the community. These words and phrases are used to communicate without getting taken down, to reach out to other members and to try to encourage other males to join.

Some of these words are:

‘Black Pill’ which is the belief women use their sexual power to dominate men socially, where the Incell group wants revenge for 

‘Red pill’ which refers to learning the truth about female nature and that feminism is oppressing men 

Gynocentrism: the theory that society revolves around and is dominated by women 

Alpha male/chad: an attractive, successful man desired by all women 

Beta male/cuck: an average man who has not yet taken the red pill and is inferior to the alpha male (Opinion and concern, 2022)

References

 Aders, T 2013, How to Build a Social Media Governance Policy, Social Media Today, viewed 4 April 2022, <https://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/how-build-social-media-governance-policy>. 

Dand, M 2010, What is Social Media Governance and 5 Key Elements of a Successful Model, Social Media Today, viewed 1 April 2022, <https://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/what-social-media-governance-and-5-key-elements-successful-model>. 

Dillon, M 2019, We know what gaslighting is, here's what victims of the abuse have to say, ABC News, viewed 4 April 2022, <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-23/gaslighting-likened-to-death-by-a-thousand-cuts/11107162>. 

Gleeson, J 2018, Explainer: what does ‘gaslighting’ mean?, The Conversation, viewed 1 April 2022, <https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-gaslighting-mean-107888>. 

Huang, S 2018, Report of the recent #MeToo movement responses in Twitter, Medium, viewed 6 April 2022, <https://sh3685.medium.com/report-of-the-recent-metoo-movement-responses-in-twitter-a1af9696a32b>. 

Linke, A & Zerfass, A 2013, ‘Social Media Governance: Regulatory frameworks for successful online communications’, Vol. 70, no. 30, pp.270-286. 

Opinion, N. and concern?, W., 2022. What is the manosphere and why is it a concern? | Internet Matters. [online] Internet Matters. Available at: <https://www.internetmatters.org/hub/news-blogs/what-is-the-manosphere-and-why-is-it-a-concern/> [Accessed 10 April 2022]. 

Psychology Today, Gaslighting, Psychology Today, viewed 2 April 2022, <https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/basics/gaslighting>. 

Reddit.com. 2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.reddit.com/> [Accessed 10 April 2022].

[msmarketinggraduate]

Social Media Influences on Fashion

The uprising demand for sustainable fashion is due to the destruction and damage the fast fashion industry is having on the environment around us.

Fast fashion can be defined as fashion that is "mass-produced, cheap, changes within a fortnight and often associated with a throwaway attitude" (Watson and Yan 2013).

Fast fashion is a major cause of clothing pollution which is an environmental crisis due to the fact consumers throw away clothing in landfills and it can take more than 200 years for the materials to decompose. The reason why these materials are purchased is because they are highly popular and influenced by the fashion industry due to the affordability, durability, and availability of clothing. Furthermore, consumers are unaware that once the clothing is manufactured, washed, and worn, materials lose plastic microfibres that end up in the environment and do not biodegrade.

The problem is that social media platforms like Tiktok are exposing people to micro trends and viral videos which increases the mass purchasing of these harmful fashion pieces.

Influencer 'Sopha Dopha's' toxic fan base has the potential for businesses to sell out of a clothing item after she posts a Tiktok video wearing a piece. The majority of these influencers' clothing is from fast fashion companies like Shein, Zara, White Fox, and Glassons. These companies generate income by copying upend designs by reproducing them in quickly a mass quantity, at an affordable price.

THIS NEEDS TO STOP!

We all need to start considering thrifting, purchasing second-hand clothing, and recycling our old clothes in an edgy way. Businesses need to start considering slow fashion which "seeks to slow down the pace of the current fashion life cycle by producing a maximum of four fashion lines annually, focus on quality rather than quantity, and are not mass-produced"(Watson and Yan 2013).

References

Zhen Lai, Claudia E. Henninger and Panayiota J. Alevizou ‘An Exploration of Consumers’ Perceptions Towards Sustainable Fashion – A Qualitative Study in the UK’, in Sustainability in Fashion A Cradle to Upcycle Approach, edited by Henninger, C.E., Alevizou, P., Goworek, H., Ryding, D. (Palgrave: 2017)

#fastfashion #sustainbility #week6 #digital communities

[msmarketinggraduate]

 What is Digital Citizenship?

And we are back!

So what is digital citizenship?

"Digital citizenship is about confident and positive engagement with digital technology. A digital citizen is a person with the skills and knowledge to effectively use digital technologies to participate in society, communicate with others, and create and use digital content" (Tasmania n.d).

The uprise of those choosing to be digital citizens is due to the decrease in people's interests in traditional collective action-orientated groups such as unions and political parties to individuals seeking more involvement in the local community, and environmental and human rights organizations (Vromen, 2017).

Younger people especially are choosing to be involved in social movements and engage in politics in an individualised way compared to being a formal group member.

Individuals are choosing to become digital citizen by getting involved by offline and online petitioning, donating money, volunteering time, and boycotting consumer goods (Vromen, 2017).

The uprising use of Twitter and other social media platforms amongst users has resulted in an increase in society's use of hashtags. Hashtags are now considered a resource that allows users to participate in the public sphere, such as #auspol or #blacklivesmatter.

Hashtags allow people to have larger conversations with other respondents, comment and respond to other people's posts and allow users to follow them for future discussions and posts.

Users are able to follow trending topics and use analytics and data to see the most popular hashtags to see what everyone seems to be talking about. They allow openness and mass communication in the public with a bunch of strangers.

HOW GOOD IS THAT!

References

Ariadne Vromen (2017)  Digital Citizenship and Political Engagement The Challenge from Online Campaigning and Advocacy Organisations London : Palgrave Macmillan

Tasmania, L n.d., Digital Citizenship, libraries.tas.gov.au.

#hashtag #digitalcommunications #week5

[msmarketinggraduate]

Digital Community and Fandom: Reality-TV

Sooooo... reality television? Am I the only one that loves it but pretends to hate it?

This week we will be looking at the digital communities in relation to reality tv (don't keep scrolling yet).

Within the last two decades, there has been an uprising in the popularity of reality television. To list a just few, we all know: Keeping up with the Kardashians, Big Brother, Married at First Sight, and The Bachelor/ette.

Audiences around the world are appealed to reality television as they a provided with entertainment that shows "inclusiveness and transparency" compared to other television shows (L'Hoiry 2019). These shows give audiences the opportunity to see what occurs behind closed doors of their favourite celebrities or expose the audience to raw drama without their own selves being involved.

However, watching reality tv can become addicting as it causes physiological arousal in our bodies as from the drama. Increased heart rate, arousal, and the release of endorphins in the brain are pleasure-inducing and result in humans craving more (Rodrigues 2021).

As a result of this, audiences are hooked on the show. This provides media producers the opportunity to use social media on multiple platforms to expose the show and open discussion to their fans. Social media increases viewership as public sphere discussion can take place amongst fans as they have the opportunity to share their ideas, opinions, and knowledge. This is beneficial for the media producers as they receive direct feedback to follow to ensure their audience is satisfied so their ratings increase.

A perfect example is the reality television show 'Love Island', which is run over 8 weeks and involved the audience taking part in voting on different topics throughout the duration of the show.

The audience ultimately decides on the winning couple in the final episode as the public is left to vote for the final decision. The producers use generating audience engagement as the main marketing strategy. This approach allows the producers to receive a feedback loop between the television show and social media. The more people engaging across different social media platforms about the show can directly translate into increased viewership.

'Love Island' will continue using this marketing strategy as it creates a public sphere and is essential in building the show's commercial interests and ratings.

(Anyway see you next week, I'm going to watch KUWTK!)

References

Leetaru, K 2017, Is Social Media Really A Public Space?, Forbes, viewed 27 May 2022, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/08/01/is-social-media-really-a-public-space/?sh=77ceee572b80>.

L’Hoiry, X 2019, Love Island, Social Media, and Sousveillance: New Pathways of Challenging Realism in Reality TV, Frontiers in Sociology, viewed May 21AD, <https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2019.00059/full>

Rodrigues, L 2021, Why Is Reality TV So Addictive? The Psychological Reason You Watch Married At First Sight, https://thelatch.com.au/.

#reality tv #loveisland #digitalcommunities #week4

[msmarketinggraduate]

Digital community and blogging

Welcome to the exciting world of Digital Communities! 

On this blog, we will cover various topics and deeply unpack the influential impact and toxic culture of the digital world.

Nowadays, social media has given young women the ability to engage in various forms of feminist activism. This week the focus is on where digital communities are found, what digital communities young people are choosing to join and why?

Is it Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, Twitter or Instagram?

Let’s focus on Tumblr. Tumblr was founded in 2008 as a microblogging site which quickly grew as it was found to be highly attractive amongst the younger generation across the world. 

As a young girl growing up, Tumblrs ability to remain anonymous gave us whoever we wanted and to openly express ourselves for the first times. Tumblr was exciting, however through my own experience as a young age, some Tumblr posts were quite overwhelming and negative. 

Tumblr offered an inclusive environment where all people had access to post and reshare whatever they wanted without the criticism which they may normally receive in reality.

Young girls first exposure to feminism was on Tumblr. Posts began of females personal experience which received thousands of reshares and began filtering through their dashboard multiple times. 

However, when comparing Tumblr to other social media platforms, Tumblr lacks the criticism, complexity and intersectionality like Twitter. It limits users exposure to other topics and issues as its dashboard was related to users who lived similar lives to their own (Corner 2021).

Ultimately, the younger generations that started on Tumblr were exposed to the digital community and feminism from a young age. These same young people are having influence on current culture and politics. (McCraken 2020).

References

Mayo Clinic 2016, Body dysmorphic disorder- Symptoms and causes, Mayo Clinic.

McCraken, A 2020, a tumblr book: platform and cultures, ACLS humanities Ebook, University of Michigan Press.

#digitalcommunities #week3 #tumblr