How can communication on Twitter contribute to community empowerment?

          How can communication on Twitter contribute to community empowerment?  

                                                                                                          Ikki Ueda       

                       

                                     

                                                          Image: Communication on Twitter (Admin, 2017)

Communication is one of the essential parts of our daily lives. In fact, the way to communicate with other people is not only face to face talk, but also through online social network, such as Twitter. The main difference between these two methods of communication is that online social network is faster and easier to spread information to a large number of people. For instance, the aim of Facebook is to produce power to share and to provide more connections with other people in the world (McNell, 2012).  That is, online social network has increased the size of communication, and it unites people more than before (Kuttainen, 2017). Essentially, one of the ways to make use of this strength is community empowerment.

One of well-known example of community empowerment was the Ice Bucket challenge, which can demonstrate how online social network has impacted on society. This challenge is simply to overturn the ice bucket over the head, but the action behind this was to help the research for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis [ALS] (Sample & Woolf, 2016). ALS is the disease that damages tissues in the nervous system affecting our movement severely, and this disease is known as fatal disease (‘Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis’, 2017). Because numerous people on Twitter were curious about this challenge, more and more people shared it with other users or did this challenge. Green (2014) showed the statistics about this challenge that it reached over 400 million with 10 billion views, and it generated $100 billion donations for ALS patients. It is can be seen that it is possible for online social network to change our society for social justice.

It is significant to find out how Twitter is efficient to make the real world good from this case. The main feature of Twitter is that it has the ability to inform certain social concerns toward many people in order to evoke our self-awareness in society. The mechanisms behind this is that Twitter can spread information instantly by retweeting. A ‘retweet’ refers to a post that has been shared by people who are different to the original users (‘Retweet’, 2017). That is, the more people retweet this campaign on Twitter, the more we are likely to come across this challenge. Another factor is that some famous people, such as Mark Zuckerberg and George W. Bush were involved this Ice Bucket challenge for community empowerment (Sample & Woolf, 2016). Essentially, this type of person has a wide range of social connections in the virtual world, and they are highly persuasive people too. Thus, the involvement of these people was the effective way to communicate with many people so as to promote how this challenge is important for community empowerment. In conclusion, it is possible for online social network to change the real world in a positive way.

References

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. (2017). In The free dictionary. Retrieved from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/amyotrophic+lateral+sclerosis

Communication on Twitter. [image] (2017). Retrieved from http://thestudentlawyer.com/2017/02/20/twitter-quarterly-loss-reaches-167-million/

Green, R. K. (2014). 7 reasons why we are fascinated with the #IceBucketChallenge. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/r-kay-green/7-reasons-why-we-are-fasc_b_5945010.html

Kuttainen, V. (2017). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives, and the making of place, lecture 6: Power. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au

Mcneill, L. (2012). There is no ‘I’ in the network: Social networking sites and posthuman auto/biography. University of Hawai’i Press, 35(1), 65-82. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23540933

Retweet. (2017). In Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/retweet

Sample, I., & Woolf, N. (2016). How the ice bucket challenge led an ALS research breakthrough. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jul/27/how-the-ice-bucket-challenge-led-to-an-als-research-breakthrough

Pins and Perceptions: Pinterest and Visual Language by Kelsey Vigor

Pinterest, unlike many other social media platforms, is not built for facilitating communication between its users. Rather, as this study shows, Pinterest is primarily a solitary site. This detached experience means that narrative is key to navigating and understanding the content you’re consuming, with few text cues to guide intention. Board names provide dominant interpretations and perceptions of their pins, the latter of which in turn help form perspectives on the user that pinned it.

Image: How to Promote Your Etsy Shop With

URL: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/da/4c/78/da4c784558f44b58c0cf13aa63ef5738--business-baby-etsy-business.jpg 

Names set tones and attachments for boards. Given that Pinterest is a visual medium, board titles are some of the only text that the user has access to, barring board descriptions and pin captions. While pictures tell a thousand words, due to the often disjointed nature of pinning (especially when the board theme constitutes a more abstract concept, like a time period or a feeling), it is not always immediately clear what the intention and meaning behind those pins are. Without the board name, it is free for the viewer to form their own perspective as to the significance of these pins. To quote Tuan (1991), “Naming is power-the creative power to call something into being, to render the invisible visible, to impart a certain character to things.” (pp. 688) Therefore, the board name exists to impose a dominant reading for the board, changing the way it is perceived. An image of a beach means very different things between a ‘holiday’ board and a board that revolves around something so detached as the concept of loneliness.

While Tuan’s reading purposefully discussed language in the form of ‘speech’ for their article, I will instead be discussing language in terms of visuals. Language, in this instance, is the capacity to relate ideas and concepts through what can be seen, such as invoking the image of a tree to symbolise an actual tree. In this sense, language is quite easily manipulated on Pinterest, in order to shift perceptions of a user. The language of pins communicates a great deal about the user, and can inform perceptions of their personality, tastes, and lifestyle. For example, pinning content that depicts lavish lifestyles or extravagant fashions may paint a perception of an extroverted personality, or even a wealthy financial background.

The visual language of Pinterest is key to constructing narrative with which to orient oneself (Victoria Kuttainen, 2017). While naming boards is integral to the construction of a dominant theme, it is the visual language of pins that creates the perception of self. With limited opportunity for interaction between users, this perception can heavily influence who users may follow, or if they even pursue that limited interaction. While not readily apparent due to the lack of overt user presence, the way users (consciously or sub-consciously) depict themselves is necessary to the Pinterest experience.

References

How to Promote Your Etsy Shop With Pinterest [Image]. Retrieved from https://i.pinimg.com/736x/da/4c/78/da4c784558f44b58c0cf13aa63ef5738--business-baby-etsy-business.jpg

Phillips, B. J., Miller, J., & McQuarrie, E. F. (2014) Dreaming out loud on Pinterest. International Journal of Advertising, 33(4), 633-655, DOI: 10.2501/ IJA-33-4-633-655

Tuan, Y. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive Approach. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 81(4), 684-696. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2563430

ME + YOU + EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD

CATELYN EVANS

IMAGE 1- social media around the world

Hello and welcome back to another week of discussing the idea of  'network theory' and as well as the connection it shares with the social media world. This  week we will be addressing the idea of the power of 'communication'.

All around the world, everywhere you look, anywhere where you go. Everyone around you all share one major aspect in common, the use 'Communication'. Even with all the different languages spoken, in the world, the fact one story/information can spread around the world in just seconds is amazing. Starting by a face a face conversation or event, leads to being posted on a social platform and then spread like wild fire through the connections through the media, which leads to global recognition.

Edward Sapir once said,

        "Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society. It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality essentially without the use of language and that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection. The fact of the matter is that the 'real world' is to a large extent unconsciously built upon the language habits of the group. No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached... “  (Sapir 1958, p.69)

With this idea of the use of language being a medium on which we use to express our feeling, emotions or story within our society. However When we tend to communicate through social media, users end to trust the people they communicate with and have a more open conversation with their messages. As well our social connections we tend to create don't seem to have a strong basis, as in comparison if we have face to face conversations, on which we create a deeper relationship with the individual. Lastly with the use of communication we tend to follow and interact with people we share similar points, which leads to an open diversity of viewpoints.social media and social communications (2013, Vol. 13 No. 3 P. 10) 

However even though we bury ourselves into our virtual worlds and tend to ignore what is going on around us. But we are still able to understand what is happening in the world and view that diversity of opinions on a matter happening into today's world. The use of social media, gives us that privilege of being able to send a message and communicate with others, perhaps on the other side of the world. Which you cant do face to face without travelling miles to get there.

The use of Snapchat demonstrates these aspects as the idea of the app is a platform which gives you the ability to express or publish your view or approach to a topic. Personally having the ability to be view others story's or certain pending streams on the app. Gives the ability to show how communication all around the world ables to see the understand an opinion of an individual, on the other side of the world perhaps. The use of communication and how it brings everyone closer together proves that we are all connected and we aren't so far apart from each other after all.

References

Kuttainen,V 2017 Week 5 Lecture, PY1001

https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_2855360_1&course_id=_84764_1&framesetWrapped=true

Keller, M 2013  Social work today ,(Vol. 13 No. 3 P. 10)

http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/051313p10.shtml

How does language we use affect us on Twitter?

       How does language we use affect us on Twitter?

                                                                 Ikki Ueda 
   

                                                                                  
      Image: The visualisation of communication on Twitter     

( http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/another-top-communications-head-jim-prosser-quits-twitter-2955033/ )

Language is one of the most essential parts in our daily lives in order to communicate each other. There is a certain possibility that we are not aware of how language play an important role in our life. That is because it is universal to have language to talk with other people. According to Tuan (1991, p. 684), it is impossible to start creating ideas, having a discussion and translating them into action without any language. Tuan (1991, p. 684) also mentioned that language create space in different ways for better or for worse. For instance, if we have an interesting and decent conversation, it affects our space or atmosphere positively, and vice versa.

Nowadays, there are so many words to describe things not only in the real world, but also in the virtual world. That is, there were transitions in communication style from orality to virtual network over a long time period (Kuttainen, 2017). One example for this is cyber-bullying. This word reflects picking on somebody psychologically in the virtual world by using offensive language. Importantly, it is completely different way to bully somebody by using physical force.  Even though I do not see cyber-bullying at this moment, imagining about this word creates a visualization of the image of cyber-bulling in the mind.

Language and naming also have the ability to make place on the virtual world such as Twitter. Naming is the ability to call something into being in a creative way in order to change from invisibility to visibility (Tuan, 1991, p. 688). Actually, a various type of words is created on Twitter, which are tweet, retweet, follow, follower, and so on.  For instance, the word of ‘retweet’ allows users to spread information instantly on the virtual space by naming the feature of this function. Retweet means sharing the post other users tweeted again (retweet, 2017). What this phenomenon signifies is that using language is correlated with making space.

The most important aspect of language here is that language we use on Twitter has impacted on our sense of self and community identity. One of the way to identify the sense of self identity is our user name on Twitter. In fact, we can create our own name, which indicate our self-identity. For instance, some people use their real name, others use their nickname or fictional name. Both of ways would reflect how we want to be recogonised from other users by naming their account. On the other hand, the way to ascertain community identity is by using hashtags. More specifically, when we put hashtags whose contents are the same to other users, it enables us to feel closeness to them. The contents might be the place where we visited, famous people, or famous fashion brands. Although, we do not share the same thing physically, it is possible for us to feel the sense of community identity psychologically just by language on Twitter. In other words, sharing the same language on the virtual world enables us to feel that we in the group or community.

                                           Reference

Kuttainen, V. (2017). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives, and the making of place, lecture 5: Power. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au

 Retweet. (2017). In Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/retweet

The visualisation of communication on Twitter. [image] (2012). Retrieved from http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/another-top-communications-head-jim-prosser-quits-twitter-2955033/

Tuan, Y. F. (1991). Language and the making of place: A narrative-descriptive approach. Association of America Geographers, 81(4), 684-696. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2563430

Williams, E. (2009, February). The voices of Twitter users [video file]. Retrieved from

        https://www.ted.com/talks/evan_williams_on_listening_to_twitter_users/up-next