Week 3 notes: Asking Questions about Social Media:

This chapter connects its ideas to how people participate in politics, social fairness, and the basic nature of social media communication.

A huge part of being online can involve or is integrated with social media.

Social media has become a major part of our daily lives and influences everything that we do. The internet has become something that people rely heavily on for daily necessities like shopping, learning new skills, checking health issues and so on. Information has become much more accessible and easier to use. It also helps us stay connected with people all over the world, the things happening around us and the people we care about,

The internet promised a more democratic shift where anyone could upload content and share their voice. I think it did turn out this way initially, but as things progress it might not be so, especially in America where people posts an what they say are being tracked, and could be flagged.

When researching social media, important questions involve who participates, how information travels, and how power, influence, and beliefs work within these interconnected platforms.
As social media influences what we know and what is considered important communication, researchers need to think about how these issues can fuel their projects and guide their investigations.

Social Media and Voices from Below

A major focus of social media research is how these platforms allow people who were previously ignored or silenced to speak up, connect with others, and organize (Castells, 2015).
- Hashtags like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter are often used as examples of how injustices can be brought to wider public attention, forcing people in power to be held responsible and challenging existing power structures (Bouvier and Cheng, 2019).
- Other examples come from various places and situations: Fiorini (2014); Tufekci (2017); Jackson et al. (2020).

(On Page 3)This reminds me of something i have noticed happening recently, where people are now spreading awareness about world issues like free Palestine, free Congo, free Sudan, and other countries and also when people make sounds on tiktok and use those sounds as a way to spread the awareness, and also create funds. Making it easy for people all over to paricipate in the activism…

A post using the #MeToo hashtag shows how these tags give a voice to those who don't have many other ways to speak out, and how they can drive bigger cultural changes (for example, discussions about ethics on Capitol Hill).
Hashtags offer a new way to share experiences that mainstream news might avoid because of legal worries or because men are often in charge of newsrooms.
However, there are debates about how effective and far-reaching hashtags really are. Some researchers argue #MeToo became too broad, lacked focus, or only benefited a small, elite group (Zarkov, 2018).

(page 4)I also like the idea/concept of hashtags being a voice, because they empower marginalized communities to amplify their experiences and connect with others who share similar stories, it could also bring awareness to an issue that we might not have known existed at all. It could educate people, as people dig in to understand the meaning behind it. And just like a voice, it does not have any physical ability, so although the situation has been spread, it does not necessarily mean that the situation will be resolved depending on the circumstances and complications.

Activists around the world have used social media in democratic movements. Twitter, for example, has been used to share information, arrange protests, and bypass government censorship in places like the Middle East, Turkey, and China (Bruns et al., 2013; Jansen, 2010; Penney & Dadas, 2013; Poell & Van Dijck, 2015; Yang, 2014; Tufekci, 2017).
Valenzuela et al. (2012) found that social media helps protests by making it easier to connect with people and providing a central meeting point. This helps groups form a shared identity, which is seen as a crucial part of protest behavior (2012: 303).
Bosch (2017) points out that social media gives more opportunities for people to participate in collective actions (like protests, signing petitions, or writing campaigns to pressure companies).
Twitter's flat structure, with no strong bosses, supports people coordinating with each other in movements (Penney & Dadas, 2013).
An example of using social media like a petition is #StopFundingHate, created to fight anti-immigrant feelings in British media. This shows how social media can draw attention to the advertising connections companies have with media outlets.
But social media can also spread racism in less obvious ways, especially nowadays where there’s this type of “hate culture” going on where people are proud to be haters and you see videos about people calling themselves haters and stuffs like that, talking about bring back bullying, and also this trend where they try to diminish an issue and make it seem small by saying stuffs like “it’s not that deep“, as shown by racist content linked with hashtags (e.g., comments about Roma people). Breazu and Machin (2021) documented Roma-related racism across different platforms, including a YouTube comment about quarantine during COVID-19.
These examples highlight a conflict: allowing ordinary voices to speak up can promote justice and accountability, but it can also enable intolerance and misinformation.
The findings emphasize the need for more specific research for each case and warn against making broad assumptions about how global trends apply to local situations.
Overall, researchers advise carefully thinking about what truly makes a “community” online and how deep, consistent, and connected participation is within them.

The idea of thinking about “what kinds of community voices come to the surface and why“ is really important, because we don’t want the wrong message spreading out there, alot of people on the internet are gullible and will most likely believe what they keep on seeing and hearing without doing any proper research, and that could be detrimental to our community in the long run.

Nodes and Echo Chambers;

we know and what is considered important communication, researchers need to think about how these issues can fuel their projects and guide their investigations.
Research into social media must address topics like how it's used for business, how it's controlled (governance), and how traditional news media's role is changing in our digital world.

Voices from below

A major focus of social media research is how these platforms allow people who were previously ignored or silenced to speak up, connect with others, and organize (Castells, 2015).
- Hashtags like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter are often used as examples of how injustices can be brought to wider public attention, forcing people in power to be held responsible and challenging existing power structures (Bouvier and Cheng, 2019).
- Other examples come from various places and situations: Fiorini (2014); Tufekci (2017); Jackson et al. (2020).
A post using the #MeToo hashtag shows how these tags give a voice to those who don't have many other ways to speak out, and how they can drive bigger cultural changes (for example, discussions about ethics on Capitol Hill).
Hashtags offer a new way to share experiences that mainstream news might avoid because of legal worries or because men are often in charge of newsrooms.
However, there are debates about how effective and far-reaching hashtags really are. Some researchers argue #MeToo became too broad, lacked focus, or only benefited a small, elite group (Zarkov, 2018).
Activists around the world have used social media in democratic movements. Twitter, for example, has been used to share information, arrange protests, and bypass government censorship in places like the Middle East, Turkey, and China (Bruns et al., 2013; Jansen, 2010; Penney & Dadas, 2013; Poell & Van Dijck, 2015; Yang, 2014; Tufekci, 2017).
Valenzuela et al. (2012) found that social media helps protests by making it easier to connect with people and providing a central meeting point. This helps groups form a shared identity, which is seen as a crucial part of protest behavior (2012: 303).
Bosch (2017) points out that social media gives more opportunities for people to participate in collective actions (like protests, signing petitions, or writing campaigns to pressure companies).
Twitter's flat structure, with no strong bosses, supports people coordinating with each other in movements (Penney & Dadas, 2013).
An example of using social media like a petition is #StopFundingHate, created to fight anti-immigrant feelings in British media. This shows how social media can draw attention to the advertising connections companies have with media outlets.
But social media can also spread racism in less obvious ways, as shown by racist content linked with hashtags (e.g., comments about Roma people). Breazu and Machin (2021) documented Roma-related racism across different platforms, including a YouTube comment about quarantine during COVID-19.
These examples highlight a conflict: allowing ordinary voices to speak up can promote justice and accountability, but it can also enable intolerance and misinformation.
The findings emphasize the need for more specific research for each case and warn against making broad assumptions about how global trends appl.y to local situations.
Overall, researchers advise carefully thinking about what truly makes a “community” online and how deep, consistent, and connected participation is within them.

Nodes and echo chambers

Social media platforms can create groups or networks of connections, bringing people together around shared interests and concerns (from local communities to global issues like refugees or people living in other countries). It also creates a space where people can learn about different cultures and traditions, as well as about other peoples religions., it’s a place someone can live vicariously through others.
Nodal and Insular - we tend to be attracted to those who share similar views/ideas and outlooks.
Echo Chambers - when users tend to come across views that confirm their existing ideas and values. which could also harden their views as they don’t tend to come across alternative views.
But this could also be detrimental as it restricts opportunities to be exposed to diverse ideas, and people could even become hateful “radicalized and xenophobic“ and social media tends to promote this “filtered bubble“ by tailoring our algorithm and for you page to keep us engaged longer.
The power of algorithms - trending things are usually made by already popular people, and popular people also reference other popular creators as well, which makes it difficult for people that are not popular, to start a trend basically.
Affective Communities -
I like the idea that was brought up about people simply brudhing up serious issues like racism, xenophobia just because it was initiated by a notorious person/ group, because that is what is expected of them, instead of digging deeper and asking why a decent person might thin k this way. (pg 12, last paragraph)
Influencers - influencers make posts that could be thought provoking and engaging to attract eyes to their pages or sites. or make posts tailored to niche groups, to gain a substantial footing or name is that industry.
The ephemeral nature os social media use - meaning it's short-lived, fleeting, constantly changing, often consumed quickly and then forgotten or replaced. social media posts are ephemeral, meaning we don’t pay attention to details because we are familiar with that type of content. we might not really have a deep connection with it, and could even go off topic or miss the main point because we believe we know the direction that it is going. And also means that because the ephemeral nature of the media we can hide behind our screens and go crazy, we could be rude aand believe that there would be no consequences, some people even create fake accounts just to hate on people because of that freedom and believe that things will psss and that we would get over it soon.
Social Media and News - Now news has to cater to the new age and soial media rules, using algorithms and whats not to promote their content. especially now that Alot of people (younger generation) now barely watch news or keep track of it, they get most of their information from social media. it has now become one of the sources people get their news from. Meaning that a lot of people don’t fact check, they hear something, take it and run with it, without really bothering to hear the other side of the story, because users are engaging with content ephemerally, so I think to spread the correct information the major news channels are going to have to cater to the algorithms now.
I also like how the article keeps on talking about how we express or support by sending hearts, commenting or retweeting these social/political issues but without actually doing anything to help, instead after engaging with the comment we go back to our daily lives and routines without much or any changing, making new purchases and so on.
The Ethics of researching Social Media - It’s a bit difficult to draw the line because there are a lot of things being posted on social media but personal and public, But I feel like for a problem like this we should out ourselves in the shoes of the creators that are posting personal things that we would want to reference in our work, so that we could be more aware of the ethical challenges making it is easier to avoid crossing that line.
Consent and Information - Although informed consent is a bit tricky due to the time-space barrier, and possible anonymous users, and the fact that the content produced could be for a particular community and not the whole internet as well. we should be mindful so that they are not taken out of context, and should protect the creators by presenting them as anonymous, and if possible/necessary seeking permission from their guardians if they are adolescents. PS. It depends on how risk heavy the research is, you don’t necessarily have to do all this for a low risk light research.Tweets are allowed to be used as context, it is written in the policy.
Confidentiality and Anonymity- If there is risk of the exposure of the creators worj that would be in your research, then it is recommend to find an alternative to deliver the content, maybe with pseudo names, making the event spoken about fictional and so on.