Provide some closing thoughts about the course and the material we
covered. Was there anything that surprised you? What did you find the
most interesting topic and why?
I think that the majority of what I knew about social media has just a refreshment to what social media is through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and etc. I think there were some interesting topics that we discussed that I did not know about such as how powerful social games have become, the anonymous group, Wikileaks and the impact it has to us. I am surprised by the amount of social media platforms that exist in the world. During one lecture, I was surprised that girls play more video games than man do in the U.S. I think the most interesting topic to me has been between the anonymous group and the social gaming class. The social gaming, especially the role playing games because I enjoy playing them, so I can relate to the language and the way people communicate in games. And the power that the anonymous has on people and the way they are changing the perspective on how we get our information.
How has your viewpoint and perception of social media changed/or not from the first class until last class?
I think I am in the middle to the viewpoint of social media. Obviously there are many advantages into communicating through social media and being able to communicate to your friends/family and your "followers" instantly. But the disadvantage is what you say. Despite that it may be an interest to you on what you say, people might find what you say offensive and could cause some bad reactions. Overall, I think this class has taught me that social media is a great way to communicate, but it is a warning on how you communicate, and the result of it.
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
Kony 2012
Provide a response to the incentive of raising awareness of LRA Leader Joseph Kony.
I think that the incentive of raising awareness of Joseph Kony was huge at the time when the video was posted. Kony had been terrorizing and been torturing people in Congo and other parts of Africa for such a long time, and the reason this issue came up was because people did not have the resources at the time to actually tell people about it. Social media is considered new to many people, so addressing the issue earlier was hard. Traditional media sources never covered it until it was covered by social media, via Youtube. This was great for this guy to raise awareness because it has been long overdue to what Kony has done, but it is hard to raise an issue where nobody did not know about Kony until the video was posted. As far as the incentive of donating money to this cause, many people did believe that by donating money, it would help solve the issue. To this day, this issue is unresolvable. So it does question, not only this issue, but issues that are happening around the world, and whether or not the money people are donating is actually helping these issues, or is easy money for people who are telling us about the issue.
What are some things that struck you as relevant to the course and what we’ve been discussing?
What struck me as far as what I learned about the course and in discussion to this video is how powerful social media has become. This video has over 97 million views on Youtube, and when the video was first posted in March of 2012, it has roughly 20 million views in the first week. So it is easy to become an instant sensation by expressing your opinion on an issue that no one knows about. And this is how the anonymous group has become famous because they are showing us an a idea that no one has heard of.
What are some benefits and constraints of this social media incentive?
Some benefits of social media incentive is of course the popularity you become from posting an idea and getting people to buy into this idea. Another benefit for social media incentive is to grow on this idea and possibly develop different ideas that will help you. There is also the comments that you might receive from some people that will encourage you to express yourself more. The constraint into social media incentives is freedom of speech because you can only express yourself to a point where if you say something that may be rude or incorrect, people will react bad to it. There is obviously many laws and rules people have to go through when posting things on the internet, so it does scare people to expressing themselves on the Internet, knowing that people are monitoring what your saying.
Give some thought and provide some commentary on Zuckerman’s blog post. Also, have a look at the comments that were posted at the end of his blog entry. What are the responses like? What kinds of arguments are made, what positions are taken?
If I would of read this post a year ago when the video came out, I probably would of ignored what this guy has said. But now looking back at it, and finding understanding the actual message of the video, obviously the idea of over simplicity is the main reason as to how this idea faded out. The comments were negative at the time because people did not have enough information about KONY2012. Today, people have realize that yes he is a dangerous man, but he is not the main problem in Uganda and in other parts of Africa. They never made an argument about this blog. People just basically said what this guys wrong and his claims were flawed. Well the information that he has provided does provide rightfully claims about KONY2012 and the message it brings.
Find additional criticisms (or conversations) about/of KONY2012, post the link/s and discuss as well.
How has this incentive changed how we think about social media and the global community? What happened to the outcomes of this incentive? Could this have worked?
The only additional criticism I have about KONY2012 is the person who actually made it, Jason Russell. After people were finding out that the message he was sending was not up to what he had hoped, he suffered a meltdown, which then affected the KONY2012 because he was not an a reliable person to listen to. The most part, the criticisms have been about the video being a US audience with their own specific solutions, but no solutions that could solve the problems in Uganda. I think this has changed the global community because people started to realize that there are more problems that Uganda face than just Kony, and that even solving this problem, would not cause any relief there. The incentive to me seemed as though that this filmmaker was more about capturing Kony than solving the "real" problems in Uganda. The outcome from this was not what the filmmaker expected to get, people eventually tuned out the idea of capturing Kony and just moved on from it.
What has happened to the campaign and the incentives since the most recent media events surrounding the film maker? Should this matter? Does the incentive lose credibility? Why/not?
The campaign still existed on Facebook and Twitter, but obviously it does not have the same popularity as it did a year ago. The filmmaker was in the spotlight for his mental breakdown, but has not ever since. The incentive to raising awareness and helping people realize about Kony has diminished and other problems in other areas across the global has arise. I think that it has lost its credibility because people did background information on the campaign and people realized that the campaign is not to what they saw on Youtube.
What role do you think the Kony 2012 played more broadly in the use of social media for collective action?
I think it played a huge role at the time it was popular. It was trending worldwide on Twitter and there were alot of shares and views on both Facebook and Youtube. People around the world took action when this became a trend because everyone wanted to get involved. Especially when people expected to purchase those packages that were supposed to help stop Kony. In the end, the KONY2012 will still be remembered, but not in the way that the filmmaker expected it.
I think that the incentive of raising awareness of Joseph Kony was huge at the time when the video was posted. Kony had been terrorizing and been torturing people in Congo and other parts of Africa for such a long time, and the reason this issue came up was because people did not have the resources at the time to actually tell people about it. Social media is considered new to many people, so addressing the issue earlier was hard. Traditional media sources never covered it until it was covered by social media, via Youtube. This was great for this guy to raise awareness because it has been long overdue to what Kony has done, but it is hard to raise an issue where nobody did not know about Kony until the video was posted. As far as the incentive of donating money to this cause, many people did believe that by donating money, it would help solve the issue. To this day, this issue is unresolvable. So it does question, not only this issue, but issues that are happening around the world, and whether or not the money people are donating is actually helping these issues, or is easy money for people who are telling us about the issue.
What are some things that struck you as relevant to the course and what we’ve been discussing?
What struck me as far as what I learned about the course and in discussion to this video is how powerful social media has become. This video has over 97 million views on Youtube, and when the video was first posted in March of 2012, it has roughly 20 million views in the first week. So it is easy to become an instant sensation by expressing your opinion on an issue that no one knows about. And this is how the anonymous group has become famous because they are showing us an a idea that no one has heard of.
What are some benefits and constraints of this social media incentive?
Some benefits of social media incentive is of course the popularity you become from posting an idea and getting people to buy into this idea. Another benefit for social media incentive is to grow on this idea and possibly develop different ideas that will help you. There is also the comments that you might receive from some people that will encourage you to express yourself more. The constraint into social media incentives is freedom of speech because you can only express yourself to a point where if you say something that may be rude or incorrect, people will react bad to it. There is obviously many laws and rules people have to go through when posting things on the internet, so it does scare people to expressing themselves on the Internet, knowing that people are monitoring what your saying.
Give some thought and provide some commentary on Zuckerman’s blog post. Also, have a look at the comments that were posted at the end of his blog entry. What are the responses like? What kinds of arguments are made, what positions are taken?
If I would of read this post a year ago when the video came out, I probably would of ignored what this guy has said. But now looking back at it, and finding understanding the actual message of the video, obviously the idea of over simplicity is the main reason as to how this idea faded out. The comments were negative at the time because people did not have enough information about KONY2012. Today, people have realize that yes he is a dangerous man, but he is not the main problem in Uganda and in other parts of Africa. They never made an argument about this blog. People just basically said what this guys wrong and his claims were flawed. Well the information that he has provided does provide rightfully claims about KONY2012 and the message it brings.
Find additional criticisms (or conversations) about/of KONY2012, post the link/s and discuss as well.
How has this incentive changed how we think about social media and the global community? What happened to the outcomes of this incentive? Could this have worked?
The only additional criticism I have about KONY2012 is the person who actually made it, Jason Russell. After people were finding out that the message he was sending was not up to what he had hoped, he suffered a meltdown, which then affected the KONY2012 because he was not an a reliable person to listen to. The most part, the criticisms have been about the video being a US audience with their own specific solutions, but no solutions that could solve the problems in Uganda. I think this has changed the global community because people started to realize that there are more problems that Uganda face than just Kony, and that even solving this problem, would not cause any relief there. The incentive to me seemed as though that this filmmaker was more about capturing Kony than solving the "real" problems in Uganda. The outcome from this was not what the filmmaker expected to get, people eventually tuned out the idea of capturing Kony and just moved on from it.
What has happened to the campaign and the incentives since the most recent media events surrounding the film maker? Should this matter? Does the incentive lose credibility? Why/not?
The campaign still existed on Facebook and Twitter, but obviously it does not have the same popularity as it did a year ago. The filmmaker was in the spotlight for his mental breakdown, but has not ever since. The incentive to raising awareness and helping people realize about Kony has diminished and other problems in other areas across the global has arise. I think that it has lost its credibility because people did background information on the campaign and people realized that the campaign is not to what they saw on Youtube.
What role do you think the Kony 2012 played more broadly in the use of social media for collective action?
I think it played a huge role at the time it was popular. It was trending worldwide on Twitter and there were alot of shares and views on both Facebook and Youtube. People around the world took action when this became a trend because everyone wanted to get involved. Especially when people expected to purchase those packages that were supposed to help stop Kony. In the end, the KONY2012 will still be remembered, but not in the way that the filmmaker expected it.
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