Making Social Media

Here i will be sharing all of my unit related content with you all.

Me first starting up my twitter and blog site You look confused and you dont know what to do by Alex Bellink (CC BY 2.0)

Online Vs. The Real World

Is the image we portray online really us? I think it all is a part of us but there can be multiple versions of us. Even if you think you’re really the same you in every part of your life there will be certain people you’re louder around, more shy around or even more reserved around. Like when you meet new people most of us are usually more reserved, analysing and judging how we should act around this person. All sorts of thoughts go through our head, do I feel comfortable? Should I be cautious? I think this is similar to our personas online. Similar to celebrities who perform in their jobs in their different mediums, our construction of our online identities is a ‘performance of the self’ (Marshall 2010).

#ALM101 @MifrahAtDeakin https://t.co/HvfzVIqilx— farinaz (@farinaz28) March 28, 2019

On certain media platforms I feel like I feel comfortable posting different things… on Facebook I share videos or articles I find amusing, interesting or entertaining whereas on my Instagram I feel like I am more aware of what I post and share my creativity through different makeup looks (on myself and others), outfit posts, or even scenery I find visually appealing.

I follow many influencers who use their instagrams as a business. On my personal social media I give thought into what I’m posting as i use it to share my makeup looks #ALM101 @MifrahAtDeakin— farinaz (@farinaz28) April 4, 2019

I post selfies with full glam makeup using different makeup techniques such as contouring, however walking out of the house like that every day would be extremely time consuming and just not practical for day to day activities (personally.. but you do you). Looks like these for online are what gets people’s attention.

 Colour catches the eyes. People will stop scrolling when they see a bright multi coloured eyeshadow on your eyelid, or a black winged eyeliner stretched out to your temples, or even an eyebrow that’s a squiggly line is a trend right now (thanks to Photoshop) this is what is getting attention on Instagram these days, and that’s why I think many makeup artists today have opted for promoting themselves on social media, using different colours and getting creative with their looks. They may not walk around like that day to day but I still think their online persona is a part of them and is what makes them, them.

Something I love about social media is the way it connects different people from all around the world with similar interests. I am personally apart of a few different groups on Facebook, one being a makeup group where people share their different looks, tips and tricks along with product recommendations. Another being a vegan group (I joined when I was a vegan) where girls support and encourage each other. They create a space of motivation and help new comers in the group transition easier to veganism and share recipe ideas. Another group that’s become very popular among younger girls is a page where girls advertise their clothes to sell or rent out. I feel like these groups promote inclusivity and make people feel like they are a part of a community they can relate to. Groups like these are quite useful as I have personally benefitted and learnt a lot from these groups, whether that is learning a new recipe, finding out about a new product or even selling a handbag that’s been sitting in my cupboard for too long.

 Social media platforms can be a great place to connect and network with others, especially for anyone who has moved from overseas and is just looking for a way to be a part of something. (Ahmed, Tabler, Veronis 2018) explored this further with a group of young Syrian refugees who had moved to Canada. These youth were able to connect with people through different media platforms and form new friendships by a simple search of the name. These young people were also able to maintain their friendships and connect with their family from home by interacting with them through the different platforms.

These different platforms let me share parts of my life with others in ways that I couldn’t otherwise if these platforms were not available, it helps me to broaden my perspective of the world by exploring the different content shared by other users. You can construct different personas on social media just by what you choose to share. Whether that be interesting landscapes, architecture, fashion, food or travels. I personally find it quite enjoyable to experiment with social media platforms and create different content that I can share on my own social media.

Marshall D 2010, ‘The promotion and presentation of the self: celebrity as marker of presentational media’, Celebrity Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 35-48, doi: 10.1080/19392390903519057

Veronis, L, Tabler, Z & Ahmed, R 2018, ‘Syrian Refugee Youth Use Social Media: Building Transcultural Spaces and Connections for Resettlement in Ottawa, Canada’, Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal, vol. 50, no. 2, p. 79, viewed 12 April 2019, <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.554181887&site=eds-live&scope=site&gt;.

Activism on Social Media

For my first podcast, I chose to explore the potentialities and risks that social media offers activists attempting to drive social change. I chose to narrow my focus on the topic of feminism in order to provide me with more direction. I started with my research for this discussion and found a few articles that helped me with the content of my podcast. I started off my podcast with a brief introduction and went on to provide a brief definition of social activism by Ghobadi (2018) published in the conversation in order to provide more context to my topic. I decided to follow on from the quote with a short introduction on feminism. I then used the article ‘Reviving feminism through social media’ in my podcast by discussing how social media activism has the potential to target new and larger audiences (Flores P et al. 2018). I discussed how through a simple hashtag on various media platforms women were able to come together to protest violence against women after a horrible incident that had taken place in Argentina (Flores P et al. 2018).  I used this source to highlight the role social media plays in bringing people together and in this case, bringing females together to support one another and share their experiences. I then go on to discuss the risks that can follow with using social media for activism and incorporate an article that studied whether political activism on social media impacts psychological stress (Hisam A et al. 2017). In my podcast, I incorporated this article to discuss how social media can have an impact on an individual’s mental health and wellbeing, especially when taken to an extreme.  My podcast then concludes by stating that moderation is key when using social media for activism and should be a place where everyone shares their opinions without getting shut down. I chose to add a musical intro and outro that I found on Sound cloud from Royalty Free Music which had an appropriate creative commons license, which I incorporated in the description of my podcast. Overall I enjoyed creating this podcast however I did find it quite challenging to produce the content, edit, upload and find music that was appropriate to use. It took me some time to find articles that I found interesting and relatable to my topic and discussion, however, I managed to find some and I did find the study to be quite interesting as it showed the risks of excessively using social media for activism. Also as this was my first podcast I found it a challenge to keep it sounding like a podcast usually does and keep a consistent tone, so I had to record it multiple times to get my desired sound. Through all of this, I found that creating a podcast is more difficult than it seems and has many different components that bring it all together. Although I found this to be a slightly challenging task I did find it enjoyable and something that I would try again. Thank you for listening and tune in and expect more podcasts form me in the future.

References

Flores P, Gomez N, Roa A, Whitson R, 2018, ‘reviving feminism through social media: from the classroom to online and offline public spheres’, Gender and Education, retrieved 23 May 2019, https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy-b.deakin.edu.au/doi/full/10.1080/09540253.2018.1513454

Ghobadi S 2018, ‘Going viral: what social media activists need to know’, The conversation 17 July, retrieved 24 May 2019, http://theconversation.com/going-viral-what-social-media-activists-need-to-know-96043

Hisam A, Safoor I, Khurshid N, Aslam A, Zaid F, Muzaffar A, 2017 ‘Is Political Activism on Social Media an initiator of Psychological Stress?’, Pakistan Journal of Medical sciences,  vol.33, no. 36, retrieved 23 May, Academic Onefile