Media - Social MEdia

Question 1

GOOD: Can be used to bring about political change

Answer 1

• given the “youth bulge” in Middle East, where (55-70%) of population is under the age of thirty
• youths are haid as “Miracle Generation”
• networks formed online were crucial in organizing a core group of activists

Question 2

GOOD: Platform to stage and set up movements

• has the power to convey a single info to a MULTITUDE of people – increasingly used as a CATALYST for social change
• ideal springboard to incite participation

Answer 2

“Kony 2012” a short film created by Invisible Children to expose the crimes of Joseph Kony – gathered a lot of attention - in less than a month, firm had over 86 million views on Youtube

But, activism on social media - often all talk and no action; “Kony 2012” eventually fizzled out and

Question 3

BAD: Led to perpetuation of deleterious cyber bullying

Answer 3

• deemed even more insidious as the bullies can bee masked online – leading to continuous and relentless bullying
• SG has the second highest cyber bullying per capita in the world

Question 4

BAD: made young people more self-absorbed and less sensitive to others

Answer 4

• craft updates that will elicit widespread discussions

- almost religiously update on social media

Question 5

GOOD: allows the young people to form interpersonal relationships

Answer 5

A survey by The Social Skinny – showed that 83% agree that technology has helped them make more friends, especially those from overseas

Question 6

BAD: weaken/destroy interpersonal ties

Answer 6

• youths perceive it as a substitute rather than complement for relationships
• physical communication is QUINTESSENTIAL in forming and maintaining social ties

Question 7

GOOD: incite a sense of compassion in people, when they hear about events internationally

Answer 7

Canadian Shawn Ahmed – travelled to Bangladesh for altruistic purposes; used Youtube as his tool

• helped raise funds for a school (the John Green School) devastated by cyclone

Question 8

BAD: lead to a problem of “slacktivism”

Answer 8

• people will believe they have helped out a social cause by merely clicking a button
  e. g. ALS Bucket Challenge – most people opted to do the challenge instead of making cash donations

Question 9

BAD: terrorist groups can use it to spread their ideologies – Al-Qaeda, ISIS

BUT: even before new media – there is already fabrication and spread of harmful ideologies (e.g. dropping of pamphlets during WW2)
- new media only exacerbates the problem

Answer 9

• Media-related contagion effect – incites fear
• is created where watch or read stories about them

ISIS will use media to influence young. impressionable Muslims to join them

Question 10

BAD: profit driven firms can use it to spread inaccurate info – hoodwinking the public

Answer 10

“Astro-surfing” – where advertisers make bloggers/influencers advertise their products without clarifying that they were sponsored by the company

e.g. in SG – online Media agency, Gushcloud as accused by top blogger XiaXue for being guilty of such dishonest acts

Question 11

GOOD: one can view multiple opinions on a single subject matter

Answer 11

in SG – PAP won only marginally during the 2011 General Elections - mainly due to influence of new media – allowed the young to read news and make an informed choice – a more discerning/informed public

Question 12

BAD: caused us to shift away from expressing our self-identities, towards constructing a facade due to peer pressure

Answer 12

• we feel compelled to promote and market certain “identities”

Question 13

Fuels misconceptions, breeds distrust in the community

Answer 13

9-11 attacks, people in SG distrust Muslims and Malays