Tag Archives: pub 101

Essay – False News in the 2016 US Presidential Election

In a survey conducted by the PEW Institute, Facebook was shown to be the leading social media site for adults in the US to obtain news, with 31% of participants regularly getting their information from the site. This figure is not much of a surprise, since Facebook has a certain reputation for being propagators of reactionary information and false news. The aforementioned study also stated that the percentage has been steadily going down in the past few years, which I postulate is likely because of an aging main demographic and the rise of newer social media apps.

My primary issue with Facebook as a possible source for news (and every other social media site, for that matter) is the ability for people to rapidly spread misinformation and a general lack of critical thinking when it comes to such news. A prime example of this phenomena was on full display around the 2016 US presidential election, where disinformation and conspiracy theories ran rampant on Facebook. Of course, this kind of false news has existed forever, but the rise in prominence was especially apparent in the aftermath of such an influential event.

In “Misinformation with Fake News”, Mircea Botei (2017) described this as a turning point, where the public suddenly became more concerned about social media’s possible influence on democracy. Botei further expresses false news as “[an attempt] to appear truthful and thus to be accepted and transmitted further. It is news that tells what the audience wants to hear.”(p. 138) I have to agree with this sentiment, as reactionary headlines are a common sign of an untrustworthy source.

Political campaigns have taken advantage of current media trends to further their reach for decades, using whichever method was most popular at the time. Kathleen Jamieson (1996) mentions the widespread use of radios and television in the 1900s, with her book Packaging the Presidency: A History and Criticism of Presidential Campaign Advertising sourcing the ridiculous advertisements political candidates were able to make about their opponents as an example. Still, the massive coverage of the 2016 US election in particular highlighted this mass move from television to the internet.

Fortunately, some good has come of this tragic spike in false news; many social media sites (including Facebook) were pressured to provide transparency reports over political ad campaigns hosted on their sites, according to Efe Sevin (2021) in “New Data Sources and Presidential Campaigns”. Following the 2016 election, Facebook joined companies like Google and Snapchat in revealing their advertising archives to the greater public (Sevin, 2017). However, we should not underestimate the intentional role that social media companies play in these spaces. Many social media sites are anything but guiltless for the rise of false news and influence of political proceedings; some are just better at hiding their involvement than others. 

In the article “Social media ethics in the data economy: Issues of social responsibility for using Facebook for public relations “ Candace White explains how Facebook uses aggregated data from users to target those who are most vulnerable. This fact directly relates to the presidential election, as Cambridge Analytica—a company hired for Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign—was revealed to have stolen user data from over 50 million people through a data breach of Facebook. I have been suspicious of the content and news circulated on Facebook since I first made an account, with this mistrust only growing as I learned more about their unethical business practices. 

All this is to say that there is a distinct need to modify the existing structures that facilitate the spread of false news. Diogo Andrade introduces such an idea in “Paving the way for regulation: how the case against Facebook stacked up”, which lays out a few different strategies that the US was discussing at the time. The most viable and comprehensive solution in my opinion is ending the monopoly Facebook holds as the top company in its field. Andrade mentions dividing up the website (and its acquired companies) into competing forces, creating laws to restrict website’s abilities to harvest private data from users, and “limiting and eroding Silicon Valley’s power” (2019, p. 125).

Although Facebook has only gotten more powerful since the previous articles’ publication in 2019, I still hold onto the hope that future US elections won’t be at the mercy of malicious advertisers and complacent social media giants.

☆.

Reference List

BOTEI, M. (2017). Misinformation with Fake News. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Series VII: Social Sciences. Law, 10 (59)(2), 133–140.

Jamieson, K. H. (1996). Packaging the Presidency: A history and criticism of presidential campaign advertising. Oxford University Press, Incorporated.

Queiroz Andrade, D. (2019). Paving the way for regulation: how the case against Facebook stacked up. Observatorio (OBS*), 13(3), 113–128. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.15847/obsobs13320191388

Sevin, E. (2021). New Data Sources and Presidential Campaigns. American Behavioral Scientist, 1. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.1177/00027642211021634

“Social Media and News Fact Sheet” Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (September. 20, 2022) https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/social-media-and-news-fact-sheet.

White, C. L., & Boatwright, B. (2020). Social Media Ethics in the Data Economy: Issues of social responsibility for using Facebook for public relations. Public Relations Review, 46(5), 101980. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2020.101980

Content Creators- Process prompt

I have been watching Youtube probably since I was 17, and I am now 23, and I have watched many of them for five years. I watched them become famous on Youtube; at first, they never used to have “advertisements,” and their channel took off, and they would add more advertisements to their videos. Even now, I still watch them, and they started doing paid promotions from companies. Since they are big on Youtube, they have a vast audience, and they promote a product, and in the end, they get paid by that company. The content creators I watch often ask their supporters what they want to see more of or don’t, and it has changed. They create polls on Instagram and get their supporters to head to their Instagram and vote- this is another way to get more attraction to their Instagram and gain more followers. Many Youtubers rely on how they advertise their content because it is their source of income, but it is essential not to flood your content with tons of advertisements because it can cause people to stop watching. Overall, I don’t mind when I have to watch advertisements on the channels I follow because the content of the people I follow is worth it.

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False News

Over time many people turn to social media for information about events that are happening around the world. Many people use social media to campaign for their company, use it to make money, or use it to escape reality and read about what is going on in the world. Sometimes when surfing the web and you go down a rabbit hole finding yourself being focused on a particular event that is taking place. As you come across many social media posts, news articles, and Reddit comments, you may come across some information that is not reliable. For example, while I am invested in a controversial topic, I often come across pages that people use to gain clout by spreading false information to gain more attention. I believe that helping others learn ways to recognize incorrect statement on social media can be beneficial in the long run to avoid spreading false news.

Often, people will come across an article on Facebook, read the article name, and share it without fully knowing what is said in the composition. Then, the article begins to spread like wildfire. Once someone shares that piece on their Facebook, their friends read it, and since they have a connection to you, they believe the misinformation you reposted and often believe it. To avoid this happening to you, review the source and look into other outlets to see if the information is relevant. The PEW research center concluded that roughly a third of U.S. adults get their news from Facebook (Liedke & Matsa, 2022)

Graphs showing where men, women, and teens get their information from.

Another important way to recognize false information in an article is a mental checklist of looking for crucial information on the page. Nowadays, incorrect information is widespread across all social media platforms, and it is up to everyone to identify whether or not it’s a reliable resource. There are lots of people who utilize the internet, and it is up to them to gain web literacy to where start learning how the internet works (Caulfield,2016). So far, to check if the information is valid and truthful, you must look at when it was published, who it was posted by, does the author have credentials, where this information is coming from? and what is the purpose of the information.

checklist for figuring out if the source has false information

Thirdly, another way to detect whether or not the news is true or false is to have a keen eye to spot disinformation. Often when people open their laptops, a little preview of current articles may arise from their computer, and sometimes, it may catch your eye. Then, as you’re reading the article, read it carefully and start researching the topic further. Then, if you come across more websites and the information lines up, and it has reliable authors and provides a list of where they got their information, you are on the right track to see whether or not it is true or false.

Social Media and the Interest have a lot of resources, and often people turn to them when they are researching something or just scrolling through their Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. But, unfortunately, sometimes, when using these, it can take you down a rabbit hole, and you may find yourself looking into something, and in the end, it was all a lie. Therefore, it is essential to recognize whether or not the resources are reliable and to start learning the critical factors of when a website is spreading false information. Media manipulation is accurate, and in the article “Media Manipulation and Disinformation online.” Written by Alice Marwick and Rebecca Lewis mention, The extent to which the historically low levels of trust in mainstream media can be traced back to media manipulation is unclear. Still, it is worth noting that distrust of the media can become a self-perpetuating phenomenon (Marwick & Lewis, 2017). Whether or not you use the internet or social media as a source outlet, you must be confident that what you are reading is accurate, and trusting what you read is up to you.

References:

Social Media and News Fact sheet (2022) Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project. Pew Research Center. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/social-media-and-news-fact-sheet/ (Accessed: March 14, 2023).

Caulfield, M. (2016) https://hapgood.us/2016/12/19/yes-digital-literacy-but-which-one/.

Marwick, A. and Lewis, R. (2017) Media manipulation and disinformation , Media-Manipulation-and-Disinformation-Online-1.pdf. Data and society research institute. Available at: https://www.posiel.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Media-Manipulation-and-Disinformation-Online-1.pdf (Accessed: March 14, 2023).

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Process Post #8 – Copyright

I’d like to spend this post talking about the world of intellectual property, and the growing dialogue over how to include Indigenous works in copyright law. This is a current topic which includes many people who know much more than I do, but I wanted to use this platform, however small, to raise public perception of such an important concern.

So much of Indigenous knowledge is relayed orally, yet we are offered little to no legal protection over this vital medium. Of course, we still ask for permission to perform drum songs or retell an individual’s story, for example, but we are often not given that same level of respect back.

In Traditional Knowledge Exists; Intellectual Property is Invented or Created, Gregory Younging discusses traditional knowledge. Traditional knowledge is a term for traditions such as agricultural techniques or astronavigation, which are based on experiences passed down through communities and generations.

Many First Nations communities have their own customary laws, which state how a piece of traditional knowledge may be used, whether it be kept to a certain group of people, used in a specific setting, with the guidance of a trusted individual, etcetera.

Despite the longevity of these systems, they are not officially recognized in western law for a variety of reasons:

  1. First Nations people most commonly communicate teachings through spoken word, which means that our knowledge is typically not recorded in written form.
  1. A vast majority of traditional knowledge is reliant on the land it was conceived on, so it may not even be relevant to those outside the community.
  1. Traditional knowledge specifically denotes techniques that have been used for so long that they would automatically be placed in the public domain anyways.
  1. Furthermore, there isn’t always a specific person to which legal rights could be granted to.
  1. These systems can also interplay with eachother in many different ways, which makes it even more difficult to pin them down legally.

One of the biggest concerns with how traditional knowledge isn’t properly covered under western law includes the appropriation of closed practices by people who are okay with encroaching on our intellectual property, provided it is technically legal to do so.

There has subsequently been a push for Indigenous communities to adapt their customary laws into the systems of intellectual property. Unfortunately, many factors including those above make it hard to reconcile these two forms of copyright.

It would be a shame for the preservation of traditional knowledge to be undermined by intellectual property laws that were created and forced upon us, while also not recognizing our complex systems that had worked perfectly fine for thousands of years. 

I hope that eventually traditional knowledge will be held to the same standard as western copyright law, and that we may be protected against appropriation and plagiarism of our work without needing to fundamentally alter our entire systems in order to do so.

☆.

Mini Assignment #4 – Remix

For this mini assignment, I chose to make a video edit of all my Splatoon 3 clips I’ve taken since the game’s release last September (minus my embarrassing failures; if you really want to see them check my media tab on Twitter LOL).

I used music made by the synth-pop artist GUM, who you might know as Jay Watson of Tame Impala; his work overlays vocals and creates remixes with itself in really interesting ways! Another reason I chose this song in particular was for the lyrics near the end, which is a sample of Herbie Hancock where he talks about how “[a machine] doesn’t program itself…Yet”. I feel like this entire line of thinking was ahead of its time, especially as the limits of technology are now being pushed past what anyone was ever imagining back then.

☆.

Peer Review #2

For this peer review, I was paired with Jack. You can access his website with this link that is provided ” jackdanielswhiskeyno7.com.” Jack has created a website where he can express his interests, such as photos of the city, nature, and some of the campus. He also posts about his interest in cooking. By the way, his cooking looks fantastic! Unfortunately, many people are in my PUB 101 class, and I haven’t been able to review this one yet. However, once I saw that I had to check his website out, I was pleased. I enjoy looking at what my classmates are doing to their websites.

Theme and Layout

As I started looking through Jack’s website, I thought he had it well organized, and all of his buttons on the top right-hand side took me to where it needed to go. However, while going through his site, I saw how his “Home” page flips through different photos that he has taken. This shows his authenticity because the pictures he provides have been taken by himself. In addition, the way he has his website is structured it is easy for others to use.

Customizations

When I came across the “through my eye” page, it brought me back to one of the required readings that our Professor provided in week 5. In the article “Digital gardens let you cultivate your little bit of the internet | MIT Technology Review,” in the first paragraph, Sarah Garner expresses that her website didn’t feel like her. Garner then came up with an idea to create a page that involved what she was interested in. Jack’s “through my eye page” reflects your “Digital Garden.”

Social Media Integration

As I go through your website, adding your social media pages to your website would be beneficial. I assume you have Instagram, and if I am correct, you probably post more photos of nature, the city, and the water. I would love to see more of your work, you take amazing pictures, and others would enjoy seeing more. But, on the other hand, I could only review so much because you don’t have much posted on your website. I am sure there is a valid reason why you are behind on the assignments we are required to do, but once you are all up to date on the mini assignments, process posts, and peer reviews, your website will come to life. I believe in you; you have done a great job so far! Keep up the excellent work. PS- You should open your own restaurant and display your photography skills.

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What in the world! -Process Post

While reading an article by Bridle, James, “Something is Wrong on the Internet,” Bridle says, “I’ve also been aware for some time of the increasingly symbiotic relationship between younger children and YouTube J.Bridle (2017).” I agree that this generation of children does spend an alarming amount of time on their devices. When I was younger, things were very different compared to nowadays. Although my parents limited my screen time while I was growing up, they preferred I play outside with my friends instead of sitting in front of a TV or computer screen. However, my mom allowed screen time when I was done with my chores, cleaned my room, and completed all my homework; once it was finished, I could surf the web for two hours until I had to start getting ready for bed. My parents were mainly concerned that we would lose our childhood to a phone and laptop screen.

As I started high school, my parents allowed me to have my phone in case an emergency arose. Although there were still some rules to having a phone, she would only pay for talk and text and turned the Wi-Fi off at 9:00 PM to ensure I slept enough for school. Now that I am an adult with my children, I understand why she had those rules. Nowadays, some horrific things are on YouTube, and I monitor what my daughter watches. Before I had any children, I remember YouTube kids were in the hot seat because some harmful content was being put on a kid’s app. This YouTube video details what was being put out on YouTube kids’ (99) YouTube Kids app and disturbing content – YouTube. Now that my daughter is two years old, I heavily monitor what she watches on YouTube. Even though I was vigilant about what she watched, she sat beside my spouse one day and started crying. As she passed her iPad to me, I looked at the video she was watching, and it was about a man finding a kitten on the side of the road inside a box. He grabbed the box with the kitten and placed it in the bank of his truck. The kitten ended up falling out of the box and was looking over the tailgate to look around, and the man went over a speed bump, which caused the kitten to fall out. Right behind the truck was another car driving behind him, and the car didn’t have enough time to stop, so it ran over the kitten, and the kitten died. This is a personal example, but it relates to “Something is wrong on the internet.”

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Peer Review 1 – Spinning Stufful

Spinning Stufful is an adventure log that stores the adventures Becca goes on as she transits to other places while spinning poke stops and catching Pokemon.

A really simple design with just three colors—white, yellow, and grey—welcomes me as soon as I approach the website. I am immediately drawn to the yellow text that directs me to what Becca’s blog is about and what content her blog features. As someone who is not too familiar with Pokemon, I would love to see some colours that correlate to Becca’s adventures or related to Pokemon to link the game to her blog. However, I appreciate Becca’s current theme since it draws my attention to the first thing I would want my reader to read, which is what the site is about.

Spinning Stufful Homepage

Exploring Spining Stufful gives me a sense of who Becca is. However, because her blog is still in its early phases, it is not fully developed. I’d like to learn more about her adventures and get a feel of who Becca is, as well as her relationship with Pokemon, as I’m sure her love for this game stemmed from a certain moment in her life.

As well as, Becca can do some very creative things with her blog and generate a community of Pokemon players to relate to her adventures and she begins to do so by inviting her readers to become friends with her on Pokemon Go.

Spinnning Stufful’s Pokemon Invitation

I love the intention of this but I do find that this method is inconvient to the reader because they essentially need to go out of their way to message and wait for a reponse. This method can lose potential readers who would like an additional friend on Pokemon Go. I think a way to help attract more readers to befriend Becca on Pokemon Go is inserting a QR code or inserting an image of Becca’s trainer code.

In conclusion, Spinning Stufful is off to a great start and I believe that Becca can have so much fun with her blog in some really cool and unique ways. I’m excited to see how Becca level’s up Spinning Stuffuls.

Process Post #12: TessDrives Community Guidelines

These community guidelines are designed to make this website an inclusive and welcoming platform. We welcome everyone especially those who are currently a Tesla owner, an electric vehicle owner, a prospective electric vehicle owner and even those who are just curious and passing by! This will ensure that this website is a safe space for everyone and creates an engaging environment for a wide range of diverse individuals!

Guidelines:

  • We will not tolerate any form of hate speech including but not limited to: Age, Disability, Ethnicity, Gender Identity and Expression, Nationality, Race, Immigration Status, Religion, Sex/Gender, Sexual Orientation, Victims of a major violent event and their kin, Veteran Status. Those engaging in these forms of hate speech will be banned from accessing the website and may face penalties and/or prosecution
  • Treat others online the way you would want to be treated
  • Everyone has their own opinions, please be respectful if your opinion differs with another individual
  • Do not give out personal information online and respect each other’s privacy

Rationale for Community Guidelines:

I started the community guidelines with an introduction as to what the community guidelines were for. I made sure to clearly mention that the website is a safe space where everyone is welcomed. Notice, I didn’t mention that only Tesla owners were allowed, nor did I mention only guys were allowed…

While this is not an exhaustive list of guidelines, I believe this is the optimal amount. It lays out the most important guidelines to follow for my website, without fire hosing my audience with a list of rules that might deter them from my website. I intentionally left out a guideline relating to trolls in hopes of utilizing the counter-trolling strategy where my audience can “flood the victims of abuse with kindness” (Stein, 2016). I feel like if I included a non-troll guideline, this would actually encourage the trollers to troll.

I am hoping that this brief set of community guidelines will lay a foundation of expectations for those who visit my site. Community guidelines tend to be updated as the world evolves. The internet faces new types of problems and learn to adapt to them through updated community guidelines. I believe this will be the same case for most websites from our Pub 101 class. But for now, these are the finalized community guidelines for TessDrives.

Featured photo: L. Adriano (2022). Insurance Business Canada. From: https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/ca/news/breaking-news/osfi-amf-release-capital-adequacy-guidelines-for-insurance-companies-414135.aspx

References:

Stein, J. (2016, August 18). How Trolls Are Ruining The Internet. How Trolls Are Ruining The Internet | Time. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://time.com/4457110/internet-trolls/

Week 12: Community Guidelines

Since, the beginning I have wanted my website to be a place where my content and online persona would basically be very true to who I am in real life. I wanted it to be a place where I can post my writing stuff without judgment and without worry. That is also the type of community I want to create. The type of community that helps each other, gives advice, gives feedback, and is just a place to be your true inner self.

Over the past couple of weeks (more like months, but let’s go with weeks) I have been creating, developing, and improving my website and my content to fully show my online persona, both my website and my creator personas, as well as look further into my audience and other key aspects of my website. Thinking about all that made me realize that I should probably create some community guidelines and figure out ways to implement them as well (even if I don’t actually have a community).

Alright, let’s do this! First things first, the community guidelines for my website. Let’s get this thing started, the community guidelines for my website are basically like any other guidelines that people with any basic human decency already follow. These basic guidelines include the usual… 

  1. Treat others how you want to be treated (I know it is cliche, but it is important)
  2. Be respectful of other people and their opinions
  3. Communicate with kindness
  4. Be polite
  5. Do not post personal information
  6. Report anything that is rude, harmful, disrespectful, etc.
  7. Be mindful of your behaviour on the website and toward others
  8. Treat everyone equally
  9. Do not share other peoples’ stuff without their permission
  10. Remember to express yourselves (in ways that do not harm others)

I personally believe that the best way to implement these (extremely basic and common) guidelines would be to obviously set an example and follow them perfectly to the very last letter. Another way to implement them would be to keep an eye out to see how my (non-existent) community interacts on my website and take action accordingly if someone were to go against the community guidelines.

I guess those are my very simple community guidelines that should be extremely easy to follow! Always remember that this website was created by a weirdo (me), so that I could finally have a place to be free to post my type of writing content and I want to keep it that way!

Sign that says good vibes only

Community Guidelines & Comments – Week 12

Here are Astrometrical’s new community guidelines:

Thank you for visiting Astrometrical, on this site you are encouraged to broaden your tastes in art and contribute to the community by adding your thoughts to the collage. This site’s purpose is to inspire you as an individual and bring attention to those hard-working individuals who deserve it. Here are the following guidelines on how to best engage with the astrometrical community

 

Please Do:

Interact with others and voice your opinions on the blog and featured posts

Be respectful and patient with others on the site

Give constructive feedback on your experience on Astrometrical

 

Please don’t:

Use any form of hate speech, whether it be racism, sexism, homophobia, or any other form of discrimination

Post links  to your own pages to “self-promote” or any other forms of spam

Breach privacy of others on the site by posting personal information (doxing)

 
 

 

Part 2: Navigating Social Media Waters

Related to the idea of community guidelines is the social conduct of individuals online, specifically, in comment sections. This week I had the opportunity to read an article by Aubrey Hirsch (2022) where she describes the struggles she faces online as a female journalist. The article was truly shocking for me, as the whole time I was reading I could not shake the sinking feeling in my stomach. Hirsch described the misogyny, racism, and rudeness that she experiences every day simply for posting comics as a journalist. The examples she provided were truly vulgar and loathsome. However, there was one part of Hirsch’s article that was particularly horrifying for me to read, and that was when she talked about how the hate she receives online translates to attacks in the real world. Hirsch writes “Remind me to tell you the funny story about the time my internet stalker called my boyfriend’s cell phone. Remind me to tell you about the time I came home and my front door was unlocked and I spent 15 minutes standing in the rain trying to remember if I’d double-checked it before I went out “(2022). Hirsch also talks about a time when strangers came to her house and launched dinner plates at her. Personally, I know if I was faced with that kind of pressure and that level of threat on a daily basis, I would constantly be in a state of paranoia. 

The examples that Hirsch provided reminded me of some other examples of threats in the online world being pursued in real life. One that I had just seen recently was a case of swatting. For those who don’t know, swatting is when someone on the internet finds your address, and calls the local police saying that there is a severe crime (ex, hostage situation) occurring at your address. The swat team then arrives at your house and many times this situation arrives in disaster, as an innocent person is killed or injured. Adin Ross, a streamer that I used to watch was recently swatted. Since he was live at that time, you can see the fear in his eyes as he begs his viewers not to swat people. 

To someone who is not internet famous like myself, I am always in shock when I hear stories of individuals with malicious intent trying to harm someone online. Hirsch has done a wonderful job illustrating the importance of moderation and regulations against hate speech and reminding me of the pressures those who make their livelihood online face. Moving forward as a community, I think we should show more support for our favorite online creators and each do our part by reporting the threats and hate speech we see online. 

 

Hirsch, A. (2022, February 2). That’s How It Works When You’re a Woman on the Internet. 

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Process Post #11: Transmedia Integration

This process post was intended for Week 12, November 29, 2022.

Am I doing this transmedia integration stuff right? I do have two social media accounts as an extension of my current website. So I think I am on the right track? According to the blog, “Pokemon as Transmedia Storytelling” from Kevinbrittenylauren.wordpress.com (2013) with words from Henry Jenkins, “Transmedia storytelling is a process. Elements of a fiction get dispersed across multiple media for the purpose of creating a coordinated entertainment experience” (Jenkins, 2009). While transmedia integration does not directly mean social media integration—that’s the way I’m going to interpret it for this process post.

After reading the Pokemon blog, I had a good idea of what transmedia integration was— simply put, it is creating something that can be translated across different forms of media such as magazines, movies, tv shows or even a video game—these were things I knew weren’t really possible for my TessDrives site. Something that is possible for the website is the social media aspect of it. Currently my website translates across two different social media sites, YouTube and TikTok. In a way, you could say I’m on the right track?

My YouTube channel currently has a total of 1,327 views and my TikTok currently has a total of 1093 views. These are some pretty impressive numbers given the amount of subscribers and followers I have across both platforms. If I have to be honest, I did start my YouTube channel much before this Pub 101 class started but the TikTok account was actually created during the first week of class—so I am definitely impressed with the latter.

If this class were to extend longer, I would definitely work on establishing TessDrives as a recognizable username that translates across all social media platforms. Those who prefer longer educational videos would turn to YouTube, those who prefer shorter videos would go to TikTok, and those who prefer looking at photos of my Tesla would go to Instagram. I believe this would be an effective way to capture a larger audience with different types of preferences.

Featured photo from: B. Tenderich (2015). Transmedia Branding vs. Integrated Marketing: What’s the Difference? LinkedIn. Retrieved from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/transmedia-branding-vs-integrated-marketing-whats-burghardt-tenderich

References:

POKEMON AS TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING (2013). Retrieved from: https://kevinbrittenylauren.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/pokemon-as-transmedia-storytelling/

Comments

This week’s topic we’ve discussed the topic of comments on the internet. Although what we’ve discussed and what was presented during the lectures, I find that comments are good and can be helpful depending on the context and community of what you are commenting on.

Personally, I do not engage in any comments or leave any comments on any sort of post. I do this because, as there can exist a possibility of causing some or of trouble I find it better to not engage in it from the start.

However, I do enjoy reading comments. For example, the content I write for my website is about the game Genshin Impact. I leave the comments enabled as I am open to comments even if they can potentially be toxic. In the context of games, having comments and other people commenting on some facts that the author states about the game could be useful. Being able to see what the audience says and if they disagree or agree with what the author might have said can leave a different impression on the website. For game content especially, it can also lead to how credible the author might be when talking about the game. If most of the comments state that a lot of the information is incorrect, this can mean that the author does not know what he is talking about in the guides. Which can help the audience depict if they should follow some of the things the author has stated in the guide.

Furthermore, it is interesting to read other people’s opinions on certain things. This can be seen a lot on Reddit where one person can open a discussion on a certain topic and people will comment on their takes and ideas on that topic.

With all things in mind, comments can be useful. However, it is important to remember what the context is and how the community behaves before responding or writing any comments. As it may be fine if the community you are making a comment for is friendly this may not be the case for other communities. It is always important to consider the context of your comments as it can potentially cause a spiral of issues wishing that you had not made the comment in the first place.

Mini Assignment #6: Create a gif

For this mini assignment, I struggled trying to figure out what to create a gif about. I debated whether or not to make one about a video game, but thought it would be super generic. I could do one about a superhero, but those exist everywhere online. I scoured my iPhone’s camera roll looking for a batch of photos I could make a gif out of, which led me to what you see below.

Thanks to the TikTok algorithm, I have recently developed an obsession with orange cats. Prior to my brainwashing I was a firm cat hater. Me and my girlfriend would playfully fight over whether dogs or cats were better. Around the peak of our bickering over this topic, we encountered this beautiful orange cat on a walk. I held the preconceived notion that cats were apprehensive or unfriendly towards strangers. But this cat was one of the most affectionate creatures I have ever met! They instantly approached me and my girlfriend and started letting us pet them.

Of course me and my girlfriend had to snap some pictures with our new friend. The gif you see below is from my little photo shoot with the adorable cat we named Rochester.

image of me with an orang cat

Week 11: Incorporating Transmedia

I believe it is important to incorporate and integrate transmedia into whatever you are posting and where ever you are posting stuff. This can be done over any different combinations of media whether that be video games, blog posts, movies, TV shows, radio, or advertisements.

The best way for a website owner like myself to incorporate transmedia would be to use different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I plan to use social media platforms like the ones I just listed because I already know how to use them, I am familiar with working the platforms, and it would be fairly easy for me to establish an online presence as Midnight Stories and as AKC.

The most logical approach according to me for me would be to post mini segments of my posts to my social media platforms and link my website because that would give my audience a general feel of my content and if they are interested, then they could visit my website through the link in my profile. Another thing that I could do is ask my audience on those social media platforms what type of content they prefer me to post about as well as what they would like to see more on my website and maybe have some polls about what I should write about for my next post.

I would mainly focus on Instagram because more people use Instagram rather than FaceBook to get their information and inspiration as well as find accounts that contain stuff that they find interesting and endearing. The reason that Twitter would not be my main social media platform is because currently, it seems like Twitter is going through a rough patch and the focus is mostly on that rather than other things like stuff that is happening in the world.

In the end, I think Instagram would be my best bet to grow my audience as well as get my website and online persona out into the world, but the more the merrier, so I would also be posting on FaceBook and Twitter to get more traffic to my website.

Different app icons

Multiple Channels

Like many people in our class, I have not connected my website with other social media platforms. However, this is due to the fact that I don’t think I will be continuing my site after this course. Furthermore, I did not want to connect my personal social media accounts to my website. Therefore, I would have to create new accounts for the purpose of my website.

Nonetheless, if I do have the intention of continuing my website, and wanting to reach out to audiences on different platforms, I do have in mind some platforms where I would want to connect with the users.

The First would be Reddit. As a frequent user of Reddit, and a part of the Genshin Impact subreddit, I find that Reddit would be an excellent choice for me to further expand my audience for my website. As the subreddit already has posts asking for help on the game to guides for how to build a certain character, I find it a perfect place for me to post my content on Reddit. As similar content already exists, I believe that If I share my content on Reddit, I will be able to gain a large number of users looking through my website.

The next platform would be Twitter. I notice that there are a few guides that already exist on Twitter. However, the guides are usually an image or simple guides on finding certain things in the game. Although the content of the guides is different, I find that If I do use Twitter to expand my audiences, I will be able to experiment with different types of guides, for the game, to gain a wider range of audiences.

Lastly, I would consider using Instagram to post guides on Genshin Impact. As mentioned earlier where some posts on Twitter use images to provide a guide for the game, I can do the same with Instagram. These posts are usually guides that show what resources I need to collect to build a character or different weapons and artifact options for a certain character. For Instagram, I believe that if the guide can be contained within an image, it would be an excellent way to bring more people onto my website.

With all things considered there are many platforms where I can connect my website in order to bring more audiences looking at my website. It is unfortunate that I don’t have any plans of continuing my website further after this course but, it is good to know that there exist many platforms I can use to create guides.