Journalism and mnemonic practices in Chinese social media: Remembering catastrophic events on Weibo

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen Le Han

This study examines how collective memories of a public event, along with various journalistic practices, take shape in social media as the event develops. By analyzing messages posted during the first 8 days after a 23 July 2011 high-speed train collision accident in China on Weibo, a leading Chinese micro-blogging platform, this study finds three types of mnemonic practices on this platform: online commemoration, memory accumulation, and the first draft of history. The extensive media coverage, nonstop updates, and blurred lines between reporting and archiving produce firsthand accounts and fragmented narratives for collective memory. Weibo allows the use of language from which journalists and media-affiliated groups reap greatest benefit. Journalism draws on mnemonic practices to organize collective pondering over crises and current power structures in a shrinking space of online expression. Within the rapidly changing landscape of Chinese social media, this memory pattern developed earlier gradually loses its political meaning, although it persists in subsequent events. Theoretical implications of this study for the impact of digital media on collective memory are also discussed.

Author(s):  
Francis L.F. Lee ◽  
Joseph M. Chan

Chapter 8 discusses the impact of digital media on collective memory. The chapter examines both the positive and negative impact of digital and social media. On the one hand, the analysis notes how digital media provided the channels for memory mobilization and the archives for memory transmission. On the other hand, the analysis examines the problematics of memory balkanization. It explicates how political forces have shaped the development of digital and social media in Hong Kong and how competing representations of the Tiananmen Incident and commemoration activities are articulated and reinforced within distinctive memory silos.


Author(s):  
Zheng Yang

War metaphors have been found to be the most frequently used metaphors for conceptualizing diseases, epidemic and medicine. During the COVID-19 epidemic, war metaphors have been found to be widely used in both online and offline coverage. This study mainly focuses on how war metaphors were used in Chinese social media coverage about the COVID-19 epidemic. Using the method of semantic network analysis and the account of The People’s Daily on the Chinese social media platform Weibo as an example, the findings show that war metaphors are widely used in the digital coverage of COVID-19. Compared with defensive metaphors and war process metaphors, offensive war metaphors are appearing much more frequently in digital coverage, and often with the use of national collective subjects. These two characteristics highlight how digital coverage uses militarized metaphors to mobilize and inspire enthusiasm among the Chinese people, and to strengthen the Chinese government’s control in dealing with the COVID-19 epidemic.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 189
Author(s):  
Shaimma El Naggar

<p>Over the past few decades, televangelism has emerged as one important media phenomenon, inter alia, among Muslim communities. As a phenomenon, televangelism is interesting in many respects; it is a manifestation of the phenomenon of "info-tainment" as televangelists integrate entertainment features such as sound effects and music in their sermons. It is also a manifestation of the rise of the celebrity culture as televangelists have become 'media celebrities' with thousands of hundreds of fans and followers on social media networks.</p><p> </p><p>Thematically, this study is divided into two main sections. First. I delineate the characteristics of televangelism as a novel form of religious expression in which televangelists adopt a modern style and use colloquial language; and in which televangelists present religion as a source of individual change. I have argued that these features seem to have granted televangelists popularity particularly among Muslim youth who view televangelism as a new form of religious expression that is modern in appearance and relevant to their everyday lives.</p><p>The study has further highlighted the importance of digital media technologies in popularizing televangelists' programmes and sermons. Drawing on two case studies of popular televangelists, namely Amr Khaled and Hamza Yusuf, the study has shown that televangelists draw on a plethora of digital media tools to extend the visibility of their programmes including websites and social media networks. The study has found that televangelists' fans play an important role in popularizing televangelists' programmes. Moreover, the study relates televangelism to the rise of digital Islam. The study has argued that digitization and the increase of literacy rates have changed the structure of religious authority in the twenty first century, giving rise to new voices that are competing for authority. </p><p>Having provided an explanatory framework for the phenomenon of televangelism, the study moves in the second section to critique televangelism as an 'info-tainment' phenomenon.</p>Drawing on Carrette and King's <em>Selling Spirituality, </em>one issue that the study raises is the extent to which televangelism fits into the modern form of 'spiritualities'. Rather than being a critical reflection of the consumer culture, modern spiritualities seem to 'smooth out' resistance to the hegemony of capitalism and consumerism. I have proposed that it is through a content-related analysis of televangelists' sermons that one can get a nuanced understanding of how the discourses of particular televangelists can possibly relate to dominant (capitalist) ideologies, how structures of power are represented in their discourses and what their texts may reveal about the socio-historical contexts of Muslims in the twenty first century.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 744-755
Author(s):  
Olga A. Vazhenina ◽  
Lidiya K. Lobodenko

The authors investigate the process of humanization of society in relation to people with autism spectrum disorders and its relationship with the reception of problems of this category of population by society. The authors based on the descriptors of messages in social media published in the digital media space. The article reveals the relationship between the content of messages in social media, as well as the tools of this type of media and the overall degree of humanization of society at both social and political levels. The typological features of such a social media tool as a hashtag, when covering the problems of people with autism spectrum disorders, as well as the impact of these features on the reception of messages on this topic by both domestic and English-speaking users are noted.


Author(s):  
Iris Klosi

The stress and anxiety resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has lead to a significant increase in escapist media-based coping. This paper examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on social media escapist activities by the students at the State University of Tirana. In total 52 undergraduate and graduate students aged 20-24 were involved in the study. The students reported 39 digital media involved in their escapist activities, with media sharing networks having a dominant role. From the analysis of their discussion of the motivations and different forms of escapist activities using social media, 5 different but interrelated discourses emerged: (1) Social media have both positive and negative aspects; (2) Social media escapism distorts reality; (3) Social media offer easy and affordable ways to escape; (4) Social media escapism needs to be managed to avoid addiction; and (5) Social media escapism enhances English language skills. The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic through restrictions on socializing, face-to-face interaction and online teaching were discussed within and across the identified discourses. Increasing their communicative competence in English while interacting with people of different cultural background, including English native speakers was one of most the positive aspects in students’ discussions of social media escapism. The stress and anxiety resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has lead to a significant increase in escapist media-based coping. This paper examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on social media escapist activities by the students at the State University of Tirana. In total 52 undergraduate and graduate students aged 20-24 were involved in the study. The students reported 39 digital media involved in their escapist activities, with media sharing networks having a dominant role. From the analysis of their discussion of the motivations and different forms of escapist activities using social media, 5 different but interrelated discourses emerged: (1) Social media have both positive and negative aspects; (2) Social media escapism distorts reality; (3) Social media offer easy and affordable ways to escape; (4) Social media escapism needs to be managed to avoid addiction; and (5) Social media escapism enhances English language skills. The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic through restrictions on socializing, face-to-face interaction and online teaching were discussed within and across the identified discourses. Increasing their communicative competence in English while interacting with people of different cultural background, including English native speakers was one of most the positive aspects in students’ discussions of social media escapism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-462
Author(s):  
Gal Yavetz ◽  
Noa Aharony

PurposeThe current study seeks to present and examine the strategies, management and dissemination of information on social media platforms by Israeli government organizations and agencies.Design/methodology/approachThe article uses the “Case Study” approach, through semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with directors in charge of the use of social media in government departments.FindingsThe findings indicate that government agencies tend to favor Facebook over other social network platforms, in order to reach the widest possible audience. They do this by adhering to the platform's limitations, such as regularly using sponsored advertising to increase reach and visibility, and also by publishing visual content, such as videos and images, at the expense of text. In addition, the impact of respondents to adopt social media outweighs the use and importance awarded to traditional government websites. A clear preference is evident toward cultivating and strengthening existing information on social media at the expense of further developing official websites.Originality/valueFindings and conclusions from this type of research can help digital media directors and content editors in government agencies, to improve the quality of their content and improve the accessibility of the information they share online. In addition, the findings of the study strengthen the growing body of knowledge focused on the relationship between government ministries and social media.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (11) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Liang Zhao ◽  
Xiaojun Ding ◽  
Feng Yu

As COVID-19 struck worldwide, we were inspired by behavioral immune system theory and wondered whether there would be changes to public morality brought about by the pandemic. We tracked public reactions through posts on Chinese social media to analyze the dynamics of public moral motivation. Big data analysis shows that the impact of disaster upon moral motivation was context-sensitive. The level of the severity of the disaster played a leading role in variation of moral motivation. We found that disaster increased moral motivation only when the situation was severe, and such augmentation rapidly faded when the disaster was under control and recovery began. The sentiment of news shared during the pandemic played a regulating role, such that positive or encouraging news helped augment moral motivation only when the situation was severe. Finally, we found that the pandemic increased expressions of both agency and communion in a similar way to that of moral motivation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael John Valos ◽  
Fatemeh Haji Habibi ◽  
Riza Casidy ◽  
Carl Barrie Driesener ◽  
Vanya Louise Maplestone

Purpose – At present no frameworks exist for services marketers to incorporate social media (SM) within marketing communications planning. The majority of integrated marketing communications (IMC) frameworks were developed prior to the development of the widespread use of digital and SM for information seeking, sales and service. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this issue for services marketers specifically as they differ from FMCG, industrial and durable marketers in terms of marketing messages, branding, media and channels. Furthermore, as they are less reliant on outsourced sale channels they have more potential than other industries to integrate social and digital media to build awareness, brands and sales. Design/methodology/approach – Depth interviews were conducted with eight senior services marketing executives to identify the impact of SM on marketing communications planning, implementation and measurement. Findings – The findings revealed that the unique characteristics of SM (such as interactivity and individualisation, integration of communication and distribution channels, immediacy and information collection) impact traditional marketing communications frameworks. These impacts manifested in 12 modifications specific to services and SM to traditional generic IMC frameworks encompassed by the themes of reach, service channel, word-of-mouth advocacy, consumer generated messages, listening and behavioural measurement. Practical implications – The rapidly evolving nature of SM means senior services marketers need to educate organisational stakeholders regarding implementation issues, which may be a barrier to effective integration of SM within marketing communications. Originality/value – With digital marketing communications budgets reaching 30 per cent within some organisations, it is timely to put forward a marketing communication decision-making framework that first incorporates SM and second is suitable for services marketers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-123
Author(s):  
Cristiane Guilherme Bonfim ◽  
Márcia Vidal Nunes

This article aims to reflect on the impact that the campaign #PrimeiroAssédio [first harassment], created by the NGO Think Olga, in 2015, had on the perception of Facebook female users on the subject of harassment, drawing from the perspective of Cultural Studies. This hashtag encouraged the sharing of content and placed the feminist issue of combating sexual harassment on the agenda. We have used Martín-Barbero’s (1997) concept of mediation to investigate the context in which users published posts on Facebook and have conducted interviews with women who have published comments in the campaign’s posts. In a context of prolific content generation and intense participation, with many people speaking to many people, many authors see the emergence of politically driven action on social media, the so-called “digital activism”, as being relative, holding little expectations of radical social change. Our interviewees’ answers indicate that, in terms of tangible changes, they found that they were able to engage in dialogue about the topic with the people who were closest to them.         Este artigo tem como objetivo refletir sobre o impacto da campanha #PrimeiroAssédio, criada pela ONG Think Olga, em 2015, na percepção de leitoras no Facebook sobre o tema assédio, sob a perspectiva dos Estudos Culturais. A hashtag incentivou compartilhamento de conteúdo e agendou veículos de mídia sobre assédio, uma pauta que é bandeira de movimentos feministas. O conceito de mediações de Martín-Barbero (1997) é usado para investigar o contexto de postagens no Facebook e entrevistas com mulheres que comentaram em posts da campanha. No cenário de geração de conteúdo em profusão e da participação de muitos falando para muitos, a atuação política nas redes sociais, o chamado ativismo digital, é perpassada com alguma relativização, sem expectativa de mudança radical. As respostas das entrevistadas sinalizam que campanhas como essa podem  alcançar repercussão fora das redes, mas indicam que a mudança gerada foi o diálogo mais frequente sobre o tema com o círculo de pessoas mais próximo.Este artículo objetiva hacer una reflexión sobre el impacto de la campaña #PrimeiroAssédio (#Primeracoso), creada por la Organización no Gubernamental Think Olga el 2015, en la percepción de lectoras en Facebook sobre el tema acoso, bajo la perspectiva de los Estudios Culturales. La etiqueta incentivó que el contenido fuera compartido y generó agenda setting de medios de comunicación sobre acoso, una pauta que es bandera de los movimientos feministas. El concepto de mediaciones de Martín-Barbero (1997) es usado para investigar el contexto de publicaciones en Facebook y entrevistas con mujeres que comentaron en posts de la campaña. En el escenario de geración de contenido en profusión y de participación de muchos comunicando para muchos, la actuación política en las redes sociales, el llamado activismo digital, se puede identificar alguna relativización, sin expectativa de cambio radical. Las respuestas de las entrevistadas señalan que campañas como esa pueden alcanzar repercusión más allá de las redes, pero apuntan que el cambio generado ha sido el diálogo más a menudo sobre el tema con el círculo de personas más cercanas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 310
Author(s):  
Yuli Candrasari ◽  
Salshabilla Permata ◽  
Afifah Rachmania ◽  
Dyva Claretta

The growth in the number of netizens is now the impact of increasingly easy internet penetration and high penetration of social media that is easily accessed via smartphone gadgets. Research conducted by Candrasari (2016) states that female internet users cannot be separated from their social media. Within a day of 2-3 hours, his time is spent accessing digital media. Therefore digital competencies are needed for girls to avoid the negative effects of the internet. The purpose of this study is to get a picture of the competence of adolescent girls. Digital competence is a form of using technology safely and critically to facilitate work, get entertainment and to communicate (E. Encabo & Murcia, J: 2011: 166). This research was conducted on adolescent girls in Surabaya with qualitative research methods. Data obtained through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and literature studies. The results of the study indicate that the digital competence of adolescent girls is still not good, especially in the categories of skills using the internet, information management and responsibility for using internet which is still low. Only in the category of communication and sharing digital competence of young women is good


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