Online Activism, Social Movements and Mediated Politics in Contemporary Bangladesh

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-215
Author(s):  
Ratan Kumar Roy

Politics online is a significant phenomenon today in Bangladesh given the reach of internet, resulting in the proliferation of the use of social media and online activism. The intertwined dynamic of digital drive and mediated politics can be traced in other parts of the region of South Asia as a burgeoning spectacle. In this context, the instance of Bangladesh with regard to online activism provides distinctive clues to fathom the nature of mediated politics. This paper examines a social media-driven youth protest, Shahbag Movement in 2013 to unravel the interactive dynamics between new media, traditional media and social movement. Bringing in the empirical cases, in the ultimate analysis, it delves deeper into the conceptual aspects of media practices, mediation and mediatisation.

Author(s):  
Ruth Grüters ◽  
Knut Ove Eliassen

AbstractTo understand the success of SKAM, the series’ innovative use of “social media” must be taken into consideration. The article follows two lines of argument, one diachronic, the other synchronic. The concept of remediation allows for a historical perspective that places the series in a longer tradition of “real time”-fictions and media practices that span from the epistolary novels of the 18th century by way of radio theatre and television serials to the new media of the 21st century. Framing the series within the current media ecology (marked by the connectivity logic of “social media”), the authors analyze how the choice of the blog as the drama’s media platform has formed the ways the series succeeded in affecting and mobilizing its audience. Given the long tradition of strong pedagogical premises in the teenager serials of publicly financed Norwegian television, the authors note the absence of any explicit media critical perspectives or didacticism. Nevertheless, the claim is that the media-practices of the series, as well as the actions and discourses of its followers (blogposts, facebook-groups, etc.), generate new insights and knowledge with regards to the series’ form, content, and practices.


2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraldine O’Mahony ◽  
Jo Ellen Fair

The process of post-conflict reconstruction in Liberia involves an array of actors vying for power. Many of the key political and civic figures involved are former warlords, whose reigns of terror affected many they now work with and serve. By reframing themselves through social media these warlords have created new centers of power, embracing their new roles as public servants and renouncing past acts of terrorism. This article focuses on two of Liberia’s most notorious former warlords, Prince Johnson and Joshua Blahyi. Johnson, now Senator Johnson, was best known for swilling beer while he conducted the video-taped torture of President Doe. Joshua Blahyi, formerly General Butt Naked, who infamously drank children’s blood before running naked into battle, is now a born-again preacher with his own faith-based NGO. We argue that their use of social media has enabled them to reconstruct and reframe their ‘past lives’, ensuring these cannot become political liabilities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 173 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinyu Zhao

This article investigates Chinese international students’ everyday transnational family practices through the use of social media. Specifically, the article highlights the relevance of two interlinked forms of disconnection in these students’ daily negotiations of ambivalent cross-border family relations in an age of always-on connectivity. The first form involves their disconnection from the general public via their creation of intimate spaces on social media that are exclusive to their family members. The second form involves the students detaching themselves from such intimate spaces, often temporarily, to escape and resist familial control and surveillance. I conclude the article by developing the notion of ‘disconnective intimacy’ to conceptualise contemporary Chinese transnational families. This article contributes to the literature on the transnational family by providing an insight into the micro-politics of mediated co-presence through the trope of ‘disconnective practice’.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justyna Masłyk

Abstract The main purpose of this article is to present the results of research concerning the use of social media by companies from the SME sector in Podkarpackie Province. The article includes data obtained in the first stage of the study, which is a part of a research project on the use of social media in the area of creating the image of an organization / company as an employer.The survey covered the entire population of companies from the SME sector, which are registered in Podkarpackie Province (REGON database). The research phase, the results of which are presented in this article, mainly involved the analysis of data on companies from the SME sector in Podkarpackie Province in terms of their presence on the Internet (having an individual website, having company profiles on selected social networks). The results of the first stage of the study confirm that the companies see the potential of the online presence / functioning in social media (more and more companies have their own website, Facebook profiles). The dynamics of changes in this area is definitely not adequate to the pace of new media development. On the basis of preliminary results of further stages of the research, it can also be concluded that in the vast majority of cases, however, these are non-strategic and non-systematic activities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-96
Author(s):  
Siti Ani Munasaroh

Abstract Social media is the main choice in establishing social interactions in cyberspace in this new media era. The Facebook application as one of the contemporary social media is widely used by Digital natives. As a creative generation in using technology, Digital natives use Facebook as a medium of communication today. Facebook users who are increasing and used continuously have formed a habit that eventually becomes a culture of communication. This research is a qualitative research with a constructivist paradigm that uses a virtual ethnographic research approach. Virtual ethnography is an approach that aims to observe behavior patterns, patterns of life and social relations in virtual life in cyberspace. This study is to determine the communication culture of Digital natives on the use of social media Facebook. And to find out the communication culture formed from the use of Facebook by Digital natives. Keywords: Culture, Communication, New Media, Facebook, Digital natives. Abstrak Media sosial menjadi pilihan utama dalam menjalin interaksi sosial di dunia maya pada era media baru ini. Aplikasi facebook sebagai salah satu media sosial kekinian banyak digunakan oleh Digital natives. Sebagai generasi kreatif dalam menggunakan teknologi, Digital natives memanfaatkan facebook sebagai media komunikasi saat ini. Pengguna facebook yang semakin meningkat dan digunakan secara terus menerus telah membentuk sebuah kebiasaan yang pada akhirnya menjadi budaya dalam berkomunikasi. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kualitatif dengan paradigma konstruktivis yang menggunakan pendekatan penelitian etnografi virtual. Etnografi virtual merupakan pendekatan yang bertujuan untuk mengamati pola-pola perilaku, pola kehidupan dan relasi sosial dalam kehidupan virtual di dunia maya (cyber) Penelitian ini hendak mengkaji tentang, perubahan dan budaya komunikasi Digital natives pada penggunaan facebook di era media baru, sedangkan Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah Untuk mengetahui budaya komunikasi Digital natives pada penggunaan media sosial facebook. Dan untuk mengetahui budaya komunikasi yang terbentuk dari penggunaan facebook oleh Digital natives. Kata Kunci : Budaya, Komunikasi, Media Baru, Facebook, Digital natives.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Nadas Ramachandra Pillay

This study seeks to examine the exponential growth of social media technology as a key component in recent American political campaigning, as well as its use and impact on the larger disciplines of marketing and branding. Adopting the approach of a case study with the focus firmly on the current American president, Barack Obama, the study identifies the key media and technologies used in the build-up to the 2008 American presidential elections in order to unpack and understand how such media channels, technological platforms and patterns were successfully utilised. References are also made to the concepts of ‘branding’ and ‘super branding’ in the discussion, and to the myriad ways in which social media has helped create and roll-out what has since become commonly known as ‘brand Obama’. To provide a framework for the discussion and in order to further understand the rapid growth and proliferation of social media on the political campaigning landscape, a comparison is made with the 2004 American presidential election campaign. This, it is posited, will assist us understand the drivers of new media technologies especially as they are used to create and impact positively on the growth of political super brands.


2018 ◽  
pp. 1209-1233
Author(s):  
Hanna Kontu ◽  
Alessandra Vecchi

The importance of social media is evident as millions of people use it to connect with others, share content, and discuss different topics (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Kim & Ko, 2010). Although it is clear that social media is powerful and ubiquitous, many fashion brands have been reluctant or unable to develop strategies and allocate resources to effectively engage with the new media. The goal of this chapter is to critically review the literature that explicitly addresses the adoption, application, and impact of social media by fashion brands. In particular, the purpose of this chapter is to provide a critical assessment of the adoption of social media amongst three well-established fashion brands in order to identify the importance of social media as a strategic marketing tool and to propose a number of alternative social media strategies for fashion brands. Such a critical assessment is necessary since, as demonstrated by the research findings, implementing these strategies will allow brands not only to survive, but also to create new competitive advantages and thrive in the new global fashion business environment.


Author(s):  
Cesar Pereira da Mota ◽  
Pedro Isaías

Despite the fact that the branding of football is not a new phenomenon, the emergence of new media has provided the means and the opportunity for the widespread promotion of football club's brands. At the same time, the growing popularity of social media among football fan has empowered them to express their opinions and has granted them unlimited resources for information search and exchange. This chapter aims to examine the relationship that exists between Real Madrid's digital marketing actions and its promotion as a brand and the loyalty of its supporters. An online questionnaire was distributed among sports and football fans in order to identify their profile, their preferred communication channels, their use of social media and their knowledge about Real Madrid.


Author(s):  
Olu Jenzen ◽  
Itir Erhart ◽  
Hande Eslen-Ziya ◽  
Umut Korkut ◽  
Aidan McGarry

This article explores how Twitter has emerged as a signifier of contemporary protest. Using the concept of ‘social media imaginaries’, a derivative of the broader field of ‘media imaginaries’, our analysis seeks to offer new insights into activists’ relation to and conceptualisation of social media and how it shapes their digital media practices. Extending the concept of media imaginaries to include analysis of protestors’ use of aesthetics, it aims to unpick how a particular ‘social media imaginary’ is constructed and informs their collective identity. Using the Gezi Park protest of 2013 as a case study, it illustrates how social media became a symbolic part of the protest movement by providing the visualised possibility of imagining the movement. In previous research, the main emphasis has been given to the functionality of social media as a means of information sharing and a tool for protest organisation. This article seeks to redress this by directing our attention to the role of visual communication in online protest expressions and thus also illustrates the role of visual analysis in social movement studies.


2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S1) ◽  
pp. s94-s94 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Keim

BackgroundSocial media (SM) are forms of information and communication technology disseminated through social interaction. SM rely upon peer-to-peer (P2P) networks that are collaborative, decentralized, and community-driven transforming people from content consumers into content producers. The role of SM in disaster management galvanized during the world response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake. (Pew 2010) During the immediate aftermath, much of what people around the world were learning about the earthquake originated from SM sources. (Nielsenwire 2010) During the first 2 weeks following the earthquake, “texting” mobile phone users donated over $25 million to the American Red Cross. (Sysomos 2010) Both public and private response agencies used Google Maps™. Millions joined MySpace™ and Facebook ™discussion groups to share information, donate money, and offer support. SM has also been described as “remarkably well organized, self correcting, accurate and concentrated”, calling into question the ingrained view of unidirectional, official-to-public information broadcasts. (Sutton, et al 2008) SM may also offer potential psychological benefit for vulnerable populations gained through participation as stakeholders in the response. (Sutton, et al 2008) (Laor 2003)DiscussionHowever, widespread use of SM also involves several important challenges for disaster management. Although SM is growing rapidly, it remains less widespread and accessible than traditional media. Also, public officials often view person to person communications as “backchannels” with potential to spread misinformation and rumor. (Akre 2010) In addition, in absence of the normal checks and balances that regulate traditional media, privacy rights violations can occur as people use SM to describe personal events and circumstances. (Palen 2007)


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