Category Archives: Social Media

Slacktivism versus Snarktivism

The Conversation published my article on slacktivism versus snarktivism, in which I illustrate some of the ways people resist so-called slacktivist or clicktivist campaigns that rely on ‘simply’ sharing or liking images.

Snarktivism | Source: Uploaded to Know Your Meme by amanda b.

Source: Uploaded to Know Your Meme by amanda b.

Debate over the value of online activism has risen again in the wake of the highly visible Human Rights Campaign marriage equality campaign, which urged Facebook users to replace their profile photographs with a red equal sign.

The very evolutionary forces that allow memes to propagate in support of a campaign–even a so-called slacktivist campaign–also afford resistance. Following Rod Cottingham’s cartoon title, I call this resistance “snarktivism”.

There are always dissenting opinions, and this is just a new way of presenting those opinions. The meme forms known as image macros are central to snarktivism as they provide templates for critique.

Read the full article:

Rintel, S. (2013, April 10). ‘Slacktivism’ vs ‘snarktivism’: how do you take your online activism? The Conversation (Online).

Related:

Donate:

Electronic Fronters Australia

Want meaningful activism? Please donate to Electronic Frontiers Australia to help us continue to be your voice for digital freedom, access, and privacy.

Australia’s long #socmed election

I commented in Technology Spectator about Australia’s long, social election after Julia Gillard announced the next Federal Election will occur on  September 14. This is a record length of campaign time in Australian politics, so I was asked whether it might make a difference in social media use.

hipstergillardExcerpt: “A common criticism of social media audiences is that they are not representative of the public and not useful to target in a political campaign.

Rintel supports this notion to an extent, in that social media is not fully representative of the wider public.

However, he said that, “big social media stories are always going to get picked up more by traditional news sources”.

In this way, social media campaigns are not confined to the web, they have a much broader reach.”

Read more at:

Cope, E. (2013, February 15). Australia’s long, social election. Technology Spectator (Online).

Sentiment?

Interestingly, this article was picked up by Sentirate, an automated attempt to analyse the sentiment analysis of various forms of text online. The article was rated “Neutral”.

Sentirate analysis of Australia's long, social election

Sentirate analysis of Australia’s long, social election

Related:

Social media tricks taking hold in election campaigning

I commented in The Conversation about social media tricks taking hold in election campaigning.

AstroTurf Tree Pit

Source: Flickr | Kristine Paulus | CC Licensed

The article reports that US computer scientists Panagiotis Metaxas and Eni Mustafaraj published an article in Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, showing that “Google “bombs”, Twitter “spam bots” and astroturfing have become tools of the trade during the US election campaign, and are likely to feature in the run-up to next year’s Australian election say experts.”

Excerpt: It’s all part of a trend that requires political candidates to be armed as well as those who seek to attack them said [Dr] Sean Rintel, lecturer in strategic communication at the University of Queensland.

In the case of Google bombing, the most famous case which involved George W. Bush being linked with the term “miserable failure”, [Dr] Rintel said it was no longer sufficient for candidates to issue a press release saying “that’s not me”.

“In the moment you need ways of getting out something that is equally as effective at grabbing attention through search,” Dr Rintel said.

“The speed with which an issue can pop up and then suddenly become a problem for a candidate to deal with has become much faster,” he said.

“Candidates have to be willing to respond quickly and armed as well as those on the other side.”

Read more at:

Palmer, C. (2012, October 26). Social media tricks take hold in election campaigning: report. The Conversation (Online).

Stalking your ex on Facebook

The Conversation published my article on stalking one’s Ex on Facebook, and tools that might allow for some personal insight into how one us using Facebook. Co-authored with SJC Journalism student Chelmin Lim.

Cat on Facebook

Source: Olga Palma/Wikimedia

We briefly reported that on Tara Marshall’s finding that Facebook surveillance of ex-romantic partners may disrupt post-breakup recovery and personal growth, and Veronika Lukacs finding that almost 90% of people keep tabs on their exes using Facebook.

We then went on to discuss whether stalking is endemic to Facebook, based on danah boyd’s four features of networked publics. We ended the article with a brief round-up of Facebook tools to use for personal insight, including Jeremy Keeshin’s Facebook Friends Rankings bookmarklet, Wolfram Alpha’s Personal Analytics for Facebook, and the iPhone app Gabi.

Read the full article:

Rintel, S. & Lim, C. (2012, September 21). Stalking your ex on Facebook is creepy … and bad for you. The Conversation (Online).

Also syndicated in:

Rintel, S. & Lim, C. (2012, September 23). Stalking your ex on Facebook is ‘bad for you’: Research. SBS (Online).

 

Real Clear TechnologyRintel, S. & Lim, C. (2012, September 21). Stalking your ex on Facebook is creepy … and bad for you. Real Clear Technology (Online).

Event: UQ Great Debate on Citizen Journalism

UPDATE 2: Full video of the debate. My full turn in the debate. Tragically, for those hoping to see my Gangnam Style, it occurred out of shot, so you can hear it but not see it.

UPDATE 1: The People’s Decision: Better off with Citizen Journalism. So, my team did not win, but we had fun and, honestly, I’m rather relieved!

As I said in the report on the debate outcome, ”I think the audience rightly went with hope for better, over fear about current troubles.

“We want citizen journalism because we hope that it gives us all a voice,” said Dr Rintel.

Reports on my dancing Gangnam Style are still unconfirmed by video or images… ;)

ORIGINAL:

Sean Rintel 2012 UQ Great DebateI’ll be taking part in the Inaugural UQ Research Week Great Debate. The topic for this debate is: “We are better off with citizen journalists”.

As UQ News says, the topic is “We are better off with citizen journalists”. Four of the six debaters are from the UQ School of Journalism and Communication, joined by team members from the Global Change Institute and the School of Business.

Myself, Skye Doherty, and Amalia Buckerfield, all from SJC will argue the negative: that we are not better off with citizen journalists because the content they create does not meet any professional standards.

John Cook (GCI), Liam Pomfret (Business), and Carl Smith (SJC) will argue the affirmative: that citizen journalists help to democratize the flow of news.”

The negative position will be interesting to argue, as my personal views tend more toward the affirmative. However, researching for the debate has turned up significant complexity to the argument.