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I dont know what blows my mind more: that we are almost at the end of my first semester at uni or the volume of information I have already learnt during my very short time at uni. 

BAM! Said the Lady another best seller for me would hands down be the favourite blog post I have done this year. The topic for that week was about Transmedia storytelling which is interesting in itself, but the realisation that my favourite TV show was a relevant example for Transmedia storytelling which therefore meant I could write about it for my blog post was one of the reasons this was my favourite blog post. The day I published this post my blog received 123 views in one day which completely blew me away. I learnt then that what you write about can drastically change how popular your blog posts can be. If I had instead wrote about a TV show that not a lot of people had heard about I doubt I would have received as many views as I did talking about Castle not to mention so many international views.

Never in a million years would I have guessed that in my first semester of uni would be able to talk about any social causes I am involved with but when we studied Clicktivism I was given the opportunity to share about a cause that is very important to me. In writing Awkward moment when they have stereotyped us wrong, I discovered the value of writing about issues and topics you are passionate about. Your posts are more likely to be more influential if you are infested in the topic to even the smallest degree.

Hold on to your mouses, icarly could really happen is easily one of my favourite blogs post. As someone who is trying to make it in the television business it was extremely encouraging to see the amount of people that have “made it ” by posting their video’s on youtube. I was surprised by the amount of likes this blog post received but after comparing my posts, I realised that the amount and type of video’s I used affected the traffic on the blogs.

Annon.

More and more blogs and professional journalists are being targeted by misogyny and anonymous hate messages, which has resulted in a lot of these blogs turning off their comment sections or even shutting down their blogs all together.  Even on this blog (which has only been functioning for 3-4 months) i have already received over 200 messages, most were random spam messages.

Anonymous hate on Tumblr has become a real issue for the millions of users. I have been using tumblr for the last three years and luckily have never had to deal with misogyny or any annonmous hate but I have witnessed a lot of anon hate experienced by some of my followers.

The Tumblr community has started mobialising to combat anon hate using similar methods used in the  #mencallmethings campaign. One tumblr blogger even created a Blog called Men Call Me Things which was dedicated to explaining what was happening with the twitter hashtag as well as creating their own videos about the issues surrounding Misoygny and anonymous hate messages. Blogs like the ‘Combatting Anon Hate’ for example, are also being created every day which are dedicated to fighting the anonymity war online. Bloggers have even started creating video’s on YouTube about the anon hate.

At the moment there is no easy answer to stopping anonymous hate on the internet. Bloggers can not allow comments on their blogs, even start new ones, but is that really a solution?

Confessions of the Recruitment Industry [INFOGRAPHIC]

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How to take time and smell the Roses in the 21st Century

 

The world is getting busier every day, so it’s important to find time for the little things that make a normal day just that little bit special. Be inspired to do something different and find the joy in the every day miracles.

 

1. Go for a walk

 

2. Take a picture of the sunset instead of rushing past

 

3. Make something for your home

 

4. Build a blanket fort with your kids

 

5. Bake some cookies instead of buying them.

 

6. Plant something

 

7. Relax and have an easy movie day at home.

 

8. Sit in the sun

 

9. Write a letter to someone you care about.

 

10. Watch that funny video you don’t have time for

 

11. Have lunch outside not in your office

 

12. Read a picture book

 

13. Don’t be afraid to get a little dirty

 

14. Buy a flower…. just because.

 

15. Say hi to the barrister who is making your coffee

 

16. Do something nice for someone you don’t know

 

17. Blow bubbles and pop bubble wrap

 

18. Shout someone a coffee

 

19. Read a short story

 

20. Find the beauty in the everyday

 

Social Stereotypes: You Are What You Share [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Awkward moment when they have stereotyped us wrong

My generation has been branded as not caring for politics and social justice and I may be biased but I really don’t think it’s the case. If anything our generation should be stereotyped as not being able to stereotype it. Just last week in my community I participated with 80 other young people in raising money for a home in Nepal that is rehabilitating rescued traffic victims. That event was completely arranged by young people on social media sites such as Facebook  specifically for the young people to raise money.

Many senior secondary school students participate in political and civic activities. Over half of students surveyed in 2004 had signed a petition (55%), while 21% had collected signatures for a petition, and 15% had taken part in rallies or demonstrations. Students differentiated between the various social movements and causes they would support by taking part in a demonstration – Australian Bureau of Statistics

Granted its not every single young person participating, but does the whole population of Australia ever fully participate in a movement.The amount of times during my high school years our elected Student Body Representatives organised fund raisers and created awareness by alerting our entire school to social movements and social injustices. A lot of these events were specifically organised through our year group’s facebook page.  This doesn’t sound like the lazy generation everyone seems to think we are.

Meet my cause: The A21 Campaign.

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Human trafficking is the second largest global organized crime today, generating approximately 31.6 billion USD each year. Specifically, trafficking for sexual exploitation generates 27.8 billion USD per year. – United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 

Let me just break the stereotype and tell you about this amazing cause. This organisation has started to prevent future victims by creating awareness, protecting the rescued victims by housing them in safe locations, prosecuting the traffickers and making sure they get proper sentences as well as creating partnerships with the local law enforcement. Not only does it do all that, but it provides real ways for our ‘lazy generation’ to participate with the organisations 21 Ways to get involved.

How has this organisation managed to motivate so many young people. By using twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and creating informative videos on YouTube they have created multiple platforms from which young people can get involved. On twitter alone the campaign has currently got around 56,000 followers which shows the awareness it has gained through social media.

 Although this could be branded as just being another online campaign, I don’t see this as the case with A21 as they provide  multiple real world ways people can help the cause beyond just Clicktivism. Important online links like The Problem , Our Solution, Signs of Trafficking, have been used through out the website to provide the next step  (both on and offline). Social media has opened my generation up to the idea of social change and that we are the ones who can actually change it.

Social Media Dashboard Usage Trends [INFOGRAPHIC]

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I was NOT expecting that!

How many times have we been shown a video on YouTube or even a link on Facebook and been thoroughly surprised. This is the remix culture just one of the many ways the audience is transforming into participatory culture. We hear or see something we are familiar with (a song, part of a movie or even just a famous person) but the meaning is changed as someone in the world adds it to another piece of content. These videos are being made in the multitudes every single day, and thanks to social media sites like Tumblr and twitter, more and more of these creations are going viral.

(In the spirit of Mother’s Day next week I choose this example) This group of women created a parody of ‘bohemian rhapsody‘ by the band Queen,  in which they changed the meaning of the song and performed their parody in a church in America. How has this content changed? Well for one thing I was on the floor laughing at this video; which means now that this iconic song has a humorous Mother’s Day side to it. Why? Because someone changed the meaning of the content.

But how was I able to see it? I wasn’t at the church when they recorded it, I don’t even know what church it is. Somebody in the audience recorded the content and used platforms like YouTube and Facebook to share the video. The concept of a remix culture has meant that ordinary people like the women on the video can become overnight internet celebrities

But its not just internet success for these creators. Remember that guy Weird Al Yankovic. His skill of remixing songs into amazing parodies led to him becoming so international known. Other rising stars The Key of Awesome, teddiefilms, Degabros and collegehumor have all been able to create their own fame by creating similar parodies.