Write a Research Report and Analysis academic task and requires you to identify, summarise in your own words the main themes relating to the Use of Social Media.
Freedom to hate: social media, algorithmic enclaves, and the rise of tribal nationalism in Indonesia
In this article, the relationship between electoral politics in Jakarta and social media has been discussed. In 2017, during the Jakarta Gubernatorial Election, high amount of racism and sectarianism had been evidenced. In the campaigns held during the election, social media played a major role in creating polarization among the Indonesian voters. In November 2016, just before Pilkada DKI, a photo of Protestants outside Hotel Indonesia in Jakarta was posted on social media and went viral. The protest was against the Governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama who had been accused of insulting Quran. The governor, also known as Ahok in Indonesia was the 1st Christian governor of Indonesia (Lim 2017). The whole demonstration of the protest went live on social media and as a result, was seen by a majority of individuals of Indonesia. While some of the citizens were supporting the protest, several individuals who were the supporters of Ahok posted their point of view in social media claiming the protester to be racist. They explained Ahok to be the symbol of unity in diversity. Among the Social media users in Indonesia, three major point of view has been noticed. While the first two groups include supporters and haters of Ahok, according to the 3rd group social media provided fake news along with anti-Christian, Sectarian and racist messages. However, according to the author, the dynamics of social media cannot be demonstrated by simplified binary approach since the relationship between politics and social media is highly complex.
The immense usage of social media in Indonesia has rapidly transformed the method of creation, dissemination and distribution of information. In this era of modernization, social media are widely used by the politicians to circulate information and influence the voters through on-the-ground outreach activities. Political leaders have embraced various commercial branding techniques with the help of buzzers, volunteers and micro-celebrities in order to attract voters. Not only that, emotional massages are frequently posted in the official pages of the political leaders in order to build the trust of the voters in their political brands. The gubernatorial campaign of Jakarta can be set as an example of post-truth political practice (Coombs and Holladay 2014). The social media enables the users to voice their opinions and show hatred through their posts which in turn creates racist and sectarian narratives. However, several disadvantages can be pointed out due to the usage of social media for expressing a political point of view. Users try to legitimate their own opinion about nationalism discouraging others opinions. Thus usage of social media for political purpose often gives rise to division among social groups fueling intolerance against each other. Thus according to the author, usages of social media for the political purpose have several negative aspects. Hoverer, if the number of socialist users who focuses on equality, justice and pluralism increases, the above mentioned negative aspects can be reduced.
Keeping It Real: Exploring the Roles of Conversational Human Voice and Source Credibility in Crisis Communication via Blogs
In this article analysis of how conversational human voice and corporate tone affects the response of public has been performed. For this process, a 2 (tone of voice: human/organizational) × 2 (source: public relations executive/private citizen) × 2 (crisis response: defensive/accommodative) mixed experimental design has been used (Park and Cameron 2014). Considering the fact that the usage of social media has increased to a great extent, Public Relation Professionals are considering conversational human voice to be an effective way to communicate via blog in crisis communication. Blogs are considered to be a chief venue for effective public communication. Consumers prefer blogs for collecting in-depth information while social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are used for maintaining a relationship. According to the researcher, blogs that use first person narrative attract more visitors by creating a sociable and personal atmosphere compared to those blogs which do not have personal thoughts and stories. Just like personal journal type blogs display and imitate interpersonal communication attributes, conversational human voice serves as an effective and viable tactic for online communication by imitating a sense of human presence.
When it comes to source credibility, blog visitors consider PR sources to be less trustworthy and credible than independent, third-party sources. During the crisis, publics are found be suffering from high anxiety and uncertainty and as a result, tries to communicate with the organizations. Hence, in order to eradicate the negative perception, PR professionals should incorporate a spoke person who will not only reduce the negative perception of crisis but will also present commitment to eradicate their issues. However, it has been found that individuals rely more on the commitment of the organizations compared to the commitment of the PR executives (Gerbaudo 2018).
The usage of human voice is found to enhance the intention of the consumers to buy the product of an organization, compared to organizational tone. The psychological reason behind this is human voice promotes the willingness of the consumers to purchase the products of a company and get engaged in WOM and dialogic communication. This, in turn, is also beneficial for the company since active communication with the public helps the organizations to understand the crisis and develop an effective measure to cope up and prevent them from occurring in future. Due to the increased usage of social media, the usage of human voice enhances the chances for the organization to gain viral attention (Coombs 2014). Besides that, positive Word-Of-Mouth (WOM) behavior also serves as a medium of free promotion which in turn reduces the cost of advertising of the companies. Due to the development of online communication tools like AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger, WOM has got more influential as well as easier since these tools have enhanced their speed to communicate with several numbers of consumers at the same time.
Article 1
From the above discussion, it can be clearly understood that Social media imposes several negative impacts on the society when it comes to electoral politics. Political leaders are found to be utilizing several communication channels like Facebook and Twitter to circulate the information an attract voters. In order to acquire more and more voter, politicians advertise their political brands through several communication networks like buzzers, micro-celebrities and volunteers. One of the most effective communication style practised by the politicians is to gain sympathy by composing emotional posts. Considering the fact that various social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have provided the social media users with the freedom to show their expression and hatred, multiple forms of tribal nationalism is produced. This imposes a negative impact on intercultural communication. Individuals tend to legitimize their own point of view by suppressing and showing hatred to other opinions. Especially, when social media is used in electoral campaigns, the division among the supporters of electoral groups gets enhanced giving rice to intolerance against each other. The incident of Pilkalda can be considered as an example of the negative impact of social media on the society. However, a group of social media activists who concentrate on pluralism, justice and equality instead of political identity are emerging. Therefore there prevails a hope that negative impacts of social media on the politics can be eradicated if this network of activists continues to flourish both on-the grounds as well as in online social media platforms (Tufekci and Wilson 2012).
Article 2
The above discussion points out that usage of the human voice by the PR professionals during crisis communication can enhance the attraction of consumer towards the system. When a consumer hears a conversation human voice, he or she experiences a more sociable and personal atmosphere. An effective communication style that can be implemented is writing the blogs with first person narratives. Personal journal type blocks imitate interpersonal communication more effectively compared to organizations which use declarative tones. Apart from that, effective communication with the help of human voice can also eradicate the perspective that PR sources are less reliable than third party sources by enhancing the acceptance of the public (Bennett 2012). WOM communications can be an effective advertising tool to enhance the popularity of the companies. It is crucial to have a two way interactive communication not only to manage the crisis but also to ensure effective relationship the consumers both before and after the crisis. It can be clearly understood that social presence of organization as a result of usage of human voice does influence the perception of interactivity. Perceived interactivity that includes supportive behavioral intentions and reputations, serves as a connection between crisis communication outcomes and conversational human voice. This specific role of perceived interactivity highlights the requirement of studying the process with the help of informal and authentic communication styles on social media. Finally, it can be said that messages communicated through the organizations immensely affect the behavior, attitudes and perceptions of the consumers.
Reference list:
Bennett, W.L., 2012. The personalization of politics: Political identity, social media, and changing patterns of participation. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 644(1), pp.20-39.
Coombs, W.T., 2014. Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding. Sage Publications, pp.45-48
Gerbaudo, P., 2018. Tweets and the streets: Social media and contemporary activism. Pluto Press, pp.12-15
Lim, M., 2017. Freedom to hate: social media, algorithmic enclaves, and the rise of tribal nationalism in Indonesia. Critical Asian Studies, 49(3), pp.411-427.
Park, H. and Cameron, G.T., 2014. Keeping it real: Exploring the roles of conversational human voice and source credibility in crisis communication via blogs. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 91(3), pp.487-507.
Timothy Coombs, W. and Jean Holladay, S., 2014. How publics react to crisis communication efforts: Comparing crisis response reactions across sub-areas. Journal of Communication Management, 18(1), pp.40-57.
Tufekci, Z. and Wilson, C., 2012. Social media and the decision to participate in political protest: Observations from Tahrir Square. Journal of communication, 62(2), pp.363-379
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