Personal Reflection

Brenna Guiney

Task: Your personal reflection will document your development and understanding as a social networker as a result of studying INF506, and the implications for your study, your personal life, and your ongoing development as an information professional.

(Little, n.d.)

The completion of INF506, Social Networking for Information Professionals, has significantly contributed to my practice as a social networker within the Library and Information Studies (LIS) sector, and has had implications for the way I learn, the development of my Personal Learning Network (PLN), and my ongoing practice as a future information professional. Traditionally, I have been a reluctant participator in social media, preferring to silently consume content created by others rather than create content myself or engage with other users via comments and likes. However, this subject required me to become more engaged within this community of practice and contribute to the “participatory and community-centric” environment that allows a community of practice to be successful (Kitzie, et al., 2020). There are several ways this was achieved, including through using the Facebook site, commenting on Online Learning Journal blog posts, and researching for the Assessment 1 trial site. These experiences are examined below.

The use of the Facebook site acted as a constant reminder for me to engage with other students and their blogs, particularly as a number of students, including myself, would post a link to their latest blog post. I almost exclusively used these links to access other student blogs, rather than the blogroll spreadsheet available on Interact 2, as those who were posting their blogs appeared to be more actively engaging with the group. This page also encouraged me to keep up with the regularity of blog posts required for this topic, instead of simply completing the requirements for Assessment 2 after the completion of Assessment 1, which is what I typically do during the semester. I found this incredibly helpful as due to the pressures of my personal life and career, there were a few weeks that I did not access Interact 2 over the Christmas break. However, I did access Facebook for other reasons, and was reminded to keep up with engagement and progress on my assessments because of posts made by other students, and the clear, positive attitude towards knowledge sharing and development (Pi, et al., 2013, p. 1976). This reflects the importance of engaging with one’s Personal Learning Network (PLN) regularly, as these communities are only as valuable as the individuals that participate in them, and the greater the participation, the greater the benefit for all members (Nielsen, 2008).

The requirement to engage with other student blog posts significantly increased the level of engagement that I would typically undertake during the semester with my fellow students. As stated previously, I am typically quiet and reluctant to engage, but the requirement to comment on the Online Learning Journal posts improved my understanding of the module content, alternate perspectives, and the different experiences of information professionals. For example, in reading and commenting on Chloe Ho’s (2023) post Task 1: Social Media and Society: Journal Article Analysis, I was driven to consider the alternate experience of Chinese (Mainland) users of social media sites in relation to self-esteem, and that the specific cultural requirements for social media in China, including the limited sites available, would affect the external validity of the research paper analysed by Ho. This drew my attention to other posts centred outside of Australia, such as Janice Jim Ka Yan’s (2024) post OLJ Task 12: Virtual and augmented reality in Hong Kong Public Library, as their experience of social media and the LIS sector is different from my Australian-centric perspective. The exposure to perspectives from different cultures, and the requirement to engage with these ideas through a ‘student centred learning’ approach that values the differences of cultures (Wong, 2021, p. 95), both expanded my knowledge development by driving me to consider the lived experience of those outside of my cultural setting, and also helped me identify similarities with theories that I have learnt in a Western paradigm. In the case of this blog post, the similarities I identified were how the concept of ‘digital immigrants’ transcends cultural boundaries (Wang, et al., 2013). I also engaged with other students’ blogs, including Kathy Gee’s (2024) post OLJ Task 5: The Client Experience, wherein through reading my fellow students’ analysis I was able to draw back to theories I had utilised in Assessment 1, specifically how an online presence can be used to establish the ‘organisation-as-self’ (Mon, 2015, pp. 5-6). This enabled me to expand my learning by linking these theories with another real-life example and application, which strengthened my understanding of the subject content.

Another component of this subject that significantly contributed to my development as a social networker in my personal life was the research that I conducted in preparation for creating a trial site for Assessment 1. For this assessment, I chose to use Instagram and created a trial site for a public library. In order to understand the expectations of a public library Instagram page, and find some best practice examples, I increased my engagement with library-centric accounts on Instagram, and expanded my network to include a variety of individual library accounts, such as @MilwaukeePublicLibrary and @CityofMarionLibraries, as well as library hashtags such as #librariansofinstagram and #librariesofinstagram. Prior to this assessment, I had not realised the personal benefit I would gain from engaging more deeply as a social networker with library Instagram accounts, and how it would expand my Personal Learning Network to include a variety of global connections and influences from which I can learn a variety of perspectives (Morrison & McCutheon, 2019, p. 2).

Overall, the focus of INF506 on engaging with social media has improved my level of comfort with becoming a social networker within the LIS sector, and engaging with my fellow students to establish a wider Personal Learning Network. This has not only benefited my study, by strengthening my ability to apply theory across a variety of contexts and topics, but my personal life and ongoing development as an information professional, by widening my sphere of engagement on social media platforms. I aim to continue this level of engagement so that I can continue to develop my Personal Learning Network and strengthen my knowledge in future subjects for the Master of Information Studies.

(1015 words)

References

Gee, K. (2024, January 10). OLJ task 5: The client experience. Mrs Gee’s Learning Journey. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/geeslearningjourney/2024/01/10/olj-task-5-the-client-experience/

Ho, C. (2023, November 19). Task 1: Social media and society: Journal article analysis. Teacher Librarianship – CHo. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/teacherlibrarianship1cho/2023/11/19/task-1-social-media-and-society-journal-article-analysis/

Kitzie, V. L., Pettigrew, J., Wagnera, T. L., & Vera, A. N. (2020). Using the world café methodology to support community-centric research and practice in library and information science. Information & Library Science Research, 42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2020.101050

Little, G. F. (n.d.). [Image of person with a lightbulb]. Centre for Professional Education of Teachers. https://cpet.tc.columbia.edu/news-press/core-principles-critical-reflection 

Mon, L. (2015). Social media and library services. Springer International Publishing AG.

Morrison, D., & McCutheon, J. (2019). Empowering older adults’ informal, self-directed learning: harnessing the potential of online personal learning networks. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 14(10), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41039-019-0104-5

Nielsen, L. (2008, October 12). 5 things you can do to begin developing your personal learning network. The Innovative Educator. https://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2008/04/5-things-you-can-do-to-begin-developing.html

Pi, S. M., Chou, C. H., & Liao, H. L. (2013). A study of Facebook groups members’ knowledge sharing. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 1971-1979. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.04.019

Wang, Q., Myers, M., & Sundaram, D. (2013). Digital natives and digital immigrants: Towards a model of digital fluency. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 6, 409-419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11576-013-0390-2

Wong, K. M. (2021). “A design framework for enhancing engagement in student‑centered learning: own it, learn it, and share it” by Lee and Hannafn (2016): an international perspective. Education Tech Research Dev, 69, 93-96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-020-09842-w

Yan, J. J. K. (2024, January 10). OLJ task 12: Virtual and augmented reality. Social Media and Librarianship_Jim. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/kjim02/2024/01/10/olj-task-12-virtual-and-augmented-reality/

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Extended Post: Social Media and Personal/Professional Boundaries

Brenna Guiney

Task: Write an extended blog post of 1,000 words that explores, explains, and analyses social media and personal/professional boundaries in relation to social media use in information organisations.

(Alexandria, 2019)

Social media is a powerful tool for information organisations that has the ability deconstruct the traditional boundaries between users and institutions by creating a personalised, accessible, and informal point of contact (Mon, 2015, pp. 5-6). For information organisations such as libraries, it has also been proven to be a low-cost, high-reward tool to promote library services to a wide user base (Adekunle & Olla, 2015, p. 45), increase user engagement (Joo et al., 2018, p. 940), advocate for the importance of libraries in society (Kwon et al., 2021, p. 55), and provide real-time feedback and analytics for library services.

However, intrinsically, the culture of social media and the type of content that successfully achieves a personalisation of an organisation demands a level of vulnerability, authenticity, and disclosure for the employees involved in the content creation process, and risk taking for the organisation (Ihejirika, et al., 2021, p. 10). For example, one library social media account that has experienced great success is the Milwaukee Public Library (MPL) Instagram page, which has taken a risky, comedic, and uncensored approach to their content creation, resulting in the page gaining nearly 200,000 followers (Milwaukee Public Library, n.d.), and a high degree of media attention (Alcántara, 2022; Diamond, 2022; Silver, 2023). As such, information organisations must consider that the approach to social media, particularly successful, viral social media, is a risky endeavour that blurs the boundaries between professionalism and personalisation, which can present significant issues regarding reputational risk, policy and governance, and employee privacy.

Putting individual employees at the forefront of an organisation’s social media has been shown to be an effective strategy to personalise an organisation, create strong interpersonal relationships, and increase user engagement (Kwon et al., 2021, p. 56). However, repeatedly featuring individual employees establishes them as characters and the proxy “face” of the organisation, identifiable by users both within the physical space of the library and online (Potter, 2012, pp. 4-5). Due to the connected environment of social media, it is inevitable that these employees will be tagged or identified in posts, even if the organisation itself avoids doing so. Consequently, the boundaries between the professional social media of the organisation and the personal social media of the employee becomes blurred, and accordingly, the traditionally segregated audience of the professional and personal accounts becomes linked (Archer-Brown, et al., 2018, p. 75; Abril, et al., 2012, p. 64). As examined by Abril, et al. (2012), Forssell (2020), and Zhao and Yu (2018), Erving Goffman’s presentation theory has been used to demonstrate how people control others’ impressions of them based on spatial boundaries and the persona that they decide to present to this closed audience. However, social media blurs the spatiotemporal boundaries of work and private life, and its associated audiences. Accordingly, this has the potential to put the employee in a compromised position as the expectations of their workplace conduct and professionalism extends into their personal sphere (Abril, et al., 2012, p. 64), which can increase the psychological burden of workplace demands (Zhao & Yu, 2023, p. 7). This breach of the employee private sphere can also have significant impacts on the employee’s freedom of personal expression as they have to begin self-moderating their personal content in line with the demands of professionalism (Abril, et al., 2012, p. 64).

Similarly, the breakdown of professional/personal boundaries on social media increases the reputational risk for the organisation, as the personal behaviour, beliefs, and ideologies of an individual employee can be interpreted to represent those of the organisation (Abril, et al., 2012, p. 90; Archer-Brown, et al., 2018, p. 77). For example, if the employee is a strong political advocate and regularly posts as such on their personal page, this may be interpreted that the organisation is endorsing their political viewpoints. Moreover, if the employee posts controversial or inappropriate content on their personal social media page, and the employee is then featured on the organisation’s social media page, this may result in backlash against the organisation that may damage their reputation amongst the public and key stakeholders (Abril, et al., 2012, p. 90). This situation has been witnessed innumerable times on social media where brands and organisations have had to remove a brand ambassador or “face” of the organisation in order to salvage the organisation’s reputation, such as when Gap, Adidas, Balenciaga, and Vogue cancelled brand deals with Kanye West following his comments on social media (Dean & Jackson, 2022). As such, organisations may also seek to control an employee’s behaviour outside of the workplace by instituting regulatory policies to achieve boundary management such as “morality clauses” and “codes of conduct” (Zhao & Yu, 2023, p. 2; Abril, et al., 2012, p. 90). These boundary management strategies formalise the blurring of the professional and personal, as professional policies extend into the life, expression, and interaction of employees outside of the workplace.

Ultimately, it is clear that the use of social media by information organisations poses a variety of risks to the organisation and its employees involved in content creation, including lack of control and reputational risk for the organisation, and greater psychological burden of workplace demands for the employee. However, social media provides a vast range of benefits for information organisations and should not be avoided simply due to the presence of these risks. Instead, information organisations should establish multidisciplinary working groups when establishing a social media strategy that incorporates media and communications, human resources, legal and risk governance teams. By doing so, the risks to both the organisation and the employees should be identified, analysed, and mitigated through a risk management process, rather than by avoiding the risk of social media in its entirety. For employees, these requirements, including any boundary management policies such as codes of conduct that expand the requirements of professionalism into their personal sphere, should be explicitly communicated during the hiring process so that all parties are informed of their responsibilities. Moreover, it is vital that any boundary management policies implemented by information organisations acknowledge the importance of freedom of expression and individual autonomy for its employees, so as to ensure that the organisation does not exceed its influence in regard to the law and social expectations.

(1026 words)

References

Abril, P. S., Levin, A., & Del Riego, A. (2012). Blurred boundaries: Social media privacy and the twenty-first-century employee. American Business Law Journal, 49(1), 63–124. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1714.2011.01127.x

Adekunle, P. A. & Olla, G. O. (2015). Social Media Application and the Library: An Expository Discourse. In A. Tella (Ed.), Social Media Strategies for Dynamic Library Service Development (pp. 41-70). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-7415-8.ch003

Alcántara, A-M. (2022, December 23). This local library is an overnight social-media sensation. Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/this-local-library-is-an-overnight-social-media-sensation-11671767071

Alexandria. (2019). [Photograph of hands holding an iPhone in front of bookshelves]. https://www.goalexandria.com/7-ways-to-promote-your-school-library-using-social-media/

Archer-Brown, C., Marder, B., Calvard, T., & Kowalski, T. (2018). Hybrid social media: Employees’ use of a boundary-spanning technology. New Technology, Work and Employment, 33(1), 74-93. https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12103

Dean, G., & Jackson, S. (2022, October 26). From Adidas to JPMorgan, these are all the companies cutting ties with Kanye West after his offensive behavior. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/kanye-west-companies-cutting-ties-adidas-gap-balenciaga-vogue-tweet-2022-10#balenciaga-4

Diamond, J. (2022, December 2). Is this the best library Instagram in America? Literary Hub. https://lithub.com/is-this-the-best-library-instagram-in-america/

Forssell, R. C. (2020). Cyberbullying in a boundary blurred working life: Distortion of the private and professional face on social media. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 15(2), 89-107. https://doi.org/10.1108/QROM-05-2018-1636

Ihejirika, K. T., Goulding, A., & Calvert, P. J. (2021). Do they “like” the library? Undergraduate students’ awareness, attitudes, and inclination to engage with library social media. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 47(6), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2021.102451

Joo, S., Choi, N., & Baek, T. H. (2018). Library marketing via social media: The relationship between Facebook content and user engagement in public libraries. Online Information Review, 42(6), 940-955. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-10-2017-0288

Kwon, K. H., Shao, C., & Nah, S. (2021) Localized social media and civic life: Motivations, trust, and civic participation in local community contexts. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 18(1), 55-69. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2020.1805086

Milwaukee Public Library [@milwaukeepubliclibrary]. (n.d.). Posts [Instagram profile]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/milwaukeepubliclibrary/

Mon, L. (2015). Social media and library services. Springer International Publishing AG.

Potter, N. (2012). The library marketing toolkit. Facet Publishing. https://doi.org/10.29085/9781856048897

Silver, M. (2023, August 7). Milwaukee Public Library is gaining global attention because of its social media. NPR Morning Edition. https://www.npr.org/2023/08/07/1192432565/milwaukee-public-library-is-gaining-global-attention-because-of-its-social-media

Zhao, A. T., & Yu, Y. (2023). Employee online personal/professional boundary blurring and work engagement: Social media anxiety as a key contingency. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2022.100265

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OLJ 9: PLN Adoption

Brenna Guiney

Task: Based on Utecht’s 5 stages of PLN adoption, identify which stage you currently see yourself experiencing and how this impacts on your personal and working lives. Also identify any ‘gaps’ in your existing PLN (ie. areas which you feel you would like to develop further/in the future). Write around 400 words.

(McHugh, 2016)

A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is a series of connections made by an individual to improve and expand an individual’s learning and learning connections (Nielsen, 2008). In today’s environment, PLNs are global and have the capability to connect similarly interested individuals across spatiotemporal bounds (Morrison & McCutheon, 2019, p. 2). PLNs can also cross sector and industry boundaries, as connections are made on the basis of interests and knowledge, rather than as the result of a structure dictated by a specific industry. For example, the PLN of an information professional may incorporate individuals from the Library and Information Science (LIS) sector, Information Technology (IT) sector, and social work sector. Ultimately, PLN’s are about forming a strong community of individuals, information, and resources that a professional can call upon to strengthen their knowledge beyond the capabilities of their immediate school or workplace contacts (Nielsen, 2008).

Utecht (2008) defined the following five stages of PLN adoption to enable professionals to reflect on their progress through the PLN journey:

      • Stage 1: Immersion – participating in all networks that you can find.
      • Stage 2: Evaluation – focus on networks that you are most interested in.
      • Stage 3: Know it all – spend a high degree of time learning and gaining knowledge as fast as possible.
      • Stage 4: Perspective – take a step back and establish perspectives on life values and goals.
      • Stage 5: Balance – Prioritise other avenues as well as the PLN and achieve a work/learning/life balance.

 

Based on these stages, I am personally vacillating between Stage 2 – Evaluation, and Stage 3 – Know it all. As I progress through the Master of Information Studies (MIS), I have been evaluating my networks to prioritise those that serve my career and knowledge goals. For example, I have increased my engagement with metadata networks and ceased my engagement with archives and records networks. Moreover, as I am pursuing a new career path, I spend a large amount of time trying to learn as fast as possible, which reflects Utecht’s classification of Stage 3: Know it all. However, this takes my attention away from other areas of my life, including being able to engage with leisure and hobbies, and spend time with friends and family. Therefore, I am aware that I need to progress through stages 4 and 5 in the near future so that I can achieve a level of balance between the various areas of my life. I believe that it is important to undertake these stages and achieve balance in my current PLN before completing my MIS and starting a new role, as inevitably new networks will emerge in the workplace which will require their own evaluation and engagement.

(446 words)

References

McHugh, J. (2016). [Image of a head with multicoloured graphics]. Joseph McHugh. https://sites.psu.edu/joem/2016/12/11/learning-philosophy-2-0/

Morrison, D., & McCutheon, J. (2019). Empowering older adults’ informal, self-directed learning: harnessing the potential of online personal learning networks. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 14(10), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41039-019-0104-5

Nielsen, L. (2008, October 12). 5 things you can do to begin developing your personal learning network. The Innovative Educator. https://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2008/04/5-things-you-can-do-to-begin-developing.html

Utecht, J. (2008, April 3). Stages of PLN adoption. The Thinking Stick. https://www.thethinkingstick.com/stages-of-pln-adoption/

Categories: OLJ Posts2 Comments

OLJ 8: Defining Information Professional in the Digital Era

Brenna Guiney

Task: Based on your examination of the resources above, and your own research, define what you believe to be the essential knowledge, skills, and attributes of an information professional in the digital era. Write up your definition as a post (of no more than 350 words) in your OLJ.

(Black Press Media, 2018)

The digital era has augmented the essential knowledge and skills required of Library and Information Studies (LIS) professionals as the technologies used within the sector continue to rapidly evolve. As stated by both Burton (2019, p. 42) and Hamad, et al. (2021, p. 592), LIS professionals now not only need to keep up with the rapid evolution of technology for their own work, but for the benefit of service delivery to customers, including being able to provide technology assistance for customers on new platforms, devices, and technologies in which they’re interested.

While the hard skills and knowledge related to technology have evolved, the attributes required of LIS professionals has remained somewhat constant, in that the need for customer service, management, interpersonal, and strategic skills remain highly important regardless of what platforms or technologies are being utilised (Burton, 2019, p. 44). Moreover, the constant evolution of technologies actually demands that information professionals become even more adaptable in the workplace and have high levels of digital literacy that enable them to utilise rapidly evolving technologies (Burton, 2019, p. 44). As stated by Raju (2017, pp. 740, 753), this change has been reflected in job advertisements for information professionals, the majority of which now require “advanced IT skills” and put greater emphasis on the evaluation of these skills. Ultimately, the technology revolution that is occurring may be changing the “professional identity” of the librarian (Raju, 2017, p. 740), but it is vital that the profession keeps up with the demands of society, rather than maintaining professional identity at the sake of societal value.

Unfortunately, as identified by both Raju (2017, p. 745) and Attahir (2018, pp. 113-115), the courses for the education and qualification of librarians do not provide the level of digital literacy training required to ensure future librarians meet the demands of the digital era. While this is changing slowly overtime, it will require the entire LIS sector to acknowledge the blurred boundaries that are developing between the roles of librarian and IT professional, and to develop appropriate and proportionate education that trains individuals in both the requirements of librarianship as well as computer science and engineering.

(356 words)

References

Attahir, I. S. (2018). Digital literacy: Survival skill for librarians in the digital era. Journal of Information and Knowledge Management, 9(4), 107-116. https://doi.org/10.4314/iijikm.v9i4.10

Black Press Media. (2017). [Photograph of a man using VR headset and controls in a library]. Langley Advance Times. https://www.langleyadvancetimes.com/community/vr-comes-to-langley-library-2502450

Burton, S. (2019). Future skills for the LIS profession. Online Searcher, 43(2), 42-45. https://www.infotoday.com/OnlineSearcher/Articles/Features/Future-Skills-for-the-LIS-Profession-130296.shtml

Hamad, F., Al-Fadel, M., & Fakhouri, H. (2021). The effect of librarians’ digital skills on technology acceptance in academic libraries in Jordan. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 53(4), 589-600. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000620966644

Raju, J. (2017). Information professional or IT professional?: The knowledge and skills required by academic librarians in the digital library environment. Libraries and the Academy, 17(4), 739-757. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2017.0044

Categories: OLJ Posts2 Comments

OLJ 3: Mobile Exploration

Brenna Guiney

Task: Explore three of your favourite websites (any sites you are interested in) on your mobile device and compare and contrast their functionality and the ways that they provide access to social tools. For each site list features that you consider provide a good mobile experience, and suggest any improvements that could be made. 

 

As this task specifically refers to websites, I exclusively focused on the functionality of these platforms on a mobile web browser. However, it should be noted that all have purposed-built mobile apps.

 

Goodreads

Goodreads (2023)

Goodreads is a social networking site (SNS) that is uniquely based around books, while also allowing users to build friendships and communicate in a similar manner to traditional SNS (Thelwall & Kousha, 2017, p. 972).

Positive design elements:

      • Well-designed infographic for “My Year in Books” showing reading statistics, which can be shared to Facebook, Twitter/X, and Pinterest for social engagement.
      • Quick links in Menu bar to social networking features, such as “Friends”, “Groups”, “Discussions”, and “Comments”.
      • Integration of “Friends” with Facebook and Gmail.

 

Recommended improvements:

      • All pages should be mobile compatible, as attractive website visual design can increase customer satisfaction and re-use (Jongmans, et al., 2022, p. 2101).
      • Provide the ability to add and edit read dates on mobile, and not just desktop.

 

Stanton Library

North Sydney Council (2023)

Stanton Library is my local public library and has a website that is hosted on the North Sydney Council website.

Positive design elements:

      • Popular features such as joining, catalogue, events, and e-library, are clearly shown on the homepage to limit navigation to other pages, which provides an intentional experience for users (Bell, 2018, p. 4).
      • The homepage provides clear links to the library’s Instagram and Twitter, and a “Sign Me Up” icon to subscribe to the library newsletter.

 

Recommended improvements:

      • Separate the website from the council website, as the main drop-down menu navigates away from the library.
      • Employ user-experience design to improve usability of book carousels with larger clickable links for catalogue navigation (Bell, 2018, p. 5).

 

Reddit

Reddit Inc. (2023).

Reddit is a large SNS that is based on various “interest-based devices” to enable users to self-organise and engage via “subreddits” (Olson & Neal, 2015, p. 1).

Positive design elements:

      • The news-feed style user homepage has high usability and ease of navigation. This increases likelihood of reuse (Jongmans, et al., 2022, p. 2101).
      • The organisation of interests into subreddits makes “big worlds feel small and navigable” (Olson & Neal, 2015, p. 1), especially with the use of custom rules for each subreddit.
      • Reddit recommends posts in other sub-reddits to expand user’s engagement. This reflects a “modular community structure” and helps guide users on a largescale platform (Olson & Neal, 2015, p. 2).

 

Recommended improvements:

      • Change the appearance of sponsored posts on user homepage to appear different to subreddit posts. This may improve user-experience design (Bell, 2018, p. 5).
      • Reddit’s downvote system is unique to SNS’s and can foster an antagonistic environment where conformity is rewarded (Davis & Graham, 2021, p. 650). May be improved by creating more variation in responses.

 

(475 words)

References

Bell, S. J. (2018). Design thinking + user experience = better-designed libraries. Information Outlook, 22(4), 4-6. https://doi.org/10.34944/dspace/96

Davis, J. L., & Graham, T. (2021). Emotional consequences and attention rewards: the social effects of ratings on Reddit. Information, Communication & Society, 24(5), 649-666. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2021.1874476

Goodreads, Inc. (2023). Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/

Jongmans, E., Jeannot, F., Liang, L., & Damperat, M. (2022). Impact of website visual design on user experience and website evaluation: The sequential mediating roles of usability and pleasure. Journal of Marketing Management, 38(17-18), 2078-2113. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2022.2085315

North Sydney Council. (2023). Stanton Library. https://www.northsydney.nsw.gov.au/library

Olson, R. S., & Neal, Z. P. (2015). Navigating the massive world of reddit: Using backbone networks to map user interests in social media. PeerJ Computer Science, 1(e4). https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.4

Reddit Inc. (2023). Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/

Thelwall, M., & Kousha, K. (2017). Goodreads: A social network site for book readers. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 68(4), 972-983. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23733

Categories: OLJ Posts4 Comments

OLJ 1: Social Media and Society

Brenna Guiney

Task: Access this journal, Social Media and Society, and read one article from the current issue that appeals to your interests. In a blog post, provide a brief description and an analysis of the article of your choice. Do you agree with the authors? If not – why not? (350-400 words)

 

(Alica, 2020)

Mulvey and Keller’s (2023) article Brooms and Ballots: #WitchTheVote, the Nostalgic Internet, and Intersectional Feminist Politics on Instagram, explores how intersectional feminists have navigated the “social media attention economy”, which is governed by algorithms that conform to traditional social norms, ideologies, and trends. This article specifically focuses on the hashtag #WitchTheVote, which was established by a set of witches from Salem in preparation for the 2018 U.S. midterm elections. Mulvey and Keller (2023, p. 1-2) undertook a visual and discursive coding of posts using this hashtag which observed that this hashtag used “reflective nostalgic activism” to link witchiness with progressive and social-justice oriented intersectional feminism. This approach sought to disrupt not only traditional social norms, but also the norms of traditional, popular feminism that ignores the importance of intersectionality and marginalised voices, and instead adheres to neoliberal ideologies to create content that achieves social media virality (Banet-Weiser, et al., 2020).

As a consumer of feminist content on various social media platforms, I have observed similar content from witch and wicca communities, such as the subreddit “Witches Vs Patriarchy”. As noted by Mulvey and Keller (2023, p. 3), #WitchTheVote represents a group attempting to engage on a platform in a way that does not conform to the platform’s conventions. This ultimately results in low user engagement as the Instagram algorithm lowers the visibility of these posts. This experience is echoed by the Reddit post by u/Peggy_Hill_Foot_job “The instagram algorithm is trying to kill me”, wherein this user laments the restriction of content shown on their Instagram as their interests do not conform to traditional, high visibility content.

The ideological foundation of social media platforms is intrinsically at odds with the local focus of authentic intersectional feminist content, and thus will continue to suppress these already marginalised voices (Kanai, 2020, pp. 34-37). However, I agree with Mulvey and Keller (2023, p. 11) that to deem #WitchTheVote and similar intersectional feminist campaigns unsuccessful due to their low visibility is inaccurate, as their mere presence challenges “visibility, attention, celebrity, large audiences, and consumption”. Therefore, while this conflict degrades the ability of intersectional feminists to engage widely on social media, their ongoing use of these platforms is subversive in of itself and an act of radical, intersectional feminism that rejects popular feminism’s highly visible, consumable glamour.

(381 words)

References

Banet-Weiser, S., Gill, R., & Rottenberg, C. (2020). Postfeminism, popular feminism and neoliberal feminism? Sarah Benet-Weiser, Rosalind Gill and Catherine Rottenberg in conversation. Feminist Theory, 21(1), 3-24. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700119842555

Kanai, A. (2020). Between the perfect and the problematic: Everyday femininities, popular feminism, and the negotiation of intersectionality. Cultural Studies, 34(1), 25-48. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2018.1559869

Mulvey, A. P., & Keller, J. M. (2023). Brooms and ballots: #WitchTheVote, the nostalgic internet, and intersectional feminist politics on Instagram. Social Media + Society, 9(4), 1-13, https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231205

Niria Alica [@niriaalicia]. (2020, December 4). I refuse to give any more of my energy to the outcomes of these #elections2020 [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CHJakX6gJT3/?img_index=1

u/Peggy_Hill_Foot_job. (2023, March 6). The Instagram algorithm is trying to kill me [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/WitchesVsPatriarchy/comments/ 11jmuoo/the_instagram_algorithm_is_trying_to_kill_me/

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