Social Media: Facebook Campaign for Women Drivers in Saudi Arabia - Case Study Example

SOCIAL MEDIA: FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN FOR WOMEN DRIVERS IN SAUDI ARABIA By (Name) Course: Tutor: Institution Date SOCIAL MEDIA: FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN FOR WOMEN DRIVERS IN SAUDI ARABIA Content and interests that are bringing people together In the recent years, there are major transformations in the social communication sector and the use of general social media avenues. The wave has come with the introduction of practices, interaction patterns and participation of the public that has rapidly evolved to create certain mobilization of people (2011, pg 66). The mobilization in itself creates the need for social change in various sectors, such as, advocating for human rights, change of political standings, and cultural democracy. Facebook is one of these avenues acquiring a wide range of social capital, which shaped the rise of the Arab Spring and is now raising the concern on driving by the women of Saudi Arabia. The contents on this site include incidents of illegal women driving that take place in Saudi Arabia and the punishments given( 2005, 215). There are also testimonies on the various female drivers that saved lives by driving contrary to the ban and how the government mistreated them. In addition, this site has well reasoned explanations that explain why things in Saud Arabia are the way they are and why there is need for change and vice versa. There are also comparisons both graphical and argumentative on the other Arabic and Islamic states that allow their women to drive and an illustration that no harm has come to them among others. All these give sufficient information on the issue, create a platform to air one’s view and provide an educative aspect both to those affected and to those merely interested in the subject. For this reason, Facebook being a social site that is easily accessible to anyone with an account, it is easier to participate and engage in the activity to most people. In the process, the new media is able to create opportunities to those with great argumentative skills to gain fame and admiration, as well as, to become authors of creative scenarios and happenings to the women of Saudi Arabia (2011, pg 65). In the end, this form of sharing creates community solidarity, brings about awareness and perhaps changes and lastly, ordinary people are able to build all the support system and democracy necessary. Involvement of Participants and their learner characteristics Facebook, as one of the social media avenues, is an international site that allows interaction from any place, time, geographic location, gender, ethnicity and race. In this case study for instance, the participants of the site are unbiased as it is and open group, allowing access to any individual with anything to say. In Facebook, filling in the gender of an individual is optional, the name used is also personal, and what the public can get to see is a personal choice. With that said therefore, it is certain that the said participants are numerous, as they have no restrictions on who may participate or who may not participate. The argument above therefore, shows that the aspects of gender, race, location and social classes are of little to no effect to the accessing of the contents of the page. Facebook however, like many other social sites, require the use of internet data to access and take part in the occurrences of the page (2015, pg 214). This may act as a hindrance to some people who are perhaps technologically inept or those that do not afford the devices necessary to access the said account. Likewise, the charges to use the sites may be a bit expensive and this could affect the participation of the public largely those that are from a poor background. Unfortunately, this factor shows the few limitations that may curtail participation of users in this technological forum. In addition to this, the network that is used to access the account may at times not reach all the places it is expected to perhaps due to poor coverage or differing priorities. An instance is, in some communities and nations; women drive and enjoy all the luxuries that men do. With this therefore, some sites such as this one may not really be of any importance to them, as the contents do not affect them in any way. This is also, whereby the issue of age difference and different priorities in the young and the old come in. Here, it is most likely that people of the age of sixteen and above as well as, those involved in the political sector will be drawn to this kind of site. The general conclusion in this aspect therefore is that, the site itself does not give any prohibitions, restrictions and requirements to any audience unless the group or the source of information is customized to do so. The difference however comes in the underlying contents within the site that may separate the involvement of the audience depending on the topic discussed. The younger age groups are more after celebrity and entertainment news, the upper and lower social classes have different interests, the gender mostly affected by the contents likewise outruns the other gender. Overall, the participation is indeed unlimited and undeterred to the public as this is a forum of interaction but the characteristics of the people and how they are affected by the article also affects the same. Description of the Facebook Technology Platform The technology platform, which is the Facebook site in this case, has sufficient tools that enable participation and authoring of its users. This site has a number of facilities that enable it to create interaction and networking opportunity for its users. The first of these facilities is the ability to own a personal account in the site which u can use to navigate to a number of other accounts, operations and projects. This account is necessary to use the site and hence making it one of the most efficient ways to push people to being part of the technological platform. Secondly, there is the security and privacy that the account ensures by requiring a particular log in, a password, and optional privacy settings regulating the number of people that can access personal posts and information about the individual. This reassurance is very critical in drawing participants into the site because most social sites are used for defamatory purposes, as well as, indulging into the personal affairs of various people. Having this kind of tools therefore enables a much active participation and freedom to write whatever point of view one has and share it with those the author intends without fear. Thirdly, there are always those people that use the internet to spread spam, arrogance, malice, to stalk and to threaten others by using their accounts against another. The Facebook site has quite a number of such reports and to reduce the occurrences, the site has created the options that prevent any further nuances by having a block and report user option. The options, so to speak, keep the unwanted materials, information, attacks and activities away from those that want no connection to them. In addition, the options to add and remove friends is another effective measure taken to reduce infringement of privacy from unknown individuals and also given the opportunity to invite other friends in a forum that interests them so at to take part in the interaction process. There are also attempt by the site to draw attention of the participants to an activity that the site might find common to the individual. For this part, the site sends out alerts on events, birthdays, discussions and any other activities that may be related to the user or common to most of the friends. Theses kinds of alerts that draw attention to the activities on the site therefore increase the participation of the individuals to the site. In the process, the forum the person is invited to may then receive opinions and varying point of views that enhance the authoring of the site. Techno-Optimist writers and their evaluation on social media Numerous of critics are unsupportive of all the fuss that surrounds social media and the advantages that come with it. These activists are in the likes of Brandon B. J. Mendelson and Astra Taylor among others. However, there are techno optimists, referring to the individuals that believe that technology, and the media outlets related to it has consistently improved lives for the better. In addition, the probability of the same continuing in future is what they advocate for in their daily endeavors. Kevin Kelly, who is also an author of, “The New Socialism: Global Collectivist Society is coming online, is one of this writers that advocate for the continuity of the technology (2013 pg 4). `According to this writer, he believes that the social media has a greater percentage of inflation with the increase in numbers of the participants. Kevin Kelly believes that the digital socialism is the innovation not only in America but also in the world. This brand of socialism as he portrays, operates in economics and culture other than the governmental policies and structure. Instead, the only thing that matters in this context is getting things done in a way that heighten individual autonomy and disrupt centralization. Kevin says that he uses the term socialism because it incorporates the wide ranges of technologies that are based on social interactions. In addition to Kevin Kelly, Media theorist Clay Shirkly also advances to look for a hierarchy that sort out the new social arrangements and how they qualify. He shows how the group starts by sharing, then cooperation, then collaboration to finally collectivism. In his book, “Here Comes Everybody”, he reveals evidence of the media and the effects on social capital and cultural democracy (2015 pg 55). First, he discusses sharing as the first step to initiate the transfer of information from one to another. He states that, it is the foundation to socialism creating a foundation for other forms of engagement. Secondly, he analysis how cooperation and willingness to work together by sharing of the posts, liking information and pictures as well as using this sites furthers the growth of social capital. In the process, the technology aids in satisfying the need of the users, as they are able to tag, bookmark and store information (2015, pg 40). In the process, there is value acquired from the ability to bring many people together in this technological forum that may be used to create power and create influence to a large group of people. According to him, the third stage of collaboration is where those that create the products begin to get recognition, credit, and reputation and begin to enjoy the benefits of the addiction created in the need to be in the forum in the first place. By the last stage, the engineer of the system has users and a working forum and therefore creates a critical evaluation of the processes that closely maintains everything (2015, pg 45). All theses aspects are necessary to create a socialistic state and therefore the theory of socialism by Kevin Kelly gets more support in the social aspect of the social Medias in this way. Techno-skeptics and their Evaluation of social Media Brandon or B.J. Mendelson is one of the greatest techno-skeptics with the idea that social media is not as advantageous as people portray it to be. He is known as the author of the book, “Social Media Is Bullshit”, one that caused disagreements in the technological sector. According to his response on why he would refer to this avenue as so, he says that the social media spectrum is a useless metric and acknowledges that Facebook is the most useless of them all. He also says that most of the people that run most social media outlets have lack of experience, expertise, and no marketing background and therefore all they were selling was merely exaggerated hype with no contribution to society. Similarly, Astra Taylor who is also a techno-skeptic says that however much social media is not a great business model, it can have very fruitful interactions. In addition, she says that most of the social media avenues created today are all about building audience and making the awareness of the product very popular and after that, no results. In addition, she sees that the users of social media in most corporations are mainly due to peer-peer influence that tries to squeeze profit solely from the technological forum (2015, pg 51). Facebook for instance, has been used to show how the corporations that create these media avenues are moving towards a pay-to-play model whereby, the more one pay, the more the network can serve them. She concludes by explaining that the tactics the corporations running social media outlets are currently noticeable. In the process, there has been a decline of public interest especially those that have noticed that they are being used for the benefits of the corporations by exploiting their interactions among other things (2013 pg 3). Likewise, Astra shoes that the social capital is diminishing with lesser and lesser aligning with the tech corporations. Generally, this writer is of the strong conviction that the corporations have no interest in the building of the community rather; they are more focused on ensuring the existence of a grass root community and democracy at its best. Opportunities for Ordinary people and the contributions to the community Facebook and the approach to enable the communication on the infringement of the rights of the women to drive in Saudi Arabia is one of the many ways that the opportunities of ordinary people have hit a high mark in the society of today. This is because, the concerns voiced by one person or perhaps a group of people has gathered international attention that is required in the contributions of building and understanding the society. This social media technology therefore continues to enable faster communication, collaboration, great circulation of ideas and the users of the varying accounts have created their personal contents. Barriers in the technological state of social media have continuously grown less and less significant to the communities and companies involved with them today. Creation of movies for instance, requires large amount of equipment that is considered expensive but thanks to social media advancement and technological enhancements, movies can be made at a faster and cheaper rate (2015, pg 40). In addition to this, there is the extensive knowledge of the computer programming options and the media sharing options of the internet has managed to act as an invitation platform that help create adverse communities that share interests that of a similar nature and from duplicated sources. This shows once again how the opportunities social media has given to ordinary people have generated free and reliable labor. The Web 2.0 has not only managed to increase one’s ability to submit content but has also had the ability to reach a wider audience with the increase of access. The increase in ease of the user has changed mindsets that people have increasingly taken up exploiting tools and technologies for political, social and economic change. This participatory culture has incredibly enhanced the quality of media and as a result, increased the channels of media coverage increasing opportunities to spread the essence of cultural democracy among others. This is to say that activities that build communities and societies have advanced and grown to become some of the best initiatives in the world. Emotional capital is another investment that most corporations have managed to derive from the use of social media facilities (2013, pg 6). This refers to the feeling of goodwill that is incorporated in the way the company operates which is built up by the actions of the executives. It is seen as a dimension of social capital as well because it similarly constitutes the asset into which many resources are invested. This is because by the executives creating an expectation from the employees or the customers, there is certainty of future benefits. These positive emotions will then on be used to gain resources such as valuable information and will gather support from wider areas of interaction. However, numerous drawbacks have come with the further use of social media and technology. For instance, there are various internet-based cultures that lead to forcing of humans to cope with the daily burden to be contributors to ongoing social media activities. Some of the activities many at times are irrelevant and inappropriate and may render an individual inactive and perhaps less effective. This is because; the facilities in this technological spectrum are addictive and others are time consuming such as; internet games and sharing of pictures and very step of the day activities. In addition, there is the issue of transparency with the social media avenues in the sense that, increased indulgence in the technological sector, does not really explain the pressure exerted by technology on an individual. To attain all the relevant resources however, it is important for individuals’ especially young learners to have the ability to interpret tactics in engaging in the tools of social media that they use. Without such knowledge then, the use of this technology will be of no assistance in the provision of social capital or the building of the community. It will be more like providing free labor to the corporations that run the said networks. Conclusion Overall, the revolution of social media based on the evaluation of the case study of Saudi Arabia shows the extent the community has changed over time( 2005, pg 212). First, it is in the growth of social capital, to the need to change the cultural democracy, to the creation of free labor for the corporations in charge and lastly is the raising of resources to corporate capital. In this study, it is evident that the features inside the different sites are the key players in ensuring there is participation starting from the way the internet is structured. The Facebook site, which is the technology platform, in this case has shown just how much the corporation that created it has ensured it draws as many users as possible. Looking at the techno-optimists who are the likes of Kevin Kelly and Clay Shirkly, they have critically analyzed the effect the socialism theory of the social media has influenced the world today. On the other hand, the techno-optimists that is, Brandon or B.J. Mendelson and Astra Taylor rely on the diagnosis that corporations are out to exploit users and that the social media platform has no advantage to the community. The two sides deliver very argumentative sides must the support in this essay lies in-between the two whereby, there is identification of both the negative and positive impacts of social media to the community today. Among the positives, the essay has recognized the improvement in creation of media related coverage and entertainment sector due to social media. Likewise, there is the improvement of general community communication of issues and the building of economic capita in various workplaces and the corporations in charge. On the negative, there are concerns on the possible exploitations as people keep on paying more to use these avenues and that most of them could not be aware of the overdependence on the social media platforms. Lastly, the transparency that is the actual essence of social media raises questions on the intent of the corporation to the users. Overall, the essay has shown all the claims that are related to the Web 2.0 in both the positive and negative ways concerning the creation of opportunities for ordinary people to build social capital or/and cultural democracy References ARAYA, DANIEL, BREINDL, YANA, HOUGHTON, TESSA J, & GUSTAFSSON, NILS. (2010). Leetocracy. Networked Political Activism and the Continuation of Elitism in Competitive Democracy. Peter Lang. http://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1745960. We, 27 April 2015 BURNETT, J.-C., TELFER, P., & GUNN, C. (2011). Captivated finding freedom in a media captive culture. [United States], 65-67 Media Talk 101. COOK, N. (2008). Enterprise 2.0: how social software will change the future of work. Hants, England, Ashgate Pub. FRANKE, R., KROENUNG, J., BORN, F., & ECKHARDT, A. (2015). Influential Factors for E-Government Success in the Middle East: Case Study Evidence from Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Electronic Government Research (IJEGR). 11, 39-62. FUCHS, C. (2012). Internet and surveillance: the challenges of Web 2.0 and social media. New York, Routledge. LEE, F. L. F. (2013). Frontiers in new media research. New York, Routledge. LOW, L. (2000). Economics of information technology and the media. Singapore, World Scientific. OUELLETTE, L. (2013). The media studies reader. New York, Routledge. PAPATHANASSOPOULOS, S. (2011). 1-7 Media perspectives for the 21st century. London, Routledge. REDDICK, C. G., & AIKINS, S. K. (2012). Web 2.0 technologies and democratic governance political, policy and management implications. New York, NY, Springer. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=994472. Web 27 April 2015 STAREVA, I. (2014). Social Media and the Rebirth of PR. Hamburg, Diplomica Verlag. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1640299 We, 27 April 2015 TANKO, M., ABDUL-QADIR, A. B., & YUSUF, H. E. (2011). Issues in social and management science research. ZIJDEMANS, A. S. (2005). Exploring a socio-technological design for knowledge development: the millenium dialogue on early child development. 213-215 Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005. Read More

Facebook however, like many other social sites, require the use of internet data to access and take part in the occurrences of the page (2015, pg 214). This may act as a hindrance to some people who are perhaps technologically inept or those that do not afford the devices necessary to access the said account. Likewise, the charges to use the sites may be a bit expensive and this could affect the participation of the public largely those that are from a poor background. Unfortunately, this factor shows the few limitations that may curtail participation of users in this technological forum.

In addition to this, the network that is used to access the account may at times not reach all the places it is expected to perhaps due to poor coverage or differing priorities. An instance is, in some communities and nations; women drive and enjoy all the luxuries that men do. With this therefore, some sites such as this one may not really be of any importance to them, as the contents do not affect them in any way. This is also, whereby the issue of age difference and different priorities in the young and the old come in.

Here, it is most likely that people of the age of sixteen and above as well as, those involved in the political sector will be drawn to this kind of site. The general conclusion in this aspect therefore is that, the site itself does not give any prohibitions, restrictions and requirements to any audience unless the group or the source of information is customized to do so. The difference however comes in the underlying contents within the site that may separate the involvement of the audience depending on the topic discussed.

The younger age groups are more after celebrity and entertainment news, the upper and lower social classes have different interests, the gender mostly affected by the contents likewise outruns the other gender. Overall, the participation is indeed unlimited and undeterred to the public as this is a forum of interaction but the characteristics of the people and how they are affected by the article also affects the same. Description of the Facebook Technology Platform The technology platform, which is the Facebook site in this case, has sufficient tools that enable participation and authoring of its users.

This site has a number of facilities that enable it to create interaction and networking opportunity for its users. The first of these facilities is the ability to own a personal account in the site which u can use to navigate to a number of other accounts, operations and projects. This account is necessary to use the site and hence making it one of the most efficient ways to push people to being part of the technological platform. Secondly, there is the security and privacy that the account ensures by requiring a particular log in, a password, and optional privacy settings regulating the number of people that can access personal posts and information about the individual.

This reassurance is very critical in drawing participants into the site because most social sites are used for defamatory purposes, as well as, indulging into the personal affairs of various people. Having this kind of tools therefore enables a much active participation and freedom to write whatever point of view one has and share it with those the author intends without fear. Thirdly, there are always those people that use the internet to spread spam, arrogance, malice, to stalk and to threaten others by using their accounts against another.

The Facebook site has quite a number of such reports and to reduce the occurrences, the site has created the options that prevent any further nuances by having a block and report user option. The options, so to speak, keep the unwanted materials, information, attacks and activities away from those that want no connection to them. In addition, the options to add and remove friends is another effective measure taken to reduce infringement of privacy from unknown individuals and also given the opportunity to invite other friends in a forum that interests them so at to take part in the interaction process.

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