Abstract
To examine the impact that positive social media stories have on Australian Indigenous communities. I will argue that affirmative posts can transform the perception of the Australian Indigenous community, moving from a story of colonisation and hardship to a story of successfully overcoming the past to build a stronger future. “There is a danger in allowing colonisation to be the only story of Indigenous lives” (Alfred & Corntassel cited in Carlson & Kennedy, 2021, p2.) Opportunities exist for positive improvements across sociological, psychological, and economic by providing platforms for engagement with wide audiences in Australia and globally. I will look at local influencers and thought leaders in this space, whilst also reviewing the challenges of online racism that may be encountered. Whilst more research needs to be conducted, my conclusion is that there is a growing influence and engagement that reflects a desire for all Australians to celebrate and honour the achievements of Indigenous Australians, overcoming past and current adversities.
Paper
Social media can provide a platform to tell a story that can reach global audiences and forever change the perception of the Australian Indigenous community, moving from a story of colonisation and hardship to a story of successfully overcoming the past to build a stronger future. “There is a danger in allowing colonisation to be the only story of Indigenous lives” (Alfred & Corntassel cited in Carlson & Kennedy, 2021, p2.) In this paper, I will argue that the potential exists for technology to empower Indigenous communities. I will consider how virtual communities can enable the presentation of an authentic self to reach new audiences and broaden the impact of a movement. I will explore negativity online to look at why many social media users avoid negative information or news, and the impact of encountering racism online in the form of microaggressions, lateral violence, and racial battle fatigue and the effect that it can have on Indigenous social media users. Finally, I will review some successful online examples of celebrating Australian Indigenous culture and pride in community that demonstrates that social media can be effective as a positive or optimistic force for change.
New technologies have provided new possibilities for online expression, resulting in a strengthening rather than an undermining of community (Delanty, 2018, p.200). Indeed, the opportunity to form virtual communities that expand beyond the reach of traditional communities, have “reshaped people’s networks” (Hampton & Wellman, 2018, p.646). Rheingold describes “virtual communities” as a group of people, who communicate through the interchange of digital networks, and may never meet together face-to-face (cited in Britannica.com). According to Delanty, although traditional communities are interpersonal networks that can provide support, belonging, information and social ties, people can be further empowered by virtual communities (2018, p.216). Yilmaz Keles contends that this is particularly true for Indigenous communities, because “virtual communities also create a degree of trust and mutual reciprocity (for example, by requesting or accepting friendship, membership, online support, etc.), and also solidarity, especially on the basis of shared ethnicity, memories and experiences” (2016, p.320). This is particularly relevant to Indigenous participation in social media in order to challenge stereotypes and negative portrayals in traditional media. The technology also enables Indigenous social media users to leverage “social capital” to build strong community and family ties as described by Putnam (cited in Yilmaz Keles, 2016, p.320). Technological features built into the social media platforms can support this view by facilitating “persistent contact”, which enables people to be constantly connected over time, and “pervasive awareness”, which enables people to have an intimate knowledge of their contacts thoughts, beliefs and everyday life (Hampton, 2016, p.103). Thereby building up a thousand pictures of daily affirmative posts and comments that can effectively serve to reinforce across the virtual community a positive view of Indigenous Australians.
Participating in virtual communities can increase opportunities to reach new audiences. As early as 2000, Freelon et al asserted that “one of digital media’s most important contributions to activism is how they have opened new pathways to reach target audiences” (p.3). According to Papacharissi, the “networked self” is always looking for opportunities to express and connect socially (2011, p.317), to new audiences. This concept of the networked self can also result in the expansion of a movement to achieve greater reach across social media (Mundt et al, 2018, p.1). This can be achieved through tools that enable users to share, comment, and repost interesting content. I would argue that in order to be effective in broadening reach, it should avoid “silosociality” a condition of “refracted publics” (Abidin, 2021, p.4), that is content that is very local and tailored for sub-communities. Ideally to achieve maximum reach, content should be authentic and utlise “personalised framing” to allow a bridge to be built (Mundt et al, 2018, p.3), that can serve to foster a common understanding and purpose. Examples of Indigenous Western Australian (WA) influencers and successful business owners that are represented online as their authentic selves include: Bindi Bindi Dreaming (9,527 Fb followers) and Mara May Art (8,225 Fb followers). By harnessing the power of Facebook as a platform to reach virtual communities, they have expanded the reach of their positive message shared language, and pride in community, with hundreds of likes, comments, and shares. Although Gil-Lopez et al argue that because of the diverse goals and audiences found on social media, many users may struggle to frame messages in a way that is relevant to the wider community (cited in Parviz & Piercy, 2021, p. 127), these individuals have framed their messages to maximise opportunities to reach new audiences and effectively build an increasing network.
Messages and information spreading across social media is not always positive and can be deliberating negative or inflammatory in order to cut through in the “attention economy”. This term was coined by Goldhaber in 1997 to describe a new economy where attention is the most valuable commodity (p.1). “Attention is brief and fragmented; news appears as a part of the maelstrom of information participants access on social media” (Boczkowski, Mitchelstein, & Matassi, 2018, p.3534). These authors argue that encountering the news on social media may not be intentional, but merely a by-product of being social, searching for amusement, or relaxation (2018, p.3526). Parviz and Piercy assert that most social media users curate their feeds to avoid any negative content and offensive political comments, which can be facilitated by hiding posts, blocking or unfollowing network members (2021, p.4). Likewise, in a survey regarding blocking on social media, they found that “45.8% reported doing so because the person was posting too much political content, 35.6% because the person posted something respondents disagreed with, and 66.1% reported doing so because the person posted something offensive” (Parviz & Piercy, 2021, p.5). An ABC news article from 2020 found that 47% of opinion pieces discussing Australian Indigenous communities in traditional media were racist (Renaldi, Bahmani & Yang, 2020). The article quotes, Rona Glynn-McDonald, the founder of Common Ground (14,168 Fb followers) as stating that the Australian media landscape continues to be “dominated by white people” and “fails to reflect the cultural and linguistic diversity of the population” (p.4). Social media therefore represents an opportunity for Indigenous Australians to effectively shape and share their own positive stories to strengthen and empower community, outside of traditional media.
Although users may choose to abstain from sharing and engaging with overtly political content, according to Carlson and Kennedy being Indigenous is a political statement online (2021, p.2) Indigenous social media users can ultimately face different forms of racism as a result of participating in virtual communities. In the case of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, which started in the United States in 2014 and was undoubtedly successful in promoting this worthy cause, there was an inadvertent downside to the movement. Social media facilitated this struggle against racism, but according to Mundt et al, there was an unfortunate misappropriation of symbols and hashtags related to the BLM movement (2018, p.11), which has the potential to occur in the Australian context. Carlson et al argue that BLM social media administrators also experienced aspects of online racism as part of this struggle that occurred 24/7, due to the nature of social media. (2017, p.9). This may have resulted from targeted comments or from the energy that is taken to analyse and consider whether it is necessary to respond to racist comments, according to Wong et al (2013, p.196). Carlson et al liken the effect of this stress to “racial battle fatigue” which results from the “constant stress of battling racism (that) can be mentally, emotionally, and physically draining and/or lethal” (2017, p.6). They contend that online racism can also be felt in the form of “microagressions” or subtle everyday experiences of racism, as described by Chester Pierce in 1970 (2013, p.181). Given the significant amount of negative and potentially damaging content on social media, it is not surprising that Indigenous Australians surveyed by Carlson and Kennedy advised that they were regularly faced with widespread racism on social media (2021, p.10). “Injustice, discrimination and violence against Indigenous people make regular appearances in our news feed on social media resulting in further trauma” (Carlson et al, 2017, p.6). Affirmative content can “engineer social change through design” (Hampton & Wellman, 2018, p.643), by building a bank of positive content that can be disseminated widely to combat negativity and racism online.
Affirmative posts allow you to post as your own identify and worry less about exposure and online racism. This can allow Indigenous social media users to be comfortable sharing aspects of themselves online. As Riguera contends “People can be their full selves and share their identities and lives in a stratified society (self-presentation on many levels), that’s really humanizing.” (cited in University Wire, 2020, p.2). Brusseau agrees that by being authentic online and presenting one version of yourself, it is also perceived as having integrity (2019, p.3. para1). For many Indigenous social media users, they are proud to display their Aboriginal heritage online to show support for community initiatives, events and share language. Carlson and Kennedy state that even in the early days of Internet studies that examined Indigenous internet usage, it was clear that Australian Indigenous people were proud to display their heritage online (2021, p.4). Self-representation online can enable Indigenous social media users to have more freedom in a space that does not limit self-publishing or participation, enabling them to strengthen their community (Lumby, 2010, p.69). Positive posts can serve as a form of affirmative resistance that can develop a collective sense of moving beyond colonialisation and its associated trauma. There is a new term “shared recognition” that has been developed to embody the accepted understanding that “colonialism is not finished business, and that indeed, its effects continue to permeate the political and social domains in Australia in ways that adversely affect the health and well-being of all Indigenous subjects” and resulting in a community that is linked through past collective trauma and current victimisation (Carlson et al, 2017, p.1). However, the Australian Indigenous community can also be linked through a collective sense of triumph and celebration when individuals achieve personal milestones and achievements, that can serve to bolster the whole community. Displaying “pathways to success” for younger generations (Yilmaz Keles, 2016, p328), who can follow influencers and important community role models online.
Celebrating Indigenous culture and pride is important to strengthen community, online and offline. Pride can be displayed in a variety of ways on social media using profile pictures, images, hashtags, sharing other posts, handles, and following relevant pages (Carlson & Kennedy, 2021, p2.). There are several examples, where in response to deliberate racist attacks, there have been positive counter-campaigns that have had a wide reach and implications. The #IndigenousDad campaign, arose in response to a cartoon by Bill Leak in The Australian newspaper that presented a negative depiction of Aboriginal fathers. The campaign saw many Indigenous children and parents posting positive images that countered these “sad old stereotypes” said Gerry Moore, CEO of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (cited in Carlson et al, 2017, p.3). IndigenousX (21,795 Fb followers) CEO Luke Pearson, stated that the campaign “was an important demonstration aimed at countering racist depictions and stereotypes, an essential reminder in any national conversation that is going to take place. It sets the conversation tone and reminds us and reinforces the importance of our collective strength and humanity” (cited in Carlson et al, 2017, p.3). Indigenous X is also an impressive example of an Indigenous owned and run independent online platform that provides a strong affirmative voice to display Aboriginal pride and celebrate culture. I agree with Pearson and assert that displaying this type of pride and rejection of colonial notions is more effective in appealing to a wide Australian and global audience, resulting in a collective force for positive change in society and at a policy level. Thereby also serving to renegotiate identify and the presentation of the self (Papacharissi, 2011, p.304), to ensure a sustainable and long-lasting movement.
In conclusion, I have aimed to show that technology has empowered Indigenous communities, and that the ability to present authentically online has been embraced by Indigenous Australians and enabled affirmative messages to reach new audiences and broaden the impact of the movement. I have explored why most social media users are not looking for the news on social media and have even take steps to block or remove negative information and media from their pages and feeds. I have reviewed the impact of racism online and the adverse effects that it can have on Indigenous social media users. Finally, I attempted to demonstrate that if Indigenous social media users are willing to be themselves and celebrate their culture, language and events online they can be powerful role models and influencers to future generations. It can lead to an increase in pride for the community and go beyond traditional media. Affirmative messages can be a powerful force to empower the whole community to move beyond negative and outdated colonial attitudes. Further work could be undertaken to analyse social media posts both positive and negative in this space, to draw a final conclusion. I will leave you with this quote from IndigenousX that sums up the hopeful and optimistic tone of this paper: “The future is Indigenous”.
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Interesting paper Emma.
I am particularly interested in the idea of the online indigenous community developing “social capital”. Building enough positive reinforcement around a community through the development of social capital should serve to drown out some of the negative content found online. If there is an overabundance of positive content found around this online community, “racial battle fatigue” would hopefully become a thing of the past.
hey,
I enjoyed reading your paper! discussing the positives and the strength and unity Indigenous Australians have created together through social media is great to hear. Love hearing how people can be their “full selves online and not fear racism”. Though negativity/criticism is always a risk with Social Media and sharing content I’m excited to hear its heading in the right direction for a more positive future, especially for our first Nations. In my paper I discuss the use of online networks to promote the social change movement BLM and how it created a community for them! Would love if you gave it a read.
Again, great paper. https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/csm/1113/online-networks-have-allowed-social-change-movements-such-as-blm-to-advance-and-spread-information-faster-and-wider/
Hi Molly,
Thanks for your feedback. I would love to read your paper! Thanks for the tip. I was a bit nervous that my paper was glossing over the current realities but I think its important to be aiming for a brighter future.
Hi David, thanks for your feedback. I was happy to see that you agreed with my main points about building up a bank of positive content, whilst acknowledging that online racism still occurs but will not persistent into the future.
Great to see your paper at the conference Emma. What are your thoughts on the potential of social media to facilitate collective activism by Indigenous Australians?
Andrea
Thanks for your comments Andrea. I think that there is great potential for Indigenous Australians to facilitate collective activism as evidenced by the examples included in my paper relating to #IndigenousDads and through coordinated action by groups like IndigenousX. I acknowledge that shining a light on the struggles as well as the achievements is very important to facilitate lasting change.
Thanks for the great read Emma. I’m particularly interested in what happens when a person’s network becomes restricted by settings to remove offensive behaviour from their online experience. How do you think algorithms could be used to cut through a divide created by this dislocation from those who were rescuer but need to see positive content to change their mind?
*racist* (not rescuer!)
Great question, thanks Kate. I think that any restriction to settings should be temporary, depending upon the nature of the offence. Serial offenders should potentially be banned from sites. But I agree that algorithms have a role to play in “balancing out the content” much like the news media try to ensure that positive content is shown to balance out all the negativity. I don’t like to think that based on a persons racist behaviour online, they are merely presented with more of the same, but that might be a sad reality…
Thanks for this genuinely interesting paper Emma! Some of those stats are interesting even if a lot of them are quite hard to digest given our racist past. Seeing the intersection of cultural ideals and social media will always be an interesting pathway to follow as we keep learning more and more about how algorithms shape our responses to certain topics.
I’ve often read that media sources online ‘profit’ off outrage, so stats showing we are pushing against this makes me question how we are going to be further manipulated online to push agendas as we become more aware. This aside, it’s great that first nations people are able to use online communities to share stories not often heard.
Thanks for your feedback Liv. I would like to think that as the public and governments push back on social media platforms to demonstrate a higher degree of social responsibility (for example cyber bullying), this also translates to advertisers wanting to ensure that their content is only associated with enlightened media, as opposed to the outdated colonial type mentality that still sometimes shines through in the Australian media landscape.
Interesting response Emma!
I can definitely tell there is still outdated colonial type mentality of news presenting and advertisements which still encourage this aspect. Maybe we need an increase in protocols and conditions of advertisements and news presenting, although there are quite abit already.
Hi Emma,
Fascinating paper, and you have well presented with relevant examples. Interestingly, you have observed and analysed how the latest technology empowers indigenous communities and helps them strengthen their community. It is nice that the indigenous people can share their authenticity with the world by using the latest technology.
Please feel free to read and comment on my article: https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/csm/695/e-commerce-sustainability-and-business-the-emergence-of-food-delivery-apps-and-their-impact-on-restaurant-profitability/
Thanks for your positive feedback Kuragamage. I think we are only scratching the surface of how the latest technology can empower Indigenous Australians. As we know remote connectivity and coverage is still a big issue in regional Australia. We need to focus on getting all communities in Australia connected. I will definitely check out your paper as I am very interested in the digital economy as well!
Hi Emma,
This was a very insightful read. I found the point of how social media can be harnessed to embrace culture and be positive role models for future generations of Indigenous people particularly interesting. I have another unit where we have discussed the importance of culture and preserving it so this was definitely a good way at looking at how social media can play its role. The embracing of culture is definitely essential to creating change and making a brighter future for all Australians, particularly Indigenous Australians in this context.
Thanks,
Ben
Hi Emma, great paper! Social media is definitely a great tool for Indigenous Australians to speak up and celebrate their culture. This is something that is not done enough but I am so glad we are moving in the right direction. A lot of cultural practices and languages have died out over the years due to the trauma of colonisation. Do you think social media will stop this from happening as more people can share the traditions of their culture?