Examining the Social & Virtual Community of Reddit.com
[written by: Quynh-Nhu Mai, Chanel Thomas, Chantel Thomas & Candice Lee]
Plastic surgery is defined
as the correction, restoration or reconstruction of form and function. Today,
in particular, cosmetic plastic surgery has become tremendously popular as not
only women, but men of all ages find something to change about their physical
appearance. In 2008 alone, more than 10 million cosmetic plastic surgeries were
performed and recorded in the United States. This high number does not even
consider those in foreign countries that are participating in such an act
either. For example, statistics show that 76% of Korean women in their twenties
and thirties have undergone plastic surgery. The act and desire alone to change
one’s appearance has become, what we believe, a social issue that deserves to
be examined more closely. We asked, “Why are people, specifically women, so
unhappy with their physical appearance that they would spend thousands to
undergo surgery and change themselves?” Even more so, we realized that the most
popular type of surgeries being done are by ethnic minorities in hopes of
gaining a more “westernized” look. Asian women are getting double-eyelid
surgeries to make their eyes appear bigger and rounder and nose jobs for a
higher bridge while African Americans are undergoing skin bleaching to make
their skin lighter. There are countless other ethnic minorities that are
changing their physical appearance to fit the notion of beauty that western
society has been instilled in so many minds.
Through the social media
platform, Reddit.com, we were able to discover what people thought about
this issue. We wanted to know how they felt about others getting cosmetic
plastic surgery, if they would do it themselves, and if they would, what they
would change. Our goals for this project were successful as we were able
to get our questions answered, and at the same time, bring together people who
have opinions on this issue to create a virtual community in which we could
examine. Because physical appearance and the alteration of it can be a touchy
subject to discuss, we invited members of Reddit to be honest about this topic.
And what we discovered through all of this was the fascinating ability for this
social media platform to create not only a participatory culture, but that of
an activist arena, as well as creating a space for privacy for all its
users.
Firstly, our project
consisted of each of us posting a question regarding cosmetic plastic surgery
onto Reddit.com (to be specific, the AskReddit page of the site). We each
created personas for ourselves in order to see which would invoke more
responses—asking advice about a different type of plastic surgery, as well as
phrasing it in a different way. For example, one post utilized humor (making
fun of oneself), another sounded fearful (one who is about to get plastic
surgery and is having second thoughts), another utilized ignorance and
confusion to get answers, and another used the idea of being addicted to
plastic surgery. The responses to each were very interesting to review. The one
with the most responses was the post that exhibited fear and urgency of needing
advice. This received a total of 103 very different styles of answers. Some
responded with humor as they mocked the idea of getting “Asian double-eyelid
surgery,” while others scrutinized the fact that people even do this. Others
were encouraging and supportive.
The importance of this and
all the responses that we received is that we were able to see how Reddit
allows for a participatory culture to exist. Reddit, as a social media
platform, was created in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian. Reddit
allows users to browse and have the option to submit links to content on the
Internet or submit posts that contain original, user-submitted text (questions,
opinions, etc). Other users are then able to vote the posted links
"up" or "down" with the most successful links gaining
greater standing by reaching the front page. Users are also able to comment on
the posted links and reply to other commentators. The entire process is that of
a participatory one. Reddit brings together people from all over the world.
That is what Web 2.0 has essentially allowed—people who do not even know each
other can interact openly through forums, and in this case, posting and
commenting. In this social platform, people respond to not only the poster, but
to each other. Therefore, the Reddit community is an example of the kind of
site Stephen Coleman in “The Network Empowered Citizen” describes. By being a
network that “involves everyday knowledge-sharing between people whose
principal connections with one another are virtual,” and “linking online
knowledge to offline practice,” Reddit presents itself as a participatory
community of sharing (Coleman 2). And through our specific experiment, we were
able to witness immense interaction, both positive and negative (through use of
intellect, humor, sarcasm and wit, sympathy, etc.), between a created community
of Web 2.0.
In addition a participatory
culture, Reddit also allows for the ability for anonymity—thus, granting
privacy to its user. Reddit’s extreme success is based on the fact that users
can anonymously post questions or their opinions on whatever they may choose
without feeling the guilt or embarrassment that would be associated with
inquiring about in person. The issue of privacy can be extended to inquiring
ethnic minorities’ minds about the standardized western ideals of beauty. For
instance, on Reddit one of us posed as an African American girl who was
addicted to getting her physical appearance altered through hair straightening,
getting colored contacts and getting a nose job, etc. Doing this allowed for
her to erase the physical traits primarily associated with African Americans.
This controversial topic allowed Reddit commentors to respond in a free and
honest way because of their anonymity that is hidden behind their username.
What we noticed was that this freedom through privacy and anonymity gave people
the opportunity to mock each other without consequence, respond honestly about
their own personal experience getting cosmetic surgery (which normally would
not be confessed due to shame or embarrassment), and just give their opinion
without fear of reprimand.
Amid the issue of privacy, Reddit also introduces the idea of surveillance which we were able to also witness. User created media such as Reddit is based on self-surveillance. Though you are able to inquire about a wide range of topics, there is some monitoring by platform’s resources itself or by other users on the issue. For instance, as one posts a question on Reddit, he or she becomes the moderator of that post. The moderator is able to determine if the question asked is inappropriate for users under 18 in which he will mark it as so. In addition, one is able to mark comments as spam, inappropriate, or bans user for such posts. Users are able to determine if a person is trolling the site just to get a rise out of other users. If a user feels as so, they may comment on the post as determining the user as a troll and that post can therefore be deleted. Because of these surveillance techniques, one may feel the need to self censor their posts because the fear of being marked ostracized from other users in the community. This is another issue that we noticed when examining the Reddit community.
Amid the issue of privacy, Reddit also introduces the idea of surveillance which we were able to also witness. User created media such as Reddit is based on self-surveillance. Though you are able to inquire about a wide range of topics, there is some monitoring by platform’s resources itself or by other users on the issue. For instance, as one posts a question on Reddit, he or she becomes the moderator of that post. The moderator is able to determine if the question asked is inappropriate for users under 18 in which he will mark it as so. In addition, one is able to mark comments as spam, inappropriate, or bans user for such posts. Users are able to determine if a person is trolling the site just to get a rise out of other users. If a user feels as so, they may comment on the post as determining the user as a troll and that post can therefore be deleted. Because of these surveillance techniques, one may feel the need to self censor their posts because the fear of being marked ostracized from other users in the community. This is another issue that we noticed when examining the Reddit community.
In regards to social
activism, according to Lev Manovich’s “The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life:
From Mass Consumption to Mass Cultural Productions,” through the rise of social
media (created by Web 2.0) websites like Reddit.com allows its users to
disseminate information on a global scale in order to bring awareness to an
important issue and become an outlet for social activism. Tim O’Reilly, in his
work “What is Web 2.0,” describes social media platforms such as Reddit as a
kind of “global brain, harnessing collective intelligence” (O’Reilly 3). Our Reddit
posting brought attention to a major issue that affects many parts of the
world. Through our posts, we challenge ideas of the so- called “standardized
western ideas of beauty” and pose them in a way that would encourage members to
contribute their opinions about these ideas. By posing our questions in
somewhat controversial ways, we are able to generate responses that we hope
will inspire people to do something about these messages of beauty the media
imposes on us—thus, acting as a means of social activism.
As Ethan Zuckerman states
in, “Mobile Phones and Social Activism,” the rise of social media, like Reddit,
gives its users the platform to speak freely about an issue that interest them
and it encourages its users to comment on others posts. We realized that Reddit
reaches such as vast amount of people on a global scale, and many different
opinions on a wide range issues are often debated and contested. If a user is
truly passionate about the topic they are discussing, like us, their hope is to
acquire a lot of responses that agree with their opinion on the issue they are
reporting.
Through our postings, we
hope we can inspire others to challenge the ideas that the mass media is
putting out to the public. A controversial topic, like ours, can open up great
opportunity for debate. If a user is truly inspired by the topic
they read on Reddit, they can go out and talk about this issue to their
friends, family, peers, and other people that are outside of the Reddit
community. Through this process, social activism can be achieved. We
found that Reddit postings allow for users to bring attention to economic,
political, and social issues and encourage its users to bring about change.
Through this social media
platform called Reddit, the phenomena of this virtual community is able to
exist. In a sense, this platform can be summarized as a medium of communication,
which creates a participatory culture that invokes users to become activists
with the security brought on by anonymity. Reddit, as well as other social
media platforms, has created a domain of privacy so that people can have the
freedom of incorporating their own opinions and analysis of certain topics of
interest without the fear of being judged. In order to exemplify this kind of
behavior, we presented the Reddit community with morality questions about body
alterations in hopes of gaining a more “westernized” look, and garnered
numerous amounts of responses. Our responders became contributors of our
project by joining this participatory culture brought on by Reddit’s community.
Along with self surveillance and easy availability made possible by mobile
devices, numerous topics ranging from economic, social to political issues are
facilitated in an environment of honest discussion and social activism. All in
all, our project enables us to examine a completely virtual world and bring us
into their virtual community. We noticed honesty, humor, sympathy, sarcasm,
wit, confusion, intelligence and so more. Web 2.0, which allows platforms like Reddit
to exist, have indeed created an online world that has enabled a new and unique
type of social interaction. What will they come up with next?
Works Cited
Coleman,
Stephan. "The Network Empowered Citizen." 1-23. Print.
Manovich, Lev. "The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life:
From Mass Consumption to Mass
Cultural
Production." (2008): 319-31. Print.
Zuckerman, Ethan. "Mobile Phones and Social
Activism." TechSoup – The Technology Place
For
Nonprofits . 20 June 2007. Web. 19 Aug.
2010.
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