Facebook has rapidly connected the world. Facebook allows you to connect to anyone around the world, by searching for someone specific or by following the links of the people you have already connected to. However, could any truly connect to anyone in the world? Facebook like many websites has limitations. From the basic lack of ways to connect, such as no electricity or computer. Too cultural difference and control.
China is one of the more well know countries that has a Facebook ban nationwide. However according to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology three other countries also have a ban on Facebook.
These counties are North Korea, Cuba and Iran. So this sparks the question who has the real power? Is it the government, which can control the access to Facebook? Or is it the few hundred thousand that still manage to access Facebook despite the government control? Using glitches and back-door access users in China numbers are slowly climbing. By monitoring the public in China they hope to impose a Panopticon effect. As the public is aware they are being monitored, they feel the observer as a certain power over them.
So government vs. general public how has the real power? Or even Facebook itself. All have an aspect of power over each other. One cannot overcome the other, unless the public is no longer repressed or the government gains more control. Power is a fluid concept constantly changing, so who will have the power in the future…
To hear a little more and form your own judgement on the power play in action, watch the clip on the following link:
Reference
Kuo, L. (2013,
March 28). China lists all the countries in the world that block Facebook
except for China. Retrieved from QUARTZ:
http://qz.com/68323/china-lists-all-the-countries-in-the-world-that-block-facebook-except-for-china/
MacMillan, D. (2012,
September 29). Facebook Rises as 63.5 Million Users in China Skirt Ban.
Retrieved from Bloomberg:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-27/facebook-tops-63-million-users-in-china-despite-ban-report-says.html
Sawers, P. (2010,
November 25). Access denied: Facebook is banned…where, exactly?
Retrieved from THE NEXT WEB:
http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/11/25/access-denied-facebook-is-banned-where-exactly/
Petray,
T. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of
Place, Week 2
[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.learnjcu.edu.au
[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.learnjcu.edu.au
Image credits
Unknown. (2013,
July 22). Twitter Co-Founder to Facebook: Charge $10/month for Premium
Service. Retrieved from BostInnp:
http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2013/07/22/twitter-co-founder-to-facebook-charge-10month-for-premium-service/
Hi Tiana,
ReplyDeleteReally interesting blog about Facebook in China. In 2010 I spent 6 weeks in China, I was expecting no Facebook access, but to my surprise everyone was using it. You can pay to use proxy websites to access Facebook from servers in other countries. I am sure the government censored and surveilled everything, as things were not posted instantly. It's interesting CNN didn't touch on the number of Facebook users in China.
I also met a lady in my travels who taught English in China for 2 years. At the end of her working visa she had an interview with a government department, I can't remember which one. They gave her a folder with every email, text message, Facebook post etc. in it.
Turkle's panopticon concept does spring to mind here (1995). The NSA surveillance unveiled by Snowdon is quite unsettling (Cooke, 2013). Is the rest of the world's online activity just as monitored? At least China doesn’t hide the fact.
Reference List
Cooke, R. (2013). The Monthly. Retrieved from: http://www.learnjcu.edu.au
Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the internet. New York: Simon & Schuster. Retrieved from: http://learnjcu.edu.au
Hi Tiana,
ReplyDeleteI went a bit editorial on your blog and embedded the youtube video into the post. Its nice to have some embedded video on the blog and it means people are more likely to click it.
If you want to put youtube clips in your posts in the future, you can embedded the videos by clicking the little movie clapperboard symbol at the top of the page where you create your posts.
You can delete the vid. if you really don't like it like this though - just wanted to demonstrate some of the things you can do.
Thanks Rhian, I did try to put the video on the page but I was unsure how. :)
ReplyDelete