The
Acceptivity Project
MSC
561 – Identity in the Virtual Age
Fielding
Graduate University
Dr.
Jon Cabiria
November
5, 2011
Introduction
The Acceptivity Project
(TAP) is a program designed to address the issues and needs of victims of
bullying and marginalized individuals of an adolescent age. Using social
networking services (SNS) Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook, as well as Blogger as a
blog content management system, editorial and visual content is acquired and
republished (or reblogged/retweeted) to the audience following the project
online. Careful consideration is made with respect to promoting an idea of
acceptance without including any personal commentary that may not fit with the
purpose of the project. Facts and research about bullying and marginalized
individuals is used not only to educate the desired audience but to also serve
as a guideline for effectively communicating to that audience.
Overview of the Acceptivity Project
The Acceptivity Project
is designed to share news, information and other media about anti-bullying via
social networking and to promote acceptance of marginalized individuals, with
particular consideration given towards the LGBTQ community. The motto of the
project is to “promote acceptance collectively.” Photos sourced on Tumblr that
depict inspirational messages about acceptance serve as a visual representation
of the brand. Links to articles are re-tweeted and blogged while full articles
are recreated on the blog with full credit given to the original authors. The
Facebook page serves as a hub to tie facets of each SNS account together and
utilize the Like feature to further spread the reach of the project.
Specific Media Sources Utilized
Blogger
The creation of a blog
is a suitable choice to represent an older media source due to the fact that it
belongs to the Web 1.0 (Giles, 2010,
p. 11)
technology that pre-dates technology of the 2000’s, such as social networking.
Blogging platform Blogger was created in 1999 by Pyra Labs (Blogger.com) and purchased by
Google in 2003 (Gillmor, 2003) . Blogger comes fully
stocked with plentiful features including layout and design options, add-ons
and built-in SNS sharing possibilities. Adding articles and information is
relatively easy and the inclusion of iPad app Blogsy allows for mobile publishing.
Postings on the blog are more stand-alone than postings on the other sites, but
have the benefit of having social network sharing buttons to share specific
articles across many platforms, including Google+, Facebook and Twitter.
Facebook
Currently the gold
standard of SNS, Facebook was selected due to the astounding number of people
who use it. The site has 800 million
active users (Pingdom, 2011) , a potential
audience base that can increase the likelihood of sharing information about TAP
exponentially. The Acceptivity Project’s presence on Facebook was created as a
page rather than a separate account with its own login information. Doing so
decreases time in switching in and out of accounts and offers an easier way to
edit content as it is branched off of a main profile account.
Tumblr
In much the same way
that Facebook has many active users creating a potential audience base, Tumblr
also has a vast audience of 13 million unique users in the U.S. and 300 million
worldwide on a monthly basis (Ingram, 2011) . The sharing
capabilities of Tumblr extend beyond the capabilities of Facebook. Though
technically a blog, it offers more function in multiple daily postings that
include photos, quotes and editorials, and utilizes reblog functionality where
anyone can reblog anything onto their account. One picture can be reblogged
30,000 times by as many registered users and anyone can see a hierarchical
representation of who has reblogged the item, all the way down to the original
poster. The sharing possibilities are virtually limitless. Furthermore, with
the click of a check box all posts can be sent to Twitter synchronously. An
added benefit is the opportunity for other users to Follow a Tumblr account so
that their posts show up on their Dashboard (similar to Facebook’s Wall or
Timeline).
Twitter
As the most popular
micro-blogging platform with 105 million users (Social Media News, 2011),
Twitter offers the ability to follow and be followed, much like Tumblr. The
variety of people and organizations on Twitter combined with the communicative
capabilities is unmatched by any other social network. Via Twitter, relevant
news and information can be re-tweeted from established organizations and
hashtags utilized to create searchable, threaded conversations.
Acceptivity as an Identity Brand
The word acceptivity is itself a social construct
meant to both symbolize and characterize the function of the movement it wishes
to support. It is an identity that is associated with the specific project and
takes on a life of its own as a signifier for the movement. The word is meant
to conjure a mental image of the acceptance of all people and the celebration
of their differences, rather than the marginalization of perceived deviations
from normality.
Strategic Use of Social Networking
for Brand Identity
While the Acceptivity
Project is designed to address bullying both online and off, the strategic use
of online SNS may help the ideal audience in developing coping mechanisms and
creating and maintaining a support community that spans the digital divide. The
sandbox-type quality of the internet provides individuals with a “socially safe
environment” (Varnhagen, 2007) in which to
communicate. The creation of a community is meant to offer unconditional
support to any individual who may be struggling with these social issues and
through the ambient intimacy of internet capable mobile technologies(Messieh, 2011) , offer continuous
support from that community. Blogger offers a way to browse thorough editorials
and news clippings. Facebook allows someone to identify that they support the
cause of TAP using the Like feature, as well as being able to share items on
their Timeline. Twitter utilizes threaded conversations and timeline
integration to put TAP into context with the user’s other interests. Tumblr
shares stories of other users as well as inspirational images while allowing
users to reblog to their own accounts.
Psychological Theories Involved
with Bullying
Cohn and Canter (2003)
report that a significant number of students are victims of bullying – 3.2
million – while an even higher number – 3.7 million – are engaging in behavior
as a bully. This trend starts in elementary school, reaches a critical point in
middle school and typically tapers off in high school. Unfortunately, two-thirds
of students feel their educators do not respond effectively to bullying.
Conversely, 25% of teachers feel there is nothing wrong with bullying and
therefore intervene less (around 4%) when they witness acts of bullying.
The way in which
children learn about the world is through their surroundings, including their
parents, close friends and family, and school mates. They develop a sense of
their identity and how they fit into their social surroundings (Varnhagen,
2007) .
Children “navigate in and around these various crosscutting groupings depending
upon [their] tastes, and they influence who [they] become” (Burke and Stets,
2009). Because the internet provides children with a much greater setting in
which to interact in, complete with still more social groups and communities,
there can be a greater risk for being targeted by online bullies. The
occurrence of online bullying draws similar comparisons to offline bullying (Varnhagen,
2007) .
Targets of bullies are perceived to be weaker and more passive than others and
are more likely to have overprotective parents and therefore more inclined to
lack proper coping mechanisms (Cohn and Canter, 2003).
The Future of the Acceptivity
Project
While offering
information and support and contributing to a societal change in the acceptance
of all people, one specific component will be key in treating the root of the problem:
the bully. Why do kids become bullies? Research (Cohn and Canter, 2003)
suggests that some bullies may have been exposed to similar behavior in their
home environment and because it is not always properly acknowledged by the
schools, the behavior results in little to no consequences or punishment. Other
kids may resort to bullying simply to fit in with a particular social group. A
critical feature at play is that bullies lack respect and resort to violence to
solve issues rather than employing healthier alternatives. Furthermore,
adolescents who are prone to aggression may grow up into aggressive adults
(Anderson, Berkowitz, Donnerstein, Huesmann, Johnson, Linz, Malamuth and
Wartella, 2003) and thus perpetuate the cycle of bullying in their own children.
“Individuals who are characteristically more aggressive than their peers are
likely to have multiple risk factors predisposing them toward aggressive
behavior” (Anderson, et al., 2003) .
Due to the fact that
identity creation is such a critical point in an adolescent’s life, it stands
to reason that their actions will be a direct result of their own identity
creation and personality, as well as their mental health (Guanipa,
1998) .Therefore,
in order to make strides in preventing bullying in the future, change will need
to occur in the bully at an adolescent age.
Conclusion
Other organizations
that support efforts to address bullying and acceptance of marginalized
individuals exist. The Acceptivity Project may not have endorsements from known
personalities but is so far attracting attention from the Human Rights Campaign
and the It Gets Better Project on Twitter. A big idea may start small and grow
or it may stay small and passionate. Whether or not the Acceptivity Project
succeeds in gaining a larger audience is not a concern; helping people is. In
many ways, some bullies are victims themselves and deserve the opportunity to
learn healthy corrective measures so as to not perpetuate the cycle of bullying
to the next generation. The Acceptivity Project hopes aid in accomplishing that
task.
References
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