Top Dog

Power, today, is everywhere. No matter online or in our everyday lives away from the screens of our computers and smart phones, well away from computer screens anyway, power dominates our lives.

In the reading ‘Lost Geographies of Power’ (2003, p.2) John Allen talks about the extensions of power and how, “power is not something that is simply extended over short or long distances, or something which radiates out from an identifiable central point, or something which engulfs places in ways that are all pervasive.” Allen goes on by saying, “power, as I understand it, is a relational effect of social interaction.”

Social networks and power go hand in hand. There is always going to be those who are followed and then those who are the followers. Reddit uses terms such as hot, top, now, and controversial to categories the latest posts and news on there site. With methods such as voting, sharing and commenting to determine who’s “Top Dog” at the time.

Top Dog https://jaggedsmile.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/top-dog/

Within the first few minutes of creating my Reddit account I felt disempowered, as I had no place of power within the domain I was exploring. Unlike Facebook or twitter it wasn’t necessarily the people but the topics that held the power, as all posts made are placed depending on a chosen community of which anyone can create. Popularity of a post depends on how many upvotes or downvotes a post attracts, the ones with the most upvotes rise to the top. The interesting thing about my chosen site and other social media networks is that there is no predetermined power, literally, a whale meme can rise to the top, in more than one social media platform, because well, because it can. People are what give social media its power.

Click link for more info: https://www.ted.com/talks/alexis_ohanian_how_to_make_a_splash_in_social_media#t-229838)

News and controversy are and always have gotten a lot of attention, therefore it comes as no surprise that most often at the top of the popularity list on most social media sites including Reddit is some form of news article or political controversy. Those of which appear to blow all other posts out of the water unless of course it’s the whale thing again because then of course attention is directed at the water and…that’s not important.

In summary, power is many things. Power is social interaction, what mediums you associate with determine the power that compels you and drives you to support its content. People are what create the power, and “People are placed by power. “John Allen (2003, p.2) How we experience power is determined by what modalities or driving forces for our actions we associate with, examples being authority, domination and manipulation to name a few. In the upcoming weeks I am interested to see how my account on Reddit will progress, and am excited to continue exploring and experimenting with my newfound network.

References

Allen, J. (2003). Lost geographies of power. Malden, MA: Blackwell

Jaggedsmile. (2008). Top Dog [Image] Retrieved from https://jaggedsmile.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/top-dog/

Ohanian, A. (2009). How to make a splash in social media. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/alexis_ohanian_how_to_make_a_splash_in_social_media#t-229838)