Beginning Participation (Challenge 5.1)
This week, we are stepping out of the shadows of lurking and finally beginning to participate in the social culture of our topics.
I’m continuing to use Twitter as a way to participate in the topic of LGBT representation (this is one of the sites that we are required/allowed/expected to participate in). And although Tumblr was not included in the list of expected websites, I also wanted to participate in the Tumblr culture because I feel that the users of Tumblr have a lot to say about the topic and are all willing to share. I was not sure how much I could get from Twitter or Facebook or Instagram, but I do plan to try participating in Facebook and Instagram in the continuation of this challenge.
Initially, I attempted to dive right into participating on both websites. On both Tumblr and Twitter, I posted on my personal accounts (while using the hashtag for “#lgbt representation” and “#univ349dc”) reaching out to anyone who follows me and other users who don’t follow me but follow the hashtag results. I simply asked about everyone’s opinion about the current state of LGBT representation and how they feel that it can be improved. As I was half expecting, I didn’t get much interaction on either site. On Twitter, fellow classmate Melissa, responded to my tweet with her opinion, and that interaction can be seen on the Tagboard for #univ349dc. But I didn’t get any interactions beyond that.
On Tumblr, I did basically the same thing: reach out to my followers and the hashtag for opinions. For a while, I only got “likes” on my post which shows me that people agree that the topic of representation is one that needs to be talked about. Here is my post: http://actualplant.tumblr.com/post/131924353661/help-me-with-my-class But later in the day, I received texts from my friend that I made through Tumblr who lives in Canada asking how he can help with my participation and told me that he would draft a response to my question with his opinion of LGBT representation. He reblogged (Tumblr’s version of sharing/reposting) my post onto his blog with his response which you can read here: http://dontdontdo.tumblr.com/post/131995248454/help-me-with-my-class He carried a lot of insight on the subject, and I was glad to see that not only did he have something to say about the subject, but also he helped my reaching out to my followers by broadcasting my post on his blog which reaches out to his followers. Now, hopefully, I have the attention of both our crowds.
This week’s challenge has been just that: challenging. I don’t feel that my voice is being heard among the thousands (maybe millions?) of other users on the websites, but hopefully during this next week of participation, I can get in touch with other users of Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and maybe Instagram to learn more about this topic.
