Hashtag In Brunei

[email protected] +6738661677 11B1161

AA-4206 POPULAR CULTURE AND MASS MEDIADr Prof Wan Zawawi Ibrahim11B1161 Nur Hidayah Bte Haji Zainal Ariffin

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Essay Assignment:Popular Culture in Brunei Darussalam. Hashtags.

CONTENTS

ABSTRACT 3

SOCIAL ACTORS 4

NO 1: D 4

NO 2: F 6

ANALYSIS 7

METHODOLOGY 13

CONCLUSION

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 16

ANNEX A 18

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ABSTRACT

The Hash tag (#) is the pound key, which is used for tagging a metadata tags which is used in on social networks, as a micro blogging tool which can be used on different social medias – such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to name a few. The hash tag allows similar messages, pictures to be grouped together when it gets into the Internet domain. People from various social strata who are exposed to these (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for example) social platforms understand the usage of hash tag and has become widely used by 2010, where reportedly even politicians such as Barack Obama, the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi1 and even the younger strata of the population (seen in the protesting of Zayn Malik exit from the 1 Direction group)2. The 1 Price (2015), India’s Prime Minister Is Addicted To His iPad Too, The Atlantic. Published on: 14th April 2015, Retrieved From: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/04/india-narendra-modi-election-social-media/390240/2 Crossley and Fahi (2015), Hysterical One Direction Fans Spark Self-Harming Fears as Disturbing Hashtag, The Daily Mail, UK, Retrieved From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3011449/Hysterical-One-Direction-fans-spark-concerns-self-harming-disturbing-hashtag-trends-Twitter-Malik-quits-chart-

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3011449/Hysterical-One-Direction-fans-spark-concerns-self-harming-disturbing-hashtag-trends-Twitter-Malik-quits-chart-topping-boyband.html







concept of hashtagging is relevant to Storey’s (2001) concept of ‘popular culture’ as it has gained much popularity from the mass since rapid popularity in 2010, and even if its not practiced religiously by some - most netizens understand the concept of hashtags. Some of the topics that will be discussed in this essay are the symbolic creativity of using hash tags in social media, then the discussion of the agency, after that how the usage of hash tags explain one’s identity and then the struggle against hegemony in the usage of hash tags in the concept of Brunei Darussalam.

Figure 1 : Brack Obama TwitterSource : https://twitter.com/barackobama

Social Actors

“I actually read every single hash tag”, said D. Within

the one hour of interviewing, D kept looking at her

iPhone, with every notification it made. There was

giggling, smiling and frowning within the 5 minutes she

scrolled her phone. That sort of attentiveness was one oftopping-boyband.html, Published on; 25th March 2015.

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the reasons why I chose to interview her one of the

respondents for my hash tag interview. My next

participant is, F, 24-year-old personal trainer and daily

Instagrammer who likes to post workout photos and posts

about his ‘healthy lifestyle’.

No 1: D

I have been hashtagging before it was mainstream. I think

I started during Twitter, like, on the sides of it, there

would be the trending topics right? So when I clicked it,

I could read the updates. At first I would just join in

the bandwagon and express my opinions in Twitter. But

then my Twitter friends, would tweet about the random-est

hashtags, and when clicked, macam ada (have) all the

funny stuff people say on the Internet. But I must say,

it is not as widespread as it is now. Like, people

actually becakap (talk) like, “hashtag boring” or

“hashtag aku mau makan”. Even the older generations use

this now, I wouldn’t say all but you know what I mean!

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Now it covers a lot of things, like weddings, events,

moments leading up to an event, shopping, and

relationships… And it’s easy really to just click and

know what is going on. I think it’s beneficial if you

know how to use it.

But I think its annoying when some people just OD

(overdose) on hashtags in one picture and it doesn’t even

relate, so it just looks like spam on the collective

space, and they do that just to get followers you know?

Like yeah sure they get ‘likes’ but its not genuine. Mine

are, cuz I just use like one ‘current’ hashtag.

If I think about it, theres no actual depth or whatever,

I think a hashtags are either those thingys that collects

informations and serve as a decorator… hahaa. I mean, a

photo or status could just survive without a hashtag but,

its so much cooler to just put your coin into the web and

if it gets famous enough, your opinion or picture could

go viral… Like Ellen Degeneres could notice it or

something.

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And yes, there are different identities to what hashtags

you use, like…. For example, if you can speak Korean,

some k-pop fans would hashtag something in Korean and get

some Korean followers would follow you and like your post

or something. And #fashionistabrunei, you can get

featured for what you wear, and that says that you are a

fashionista! Or even you could make like a jet setting

collage so you can show your friends on places you’ve

gone to.

What else… It makes me happy to discover cool things when

I keep clicking on these random hashtags and I do it all

the time before sleeping. Like its news, and I usually

ponder around, fashion, travelling, gourmet food, jokes

and current news. And when I get married, I’m going to

get my own hashtag, and I’m going to make all my guests

tag me so I can see the events from the eyes or rather…

camera of people.

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But there are things that you have to abide to when you

hashtag, like to not upset MIB, cuz apparently there is a

law against stuff that aren’t Sharia compliant. Like I

know a lot of my friends have deleted pictures of them

hashtagging their club photos in Indonesia or Malaysia

because they’re scared that they might get in trouble.

Like in the news, this guy got arrested for dressing like

a girl ok, not because of hashtagging but still, in not

going to risk it… hmm… But I don’t think it decreases the

fun out of hashtags, cuz there are other fun things in

life.

No 2: F

I think I started hashtag from Instagram, I saw some of

other my friends who would use hashtags, it started when

my circle decided to motivate each other with the whole

idea of healthy lifestyle and body building – last two

years kali (maybe). We would have our own unique hashtags,

just to see the progress. And I believe it this

motivational for my friends, our followers and me.

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I do commit barang (stuffs) that aren’t healthy. But yeah,

I would hashtag it #cheatday, I think it would show to my

clients that it is okay to have a cheat day. But jarang. No

body is perfect, Im only human, tapi (but) I must instill

in my followers that they have to be disciplined – to

just take a little cake from time to time.

I get inspired when I see my friends who have broken

their records on routines, and that makes me want to

improve myself. And every time I hashtag tweet, I could

also see my progression back to when I was just a chubby

90kilo boy to my fit self now. With pictures… I get more

motivated. Pasal a picture speaks a thousand words.

I would post up my food, my exercise regime, my diet and

my goals. I believe that there are people out there who

need inspiration as much as I needed one before, and with

hashtags I believe that everything can be easier.

Analyzing

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In this section I will assess the responds I got from my

transcribed interview and I will try to asses their

answers of the symbolic creativity of using hash tags in

social media, then the discussion of the agency, after

that how the usage of hash tags explain one’s identity

and then the struggle against hegemony in the usage of

hash tags in the concept of Brunei Darussalam.

Hashtagging creates various symbolic creativity is

various ways. Storey (2006) quoting Willis’s (1990)

Common Culture explains that young people express ‘symbolic

creativity’ in a multitude of ways where they humanize,

decorate and invest meanings in social practices –

creating expressions. Having said that, hashtags can be

used in a variety of ways to create meanings – such as

picture captions or as messages as explained by both D

and F –users can extend the knowledge3 of the picture

using the caption using the ‘connoting’ advantage that

the hashtagging provides, which in turn decorates and

3 Myres (2006), Standards-Based Comprehension Strategies and Skills Guide: Level 3, Teacher Created Materials. P. 20.

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invests meanings. Some example are #tldr and #iwokeuplikethis

are some of the things hashtaggers use to create

expressions. Willis in his explanation only talks about

young people to be the vanguards of creating symbolic

creativeness, undermining the possibilities that the

older age groups too are capable – an example would be

Karl Lagerfeld4 an 82 year old fashion designer constantly

creating new lines as much as what the young are

perceiving doing. But never the less, the young are on a

constant strive in creating their own identity5, whereas

the older individuals tend to conform unless their career

beckons them to create new expressions, just as seen like

Karl Lagerfeld.

4 Karl Lagerfeld, Biography, Source: http://www.karl.com/biography/, Date retrieved: 10th April2015.5 Gerke (2015), Advanced Social Theory Class Lectures on Subcultures, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

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http://www.karl.com/biography/


Figure 1: Karl Lagerfeld twitter page.

Agency according to Barker (2005) refers to the freedom

of choice and capacity to practice individuality. In

terms of agency, hashtagging provides a platform for

individuals to practice their personality, through the

various hashtags their creative mind can express – or to

what they want their personality shapes them to be. For

example, my respondents might have chosen the identity of

a fashionista or a health junkie – using hashtags of such

nature to exemplify their persona. But to some extent,

hashtagging can act as a structural tool – where

hashtagging prevents certain people to say certain things

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that may not be favorable to their concept of self – for

example, on how F does not speak of habits that may upset

his personality. Carney (2014) explains that the Internet

has become the perfect vehicle for individuals because it

allows a person to become his or her possible self –

creating the perfect image of them6. In relation to that

Kuss and Griffiths explains that these Internet

identities are a form of escapism from their real lives,

creating idealized alter egos7. But it is only a matter of

posting or not, and not every single detail should and

would be posted. Therefore, it is not a definite

personality determiner. The hashtag works both ways as to

become an ideal agency tool, but also as a choice to pick

in which structured identity one is more suited to an

individual.

Next is the concept of identity around the usage of

hashtags. Identity is a multifaceted concept of the self

6 Carney (2015), Spotting a Social Media Narcissist, The Gavel, Retrieved From: http://bcgavel.com/2014/01/23/spotting-a-social-media-narcissist/, Published on : 23rd January 2014.7 Kuss & Griffiths (2014), Internet Addiction in Psychotherapy, Palgrave Macmillan. P. 58.

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http://bcgavel.com/2014/01/23/spotting-a-social-media-narcissist/



– which may be termed social and personal8. So in relation

to that, the research shows that identity can affect the

different usages of hashtags and in relation to the

previous paragraph portray how an individual want the

viewers to decipher their behavior, mainly in terms on

social perception of the identity. A comparison in terms

of gender identity in using hashtag during my research is

that - F tend to hashtag words things that depicts their

manliness like #workout, #vscocam9, #tornmuscle, #preworkout,

whereas females tend to use #ootd #selfie #love, which is then

validated by my other personal research which I conducted

(refer to Annex 1). Eckert and McConnell-Ginet(2013)

explains this, in their writing Language and Gender,

explains that women are more condone to use expressive

words as they are socialized into it, whereas men are

socialized into using their instrumental self10. However,

the perception to consider feminine or masculine is 8 Gerke (2015), Advance Social Theory Lectures, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.9 VSCO Cam – App that enhances photos using minimalistic filters, targeting which is gender friendly as opposed toediting apps like Camera360, which is more catering to the female users. Source: https://vsco.co/vscocam, Date Accessed: 10th April 2015.10 Eckert & McConnell-Ginet (2013), Language and Gender, Cambridge University Press: UK. P. 52.

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https://vsco.co/vscocam


subjective and to concern its gender-ness is very

reductionist – and hypothesizing gender through hashtag

perception is still in its embryonic theorization.

Another concept of identity is that it also expressed the

conspicuous consumption in elevating their identity,

which is agreed by Carney (2014), but she has rather

expressed it in a negative term where – users post and

hashtag material possession and lifestyles in social

medias to uplift their social statuses.

Gramsci in Storey (2001) explains hegemony to be the

dominant group gained through a process of intellectual

and moral leadership. The only battle with structure that

hash tagging goes through is the usage of proper words to

avoid misconduct and defamation in the likes of Melayu

Islam Beraja (in the context of Brunei). Derogatory terms

that would conflict laws11, in this case, use words that

would deem as offensive in Brunei – either personal or an

organization. Hashtagging does provide some restrictions,

11 Instagram Terms of Use. Content 2, Under Basic Terms: “You may not post violent, nude, partially nude, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, hateful, pornographic or sexually suggestive photos or other content via the Service”. Source: https://instagram.com/about/legal/terms/.

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which would address general global terms of defamation

however; it does not serve to stop the different

sociocultural term of offenses. Nevertheless, the mass or

viewers can choose to ‘report as spam’ or ‘report as

offensive’ and have any abusive content to be taken down.

But having said that, the Internet is a platform for

freedom of speech as UNESCO acknowledges its potential

for development in that sense12 therefore; some would

argue that there is any actual hegemony in the Internet.

Even so, Brunei practices tight monitoring over the

media13 14.

Hashtags became popular from Twitter in which some might

argue that this soft power form of popular culture is

another tool media imperialism15. Giddens (1990) explains

that these cultural empires make third world countries

more reliant because of the lack of resources to create 12 UNESCO (2015), Freedom of Expression on the Internet, Source: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/freedom-of-expression/freedom-of-expression-on-the-internet/, Date retrieved: 18th April 2015.13 Brunei Times (2012), Police Warn Against Fake Message in Whatsapp, Date Published 18th October 2012.14 Zailani (2014), Freedom of Speech Comes With Social Responsibility,Brunei Times, Published on 27th August 2014.15Giddens (1990), Sociology, Polity Press: Cambridge. P.545

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http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/freedom-of-expression/freedom-of-expression-on-the-internet/




infrastructures – such as search engines, or satellite

transmitters – making them dependent on the

industrialized countries for internet provision. Herbert

Shiller (in Giddens) then related this dependence to how

the United States are able to tap into the media easily16

- making it easy to propagate the American culture,

through advertising and commercializing the culture.

Giddens (1990) also talks about how news can be dominated

by the dependence towards the First World Media

distorting images and tailoring it to their liking.

Hashtags, in this context, can possibly be a structural

tool that erodes the Bruneian identity where netizens

would rather prefer to use English in communicating their

hashtag statuses in fear of being signified as inferior.

F and D talks more in English than they do in Malay

Brunei, and the things that they were committing to were

more of a globalized youth. But my transcribed data was

in English because I started the conversation in English.

In regards to Bruneians beign colonially influenced -

ever since the implementation of Shariah Law in 2014, the

general opinion of most Bruneians were not washed by 16 Ibid.

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colonialism resulting some Bruneians to explain their

Pro-Sharia ideologies mentioning #wesupportheshariahlaw –

meaning to say that, some cultures, especially hashtags

may or may not be effective in promoting colonial ideals.

Next is the escapist feeling that hashtags can provide

for their users. Being addicted to a certain culture

especially, the Internet slowly becoming a real

phenomenon where Kuss and Griffiths (2014) explain that

clients constantly use the Internet subconsciously to

alter their moods17 - as both Kuss and Griffiths theorize

that the net serves to release dopamine through the

online entertainments18 and escapist ways, which is

relevant some of the acts shown by D – where she

constantly was checking her phone when I was interviewing

her. Another theory to be discussed is the adrenaline

rush19 that could possibly explain how F gets motivated

and energized to commit to his healthy regime.

17 Kuss & Griffiths (2014), Internet Addiction in Psychotherapy, Palgrave Macmillan. P. 59.18 Ibid. P.61. 19 Ibid. P.59.

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Methodology

Methods used for this essay are recorded interviews,

newspapers, essays, books and internet articles, as I try

to crosscheck my answers with those who have conducted

the hashtag, internet, and sociological explanations

before me to minimize the limitations for my own essay.

The recorded interview gives a qualitative output towards

outcome, however transcribing words was time consuming

and left little understanding for me to ponder into the

matter. Another con with using this approach is that it

induces nervousness, where out of 4 respondents - 2 have

declined having to be recorded. In relation to that, this

method also tends to alter the response, as the

conversation is not as natural as note taking. However,

having a note-taking method leave a lot of information

out, as there is not time to record the respondent’s

word-by-word response. But never the less, I believe that

the outcome would have improved if I had a video recorder

to document visuals.

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Other than that, I have used second hand data to validate

my outcome to make it more reliable as well as true.

Arguably, it is using a method that has been tailored by

other writers but the accounts enhanced my findings.

Since hashtagging is a newly formed popular culture, it

has become quite a difficult topic to compare on first

had similarities cross culturally or even in the context

of Brunei. However, much of the second hand data served

to help with the essay in enhancing some points.

In relation to that, I have also conducted a research

prior to this essay in explaining the quantitative

approach as to the qualitative interview, which can be

referred in ANNEX A. A brief explanation of the research

is

Pick 100 participants

No specific target

Aim : achieve a quantitative result and to cover

grounds fast, and to briefly understand the usage

of #hashtags in using the sample.

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Location : UBD, Malls, Cafes, Library, Hostels

“Are Bruneians well versed with the #hashtag etiquette?”

Which resulted in:

Tech savvy people are able to pin point the various

uses for # in which we were not able to identify -

using # as a geographical locator.

Using # to understand a certain definition

Women are more prone to use it to express emotions,

condone to peer pressure document life and update

more than men

Men tend to use it generally just for entertainment

purposes.

Brunei is a tech savvy community, understanding the

concept of #hashtags.

Almost most of the users have some sort of use for

#hashtags, depending on their interest.

Conclusion

As some would agree that the Internet is a platform to

encourage growth, Brunei practices a mild enforcement on

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the media, which creates an agency unconscious to how

they are subliminally structured resulting towards the

shaping of the hashtag practices. Meaning to say that

Brunei still relatively exercises an adequate amount of

freedom of speech in terms of the media practiced. And

because, hashtags are a powerful tool information-

conveying platform, which sends out data rapidly and

translated effectively throughout the world there are

problems with it as well, some data tend to change over a

period of time too20, have problems of polysemy, and

diluted with understandings of multilingual-ness, culture

eroding phenomenon and interdependence towards the

concept. But nevertheless, hashtags are a phenomenon that

should be taken into consideration as part of the growth

of media and technology and the improvement of

civilization – individuals should understand concepts

from the colonizer and then taking that framework in

improving the local knowledge.

20 Janowicz, Schlobach, Lambrix and Hyvōnen (2014), Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management : 19th International Conference, EKAW 2014, Linköping, Sweden, November 24-28, 2014, Proceedings, Springer. P. 563.

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Bibliography:

Brack Obama Twitter Profile, Source : https://twitter.com/barackobama , Date Retrieved: 19th April 2015.

Barker (2005), Cultural Studies : Theory and Practice

Carney (2015), Spotting a Social Media Narcissist, The Gavel, Retrieved From: http://bcgavel.com/2014/01/23/spotting-a-social-media-narcissist/, Published on : 23rd January 2014.

Gerke (2015), Advanced Social Theory Class Lectures on Subcultures, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

Crossley and Fahi (2015), Hysterical One Direction Fans Spark Self-Harming Fears as Disturbing Hashtag, The Daily Mail, UK, Retrieved From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3011449/Hysterical-One-Direction-fans-spark-concerns-self-harming-disturbing-hashtag-trends-Twitter-Malik-quits-chart-topping-boyband.html, Published on; 25th March 2015.

Instagram Terms of Use. Content 2, Under Basic Terms: “You may not post violent, nude, partially nude, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, hateful, pornographic or sexually suggestive photos or other content via the Service”. Source:https://instagram.com/about/legal/terms/.

Janowicz, Schlobach, Lambrix and Hyvōnen (2014), Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management : 19th International Conference, EKAW 2014, Linköping, Sweden, November 24-28, 2014, Proceedings, Springer.

Karl Lagerfeld, Biography, Source: http://www.karl.com/biography/, Date retrieved: 10th April2015.

Kuss & Griffiths (2014), Internet Addiction in Psychotherapy, Palgrave Macmillan.

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http://www.karl.com/biography/

https://instagram.com/about/legal/terms/






https://twitter.com/barackobama


Myres (2006), Standards-Based Comprehension Strategies and Skills Guide: Level 3, Teacher Created Materials.

Price (2015), India’s Prime Minister Is Addicted To His iPad Too, The Atlantic. Published on: 14th April 2015, Retrieved From: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/04/india-narendra-modi-election-social-media/390240/

Storey (2001), An Introductionary Guide to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, London Harvester Wheatsheaf (Chapter 1: What is Popular Culture?)

UNESCO (2015), Freedom of Expression on the Internet, Source: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/freedom-of-expression/freedom-of-expression-on-the-internet/, Date retrieved: 18th April 2015.

VSCO Cam – App that enhances photos using minimalistic filters, targeting which is gender friendly as opposed toediting apps like Camera360, which is more catering to the female users. Source: https://vsco.co/vscocam, Date Accessed: 10th April 2015.

Zailani (2014), Freedom of Speech Comes With Social Responsibility, Brunei Times, Published on 27th August 2014.

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https://vsco.co/vscocam




http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/04/india-narendra-modi-election-social-media/390240/

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/04/india-narendra-modi-election-social-media/390240/


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ANNEX A

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Hashtag In Brunei

Documents

Transcript of Hashtag In Brunei