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The Developing World through a Social Lens Com 313: Mass Media and Society Tierney Elise Torchin

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Project Overview Social media changes perceptions by presenting information in snippets White savior complex Resort vacation Negative perceptions Increased racism in Western countries (Asante 2013) Improvement deemed hopeless (Wallace 2005) Negative correlation (Gabriel-Ellis)

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Literature Review Social Media is Shaping Travel Rise of globalization and localization (Servaes and Lie 2008) Pictures change destinations (Xiang and Gretzel 2010) Voluntourism takeover (Bille 2012) Distrust of the Other Increased immigrant news exposure enforces anti-immigrant groups mentalities (Boomgaarden 2009) Scapegoating other nations (Guindi 2005) The dominant oftentimes dismisses those who are not dominant, blaming cultural differences for typical problems (Delpit 1995) Media Changes Perceptions Personalities can be accurately predicted via Facebook (Golbeck 2011) Frequency and tone of coverage change dynamics (Boomgaarden 2009)

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Sample and Method Content Analysis Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram Including Original content Recent origins Particular terms and countries People X if represented Discourse Analysis Sources used New York Times News Videos Comments Contrasting News Rated 0 (no mention) - 5 (largely the purpose of the piece)

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Content Analysis Results Purpose by Medium Tumblr is the most focused on others Facebook focuses on tourist Instagram highlights the bizarre Popularity Associated with attractive white tourists Common destinations - India, Thailand General Otherness 71 % contained depictions of otherness Participating in an exotism, or practice not traditionally performed by the in-group

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Discourse Analysis Results Similar across party lines Different phrasing; same message Relatability Finding purpose through money, goals, or immigration Telling all viewpoints Negativity and Otherness, especially in user-generated content Still giving both sides Volunteering Vacation Negative Ideas Positive Ideas Value to Us Otherness Sameness

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Discussion Increased Racism in Western Countries (Asante 2013) Consistency strengthens negative views Hot words repeated constantly Dislike of non-White Americans Improvement Deemed Hopeless (Wallace 2005) Images focus on barren areas News focuses on war, resources, negative ideas Negative Correlation (Gabriel-Ellis) Hot words used to promote otherness and negativity Focus shifted off of other cultures, back on to white Americans

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Sources Asante, Molefi. 2013. The Western Media and Falsification of Africa: Complications of Value and Evaluation. China Media Research vol 9:2. Bille, Adam. 2012. "Voluntourism." PhD Dissertation, University of Cape Town. Boomgaarden, Hajo and Vliegenthart, Rens. 2007. Explaining the rise of anti-immigrant parties: The role of news media content. Electoral Studies, vol 26, 404-417. Boomgaarden, Hajo and Vliegenthart, Rens. 2009. How news content influences anti-immigration attitudes. European Journal of Piolitical Research, vol 48:4, 516-542. Delpit, Lisa. 1995. Other Peoples Children. The New Press: New York. 11-17. El Guindi, Fadwa. Confronting Hegemony, Resisting Occupation. Resisting Racism and Xenophobia: Global Perspectives on Race, Gender, and Human Rights, 251-268. Gabriel-Ellis, Nathaniel. 2011. What role does media play in shaping western perceptions of 3 rd world countries? PhD dissertation. Golbeck, Jenniger, Cristina Robles, and Karen Turner. 2011. Predicting personality with social media. Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 253-262. Servaes, Jan and Rico Lie. 2008. Media Globalization through Localization. Communication for Development and Social Change, 58-67. France: Sage Publications. Staszak, Jean Francois. 2008. Other/otherness. International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Wallace, Jamie. 2005. American Perceptions of Africa Based on Media Representations. PhD dissertation, University of Oxford. Xiang, Zheng and Ulrike Gretzel. "Role of social media in online travel information search." Tourism Management vol 31.2 (2010): 179-188.

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Content Analysis - Facebook

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Content Analysis - Tumblr

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Content Analysis - Instagram

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Content Analysis Data

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Discourse Analysis Data