SOCIAL MEDIA FIGURES
OFTEN TRAPPED IN DELUSION
The Jakarta Post | Reportage | Tue, May 07 2013, 11:36 AM
Sri Mulyani Indrawati Gita Wirjawan Aburizal Bakrie Aburizal Bakri Budiman Sudjatmiko Megawati Soekarnoputri
Reportage News
NGO maps out indigenous community territories
Restitution of customary forests: Not so fast
Recognition of indigenous peoples stuck in red tape
In December 2012, a lawyer by the name of Farhat Abbas announced through his Twitter account
@farhatabbaslaw his ambition to run in the 2014 presidential race.
Many regarded the statement from Farhat, who is better known as actress Nia Daniati’s husband than as a lawyer, as just a publicity stunt, a mere joke. But they were wrong.
Farhat has shown that his ambition is serious. He has been hanging campaign banners for his presidential bid across Jakarta’s main streets. His main campaign issue is that he is going to be the first president to dare to take a pocong oath to show his commitment to the nation.
A pocong oath, in which the subject is wrapped in a death shroud, is a mystical oath that threatens instant death to those who break it.
Farhat also said that he was convinced he could be a serious contender for the presidency due to the amount of support he received through his twitter account.
Regardless of Farhat’s claim, the facts show that he has never been included in the top-five most popular presidential candidate lists compiled by various political survey institutions.
The top-five presidential candidate lists are still dominated by prominent names such as Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan, Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri and former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
Farhat is not the first to believe that a following garnered online is reflected in the real world, and he is unlikely to be the last.
Prior to Farhat, there was a growing trend of people who had achieved popularity in social media trying to change the course of their lives. These people, who usually work in corporate jobs, tried to publish books or become entertainers simply because they believed they were able to create their own market using their social media accounts.
Bookstores are filled with books by “twitter celebrities” and most of the books contain nothing more than a couple of tweets per page. It did not take long for consumers to realize the abysmal quality of works produced by these social media celebrities. Suspicions about the quality were soon followed by large discounts on the products.
The Jakarta Post | Reportage | Tue, May 07 2013, 11:36 AM
Sri Mulyani Indrawati Gita Wirjawan Aburizal Bakrie Aburizal Bakri Budiman Sudjatmiko Megawati Soekarnoputri
Reportage News
NGO maps out indigenous community territories
Restitution of customary forests: Not so fast
Recognition of indigenous peoples stuck in red tape
In December 2012, a lawyer by the name of Farhat Abbas announced through his Twitter account
@farhatabbaslaw his ambition to run in the 2014 presidential race.
Many regarded the statement from Farhat, who is better known as actress Nia Daniati’s husband than as a lawyer, as just a publicity stunt, a mere joke. But they were wrong.
Farhat has shown that his ambition is serious. He has been hanging campaign banners for his presidential bid across Jakarta’s main streets. His main campaign issue is that he is going to be the first president to dare to take a pocong oath to show his commitment to the nation.
A pocong oath, in which the subject is wrapped in a death shroud, is a mystical oath that threatens instant death to those who break it.
Farhat also said that he was convinced he could be a serious contender for the presidency due to the amount of support he received through his twitter account.
Regardless of Farhat’s claim, the facts show that he has never been included in the top-five most popular presidential candidate lists compiled by various political survey institutions.
The top-five presidential candidate lists are still dominated by prominent names such as Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan, Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri and former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
Farhat is not the first to believe that a following garnered online is reflected in the real world, and he is unlikely to be the last.
Prior to Farhat, there was a growing trend of people who had achieved popularity in social media trying to change the course of their lives. These people, who usually work in corporate jobs, tried to publish books or become entertainers simply because they believed they were able to create their own market using their social media accounts.
Bookstores are filled with books by “twitter celebrities” and most of the books contain nothing more than a couple of tweets per page. It did not take long for consumers to realize the abysmal quality of works produced by these social media celebrities. Suspicions about the quality were soon followed by large discounts on the products.
In the political and social movement context, the “twitter celebrities”
also often launch something they refer to as “hashtag movements”. They expect a
mere trending topic in the online world to be enough to drive political and
social change in the real world. Political and social activism has literally
been moved from the streets into the comfort of cafes with Wi-fi by these
social media activists.
A psychologist from the Yogyakarta-based Sanata Dharma University, Debri Pristinella, says that the highly interactive nature of online social media makes it difficult for some users to differentiate between the online world and reality.
“People rarely expose who they really are [online]. Therefore, not all interactions they have online are real. Unfortunately, for some people, this line between online and reality has literally gone; they can no longer tell the difference between what is real and not,” Debri said.
Debri added that social media users had to realize that the number of their “followers” and “friends” were not a true representation of their respective value as a person in the real world or they might risk plunging themselves even further into delusion.
PDI-P politician Budiman Sudjatmiko, who also actively uses social media, similarly said anyone aspiring
to drive changes should not forget the importance of real work in the offline world.
“Social media is a very helpful instrument to spread your ideas and to promote yourself. But it must not be the only tool to drive change. At the end of the day, your work and your effort building networks in the real world and at the grass roots are what help you reach your goals,” said Budiman, also a prominent activist during the later New Order years.
__________________
Bookstores are filled with books by “twitter celebrities” and most of the books contain nothing more than a couple of tweets per page.
— JP/Hans David Tampubolon
A psychologist from the Yogyakarta-based Sanata Dharma University, Debri Pristinella, says that the highly interactive nature of online social media makes it difficult for some users to differentiate between the online world and reality.
“People rarely expose who they really are [online]. Therefore, not all interactions they have online are real. Unfortunately, for some people, this line between online and reality has literally gone; they can no longer tell the difference between what is real and not,” Debri said.
Debri added that social media users had to realize that the number of their “followers” and “friends” were not a true representation of their respective value as a person in the real world or they might risk plunging themselves even further into delusion.
PDI-P politician Budiman Sudjatmiko, who also actively uses social media, similarly said anyone aspiring
to drive changes should not forget the importance of real work in the offline world.
“Social media is a very helpful instrument to spread your ideas and to promote yourself. But it must not be the only tool to drive change. At the end of the day, your work and your effort building networks in the real world and at the grass roots are what help you reach your goals,” said Budiman, also a prominent activist during the later New Order years.
__________________
Bookstores are filled with books by “twitter celebrities” and most of the books contain nothing more than a couple of tweets per page.
— JP/Hans David Tampubolon
No comments:
Post a Comment