YOGYAKARTA – The Department of Communication Science of UPN “Veteran” Yogyakarta held a public seminar entitled The Envisioning of New Media Landscape in the Platform Society with a panellist from the Philippines, Prof. Maria Diosa Laboste. The event took place on Tuesday (20/06/2023) in the FISIP Seminar Room.
The panellist opened this seminar by describing the platform. A platform is a place for people to convey ideas to a general audience that involves technology as a resource for developers to integrate new applications or technologies.
Quoting from Lovink (2019), a platform is not only a successful or trending web or application. However, a platform can be interpreted as a container that exists because of the interaction of users and data through techniques and protocols that have been established by developers. Platforms, networks, and media are intertwined with each other. Platforms combine certain elements into something manageable and valuable.
After talking about platforms, Prof Maria also explained the digital data in them that are often used by Indonesians and Filipinos. The most popular platform for Indonesians is Youtube with data showing an average use of the media of 10 hours per day.
“In the Philippines, the most popular platform is Facebook. This is evident from the average screen time of 4-9 hours per day. It can be concluded that platforms are organic, emerging through user interaction with diverse preferences and data collection. In addition, each country has its own favourite digital platform,” Prof. Maria explained.
Social media platforms have a major role in shaping the dynamics of modern society. Napoli and Graf (2022) call it a public guardian that has significant power in organising, supervising, and influencing public discussions and information flows.
Prof Maria emphasised in the seminar, “Public awareness of the spread of fake news and unverified information on social media platforms is crucial in this context. The dangers of excessive personal surveillance and increased social divisions, caused by the use of algorithms and filter-bubbles that limit our understanding.”
Prof Maria explained that solidarity in critically analysing social media platforms, especially for countries in the Global South, especially in the Southeast Asian region is important. This requires us to consider how these countries can play a more active role in the use of platforms and access to information.
Critical analysis of social media platforms can be through the exchange of ethical and political techniques and methods of platform evaluation. Solidarity can increase awareness, understanding, and the ability to manage social media platforms wisely, responsibly, and in defence of the interests of the wider community.
Safirah Khairina, as a seminar participant said, “This seminar is very useful and I also gained new knowledge. The discussion on public awareness of the spread of fake news and the dangers of excessive personal surveillance provided valuable insights for me.”
Authors: Aradea Ibnu, Raihan Hafidh