Have you already changed your Facebook profile picture?

This week’s IS (Islamic State) terrorist attacks in Paris - where at least 129 people were killed and many more wounded - have left the internet community in a state of shock. On all kinds of media platforms people are debating over what should be done against these terrorists. They ask questions such as: How can we guarantee safety while still accepting muslims into Western countries? Could this be the start of world war three? More subtle action revolves around many people showing solidarity with the tragedy in France by tweeting thoughts and prayers for the people in Paris or sharing pictures with the hashtag #prayforparis. In this blogpost we wish to explore in what way people express their sympathy towards France, the reasons why people change their profile picture on Facebook (or choose not to), and the role of media platforms in these decisions. We will see that apart from respect and solidarity, people as an audience are influenced by news platforms, and at the same time, know that they have an audience on social media as well, which contributes to the hype.

In this week’s blogpost we would like to use three articles from The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies that are about audiences. Fabienne Darling-Wolf develops a translocal approach in audience studies that we will apply to our case study. The translocal approach is “an approach … that considers how the experiences of audiences in different parts of the world relate to one another” (1). Since our case study is set in the context of social media, Shayla Thiel-Stern’s article on new media audiences is very useful. She argues that with the emergence of the Web 2.0, the distinction between producer and audience has been removed. We emphasize her statement on resistance: “although spaces of resistance are available through the audience’s power to produce cultural artifacts, the scope of this resistance is still limited” (1). We will explain this limitation in terms of awareness and the power of old media. Jack Z. Bratich’s ideas on activity and reactivity are also present in this blogpost.

After the attacks in Paris a number of online media platforms have come up with special features to show their support and help people connect with their loved ones in France. Facebook has come up with two features: one with which you can temporarily change your profile picture in the colors of the French flag and another where you can access the Safety Check feature to report and/or see whether friends and loved ones who reside in France are safe.  Moreover, Youtube has added the French flag to its logo to show support, while Google now offers free international calls to France. 

Many people are temporarily changing their profile picture on Facebook out of respect for and solidarity with the victims of the terrorist attacks and their bereaved. However, there is a difference between feeling sympathy and showing sympathy. Part of changing your settings to the French flag is to demonstrate that you care. What will your friends, colleagues or boss think when you do not change your profile picture? The French flag as a background for Facebook has become a sort of hype. This is not to say that people who have used this setting are just doing it because others are watching. We all feel some sort of grief and sympathy for the victims who died in these horrific terrorist attacks. Yet, a part of us is aware of our audiences, and it is more than likely that this awareness will ultimately influence our decision whether or not to change our profile pictures on Facebook.

Furthermore, the option Facebook offers to add the colors of the French flag to your profile picture - although respectful in theory - actually excludes sympathy for people in other countries in practice. At the same day of the Paris massacre, Beirut was also the victim of terrorist attacks. Apart from a relatively small group of silent protesters in reaction to the Facebook setting, hardly no one added the flag of Lebanon to their profile picture. Part of the reason why, is that 1) it is not an optional setting on the social media site, which means you have to put a lot more effort into editing your photo, and 2) many mainstream news sites only report on the Paris attacks and do not even mention the Beirut victims, thereby creating unawareness among many people and implicitly using their apparently still present power. Another example are the Kenya attacks of last April. Although there were media reports on the bloodbath, we did not see anyone add black-red-green colors to their profile picture.

The example of millions of people changing their Facebook profile picture to show solidarity with France is a phenomenon that can be studied as an “extension of their offline behavior” as well as the influence of popular media (Thiel-Stern 5). Many people feel genuine sadness for the occurrences in France and choose to express their feelings online by altering profile pictures or using hashtags. They can be considered an “active audience” who do not just watch online media content pass by, but clearly believe that there is some kind of value in expressing their opinion or support online in moments of crisis, though their expression of this will not directly tackle the problem (Thiel-Stern 2, 4,10).

Translation: "Changed profile picture. Terrorism problem solved!"

Furthermore, there is a wide array of support poured out to France in comparison to other countries that have suffered similar losses without having as much online sympathy. This shows that people’s online behavior is also a reflection of the issues that gain the most media attention. Widely used media platforms such as Facebook, Youtube, Skype and Google reach numerous people around the world and influence the issues that gain attention. These topics are thus also the ones that people will be talking about the most.

However, this can become quite problematic over time for two reasons. The first concerns the idea of translocalism explained by scholar Fabienne Darling-Wolf. According to her theory, when people use the term “global” to refer to issues, it is often focused on a select number of local phenomenon in certain locations, hence the term “translocal” (6). In the case of media coverage of terrorist attacks in France, it actually proves Darling-Wolf’s point that often news reports are not as “global” as people think, but in fact focus on a select few (6). In a way online audiences are not being stimulated to develop a truly global perspective, neither by news nor social media platforms (6). Still, this lack of a global perspective in favor of a translocal one can eventually prove to be problematic.

First of all, by mainly focussing on Western countries in the media and generally neglecting non-Western casualties, audiences get a translocal perspective on terrorism attacks. This implies a ‘Terrorists vs. the West’ duality, whereas terrorism in the case of IS is a global threat. Secondly, with the media focussing on terrorist attacks in the west, an image is wrongly created that muslims are not victims of terrorism. Online reports have actually shown that so far the greatest number of casualties of terrorist attacks are indeed muslims. Since muslims are not often mentioned as victims of terrorism, people may begin to see muslims as one collective audience. They will all be grouped together as extremists and many people may wrongfully develop Islamophobia.

The effects of this should not be underestimated or deemed farfetched, since the problem of Islamophobia is unfortunately already occurring. People in the West seem to be becoming more and more wary about the acceptance of Syrian refugees out of fear of terrorism. The recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut have reportedly worsened the already existing complications of accepting Syrian refugees. Many people worry there is no way to distinguish refugee from terrorist. Headlines such as “Suicide bomber smuggled in with refugees” only aggravate the dilemma. Some governments are beginning to feel that they are faced with having to choose between protecting the lives of their people and helping/accepting refugees.

In conclusion, we have analyzed the recent hype of people all over the world changing their profile picture on Facebook to the colors of the French flag in order to pay their respects to the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris. Although not denying that many of those people feel genuine sympathy and solidarity, there seems to be a part of them that is aware of their audience. The difference between feeling compassion and showing compassion comes to the fore, in which media platforms still hold power over the awareness of major events in the world by prioritizing some and neglecting others, and the audience knows that they have an audience themselves, which contributes to the hype.

Proposition: Current news and social media coverage on terrorist attacks are creating an anti-global audience perspective.

Works Cited:

Fabienne Darling-Wolf (2013), ‘Nomadic Scholarship: Translocal Approaches to Audience Studies’, in: Radhika Parameswaran (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies, Volume IV: Audience and Interpretation. Malden & Chichester: Whiley-Blackwell.

Shayla Thiel-Stern (2013), ‘Beyond the active audience: Exploring new media audiences and the limits of cultural production’, in: Radhika Parameswaran (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies, Volume IV: Audience and Interpretation. Malden & Chichester: Whiley-Blackwell, pp. 389-405.

Jack Z. Bratich (2013), ‘From Audiences to Media Subjectivities: Mutants in the Interregnum’, in: Kelly Gates (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies, Volume VI: Media Studies Futures. Malden & Chichester: Whiley-Blackwell.

Initials: GK, RO, AL