Chapter 2: CMC, Diffusion and Social

TheoriesBy: Roger Burgos, Michelle Villegas, Yaseen Ali, Ebony Oliver, Qaudir Johnson

IDENTITYCMC (Computer Mediated Communications) is

connected to the historical development of the Internet as a revolutionary infrastructure that quickly spawned numerous useful communication tools.

CMC began as message bulletin board systems (BBS) and email, and quickly grew through development of the World Wide Web (WWW) in the 1990’s.

IDENTITY

Interpersonal communication researchers developed CMC as a way to describe the digital nature of mediated online communication as it developed in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

CMC addresses identity formation, presentation distribution and other issues.

IDENTITY

Barnes states that “Internet interactivity occurs as interpersonal interactivity, informational interactivity, and human computer interaction (HCI).”

The social process of human-Internet interaction is found within social media communication.

INTERNET HISTORY1960’s military project called the Advanced

Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) by the U.S.D.D. had a goal of connecting east and west coasts of the U.S. with instantaneous computer communication.

ARPANET demonstrated that data could be divided into labeled packets, sent and then re-assembled, and this packet switching model was also adopted as an efficient way to move messages on the Internet.

INTERNET HISTORY

Some of the first online communities, such as Classmates.com, LiveJournal, MySpace, LinkedIn, developed the concept of user profiles that contained personal information going beyond sharing email addresses.

By the time Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites had become popular, social networking was a mainstream form of online communication.

SOCIAL NETWORK SITE DEFINITIONS

Is a web-based services that allow individuals to construct public or semi-profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection and view and traverse their list

of connections and those made by others within the system.

SOCIAL NETWORK SITE DEFINITIONS

Avoids the word “networking.”

Ex: LinkedIn reconnects business contacts by offering current work status and other information.

Social Media Site Definitions

Some social media communication sites, such as Twitter, make it easier for a user to maintain an anonymous profile.

At the same time, a user may broadcast produced messages through blogs, video blogs (vlogs), podcasts and other means.

InteractionThe desire to use the online network to connect with others

and broaden social networks is at the heart of the social media communication shift.

John Perry Barlow’s A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace.

Governments shouldn’t have “sovereignty” over “cyberspace” and its users.

Barlow’s Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was founded in the 1990’s and actively fights government regulation and intrusions.

i.e. National Security Agency (NSA) collection of online and telephone data.

Howard Rheingold deduced that virtual communities involve creation of social groups and relationships over time.

CommunityOnline community emerges from the development of individual social

identities and realistic relationships between people.

Social media communication platforms create symbolic environments in which metaphors (i.e. Facebook “Wall”) construct shared meaning and understanding.

Stronger Relationships= Sharing>Disclosure

Diffusion of New Ideas

US is slow to the change in technology, but developing countries like India and China are booming.

Diffusion of New IdeasInnovators (2.5%) earliest people experimenting with change

Early Adopters (13.5%) jump on board of a new trend

Early Majority (34%) first wave

Late majority (34%) last wave

Laggards (16%) remaining slow to change

Uses & Gratification

Social media can offer an almost unlimited range of uses that may or may not satisfy the expectations of the user.

While social media is a new found hope to break down traditional forms of communication. Theory suggests that this is not the case with the use of traditional mass media.

The open and easy communication that is social media makes solidarity more difficult because of different social backgrounds and impersonality which means absence of human character.

Uses & Gratification

People on social media use it to fill them in on the world around them relaxation and entertainment sometimes to escape the world that they live in

Researchers have linked social media use to avoid loneliness and a development to new habits.

A 2011 Edelman U.S. survey confirmed that 70% of people from the ages of 18-29 view social media as a form of entertainment

Uses & Gratification

Computer mediated communication “CMC” has explored the impact that media technology has on creating interaction, online communities and sense of identity.

Personal & family pages allow people to share information all over the world.

Social media communication is an evolutionary way for people of different social and cultural backgrounds to connect and meet new people.

Online Culture and Power

Social media communication happens with a cultural context of values, rituals, and even “chaos” (Carey, 1992, pg.34)

Social media extends the shifting emphasis toward the importance of communication through being shared, modified, and preserved.

Media technology uses narrative storytelling techniques in communities

Discussion Questions: Strategies and Tactics

1.How has CMC influenced the way we form relationships? How may it blur the lines between reality and fantasy?

2.How would a visualization of your social networks depict communication patterns and relationships? How could this influence future online behavior?

3.Describe your favorite Internet meme: Why do you like it? How does it transfer cultural understandings from one person to another?

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