The Impact of social media on society

18 April 2013Cambridge

“The “social” in social media implies a conversation. The difference between social media and the TV is that with the latter, viewers seldom engage with the programme-makers of the show that they are watching. Only in very recent times have programme makers expanded into the world of social media. Think X-Factor.

What is social media?

The Central Office of Information (www.coi.gov.uk) said the following in its 2009 publication “Engaging through Social Media”:

Social media is a term used to refer to online technologies and practices that are used to share opinions and information, promote discussion and build relationships.

Social media services and tools involve a combination of technology, telecommunications and some kind of social interaction. They can use a variety of different formats, for example text, pictures, video and audio.

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What is social media?

Social media is different to traditional forms of communication such as through newspapers, television, and film.

Cheap – anyone with access to the internet (for example through public libraries)Accessible – the tools are easy to useEnabling – allows almost anyone to do things that previously were only the preserve of well-resourced organisations

The use of the word “Social” implies a conversation. Social media is definitely not about one-way communication to a large audience from big organisations.

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What is social media?

Megatrends 1 – the death of control

The age of influence

Big organisations and companies had a monopoly on mass communication and got used to controlling the message

Anyone literate with an internet connection can self-publish for freeHard to control, can only influence

The age of control

Megatrends 2 – Fewer gatekeepers

Many to many

Manage the gatekeepersOne-way, broadcast model.Managing reputation = managing the media.

Less reliance on media: people get information direct from the source, and from each other.New-style comms must reach beyond media to a complex interactive model.

One to many

Megatrends 3 – Fragmentation

A huge cloud of interaction

People got most information from a handful of news media.Organisations could efficiently manage (or at least monitor).

Conversations are distributed wherever people form opinions: blogs, social networks, YouTube Separate provider for the content, and the platform for the content

A few centralised channels

Megatrends 4 – New web landscape

Pull communications

The Web was a channel for pushing out information. Sites were static e-brochures. The Web was utilitarian. People felt neutral about it.

Now, people spend most time on interactive social media.The social web is informal, immersive and emotive.

Web as distribution channel Web as community

Push communications

Megatrends 5 – New journalism

Messy and opinionated

The world of press releases, news conferences and interviews was well ordered.Journalists knew the rules of the game and were predictable.Balance, professionalism, accountability

Huge and distributed.Everyone can report.Each sets his/her own rules.No obligation to be balanced.Complicated recourse for inaccuracy.Opinion dominates content.

Ordered and

predictable

How big is social media in the UK?

30 million+ accounts

Almost half the UK population

10 million UK accounts

> newspaper sales

5% of users write 75% of tweets

Social networks

How I (as a new user) formed my networks

• After setting up an account on a given platform – e.g. Facebook or Twitter, I then used the search tools to find people with similar interests to me. For example:

- Career- Sport- Academia- Campaigns

• For each interest, I was able to build up a small “virtual” network that looks something like the diagram below

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Everyone within this network of interest is connected to each other

Your networks and communities

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In pairs or threes, spend a few minutes talking to each other about the community groups that you are part of – whether in your neighbourhood, across a wider geographical area or online.

I will then ask you to summarise to the rest of the group the networks and communities that the person you are paired with has described to you.

This gave a picture that looked something like this:

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Represented by the large yellow circle, I have links into a number of different virtual networks as represented by the small yellow circles:

How I (as a new user) formed my networks

As people have multiple interests, some of those interests are shared:

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Accordingly, they may already have links to the same communities of interests that I have – represented by the green lines

How I (as a new user) formed my networks

Through the use of social networks, other people start linking up too - denoted by the blue lines,

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There now is a very complex virtual web of people linked by mutual interests. The stronger each of those individual links is, the stronger the web is.

How I (as a new user) formed my networks

Having a virtual web such as this can serve three key purposes:1)For “support”2)For the search for greater knowledge3)To challenge those in authority.

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How networks can be used

If, for example an individual finds themselves being criticised in the mainstream media, a “virtual network” of shared interests can respond accordingly.

Think of the web below being like a trampoline. When pressure is put on the individual at the centre (i.e. the big yellow circle in the middle), it is felt not just by the individual, but also by others linked through the virtual network.

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In order to return to the “steady state”, the trampoline responds accordingly – bouncing back. The same is true with those who are linked by a common interest to the individual who needs the support.

What is difficult to predict is how others will react to such an individual being targeted.

1) Support

People – and now organisations are using their social media networks to crowd source information.

Crowd sourcing is literally as defined – sourcing your information from a crowd of people using social media.

Question: What sort of things could the following people use ‘crowd sourcing to find out?’

-An office worker organising the staff Christmas party-A journalist investigating a story-An academic researcher-A Member of Parliament

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2) Search for greater knowledge

We looked at

-A journalist investigating a story-An academic researcher-A Member of Parliament

More people from these backgrounds and beyond are now using their social networks to challenge those in authority.

-Journalists are widening their social networks, in particular on Twitter, while at the same time receiving direct feedback on their articles-Academics are now able to bring their work to much wider audiences – but at the same time face greater public scrutiny on their work-MPs are now able to crowd-source parliamentary questions, but face scrutiny on how they vote in the Commons.

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3) Challenging those in authority

Thoughts, questions or comments on:-Social networks?-People challenging, and being challenged via social media?

Staying safe with social media

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Responsibly

‘I trust my officers with the powers of arrest and the ability to deprive you of your liberty. Therefore I am going to trust them to use social media’

A senior police officer on Twitter.

-That is not to say they are given access to social media without any training. Social media carries risks. So does life. What matters is how we manage those risks.

-Part of that training involves you seeking out further knowledge – enough for you to ensure that you are comfortable using social media.

How should you use social media?

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Social media is value neutral; people are not. Bad people use social media as well as good people. You need to protect yourself from the latter.

In the UK, the Information Commissioner is the public body primarily responsible for how people and organisations use social media, in particular with regards to data protection.

Please ensure that both you and any young people that you know read through guidance from the Information Commissioner at http://www.ico.gov.uk/youth.aspx

The Information Commissioner

This excellent short digital video guide was produced by the the State of Victoria’s Department for Justice in Australia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iQLkt5CG8I

This gives you an idea of some of the issues organisations to consider in this new social media world

Later on we will be looking at how you can create your own social media policy.

Social media guidance?