Introducing Social Media

Sethi.R

What is Social Media?

It is Media for Social Interaction; using accessible and scalable techniques and technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue.

Social Media builds on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content.

So, what the f*@# is Web 2.0?!

“Web 2.0”In 1999, Darcy DiNucci coined “Web 2.0” in Fragmented Future:

“The Web we know now, which loads into a browser window in essentially

static screen-fulls, is only an embryo of the Web to come. The first

glimmerings of Web 2.0 are beginning to appear, and we are just

beginning to see how that embryo might develop. The Web will be

understood not as screen-fulls of text and graphics, but as a transport

mechanism, the ether through which interactivity happens. It will

appear on your car dashboard...your cell phone...hand held game

machines...maybe even your microwave oven.”

Darcy DiNucci - a consultant on electronic information design.

Web 2.0: a Basic Definition

“Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web.”

- Wikipedia    

Web 2.0: the Definition Defined

In Layman's terms:

Web 2.0 sites allow users to interact and collaborate with each other as creators of their own content* in a virtual community.

*This is in contrast to websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of content that was created for them.     

Noticing a recurring theme?

The Shift to a Conversational WebA way to think about social media and Web 2.0, compared with the “read-only” Web that came before it.

Web 1.0 was about... Web 2.0 is about...

ReadingAdvertising

Lectures Websites

ProfessionalsCompanies

Owning 

Writing Word of Mouth Conversations Web Services

AmateursCommunities 

Sharing 

A Few Examples of Web 2.0Social networking sites:

Blogs: 

Wikis:

Video/Image sharing sites:

Mashups:

Web Hosting: 

and many more...

We, the users, began using the web in a new way.

In the mid-1980’s, tech geeks developed hobbyist run mini-networks, known as “bulletin board systems” or a BBS.

How did we shift from Web 1.0 to 2.0?

1. Communicate, 

2. Search for information, 

3. Share.

In a BBS, Users Were Able to

What was a BBS?Computer software that allowed users to connect and login to the system using a terminal program. 

Once logged in, a user could perform functions:

i.e. upload and download software and data, read news and bulletins, and exchange messages with other users, either through electronic mail or in public message boards. 

BBS

Then came THE BLOG!

Not to be confused with “The Blob”.

Blogs [Web Logs]Emerged out of online diaries of the

mid-90’s. 

1999Blogger and LiveJournal, the first

commercial blogging services, were released.

2002From here onward, blogs made serious inroads and

rose in popularity for the next few years.

Tech changes that drove blog explosion:

● Simplified web publishing tools

● Fall of prices on consumer electronics

● Mass adoption of affordable home broadband Internet

These changes made creating and managing websites easier.

Popular Blogs into Books...

And so many more...

Blogs into News and Content Creators

And so many more...

The Book of Awesome:

#864 Mastering the art of the all-you-can-eat buffet

For this Course

➔ 65% of your final mark is the writing of 6 cogent blog posts.

➔ You can edit entries throughout the semester.

➔ Pick a “beat” (niche) to blog about. Example:

◆ “The Book of Awesome” = Awesome occurrences.

◆ “Julie and Julia” = Julie’s journal on Julia’s recipes.

◆ “Stuff White People Like” = Stuff white people like.

“Creative Tool Chest” by Ivana SarmientoHow to Use Conceptual

Metaphors to Change Your View of the World

“Hair of Oil, Hair of Water” by Phoebe Lau

The One With the Goldfish

Stuff White People Like

#132 Picking Their Own Fruit

The power of THE BLOG!

Jeff Jarvis Case Study

June 21, 2005 -  Dell lies. Dell sucks“I just got a new Dell laptop and paid a fortune for the four-year, in-home service. The machine is a lemon and the service is a lie. I'm having all kinds of trouble with the hardware: overheats, network doesn't work, maxes out on CPU usage. It's a lemon. 

But what really irks me is that they say if they sent someone to my home -- which I paid for -- he wouldn't have the parts, so I might as well just send the machine in and lose it for 7-10 days -- plus the time going through this crap. So I have this new machine and paid for them to FUCKING FIX IT IN MY HOUSE and they don't and I lose it for two weeks. DELL SUCKS. DELL LIES. Put that in your Google and smoke it, Dell.”

● Technology sparked the blog revolution, BUT, technology has never been the driving force behind online social interaction.

● BBSs, to chat rooms, forums, and blogs. Human Nature is at the heart of creating and building online communities. 

● From the very beginning of computer networking, the Web has been a place for social interaction. That's why we call it social media. 

Human Nature, not just Technology

And now:The speed of social...

Choonie posted the below on Vine in Dec 2015, addressing mental illness. Thousands responded with comments and remakes to address that everyone secretly deals with depression.

A More Grassroots Example

Bibliography: Darcy DiNucci, Fragmented Future. “Print”. (1999).

Jeff Jarvis, What Would Google Do? (New York: Harper Collins, 2009).

Darren Barefoot & Julie Szabo, Friends With Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook (San Francisco: No Starch Press, 2010).

Andreas M. Kaplan & Michael Haenlein, Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. “Business Horizons” (Indiana University, 2010).