Social Interaction through Social

Media
 Tips for Improving Social Interaction
1. Be the first to GREET
2. Engage in a CONVERSATION
3. VOLUNTEER
4. Ask for ADVICE
5. NETWORK
6. Turn OPPONENTS into PROPONENTS
7. Be COURTEOUS
8. Be POSITIVE
9. Be OBSERVANT
10. Be HONEST
 Marketing and Social Media
Businesses are using social media to boost their
marketing campaigns, not customer interaction,
according to two new reports from Ernst & Young
and McKinsey.
Accountancy firm and advisory Ernst & Young
surveyed 2,000 consumers and found that 67%
believe their purchasing decisions are influenced
by social media. However, only 15% said that
businesses are good at interacting with them
using social media tools.
 Ways of Improving Social Media
Engagement @ Workplace
#1: Use Facebook to Highlight Employees and
Reach Out to Fans
#2: Leave personalized/tailored messages on
Twitter
#3: Use Google+ Circles, Communities and
Hangouts to Create Valuable Conversations
#4: Participate in LinkedIn Groups
#5: Get Creative With Your Hashtag and
Instagram
 What is social media?

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 use
Enabling 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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 Megatrends 1 the death of
control

The old era The new reality

The age of The age of

control influence

Big organisations and Anyone literate with an internet

companies had a monopoly on connection can self-publish for
mass communication and got free
used to controlling the message Hard to control, can only
influence
 Megatrends 2 Fewer gatekeepers

The old era The new reality

Many to
One to many
many

Manage the gatekeepers Less reliance on media: people

One-way, broadcast model. get information direct from the
Managing reputation = source, and from each other.
managing the media. New-style comms must reach
beyond media to a complex
interactive model.
 Megatrends 3 Fragmentation
The old era
A few
centralised
channels
People got most information
from a handful of news media.
Organisations could efficiently
manage (or at least monitor).
The new reality
A huge
cloud of
interaction
Conversations are distributed
wherever people form opinions:
blogs, social networks, YouTube
Separate provider for the
content, and the platform for the
content
 Megatrends 4 New web
landscape

Old (web) era The new reality

Push Pull
communications communications

Web as distribution channel Web as community

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.
 Megatrends 5 New journalism

The old era The new reality

Ordered
Messy and
and
opinionated
predictable

The world of press releases, Huge and distributed.

news conferences and interviews
was well ordered.
Journalists knew the rules of the
game and were predictable.
Balance, professionalism,
accountability
Everyone can report.
Each sets his/her own rules.
No obligation to be balanced.
Complicated recourse for
inaccuracy.
Opinion dominates content.
 How big is social media in the UK?

10 million UK
accounts
> newspaper sales
30 million+ accounts
5% of users write 75%
Almost half the UK of tweets
population
 How a new user forms networks
Through the use of social networks, other people start linking up too -
denoted by the lines,

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.
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 How networks can be used

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

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 1) Support
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 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.

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.

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 2) Search for greater knowledge
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 Eid party

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

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 3) Challenging those in authority

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 voting.

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 How should you use social media?

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.
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 Why do people use social interaction websites?

Todays youth, as well as inheriting a tradition of

secularisation, are subject to an electronically conditioned,
global village culture that colours their view of religion itself
and offers many alternative sources of meaning and values
that can be incorporated into identity.
Young people yearn for community and a sense of belonging.
Many young people feel a need for different ways of
connecting with community groups by comparison with those
that were taken for granted by earlier generations. If youth
needs for community meanings are different from the
traditional, then different styles of community may be
required if they are to be expected to participate.
 A number of young people retain a personal website, often with a
diary of reflections on their ongoing experience. It is another way of
affirming who they feel they are; it is an opportunity for affirmation
by others who share similar experiences, likes and dislikes and it
gives a virtual yet tangible sense of community.

The need for relationships and community was evident in the

traditional long phone conversations between teenagers. Now the
phenomenon of your own mobile phone and SMS texting allows for
the sharing of thoughts and ideas at any time with someone else,
even during classes, and from one end of a dining table to the
other. It feels like having constant companionship and immediate
intimacy the reassurance of friends and connectedness with them
are only a few clicks away.
 Can cyberspace users become addicted to
Social Networking Sites at the expense of Face to
Face Relationships?

Facebook social networks are "not real". Instead, he says, "They mimic the
playground insecurities of primary school kids, piling up friends to find
their social niche. When people grow up and settle down, they realise that
making friends is not about turning on the computer: it requires real
effort," Professor Pahl, of Britain's Essex University.
There are signs users could become addicted to social networking at the
expense of face-to-face relationships.
A Monash University study found some people were logging into social
networks more than twenty times a day.
According to researcher Julian Cole, many addicts started because of
boredom; diversion became a daily routine.
 Social networking websites have affected personal relationships to the extent
that when a person uses a face-to-face conversation in the same manner that
is considered acceptable on Facebook it is then considered out of the norm for
analog or face-to-face relationships.
When creating a digital friendship on Facebook, a user will send a friend
request to another user in order to establish a link of friendship. This
request can either be accepted or ignored. The user who has sent the request
is not informed if the requested friend has denied the invitation. When a user
removes someone from their friends the person who has been removed is
not informed that they are no longer friends with the user. This makes
ending a digital relationship easier for the user. In fact, it makes the user
able to avoid any confrontation at all.
Seeking community, making choices, and having lifestyle options

The other complicating factor here is that many young people feel a need for
different ways of connecting with community groups by comparison with those
that were taken for granted by earlier generations. If youth needs for community
meanings are different from the traditional, then different styles of community
may be required if they are to be expected to participate.

Source: Crawford, M.L. & Rossiter, G. M. (2006). Reasons for living: Education and young
peoples search for meaning, identity and spirituality. Melbourne: Australian Council for
Educational Research.
Seeking community, making choices, and having lifestyle options

If being individual is central to the outlook of the young, there is equally a

yearning for community and a sense of belonging.

Source: Crawford, M.L. & Rossiter, G. M. (2006). Reasons for living: Education and young
peoples search for meaning, identity and spirituality. Melbourne: Australian Council for
Educational Research.
 Case Study Question

Twitter, Facebook, My Space and Texting

newfound communities or a diversion from
healthy face-to-face relationships?
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