"Social media also reminds me a bit of the old telephone party lines. Several families in a particular area all shared a single phone line. It was easy to pass along information - intentionally or not - to one another." Source

 


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“Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life.” – Facebook’s slogan

"Scholars who study the history of communications technologies or media include historians of technology and of literacy, sociologists, economists, political scientists, anthropologists and technologists such as computer scientists. A central controversy concerns how far technology does or does not condition social change." (Chandler)

Definition of Social Media

In a Nutshell: Social media uses web-based technologies to transform and broadcast media monologues into social media dialogues.

Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. It supports the democratization of knowledge and information and transforms people from content consumers to content producers. Social media has become appealing to big and small businesses. As social media continues to grow, the ability to reach more consumers globally has also increased. Twitter, for example has expanded its global reach. Social media has become the new "tool" for effective business marketing and sales. Popular networking sites including Myspace, Facebook and Twitter are social mediums most commonly used for socialization and connecting friends, relatives, and employees.

Social media can be said to have three components:

1. Concept (art, information, or meme).
2. Media (physical, electronic, or verbal).
3. Social interface (intimate direct, community engagement, social viral, electronic broadcast or syndication, or other physical media such as print).
Common forms of social media;

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History of Social Media

Social media didn’t start with computers, it was born on “line” – on the phone. Phone phreaking, or the rogue exploration of the telephone network, started to gain momentum in the 1950’s. Early social media explorers built “boxes“… homemade electronic devices that could generate tones allowing them to make free calls and get access to the experimental back end of the telephone system. Phreaks sniffed out telephone company test lines and conference circuits in order to host virtual seminars and discussions.

The first social networking website was SixDegrees which let people make profiles and connect with friends in 1997. This kind of interactive, social web application style became popularly known as “Web 2.0” and it really gained momentum with Friendster around 2002-3.. followed by MySpace (2004 – 2006) and then Facebook (2007 -> ). Source

Examples of Social Media

The Benefits of Social Media (Facebook use)
  • Facebook facilitates affordable marketing.
  • Facebook enables professional networking
  • Facebook allows users to connect with people and share ideas, recommendations, etc.
  • Facebook allows users to easily advertise online.
  • Facebook allows users to find people with related job interests with various search option
  • Facebook enables people to keep in touch with friends/family.
  • Amber alerts, emergency information, including "wanted" photos by police departments can be posted immediately, in attempts to make life safer.
  • Facebook allows people to be connected in one social hub, regardless of location.
  • Facebook allows users to get to know new people by following friend suggestions and searching for people in similar networks.
  • Facebook encourages meeting new people through comment interaction of mutual friends.
  • Facebook helps users keep track of friend’s birthdays, phone numbers, email addresses, etc.
  • Facebook helps users share knowledge and interests through applications.
  • Facebook allows users reconnect with old friends and acquaintances by friend suggestions and/or advanced search options.
  • Facebook allows users tocreate status updates keep them informed of your activities.
  • Facebook allows users to photo tag to help share experiences/memories.
  • Facebook allows users to post comments, photos, videos, events, links, and notes, to share thoughts/ideologies/opinions.
  • Facebook allows users tosend private messages and instant chat to quickly and conveniently communicate.

 



The Negatives

"All technologies indeed are best described, in their capacity for good or bad, as knives. A knife can be used to cut food, which is good, and to stab an innocent person, which is bad. The determining factor in whether the knife - or whatever the technology - is used for good or bad turns out not to be the technology but the human being or group of humans using the technology." (Levinson, Chapter 11: The Dark Side of New Media)

  • Cyber-stalking or Internet stalking - is the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk or harass an individual, a group of individuals, or an organization. It may include false accusations, monitoring, making threats, identity theft, damage to data or equipment, the solicitation of minors for sex, or gathering information in order to harass.
  • Cyber-bullying - defined as "willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices."
  • Flame wars - A flame war is a heated argument between two individuals, that results in those involved posting personal attacks on each other during or instead of debating the topic at hand.
  • Trolls - Trolling is the act of purposefully antagonizing other people on the internet, generally on message boards.
  • Facebook was named as a contributing cause in 20% of divorces last year as exes connected and rekindled relationships through this social medium. (PC World)
  • If one works in an industry where what is said or written must be in compliance to guidelines (such as SEC or FINRA) it can be difficult to negotiate what is business-appropriate and what is not, in terms of what is communicated via social media.
 
Getting Set Up With Social Media [For this example, Facebook]

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Sarah McNabb - CMNS 545: Communication & Technology - 2010