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== Shaping ==
== Shaping ==


Social media can take on many different forms, including [[Internet forum]]s, [[Blog|weblogs]], [[social blogging|social blogs]], [[microblogging]], [[wiki]]s, [[podcast]]s, photographs or pictures, [[video]], rating and [[social bookmarking]]. By applying a set of theories in the field of media research (social presence, media richness) and social processes (self-presentation, self-disclosure) Kaplan and Haenlein created a classification scheme for different social media types in their Business Horizons article published in 2010. According to Kaplan and Haenlein there are six different types of social media: collaborative projects (e.g. [[Wikipedia]]), blogs and microblogs (e.g. [[Twitter]]), content communities (e.g. [[Youtube]]), social networking sites (e.g. [[Facebook]]), virtual game worlds (e.g. [[World of Warcraft]]), and virtual social worlds (e.g. [[Second Life]]). Technologies include: [[blog]]s, picture-sharing, [[vlog]]s, wall-postings, [[email]], [[instant messaging]], music-sharing, [[crowdsourcing]], and [[voice over IP]], to name a few. Many of these social media services can be integrated via [[social network aggregation]] platforms.
Social media can take on many different forms, including [[Internet forum]]s, [[Blog|weblogs]], [[social blogging|social blogs]], [[microblogging]], [[wiki]]s, [[podcast]]s, photographs or pictures, [[video]], rating and [[social bookmarking]]. By applying a set of theories in the field of media research (social presence, media richness) and social processes (self-presentation, self-disclosure) Kaplan and Haenlein created a classification scheme for different social media types in their Business Horizons article published in 2010. According to Kaplan and Haenlein there are six different types of social media: collaborative projects (e.g. [[Wikipedia]]), blogs and cat microblogs (e.g. [[Twitter]]), content communities (e.g. [[Youtube]]), social networking sites (e.g. [[Facebook]]), virtual game worlds (e.g. [[World of Warcraft]]), and virtual social worlds (e.g. [[Second Life]]). Technologies include: [[blog]]s, picture-sharing, [[vlog]]s, wall-postings, [[email]], [[instant messaging]], music-sharing, [[crowdsourcing]], and [[voice over IP]], to name a few. Many of these social media services can be integrated via [[social network aggregation]] platforms.


=== Patents ===
=== Patents ===

Revision as of 23:37, 17 July 2011

File:Social Web Share Buttons.png
An example of the share buttons common to many social web pages.

The term social media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. Social media are media for social interaction, as a superset beyond social communication, but mainly still communicating just interactively using ubiquitously accessible and scalable communication techniques.

Shaping

Social media can take on many different forms, including Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, podcasts, photographs or pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking. By applying a set of theories in the field of media research (social presence, media richness) and social processes (self-presentation, self-disclosure) Kaplan and Haenlein created a classification scheme for different social media types in their Business Horizons article published in 2010. According to Kaplan and Haenlein there are six different types of social media: collaborative projects (e.g. Wikipedia), blogs and cat microblogs (e.g. Twitter), content communities (e.g. Youtube), social networking sites (e.g. Facebook), virtual game worlds (e.g. World of Warcraft), and virtual social worlds (e.g. Second Life). Technologies include: blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing, and voice over IP, to name a few. Many of these social media services can be integrated via social network aggregation platforms.

Patents

Number of US social network patent applications published per year and patents issued per year[1]

There has been rapid growth in the number of US patent applications that cover new technologies related to social media. The number of published applications has been growing rapidly over the past five years. There are now over 250 published applications.[2] Only about 10 of these applications have issued as patents, however, largely due to the multi-year backlog in examination of business method patents[3]

Purpose

Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content."[4]

Distinction from industrial media

Businesses may refer to social media as consumer-generated media (CGM). A common thread running through all definitions of social media is a blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value. [citation needed]

People obtain information, education, news and other data from electronic media and print media. Social media are distinct from industrial or traditional media, such as newspapers, television, and film. They are relatively inexpensive and accessible to enable anyone (even private individuals) to publish or access information, compared to industrial media, which generally require significant resources to publish information.

One characteristic shared by both social media and industrial media is the capability to reach small or large audiences; for example, either a blog post or a television show may reach no people or millions of people. Some of the properties that help describe the differences between social media and industrial media are:

  1. Reach - both industrial and social media technologies provide scale and are capable of reaching a global audience. Industrial media, however, typically use a centralized framework for organization, production, and dissemination, whereas social media are by their very nature more decentralized, less hierarchical, and distinguished by multiple points of production and utility.
  2. Accessibility - the means of production for industrial media are typically government and/or privately owned; social media tools are generally available to the public at little or no cost.
  3. Usability - industrial media production typically requires specialized skills and training. Conversely, most social media production does not require specialized skills and training, or requires only modest reinterpretation of existing skills; in theory, anyone with access can operate the means of social media production.
  4. Immediacy - the time lag between communications produced by industrial media can be long (days, weeks, or even months) compared to social media (which can be capable of virtually instantaneous responses; only the participants determine any delay in response). However, as industrial media begin adopting aspects of production normally associated with social media tools, this feature may not prove distinctive over time.
  5. Permanence - industrial media, once created, cannot be altered (once a magazine article is printed and distributed changes cannot be made to that same article) whereas social media can be altered almost instantaneously by comments or editing.

Community media constitute an interesting hybrid of industrial and social media. Though community-owned, some community radios, TV and newspapers are run by professionals and some by amateurs. They use both social and industrial media frameworks.

Building "social authority" and vanity

Business metrics (revenues, reputation...)

Social media analytics (share of voice, resonation, support response...)

Engagement Data (clicks, fans, followers, views, check-ins...)

Social media ROI pyramid[5]

One of the key components in successful social media marketing implementation is building "social authority". Social authority is developed when an individual or organization establishes themselves as an "expert" in their given field or area, thereby becoming an influencer in that field or area.[6]

It is through this process of "building social authority" that social media becomes effective. That is why one of the foundational concepts in social media has become that you cannot completely control your message through social media but rather you can simply begin to participate in the "conversation" expecting that you can achieve a significant influence in that conversation.[7]

However, this conversation participation must be cleverly executed because while people are resistant to marketing in general, they are even more resistant to direct or overt marketing through social media platforms. This may seem counter-intuitive but is the main reason building social authority with credibility is so important. A marketer can generally not expect people to be receptive to a marketing message in and of itself. In the Edleman Trust Barometer report in 2008, the majority (58%) of the respondents reported they most trusted company or product information coming from "people like me" inferred to be information from someone they trusted. In the 2010 Trust Report, the majority switched to 64% preferring their information from industry experts and academics. According to Inc. Technology's Brent Leary, "This loss of trust, and the accompanying turn towards experts and authorities, seems to be coinciding with the rise of social media and networks."[8][9]

Internet usage effects

A study by the University of Maryland suggested that social media services may be addictive,[10] and that users of social media services leads to a "fear of missing out".[11] It has been observed that Facebook is now the primary method for communication by college students in the U.S.[12][13]

There are various statistics that account for social media usage and effectiveness for individuals worldwide. Some of the most recent statistics are as follows:

  • Social networking now accounts for 22% of all time spent online in the US.[14]
  • A total of 234 million people age 13 and older in the U.S. used mobile devices in December 2009.[15]
  • Twitter processed more than one billion tweets in December 2009 and averages almost 40 million tweets per day.[15]
  • Over 25% of U.S. internet page views occurred at one of the top social networking sites in December 2009, up from 13.8% a year before.[15]
  • Australia has some of the highest social media usage in the world. In usage of Facebook Australia ranks highest, with over 9 million users spending almost 9 hours per month on the site.[16][17]
  • The number of social media users age 65 and older grew 100 percent throughout 2010, so that one in four people in that age group are now part of a social networking site.[18]
  • As of June 2011 Facebook has 750 Million users.[19]

According to a report by Nielson[20]

“In the U.S. alone, total minutes spent on social networking sites has increased 83 percent year-over-year. In fact, total minutes spent on Facebook increased nearly 700 percent year-over-year, growing from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion in April 2009, making it the No. 1 social networking site for the month.”

The main increase in social media has been Facebook. It was ranked as the number one social networking site. Approximately 100 million users access this site through their mobile phone. According to Nielsen, global consumers spend more than 6 hours on social networking sites.

Probable historic impact

Social media may have been integral to the Arab revolutions and revolts of 2011.[21][22] As one Cairo activist succinctly put it, [23] However, there is some debate about the extent to which social media facilitated this kind of change[24].

Criticisms

Andrew Keen criticizes social media in his book The Cult of the Amateur, writing, "Out of this anarchy, it suddenly became clear that what was governing the infinite monkeys now inputting away on the Internet was the law of digital Darwinism, the survival of the loudest and most opinionated. Under these rules, the only way to intellectually prevail is by infinite filibustering."[25]

Tim Berners-Lee contends that the danger of social networking sites is that most are silos and do not allow users to port data from one site to another. He also cautions against social networks that grow too big and become a monopoly as this tends to limit innovation.[26]

Economic impact by social marketing

Thus, using social media as a form of marketing has taken on whole new challenges. As the 2010 Trust Study indicates, it is most effective if marketing efforts through social media revolve around the genuine building of authority. Someone performing a "marketing" role within a company must honestly convince people of their genuine intentions, knowledge, and expertise in a specific area or industry through providing valuable and accurate information on an ongoing basis without a marketing angle overtly associated. If this can be done, trust with, and of, the recipient of that information – and that message itself – begins to develop naturally. This person or organization becomes a thought leader and value provider - setting themselves up as a trusted "advisor" instead of marketer. "Top of mind awareness" develops and the consumer naturally begins to gravitate to the products and/or offerings of the authority/influencer.[8][27]

Of course, there are many ways authority can be created – and influence can be accomplished – including: participation in Wikipedia which actually verifies user-generated content and information more than most people may realize; providing valuable content through social networks on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter; article writing and distribution through sites such as Ezine Articles and Scribd; and providing fact-based answers on "social question and answer sites" such as EHow and Yahoo! Answers.

As a result of social media – and the direct or indirect influence of social media marketers – today, consumers are as likely – or more likely – to make buying decisions based on what they read and see in platforms we call "social" but only if presented by someone they have come to trust. Additionally, reports have shown organizations have been able to bring back dissastisfied customers and stakeholders through social media channels.[28] This is why a purposeful and carefully designed social media strategy has become an integral part of any complete and directed marketing plan but must also be designed using newer "authority building" techniques.[29]

In his 2006 book, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, Yochai Benkler analyzed many of these distinctions and their implications in terms of both economics and political liberty. However, Benkler, like many academics, uses the neologism network economy or "network information economy" to describe the underlying economic, social, and technological characteristics of what has come to be known as "social media". The basic assumption with social media is there will be a demand for the information published using such media. The quantity of subscribers to the various providers seems to prove that assumption. However, the quality of the contents casted by individuals may be subject of a more distant view, regarding the multicast or even broadcast distribution as powered by vanity of the issuers. In contrast the reception of contents published by organisations shows the curiosity of the subscribers to learn more about the ever renewing world they are part of. Both aspects may generate economic value beyond the providers sake for the issuers of the contents.

However, building reputation and becoming recognised as an expert with a high yield in "social authority" may remind the fact that there is no quality assessment for the issued contents but the acclamation or applause by the readers or the opposite, deprecation or disapproval. That does not guaranteee for a reasonable value of the messages.

Ownership of Social Media Content

Social Media content is generated through social media interactions done by the users through the site. There has always been a huge debate on the ownership of the content on social media platforms since it is generated by the users and hosted by the company. Critics contend that the companies are making huge amount of money by using the content that does not belong to them[30]. Hence the challenge for ownership is lesser with the communicated content, but with the personal data disclosed by the subscribed writers and readers and the correlation to chosen types of content. The security danger beyond is the parasitic conveying, diffunding or leaking of agglomerated data to third parties with certain economic interest[31].

Application examples

Communication

Collaboration/authority building

Multimedia

Reviews and opinions

Entertainment

Brand monitoring

Leisure example

The Dutch man Ramon Stoppelenburg traveled around the world for free, without spending any money, from 2001 to 2003, thanks to his blog on Letmestayforaday.com. His website was his profile with which he created his own necessary network of online offered places to stay for the night. This made Stoppelenburg one of the first people online who used the online media in a social and effective manner.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ Mark Nowotarski, "Don't Steal My Avatar! Challenges of Social Network Patents, IP Watchdog, January 23, 2011.
  2. ^ USPTO search on published patent applications mentioning “social media”
  3. ^ USPTO search on issued patents mentioning “social media”
  4. ^ Kaplan, Andreas M. (2010). "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media". Business Horizons. 53 (1): 59–68. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003. ISSN 0007-6813. Retrieved 2010-09-15. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Framework: The Social Media ROI Pyramid
  6. ^ European Journal of Social Psychology
  7. ^ Research Survey
  8. ^ a b Inc. Technology Brent Leary Article
  9. ^ Edelman 2010 Trust Barometer Study
  10. ^ "Students Addicted to Social Media - New UM Study". Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  11. ^ "FOMO: The Unintended Effects of Social Media Addiction". Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  12. ^ Harris, Kandace (2008). "Using Social Networking Sites as Student Engagement Tools". Diverse Issues in Higher Education. 25 (18).
  13. ^ "Statistics". Facebook. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  14. ^ http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/global/social-media-accounts-for-22-percent-of-time-online/
  15. ^ a b c http://digital.venturebeat.com/2010/02/10/54-of-us-internet-users-on-facebook-27-on-myspace/trackback/
  16. ^ http://www.socialmedianews.com.au/social-media-stats-in-australia-facebook-blogger-myspace/. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. ^ http://www.socialmedianews.com.au/. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  18. ^ "Boomers Joining Social Media at Record Rate". CBS News. 2010-11-15.
  19. ^ http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/23/facebook-750-million-users//
  20. ^ "Time Spent on Facebook up 700 Percent, but MySpace.com Still Tops for Video, According to Nielsen".
  21. ^ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/tunisia/
  22. ^ Kirkpatrick, David D. (2011-02-09). "Wired and Shrewd, Young Egyptians Guide Revolt". The New York Times.
  23. ^ http://www.miller-mccune.com/politics/the-cascading-effects-of-the-arab-spring-28575/
  24. ^ Malcolm Gladwell and Clay Shirky on Social Media and Revolution, Foreign Affairs March/April 2011
  25. ^ Keen, Andrew. The Cult of the Amateur. Random House. p. 15. ISBN 9780385520812. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  26. ^ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=long-live-the-web
  27. ^ Search Engine Watch
  28. ^ http://www.marketingforecast.com/archives/10548
  29. ^ Business Expert Brent Leary on Inc Technology Website
  30. ^ "How much is your content worth?".
  31. ^ Jones, Soltren, Facebook: Threats to Privacy, MIT 2005
  32. ^ Golder, Scott; Huberman, Bernardo A. (2006). "Usage Patterns of Collaborative Tagging Systems" (PDF). Journal of Information Science. 32 (2): 198–208. doi:10.1177/0165551506062337.
  33. ^ "Empire Avenue, the stockmarket where YOU'RE for sale". Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  34. ^ 10 Ways Geolocation is Changing the World

Further reading

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