|
|
Task 2: How has the internet brought us together? Read the statements and complete the worksheet "Has the internet....?" Task 3: How has social media changed the world? Each member in your group is in charge of reading a section. He/she then needs to summarize the section into 2 sentences and write them down on the post it. The post it is then exchanged with another member of the group. This member must draw the something to represent the sentences on another post it. Put them up together around the room. |
Social Media
Text below is copied from: http://www.globalization101.org/social-networking-sites-2/
Characteristics of Social Networking Sites
According to its website, Facebook boasts more than 800 million active users, while Twitter, which is growing even faster, claims more than 500 million active users. Social media accounts for the majority of time spent online. Social networking sites have gotten much attention recently as privacy has become an increasingly important issue as younger children begin to use these sites. Further, a recent study by USC revealed that the younger generation is less likely to hesitate to give out personal information on sites like Facebook. The generation known as “millennials” has become ever more engaged with social media sites, ranging from “liking” a product on Facebook, or sharing their location, and tweeting private information. The number of 18-34 year olds who were willing to share their personal information was 56 percent compared with 42 percent for those 35 and older. |
|
Various Uses of SNSs: Different sites serve diverse roles that fit into the various niches to improve Internet accessibility.
Personal networking: For example, Facebook and Twitter have been categorized as “lifestyle” social networking tools, where users actively upload photos, update their interests, and comment on other user’s activities. Similarly, sites such as LinkedIn aim toward working professionals and make searching for jobs and networking with colleagues more convenient.
Corporate and Market Research: Because social networks have such a large pool of users, they have also become a new form of market outreach. Although the largest demographic among SNS users is the college population, companies and other individuals are beginning to submerse themselves in this platform to target. More than 45 percent of the current users on Facebook are 45 years or old or older, and everyone from musical artists, clothing lines, and televisions shows have accounts (Skelton, 2012).
Companies are eager to expand their reach turn to SNSs to gather demographic information and improve marketing tactics. One way that corporations reach out to users is through ad sales. Social media ad spending will reach $11 billion by 2017, according to reports (Stambor, 2013). Ads seen on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, the two sites that dominate more than 70 percent of SNS ad sales, are customized to user preferences.
For examples, if a person has stated liking a particular musical artist on their page, ads that appear in the banners will be related to that artist or other musicians similar to the group. We are heading away from a mass-marketing approach to a niche strategy that utilizes the advances technologies of the Web. Besides boosting ad sales, SNSs are becoming a platform for business-exchange. Recently, Visa was the first company to launch an application directed towards small businesses on Facebook.
Social Networking and Law Enforcement
The use of social networking has begun playing a prominent role in combating terrorism and seen by the recent Boston Bombings event. In this case, thousands of witnesses flooded the Internet and authorities with evidence in the form of pictures and video, taken mostly from cell phones. While police were initially overwhelmed by the large amount of evidence at their disposal they also had to take into account the investigation that was taking place parallel to their own.
This occurred when users of online social networking sites like Facebook and Reddit, began examining evidence that was made available by other users and started making conclusions based on it. This resulted in innocent bystanders being accused of setting off the devices. Theories that began on these sites were sent spinning out into the Web and some news sources began to pick them up and use them, as the falsely accused rushed to defend themselves online.
Activism at home and abroad
Social networking sites also facilitate the mobilization of grass-root movements, especially among the younger generation. One such example is the Darfur cause. The Genocide Intervention Network (GI-Net), a non-profit aiming to promote awareness, advocacy and fundraising for civilians, started out as an on-campus organization that now includes over 300 colleges and 200 high schools in less than two years. GI-Net utilizes platforms such as MySpace, LiveJournal and Facebook to spread information about the organization. In many cases, students themselves were “self-organizing” within these sites, rallying friends on the site to learn more about the cause.
On a more serious level, social networking activity in the Middle East is stirring great controversy within political infrastructure. Nir Boms, Vice President of the Center for Freedom in the Middle East, states “the internet has provided Arab activist groups with a new medium of expression: it quickly has become the preferred domain for many opposition groups that have little or no access to traditional forms of media” (Boms, 2008). For example, SNSs played a significant role in the spread of the Arab Spring and revolts of early 2011. In Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, civil unrest was spread through social media sites and protestors were given a place to organize (Abbas, 2011). In the 2009 Iranian Presidential Election, the SNS Twitter, played an vital role in the organization and information dissemination efforts of the Mousavi supporters. The reformist camps used Twitter to circumvent strict governmental political oversight and rally support.
The effect of social networks in the Middle East since the Arab Spring can still be widely felt even after two years. The governments of some of these countries now use Twitter and Facebook to communicate with citizens. Most famously this could be seen when President Morsi of Egypt issued his policy announcements via Facebook. In other countries such as Iran, political candidate Hooshang Amirahmadi has taken to Reddit, answering questions from all over the world.
Support Groups
In contrast to general SNSs like Facebook, niche-specific sites have been growing in popularity because people are searching for a more private, community-based network that larger sites can no longer provide. It is an “inevitable reaction” to “leave for a smaller, more personal experience,” says senior analyst Deborah Williamson of eMarketer (Holahan, 2007). Of these sites, online support groups are highly sought after.
For example, Patients Like Me is a recently emerging SNS that acts as an online therapy group in which people can search for others with similar experiences or share their own stories to help others cope. Individuals who suffer from HIV/AIDS, depression, and Parkinson’s disease now have a common space to seek advice and learn about new treatment without distance barriers. SoberCircle is another example of an online support group, specifically for those overcoming addictions.
Personal networking: For example, Facebook and Twitter have been categorized as “lifestyle” social networking tools, where users actively upload photos, update their interests, and comment on other user’s activities. Similarly, sites such as LinkedIn aim toward working professionals and make searching for jobs and networking with colleagues more convenient.
Corporate and Market Research: Because social networks have such a large pool of users, they have also become a new form of market outreach. Although the largest demographic among SNS users is the college population, companies and other individuals are beginning to submerse themselves in this platform to target. More than 45 percent of the current users on Facebook are 45 years or old or older, and everyone from musical artists, clothing lines, and televisions shows have accounts (Skelton, 2012).
Companies are eager to expand their reach turn to SNSs to gather demographic information and improve marketing tactics. One way that corporations reach out to users is through ad sales. Social media ad spending will reach $11 billion by 2017, according to reports (Stambor, 2013). Ads seen on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, the two sites that dominate more than 70 percent of SNS ad sales, are customized to user preferences.
For examples, if a person has stated liking a particular musical artist on their page, ads that appear in the banners will be related to that artist or other musicians similar to the group. We are heading away from a mass-marketing approach to a niche strategy that utilizes the advances technologies of the Web. Besides boosting ad sales, SNSs are becoming a platform for business-exchange. Recently, Visa was the first company to launch an application directed towards small businesses on Facebook.
Social Networking and Law Enforcement
The use of social networking has begun playing a prominent role in combating terrorism and seen by the recent Boston Bombings event. In this case, thousands of witnesses flooded the Internet and authorities with evidence in the form of pictures and video, taken mostly from cell phones. While police were initially overwhelmed by the large amount of evidence at their disposal they also had to take into account the investigation that was taking place parallel to their own.
This occurred when users of online social networking sites like Facebook and Reddit, began examining evidence that was made available by other users and started making conclusions based on it. This resulted in innocent bystanders being accused of setting off the devices. Theories that began on these sites were sent spinning out into the Web and some news sources began to pick them up and use them, as the falsely accused rushed to defend themselves online.
Activism at home and abroad
Social networking sites also facilitate the mobilization of grass-root movements, especially among the younger generation. One such example is the Darfur cause. The Genocide Intervention Network (GI-Net), a non-profit aiming to promote awareness, advocacy and fundraising for civilians, started out as an on-campus organization that now includes over 300 colleges and 200 high schools in less than two years. GI-Net utilizes platforms such as MySpace, LiveJournal and Facebook to spread information about the organization. In many cases, students themselves were “self-organizing” within these sites, rallying friends on the site to learn more about the cause.
On a more serious level, social networking activity in the Middle East is stirring great controversy within political infrastructure. Nir Boms, Vice President of the Center for Freedom in the Middle East, states “the internet has provided Arab activist groups with a new medium of expression: it quickly has become the preferred domain for many opposition groups that have little or no access to traditional forms of media” (Boms, 2008). For example, SNSs played a significant role in the spread of the Arab Spring and revolts of early 2011. In Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, civil unrest was spread through social media sites and protestors were given a place to organize (Abbas, 2011). In the 2009 Iranian Presidential Election, the SNS Twitter, played an vital role in the organization and information dissemination efforts of the Mousavi supporters. The reformist camps used Twitter to circumvent strict governmental political oversight and rally support.
The effect of social networks in the Middle East since the Arab Spring can still be widely felt even after two years. The governments of some of these countries now use Twitter and Facebook to communicate with citizens. Most famously this could be seen when President Morsi of Egypt issued his policy announcements via Facebook. In other countries such as Iran, political candidate Hooshang Amirahmadi has taken to Reddit, answering questions from all over the world.
Support Groups
In contrast to general SNSs like Facebook, niche-specific sites have been growing in popularity because people are searching for a more private, community-based network that larger sites can no longer provide. It is an “inevitable reaction” to “leave for a smaller, more personal experience,” says senior analyst Deborah Williamson of eMarketer (Holahan, 2007). Of these sites, online support groups are highly sought after.
For example, Patients Like Me is a recently emerging SNS that acts as an online therapy group in which people can search for others with similar experiences or share their own stories to help others cope. Individuals who suffer from HIV/AIDS, depression, and Parkinson’s disease now have a common space to seek advice and learn about new treatment without distance barriers. SoberCircle is another example of an online support group, specifically for those overcoming addictions.