Social Media Communication Theories and Algorithms

Communication Theories and Social Media: An Overview

I. Core Definitions & Concepts Review

Theory: A premise or proposed explanation for natural phenomena that is put out there to be tested. It is not merely an idea but a testable proposition.
Research Assumption: An initial question or statement that may later evolve into a formal hypothesis.
Hypothesis: An educated guess, often formulated after observing a trend or phenomenon (e.g., a thought on why people aren't attending high school football games, which then needs testing).
Quantitative Research: Focuses on numerical data and statistics. It aims to quantify problems by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into usable statistics (e.g., "how many million people watched my video").
Qualitative Research: Subjective and descriptive. It seeks to understand the "why" and "how" behind phenomena, exploring underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations.
Basic Research: Conducted to expand knowledge and theoretical understanding of a subject, often without immediate practical application.
Applied Research: (Implicitly, from context) Research designed to solve practical problems or develop innovative technologies, materials, or methods. (The instructor noted students struggled with this definition in the review).
Mass Media: Communication platforms that facilitate the exchange of information, meaning, and content between individuals and large groups. Social media platforms fall under mass media due to their ability to reach large audiences.
Behavioral Science: A field of study that examines the effects of mass media and communication on society. Its purpose is to understand the societal impact and reactions triggered by various forms of mediated communication (e.g., public outrage over a celebrity's statement or a speaker's thoughts).

II. The Evolution of Communication

Early Forms of Communication:
- Divine Communication: The earliest form, as posited, where God "spoke" creation into existence, demonstrating communication's fundamental role.
- Ice Ages (Approx. $40,000$ to $14,000$ BC): Earliest recorded human communications through cave paintings.
- Ancient & Medieval: Illustrated manuscripts, handwritten scribes, maps, and illustrators were all forms of early communication.
- Scribes: A significant role in ancient societies, especially mentioned in the Old Testament, where scribes copied laws. This role evolved, with scribes eventually becoming experts in law, akin to modern lawyers.
The Gutenberg Revolution (circa $1440$ ):
- Johannes Gutenberg's Contributions:
  - Invented movable type.
  - United the masses: Enabled the dissemination of information more quickly and broadly, profoundly changing how society shared knowledge.
  - Educated the poor: Made knowledge accessible beyond the elite.
  - First Printed Work: The Gutenberg Bible.
- Impact: Communication became monumental, serving as a cornerstone for societal growth, shared thoughts, and collective societal improvement.
The Age of Social Media (e.g., TikTok):
- Profound Societal Shift: Social media drastically altered communication patterns.
- Attention Span Deterioration: Led to a significant reduction in human attention spans, with communication often distilled into $3$ to $7$ second segments.
- "Death Scroll" / "Doom Scroll": Describes the addictive and often mindless consumption of short-form content.
- Shift from Verbal to Textual: A marked decline in phone calls ("ring-ring") in favor of texting and direct messaging (DMing).
- Speakerphone Etiquette: A practical example of changed communication habits, where people often use speakerphone in public instead of holding the phone to their ear.

III. Communication Theories Applied to Social Media

Since the $1970$ s, mass communication research has largely focused on media's effects on audiences and social influences. Key theories include:

A. Agenda Setting Theory
- Core Principle: Mass media plays a crucial role in determining which issues are considered important by the public, rather than merely reflecting public opinion.
- Function: Through repeated news coverage, media can elevate the perceived importance of an issue in the public's mind.
- Social Media's Influence: Social media has democratized agenda setting; anyone can post an opinion or share content that can potentially influence what becomes a public concern.
- Real-World Example: The widespread coverage of specific events or statements (e.g., Jimmy Kimmel's comments or Charlie Kirk's campus tours) by various news outlets and social media users, regardless of individual interest, effectively makes these issues "important" through sheer volume of discussion.
- Underlying Motivations: Media outlets (e.g., Fox News, CNN) often cover controversial topics to attract views, which translate into ad dollars and revenue.
  - Example: Tucker Carlson, before his departure from Fox News, earned approximately $20,000,000$ annually due to his show's high ratings and the millions of dollars in revenue it generated for the network.
  - Current Trends: Some networks, like CNN, intentionally feature controversial figures (e.g., Republicans) to increase ratings, especially when their viewership is low compared to competitors (Fox News is currently "twice as big" as other news stations, largely due to demographics like "grandma's watching").
- Methodology: Studies often employ quantitative content analysis to compare the media agenda with public opinion polls, using statistics and numbers (e.g., viewership figures, "how many million people watched").
  - Example: The significant spike in Charlie Kirk's channel views after his passing, indicating a public desire for more information and engagement.
B. Cultivation Analysis
- (Mentioned as one of the three, but not detailed in this transcript segment).
C. Uses and Gratification Theory
- (Mentioned as one of the three, but not detailed in this transcript segment).

IV. Social Media Mechanics: Trending and Algorithms

A. Understanding "Trending"
- Definition: A highly popular term on social media platforms, indicating content that is gaining significant traction and visibility.
- How it's Determined: Primarily driven by algorithms, which tailor trends based on an individual user's follows, interests, and location.
- Algorithm Oversight: While algorithms are designed by human engineers, there is no direct human oversight of trending sections globally due to the immense scale of content and regions.
- Demographic & Psychographic Influence: Trends vary significantly based on different geographic locations, demographics (age, beliefs), and psychographics (hobbies, interests). This is why understanding these audience characteristics is crucial.
- Trending Factors (YouTube Example):
  - Appeal to a wide range of viewers.
  - Authenticity: Not misleading, clickbaity, or sensational.
  - Relevance: Captures significant events or widely discussed topics.
  - Diversity: Showcases a variety of creators.
  - Novelty: Ideally surprising or unique content.
  - Key Algorithm Signals:
    - View Count: The total number of times a video is watched.
    - View Velocity: How quickly a video accumulates views (a rapid "spike" can trigger trending).
    - View Source: Where views originate from, including external platforms.
    - Video Age: Newer content often has an advantage.
    - Performance Comparison: How the video performs relative to other content.
- Strategy: To achieve trending status, content doesn't necessarily need millions of views, but rather needs to generate views quickly and demonstrate a significant spike, appealing to the right niche and length.
B. The Algorithm
- Nature: An algorithm is essentially software – a complex set of computer code written by engineers. It operates on "if this, then that" logical rules.
- Strategic Use: Understanding algorithms allows users to manipulate them to their benefit, enhancing content reach and engagement.
- How Social Media Algorithms Work (General Model):
  1. Initial Distribution: When content is first published, it is shown to approximately $20\%$ of the creator's followers and a segment of non-followers whose interests align with the content.
  2. Performance Measurement: The algorithm then measures two critical metrics:
    - Watch Time: How long users spend viewing the content.
    - Engagement: Actions such as shares, saves, comments, and likes.
  3. Boost Mechanism:
    - If high watch time: The content is pushed to more users with similar interests.
    - If low watch time: The content receives no further boost.
    - If high engagement: The content is pushed to an even wider audience, leading to increased reach.
- Creator Practices: This mechanism explains why creators frequently ask viewers to "like and subscribe" or "share this video" – these actions serve as "currency" to boost the algorithm. It is an automated process, not individual human selection.
- Analogy (Facebook VP Adam Mosseri): Likened to ordering dinner for a spouse.
  - Inventory: Scanning all available content from friends, groups, and pages (potentially thousands of posts).
  - Signals: Considering contextual information (e.g., time of day, user's preferences, content type).
  - Predictions: Estimating what the user would find most valuable or engaging.
  - Score/Order: Ranking content based on predictions, then displaying it in a personalized feed.
- Key Characteristics of Social Media Algorithms:
  - Personalization: Each user has a unique algorithm, resulting in no two identical social media feeds. This level of personalization is only possible through automation due to the vast scale of content (e.g., Facebook with $2$ billion users and $4,750,000,000$ items posted daily).
  - Connecting Interests: Algorithms attempt to connect users with relevant content by analyzing their previous interactions and inferred interests (e.g., connecting communication majors to communication department channels if they follow related content like video production, graphic design, or sports commentators).

V. Influencer Marketing

Mechanism: Brands partner with individuals (influencers) to promote products or services.
Compensation: Influencers may receive:
- Monetary Payment: Substantial financial deals for major influencers.
- In-Kind Gifts: Free products, trips, or experiences (e.g., a free trip to Dallas to post about a product, or a hotel stay for a store event).
Tax Implications: Any gifts or benefits received by influencers are generally taxable income and must be reported.
Contractual Obligations: Influencers typically sign lengthy contracts outlining:
- Specific deliverables (e.g., three TikTok posts, three Instagram posts).
- Desired messaging (often provided via "press releases").
- Required hashtags.
- Whether content is for the influencer's channel or the brand's channel.
Creative Freedom: While guidelines are provided, influencers may sometimes have room for their personal opinions, although the primary goal is promotion.