Untitled Flashcards Set

What Is Social Media? – Some Definitions:

Social media (SM):

• IT for sharing content among networks of users.

• Enables communities of practice.

  • People related by a common interest.

Social media information system (SMIS):

• Sharing content among networks of users

Crowdsourcing (from Wikipedia)

• "Simply defined, crowdsourcing represents the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call."

Roles in Social Media:
Social Media Providers:

• Facebook, YouTube, Linkedin, Twitter (X), Instagram, TikTok, and many others.

• Attracting, targeting demographic groups.

• Popularity constantly changing

Users:

• Individuals and organizations.

Communities:

• Mutual interests

• Transcend familial, geographic, and organizational boundaries.

Companies hire staff to maintain their SM presence, promote their products, build relationships, and manage their image. Depending on how organizations want to use SM, they can be users, providers, or both.

Social Media Communities:

• Community A - first-tier community of users with direct relationship to the site. User 1 belongs to three communities — A, B, and C.  

• Communities B–E - second-tier communities intermediated by a first-tier user.  

• Number of second and higher tier community members grows exponentially.

• Exponential nature of relationships offers sponsoring organizations both a blessing and a curse.

• If social media site wants pure publicity, will need viral hook to relate to as many communities as possible.

Social Media Providers:
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, Instagram, YouTube, Tik Tok:

• Popularity constantly changes

Providers' Functions:

• Develop and operate custom, proprietary, social networking application software.

• Procedures for creating content, managing user responses, removing obsolete or objectionable content, and extracting value from content.

Providers Data Management Focus:

Content data - data and responses to data contributed by users and sponsors.

Connection data - data about relationships.

Special Case: Internal Organizational Social Media:

• Using SharePoint for wikis, discussion board, photo sharing.

• Fine line between social media and collaboration tools.

What do providers do?

• Develop and operate custom, proprietary, social networking application software.

• Content data - data and responses to data contributed by users and SM sponsors.

• Connection data - data about relationships.

• Must have procedures for creating content, managing user responses, removing obsolete or objectionable content, and extracting value from content.

• Social media creates new job titles, new responsibilities, and need for new types of training.

Larger organizations are big enough to create and manage their own internal social media platforms such as wikis, blogs, and discussion boards. Thus, becoming a social media provider.

Communications Mechanisms and Platforms:
Personal/Social 'Posting' (Post and React):

• Photos/videos, comments, opinions, etc.

Blog (Post and React):

• Regularly updated website

• Typically contains opinions or thoughts

RSS (Push from Source):

• "Really Simple Syndication"

• Links to news sources

• Fed by channels, followers, email lists

Wiki (Contribute and Inform):

• Website database managed by its users
  
  

From slite.com:  A wiki is a collaborative site where users can add, edit or remove content.  From fansites to encyclopedias, wikis are one of the most popular ways to read, write, and share information online. As community-driven projects, wikis thrive thanks to grassroots networks of people that run them.

How is Social Media used in Business:

Sales and Marketing - Customers craft their own relationship, able to search content, contribute reviews and commentary, ask questions, create user groups, etc.

Customer Service:

• Relationships emerge from joint activity, customers have as much control as companies.

• Product users freely help each other solve problems.

Manufacturing and Operations:

• Business to Consumer communications

• Crowdsourcing

Human Resources:

• Recruiting

• Knowledge Management

What is Social Capital:

Social capital:

• Social relations with expectation of marketplace returns.

• Number of relationships, strength of relationships, resources controlled.

Strength of Relationships:

• Likelihood of other entity will do something that benefits you or your organization.

Resources:

• Must be relevant - huge network with few resources less valuable than smaller network with substantial resources.

• Feedback - Frequent interactions strengthen relationships.

• Dangers (excessive positive or negative reviews)
  
  
  

Dangers / Risks / Security (Major Problem:  Counterfeits):

Synthetic "Friends":

• Army of bots for company social media inflates follower count.

"Click Farms":

• Form of click fraud.

• Large group of low-paid workers hired to click on paid advertising links for the click fraudster.

Problems from external sources

• Junk and crackpot contributions Inappropriate content Unfavorable reviews

False Identities

Attracts annoying spam accounts.

Earning Money from Social Media:

Transform interactions with customers, employees, and partners into mutually satisfying relationships with them and their communities.

• Advertising

  • Pay-per-click

  • Use increases value 

  • Conversion rate -Frequency someone clicks on ad makes a purchase, “likes” a site, or takes some other action desired by advertiser.

• Freemium

  • Offers users a basic service for free, and then charges a premium for upgrades or advanced features.

• Influence / Following (Blogs and Posts)

  • Focus on returning visitors

  • Free ‘stuff’ and cash for promoting goods and services. ($$ for followers)

  • Affiliate commissions, sponsored content, etc.

Steps to maintain a successful and profitable blog:

• Acquire and maintain population of returning visitors

• Keep in contact

  • Keep content interesting so first-timers will come back

  • Build email list or track visitors and followers

• Monetize by showing ads, promoting goods in blogs

Fake Famous:

• What does ‘Famous’ Mean?

• Influencer – Someone who has influence over others’ thoughts and decisions:

  • Buying Decisions

  • Political – Past, Active, Future Campaigns

• Are Followers Real?

  • Bots and Fake Followers are Easily For Sale

  • Sponsors typically pay ‘per 1000 followers’

  • Artificial Intelligence – Creating, Detecting

• Virtual Settings – Is the Glamour Real?

  • Photo shoots

  • Travel Destinations

Social Media INSIDE the Business:

Changing communication channels:

• Employees can bypass managers and post ideas directly for CEO to read.

• Quickly identify internal experts to solve unforeseen problems.

Develop and publicize social media policy:

• Delineate employees' rights and responsibilities.

• Inappropriate use and/or content

• Index to 100 different policies at Social Media Today.

Manage Corporate Risk:

• Threats to information security, increased organizational liability, decreased employee productivity

• Seemingly innocuous comments inadvertently leak information used to secure access to organizational

• resources.

• Mutinous movements

• Prior to 1980, communication in the United States was restricted to a few communication channels, or means of delivering messages. There were three major national TV networks and no more than a half-dozen major national newspapers.

• Communication within organizations was similarly restricted. Employees could communicate with their immediate supervisor and coworkers in their vicinity. It was difficult for employees of large corporations to get private meetings with the CEO or to communicate with their counterparts in other countries. If an employee had a good idea, it was passed up through his or her boss to senior management. As a result, it was common for bosses to claim subordinates’ ideas as their own.

• Organizations and executives no longer plan and control organizational messaging. Such messaging emerges via a dynamic, SM-based process. 

Social Media and YOU:

You can become a victim by transmitting personal information using an Internet connection.

Digital is Forever! - Impossible to Delete

Companies analyze everything you digitally say or do.

Big Data = Big Money:

• Personal data illegally accessed by criminals and sold on black market to other nefarious characters; or

• Legally accessed by companies and sold to other companies.

Steps to remove or mask digital footprints:
Clearing cookies, Encrypting email, Avoid using real name