Social Media

Module 5: Social Media

• Module 5 is about social media
• It contains 5 sections
• Section A: Social Networking
• Section B: Content Communities
• Section C: Blogs and More
• Section D: Online Communication
• Section E: Social Media Values

Module Objectives

• Create effective social media profiles to reflect identity and uniqueness
• Use social networking tools to convey a personal “brand”
• Enable or disable location services for geosocial networking
• Interpret a sociogram or adjacency matrix to evaluate connections in a social network
• Use social media services tools to discover if you've been tagged in photos or videos
• Assign a Creative Commons license to original work before posting it
• Evaluate whether use of copyrighted media would be considered fair use, a derivative use, or a transformative use
• Identify and use basic blogging tools to create blogs and interact with bloggers
• Evaluate a blog to determine the accuracy and reliability of information
• Use Twitter to tweet, retweet, and read messages using @ mentions and # hashtags
• Use tabs on Wikipedia articles to access Talk pages, edits, and revision history
• Use Wikipedia information appropriately in an academic setting
• Set up forwarding between Webmail and local mail accounts
• Use online chat, VoIP services, and mobile communication apps
• Manage online reputation to ensure it is not affected by impersonators, identity thieves, or cyberbullies
• Monitor third-party social media apps to limit the amount of social data that is gathered by off-site entities

Section A: Social Networking

• Section A is about Social Networking
• It covers The Social Media Mix, Social Networking Evolution, Social Networking Basics, Geosocial Networking, and Social Network Analytics

Section A: Objectives

• Use the Social Media Honeycomb to differentiate among various social media
• Provide at least two examples of social networking, geosocial networking, content communities, and online communication
• Trace the history of social networking services
• List the three elements of a social media profile
• Provide three examples of crowdsourcing
• Describe four technologies that can be used to locate mobile and stationary devices
• Interpret the analytics displayed by a sociogram
• Explain how Six Degrees of Separation applies to social networking
• Provide examples of the inferences that might be drawn from an adjacency matrix

The Social Media Mix

• Social media facilitates communication and interaction among people who want to share information about their lives, issues, and events using a multimedia mix of text, pictures, video, and audio
• The Social Honeycomb is a visual model for classifying and comparing social media services
• Each hexagon in the honeycomb represents a social media building block
• Social media is categorized into four groups: Social Networking; Geosocial Networking; Content Communities; and Online Communication
• Social Networking is good for creating an online presence and connecting with friends and family. Examples are: Facebook; Classmates.com; LinkedIn; Twitter; Tumblr; and Nextdoor
• Geosocial Networking is good for locating places, people, and events. Examples are: Yelp; Foursquare Swarm; Nearby; Zillow; Google Maps; OpenTable; and Meetup
• Content Communities are good for sharing user-generated media and topical information, ratings, and spreading a message. Examples are: YouTube; Flickr; Pinterest; Instagram; Wikipedia; Reddit; Blogger; WordPress; and Tik Tok
• Online Communication is good for one-to-one, real-time communication and asynchronous messaging. Examples are: Email; Snapchat; Skype; Chat; WhatsApp; and Zoom

Social Networking Evolution

• A social networking service revolves around personal profiles and interconnections among subscribers who want to share information about themselves
• Social Networking traces back to online services, such as CompuServe, Prodigy, and America Online (AOL), which were not part of the Internet
• CompuServe began in 1969
• Prodigy internet began in 1984
• America Online began in 1985
• Classmates began in1995
• Friendster began in 2002
• MySpace and LinkedIn began in 2003
• Facebook appeared in 2004
• Google+ appeared in 2011 but shut down in 2019
• Facebook remains the most popular social networking service

Social Networking Basics

• A person's presence on a social media service is an online identity
• Each online identity is encapsulated in a profile
• A social media profile is the set of information provided to friends, contacts, and the public
• Social networking sites focus on identity and relationships

Geosocial Networking

• Geosocial networking provides a platform for users to carry out interactions based on their current locations
• Popular geosocial services include: Yelp, Foursquare Swarm, and Google Maps
• Social discovery uses geolocation to meet with people who are nearby and have similar interests
• Crowdsourcing is when individuals contribute computer time, expertise, opinions, or money to a defined project
• Examples of crowdsourcing are customer reviews by Yelp, Amazon, Zappos, and other online merchants
• There are four ways that the location of a device can be determined: GPS trilateration; Cell tower triangulation; Hotspot triangulation; and IP address lookup
• GPS trilateration locates smartphones and other devices containing GPS chips and is accurate to within a 16-foot radius
• Cell tower triangulation relies on cellular telephone companies monitoring the position of mobile phones relative to nearby cell towers. It is accurate to an area of about three-quarters of a mile
• Hotspot triangulation gauges the location of a Wi-Fi router based on its signal strength relative to nearby routers and assumes computers connected to it are operating within about 50 feet
• IP addresses can provide a rough estimate of a device's location, which can determine the country with 99% accuracy but only 50% accuracy to pinpoint a precise location
• Information about what's nearby requires places and landmarks to be tagged with their location
• Geotagging and geocoding provide the necessary geographical information
• Geocoding is determining the coordinates of a specific place, such as the street address or the longitude and latitude of a location
• Geotagging is adding location data to photos, Web sites, HTML documents, audio files, blog posts, and text messages

Social Network Analytics

• Sociologists use social network diagrams called sociograms to depict connections between people
•  The circles in these diagrams are referred to as sociogram nodes
•  The lines connecting nodes are referred to as sociogram edges
•  Two-way edges exist when two people consider each other to be friends
•  One-way edges exist when a relationship is not reciprocal, such as a Twitter follower who does not follow back
• A binary adjacency matrix is cells containing a 0 if there is no connection between two people and a 1 if there is a connection
• One odd phenomenon that was discovered is called the class size paradox becasue it is related to the reason students feel that they are always in larger than average classes
• The explanation is that people tend to choose popular classes and friends
• A study of Facebook friend facts in 2011 found that 10% of users had less than 10 friends, 20% of users had less than 25 friends, and 50% of users had 100+ friends

Section B: Content Communities

• Section B is about content communities
• It covers evolution, media content communities, intellectual property, and creative commons

Section B: Objectives

• Use the Social Media Honeycomb to identify the primary characteristics of content communities
• Draw a timeline of the emergence of content communities, including significant dates
• Explain the concept of viral media
• Explain where content is stored and how that may affect privacy
• Describe the financial model for most content communities and how that model may affect the future of these communities
• State the difference between formal tagging and informal tagging
• List four types of intellectual property
• Identify which types of intellectual property are typically encountered in content communities
• List the six rights that are exclusively exercised by copyright holders
• List the five rights that can be granted under a Creative Commons license
• List the four factors that characterize fair use
• State the difference between a derivative work and a transformative work

Evolution

• Social media sites such as Wikipedia, YouTube, and Flickr were designed as repositories for user-generated content
• These social media sites are sometimes called content communities
• Content communities may focus on text-based information, or their focus may be on other media such as photos, music, or video
• Bulletin board systems (BBSs) of the 1970s contained user-generated content
• BBSs could be considered forerunners of today's content communities and social networks
• In 2001, Wikipedia was launched
• It was a text-based collaborative and a community of contributors quickly formed around it
• Video content communities launched with the founding of YouTube in 2005
• The first instance of an online video going viral occurred in 2005

Media Content Communities

• Media content communities are so popular that most people with an Internet connection have logged in to take a look at videos from YouTube and images from Flickr
• Most media content communities require registration before media files are uploaded, even id they allow open access
• Content communities offer basic tools for uploading media files from a computer and many offer apps that can handle uploads from mobile devices
• A metadata tag is a keyword that describes information, such as the content of a media element
• Formal tagging methods add information to a tag according to a set of tagging standards

Intellectual Property

• All of the creations that materialize from the mind or intellect are intellectual property
• Owners of intellectual property can be inventors, artists, writers, and other creative individuals
• The four categories of intellectual property are patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets
• A trademark is any word, name, symbol, or design used in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods of one company from those of another
• Copyright is a legal protection that grants the author of an original work an exclusive right to copy, distribute, sell, and modify that work
• Public domain refers to works with expired copyrights and/or creators having forfeited their copyrights
• The works of Shakespeare are in the public domain

Creative Commons

• A Creative Commons license is based on five rights that copyright holders can grant or deny: attribution; share alike; no derivatives; public domain; and noncommercial
• When the work is used, the copyright holder must be given credit for the work
• New works based on the original must be distributed under the same license as the original work
• The work must not be changed when it is redistributed or shared
• All rights are granted for reuse or the work has been placed in the public domain
• The work may not be used for commercial purposes
• Copyleft is designed to make a work freely available for distribution and modification under the condition that all derivative works use the same license
• Fair use allows for the limited use of copyrighted material without obtaining permission from the copyright holder
• Four factors that characterize fair use in United States copyright regulations: purpose and character; nature; amount used; and effect on value
• A derivative work modifies a copyrighted work but does not substantially change its content or purpose. Translations and adaptations are examples
• A transformative work repackages a copyrighted work to add new meaning or produce a work that is used for a purpose different from the original work. Parodies are considered transformative works

Section C: Blogs and More

• Section C is about Blogs and More
• It covers Blogs, Microblogs, and Wikis

Section C: Objectives

• Identify the major elements of a blog page
• List examples of at least two blogging platforms
• Discuss why blogs could be considered a disruptive technology
• List five questions that help to evaluate the quality of information presented in a blog
• Give examples of six ways in which Twitter has expanded its focus to go beyond personal status updates
• Identify the major elements of a Twitter page
• Describe the characteristics of a wiki
• Explain how Wikipedia articles are written and edited
• Explain the meaning of NPOV, NOR, and V in the context of Wikipedia
• Identify the elements of a Wikipedia article
• Identify the purpose of each Wikipedia tab

Blogs

• A blog (short for Web log) is a sequence of informational articles posted in reverse chronological order and displayed on a scrollable Web page
• Blogs are generally maintained by people, companies, or organizations
• Popular blogging platforms are Blogger, WordPress, Wix, and Medium
• A blogging platform provides tools for creating blogs
• A content aggregator sets up a "feed" that monitors favorite blogs, collects the latest posts, and displays them
• The blogosphere–all the blogs and their interconnections–is influential
• Blogs and other Internet-based news outlets have the potential to reach mass audiences
• Professional journalists and the media companies they represent are guided by a code of ethics that encourages seeking truth, reporting it, minimizing harm, resisting outside influences, and maintaining accountability
• Bloggers may not have journalistic training or the supervision of responsible corporations so may have a less rigorous approach to accuracy and accountability
• Information provided by blogs are generally less reliable than mainstream media, but many reliable and professional blogs exist

Microblogs

• Twitter is an example of a microblogging service, which was modeled as a Web-based version of the text messaging services offered on mobile phones
• A microblogging service publishes short blog posts
• Twitter has a vocabulary all its own, and some of its terminology has spilled over to other social media
• A tweet is a message consisting of 280 or fewer characters of text plus optional photos/videos

Wikis

• A wiki is a collaborative Web application that provides tools that enable contributors to post, read, and modify content
• Participants are encouraged to register with the Wikipedia community and become "Wikipedians"

Section D: Online Communication

• Section D is about online communication
• It covers communication matrix, email, online chat, and voice and video over IP

Section D: Objectives

• Classify communications technologies as synchronous, asynchronous, public, or private
• Interpret the information in an email header
• List the pros and cons of Webmail and local mail
• Explain how the term store-and-forward relates to email
• Differentiate between IMAP and POP
• List four steps that help to reduce the security risk of accessing email on a public computer
• Explain the circumstances under which a person might want to forward email between a Webmail account and a local account
• Describe the evolution of online chat
• Name four services that use VoIP technologies
• List some of the security and privacy problems associated with videoconferencing systems

Communication Matrix

• The Internet offers many tools for communication
• The public asynchronous forms include Blogs Microblogs (Twitter) Forums and discussion groups Public social media posts
• The private asynchronous forms include Email Text messaging service (SMS) Multimedia messaging service (MMS) Private social media posts
• The public synchronous forms include Chat rooms Live streaming video
• The private synchronous forms include Voice over IP (Skype) Videoconferencing (Zoom) Instant messaging (ICQ, AIM)
• Synchronous communication interchanges happen in real-time while all parties are online
• Synchronous communication has the advantage of immediacy
• Asynchronous communication messages are held until the recipient is ready to view them
• Asynchronous communication offers convenience because information can be gathered whenever you want it
• Public communications can be accessed by individuals unknown to the person who created a message
• The word posting is associated with this type of communication because it is similar to posting a billboard, sign, or poster
• Private communications are communications for which specified recipients are selected
• Text messaging is a popular type of private communication

Email

• Email can refer to a single message or to the entire system of computers and software that transmits, receives, and stores email messages
• An email message is an electronic document
• The computers and software providing email services form an email system
• At the heart of a typical email system is an email server
• The email server is a computer that acts as a central post office for a group of people
• Email messages have a standard format comprised of a message header and the message body
• The message header includes the sender and recipient addresses, date, and subject line
• Webmail is typically a free service that is accessed using a browser
• The pros of webmail include: affordable; access from any device; access anywhere
• Cons of webmail include: security risks; advertising
• Local email, stores the incoming messages on an Internet-based email server until the email client launches and gets the mail
• Techniques are referred to as store-and-forward
• The POP3 and IMAP protocols are used to manage incoming mail
• SMTP handles outgoing mail

Online Chat

• Online chat services are used when you want to establish two-way communication
• Instant messaging (IM) is a synchronous, real-time technology that allows two or more people to type messages back and forth while online
• Online services such as Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and Excite developed IM systems as the internet grew
• Consumer preferences have shifted to audio and video communications platforms, but IM is still quite popular for customer service at e-commerce sites

Voice and Video over IP

• VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a technology that uses a broadband Internet connection instead of telephone landlines to place voice and video calls
• VoIPs work when software converts voice communications and video images into data packets using digitizing techniques

Section E: Social Media Values

• Section E covers social media values, identity, repuation, and privacy

Section E: Objectives

• List the elements that constitute an online identity
• Describe four ways in which sockpuppets are used for purposes of deception
• List three situations in which the use of an online pseudonym is justified if allowed by the social media service
• Explain why using a generic profile image should be avoided
• Differentiate between an online identity and an online reputation
• List five factors that can ruin an online reputation
• List four techniques for dealing with cyberbullies
• State the difference between an impersonator and a doppelganger
• List at least five reputation management practices
• Explain how an online presence can become a threat to an individual's privacy
• Define each of the six types of social media data
• List four potential problems with third-party social media apps

Identity

-An online identity consists of far more than a photo and a brief autobiographical sketch

• The elements that constitute a social identity are: includes a biographical profile, the set of people who form connections, and the information supplied as posts
• Sockpuppets are any online identity created and used for purposes of deception
• The deceptive purposes could include: circumvent a suspension or ban from an online group; for surreptitious self-promotion; for criminal identity theft; and to stuff online ballot boxes
• Most social media sites provide a generic profile image for users who do not upload a personal photo, a sign of a newcomer
• Most social media profiles include a short, publicly viewable tagline
• Detailed biographical information is generally viewable only by designated connections, depending on the user's privacy settings
• It is important to consider what you're showing in a profile picture

Reputation

• An onlinereputation is the impression that is generated by an online persona
• One may affect this due to mistakes made with posting comments, photos, etc
• Defamation communicating false statements that damage the reputation of another individual is referred to as defamation
• Those may happen in the form of impersonation with someone using the named avator or the presence of doppel bangers.
• Online image, media and even social contacts all play a heavy role in ones reputation

Privacy

• Privacy is the "right to be let alone"

• Individuals can control personally identifiable information (PII) to limit when they can be identified, tracked, or contacted

• Most social media services have written privacy policy that states how the data is handled, including how it is accessed and how long it is stored

• Key steps is maintaining online privacy include awareness of the different types of data collected by social media services and the level of privacy appropriate for each type:

• Service data

• The data you give to a social media service when registering to use it. Such data might include your legal name, your age, and your credit card number.

• Disclosed data

• Information that you post on your own pages. Such information can include blog entries, photos, messages, and comments.

• Entrusted data

• Information that you post on other people's pages. This information includes the same items as disclosed data, but you don't have control over the data once you post it.

• Incidental data

• Information that other people post about you. As with entrusted data, you do not have control over it.

• Behavioral data

• Data about you that is collected by the social media service based on your habits, site usage, post contents, and connections

• Derived data

• Data about you that is derived from all the other data. For example, if lots of your friends self-identify as gay, your derived data might profile you as gay, too.

• Data "gone rogue" escapes its appropriate privacy setting and somehow goes public. Examples of this could include:

• A user changes his or her global privacy setting to Public

• Posted information is reposted publicly