For the Fall 2012, Dr. Nick Bowman of West Virginia University's Department of Communication Studies details the theoretical foundations of social and new media for our Corporate and Organizational M.A. students in Clarksburg, WV. More information about the Corporate M.A. can be found at: http://comm.wvu.edu/grad/corp-ma.

1. What is Social Media?
COM693K “Social Media in the Workplace”
Fall 2012, West Virginia University
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 1

2. Overview
Today Tomorrow
• Introductions (?) • (some more) social media
• Syllabus platforms
• What is technology? • Web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0?
• What is social media? • Strength of Weak Ties
• (some) popular social media • Who is Media Today?
platforms • Medium is the Message
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3. Introductions
• Let’s get beyond A/S/L
– Hometown
– Major
– Corporation
– Pet peeve
– Something cool?
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4. Syllabus
• All readings on eCampus; required
• COM693K social media presence
– Facebook
– #WVUCom335
– We’re not tracking you (much)
– YOU = online, at least until the end of November
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5. Syllabus
• Grading
– 5% Introduction (due before today)
– 10% Theory to Praxis Connection (4 September)
– 25% Case Study (8 September)
– 10% Discussion of Case Study (eCampus)
– 50% “Best Practices Document” (30 November)
• Grades issued are A, B, and F.
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6. 8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 6

7. Syllabus
• Course calendar
• Some don’ts
– Cheating
– Being ethno- or ego-centric
– Being a techno-Luddite
– Skipping class (physically or semantically)
– Phoning it in
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 7

8. COM693K “Social Media in the Workplace”
WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY?
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9. Ages of Communication
• As our communication patterns changed, so did our
society (technological determinism)
– Signs and signals allowed us to communication our internal
monologue to others
– Speech and language allowed us to communicate ‘in action’
– Writing allowed us to document our thoughts without
memorization
– Printing allowed written word to spread throughout society
– Mass communication made variables such as time and space
irrelevant
– Digital networking allowed communication from many to many
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 9

10. The invention of the
printing press led to:
• Spread of ‘everyday’
Technological languages (i.e., not Latin)
Determinism:
• Religious upheaval (i.e.,
A belief that technology Martin Luther)
shapes and drives
• Speed of publication
historical change,
including changes in • Exploration and westward
various social, expansion
economic, and cultural
forces.
• (interest in) scholarship and
knowledge
• Newspapers and news
8/23/2012 (c) N.D. Bowman, 2009 10

11. Ages of Communication
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12. Law of Accelerating Returns
• Technological change is exponential
– “S” curve growth
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13. Law of Accelerating Returns
• Technological change is exponential
– Technology builds on itself
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14. Law of Accelerating Returns
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15. Law of Accelerating Returns
• (erroneous) Short-term estimates
• (erroneous) Long-term estimates
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16. Natural-Born Cyborgs
• First, what is a cyborg?
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17. Natural-Born Cyborgs
A. Technology is what makes us human
*FF to 5:15
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18. Natural-Born Cyborgs
“Yet, new technologies…just realize our ancient
propensity to connect to other humans, albeit with
electrons flowing through cyberspace rather than
conversation drifting through air…Even astonishing
advances in communication technology like the
printing press, the telephone, and the Internet do
not take us away from this past; they draw us closer
to it.”
Christakis & Fowler, 2009, pp. 257
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 18

19. Natural-Born Cyborgs
B. Our brains are wired to be “cyborgs”
– Plasticity
– Extended minds
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20. Natural-Born Cyborgs
C. Transparent vs. Opaque technologies
– FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Is the Internet
transparent or opaque?
D. Meta-Knowledge vs. Baseline Knowledge
E. Complementarity between brain and tool
– Scaffolding the brain with tools
• What are brains good at?
• What are tools good at?
• What are you doing right now?
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21. Natural-Born Cyborgs
F. We are our tools (for better and for worse)
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22. Natural-Born Cyborgs
“There was a battle going on with peace
protesters, who were trying to break into their
machines. But it was not machines that were
evil, he said, but the minds of the top brass
behind them. A machine could do no more
evil than a violin, or a camera, or a pencil.”
~Colum McCann
Let the Great World Spin
(pp. 101-102)
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23. 8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 23

24. COM693K “Social Media in the Workplace”
WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?
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25. Social Media
• Part of the Knowledge Economy
– Today’s cash is information, not production
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26. Social Media
• Insanely popular
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27. Social Media
• Kaplan & Haenlein (2010)
– a group of Internet-based applications that build
on the ideological and technological foundations
of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and
exchange of user-generated content."
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 27

28. What is Social Media, again?
• “a group of Internet-based applications…
• ….that build on the ideological and technological
foundations of Web 2.0…
• …and that allow the creation and exchange of user-
generated content."
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 28

29. Technology as the base
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 29

30. What is Social Media, again?
• “a group of Internet-based applications…
• ….that build on the ideological and technological
foundations of Web 2.0…
• …and that allow the creation and exchange of user-
generated content."
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 30

31. O’Reilly (2005)
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32. O’Reilly (2005)
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33. O’Reilly (2005)
• Core competencies of Web 2.0
– Services, not software
– Control of data that get better with If Web1.0 is
use Read and
– Trusting users as co-developers Retrieve,
– Harnessing collective intelligence Web2.0 is
– “Using the long tail” Create and
Collaborate
– Non-device specific software
– Lightweight interfaces, rich user
experiences
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 33

34. What is Social Media, again?
• “a group of Internet-based applications…
• ….that build on the ideological and technological
foundations of Web 2.0…
• …and that allow the creation and exchange of user-
generated content."
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 34

35. Keitzmann et al (2011)
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36. Keitzmann et al (2011)
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37. Keitzmann et al (2011)
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38. 8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 38

39. COM693K: “Social Media in the Workplace”
FACEBOOK
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40. How does Facebook stay valued?
• Advertising
– $2B in 2010, up from $52M in 2006
– Very low click-through rates (almost 1/5 your
average Web ad via Google)…so how do they
make up for this?
• Brand and product pages
– No cost!
– Decent ROI, particularly for small accounts
• Not so much money, but fans = followers = visits to
primary Web = ?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 40

41. Other types of capital via Facebook?
• Social capital is considered the currency of
social media
– Resources accumulated through relationships
among people, in terms of bridging , bonding,
maintaining
• (No surprise) Facebook usage is used to
increase all three forms
• Can we turn this into liquid capital?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 41

42. Facebook IPO = What Happened?
• Facebook was offered to
the public at $38 per share,
currently worth ~$20.
What?!?
• Perfect storm of:
– Market glitch – NASDAQ
screwed up the trading
system
– Shaky initial valuation –
Facebook has never had a
stable business model
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 42

43. COM693K: “Social Media in the Workplace”
TWITTER
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44. Who says what to whom?
• Classic definition of media:
– Who says what to whom through what channel (with
what effect)
• 50% of tweets come from .05% of users, but not
directly (theory?)
• 85% of tweets seem to be headline-related (are
we media?)
• These .05% tend to follow and share with each
other (problem?)
• Messages tend to RT 1000x regardless of one’s
number of followers (implications?)
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 44

45. How does Twitter stay valued?
• No ads, so how do they do it?
– Venture capitalists; current dominant model
– Promoted Tweets (brands basically insert
themselves into an ongoing conversation)
• Topically, not chronologically
– Promoted posts within a users Twitter stream
(even when we don’t ask for them)
– “…the promoted posts … exist in the organic
Twitter stream.”
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 45

46. Troubles at Twitter
• Problems?
– Twitter tag is to “Instantly connect people
everywhere to what's most meaningful to
them”…who defines meaningful?
– (similar to Facebook) a shaky business model with
little senior oversight; similar to “Dot Com Busts”
of the 19902
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 46

47. COM693K: “Social Media in the Workplace”
GOOGLE+
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 47

48. What is Google+
• A “social layer” of Google users, attached to
the larger Google platform suite
• Increased user control of data and privacy, less
commercial interest
– Selective sharing
• Currently around 125M users, initial users
were invitation-only
– Skews male and tech-oriented
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49. boyd & Real Names
• “I am a high school teacher, privacy is of the utmost importance.”
• “I have used this name/account in a work context, my entire family know this name and my friends know this
name. It enables me to participate online without being subject to harassment that at one point in time lead to
my employer having to change their number so that calls could get through.”
• “I do not feel safe using my real name online as I have had people track me down from my online presence and
had coworkers invade my private life.”
• “I’ve been stalked. I’m a rape survivor. I am a government employee that is prohibited from using my IRL.”
• “As a former victim of stalking that impacted my family I’ve used *my nickname+ online for about 7 years.”
• “*this name+ is a pseudonym I use to protect myself. My web site can be rather controversial and it has been used
against me once.”
• “I started using *this name+ to have at least a little layer of anonymity between me and people who act
inappropriately/criminally. I think the “real names” policy hurts women in particular.
• “I enjoy being part of a global and open conversation, but I don’t wish for my opinions to offend conservative and
religious people I know or am related to. Also I don’t want my husband’s Govt career impacted by his opinionated
wife, or for his staff to feel in any way uncomfortable because of my views.”
• “I have privacy concerns for being stalked in the past. I’m not going to change my name for a google+ page. The
price I might pay isn’t worth it.”
• “We get death threats at the blog, so while I’m not all that concerned with, you know, sane people finding me. I
just don’t overly share information and use a pen name.”
• “This identity was used to protect my real identity as I am gay and my family live in a small village where if it were
openly known that their son was gay they would have problems.”
• “I go by pseudonym for safety reasons. Being female, I am wary of internet harassment.”
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 49

50. boyd & Real Names
• Some networks have begun to enforce a “real
names” policy
• “What’s funny to me is that people also don’t
seem to understand the history of Facebook’s
‘real names’ culture. When early adopters (first
the elite college students…) embraced Facebook,
it was a trusted community. They gave the name
that they used in the context of college or high
school or the corporation that they were a part
of.” (boyd, 2011, para. 6)
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51. Google+, not so big?
• Lots of folks use Google, so
why is Google+ not getting
new users?
– Early invite-only drove away
“non-elites”
– Not everyone cares about
selective sharing
– Digital migration is a hassle
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 51

52. COM693K: “Social Media in the Workplace”
LINKEDIN
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53. What is LinkedIN?
• Basically, a social network for professionals
• ~175M users
– NOT in: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan or Syria
• Works on the principle of Degrees of Influence
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 53

54. How does LinkedIN stay valued?
• Publically-traded (LNKD)
• Otherwise split between:
– Hiring solutions (job ads)
– Marketing solutions (site ads)
– Premium subscriptions
• Okay, but what is the real value to us (re:
social capital)?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 54

55. COM693K: “Social Media in the Workplace”
LOCATION-BASED 101
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56. Location-Based 101
• Advances in GPS technology and network
access have led to an Internet of Things
• FourSquare among the most popular (20M
users)
– Points
– Badges
– Mayors
– Brands
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57. Location-Based 101 – value?
• Venture capital
• Marketing partnerships to:
– Proximal users
– Frequent users “mayors” (theory?)
• Where is the real value in “check-ins”?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 57

58. Please Rob Me?
• February 2012 saw http://pleaserobme.com/
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 58

59. Some tips for LB…
• Remember the long tail? (think 1000 true
fans)
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 59

60. COM693K: “Social Media in the Workplace”
SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
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61. Social Bookmarking 101
• In general, programs
that allow you to
organize and save
(“bookmark”) your
favorite blogs and
websites…
• …but share with
others!
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 61

62. Taxonomy vs. Folksonomy
• A taxonomy is a pre-set category system
• A folksonomy is a user-set category system
Consider: A taxonomy
is how an organization
refers to an object; a
folksonomy is how the
users refer to an object
(concept?)
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63. Taxonomy vs. Folksonomy
• Social bookmarking allow us to customize
information for us, rather than relying on
another algorithim
• All about crowdsourcing
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64. Taxonomy vs. Folksonomy
• Links = taxonomy (sort of)
– Guide our traffic through the web
– Implicit endorsements, spread information quickly
• Likes = folksonomy
– Easy to create
– Explicit endorsements, spread buzz quickly?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 64

65. COM693K: “Social Media in the Workplace”
THE STRENGTH OF WEAK TIES
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 65

66. The Strength of Weak Ties
• What makes a tie “strong”
– Amount of time
– Emotional intensity
– (mutual) intimacy
– Reciprocation
Who do we have strong ties with?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 66

67. The Strength of Weak Ties
24%
“bridge”
60%
40%
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 67

68. The Strength of Weak Ties
…If you want information to
spread quickly, who would
you tell?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 68

69. The Strength of Weak Ties
• Safe and easy diffusion happens with central
leaders, but what about marginal ones:
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 69

70. Strength of Weak Ties
• Weakness in our own networks?
– Egocentric groups, community groups can be
joined through bridging
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 70

71. Strength of Weak Ties
• Weakness in our own
networks?
– Egocentric groups,
community groups
can be joined
through two-step
flow
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 71

72. 8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 72

73. COM693K: “Social Media in the Workplace”
ARE WE ALL MEDIA?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 73

74. Here comes everyone!
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 74

75. Here comes everyone!
• How was Evan able to accomplish this?
We’ve always looking for social
networks, but we’ve only been able
to afford so much. Has social media
changed our “connection budget”?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 75

76. Social Media Horror Stories
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77. It’s Persistent!
• “What happens in Vegas stays on YouTube”
(Qualman, Ch. 2)
“The 20-something now thinks
twice about getting so drunk that
she blacks out and can’t remember
how she wound up in the hammock
of a stranger’s backyard” (pp. 34)
Do we think this is true today?
Is this a concern in your daily life?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 77

78. The passivity of the social network
• Social media requires creation and
collaboration (re: Web 2.0)…
• …but this active process can be remarkably
passive
But that doesn’t make any
sense! How can an active
process be passive!?!
ANSWER ME!
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 78

79. Passivity leads to preventative-ness
• IF: present/persistent even when we are not
• AND: we wish to selectively present ourselves
• THEN: we tend to stifle what information
goes out in the first place
• How can companies do this?
– Monitor + embrace the chatter
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 79

80. boyd & Public Appearance
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 80

81. boyd & Public Appearance
• How do we keep folks out?
• Can we keep folks out?
• Do we want to keep folks out?
1. Create a public Internet identity
2. Say NO! to Facebook’s public search option
3. Expect unexpected audiences
4. Write blog comments as though you’re writing your own blog
5. Treat video and audio just like text
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 81

82. Are we all media?
• Let’s think about what a professional is:
– According to Wilson, “A professional is someone
who receives important occupational rewards
from a reference group whose membership is
limited to people who have undergone specialized
formal education and have accepted a group-
defined code of proper conduct.”
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 82

83. Are we all media?
• Is there such a thing as professional media?
– Training
– Code of conduct (and reward)
• Okay, but what do they REALLY do that we
can’t?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 83

84. Are we all media?
• Okay, but what do they REALLY do that we
can’t?
– Start-up capital
– Production expertise
– “in the know”
– Professionalism
– Others?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 84

85. Are we all media?
• Okay, but what do they REALLY do that we
can’t?
– Start-up capital
– Production expertise
– “in the know”
– Professionalism
– Others?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 85

86. Are we all media?
• Consider the scribes
– 1400s, elite class (usually clerics) were tasked with
recording all of humanity
– Challenged by Gutenberg and his movable type
• Ex.: The 93 aches of Luther
– Technology didn’t cause the thoughts…
– …but allowed for the spread of information
about them
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 86

87. Publish, then Filter
• We see social media
leading to a “mass
amateurization of
information”
• A good thing?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 87

88. Publish, then Filter
• One to many, or many to many?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 88

89. Publish, then Filter
• Users, not audiences
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 89

90. Publish, then Filter
• Network of users =
network of weak
ties…
• …each publishing
unique information…
• …so do all of us know
more than some of
us?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 90

91. Topics for this week
• What is a weak tie, and how can they be
strong?
• Are we all media?
• How do we handle the Cognitive Surplus?
• What is meant by “The Medium is the
Massage”?
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92. Cognitive Surplus
• 1700s London: Work hard, play hard
8/23/2012 92
(c) ND Bowman, 2011

93. Cognitive Surplus
• Fast forward to today, we see a 100% drop in
the average work week
– 1850: 80 hrs
– 1950: 40 hrs
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 93

94. Cognitive Surplus
• …and the increase in television viewing led to
a decrease in social capital – how?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 94

95. Cognitive Surplus
• Big media grew to occupy
a big space in our lives…
• …but legacy media is
starting to fade; shifting
to online marketing (~15-
25% total)
• Did old media make the
“milkshake mistake”?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 95

96. Cognitive Surplus
• Old media; spilled milkshakes
• Let’s think:
– Where and how do companies traditionally
market their goods?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 96

97. Cognitive Surplus
• Old media; spilled milkshakes
• Does impression advertising still work when
audiences are smaller?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 97

98. 8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 98

99. COM693K: “Social Media in the Workplace”
THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE
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100. Medium is the Massage
• And what does the medium itself say about
the way we communicate with each other?
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 100

101. Medium is the Massage
• The channel we choose to
communicate through has
an inherent meaning
• “It’s not what you said,
but it’s how you said it!”
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 101

102. Take-Away Messages
• What is technology?
– We are technology, we integrate tools into our
(communicative) lives to make it all more functional
• What is social media?
– Networked platforms that connect us to the rest of us
• Why Web2.0?
– Today’s media is marked by “creation and collaboration”
• Which medium is “best”?
– There are as many OSM channels as there are functions to
use them; divide and conquer
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 102

103. Take-Away Messages
• What is a weak tie, and how can they be strong?
– The ties that bridge groups, and they are key to spreading
information and influence
• Are we all media?
– YES. We are the cause of and solution to information literacy
• How do we handle the Cognitive Surplus?
– By staying occupied, connected and going where the action is
• What is meant by “The Medium is the Massage”?
– How we say something says just as much as what we say;
media can influence content, so understand and harness this
8/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 103