Social media implications and contexts

Two observations with regard to working as an information professional in education.

Participatory culture includes being a member of a group or “affiliation”, creating new content and feeling that it is valued, and solving problems collaboratively (Jenkins, Clinton, Purushotma, Robison, & Weigel, 2006, p. 3). Jenkins et al (2006) also note that participatory culture is essential for success in society.  They observe that many young people actively participate in participatory culture via informal learning through social networking applications and gaming culture.  While these skills, for youth who are able to cultivate them, increase their chances of future academic and vocational success, three issues are raised.   Firstly, that the opportunities are not evenly distributed and the digital divide between school students who have access to fast, consistent Internet services and those who do not, still creates inequity of opportunity. Second, that young people, even when prolific users of the social Web often are not necessarily learning to equate this environment with the structures of power, commercial interests, and other elements shaping their experience.  Third, as socialization amongst young people is taking place in a range of informal arenas, the socio-political preparation for being prolific content creators in the public sphere is in danger of being bypassed. Jenkins et al (2006, p. 12, 15) stress the need to “engage [young people] in critical dialogues” about the online landscape, to develop literacy not only in the use of technology and new media but also in critiquing its constructs.

Nelson (2009, p. 1656) advises that the current development of cloud computing (where both “data and software reside on the Internet”) presents as disruptive a change in the way we use networked computers as the World Wide Web presented in 1993. Adaption to cloud computing will have enormous ramifications for the openness of data, and interoperability between organisations and resources.  It is vital that organisations, including libraries, work tirelessly now to develop and create the appropriate policy frameworks to deal with “open standards, collaboration between cloud service providers, security and privacy, [and] online copyright”, among other factors (2009, p. 1656), in order to contribute to and benefit from the greatly reduced costs, and vast possibilities of running systems in the Cloud. 

Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A. J., & Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Retrieved from http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF

Nelson, M. R. (2009). Building an open cloud. Science, 324(5935), 1656-1657. Retrieved from http://www.sciencemag.org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/cgi/reprint/324/5935/1656.pdf

Developing a draft marketing strategy

It is important to know your demographic/user base.  These are rarely homogeneous. Observe how your user population use social media through data collection/surveys/focus groups. What do they want from your organisation? What do they not want from you in ‘their’ social spaces?  SAGE (2009, p. 9) suggest that you “listen to the conversations and learn the style before jumping in”.

Clearly define your objectives. What results are you hoping to achieve? More visitors to the library web site, more online word of mouth mentions, ‘likes’ or tweets? More or better customer feedback? Better delivery of your core services, such as reference or information literacy education? How will you measure these results? How long is long enough to see whether your strategy is working?

“Create a plan that starts small but has room to grow” (Li & Bernoff, 2008, ch. 4, p. 4).  Scalability in a social networking project gives the chance to test the water, find measurable outcomes (choose easy to understand analytics tools) and build on initial successes.  For example, start with one type of media, and stick with it long enough to see results, whether positive or negative, before adding other types of media. 

“Think through the consequences of your strategy” (Li & Bernoff, 2008, p. 4). How is the use of social media expected to change the way you do business and what are the human resources needs, “legal consequences” and other concerns (Li & Bernoff, 2008, p. 4).  For example how many hours will need to be spent on maintaining the social networking face of the organisation? Who will be responsible for monitoring it? What tone or subject matter will be most effective?  What will not be dealt with through social networking? How will privacy policies be applied and copyright guidelines adhered to? What will be your approach to complaints or negative feedback?

“Use great care in selecting your technology … partners” (Li & Bernoff, 2008, p. 4).  Because social networking technology is constantly developing and shifting, and mergers and buyouts are a given in the global corporate market, it will be important to assess the scope of your social networking strategy and to understand what the ramifications will be if a social networking platform or application changes the way it does business, or if the way people engage with it shifts. 

Plan for openness, “transparency” (SAGE, 2009, p. 9) and a quick response to feedback and input from users.  Timeliness and a human voice in social networking are vital.

Li, C. & Bernoff, J. (2008). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Retrieved from Books 24x7

 

SAGE (2009). Connecting with your customers: A guide to social media. In SAGE. Retrieved from http://www.sage.co.uk/documents/whitepapers/white-paper-Social-media.pdf