Strategies Research and Methodologies in Digital Media
October 8 2008 Week 3 [e-mail]
Tonight
This Class
Lecture: Know Thy Audience. Guests: Social Media in action, Research
in action.
Group Exercise: Rening and dening
your topic.
Some early evening TV
The Right Tool for the Right Job
Groundswell
a spontaneous movement of people using online tools to connect, take charge of their own experience, and get what they need -information, support, ideas, products, and bargaining power -- from each other. a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other instead of from companies.
Groundswell
People creating blogs, UGC, podcast Threat unregulated expression Opportunity listen, participate
social networks, experiment, create time and attention virtual worlds own social network wikis and open power can threaten monitor pages, source institutional image deploy wikis. forums, ratings, amateurs need to be reviews boost buy reviews inuenced now too. rates content organization no control over monitor tags, tag (tags) classication your own company RSS & widgets no direct threat good marketing tools (lubricates GSWL)
Social Technographics
how social media tools are being adapted by any one group of people
Social Technographics
Social Technographics
April 2007, Trends Social Technographics
Social Technographics Profiles Differ Significantly By Age
Social Technographics
Alpha Moms
Globally Democrats vs. Republicans
Its a Small World
Social networks (generally) held together by a few
people with tens of thousands of connections. See Why Yelp Works (NY Times).
Small groups tend to be densely connected, large
groups, sparsely connected.
STRATEGY: let the small groups connect tightly, and
THEN you connect them all to a larger group. Connectors
KEY: that handful of people with lots of connections
Its a Small World
i.e. BLOGS: most connected blogs are thousands of
times more connected, while ordinary blogs have a few readers, but most likely have more densely connected members.
This is Benklers Constellation which naturally
creates a lter (Shirky: amplier AND a lter). BRIDGING capital.
Social capital increases -- BONDING capital,
Demographic Proles
Gender Age group Location Ethnicity Education Income
Key variables?
Social Media demographics
Based on Quantacast.com
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Audience Personication
Humanize data Understand context Understand motivations and barriers Stereotypes bad?
Example
Opinion Papers
Great papers and good writing! Support your claims with evidence and reason Make your arguments stronger by considering the opposition Shorter intros: get to the point Stronger conclusions: this is the last thing we remember! Expand on WHY should we care about this and why now (build urgency) Clarify terminology
OCTOBER 1, 2008 !
Opinion&Papers i & Ph o n es Yo u
JUMANA HASHAL AL " " "
"
Thoughts on open versus closed systems & implications for creators, end-users, & the future of the Web; Or, dude, wheres my digital freedom?! 1.0 A NEW ERA On the eve of June 29, 2007, mobile phones underwent an evolutionary leap with the introduction of Apples iPhone. The iPhone, and impending rivals, offer a set of new technologies and services that impact our ability to connect and take action in radical ways. However, they are also simultaneously eroding our privacy and posing new threats to our freedoms online. Prior to the release of the iPhone, we lived in a world where connectedness, at its lightest, meant carrying 10 lbs. of electronics on ones person at all times. Overnight, one 4.8-ounce device put everyone who could get their hands on it one button away from becoming virtually constantly connected. Being constantly online was previously impossible on many levels: the various gadgets did not come cheap; the learning curve for each gadget was steep for those who were not digitally savvy; the manufacturers of the devices and the providers of services on those devices did not like to play together; and, consequently, the tools and the content generated for mobile phones was not conducive for your average user to maintain a constant presence. Simply put, we had mediocre mobile phone games, messy mobile applications, and dreadful mobile web browsers. The iPhone combined all of the personal communication tools into one device to satisfy all of your digital needs: it is your communication device, your computer, your GPS device, your portable music player, your movie player, your camera, and your connection to the web via a real browser. And now with the introduction of third-party applications, it also provides hooks for all your favorite awareness tools from Twitter to Facebook. While the iPhone as a device lowered the endusers entry requirements, the unveiling of the accompanying App Store ushered along a new wave of super specialized professionals. The entry for developers and creators into that realm was, and still is, highly controlled and rather challenging. Apple not only controls who gets to develop for the iPhone, but also what they get to develop. For example, they are not allowing any applications that compete with their own to reach end-users.
Group Activity
Discuss topic and feedback (you can edit
map on paper or online)
Dene your research audience Dene 1 concrete question to research Dene the So What... what is the
contribution of your research?
Prep 5 minute summary of the direction of
your topic to share with the class.
Next deliverable
(10/22)
Problem: Denes what your central
question is.
Context: Why should I care? and So what? Hypothesis: What do you think the
outcome will be?
Bibliography: revise from annotated
bibliography (add/delete sources)
Finally...
Minute Papers. Breaking news.