Sponsored by Facebook I did some work recently for the EUN where we looked at the role of Social Media in Learning and Education (SMILE). One of the outputs of my contribution to the project was a professional development eLearning course for European Teachers and Head Teachers on the use of Social Media in Schools.
As this part of the course has now finished (and we have gone into the community development phase) I am re-posting a version of the materials here so others can benefit from them.
This is part 1 of 6 - What is Social Media?
What is Social Media?: The Video
Social Media in Learning and Education (SMILE) - Video 1 of 6 What is Social Media? from Ollie Bray on Vimeo.
What is Social Media: The Course Notes and Links
1. Definitions and Characteristics
There are lots of
definitions about social media on the Internet but it is important not to get
too caught up in exact terminology. The reality of the situation is that the
pretty much the whole of the web has now turned social and most new content
that is published on-line allows for social interaction. This might include
comments, the ability to edit a page or a personal recommendation such as ‘liking’ on Facebook.
So instead of thinking about a definition of social media it is perhaps more useful to think about some common characteristics of social media sites and services. Generally speaking social media contains at least some of the following things:
- Social Media challenges traditional models
- Social Media allows people to communicate
- Social Media allows people to collaborate
- Social Media gives people an audience
- Social Media services are reverse the hierarchy and are built from the bottom up
- Social Media is open and transparent
2. The Social Media Revolution
Whether you have your own definition for social media or even disagree with some of the characteristics above. The one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that social media, social networks and the social web is moving from strength to strength. The term given to this by the website socialnomics (www.socialnomics.net) is the ‘Social Media Revolution’. Socialnomics have also produced a viral YouTube Video that provides a number of interesting facts and figures about the rise and growth of social media.
The facts include include:
- If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 3rd largest and 2x the size of the U.S. population
- There were over 75 million more people playing Farmville than there were real Farmers
- A new member joins LinkedIn every second
- 1 in 5 couples meet online
The video concludes by stating that, ‘Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate’. This is an important statement for those wishing to make more use of social media in education.
3. Popular Types of Social Media
There are literally hundreds of Social Media services out there on the Internet. The table below shows some of the most popular types and their main purposes...
|
Name |
URL |
Function |
|
|
Register users create a personal profile, add other users as friends, exchange messages and photos, including automatic notifications when users update their profile.
|
|
|
Google Plus |
Real life sharing though the web including messages, video conference and photographs. |
|
|
YouTube |
A video sharing website. |
|
|
|
A micro blogging platform where users send 140 character messages to each other. |
|
|
|
A social network for business related and professional networking. |
|
|
Flickr |
Primarily a photo sharing website. |
|
|
Wordpress |
An open source blogging platform. |
|
|
Slideshare |
A presentation sharing website. |
|
|
Wikipedia |
An on-line encyclopaedia that anyone can edit. |
|
|
Del.icio.us |
A social bookmarking website where you can share URLs with you contacts. |
It is also important to remember that many social media sites are now starting to converge in functionality (eg; you can communicate and share photographs or you can log into another social networking service with a singal sign in user ID).
4. Social Media in Enterprise
There are a number of good examples of social media in enterprise and how the power of social media can be used to increase brand awareness and to sell products. Starbucks Coffee provides a good case study.
From the
Starbucks Coffee home page (www.starbucks.co.uk) to can see links to the main social
networking services that they use including a Facebook page (over 29 million
likes), Google Plus Page (over 500, 000 G+’s) and a Twitter Page (over 2
million followers). The Starbucks home page on the web also has YouTube Video
embedded in it. All of the social services (Facebook, Twitter, G+ and YouTube)
compliment the main site and work together to increase brand awareness and
improve market reach.
Another social service pioneered by Starbucks is ‘My Starbucks Idea’ (www.mystarbucksidea.force.com) where users can suggest how Starbucks might be improved.
5. Social Media in Government
Governments are
starting to learn from enterprise about how they might use social media to
communicate with stakeholders and increase awareness around public service.
The Engage for Education Project (www.engageforeducation.org) in Scotland is a good example of this and is based loosely on the Starbucks model. The main website links to the social media channels and there is also a place for citizens to suggest ideas to the Government.
6. Social Media in Education
Social media in Education is also very important and it is useful to think about the characteristics of social media that we mentioned above and think about how this relates to our classrooms.
We need classrooms that challenge traditional models and reverse the hierarchy, allow young people to communicate and collaborate, that provide authentic audience for children’s work and exist within systems that are both open and transparent.
Within some of the other units of this course we will discuss how social media can have an impact on whole school communication, pedagogical approaches and staff professional development.
It is also
important that we understand the impact of social media on privacy and some of
the challenges that can be encountered with social media and young people. This
includes The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA).
COPPA is a United States federal law that applies to the online collection of personal information by persons or entities under U.S. jurisdiction from children under 13 years of age. As many popular social networking services are owned by US companies COPPA has an impact on young people using their services globally.
COPPA details what a website operator must include in a privacy policy, when and how to seek verifiable consent from a parent or guardian, and what responsibilities an operator has to protect children's privacy and safety online including restrictions on the marketing to those under 13.
While children under 13 can legally give out personal information with their parents' permission, many websites altogether disallow underage children from using their services due to the amount of paperwork involved. It is for this reason that if a young person under the age of 13 registered to use some of the services listed above then it would be against the websites terms and conditions.
It is however important to understand the difference between registering to use a social media service and viewing a social media page. For example YouTube’s terms and conditions require you to be 13 or over before you are allowed to register and up-load content. But there is no age restriction on being able to visit the YouTube site and view on-line materials (although some videos are flagged as inappropriate for children by the YouTube Community).
As well as the above there is a growing academic interest in the use of Social Media in schools and Education. Professor Stephen Heppell from the University of Bournemouth has offered some recent thoughts on this subject to the Government of South Australia.
Links for you to explore and reflect on:
- Socialnomics - www.socialnomics.net
- The Social Media Revolution YouTube Video - http://goo.gl/2Dkdd
- Popular Social Media Services - see links above
- More about COPPA - http://goo.gl/T7L2D
- 20 minutes with Prof. Stephen Heppell on Social Media in Schools Part One - http://goo.gl/Kbngd
- 20 minutes with Prof. Stephen Heppell on Social Media in Schools Part Two - http://goo.gl/UqUYe
Examples of interesting practice:
- Starbucks - www.starbucks.co.uk
- My Starbucks Idea - www.mystarbucksidea.force.com
- Engage for Education - www.engageforeducation.org
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