Social Media, Research and Statistics

Ramesh C Sharma
29 January 2014 By picture man [GPL (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
Global IT Report 2013
The Networked Readiness Index 2013
India… 68th ranking
Internet Usage in India
A snapshot of digital India

http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/india/2012/05/a_snapshot_of_digital_india_12.php#more
National Knowledge Commission
Information explosion

http://vishal0soni-technology.blogspot.in/
http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/shopping-or-browsing-in-us-india-s-big-data-firms-know/article1-941364.aspx
http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/shopping-or-browsing-in-us-india-s-big-data-firms-know/article1-941364.aspx
Are we lost in Ocean of data /
information

Photo illustration by Aurich Lawson

http://arstechnica.com/business/2011/09/information-explosion-how-rapidly-expanding-storage-spurs-innovation/
 Knowing What To Do Versus Doing It –
How To Handle The Information Explosion
You don’t have to
let the information
explosion leave you
with a defeated
feeling.

http://freelancefolder.com/knowing-what-to-do-versus-doing-it-%E2%80%93-how-to-handle-the-information-explosion/
 Knowledge…

• Creation
• Transmission
• Advancement
7 Major Communications Revolutions

1. Printing Press
Invented by German goldsmith Johann Gutenberg in 1448
http://yesteryearsnews.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/printing-press-trivia/
http://www.govloop.com/profiles/blogs/the-growing-need-for
7 Major Communications Revolutions

2. Recorded Sound
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edhome.html
7 Major Communications Revolutions

3. Radio
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fisher_500_radio.jpg
7 Major Communications Revolutions

4. Television
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alhurra%27s_studio_--
_February_2011.jpg
7 Major Communications Revolutions

5. Personal Computer
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Personal_Computer_774.JPG
7 Major Communications Revolutions

6. Internet
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Internet1.jpg
7 Major Communications Revolutions

7. Mobile
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bluebell_on_the_phone.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:3G_speed_brussel_sept_2012_IMG_2888.JPG
Source: http://ansonalex.com/technology/4-infographics-about-online-trends-internet-usage-and-social-media/
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/new-social-media-research-this-week-in-social-media/
Web 2.0

http://ictescoladestiu.wordpress.com/web-2-0/
Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0

https://wemtech.wikispaces.com/
 Web Evolution…

http://linnnordahl.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/web-1-0-2-0-and-3-0/
 Characteristics…

http://www.pazarlamakolik.com/web-1-0dan-web-3-0a-dogru-evrim-teorisi
http://rockcheetah.com/presentations/hitec-presentation-web-2-0-3-0-impact-on-hospitality-technology/
 …and after all is said and done…
Web 3.0 is already here

• What is Web 3.0

Internet World Connection Density

Source: http://www.chrisharrison.net/index.php/Visualizations/InternetMap
Are you ready for it…

http://www.empowernetwork.com/joeymc/files/2012/11/information_overload_hydrant.jpg
The NMC Horizon Report > 2014
Higher Education Edition

Identifies top emerging technologies, trends, and challenges

that will have a major impact on teaching, learning, and
creative inquiry in pre-college education over the next five
years.

Most important key driver is that the education paradigms

are shifting to include online learning, hybrid learning and
collaborative models.

http://www.nmc.org/about
 What does NMC do?

Highlights six emerging technologies or

practices that are likely to enter mainstream
use with their focus sectors within three
adoption horizons over the next five years.
Key Trends Accelerating Higher
Education Technology Adoption

http://www.nmc.org/about
Significant Challenges Impeding Higher
Education Technology Adoption

http://www.nmc.org/about
Important Developments in Educational
Technology for Higher Education

http://www.nmc.org/about
http://www.nmc.org/news/its-here-horizon-
report-2014-higher-education-edition

http://www.nmc.org/about
http://sylviaellison.edublogs.org/2011/02/15/goal-3-learning-defined/
New Opportunities
 21st Century Indian Learners

• Net Generation • Digital Natives

• Millennials • Multi-taskers
Image source: http://phys.org/news/2012-01-million-world-cheapest-tablet-india.html
Social Media
Social media is the collective
of online communications
channels dedicated to
community-based input,
interaction, content-sharing
and collaboration. Websites
and applications dedicated
to forums, microblogging,
social networking, social
bookmarking, social
curation, and wikis are
among the different types of
social media.

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/social-media
http://socialmediatoday.com/jonathan-bernstein/1894441/social-media-stats-facts-2013
http://www.blogherald.com/2012/06/07/social-networks-broken-down-by-demographic-
infographic/social-media-user-demographics-based-on-network/
http://www.blogherald.com/2012/06/07/social-networks-broken-down-by-demographic-
infographic/social-media-user-demographics-based-on-network/
http://www.blogherald.com/2012/06/07/social-networks-broken-down-by-demographic-
infographic/social-media-user-demographics-based-on-network/
http://www.blogherald.com/2012/06/07/social-networks-broken-down-by-demographic-
infographic/social-media-user-demographics-based-on-network/
http://www.blogherald.com/2012/06/07/social-networks-broken-down-by-demographic-
infographic/social-media-user-demographics-based-on-network/
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/reports/2012/state-of-the-media-the-social-media-report-2012.html
 Social Media in Research Design
For many, Facebook, Twitter, online
communities and the like are virtual fountains
overflowing with consumer content just waiting
for researchers with their buckets to scoop up
every juicy detail.
As someone recently put it, “[Social media]
provides a gold mine of information just a click
away.”
http://researchdesignreview.com/category/research-design-methods/social-media-research-design-methods/
Using Social Media to Research

Image source: http://soshable.com/social-media-market-research/

 Role of Social Media in Research

• Social Media is not just about networking with

friends and family
• used to increase awareness / research
purposes
• Knowing your target research sample /
population
 Impact of Social Media on Research
• One of the healthy outcomes from the rise of social media and mobile
research is that it has brought to the forefront the issue of the balance of
power – or control – in research balance of power design.
• Method specialists who are proponents of social media or mobile
research often assert that a big advantage of these approaches is that
the participant, not the researcher, controls what is shared or not
shared.
• Qualitative researchers, for example, have discovered the value of
PINTEREST where, without any researcher involvement, they surmise the
hobbies and characteristics of individuals that represent some segment
of the population.
• And a mobile qualitative research study empowers the participant to
select when, where, and how (in what format) information is provided to
the researcher.
• The researcher may start with a few basic questions but it is the research
participant (knowingly or not) who controls the input.

http://researchdesignreview.com/category/research-design-methods/social-
media-research-design-methods/
Research and Pinterest
 Research and Pinterest
• Projective techniques come in a variety of flavors –
collage, personification, bubble drawing, role playing,
etc. – there is also guided imagery, picture sorts,
sentence completion, tarot cards, and more.
• The types of projective techniques used by researchers
has grown over the years (and continues to grow),
primarily because many researchers believe that there
is no limit to what is acceptable as a projective
technique, and online resources such as Pinterest have
broadened the projective possibilities.

http://researchdesignreview.com/category/research-design-methods/projective-techniques/
Using SM for Research: Asking Questions

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/study-reveals-why-consumers-fan-facebook-pages/
Google Alerts - Monitor the Web for
interesting new content
 Getting honest opinion:
Social Search Functionality
• Own search functionality >> Twitter,
Facebook, Pinterest and LinkedIn
• Can dive deeper into researching your
respondents and finding out what they have
to say
• An honest opinion of your customers as it is a
way for people to express their true feelings.
Social Search Functionality
 From “Marketing Research” to “Marketing
Information” in 2020
The continued growth in technology
will result in the “digitization of
everything” which will result in a
“paradigm shift” in marketing
research tools and techniques.
And in 10 years the “leading-edge
companies will address 80% of their
marketing issues by ‘fishing the
river’ of information.”
Fishing, as in mining clicks, blogs,
communities, videos, anything and
anywhere people virtually connect.

…Ian Lewis
http://researchdesignreview.com/category/research-design-methods/social-media-research-design-methods/
SOCIAL MEDIA and RESEARCH

“The Social Web has multiplied the voice of the

customer, listening and responding quickly is more
important than ever for success”
http://www.siliconvalleyrg.com/business-growth/social-media-research/
http://zaidlearn.blogspot.in/2012/08/using-social-media-for-research-apame.html
 http://www.kantarmedia-healthcare.com/more-
consumers-using-social-media-for-health-research
Users Behavior Dynamics in Online
Social Networks

Mission
To achieve a better understanding about direct/indirect cyber threats in
popular social networking websites like: Facebook, Twitter, Google+,
LinkedIn and Netlog.
 Social Media Tools in Education

(a) Used for social networking >> Facebook or Twitter

(b) Designed for sharing user-generated content >> blogs,

YouTube, or Flickr.
 Factor Analysis through Social Media

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=G5STAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA157&lpg=PA157&dq=factor+analysis+and+social+media&source=bl&ots=6
fsTun2GD9&sig=JTbLhKKk_ZgOcxR9cWQl9G3Noi8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YxT5UozsJIiVrAe-
sYC4AQ&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=factor%20analysis%20and%20social%20media&f=false
 How to apply Factor analysis to social
media data?

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=G5STAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA157&lpg=PA157&dq=factor+analysis+and+social+media&source=bl&ots=6
fsTun2GD9&sig=JTbLhKKk_ZgOcxR9cWQl9G3Noi8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YxT5UozsJIiVrAe-
sYC4AQ&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=factor%20analysis%20and%20social%20media&f=false
http://www.genpact.com/docs/resource-/application-of-factor-analysis-in-social-media.pdf
http://www.genpact.com/docs/resource-/application-of-factor-analysis-in-social-media.pdf
http://www.genpact.com/docs/resource-/application-of-factor-analysis-in-social-media.pdf
 Publishing Research

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dfid-research-research-stories-response-and-social-media
 Changing Research Communication
• Essentially, social media has changed research
communication from presentation to
CONVERSATION.
• Cranston: “This increasing emphasis on two
way communication and conversation has
transformed organisational communications
and is crucial to effective online knowledge
sharing.”

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dfid-research-research-stories-response-and-social-media
 Quick Sharing of knowledge
• Harnessing the knowledge sharing capacity of
an existing community (such as Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn) opens new routes of
access.
• Evidence travels via existing networks so that
the burden of communication no longer hangs
solely on journal publication and distribution.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dfid-research-research-stories-response-and-social-media
medium shapes the message
• The DFID research twitter
community has over 10,000
followers. While DFID
research tweets directly to its
followers daily, the real power
lies in the retweets.
Role of Twitter

http://phys.org/news/2013-09-tweets-science.html
 But the story has changed
• Social media has altered the traditional
parameters of storytelling.
• Now, a story can consist of only a few words or
just an image.
• Linked data and online materials mean that
communication need only begin the story; it
directs the audience to wear the evidence can be
found.
• It lets the existing conversation develop and tell
the story.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dfid-research-research-stories-response-and-social-media
 Reaching Audiences

• With the emergence of younger platforms,

such as Google+ and Pinterest, it is becoming
steadily easier for researchers to reach
audiences in innovative and engaging ways.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dfid-research-research-stories-response-and-social-media
 Statistics and Social Media
• Trendalyzer
• From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
• An example of Trendalyzer software
use: Gapminder World

• Trendalyzer is an information
visualization software for animation
of statistics that was initially
developed by Hans Rosling's
Gapminder Foundation in Sweden. In
March 2007 it was acquired by
Google Inc.. The current beta version
is a Flash application that is
preloaded with statistical and
historical data about the
development of the countries of the
world.
http://www.gapminder.org/for-teachers/
use Gapminder tools in your classroom
 OECD EXplorer

http://stats.oecd.org/OECDregionalstatistics/#story=0
OECD Many Eyes
 Many Eyes
• Many Eyes is a site where users can explore
through visualizations, participate creating
visualizations, uploading data set and learn more.
• Many Eyes, as we can read in its home page, “is a
bet on the power of human visual intelligence to
find patterns…It is that magical moment we live
for: an unwieldy, unyielding data set is
transformed into an image on the screen, and
suddenly the user can perceive an unexpected
pattern.”
http://www-958.ibm.com/software/analytics/manyeyes/
http://abs4libraries.blogspot.in/
http://www.classtools.net/
https://www.lucidchart.com/
http://flowingdata.com/
http://www.calc3d.com/
http://www.geogebra.org/cms/en/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidleinweber/2013/04/26/big-
data-gets-bigger-now-google-trends-can-predict-the-market/
https://sites.google.com/site/immersiveworldne
wbiehelpdesk/statistics/statistical-trends
Gini coefficient of Education

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient#Gini_coefficient_of_education
Gini Indexes
Facebook data analysis and
visualisation

http://www.statschat.org.nz/2013/04/27/facebook-data-analysis-and-visualisation/