AntonyCarpen

PublicPolicy &Social Media

Tel: 07779 205270

Email: antonycarpen@gmail.com

Web: http://antonycarpen.co.uk

The Impact of social

media on society
18 April 2013
Cambridge

What is social media?

The social in social media implies a conversation. The
difference between social media and the TV is that with the
latter, viewers seldom engage with the programme-makers of
the show that they are watching. Only in very recent times
have programme makers expanded into the world of social
media. Think X-Factor.

What is social media?

The Central Office of Information (www.coi.gov.uk)
said the following in its 2009 publication
Engaging through Social Media:
Social media is a term used to refer to online
technologies and practices that are used to share
opinions and information, promote discussion and build
relationships.
Social media services and tools involve a combination
of technology, telecommunications and some kind of
social interaction. They can use a variety of different
formats, for example text, pictures, video and audio.
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What is social media?

Social media is different to traditional forms of
communication such as through newspapers, television,
and film.
Cheap anyone with access to the internet (for example
through public libraries)
Accessible the tools are easy to use
Enabling allows almost anyone to do things that
previously were only the preserve of well-resourced
organisations
The use of the word Social implies a conversation. Social
media is definitely not about one-way communication to a
large audience from big organisations.
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Megatrends 1 the death of

control

The age of
control

Big organisations and

companies had a monopoly on
mass communication and got
used to controlling the message

The age of
influence

Anyone literate with an internet

connection can self-publish for
free
Hard to control, can only
influence

Megatrends 2 Fewer
gatekeepers

One to many

Manage the gatekeepers

One-way, broadcast model.
Managing reputation =
managing the media.

Many to many

Less reliance on media: people

get information direct from the
source, and from each other.
New-style comms must reach
beyond media to a complex
interactive model.

Megatrends 3
Fragmentation

A few
centralised
channels
People got most information
from a handful of news media.
Organisations could efficiently
manage (or at least monitor).

A huge cloud
of interaction
Conversations are distributed
wherever people form opinions:
blogs, social networks, YouTube
Separate provider for the
content, and the platform for the
content

Megatrends 4 New web

landscape

Push

Pull

communications

communications

Web as distribution channel

Web as community

The Web was a channel for

pushing out information.
Sites were static e-brochures.
The Web was utilitarian. People
felt neutral about it.

Now, people spend most time

on interactive social media.
The social web is informal,
immersive and emotive.

Megatrends 5 New
journalism

Ordered
and
predictable
The world of press releases,
news conferences and interviews
was well ordered.
Journalists knew the rules of the
game and were predictable.
Balance, professionalism,
accountability

Messy and
opinionated
Huge and distributed.
Everyone can report.
Each sets his/her own rules.
No obligation to be balanced.
Complicated recourse for
inaccuracy.
Opinion dominates content.

How big is social media in

the UK?

10 million UK
accounts
> newspaper sales
30 million+ accounts
Almost half the UK
population

5% of users write 75%

of tweets

AntonyCarpen

PublicPolicy &Social Media

Tel: 07779 205270

Email: antonycarpen@gmail.com

Social networks

Web: http://antonycarpen.co.uk

How I (as a new user) formed my

networks
After setting up an account on a given platform e.g. Facebook
or Twitter, I then used the search tools to find people with
similar interests to me. For example:
- Career
- Sport
- Academia
- Campaigns
For each interest, I was able to build up a small virtual
network that looks something like the diagram below

Everyone within this

network of interest is
connected to each other
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Your networks and communities

In pairs or threes, spend a few
minutes talking to each other
about the community groups that
you are part of whether in your
neighbourhood, across a wider
geographical area or online.
I will then ask you to summarise
to the rest of the group the
networks and communities that
the person you are paired with
has described to you.
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How I (as a new user) formed my

networks
This gave a picture that looked something like this:

Represented by the large yellow circle, I have links into a

number of different virtual networks as represented by the
small yellow circles:
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How I (as a new user) formed my

networks
As people have multiple interests, some of those interests are shared:

Accordingly, they may already have links to the same

communities of interests that I have represented by the
green lines

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How I (as a new user) formed my

networks

Through the use of social networks, other people start linking up too - denoted by the blue lines,

There now is a very complex virtual web of people linked by

mutual interests. The stronger each of those individual links is,
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the stronger the web is.

How networks can be used

Having a virtual web such as this can serve three key purposes:
1)For support
2)For the search for greater knowledge
3)To challenge those in authority.

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1) Support
If, for example an individual finds themselves being criticised in the mainstream media, a virtual network
of shared interests can respond accordingly.
Think of the web below being like a trampoline. When pressure is put on the individual at the centre (i.e. the
big yellow circle in the middle), it is felt not just by the individual, but also by others linked through the
virtual network.

In order to return to the steady state, the trampoline responds

accordingly bouncing back. The same is true with those who
are linked by a common interest to the individual who needs
the support.
What is difficult to predict is how others will react to such an
individual being targeted.

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2) Search for greater knowledge

People and now organisations are using their social
media networks to crowd source information.
Crowd sourcing is literally as defined sourcing your
information from a crowd of people using social media.
Question: What sort of things could the following
people use crowd sourcing to find out?
-An office worker organising the staff Christmas party
-A journalist investigating a story
-An academic researcher
-A Member of Parliament

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3) Challenging those in authority

We looked at
-A journalist investigating a story
-An academic researcher
-A Member of Parliament
More people from these backgrounds and beyond are now
using their social networks to challenge those in authority.
-Journalists are widening their social networks, in particular
on Twitter, while at the same time receiving direct feedback
on their articles
-Academics are now able to bring their work to much wider
audiences but at the same time face greater public
scrutiny on their work
-MPs are now able to crowd-source parliamentary questions,
but face scrutiny on how they vote in the Commons.

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AntonyCarpen

PublicPolicy &Social Media

Tel: 07779 205270

Email: antonycarpen@gmail.com

Web: http://antonycarpen.co.uk

Thoughts, questions or
comments on:
-Social networks?
-People challenging, and
being challenged via social
media?

AntonyCarpen

PublicPolicy &Social Media

Tel: 07779 205270

Email: antonycarpen@gmail.com

Web: http://antonycarpen.co.uk

Staying safe with social

media

How should you use social media?

Responsibly
I trust my officers with the powers of arrest and the
ability to deprive you of your liberty. Therefore I am

going to trust them to use social media

A senior police officer on Twitter.
-That is not to say they are given access to social media
without any training. Social media carries risks. So does
life. What matters is how we manage those risks.
-Part of that training involves you seeking out further
knowledge enough for you to ensure that you are
comfortable using social media.
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The Information Commissioner

Social media is value neutral; people are not. Bad people

use social media as well as good people. You need to
protect yourself from the latter.
In the UK, the Information Commissioner is the public
body primarily responsible for how people and
organisations use social media, in particular with regards
to data protection.
Please ensure that both you and any young people that
you know read through guidance from the Information
Commissioner at http://www.ico.gov.uk/youth.aspx

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Social media guidance?

This excellent short digital video guide was
produced by the the State of Victorias
Department for Justice in Australia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iQLkt5CG8I
This gives you an idea of some of the issues
organisations to consider in this new social media
world
Later on we will be looking at how you can create
your own social media policy.