1. Can Social Media and the Internet
be Credible Academic
Resources?
Presented By:
Professor Monique A. Stennis, MBA
2. Thank You for Inviting Me to Share
Just to share some information about me….
I am a digital marketing specialist , where my responsibilities
include creating brand awareness through social media. Since
2011, I have taught over 2,000 people on popular social media
sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest & YouTube,
while sharing best practices associated to social
networking.
As an Adjunct professor, I teach business classes ranging in
Human Resources Management, Interpersonal Effectiveness
and Marketing. Along with former positions at a human resources firm
and as a training & development manager, I have learned, taught,
wrote social media policies and advised employees and students on
how to maintain personal branding while social networking.
3. 74% of online adults in America use social networking sites. Today,
we will look at the impacts of using Social Media and the Internet as
research tools. While there are as many as 200 Social Networking
sites, we will focus on Facebook, YouTube, Linkedin, Wikipedia,
online survey platforms and blogs.
Today’s Discussion
Source: Social Networking Procon.org
4. Social Networking is an act
of engagement. Groups of
people with common interests,
or like-minds, associate
together on social networking
sites and build relationships
through community.
Social media is a
communication channel. It's
a format that delivers a
message. Like television,
radio or newspaper, social
media isn't a location that
you visit. Social media is
simply a system that
disseminates information to
others.
Social Media - Forms of electronic communication (as web sites for
social networking and micro-blogging) through which users create
online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages,
and other content ( such as videos).
Understanding Social
Media/Social Networking?
5. Social Media Stats & Facts
There are about 9.6 billion devices connected to the Internet
compared to 7 billion people on earth.
40% of cell phone owners access a social media site on their
phones and 28% do so on a typical day.
Online adult users as of 2012: 67% Facebook, 20% Linkedin, 16%
Twitter.
Social Networking sites by group: 83% 18-19, 77% 30-49%, 52%
50-64 and 32% 65+.
If Twitter was a country, it would be the 12th largest in the world.
Sources – cellular-news.com and pewinternet.org
6. Understanding Some Popular Social
Media Sites
Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows
registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send
messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues.
YouTube is a video sharing service that allows users to watch videos
posted by other users and upload videos of their own. The service was
started as an independent website in 2005 and was acquired by Google
in 2006.
Twitter is a micro-blogging social networking site. This medium allows
you to interact with others in140 character posts in real-time through
sharing content, posing questions, responding to others and learning
from others.
7. Understanding Some Popular Social
Media Sites
Linkedin is the most popular social network which aims to
interconnect professionals. It claims to have more than 30 million
registered users from 150 different industries. Like Facebook,
Linkedin is a permission-based site. Linkedin is particularly used
by jobseekers.
Wikipedia is the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit
4,884,173 articles in English.
Blog(s) is a website containing a writer's or group of writers' own
experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having
images and links to other websites.
8. Social Pros
Social networking creates new social connections
Statistics show that 70% of adults have used social media sites to
connect with relatives in other states.
Students are doing better in school
Students with internet access at a rate of 50% have reported
using social networking sites to discuss school work, and
another 59% talk about instructive topics.
Better quality of life.
Members of these groups discuss their health conditions, share
important information, and resources relevant to their conditions
while creating strong support networks.
Social media as a source of employment
Sites such as LinkedIn are a major resource that 89% of job
recruiters take advantage of when looking to hire potential
employees.
Sources – cellular-news.com and pewinternet.org
9. Social Cons
Social media and the news
Much of the news information that people read about comes from social
media websites, and that figure estimate is around 27.8 %. This ranks just
under print newspapers at 28.8%, greater than radio’s figure of 18.8% and
far outpaces the figure for other print publications at just 6%.
Too much misinformation
With the advent of the web, people started to create their own websites and
blogs. While many of those blogs were just basic diaries, a few of them were
about topics like health and politics while others were how to blogs. Many
blogs have turned into rumor mills, spreading misinformation that people tend
to believe just because it’s on the web.
Pupils spending too much time on social media sites have lower
academic grades
Statistics show that pupils using social media too often tend to have
GPA’s of 3.06 compared to GPA’s of 3.82 for pupils who don’t use social
media. Students who use social media tend to score 20 % lower on
their test scores then their counterparts.
Social media sites to blame for lost productivity
Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are a direct cause for lost
productivity at the workplace. In a survey 36 % of people said that social
networking was the biggest waste of time in comparison to activities like
fantasy football, shopping, and watching television.
Sources – cellular-news.com and pewinternet.org
10. Evolution of Communication
6000 B.C. - Drums were used as a form of
communication in Africa. Many say that the drum
was the first form of telephone.
2000 B.C. - First courier service written documents
established by Egyptian Pharaohs.
500-550 B.C. - Postal system established
in Ancient Persia and Pheidippides runs
26 miles from Marathon to Athens to
deliver a one word message: “victory”.
200 B.C. – Smoke signals used to send
messages along the Great Wall of China.
11. Evolution of Communication
59 A.D.- Acta Diurna is published in Rome on slabs of
stone and metal. The origin of the newspaper is attributed
to Julius Caesar.
12th Century Pigeon Post- Sultan Nur Ad Din creates first
state pigeon post in Egypt.
1840s Telegraph- Samuel Morse invents the
telegraph, revolutionalizing long-distance
communication.
1946 Mobile phone- 1st mobile phone call made
12. Evolution of Communication
1971 Email – Ray Tomlinson sends 1st ever email
1992 - Text Messaging
2004 Facebook
1995 Internet phone
2006 Twitter
13. Inaccuracy in Print
On Nov. 19, 2014Rolling Stone published, 'A Rape on
Campus' [RS 1223], that centered around a University
of Virginia student's horrifying account of her alleged
gang rape at a campus fraternity house. Within days,
commentators started to question the veracity of
our narrative. Then, when The Washington Post
uncovered details suggesting that the assault could not
have taken place the way it was described, the truth of
the story became a subject of national controversy.
Source: www.rollingstone.com
14. Inaccuracy on Twitter
The number of retweets by itself, does not tell much about the
credibility of a story.
Take, for example, a look at a fake amber alert, that was retweeted
thousands of times:
15. When Inaccuracy Goes Wrong on a
Blog
Blogs broke the news, like Consortium News.
Who is behind that source? This little Google trick to find sources
that talk about the blog, but are not affiliated with it. Here's how
you do that:
16. When Insensitive Tweet Impacts
Professional Brand
Justine Sacco, 30 years old and the senior director of corporate communications at IAC – started
with only 170 tweeter followers.
17. Public Responses - Justine Sacco
“In light of @Justine-Sacco disgusting racist tweet, I’m donating to
@care today.”
“How did @JustineSacco get a PR job?! Her level of racist ignorance
belongs on Fox News. #AIDS can affect anyone!”
“I’m an IAC employee and I don’t want @JustineSacco doing any
communications on our behalf ever again. Ever.”
And then one from her employer, IAC, the corporate owner of The Daily
Beast, OKCupid and Vimeo: “This is an outrageous, offensive comment.
Employee in question currently unreachable on an intl flight.”
“All I want for Christmas is to see @JustineSacco’s face when her
plane lands and she checks her inbox/voicemail.”
“Oh man, @JustineSacco is going to have the most painful phone-
turning-on moment ever when her plane lands”
“We are about to watch this @JustineSacco bitch get fired. In REAL
time. Before she even KNOWS she’s getting fired.”
#HasJustineLandedYet. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/
18. Inaccuracy---- Impacts to Trusted
Sources
Understanding that this is a national story on a much larger scale, let’s
look at the failures and consequences in publishing a story with
inaccuracies?
Journalistic failure of reporting, editing, editorial supervision and fact-
checking.
Credibility
Tarnished reputation
Individual failure
Procedural failure
19. Inaccuracy ----- Impact to Student
Can you see in this list how inaccuracy in research and reporting can
also have negative impacts to the student?
Student failure of researching, reporting, editing and attributing
sources
Credibility of student(s), educators and institution
Trusted reputation that is carried forth to your profession
Failure of Best Practices Associated with Research
20. Internet Credibility - The Domain
The Internet can be a rich with a valuable source of information
while also an arena of misinformation. As students there are
some things that can be done to determine the credibility of
information found online.
◦ Identifying/Understanding the Domain
Before reviewing a Web site’s content, notice the site’s top-
level domain. For sites based in the U.S., they are will usually
be one of the following: .com, .org, .net, .mil, .gov, .edu. .net
is a network (Internet service provider).
Traditionally, .com denotes a commercial entity, .org means a
nonprofit organization.
Non-U.S. sites will often have a TLD denoting their country of
origin, for instance .au for Australia, although people from any
country can purchase .com, .org and .net domain names.
Source: http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/page/the-credibility-challenge
21. Internet Credibility - The Domain
The .gov, .mil and .edu TLDs can only go to government,
military and educational sites respectively, so they reflect a
different order of authority from a .com or a .org.
Information on a .gov or .mil site has the backing of the (local,
state or federal) government or the military. It may be difficult to
find a single author for these sites, but you can assume that the
information has a certain amount of authority because of this
association.
◦ Domains like wordpress.org and blogspot.com are free platforms
for anyone with something to say. Web sites hosted on one of
these domains are less credible than other sites, because they
are available to anyone (unlike, a page like NYTimes.com).
Information is not necessarily false, but should be approached
with more caution.
Source: http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/page/the-credibility-challenge
22. Internet Credibility – Authority
Determining Authority
The word “authority” comes from the same root as “author.” A
source’s authority often depends on who its author is. This is usually
easy to determine with books and magazine articles.
Not all authors are equal in credibility. Once you’ve found out who’s
responsible for the site’s content, you need to find out whether they
have any expertise.
A book’s author will often put relevant information in an “about the
author” section on the book flap. Some Web sites also have “about
the author” sections. For others, you will have to do more digging –
you may want to Google the name of the author or authors. You may
also have to make some educated guesses.
Source: http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/page/the-credibility-challenge
23. Internet Credibility – Authority
Determining Authority
What is the author’s education level?
Does he or she have a degree? From what school? In what subject?
What is the author’s previous writing experience?
How much does the author probably know about the topic or topics
on which he or she is writing?
Does he or she deal intimately with this subject in daily life, or only
research it for the purpose of writing about it?
Does the author have a neutral perspective on the site’s subject
matter, or is he or she trying to promote a particular viewpoint?
Source: http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/page/the-credibility-challenge
24. Internet Credibility – Who Sponsored
the Research?
Determining sponsorship can be tricky. Check the bottom of the
page for the logo of a sponsoring organization. An “information” or
“about” page or an FAQ may point you to organizations that are
involved with the page. You should also look at the affiliations of the
author(s) and editor(s). Of course, some sites are independent
entities and have no sponsorship – their authority would rest on the
credibility of the author.
If the site’s URL is along the lines of “organization.com/blogs,”
students should check out the “parent site” – in this case,
organization.com. That parent site may be a blogging platform like
blogger.com or wordpress.com, but it may be a sponsoring
institution.
Source: http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/page/the-credibility-challenge
25. Internet Credibility
If you find that the site has a sponsor, you should investigate using
Google to find out how the organization is perceived.
Is there an organization that is in charge of the site’s content, or that
funds the site’s operation?
Does this organization have a vested interest in the site’s subject
matter?
What perspective do they want people to have on this topic?
Are they likely to encourage the author(s) and editor(s) to give a
skewed presentation?
Source: http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/page/the-credibility-challenge
26. When Inaccuracy Goes Wrong on a
Blog
Who is behind that source? This little Google trick to find sources
that talk about the blog, but are not affiliated with it. Here's how
you do that:
•If you type in the name of the site (in quote marks to search for that
exact phrase) and then a minus sign followed by site:[sitename], you
will subtract instances from the site you are searching about.
•The writer is Robert Perry, who is self-proclaimed to have a serious
problem "with millions of Americans brainwashed by the waves of
disinformation". His site wants to fight distortions from Fox News and
"the hordes of other right-wing media outlets". The blog constitutes
mostly activism rather than journalism.
27. How the Internet & Social Media Can
Assist in Research
Research conducted on the internet is a cost effective way to
recruit participants, collect data and analysis.
Researchers can access individuals worldwide for studies in remote
areas where there is a lack of or inability to conduct research
Get Ideas- Either bounce existing ideas or ask your social
community for ideas.
Collaborate- Use social media to reach out to scholars and experts
on the subject in which you are reporting.
Conduct research- Perhaps polling your community can give
provide supportive documentation.
Access fast real-time information
Can you think of other ways that Social Media can assist in
research?
28. Wikipedia- To Use or Not Use
Wikipedia is the sixth most widely used website
In the world. This online encyclopedia allows users to
create and edit content in real-time. This is why Wikipedia is
controversial and many educators will not accept this site as
a source.
What value does this widely used website offer?
29. Online Surveys & Ethics
While research online allows individuals to remain anonymous, how
does the investigator know that the person completing the survey is
the real person and not a made up persona?
Here are a few guidelines to protect individuals participating in
internet research. Ensure: a) anonymity or confidentiality, b)
security c) self-determination and authenticity, d) full disclosure and
e) fair treatment.
Organizations: Association of Internet Research (AOIR) has ethical
guidelines for online research developed by members and the
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Contacting these
two agencies to confirm the appropriateness of an online research
study would prove beneficial (Basset & O’Riordan, 2002).
30. Online Surveys & Ethics
Ethical concerns such as determining a safe environment to take a
survey, research in a virtual environment, data security,
confidentiality, and performing secondary analysis on archived
support group information.
Research via the internet is still in the early stages therefore new
ethical concerns will continue to emerge.
It is important to conduct data collection and dissemination ethically
in order to have the same quality and outcomes as the traditional
method of data collection and analysis.
Ethical standards will help research participants to maintain trust in
the integrity of each method of study (Berry, 2004). Ethical issues
such as privacy in a public environment need clear
guidelines. When collecting data and disseminating the results, the
researcher is obligated to conduct these processes according to
ethical guidelines
