NASW Workshop: The Secret Life of Social Media

transcript

NASW WORKSHOPSOctober 17, 2009 Session C3: 4:15 to 5:45 p.m.

"The Secret Life of Social Media: New Rules for Science Writers"

source: Slate

GOALS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

•Create social interaction using highly accessible Web-based technologies.

•Shift how people discover, read, and share news, information and opinion.

•Transform media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many).

•Democratize information, changing content consumers into content producers.

--Wikipedia

Source: Slate

Source: Wikipedia/Tag Cloud

Communication Blogs: Blogger, LiveJournal, Open Diary, TypePad, WordPress, Vox, ExpressionEngine, Xanga Micro-blogging / Presence applications: Twitter, Plurk, Tumblr, Jaiku, fmylife Social networking: Bebo, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Orkut, Skyrock, Hi5, Ning, Elgg Social network aggregation: NutshellMail, FriendFeed Events: Upcoming, Eventful, Meetup.comCollaboration Wikis: Wikipedia, PBwiki, wetpaint Social bookmarking (or social tagging): Delicious, StumbleUpon, Google Reader, CiteULike Social news: Digg, Mixx, Reddit, NowPublic

EXPLOSION OF SOCIAL MEDIA

ROBIN LLOYD Freelance Science Writer & Online Editor, Scientific American

Source: Scientific America

DAVID HARRIS

Editor-in-chief, Symmetry Magazine

Deputy Communications Director, SLAC

Source: Symmetry Magazine

ALEXIS MADRIGAL Staff writer, Wired.com

& Visiting Scholar, UC Berkeley Office for the History of Science and Technology

Source: Wired

TWITTER ScienceWriters09

LIVE STREAMING from New Horizons, Austin

Sunday, 10/18 to Tuesday, 10/20Check times

www.CASW.org

The Social Media Firehose:Some Ways to Drink Safely

NASW 2009 #sciwri09

N A S W A N N U A L M E E T I N GO C T O B E R 1 7 , 2 0 0 9

A U S T I N , T E X A S

D AV I D H A R R I SS Y M M E T R Y M A G A Z I N E ,

S L A C N A T I O N A L A C C E L E R A T O R L A B O R A T O R Y

The Secret Life of Social Media

Outline

Principles of social mediaWhy understand how social media works?New ways people get/share informationHow we can use this knowledge

How social media really worksExamples of social sharing sites

Why understand social media?

As science writers, our trade is information

Information is increasingly flowing in new ways

We all need to really know how these mechanisms work if we are to take advantage of them (whether journalists, writers, or PIOs)

It gives us new ways to think about what we do

Getting information: the old way

1) Read/watch the standard sources (local/national newspaper/TV news/magazines)

2) Discuss those topics with friends and colleagues, relying on commonality of sources (Water cooler conversations, pub conversations)

3) Repeat

Getting information: the new way

“If the news is that important, it will find me.” – Anonymous college student in a focus group

New York Times, March 27, 2008http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/us/politics/27voters.html

“This micro-knowledge of others has been termed ‘ambient awareness’ by sociologists, a new kind of social proprioception or ethereal limb, and I learned to flex it with ease.” (Referring to the world of Facebook status updates)

New York Magazine, April 5, 2009 http://nymag.com/news/features/55878/

Getting information: the new way

1) Converse with your friends and colleagues, A LOT!(in person, phone, email, txt msg, Facebook status, FriendFeed, tweet, LinkedIn update, etc.)

2) Let your trust of others guide you3) Pick up on some of it and surf/search it further4) Contribute to public discussions5) Repeat

This is not an ideal, but an observation.

How we can use this knowledge

Changing information ecosystemOld: Authority relationshipsNew: Trust relationships

Journalists: We can’t rely solely on the authoritativeness of our publications. Now we need to develop trust relationships with readers. How?

PIOs: We no longer just want to rely on the news media to reach audiences for us, but need to be active in developing relationships with other audiences ourselves. How?

Examples of social sharing sites

Many user-vote-driven sites seem to present the “best” stories, which rise to the top as people vote for them.

For digg, slashdot, reddit, stumbleupon, and facebook

What the site looks likeHow stories really get to the top of the chartsA typical story’s trafficAn analogy

digg traffic

Traffic to “Finding 1 atom in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000”

from digg

digg is like…a gang

Strong but organic hierarchyDominance of an idea depends on who it comes

fromLeaders cultivate support from underlings by

offering links and help up rankingsLoyalty to the leader is keyIdentity is defined by the role in the group

For success: Be in with the leaders, don’t cross the leaders

slashdot

slashdot traffic

Traffic to "Making magnetic monopoles, and other exotica, in the lab“ from

slashdot

slashdot is like…organized crime

Small tight group controls the flow of information

Outsiders are treated with some suspicionOnce you’re part of the family and know the

people behind the curtain, you can get things done

/.’s “karma” system compared with OC statusLeaders still have absolute power

For success: Post good stuff to gain positive attention of the admins, cultivate their good graces

reddit traffic

27-Jun-09 28-Jun-09 29-Jun-09

Traffic to "Gates buys Feynman's 'Mes-senger' lectures“ from reddit

reddit is like…an ADHD direct democracy

Any idea can get to the top BUT...Many people need to respond positively to an

idea rapidly or it will be forgotten

For success: Post things lots of people will like and can easily see the appeal of from the headline

stumbleupon

stumbleupon traffic

Traffic to "Angels, demons, and antihy-drogen: The real science of anti-atoms"

from stumbleupon

stumbleupon is like…a book club

Ideas don’t need to be freshTopics keep coming back for

attention/discussionDemographic trends older and femalePeople rate quality after reflection on the

For success: High quality content

facebook

facebook traffic

Occurs too rapidly to show day by dayMost in the first few minutes/hours, some

residual over following daysAdds a steady amount of traffic to our siteTwitter is similar

Facebook+twitter send about 15% of traffic

facebook is like…a clique

Information circulates within peer groupsInformation can spread to other groups

through overlap, and ideas can revive and seem new again

For success: Have lots of friends and know what they like

Conclusion

Social media both drives and reflects a changing information ecosystem—it has new rules

Things are not always what they seem, so dig(g) a little deeper and never trust what anybody says about social media (not even me)

If you’re not playing the game enough to know the rules, you’re not going win in the future

Robot Sharks with Lasers and the Magic Traffic Machine

W E L I K E R E D D I T B I T E S ( T H E Y ’ R E B E T T E R T H A N D E L I C I O U S ) , B E C AU S E T H E Y M A X O U T T H E W I K I

S N A R L S O F R SS F E E D S , W H I C H M E A N S L E SS J A M M I N G AT T H E G O O G L E S C A F F O L D . T H E N J U S T D I G G Y O U R

U P L O A D S I N A V I R A L S P I R A L T O Y O U R S O C I A L N E T W O R K S V I A A N F B / M S I N T E R L I N K T O R R E N T.

“ O U R M A R K E T I N G P L A N ”E L L I S W E I N E R I N T H E T H E N E W Y O R K E R

Learn the Norms, Get the Traffic“Twitter is not a community, but it's an

ecology in which communities can emerge. That's where the banal chit-chat comes in: idle talk about news, weather, and sports is a kind of social glue that can adhere the networks of trust and norms of reciprocity from which community and social capital can grow.”

— Howard Rheingold

How It Works for Wired Science

Wired Science Social Media Traffic

Stumbleupon

Twitter

Facebook

Slashdot

Twitter

Users: Shaq, etc.In a word: (A)liveBait: “Eclipse of the Century Live Online

Tonight” Tip: Get a desktop app.

Users: Young, male.In a word: SpikyBait: “Holes in the Earth: Open Pit Mines

Seen from Space”Tip: Make friends in high places.

Users: Left-leaning nerds.

In a word: Quirky.Bait: “Scientists

Make Desktop Black Hole”

Tip: Submit to the Science Reddit.

Stumbleupon

Users: Internet touristsIn a word: WhimsicalBait: “1 Million Spiders Make Golden Silk for

Rare Cloth”Tip: Try santeria.

Use Us

Feel free to get in touch:alexis.madrigal@gmail.com@alexismadrigalhttp://www.greentechhistory.com

@betsymason@wiredscience

These slides are available at Slideshare:

http://www.slideshare.net/alexismadrigal

NASW Workshop: The Secret Life of Social Media

Education