social media
What is a Like Bomb? Is it Good or Bad?
Some people like bombs, others just Like Bomb.
Among active Facebook users, the term “Like Bomb” describes someone rapidly liking a whole bunch of content on your wall. The question is when, if ever, is this a good thing to do?
Like so much else in life, one person’s trash is another’s treasures. Some people love broccoli, other’s can’t abide it. Some people love seeing a long, raid list of notifications show up. Others, especially those who get Facebook notifications on their cell phone or email Inbox, may find it highly annoying.
And, thus, there’s a simple answer:
- If you don’t know someone well enough to predict their reaction, it’s probably a bad idea to Like Bomb their Facebook wall.
- If someone hits your wall hard, it’s fair game to return the favor.
- If you’re looking to engage with someone on Facebook, hit like a maximum of 3-5 items and craft a heart-felt comment.
Another word of warning: too many likes in a rapid span and you’ll end up in Facebook jail. That’s a temporary (but highly annoying) condition whereby Facebook disables the like (and/or commenting) features for your account.
What do you think? Are you happy or annoyed when someone blows up your Facebook notification stream with a dozen or more likes?
Image Source: The Library of Congress, no known copyright
Have Twitter and Facebook Killed Blogging Yet?
“I am so totally going to blog about this party.”
Today’s question from Klout:
Are social media websites like Twitter and Facebook killing the blog? Why or why not?
My answer:
I think overall that Twitter and Facebook are helping, rather than hurting, blogs because they make it easier to find good blog content. There’s still an interest in reading (and writing) content that fits better on a blog. Also, many people like the flexibility and control of having their own site.
Additional thoughts…
- TV didn’t kill radio. I predict that blogging, just like email lists and discussion forums, will endure in some form.
- Blogging as content marketing can be incredibly powerful. While organizations benefit from using Twitter and Facebook to amplify their message and to interact with others, putting original content on your own website keeps you in control of your digital destiny.
- If Twitter and Facebook were going to kill blogs, it would have happened already. There’s room for lots of ways to express yourself.
- If you want a longer take on this subject, I recommend “Is Blogging Dead?” by Mike Myatt. An alternative view (ironically, presented in a blog post) is offered in Francine Hardaway in “Why Blogging is Dead–And, What’s Next“.
With so many people on social networking sites, do you think that helps or hurts blogs?
What’s the easiest way to live-blog an event?
Live-Blogging Old Style
Today’s question from Klout is:
What’s the easiest way to live blog an event and why?
My response (links added here):
What works for me is to live-tweet and then post a collection of tweets as a blog post (a service like Storify makes that easy to do). I like this approach because I can easily monitor or amplify (RT) what others say and also post pictures. Twitter also helps me keep updates short and snappy.
Some additional advice:
- Have a story arch: introduce the event, post (or paint) a picture of the setting, do your updates during the event, and also provide an acknowledgement of when the event ends.
- Provide a summary and highlights, not a transcript!
- Be generous with credit: live-blogging is a great way to build connections by highlighting interesting things that other people are saying and doing.
- Engage in dialogue with those following along.
- Don’t forget to update your live-blog post with relevant links to the event’s official website and other information that will provide useful context for someone who reads the post later.
What do you think makes a good live-blog? Any advice to others who want to live-blog an event
In-Class Activity on Ethics in Social Media
For this week’s meeting of my social media innovation class I created an in-class activity related to ethics and social media.
Activity Structure
The structure of the activity is:
1. Present brief scenarios.
2. Assign student teams to advocate for the “agree” and “disagree” sides of the argument.
3. Give students time to develop those arguments.
4. For each of the three scenarios:
- Take a vote on student positions.
- Have the “agree” and “disagree” teams present their arguments.
- Have any other students also offer justification for their stance.
- Take another vote to see if positions have changed.
This is the first time I’ve done this activity and I think that structure worked well.
Which path do you choose?
Social Media Scenarios
Here are the three scenarios I created.
Scenario #A: One of your co-workers has signed up for the free version of a direct competitors product. One day they get an email blast about a major customer issue and the email was accidently sent with all of the recipients in the cc field instead of the bcc field. Your co-worker suggests adding all of those email addresses to your company’s marketing email list. Do you agree?
Scenario #B: One of your co-workers is assigned to investigate strengths and weakness of a competitor’s product. They create a website on your company’s intranet (e.g., only viewable by employees) that quotes from every negative consumer review they can find on social media or product review websites. One of your co-workers thinks that info should be posted as an anonymous public website. Do you agree?
Scenario #C: You work for a company with a small but loyal customer base. The company has cash flow problems and is concerned about making the next payroll. It may not be able to pay employees like you! A direct marketing firm offers a substantial amount of money if you will sell them the email list of your customers. Your TOS (terms of service) say you will never sell customers’ personal information but it also says the terms can be unilaterally changed at any time. Do you sell the email list to keep the company afloat?
When I use this activity again, I’ll likely tweak the scenarios a little bit. I’d also love to find videos or real-world examples that could be used instead. (If you know of any, please share!)
Outcomes
In initial voting, the students were divided on Scenarios #A and #C (roughly 25% to 75%). When students changed their mind it was a small movement towards the majority opinion. There was almost no-one voting for the “Agree” side of Scenario #B.
If you’re interested in seeing more details on how I administered this, here’s a copy of the hand-out I created: Prof. Johnson Social Media Ethics Activity.
Thank You
A major thank you to everyone who responded to my Twitter and Facebook requests for input on social media ethical issues. It was very helpful.
What do you think? Are these realistic scenarios? What are other scenarios you think students about to enter the workforce should be well-informed about?
Image credit: Go Away! by Steven L. Johnson
Cheldin Barlatt of @igcreativeinc visits @TempleUniv @FoxSchool #MIS3538
Cheldin Barlatt Rumer (@CheldinBarlatt) visited our Social Media Innovation course on Thursday, April 11, 2013. Here’s a storify summarizing the live-tweeting.
Can Social Media Be Addictive?
Visiting Klout.com today, I was asked to answer this question:
Do you believe social media can be addictive? Why or why not?
Here’s my response:
Yes, social media can absolutely be addictive. Variable, intermittent responses are highly habit-forming. Sometimes you’ll have a response, sometimes not, and it’s impossible to predict. Even when there’s no response, it’s easy to find something new to start that cycle of engagement again.
To learn more about intermittent reinforcements check out this section of the Wikipedia page on reinforcement.
Jessica Lawlor of @VisitBucksPA speaks at @TempleUniv @FoxSchool #TempleMade #MIS3538
A huge thank you to Jessica Lawlor for her visit to my class last evening!
Kymberly Robinson of @StratusInteract visits @TempleUniv @FoxSchool #MIS3538
Our fabulous guest speaker series continued in my Social Media Innovation course with a visit from Kymberly Robinson, CEO of Stratus Interactive.
Here’s an archive of live blogging from her visit:
Chris Zilles of @social_media_hq visits @TempleUniv @FoxSchool #MIS3538
Our awesome guest speaker series continues in my Social Media Innovation course this semester. Latest visitor was Chris Zilles of Social Media HQ.
Here’s an archive of live blogging from his visit:
Introduction to Popular Social Media Services
The first team assignment in my Social Media Innovation course is to pick an online service and write an introduction to it.
I hope you’ll check them out. Here’s a good set to start with:
- Foursquare (by Jim Davanzo and Yin Liu)
- Pinterest (by Emily McFadden and Ancy Thomas)
- Stumbleupon (by Ryan Williams, James Griffith, and Brian Doria)
- TripAdvisor (by Kathryn Cudemo, Jonathan Abraham and Julie Ho)
- Weibo (by Xiujuan Chen, Chunyong Huang, Yixin Lin, and Xin Qu)
And, here’s the rest:
- Facebook (by Johnie Gray and Laqwonda Wilson)
- Facebook 2 (by Sunghee Hong, Thomas Lyons, Benny Nasimeuang)
- Flickr (by Danielle Domanico and Marisol Bautista)
- FoodSpotting (by Sal Caruso and Jennie Quattrocchi)
- Instagram (by Bernardo Juncal, Scott Mingora, Tuanh Nguyen, and Alex Schwartz)
- Reddit (by Scott Raff, Damon Isaac, and Caitlin Carr)
- Reddit #2 (by Neil Patel, Kyle Blackstone, and Rachel Bitting)
- Reddit #3 (by Mun Khin Chin, Chunru Liu, Pragya Mantri, and Jielin Zhang)
- Twitter – Team Yo, South Philly (by Ryan Maguire and Maureen Saraullo)
- Twitter: Social Media Mafia (by Camilo Lopez, Marc Frutchey, and Rachel Hutchison)
- YELP (by Anh Nguyen,Li Jiang, and Chen Feng)
Which is your favorite?
Steven L. Johnson