Introduction
Learning Outcomes:
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Define "social media"
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Describe the four categories of "social media"
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Describe the four characteristics of "social media"
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Identify who uses social media and for what reasons
What is Social Media?
The definition of "social media" is broken down by 'media,' which describes "something that stands in between two things or people and facilitates interaction between them," (Jones and Hafner, 2012) and 'social,' pertaining to the four different dimensions of sociality: information, community, communication, and collaboration (Fuchs, 2014).
According to Jose van Dijck (2012) and described in Social Media for Academics, Second Edition by Mark Carrigan, social media are divided in to four categories:​
Other noteworthy social media platforms that are more academically focused include ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Mendeley, and Google Scholar.
Social media and the internet is constantly evolving and new technology is emerging. danah boyd, author of the book It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens (2014), describes four characteristics within current social media:
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persistence: the durability of online expressions and content (also meaning longevity of information);
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visibility: the potential audience who can bear witness;
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spreadability: the ease with which content can be shared; and
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searchability: the ability to find content
An online environment with these characteristics makes it possible for information and communication to reach wide audiences very quickly. The internet has made it possible to research almost anything, at any time, anywhere!
Who is using social media?
Today, there are approximately 4.8 billion internet users (Internet Live Stats, 2021), 3.8 billion social media users (Kemp, 2020), and in 2019, approximately 72% of Americans in the US used some type of social media (Pew Research Center, 2019). With a growing population of online users worldwide, social media is being integrated in our daily lives. Depending on the age, social media is utilized for many reasons, most commonly to share pictures and updates and to connect with family and friends, as shown in the graph below.
In addition, corporations, businesses, and non-profit organizations utilize social media to advertise their products and services. Universities and colleges are also utilizing social media to market their educational programs to prospective students around the world. For example, Yale University promotes their school on many major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn (Yale University, 2020). Many ivy league colleges such as Brown University even encourage the use of social media by faculty, staff, and students and provide policy guidelines and best practices when using it for personal or professional purposes (Brown University, 2020).
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Although most individuals primary use social media for personal purposes, it is becoming more important for professionals to develop and maintain an online presence and professional brand to increase visibility on your professional expertise. Especially for academics and scholars, actively engaging in digital scholarship can help publicize your work and expand your audience tapping into different academic fields (Carrigan, 2020).
“If Google cannot find a faculty scholar's work or the work of the scholar's colleagues, department, or institution, then it is essentially irrelevant — even nonexistent — because people will not find, read, apply, or build on the work if they cannot locate it via a quick Google search.”
In addition to academic contribution, it can be assumed that a Google search applies to the search of a specific individual. According to Segal (2014, cited in Sameen, 2016), approximately 77% of companies in a Society for Human Resources Management survey use social media to hire and recruit applicants, particularly technology focused companies (CareerBuilder, 2009, cited by Sameen, 2016). As early as 2014, it was found that approximately 80% of employers use Google to casually screen applicants for an interview (Joyce 2014; Mathews, 2014). Although the results indicated that social media profiles do not make or break the hiring process in the business world, having an incomplete profile can make an applicant seem “out-of-date and/or lazy, has nothing to share, or worse, has something to hide” (Lowenthal, 2016) and can be counterproductive to building a career (Peregrin, 2012).
For professionals in education and learning design and development, an online presence can help you stay connected with your community, network with other professionals outside your field of interest and expertise, collaborate with different professionals, and continuously learn about the evolving field of learning design.