Social Media

Materials
Web Sites	Glossary	Bibliography	Formulas	Tables	Media
Resources	Maps	Documents	News	GIS	Careers

Lesson Outline Menu
Module Description	Duration

Introduction	20 minutes
Social Media Applications	30 minutes
Social Media Analysis Framework	15 minutes
Social Media Problems	15 minutes
Social Media Information	15 minutes
Social Media Examples	90 minutes
New Social Media	90 minutes
Social Media Observations	15 minutes
Social Media Propaganda Module	45 minutes

Total Module Duration	345 minutes

Objectives

The purpose of this lesson is to develop a common framework for analyzing social media applications, explore some popular social media web sites and examine how they might be employed for national preparedness, response and recovery.

Social media are of interest in homeland security and national preparedness because:

They have shown their power in creating and connecting communities which could be beneficial before, during and after emergencies.
There have been some anecdotal stories ad hoc emergency uses of social networks i.e. resources being donated, people and property found.
Sociaal networks have been used to spread erroneous or false information about emergencies.

The essential questions for emergency managers are: How can I build and maintain social networks? and How can I direct them for useful purposes?

Definition:

Social Media: Social media is a collective term for websites and applications that focus on communication, community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration.
Source: www.techtarget.com

Definition:

Web 2.0: A conceptual framework for the metamorphosis of the World Wide Web championed by Tim O'Reilly. The framework components include:

The Web As Platform
Harnessing Collective Intelligence
Data is the Next Intel Inside
End of the Software Release Cycle
Lightweight Programming Models
Software Above the Level of a Single Device
Rich User Experiences

Source: "What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software," Tim O'Reilly, 09/30/2005, http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html

Social media applications built on the Web 2.0 framework create communities of common interest. Users share ideas, build consensus and strengthen the community. In essence, social media systems are containers for forming and facilitating user-defined groups. Their power lies in the ubitiquity of the Web.

Social media applications share some common characteristics. In order to facilitate the analysis of the selected social media applications, we have developed a framework for analysis.

Resources:

O'Reilly Media http://oreilly.com

Kaplan, AM, Haenlein, M. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media, Business Horizons 2010;53(1):59-68.