Social Media Now A Part Of School Curriculum

OCR Includes Study Of Social Media In Sociology Course

Social media is to become a part of the school curriculum, following an announcement from the OCR Exam Board that it will take into account ‘how people are responding to the new rules of the digital global village.’ Students will now study and be tested on social media, online security and privacy, and the culture of selfies.

The decision applies to sixth form students studying Sociology for AS and A level, a combined number of around 80,000 students each year, and will take effect from September 2015.

Source: googleenterprise.blogspot.com

OCR is one of England’s largest exam boards, and this decision is sure to have an impact on the way in which the study of sociology is considered across not only different boards but beyond – 7,000 people graduate with a degree in Sociology from UK universities every year.

It is not just Sociology which will be affected. Those students who study Sociology for A level go on to a wide range of degree courses, and by including a discussion of social media at this relatively early stage such thinking is sure to inform disciplines like history, literature, and even more traditionally science-based subjects like psychology.

The course will look at traditional sociological concepts such as identity, power, and community through the lens of social media, bringing a modernity and immediacy to the subject which is seen by some to be lacking. OCR’s subject team manager, Victoria Hunter, said that the board has ‘brought [their] syllabus bang up to date with exciting new content that tackles some of the biggest issues facing societies today,’ and hopes that this move will reverse the trend of Sociology being seen by some as a ‘soft option’ for A-level students.

Source: learnforlifeenterprise.co.uk

The use of social media in the actual process of education has been acknowledged for some time, with students using services like Facebook and WhatsApp to communicate and co-ordinate projects and even to stay in touch with teachers outside school hours. Many courses, particularly at university level, take place wholly online, and so for students to have some grounding in not just the practicalities but the theory and history surrounding social media would be apt not only on an intellectual but also a practical level.

This may be where the difficulty will lie as far as the individual student is concerned. Separating one’s personal experience of social media from a detached intellectual analysis of it will not be instinctive, and it is perhaps this – the ability to distinguish between social media as an aspect of daily life and its place within a broader socio-historical context – which will be of the greatest long term benefit to students.

Use of social media inherently encourages critical thinking, as the famous ‘Facebook gap’ between people’s real lives and how they present themselves online becomes an established phenomenon, and the codifying of this in the educational establishment is an important step towards widespread recognition of this fact.

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Head Over Heels For Social Media

W Hotels offers ‘social media concierge’ to live-tweet your wedding – for $3,000

Is this a story of modern romance or a case of social media taken too far? The wedding photographer is a staple at the big day – but a Social Media Wedding Concierge? 

The luxury W Hotels chain has taken the decision to offer a social media specialist as part of its wedding package, ensuring there’s someone on hand  to tweet, Instagram, Vine, blog and Facebook every precious moment of your day. Surely there are certain things you want to keep private? 

The deal (which only runs to the end of the year so get your names signed up quickly!) is offered by four of the hotels in New York, providing the happy couple with a social media expert who can satisfy all your networking needs from ‘live tweets and hashtags to Vine videos and Instagram filters, W’s Social Media Wedding Concierge will document the ‘I Dos’ and encourage guests to utilize a dedicated wedding hashtag for every one of their posts’. Right.

In the hotel chain’s marketing spiel, there’s also something about creating a Pinterest board ‘to inspire the couple’ and a Shutterfly book containing all the ‘social media highlights from the day.’ 

Live tweeting from the ceremony, Instagramming pics of the first dance and Vining videos of the reception – as well as thinking up a unique wedding hashtag – begs the question, who is going to pay $3000 for this, frankly bizarre, service? Perhaps the same couples who buy into this latest fad would also consider signing up to the new social media prenuptials clauses.

Is the W ahead of the game on this one, or is it simply an overpriced gimmick seeking to exploit people’s addiction to social media?

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Google Sparks Censorship Fears

Google is at the centre of controversy on social media after it removed a seven-year-old article criticising a former Merrill Lynch chief executive. It was removed from the search engine on Thursday, and now the Internet giant is facing heavy criticism from all quarters due to its apparent censorship.

Source: velocityagency.com

Google responded to the EU ruling on the “right to be forgotten” by removing various articles from its Europeansearch rankings, and this action led to accusations of censorship and over-reach. The blog post that hascaused so much controversy was posted by Robert Peston and titled “Merrill’s mess,” it described how Stan O’Neal left the US investment bank after it suffered massive losses on high risk investments.

Mr Peston acknowledged that Google had banished his article from the Internet, and he stated that the company had in effect removed his article from the public eye, “given that Google is the route to information and stories for most people.”

Before the Internet giant had removed the article, he had received a “notice of removal,” telling him that his article would no longer appear in the results of Google searches. All this comes after a court hearing in May, when the European Court of Justice, ruled that individuals had the right to request the removal of search results if they deemed it “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant.” This rule will now be upheld even if the information was originally published in a legal manner, and it now poses the question, when does something that was relevant once become irrelevant?

Google opposed the decision that the court ruled, and responded by introducing an online form giving visitors to its European sites a formal route to make removal requests. As a result of this tactic by Google, within the first four days they received more than 41,000 requests.

Ben Bradshaw who is a former Labour culture secretary said that Google seemed to be over-interpreting the courts decision: “Mr Peston is right to say the information he published is still relevant […] I can’t see why Google would do this. It is either a mistake or could be an attempt by them to whip up a storm of indignation against the regulatory authorities in an attempt to influence the bigger battles to come.”

Source: digitaltrends.com

In the end, Mr Peston conceded that he could be “the victim of teething problems,” as Google begins to implement the new rules. He later added: “There is an argument that in removing the blog, Google is confirming the fears of many in the industry that the ‘right to be forgotten’ will be abused to curb freedom of expression and to suppress legitimate journalism that is in the public interest.”

This is maybe the start of a transition period on the Internet, where free speech will be slowly drowned out. It is a worrying concept for many, as the Internet has long been seen as a space where anything goes, and where alternative opinions could be voiced. If rulings such as the one above continue, the Internet will be as regulated as the life that people lead away from the screens, and eventually people will feel claustrophobic, and the consequences could be dire for society.

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Social Media Marketing Explained

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A simple but very important overview

10 Must-Haves for Your Social Media Policy

There are generally two approaches to social media policy making. Some organizations handle social media in an evolutionary way. Chad Houghton, the director of e-media and business development at the Society for Human Resource Management, told me that he thinks, “it might be beneficial not to create some arbitrary rules without first seeing where the opportunities and risks really are.”

Other organizations, meanwhile, feel more comfortable establishing a clear policy from the outset. IBM, for example, has published their social media guidelines publicly for anyone to read. It's a great policy, though rather long.

Whether you're writing your social media policy from the get-go, or letting it develop organically in reaction to situations as they arise, here are 10 things you should definitely consider. These 10 tips will help you steer clear of pitfalls and allow you to focus on what’s important: engaging the customer.

1. Introduce the purpose of social media

All policies need to address what's in it for the reader/user — what should the reader take away after reading the policy? One of the common themes I kept coming across in introductions to social media policies is the idea that the policy should focus on the things that employees canrather than what they can't do. For those of us who have experience writing policies, this is a real paradigm shift.

But that’s the spirit of social media — it’s all about leveraging the positive. And that needs to be evident in the policy. Houghton agrees, “The old way of doing things is to create an unnecessarily restrictive model of engagement that prevents companies from leveraging new media appropriately.”

2. Be responsible for what you write

Oren Michels, CEO of Mashery, explains that “people tend to interpret having the ‘right’ to express themselves online as implying a lack of consequences when they say stupid things.” That's not the case. Your organization and its representatives need to take responsibility for what they write, and exercise good judgment and common sense.

"Dooced" is an Internet expression that means to lose one’s job because of things one says on one's website or blog. No one wants that to happen, of course, so using common sense and being responsible is important.

3. Be authentic

Include your name and, when appropriate, your company name and your title. Consumers buy from people that they know and trust, so let people know who you are.

4. Consider your audience

When you’re out in the blogosphere or Twitterverse or other social media channels, remember that your readers include current clients, potential clients, as well as current/past/future employees. Consider that before you publish and make sure you aren't alienating any of those groups.

5. Exercise good judgment

Refrain from comments that can be interpreted as slurs, demeaning, inflammatory, etc. The Internet is full of varied opinions, and it's okay to share yours, but you never, never, never want to be branded a racist or narrow-minded or an unstoppable hot-head.

Your employees should understand that companies can and will monitor employee use of social media and social networking web sites, even if they are engaging in social networking or social media use away from the office. Eric B. Meyer, an associate at the labor and employment group of Dilworth Paxson LLP, reminds us that, “employees should always think twice before hitting ’send‘; consider what could happen if your organization sees what the employee publishes on the Internet and how that may reflect not just on the employee, but also the company.”

Bottom line: good judgment is paramount regardless of whether an employee's online comments relate directly to their job.

6. Understand the concept of community

The essence of community is the idea that it exists so that you can support others and they, in turn, can support you. You need to learn how to balance personal and professional information, and the important role that transparency plays in building a community. Your community shouldn't be an environment where competition is encouraged or emphasized, but rather a platform where your customers or users feel comfortable sharing, connecting, and receiving help.

7. Respect copyrights and fair use

This should be a no-brainer, but just in case: always give people proper credit for their work, and make sure you have the right to use something with attribution before you publish.

8. Remember to protect confidential & proprietary info

Being transparent doesn’t mean giving out the Colonel’s special 11 herbs and spices used in KFC chicken or the recipe for McDonald's Big Mac special sauce.

Those examples seem pretty self-explanatory, but Meyer, points out that, “employers may fail to make employees aware of any obligation they may have to protect confidential or proprietary information.” Transparency doesn’t give employees free rein to share just anything. Meyer says that every state has a law governing trade secrets.

Therefore, employees who share confidential or proprietary information do so at the risk of losing their job and possibly even ending up a defendant in a civil lawsuit. At the very least, companies will seriously question the judgment of an employee who shares confidential or proprietary information via social media. It's a good idea to make sure all of this is clearly laid out in your social media policy.

9. Bring value

Social media will more likely pay dividends for you if you add value to your followers, readers, fan, and users. Michels, for example, said he’s used blog posts as a “means to frame the conversation around specific issues and make sure that our position is heard and commented on," or as a way to build buzz for upcoming products or services.

Joe Homs, the CEO of Headset Bros., shared with me two instances where social media has provided an opportunity to bring customer value. Once, on Twitter, they ran across a person who was looking for a recommendation for a product they sell. A simple message to her that was quick and relevant allowed them to make a fast sale.

Another time, on Facebook, a customer complaint about not receiving an order led to the realization that their shipping company had lost the package. Sending the customer a new package overnight fixed the problem and they eventually worked out the problem with the shipping company as well.

Still confused about the different ways you can provide value using social media? Check out the video from Barry Judge, the Chief Marketing Officer at Best Buy, embedded below.

(Thanks to Christine Tierney for the heads up on this great video.)

10. Productivity matters

I asked Homs if he was concerned that his employees would lose focus if they were spending too much time on social media sites. His comment: there's not much to balance. He told me, “talking to people (over social media or otherwise) is our ‘real’ job.” Headset Bros estimates that 90% of their business is communication with customers (online and by phone). To help with the rest, they’ve automated most of their other business functions.

But, your social media usage won't get you very far if you don't execute on the core competencies of your business. Remember that in order for your social media endeavors to be successful, you need to find the right balance between social media and other work.

Sample social media policy

The Headset Bros. were kind enough to let us republish their social media policy. It's short, but that's by design, because CEO Joe Homs told me, "we want people to read it."

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