MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY

AND INFLUENCE

Week Four+ - Application and Extension

Media Psychology and Influence

SPICE 2012 (Erfurt)

ND Bowman PhD, Instructor

Day One: Social and New

Media

Outline

Web 2.0 (O’Reilly, 2005)

Strength of Weak Ties (Granovetter, 1973)

Clay Shirkey (a handful of select readings)

Web 2.0

What is social media?

People + Connections

Web 2.0

A more precise definition:

Web-based services that allow individuals to:

1. construct a public or semi-public profile within a

bounded system,

2. articulate a list of other users with whom they

share a connection, and

3. view and traverse their list of connections and

those made by others within the system.

Let’s look at O’Reilly (2005)

Web 2.0

Web 2.0

1:many

(more) passive

One-Way

Hierarchal

Reading

Retrieving

Information

1:1

(more) active

Two-Way

Communal

Creation

Collaboration

Conversation

Web 1.0 Web 2.0

“Four Pillars” of Social Media

1. Communication

2. Collaboration

3. Education

4. Entertainment

All geared at supporting

CONVERSATON

Web 2.0

Web 2.0

Main principles

1. Web as Platform

2. Harnessing Collective Intelligence

3. Data is the Next “Intel Inside”

4. End of the Software Release Cycle

5. Lightweight Programming Models

6. Software Above the Level of a Single Device

7. Rich User Experiences

Web 2.0 and Media Influence

The Strength of Weak Ties

Historically, we

considered

networking to be a

practice in meeting

“people of influence”

But today, we might

focus less on who

you know, but more

on who they know!

The Strength of Weak Ties

What makes a tie “strong”

Amount of time

Emotional intensity

(mutual) intimacy

Reciprocation

Who do we have strong ties

with?

The Strength of Weak Ties

60%

40%

24%“bridge”

The Strength of Weak Ties

7/1/2012(c) ND Bowman, 2011

…If you want information

to spread quickly, who

would you tell?

The Strength of Weak Ties

Safe and easy diffusion happens with central

leaders (strong tie), but what about marginal

ones (weak ties)?:

Or, do we still have

marginal people in the

Age of Information

(Social Media?)

The Strength of Weak Ties

Weakness in our

own networks?

Egocentric groups,

community groups

can be joined

through bridging

We often

(unknowingly?)

bond each other to

each other

The Strength of Weak Ties

Interpersonal contacts still key, but more key is their contacts!

Weakness in our own networks?

Egocentric groups, community groups can be joined through two-step flow

We tend to get unique information from weak ties, not strong ones!

Here Comes Everybody!

Here Comes Everybody!

How was Evan able to accomplish this?

We’ve always looking for social

networks, but we’ve only been

able to afford so much. Has social

media changed our

“connection budget”?

Here Comes Everybody!

“Give me a place to stand and a lever long enough, and I will move the world”

Apply this to Web 2.0

With today’s information, we don’t so much receive information as we do use it

In case of Sidekick, “Sasha” assumed “Evan would fail!

Did not count on user action

Here Comes Everybody!

Justice prevails, but

what else happened?

Death threats

Sexual harassment

“Browbeating” became

the new solution

OTHERS? We have the

freedom to

speak to

more people

than ever

before. But,

what is our

responsibility

?

Here Comes Everybody!

New media is “an architecture of participation”

BONUS: Who said this?

But, is it the tools or is it something else?

Evan had:

• Drive

• Resources

• Anger

• TOOLS

Here Comes Everybody!

What is the Difference?

Cognitive Surplus

1700s London: Work hard, play hard

Gin was a

drink of

the urban

class.

WHY?

Cognitive Surplus

Fast forward to today, we see a 100% drop in

the average work week

1850: 80 hrs

1950: 40 hrs

TV is the

“gin” of

the 20th

Century?

Cognitive Surplus

…and the increase in television viewing led to

a decrease in social capital – how?

Cognitive Surplus

Not just a USA think

Most all countries with rising GDPs, with all of us:

Working

Sleeping

Watching TV

FEAR?

Less satisfied with real life

More anxiety

More materialistic aspirations

Lack of engagement in other things

Sounding Familiar?

Cognitive Surplus

If Traditional Media is isolating, then what

about New Media?

Some evidence that new media is displacing old

media, especially among younger audiences

New media also used to augment old media

New media is used, not consumed, which

requires skills and community

New media encourages production!

Think Web 2.0

Are we all media?

Is there such a thing as professional media?

Training

Code of conduct (and reward)

Okay, but what do they REALLY do that we

can’t?

Are we all media?

Fundamental change

in publishing from

“Why publish this?” to

“Why not?”

Low (re)production

and distribution costs

lead to a greater

willingness to pull the

trigger

A good thing?

Are we all media?

Okay, but what do they REALLY do that we

can’t?

Start-up capital

Production expertise

“in the know”

Professionalism

Others?

32

Are we all media?

Okay, but what do they REALLY do that we

can’t?

Start-up capital

Production expertise

“in the know”

Professionalism

Others?

33

Are we all media?

Consider the scribes

1400s, elite class (usually clerics) were tasked

with recording all of humanity

Challenged by Gutenberg and his movable type

Ex.: The 93 aches of Luther

Technology didn’t cause the thoughts…

…but allowed for the spread of information

about them

Are we all media?

Publish, then Filter

We see social media

leading to a “mass

amateurization of

information”

A good thing?

Publish, then Filter

One to many, or many to many?

Publish, then Filter

Users, not audiences

38

Publish, then Filter

Network of users =

network of weak

ties…

…each publishing

unique information…

…so do all of us know

more than some of

us?

[THEORY HERE?]

Media Psychology and Influence

SPICE 2012 (Erfurt)

ND Bowman PhD, Instructor

Closing Thoughts

Closing Thoughts