An evaluative statement

Social media has had a huge impact in transforming the professional environment of various organisations. Building relationships and connectivity through participative empowerment amongst consumers, have become fundamental principles of the social networking phenomena. Particularly, information professionals are leveraging the approaches typified by Web 2.0 principles and technology from which social media has evolved, to serve their existing audiences better and reach out to potential beneficiaries at an exponential rate (Miller, 2005, para.19). Social media has opened up bright prospects for knowledge sharing, boosting social relationships and including patrons in decision-making to aid information professionals carry out their tasks more efficiently and effectively (Islam & Tsuji, 2016, p. 44) . The future seems most exciting and promising.

Social media has endowed information professionals with several innovative and dynamic opportunities to improve services. The most common combination of organisations and social media is “broadcast -based promotions and marketing of resources and services” (Young & Rossmann, 2015, p. 21). Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are the top three most used social platforms among global marketers (Guttmann, 2020), producing increased traffic and user-generated content through active and passive marketing strategies. Through their study of Canadian public libraries, Vanscoy et al., (2018) attest that programmes, services and collections formed the largest category of library tweets and program tweets were most likely to be liked and retweeted by followers. Similarly, Instagram’s high-quality, fun  and compact in-app offering: ‘carousel photos’ allows up to ten photos or videos’ upload to promote new collections, celebrations or events’ display, to attract high usage and receive instant user feedback and further transmission. The challenge to information professionals lies in maximising social media platforms’ Web 2.0 technology  and offer  modern, creative twists to traditional means of one-way marketing.

Harnessing social media as an enhanced community-building tool can be advantageous to information professionals. The inextricable relationship between online platforms and societal structures aligns with van Dijck et al.’s, notion of the ‘platform society’ (2018, p.1). A sense of belonging is achieved when a friend/consumer/patron replies or ‘Likes’ a post on Facebook. Social news sites, reddit and Digg  foster norms of shared trust and shared vision with upvotes and curated frontpages, thereby creating opportunities for collective action through information sharing on its sites (Young & Rossman, 2015, p.21). Social media are critical platforms for building online and offline social ties that can increase participation in civic and political life (Boulianne, 2019, p.40). Investing on technological capacities of social media facilitated by Web 2.0, information professionals can provide users with a multidimensional, mobile and a socially connected space that creates value for both.

Social media networks have also been helpful in enabling information professionals engage in professional learning and dialogue. The accelerating pace at which new information emerges and spreads in the ubiquitous information landscape, ongoing learning and development goals need to be met with flexible ways of achieving them. Embracing social media potential for workplace learning has been touted “as a breakthrough across the learning spectrum” (Muyia & Nafukho, 2016, p.1566). The adoption and use of blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Podcasts and YouTube are just a few social networking and media platforms to access formal and informal learning across global sources.

Twitter and Facebook facilitates free, informal and  communal space for professional learning in which participants can form personalised networks. These platforms “break down spatial boundaries across geographical lines and time zones” and accommodate different learning styles of its users  “where some may engage in reciprocal sharing while others may prefer to just listen” (Strum & Quaynor, 2019, p.26). Moreover, planned virtual dialogue groups may be formed using hashtags around topics of interest. Active learning and collaboration as evident though using social media, align with fundamental principles of adult learning and social learning theories to promote workplace learning (Strum & Quaynor, 2019, p.24).

Despite the plethora of social media tools available and the range of personalised and communal benefits they offer, strategic planning is necessary for selective use and application of social media tools. Information professionals can develop Personal Learning Networks (PLN) to connect with learners around the globe and meet their specific needs for self- improvement or address work-related needs. Becoming an organisational trend watcher, attending virtual technology conferences, blogging and commenting on subscribed blogs would help to evolve a consumer into a producer. Information generation, dissemination and collaboration across diverse communities and resources are shared and exchanged, which would have been impossible to access within a sole organisation’s walls (Nielsen, 2008, para.1). Thus, proper use can help  mitigate risks and exploitation associated with social media and set up reciprocated model behaviour.

Understanding the challenges in using social media concerning ethics, individual privacy and copyright laws are also crucial considerations for information professionals. Huwe (2015) admits that “the internet was really designed for performance, not security” (p.21). The tools may be digital, but the people you reach and interact with are real (Young & Rossmann, 2017, p.3). Gaining their trust and assuring quality reflects professionalism and social responsibility.

Information professionals have to prioritise on thinking purposefully about creating an impactful social media presence. Building bridges between people and resources does not suffice information professionals’ present job scope. Nurturing and sustaining collaborative relationships while accessing and sharing resources has come to the forefront. Knowing our varied users, understanding their diverse needs, welcoming their involvement, providing equity in access and leveraging on specific social media platforms’ capabilities that best suits one’s organisation are paramount.

Crafting a social media policy to stipulate guidelines of use to chart responsible and effective use while protecting organisations’ interests is another strategic move to be undertaken by information professionals. A specific crisis response protocol is to be  established before a controversial issue arises (Corsillo, 2019, para. 4). Cultivating partnerships with security experts at various levels within an organisation is a shrewd means of safeguarding privacy. This would help to address hacks to individual data and adherence to and enforcement of content licenses upon spotting inappropriate use (Huwe, 2015, p. 22).  Security reviews ought to be an ongoing feature of  organisations and remain an automatic process for all new projects or initiatives. The social media policy needs to be a ‘living document’ (James, n.d., para. 5). Monitoring usage and reviewing the policy periodically is crucial. It has to be changing and evolving to match the rapid pace of change occurring in the global information and technological landscape.

Thus, information professionals should strive to embed themselves within their user community. Web 2.0 technologies, social media tools in particular, facilitate the transformation of organisations’ static, ‘one-way broadcast’ functionality into becoming interactive community spaces. It is essential for information professionals to embrace the changing conceptions of grasping information and use social networking technologies responsibly and successfully to form a fruitful connection with patrons.

 Word count: 1117 words.

 References

Boulianne, S. (2019). Revolution in the making? Social media effects across the globe. Information, Communication & Society, 22(1), 39-54. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1353641

Corsillo, G.K. (2019). Staying Social: Why Your Library Needs Social Media Policies. Public libraries online. http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2019/06/staying-social-why-your-library-needs-social-media-policies/

Guttmann, A. (Jul 6, 2020). Leading benefits of using social media for marketing purposes worldwide as of January 2020. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/188447/influence-of-global-social-media-marketing-usage-on-businesses/

Huwe, T. K. (2015). Libraries and the new culture of trust. Computers in Libraries, 35(5), 21-22,24.

Islam, A., & Tsuji. K. (2016). Information professionals’ knowledge sharing practices in social media: A study of professionals in developing countries. International Journal of Knowledge Content Development & Technology, 6(2), 43-66. https://doi.org/10.5865/IJKCT.2016.6.2.043

Miller, P. (2005, October 30). Web 2.0: Building the new library. Ariadne, 45. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue45/miller

Muyia, H. M., & Nafukho, F. M. (2016). Keeping it social: Transforming workplace learning and development through social media. In Management Association, I. (Ed.), Professional development and workplace learning: concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications (pp. 1566-1586). IGI Global. http://doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-8632-8.ch085

Nielsen, L. (2008, 12 October). 5 things you can do to begin developing your personal learning. [Blog post].The Innovative Educator. https://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2008/04/5-things-you-can-do-to-begin-developing.html

OCLC. (2007). Sharing, privacy and trust in our networked world: A report to the OCLC membership. https://www.oclc.org/content/dam/oclc/reports/pdfs/sharing.pdf

Sturm, E., & Quaynor, L. (2020). A window, mirror, and wall: How educators use twitter for professional learning. Research in Social Sciences and Technology, 5(1), 22-44. https://doi.org/10.46303/ressat.05.01.2

van Dijck, J., Poell, T. & de Waal, M. (2018). The platform society. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190889760.001.0001

VanScoy, A., Hicks, D. & Cavanagh, M. (2018). What motivates Twitter users to engage with libraries? Information Research, 23 (4). http://informationr.net/ir/23-4/isic2018/isic1807

A reflective  statement

I chose this elective (INF 506: Social Networking for Information Professionals) as a personal challenge to overcome my reluctance and refrain from joining the social media frenzy that seems to be dominating people’s personal and professional lives.   Belonging to the pre-Internet generation and having started my teaching career with blackboards being used in classrooms, I am accustomed to living life without reliance on advanced technology. Nevertheless, being a teacher librarian (an information specialist) for the past year and a half and wanting to relate better with my enthusiastic and techno-savvy young learners, I understood the need for a change in mindset and pedagogy. This subject has definitely interested me into incorporating social media as an important fixture to my teacher librarian portfolio.

I was thrilled at the range of personalised social networking platforms (Facebook group, blog posts, Twitter and Instagram hashtags and Diigo  social bookmarking service) created to assist students of this subject throughout the course. It certainly piqued the way for active learning and collaboration as course mates “share, participate, create, interact and learn from each other formally and informally”( Muyia & Nafukho, 2016, p. 1568) across geographical boundaries, time and space.  Moreover, facilitating to different users’ learning preferences and needs heed  Williams’ (2018)  rationale of embracing various social media services “to catering for different students on a variety of platforms suited to students’ preferences” (p. 143).

The social bookmarking site ‘Diigo’ was a platform I used regularly and would like to introduce to my school teaching staff and students as  a means of creating  customised directories  based on multi-disciplinary themes. +They can contribute collectively by ‘tagging’ useful Internet research links and be exposed to a wider range of useful resources (Adekunle & Olla, 2015, p. 57) that is impossible with time constraint. The library ideally would act as a virtual, communal space, increasing information-richness, social communication and user-generated content (Nisar et al., 2019, p. 265).

Completing blogging tasks for each topic greatly helped to reflect on course content and promoted deep learning. It improved my self confidence in expressing my opinion on matters relating to social media and opened my mind to value feedback and different perspectives from others ( Maxwell, 2019, p. 23). This is evident from my OLJ task 1 blog entry.  While I could not accept the research findings, I was intrigued by another course mate’s (Michelle Vinall) agreement to it, citing personal experience. Similarly, while attempting to define Librarian 2.0 for my OLJ task 10, it was insightful to read the contributions of others (Vanessa Leung and Amy Wrigglesworth), thereby, deepening my understanding on the complexity of arriving at a definition for an ever-evolving concept. From these collaborative experiences, I am keen to adopt similar knowledge sharing opportunities gained through blogging and use it to track my professional journey. Networking with other libraries and librarians through blogging could lead to innovation and creativity. Additionally, accruing information on emerging technology trends and ideas  in the information professional field, library industry and the world at large (King, 2018, p. 15)  through subscribing to become an individual or organisational trend watcher would certainly contribute to my development as an informational professional.

Through my readings and continual exploration, I was overwhelmed by the numerous  social networking and media tools made possible by Web 2.0 technology to alleviate library service to a whole new level. Reading the blog posts and Facebook responses of fellow course mates on their understanding of these varied technology tools and sharing of working experiences were insightful and timesaving. Social media’s potential to harness collective intelligence and nurture users as co-developers of knowledge was experienced first-hand.  Nevertheless, I was also convinced on the need to adopt a social media strategy to ensure “feasibility, benefits and user appropriateness” (Williams, 2018, p.139) in my future undertakings.

Focusing on equipping my young learners (high school teens) with transliterate skills would be a major  endeavour in my teaching pedagogy. Rapid advancement of Web 2.0 technologies and social media have brought a new perspective to the traditional information specialist role of teacher librarians. From preparing students to access, evaluate and analyse information; they are to portray the ability to now read, write and interact across a range of platforms and media, not tied to space and modality. They are to produce and share content to a global audience and confidently seek open engagement. Sukovic (2016) rightfully claims transliteracy as “a holistic process – a fluid movement across situational, social, cultural and technological contexts” (p.153) and becomes a “natural fit for librarians” (p.8). I have to focus on enabling access to multiplicity of quality information and knowledge while maintaining professional ethos of trust, reliability and equity. Modelling exemplary attitude in using social media would create a ripple effect on my audience.

The first assignment for this subject was an appropriate and enjoyable task of putting theory into practice. On wanting to create a user-centric library environment and reaching out to users from wherever they are, I realised the futility of finding the ‘perfect’ social media platform that will help everyone. Adhering to Peacemaker et al.’s (2016) recommendation of experimenting, anticipating constant change in users’ changing needs and interests and planning accordingly (p.104)  led me to cultivate an open mind. Consistent goal setting, evaluating and focussing pointedly on improving relationships with my audience is vital. It would put me on track towards maintaining or creating new platforms for continued adaptation in an ever-evolving social media landscape.

The new challenge that lies ahead of me is to consider how best to invest in social media and social networking platforms within my school library setting. I am aware of school protocols and safeguarding students’ privacy. With less focus on marketing the library, I hope to  use social media as a communication and collaborative channel to increase students’ spontaneity and authenticity in thoughts to promote their learning to a high level. That marks the essence of 21^st century library service!

Admittedly, I had not been an active  participant in the range of social networking channels that were opened for students in this course. I was more of an engrossed observant and ‘freshie’ who was awed by the numerous potential in social media that could be incorporated into library services to sustain its relevance in the education of 21^st century learners. I aim to be a strategically creative and reflective social networker, in my personal and professional life. I feel confident of achieving my target through valuable tips acquired from this subject.

Word count : 1067 words

References

Adekunle, P. A., & Olla, G. O. (2015). Social media application and the library: An expository discourse. In Tella, A. (Ed.), Social Media Strategies for Dynamic Library Service Development (pp. 41-70). IGI Global. http://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-7415-8.ch003

Kanmani, N. (2020, December 13). OLJ task 1:Social Media and Society [Blog post].

https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/kanmani/2020/12/13/olj-task-1social-media-and-society/

Kanmani, N. (2021, January 9). OLJ Task 10: Defining Librarian 2.0 (Module 4) [Blog post].

https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/kanmani/2021/01/09/olj-task-10-defining-librarian-2-0-module-4/

King, D. L. (2018). Trend watching: Who and how to follow. Library Technology Reports, 54(2), 14-23.

Maxwell, L. (2019). A librarian’s journey in blogging. Library Technology Reports, 55(5), 21-24.

Muyia, H. M., & Nafukho, F. M. (2016). Keeping it social: Transforming workplace learning and development through social media. In Management Association, I. (Ed.), Professional Development and Workplace Learning: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 1566-1586). IGI Global. http://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-8632-8.ch085

Nisar, T. M., Prabhakar, G., & Strakova, L. (2019). Social media information benefits, knowledge management and smart organizations. Journal of Business Research, 94, 264-272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.05.005

Peacemaker, B., Robinson, S. & Hurst, E,J. (2016). Connecting

best practices in public relations to social media strategies for academic libraries. College &Undergraduate Libraries, 23 (1), 101-108. https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2016.1134244

Sukovic, S. (2016). Transliteracy in complex information environments. Elsevier Science & Technology.

Vinall, M. (2020, November 20). Social Media and Fear of Missing Out in Adolescents: The Role of Family Characteristics [Blog post].https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/inf506onlinelearningjournalblog/2020/11/20/social-media-and-fear-of-missing-out-in-adolescents-the-role-of-family-characteristics/

Williams, M. L. (2018). The adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in academic libraries: A comparative exploration. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 52(1), p.137 -149. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000618788725

Wrigglesworth, A. (2021, January 9). Module 6: On to the future! [Blog post].https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/amywriggleswortholj/2021/01/03/module-4-defining-librarian-2-0/

Yan, L. W. (2021, January 6). (Module 4) OLJ task 10: Defining librarian 2.0 [Blog post].https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/vanessablog/2021/01/06/module-4-olj-task-10-defining-librarian-2-0/

Title of focus article: The Internet of Things serving libraries.

This blog post comments on the exciting opportunities made possible to libraries rising from the phenomena of Internet of things (IoT) technology. The author shares the successful implementation of IoT-automated centralised management system into the Russian State Library for Young Adults’ (RSLYA) building infrastructure. Plans of introducing ‘smart bookshelves’ with RFID (radio frequency identification), an automatic book sorter, central control of lights and technical equipment for events and programmes and even a remote -controlled vending machine are well underway.

The marvels of IoT use around the globe, primarily focussing on library automatization using robots and drones is discussed. While the huge potential of offering library users’ optimal experience through amazing technological advances, the author stresses on the need to retain the human aspect: the atmosphere of knowledge, guidance, comfort, help, mutual understanding and collaboration. Libraries function best via connecting through genuine service and not hi-tech machinery.

As a teacher librarian, the possible integration of IoT-facilitated equipment into my school library could be part of a process of creating a future-ready library. Nevertheless, a robust infrastructure would have its underpinnings of providing equitable digital access to our students and not surmounting to creating an extravagant outlook and incurring unnecessary expenditure. Preparing students to face a digital and technology-driven world with confidence is fundamental. Using innovative technologies to improve students’ learning by providing opportunities at connecting students to explore, share, create knowledge with their peers in their own classroom and around the world becomes an integral part of teacher librarians’ job scope (Australian School Library Association, 2013, p.7). School libraries must become flexible, dynamic, high tech learning centres that are the hub of the learning environment of the school.

For teacher librarians, the integration of IoT technology to expand beyond assisting building infrastructure and into its daily operations and service is an inevitable happening. A smart library system using IoT can help to do complete monitoring and control functionalities of the library environment without library staff (Holland, 2020, p.19). A fear on the irrelevance or reduction of library staff becomes a matter of concern.

Moreover, with privacy and security of the internet on everyone’s mind these days and reports of massive hacks, teacher librarians must guarantee library users of trust and reliability in the services they provide. They must continue to remain the critical bond between the provider and consumer. Teacher librarians  must actively engage in conversations (Massis, 2016, p.291) with the school community for continual improvement of its services and facilitate transmission of necessary information to their learners. Connectivity arising from the human touch is most valuable.

Word count:   427 words

References:

Australian School Library Association (2013). Future learning and school libraires. https://asla.org.au/resources/Documents/Website%20Documents/Resources/2013-ASLA-futures-paper.pdf

Holland, B. (2020). Emerging Technology and Today’s Libraries. In Holland, B. (Eds.), Emerging Trends and Impacts of the Internet of Things in Libraries (pp. 1-33). IGI Global. http://doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-4742-7.ch001

Massis, B. (2016). The internet of things and its impact on the library. New Library World, 117(3), 289-292. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1108/NLW-12-2015-0093

Purnik, A. (2019). The Internet of Things serving libraries [Blog post]. https://www.ifla.org/node/92356

                                                                                  Credit: https://www.pingdom.com/blog/traffic-trends-for-digg-vs-nine-other-social-news-sites/

Social news sites are increasingly becoming a strong news source and designed to cater to those who want a personalized news experience. Reddit and Digg, the  top two most popular social news sites (Weinberg, 2009), have a smart, community of users covering a wide, variety of news. Generally, they offer a platform for online communities to share links, texts, videos and images,  and have discussions about news posts, to learn about what’s going in the world. Site content is “mediated not by propriety algorithm, but by user upvotes and downvotes” (Gibeault, 2016, p.206).

Engaging and empowering individuals to become “efficient content distributors”  (Weeks & Holbert, 2013, p. 213) online and engage in discourse epitomise van Dijck et. al.’s (2018) notion of a ‘platform society’ where social networking platforms have penetrated the hearts of societies”(p.2). Thus, social news sites are quickly emerging as prominent outlets for news engagement, with the output of content and its dissemination in the hands of its consumers, related to their unique interests.

Prioritising on a building a ‘community’ and valuing its content, users are to ensure quality in their contributions or face downvotes. The ease with social media consumers can share information with others sets it apart from the  one-way, top-down, sender-driven, time-specific activity of traditional mass communication experience. With social news sites, users “maintain more control over their information environment” (Weeks & Holbert, 2013, p.214). Consumers can now effectively participate by selecting the content they wish to consume at a time that is convenient to them, and also quickly disseminate news to numerous others.

With the rapid expansion of user traffic in social news sites, it has also become a popular and reliable platform for newsmakers to use it as an effective branding tool. Kümpel (2015) acquiesces that  online news sites increasingly rely on referrals to improve their website traffic, article news and ultimately, economic success (p.1).

Viewed from the platform of library pedagogy, the popularity of social news sites  provide huge potential for information literacy instruction. Students can explore how online communities work, explore the nature of popular resources and style of discourse. Teacher librarians are able to foster students’ self-reflection about critically analysing information and develop class discussions on resource selection (Gibeault, 2016, p.2015). A great avenue for exploration and  experimentation for learning and corporate organisations.

Nevertheless, an inclination towards developing or propagating partisanship, especially in the field of politics appears inevitable. The increased participants of journalists and news organisations on these sites (Weeks & Holbert, 2013, p. 226) corelates to higher chances of reception and dissemination of political beliefs or propagandist theories. An acute sense of responsibility and netiquette are required of its consumers.

If searching for news was the most important development of the last decade in digital innovation, sharing news may be among the most important of the next (Weeks & Holbert, 2013, p.213). The fundamental need for developing young learners to become critical thinkers and disseminators of information has become more urgent and relevant through the growing presence of these social news sites.

Word count: 504 words

References:

Gibeault, M. J. (2016). Embracing Geek Culture in Undergraduate Library Instruction: The TIL Subreddit for Resource Evaluation and Qualitative Assessment. Reference Librarian, 57(3), 205–212.

 https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1080/02763877.2015.1132182

Kümpel, A. S., Karnowski, V., & Keyling, T. (2015). News Sharing in Social Media: A Review of Current Research on News Sharing Users, Content, and Networks. Social Media + Society, 1 (2), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305115610141

van Dijck, J., Poell, T., & de Waal, M. (2018). The Platform Society. Oxford University Press.

Weeks, B. E., & Holbert, R. L. (2013). Predicting dissemination of news content in social media: A focus on reception, friending, and partisanship. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 90(2), 212-232.

Weinberg, T. (2009). The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web. Sebastopol: O’Reilly Media, Incorporated.

Technology has become a huge part in our society and day-to-day life. It is continuously changing our society in many ways and exerting a strong impact in almost every aspect of our lives: family, health, community life, work, education  and communication. With the accelerating rate of technological innovations, like cloud computing, 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality combined with widespread availability of network access through an array of digital, mobile and social media platforms, the influence of technology on society is intense. Technology seem to be shaping the evolution of humanity  in the future with no diminishing fervour in sight.

Accordingly, the tremendous influence of technologies on organisations is not surprising. In the current knowledge-based society, where information is seen as power, it has become imperative for organisations to become increasingly information-based and benefit from information technologies in its processes and activities.

Particularly, embracing social media and mobile digital platforms which have become part of daily life for people of all ages ( Mon & Mon, 2014, p.54) and the quintessential means of information exchange would positively affect organisational performance. Organisations are under constant pressure to adapt to new roles and new realities to succeed. They are being prodded to transform from ‘self-contained organisations’ to become social spaces and technological centres in order to thrive in today’s interconnected world and participatory culture.

Nevertheless, organisations in this post-millennial world need to make strategic moves at innovating and implementing any latest change to avoid short-term success. The need to assess any new technology’s ecosystem and prioritise whether it can satisfy the customer needs and deliver value in a better way is paramount. The 4-point framework : Creative destruction; Robust coexistence, Robust resilience and Illusion of resilience developed by Adner and Kapoor (2016, p.66), outlines scenarios that organisations could adapt at various transitionary periods of implementing a new technological innovation. Flexibility, practicality, risk-taking and collaboration are principal working culture attitudes, organisations ought to adopt.

Knowledge management (KM) – a social-media based information-sharing system that excels at “identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving and sharing all the enterprise’s information assets” (Nisar et. al., 2018, p.264) is another strategic move that can be adopted for organisations to succeed in this Information Age.  The main goal is sharing the knowledge and experience of employees within the organisation. The instantaneity and two-way communication channels which social networking platforms offer, complement how organisations can leverage their employee-generated content. Unlike the need for time-consuming, formal meeting environments and planned agendas, the informal nature of KM, reaps both technical and social benefits. A collaborative organisational structure, knowledge sharing, tracking contributions, gaining insights on new policies and ideas, providing accessibility to employees’ convenience and establishing trust and confidence are gains that assure sustainability of organisations’ success.

Leaders of organisations, thus, need to be skilful in maximising the potential of their  human resources, the information source and practitioners and not prioritise advancement in their technological equipment which are just, tools.

Word count: 485 words

References:

Adner, R., & Kapoor, R. (2016). Right Tech, Wrong Time. Harvard Business Review, 94(11), 60–67.

Kemp, S. (2020). Digital 2020: 3.8 Billion People Use Social Media. We are social. https://wearesocial.com/au/blog/2020/01/digital-2020-3-8-billion-people-use-social-media

Mon, L., & Mon, L. (2014). Social media and library services.

Nisar, T. M., Prabhakar, G., & Strakova, L. (2019). Social media information benefits, knowledge management and smart organizations. Journal of Business Research, 94, 264-272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.05.005

Social Media and Fear of Missing Out in Adolescents: The Role of Family Characteristics

This article highlights the role of family structure, parental relationships quality, parental quality and parental style as factors affecting the rate of adolescents’ media use and the development of the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO). Bloemen and Coninck (2020) put forth several research questions and hypotheses related to family characteristics associated with FoMO in adolescents. Through an online survey limited to 831 high school respondents, this article opens doors to future research without offering strong, solid answers to the raised propositions. The authors concede that “the dynamic of FoMO is more complicated than initially assumed” (p.9).

Being the parent of a teenage daughter, I was eager to find answers to teenagers’ preoccupation with social media. The authors cite literature that rationalises FoMO to be a mediator that fulfils adolescents basic needs of social connectedness and competence in the millennial world. However, in the same breath they warn on social media overuse to lead to symptoms that are traditionally related to substance-related addictions. The juxtaposition of the impact of social media and FoMO is perceived throughout this article.

Family context and parents become crucial factors to the extent and quality of their children’s use of social media. Parental control, support, appreciation and involvement are various ways which may contribute to or impede adolescents against FoMO. One striking assumption that was dismissed through the survey was that adolescents from non-intact families experienced more FoMo. Adolescents from non-intact families were seen more adept at achieving personal independence and social connectedness thereby, accounting to developing less FoMO. I am not in acquiescence with this finding and seem more at sync with openness in family communications, collective family efficacy and  parents’ positive perceptions about social media use , as promoted in  Procentese, Gatti and Napoli’s (2019, p.8) article to be more insightful.

Thus, this article seems not to have been successful in arriving at definite answers to its hypotheses, owing to small, limited sample size and inherent complexity in family structure. A broader family context in the development of FoMO and social media overuse may yield more tangible results.

Word count: 344 words

References:

Bloemen, N., & De Coninck, D. (2020). Social Media and Fear of Missing Out in Adolescents: The Role of Family Characteristics. Social Media + Society,6(4), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120965517

Procentese, F., Gatti, F., & Di Napoli, I. (2019). Families and social media use: The role of parents’ perceptions about social media impact on family systems in the relationship between family collective efficacy and open communication. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24), 1-11. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.3390/ijerph16245006