Social Media in the professional environment is a valuable and viable option as networking companies continue to develop the features and capabilities of their product. ‘Social media as we know it today is different than even a year ago (let alone a decade ago), and social media a year from now will likely be different than now’ (Appel et. Al 2020) the use of such spaces must be carefully considered in the education space.

Social media in organisations increases opportunities for businesses and individuals to reach audiences far beyond physical means, it allows consumers to feel connected to like minded individuals without even needing to leave the comfort of our own homes. If that is the case, then why isn’t everyone using social media? Research shows that the use of these programs have been increasingly scrutinized, raising issues such as unbalanced representations of viewpoints, audience fragmentation, and the dominance of commercial interests (Bruns & Highfield, 2016).

For many, using and accessing social media is a minefield of potentials, opportunities and risks with research stating that ‘non-profits are increasingly turning to social media as a new frontier for strategic public engagement.’ (Campbell, Lambright, & Wells, 2014). It is however important to consider the user when considering social networking in the context of education environments.

Questions raised when considering introducing social media to education environments include;

• Whose responsibility is it to introduce young users to social media?
• Should it be used by organisations for communication and marketing?
• Is social media good for you?

Lampe C, TEDxUofM – Is Social Media Good For You?

Dawn of Web 2.0

The development of Web 2.0 changed the potential and opportunities for businesses and consumers, Web 2.0. means that internet applications allow sharing and collaboration opportunities to people and help them to express themselves online (Lipika 2016). This was a gamechanger as communication could now be almost immediate, it is two way and with improved mobile technologies social networking is extremely accessible. Existing research has found audiences respond particularly well to more frequent organisational messages that include multiple forms of visual, textual, and vocal cues (Ramanadhan, Mendez, Rao, & Viswanath, 2013).

Social Networking Tools and Platforms

Today, there is a social networking tool or platform for every purpose, and with the speed in which this space moves and develops, if it has not yet been designed has is most probably already been conceptualised and  soon to be released. Networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram provide cost effective and time efficient platforms that reach target audiences. Businesses can use social media as a “listening post” to gain critical knowledge of their community (Lovejoy, Waters, & Saxton, 2012).

With increased exposure to social media, the role of Social Media policies for educational organisations has become necessary in order to mitigate risks associated for users and organisations and to prevent the misuse of private information and images. Implementation plans, risk assessments and privacy permissions must be implemented in order to protect all stakeholders.

For schools, social media is a topic that provides many challenges for educators where young people are actively engaged in online platforms, with over 50% of the world population being under 30 years of age (Monks et. al 2019), educators must face the challenge of upskilling our young people to be safe online in order to avoid negative online experiences. Research demonstrates that image sharing has also become a key means by which young people engage in sexuality behaviours…and engaging in sexually explicit interactions (Cooper, Quayle, Jonsson, & Svedin, 2016).

Despite the challenges and issues raised by social networking, there are many benefits and opportunities that arise from the connected, digital world. For example, Social Media allows individuals to offer products or services “directly” without having to rely on “offline” intermediaries. (Van Dijck, Poell & De Waal, 2018) and for individuals it provides the ability to foster a “community” that is built less on geographic boundaries than on a sense of belonging (Phillips et al., 2016).

New in the Toolbox – Future Plans

It is exciting that social networking companies have been developing, moving and growing in order to meet consumer demand and needs. Social media now represents a new medium for stakeholder relationship building, offering a relatively low-cost option for interactive two-way communication with large and geographically dispersed audiences (Campbell et al., 2014) Armed with consolidated understanding, a clear implementation plan and staff support, we can now move forward into a networked 2.0 digital world.

Implementation of explicit teaching for appropriate social media use and safe online image sharing is an important component of the digital curriculum for educators, as through online image sharing, young people can establish and maintain friendships, remain in contact with family members, and seek social support (Lenhart, Smith, & Anderson, 2015). The challenge for digital professionals now is to filter through all the available programs and platforms in order to find the most relevant tools for my organisation needs.

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References

Appel, G., Grewal, L., Hadi, R., & Stephen, A. T. (2020). The future of social media in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(1), 79-95. Doi:10.1007/s11747-019-00695-1

Bruns, A., Highfield, T. (2016). Is Habermas on Twitter? Social media and the public sphere. In Bruns, A., Enli, G., Skogerbo, E., Larsson, A., Christensen, C. (Eds.), The Routledge companion to social media and politics (pp. 56-72). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

Campbell, D., Lambright, K., Wells, C. (2014). Looking for friends, fans, and followers? Social media use in public and nonprofit human services. Public Administration Review, 74, 655-663.

Cooper, K., Quayle, E., Jonsson, L., Svedin, C. G. (2016). Adolescents and self-taken sexual images: A review of the literature. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, 706-716. Doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.10.003

Facebook www.facebook.com

Instagram www.instagram.com

Lampe C, TEDxUofM Is social media good for you? Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po01VlNvCcQ

Lenhart, A., Smith, A., Anderson, M. (2015). Teens, technology and romantic relationships. Pew Research Center, 1-77. Doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.016

Monks, H., Barnes, A., Cross, D., & McKee, H. (2019). A qualitative exploration of electronic image sharing among young people: Navigating the issues of conformity, trust, intention, and reputation. Health Education & Behavior, 46(2_suppl), 106S-113S. doi:10.1177/1090198119873921

Phillips, S., Bird, I., Carlton, L., Rose, L. (2016). Knowledge as leadership, belonging as community: How Canadian community foundations are using vital signs for social change. The Foundation Review, 8, Article 8. Retrieved from http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/tfr/vol8/iss3/8

Ramanadhan, S., Mendez, S. R., Rao, M., Viswanath, K. (2013). Social media use by community-based organizations conducting health promotion: A content analysis. BMC Public Health, 13, Article 1129.

Twitter www.twitter.com

Van Dijck, J. (2018). Introduction. In J. Van Dijck (Ed.), The Platform Society.  Retrieved from Oxford Scholarship Online.

Xu, W., & Saxton, G. D. (2018). Does stakeholder engagement pay off on social media? A social capital perspective. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 48(1), 28-49. doi:10.1177/0899764018791267