Presentation about social media for the WWW/Internet 2009 conference in Rome. Download the paper here: http://crossmedialab.nl/impact/download/26/Social_Media_are_highly_accessble_media.pdf

1. Rogier Brussee
Social Media are Highly Novay Institute
Accessible Media Erik Hekman
University of Applied Sciences Utrecht
WWW/Internet 2009 Conference - Rome Crossmedialab

3. Less of a technological focus
Social networks session
However a strong connection
with Web 2.0 and Internet!
Social media zijn sociale
net werken
Social Media apparently always
equals Facebook and YouTube
Congres social media zelfs claims dat
mensen socialer zijn geworden ondanks
dat activiteiten uit de fysieke wereld
digitaliseren
What is Social Media?

4. “Users are shifting from just consuming information published by professional
editors to contibuting blog posts and twitter messages, updating their profiles on
Facebook and MySpace, asking and answering questions on Yahoo! Answers,
authoring and editing articles in Wikipedia, tagging and rating pictures in Flickr and
videos in YouTube, and voting for news items on Digg, etc. […] From a sociological
perspective, social media can be described as ‘collective goods produced through
a computermediated collective action’.” - Smith, et al (2008)
“A group of new kinds of online media, which share most or all of the following
characteristics: participation, openness, conversation, community,
connectedness.” [...] “A good way to think about social media is that all of this is
actually just about being human beings. Sharing ideas, cooperating and
collaborating to create, art, thinking and commerce, vigorous debate and discourse,
finding people who might be good friends, allies and lovers.” - Mayfield (2007)
“Social Media is the use of electronic and Internet tools for the purpose of sharing
and discussing information and experiences with other human beings in more
efficient ways.” - Par (2008)

5. “Users are shifting from just consuming information published by professional
editors to contibuting blog posts and twitter messages, updating their profiles on
Facebook and MySpace, asking and answering questions on Yahoo! Answers,
authoring and editing articles in Wikipedia, tagging and rating pictures in Flickr and
videos in YouTube, and voting for news items on Digg, etc. […] From a sociological
perspective, social media can be described as ‘collective goods produced through
a computermediated collective action’.” - Smith, et al (2008)
“A group of new kinds of online media, which share most or all of the following
characteristics: participation, openness, conversation, community,
connectedness.” [...] “A good way to think about social media is that all of this is
actually just about being human beings. Sharing ideas, cooperating and
collaborating to create, art, thinking and commerce, vigorous debate and discourse,
finding people who might be good friends, allies and lovers.” - Mayfield (2007)
“Social Media is the use of electronic and Internet tools for the purpose of sharing
and discussing information and experiences with other human beings in more
efficient ways.” - Par (2008)

6. “Users are shifting from just consuming information published by professional
editors to contibuting blog posts and twitter messages, updating their profiles on
Facebook and MySpace, asking and answering questions on Yahoo! Answers,
authoring and editing articles in Wikipedia, tagging and rating pictures in Flickr and
videos in YouTube, and voting for news items on Digg, etc. […] From a sociological
perspective, social media can be described as ‘collective goods produced through
a computermediated collective action’.” - Smith, et al (2008)
“A group of new kinds of online media, which share most or all of the following
characteristics: participation, openness, conversation, community,
connectedness.” [...] “A good way to think about social media is that all of this is
actually just about being human beings. Sharing ideas, cooperating and
collaborating to create, art, thinking and commerce, vigorous debate and discourse,
finding people who might be good friends, allies and lovers.” - Mayfield (2007)
“Social Media is the use of electronic and Internet tools for the purpose of sharing
and discussing information and experiences with other human beings in more
efficient ways.” - Par (2008)

7. “Users are shifting from just consuming information published by professional
editors to contibuting blog posts and twitter messages, updating their profiles on
Facebook and MySpace, asking and answering questions on Yahoo! Answers,
authoring and editing articles in Wikipedia, tagging and rating pictures in Flickr and
videos in YouTube, and voting for news items on Digg, etc. […] From a sociological
perspective, social media can be described as ‘collective goods produced through
a computermediated collective action’.” - Smith, et al (2008)
“A group of new kinds of online media, which share most or all of the following
characteristics: participation, openness, conversation, community,
connectedness.” [...] “A good way to think about social media is that all of this is
actually just about being human beings. Sharing ideas, cooperating and
collaborating to create, art, thinking and commerce, vigorous debate and discourse,
finding people who might be good friends, allies and lovers.” - Mayfield (2007)
“Social Media is the use of electronic and Internet tools for the purpose of sharing
and discussing information and experiences with other human beings in more
efficient ways.” - Par (2008)

8. SOME OTHER ASSUMPTION
We have become more social; social media is not new,
we have always been like this
User-generated content; every generated bit is user-
generated (media) content? User-generated piracy
Openness; several connotations including technical ones
Communication; from a media perspective one-to-many
from a social perspective one-to-one

10. THE MEDIA SUPPLY CHAIN
HOW MEDIA CONTENT IS CREATED
Creation Aggregation Distribution Consumption
‣ It is a difficult process to create media
‣ Barriers within the different stages
‣ Highly inaccessible for non-professionals

11. LETS IMAGINE I WANT TO
START A NEWSPAPER; THE ERIK TIMES
Creation Aggregation Distribution Consumption
‣ Articles ‣ The Erik Times ‣ Snail mail
‣ Music ‣ Sony ‣ Concerts
‣ CD/DVD (retail)
‣ Television
‣ Internet
‣ Cartoonist ‣ Disney ‣ Magazine
‣ DVD

12. LETS IMAGINE I WANT TO
START A NEWSPAPER; THE ERIK TIMES
Creation Aggregation Distribution Consumption
‣ Articles ‣ The Erik Times ‣ Snail mail
‣ Music ‣ Sony ‣ Concerts
‣ CD/DVD (retail)
‣ Television
‣ Internet
‣ Cartoonist ‣ Disney ‣ Magazine
‣ DVD

13. THE MEDIA SUPPLY CHAIN
PARTIALLY ACCESSIBLE
Creation Aggregation Distribution Consumption
‣ Letter ‣ New York Times ‣ Internet
‣ Retail
‣ Snail mail
‣ Movie ‣ America’s Funniest ‣ Television
Home videos
Social media are highly accesible

14. THE MEDIA SUPPLY CHAIN
PARTIALLY ACCESSIBLE
Creation Aggregation Distribution Consumption
‣ Letter ‣ New York Times ‣ Internet
‣ Retail
‣ Snail mail
‣ Movie ‣ America’s Funniest ‣ Television
Home videos
Social media are highly accesible

15. HOW BARRIERS ARE LIFTED
MAINLY DUE TO TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS
The printing press radically
lowered barrier to entry for media
reproduction.
Pamphlets became part of public
discourse and the press broke the
near monopoly from the church.

16. (COMPUTER) TECHNOLOGY
BECOMES CHEAPER AND MORE AVAILABLE IN AFFLUENT SOCIETIES

17. INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY
MOBILE PHONES

18. MEDIA CAN BE DIGITIZED
MEDIA BECOMES AN INFORMATION GOOD

19. IMPROVEMENT IN SOFTWARE
EASY TO UNDERSTAND SOFTWARE
Now everybody can more
easily create digital
media
Just like those jibjab
cartoons my mother in
law

20. WEB 2.0 & THE INTERNET

21. WEB 2.0 APPLICATIONS
‣ No specialized software needed
‣ No HTML knowledge needed
‣ No server space needed
‣ Internet as distribution channel
‣ Can be integrated with
eachother

22. BARRIERS ARE DISSAPEARING
SOCIAL MEDIA ARE HIGHLY ACCESSIBLE MEDIA
Creation Aggregation Distribution Consumption
‣ Movies ‣ Video sharing ‣ Internet ‣ Browser
‣ Music ‣ Music sharing ‣ Mobile ‣ Mobile phone
‣ Photos ‣ Photo sharing ‣ Television
‣ Text ‣ Wiki
‣ (micro) blogs
‣ Document sharing
I can re-use the content i
‣ Relations ‣ Social networks consumed and create
‣ Links ‣ Link sharing new media content

23. BARRIERS ARE DISSAPEARING
SOCIAL MEDIA ARE HIGHLY ACCESSIBLE MEDIA
Creation Aggregation Distribution Consumption
‣ Movies ‣ Video sharing ‣ Internet ‣ Browser
‣ Music ‣ Music sharing ‣ Mobile ‣ Mobile phone
‣ Photos ‣ Photo sharing ‣ Television
‣ Text ‣ Wiki
‣ (micro) blogs
‣ Document sharing
I can re-use the content i
‣ Relations ‣ Social networks consumed and create
‣ Links ‣ Link sharing new media content

24. CONSUMER AND PRODUCER
person
has role has role
Media Media
producer consumer

25. NON-INTERNET EXAMPLES
A REVOLUTION IN ’68
Hot from the stencil machine:
a pamphlet from the students
from the lycee Turgot
Translated quote:
… we reject the RADIO and
TELEVISION
which, directed by the
GOVERNMENT,
fool PUBLIC OPINION by spreading
FALSE and MISLEADING news….
(re)production > aggregation > distribution

26. NON-INTERNET EXAMPLES
PRESIDENT JOSEPH ESTRADA
Anti-Estrada leaders, organized phone trees to
quickly organize massive demonstrations, and
warn every time the riot police would act
against the riots.
(re)production > aggregation > distribution

27. MONETIZING MEDIA CREATION
Creation Aggregation Distribution Consumption
€ € €

28. FROM HIGHLY ACCESSIBLE TO
HIGHLY INACCESSIBLE

29. CONCLUSION
‣ We consider social media to be a media supply chain
where people which are predominantly consumers of a
medium are participating in a consumer role
‣ We pose a working hypothesis that such a media
supply chain must be highly accessible
‣ The Internet in combination with Web 2.0 services
provide excellent examples of lifted barriers
‣ Also historical non-internet examples of social media
‣ A clear distinction between content, community,
platform and supporting technology

30. THANK YOU
If there are questions don’t hesitate to ask!
Erik Hekman
University of Applied Sciences Utrecht (The Netherlands)
Faculty of Communication and Journalism
Research group Crossmedia Content; business models and policy new media
Room 0S142
erik.hekman@hu.nl
www.crossmedialab.nl
www.kudonomics.com
+31 6 53 667 178