Variation of my talk on social media trends given to the Lansing Women's Club on March 25, 2011.

1. Understanding Social Media
Dr. Cliff Lampe
Department of Telecommunication, Information
Studies and Media
College of Communication Arts and Sciences

2. Cliff Lampe
Professor in TISM
Social Media Director
for CAS
PhD in Information
from $@(&@!#
Science of the socio-
technical

4. What is social media?

7. Common characteristics
User generated content
Direct user-to-user interaction
Bundles of applications

9. Some fun examples of
social media

23. Social Media Myths

24. Myth:
Social media sites are
just for teens.

25. Myth:
All we have to do is
create the site,
and people will fill in
the content.

26. Myth:
You can’t trust the
information
in sites like Wikipedia

27. Myth:
Social media is
just a fad

28. Myth:
Social media is only for
narcissistic people

29. What are social network sites?
A nerdy definition

32. Types of SNS
Social communication
Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, SkyRock
Business solutions
Beehive, LinkedIn
Content creation
Flickr, Fotolog, Last.fm
Mobilization
Mybarackobama, care2give, modestneeds
Cultural affinity
Blackplanet, migente, asianavenue
Interest affinity
MyChurch, Couchsurfing, librarything, PatientsLikeMe

33. Social Network Sites
Profile
List of Friends
Ability to see the Friends
of others

40. Some current trends

41. 8% of online Americans use
Twitter
4% use location based services
71% seek health info online
93% of college students use
Facebook

46. Common
Concerns
about Social
Network Sites

47. Privacy

51. In reality...
Very few negative stories (that don’t
involve true stupidity)
Privacy controls are actually powerful
and available
We tend to sell our privacy for cookies
Facebook knows to wait out the storm

52. The meaning of “Friends”

54. In reality...
People are mostly “friending” people
they know
SNS is most useful for casual
friends, rather than close friends
Reduces cost of maintaining a
broader, deeper network

55. This is all just frivolous.

56. In reality...
Never underestimate the value of
frivolity
There are *many* types of uses of
SNS, some very serious
Don’t forget the wide ecology of
social network sites

58. Some social media
excursions at MSU

64. Thanks!
Cliff Lampe
lampecli@msu.edu
Twitter: @clifflampe
SlideShare: clifflampe