Communication through social networks edited
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This document discusses challenges related to social media and communication. It notes that while social media originally promised transparency, feedback and co-creation, it has since led to issues like dumbing down of content, polarization, fake news and abuse. This is due to factors like media companies seeking new business models, a focus on popularity over credibility, the rise of data usage, fake news being profitable, and platform owners and marketers prioritizing metrics over engagement. However, the document also argues that some level of "gossip" is human nature and that not all fake news is equal, with some distinctions between types. It provides some examples of the fake news problem, both in the US and India.
Communication through social networks edited
- 1. Communication through social networks Challenges and Opportunities IIMA, November 2017 rajesh.lalwani@scenario.in +919810640163
- 3. The genesis
- 4. The world before social media
- 5. And then
- 6. People could impact brands
- 7. Brands could engage people directly
- 8. On the marketing side
- 9. What do marketers & salespeople want?
- 10. Social media can be an enabler
- 11. Out takes
- 14. “Before social media can change the world, the world will change social media.” IndiaSocial Summit, December 2010
- 15. And then our world changed
- 23. A promise belied? Dumbing down Polarization Fake news Controversy Abuse & Trolling
- 24. The why
- 25. Media on the lookout for a new business model Global print media threatened by lowering numbers, moved fast to leverage the digital medium. Emerging media players, several starting as one-person blogs, in all genres, politics, tech, food, lifestyle, travel and so on, gained scale. Both however have not been able to crack a sustainable business model beyond ‘clicks’. No alternate to eyeballs yet
- 26. Credibility gave way to popularity An opportunity presented by social media to become thought leaders became a rush to become popular. The desire to gain more likes, fans, followers meant that shallow became the norm in terms of creation, curation, engagement. Controversies were pursued artificially even as reputation lost premium to popularity. Personal Brand
- 27. Changing proportion of telecom income As data started to contribute lion’s share of telecom income, a new industry of jokes, memes, gossip, gifs, greetings emerged and thrived. Call versus data
- 28. Fake News sells Stakes have changed for both politicians and for unscrupulous players. Having successfully tested the polarizing effect of social networks, politicians (and activists) and their supporters have thrived in dividing their audience further by perpetuating fake news and misinformation. Unscrupulous players who would previously thrive on SEO business have found fake news/ clickbait to be much more rewarding. Politics Polarization User generated Unscrupulous players
- 29. Platform owners like Facebook changed the game mid-way Realising that brand-owners found the prospect of engaging customers through transparent conversations risky and non-scalable (large mass of people aren’t really that articulate + brands need to put thought/ people/ measure risk if engaging in open conversations) and in their own hurry to generate ad income (they were getting listed), platform owners abandoned conversations and positioned themselves to become ‘reach mediums’. See us as a replacement/ add on to TV they said. Conversations to Reach
- 30. Platform owners like Facebook changed the game mid-way Further polarising opinion and deepening the echo chamber. In a saturating global marketplace, time spent on the platforms has become key to growth and survival for them Algorithms show us what we want to see
- 31. Skewed priorities of marketers Marketers in their search for RoI from the digital medium, largely abandoned real engagement to chase vanity metrics and sales conversions. RoI
- 32. The human web Over 30% percent of referral traffic is today being generated through social media consumption and sharing. This has changed the fundamental nature of how content needs to be packaged - from headlines and content being ‘search engine’ friendly to human reading and share friendly. SEO to social sharing
- 35. Interestingly, more than half internet traffic is bots. 23% of internet traffic is good bots - they can be aids to better internet experience 29% of internet traffic is bad bots - from making money through clicks, to selling products, to influencing elections, bots can serve many an evil. The good, the bad, the evil
- 36. You can put it on human nature. Homo sapiens are the only species gifted with the ability to imagine, articulate and share the imaginary situations. This is what made for human progress in the first place. It was our ability to come together and function in large groups that made us the dominant human species, eventually leading to the disappearance of Neanderthals who could not - we are said to have killed them. Gossip is what makes us human. Our ability to group.
- 37. You can put it on human nature. The world has always been divided in creators and consumers. Social media changed the paradigm, giving everyone the the opportunity to create - but just because everyone has an equal opportunity (in reality, they do not) to create doesn’t mean that they can create, leave alone create equally. Mass-creativity is too much to ask for.
- 38. You can put it on human nature. We are wired differently as ‘the dress’ proved in this viral image, originally posted on Tumblr, and seen by many million. The dress actually in blue and black appears white and gold/ blue and black to different people.
- 39. So how big is the fake news problem?
- 40. But, first, is all fake news equal? Nasr Ul Hadi, ICFJ Knight Fellow, suggested that we consider dealing with different types of fake news differently: – User generated misinformation “which is rumours, or citizen journalism that has gotten it wrong” ”Which part of the stakeholders can potentially sort this? One is platform, by scoring or giving a verified kind of a tick.” – Publisher endorsed misinformation: “when a publisher is getting information wrong. Did it start at wires, did it get picked up without corroboration? Or getting it from a source.” ”What you also need to look at is that newsrooms don’t have the bandwidth to corroborate everything that is flowing through their pipeline. You also need better processes and frameworks.” – Organised misinformation generation: “for which you need legal implications and government originating regulation to address organised efforts.”
- 41. Fake News -it’s a big problem Facebook has handed over 3000+ ads from Russian sources that were used to influence voters in the US elections.
- 42. Fake News -it’s a big problem Recently Facebook released newspaper ads asking readers to more alert, but it is being asked to take more responsibility for spotting and cleansing
- 43. Facebook under attack This can potentially bring Facebook down; it has already managed to get it down to its knees - a first. It has now decided to put profits as secondary and clean-up as a primary goal. But it’s not only Facebook, Twitter too has had to raise its participation and has issued steps to increase ad transparency.
- 44. The problem is rampant in India too Daily flood of news items on Facebook, Twitter posted by party supporters of BJP, Congress and others (often finding its way into mainstream media). Recently The Hindu had to issue a prominent apology around a story it published falsely maligning a man, who was trying to save a woman who was being crushed at the Elphinstone Bridge stampede, as molesting the woman. Handles like @altnews and BoomFact Check @boomlive_in have emerged on Twitter to help distinguish fact from fake.
- 45. Good Fake Sometimes fake can be good though. A new, interesting way to celebrate Diwali might emerge.
- 46. And it’s not just about fake- news... “In July 2016, the aftermath of a police shooting of an African- American man was broadcast live on Facebook. Instantly, Americans of all stripes used the platform to step up the race wars and attack each other.” It’s the viral and polarizing nature of the medium itself.
- 48. Some notable trends Online activism has taken forefront Social no-longer only about interest creation Voice search Tech and life integration Automation Fun formats - gifs, emoticons etc. Storytelling
- 49. Deleted slides
- 50. Thank you.