This article appeared in the Daily Nation, Feb 14, 2010 issue
Use of social media applications is being debated across the World Wide Web. Fans support the usage of tools like Blog, tweet, Facebook to break down barriers between businesses, public servants and ordinary people to discuss ideas and gather feedback. Trend watches and analysts still see the social media tools as time wasting diversions. It is in this milieu that we need to look at the fast growing social media usage in our own, still low tech, corporate and public sectors.
What is a social media? In the modern age that is being characterized as attention age, new technologies have brought about different media technologies which have became the ground for mass participation. There is no single agreed definition of the terms social media also known as Web 2.0 and citizen media but there is widespread consensus that social media applies to a category of websites that is based on users’ participation and users generated content. It includes content sites like blogger, wordpress, social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, social book marking sites like Del.icio.us, social news sites like Digg or Reddit and other sites that are centered on users’ interaction and participation. These all are formed mainly by the users as a group, in a social way. Generally speaking, social media refers to the ways in which audiences can also become participants in the media using the different resources offered. At its simplest, social media is the combination of channels, platforms, communities, content and tools that make peer to peer communication or word of mouth possible.
So how does set of tools called social media work? Social networking sites allow users to create free online profiles where they can display biographical information, photos, hobbies, interests, swap information and much more. After completing an online profile, users can connect or network with other users’ profiles. As they connect with more and more people, their network keeps expanding. By adding just a few friends to their network, users can end up being connected to thousands of ‘likeminded people’ across different cultures and societies. These networks can then be used for meaningful engagement between policy makers, business concerns and ever growing Internet users’ base – the ordinary citizens, for bringing together focused groups and arranging activities, and also for fun and frolic.
What are the reasons to flock on social media sites, besides massaging one’s ego and reaching out to kindred spirits? Peter Kollock looked into the motivations for participating in online communities and interactive sites. In his research paper titled “The economies of online cooperation: gifts and public goods in cyberspace”, he outlined three motivations: “Anticipated reciprocity — the expectation that one will receive useful help and information in return. Indeed, there is evidence that active participants in online communities get more responses. Increased reputation — in general, individuals want recognition for their contributions. Sense of efficacy — individuals may contribute valuable information because the act results in a sense of efficacy... a sense that they have had some effect on this environment.”
I primarily use Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and LinkedIn, in addition to my blogging, but I like many others, have been paying close attention to social media for some time now. I have answered more ‘follow me’ and to ‘be a fan’ requests than I ever did in the past. I have been looking at other people’s followers, fans and friends to see if I knew anyone there. I have also asked a few to follow me and or become a fan (of couple of pages that I have online). Who does not need more followers and friends? In addition to this activity, I have been reading about other people’s experiences.
Here in Pakistan, we are just beginning to get ready to jump on social media bandwagon. Facebook is extremely popular among Pakistani users’ base where as blogging still is seen as an erudite activity. One can find local twitter users as well. Users’ interest in social media websites is growing with a visible increase in members — a great online beat that seems to be taking every one in. Are you there yet?
Social media provides unprecedented opportunities to open up government decision making to the people. But Pakistan public sector is yet not ready to adapt to social media. Personal scouting and empirical observations indicate that the greatest impediments to its broader use are the culture of government and lack of tech culture that tends towards secrecy and which is protective of the copyright on policy.
Access to work tools like web-based email, collaborative websites and those 140 words in Twitter can create powerful new possibilities for collaboration particularly where parties are physically apart. “Public agencies should meaningfully use Web 2.0 applications like Facebook, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia and video-sharing sites like YouTube to offer general information to the public,” says Muhammad Yaqoob of University of Gujrat, “but that has not started happening yet mainly because majority of the public servants are not computer savvy and there is visible lack of high tech environment in public sector.”
Comparatively, the situation is more promising in Pakistan corporate sector. One can already see Facebook pages of high end brands selling things from shoes to shawls, corporate blogs of organizations providing access to information and allowing conversations. Yet not enough businesses have online presence. “There should be some sort of law that should require online presence for every large or small business,” says Amna Mubarak, a house wife. Corporate sector should engage in robust discussions online with common discussion forms. Also, corporate sector should play a positive role in engaging general public to use the social media tools.
Social media has transformed the ways people consume information, and that will continue to happen. Information spread faster, trends gather pace, people connect and information is available to all who want it on an unprecedented level.
Human beings like to share things, talk together and technology lets them do it easily. A wide range of social software has become readily available to young generation. There is increasing interest in possibilities of using social software for students. “Today students, trainers and scholars are exposed to the wide range of social web tools and software that provide gateways to a multiplicity of interactive resources for information, entertainment and communication. This phenomenon can help more is education sector,” says Muhammad Yaqoob who is working on a paper to promote use of social media tools in higher education, “denying access to Facebook in school libraries and computer labs is not going to help anyone. Good thing is that higher education providers are now seriously thinking to adapt social media and blend it with learning system,” he adds.
“The social networking phenomenon is taking over the world country by country,” reads a report published in the Independent. “Facebook is the most popular social networking site in 100 out of 127 countries, reaching over 350 million users across the planet, it says. On the other hand, ITVoir Network survey carried out recently finds out, “Indian IT employees are losing productivity due to the time they spend on social networks.” The survey further indicated that each employee is barging its long one working hour on the social media that includes sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google’s Orkut.”
That said, every academic, technology guru and manager I spoke with for this piece agreed that government agencies, corporate entities and educational institutions should look at options to exploit social media technologies to best.
How we use new founded social media is totally up to us. No?
