Time 25:36

The topic of social media among marketers and PR professionals is awash with business and non profit examples, case studies, and the ever available blog post on the latest shinny new object. In this podcast we take a break from the immediate urgent and important concerns of our close circle to focus on the long-term implications of social media. Those things that we avoid talking about because they have little material gain, they deal with part of the population that we avoid, or the mere raising of the issue makes you a “social party pooper”. At the risk of being unfollowed and defriended, we’ll talk about issues of the digital divide being created, the lack of understanding being created by like-minded filters, and the little idiosyncrasies being created by new social norms (this includes multitasking at meetings, taking a call in the middle of an in-person conversation, and increasing custom of taking pictures of your food)

Our guest on this episode of the Marketing Edge podcast is educational researcher Christine Greenhow, who currently serves as the research collaborative chair of the Social Networks Research and Collaborative at the University of Minnesota. The collaborative is an interdisciplinary look at the uses of social media in society. Greenhow is joined by several other academic colleagues including, Susan Walker Associate Professor of Family, Youth and Community in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Minnesota, Joan Hughes is an Associate Professor of Instructional Technology at the University of Texas at Austin, and Loren Terveen is Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Minnesota, among others.

The work of the collaborative is focused on adoption of social media, how networks are forming and how all populations are using or not using social media. The collaborative’s work and events are available at www.socialnetresearch.org

I have the good fortune of being on Greenhow’s mailing list which delivered me an invitation to a presentation last week by Lee Rainie the director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project on the rise of the Social Networked Individual.

According to Rainie a recent Pew study showed 53% of online adults use social networks and 73% of online teems use them. Slides from Rainie’s presentation highlight the growing use of social networks and the questions of raised by potential isolation from a broader body of information and contacts, the golden age of the amateur expert, and the state of partial attention created by the increase of information inputs in our daily lives.

Are We Addicted to Social Networks

Social networks may not be as mysterious as all this discussion warrants. Some suggest we get a little shot of dopamaine with every text ping or Twitter mention, yooohooo, that explains it.

We are becoming addicted to our social networks which is a self-feeding circle. You stroke it and it stokes you back. A far reaching documentary on our digital behavior and a must-see is the PBS Frontline show called Digital Nation

Things to Think About But You Usually Don’t

• Digital divide because of economic access or privacy concerns
• Topical isolation filtering the broader culture out
• Altruistic facade the ultimate in giving to get
• Displacement of supply and demand economics by an abundance of information

Now that you have a forum to talk about these issues, which gives you the greatest concern about the future adoption of social media?

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