Unit 4: Communication on Digital Platforms of Social Media

Key Topics

Social media
Platformized production, monetization and datafication
Aesthetics, genres and ways of communication of social media

UNESCO

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, educators and learners will be able to:

Understand the specificity of social media as a communication environment
Understand how communication works on digital platforms and how ordinary people are involved in it
Identify communication patterns in social media

Characteristics of Social Media

When engaging with traditional mass media, even online, we are typically positioned as members of audiences who are receiving and deconstructing messages. In social media and other digital communications, while we remain in the passive position of reading messages, we are also public agents who are able to produce messages and actions that affect the other users. Social media is thus not just about receiving and interpreting messages, but about reacting to them, as well as sharing and modifying them and producing new signifying communications. Social media, which includes all services with digital technologies enabling interaction between users, provide us with environments where the communication occurs and can eventually be observed by groups of people. Social media covers a wide variety of services, often referred to as platforms, that have emerged during the 21st century: text-messaging apps, image- and video-sharing platforms, streaming services, podcasts, blogs and microblogs, wikis, and they often combine different modes of communication, such as written, audio and audiovisual communication, known as multimodal communication. Content is also circulated across platforms and can be accessed from different devices. Algorithms determine the most popular content producers, with the most followed, subscribed or liked users receiving the most attention, and able to make money out of their communication. They can become influential meaning-makers, opinion-leaders and tastemakers. It is relevant to note that not all social media is public. Much is limited to closed groups, or to limited-size social messaging networks. In all cases, keep in mind the contribution of social media to data mining and profiling by corporate or other interests.

Pedagogical Approaches and Activities

In summary: as discussed earlier in this Curriculum (Part 1), various pedagogical approaches are possible. Please review the list in Part 1 and decide which approach to apply to the suggested Activities below and others that you may formulate.

To understand action on digital communications companies, the following group discussions and assignments can be helpful:

Draw a map of the popular social media applications by placing the one to two most used services globally and/or in your country into the following categories and finding out: a) how many users there are globally and/or in your country, b) when the services were founded, and c) who owns them: A) Content communities (e.g. YouTube, blogs); B) Social networking sites (e.g. VK and Facebook); C) Collaborative communities (e.g. Wikipedia); D) Virtual game worlds (e.g. World of Warcraft); E) Others. Present your maps in small groups and discuss: How can a user communicate on the platform? How can others react to the content and what are the main modes of communication? How limited are typical audiences, i.e. the groups of followers, and what affects their size? How are users, according to your own experience, using and misusing the functions for messages that can support sustainable development and human rights, and why? A topic for further discussion may be how users can receive income from their content production— that is, what the dominant monetizing principles on that platform are.
Different platforms develop different languages and communication practices. Compare the languages of a blog, a microblog (e.g. Sina Weibo), a social networking site update (e.g. Facebook), an image-based app (e.g. Instagram) and a video app (e.g. TikTok). Choose a message you would like to pass on to a certain audience (e.g. inform the parents of schoolchildren about a new dance course designed for children) and create a message for these different platforms by using a platform-typical language. How do the possibilities and restrictions of platform functionalities (the so called 'affordances') affect the message?
Social media communication is significantly self-centred, which is reflected in the ways of expression, as well as individual-centred networks by collecting followers, subscriptions and reactions to one’s posts. Discuss the aesthetic and functions of selfies (self-portrait photographs) in online communication cultures. On which platforms and in which contexts do selfies occur? What kind of different selfie styles can you identify? What are the social functions of selfies? Why do people (not) take selfies? What kind of positive and negative consequences are there in the selfie culture? How would Internet communication culture look like and what would we lose if selfies were banned? Consider concerns about facial recognition software in relation to privacy concerns.
How are books discussed on different platforms? Discuss how the presentation of books is dependent on the platforms’ means of communication. Find examples of book communities in blogs, vlogs, image-sharing platforms and specific platforms of social reading, bookmarking and reviewing (such as Goodreads and national/ local libraries using features of social media).
Categorize social media content according to the following categories: informative, confessional, educative, entertaining. How are these contents made to appeal to their audiences? Why are users interested in this kind of content? Why are they watched? What features in the content increase the popularity of these content categories? How are content creators trying to draw attention?
Consider podcasts as storytelling and assess what works in this format.
In social media, genres are often hybrid, that is, combining and mixing up features from a number of different genres. What kind of 'mashup' genres are there on YouTube? Select some examples of videos and try to describe the genre that is used in as detailed a way as possible by identifying what shared and common YouTube-specific communication strategies are at stake. For example, you may take a video blog post (vlog) and describe how it communicates to its audience. Genres or communication formats that can be found across many genres are, for example, tutorial, haul, my day, mukbang (eating in front of camera), show and tell, challenge and unboxing.
Practices of social media communication are to some extent very gendered. Work in small groups and identify typical female and male communication cultures and practices on different platforms. For example, beauty blogging and vlogging are typically dominated by female content producers, while gaming and technology cultures are often male-dominated. Do these provide avenues for women voices and empowerment or are they reinforcing gender stereotypes? Why or why not? Try to identify examples of minority gender in the cultures identified and discuss how these minority cases possibly change the communication practices and norms. Are there online cultures with a gender balance? What role does gender play in communication and what consequences does a female or male dominance have?
Assess the tailored advertising each learner receives when using social media, and if this is relevant to the content recommendations and research they have experienced. Are they aware their data trails have these impacts? Is the result to reinforce a “bubble” rather than expose them to more diverse content?

Assessment & Recommendations

Mapping social media landscape; versatility of digital communications companies identified
Critical analysis of the functions of social media and the consequences of aesthetic and communicative choices on platforms
Critical inspection of everyday user experience derived from different platforms

Resources for this Module

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Howard, Sue ed. (1998). Wired-Up: Young People and the Electronic Media. UK: Routledge. This anthology is designed as an accessible introduction to important research regarding new communication technologies. Jenkins, Henry. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old Media and New Media Collide. US: New York University.
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van Dijck, José (2013). The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wang, Y. & Yang Y. (2020). Dialogic communication on social media: How organizations use Twitter to build dialogic relationships with their publics. Computers in Human Behaviour, 104, Article no 106183.

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