The Main Form of Communication on the Platform - Case Study Example

Sociology of Online Community and Social Media A prototype social media site for distant learners at Berkeley University would include a fool proof biometric registration that authenticates member registered members from the university’s enrolment database. This would ensure social identity deception issues are eliminated. A good implication would be heightened trust for social interaction among distant learners by improving computer mediated communication. The social platform will use augmented reality technologies such as google glass as a way of introducing ‘reality’ into the static form of present media platforms such as Facebook. Whereas people can only sit in a computer or phone and chat with friends on platforms such as Facebook, the prototype social media site would bring increased involvement by introducing augmented reality. For instance, distant learners would be able to use the platform to learn and have almost the same learning experience with students in the physical class. The proposed social media platform will eliminate the historical problem of social media platform based on past information (Preece and Shneiderman 2009, p.7). For example, as people read other comments of what has already happened on Twitter, our platform would provide an opportunity for members to experience the real world as it happens to other members by subscribing to live streams of other member’s google glass augmented reality feed. The main form of communication on the platform is use of written communication. However, the platform also allows for video chats and it can accommodate a relatively large of group simultaneously engaging in the same discussion. Therefore, members can opt to engage in video calls instead of using written messages. Additionally, the platform allows for sending and posting of pictures. Conversations related to administrator posts are open for all members to view but individual posts are controlled by the member posting hence they can choose to make them public or private to be viewed only by selected members. There is no limit as to the number of people who can join the platform and or the geographical location. However, for people to interact there is need for integration in an inner circle tagged ‘friends’. This is to encourage interactions since the underlying notion of friendships allows people feel comfortable hence increased participation (Boyd and Heer 2006, p.2). The platform only requires internet and it can be accessed at any time whether day or night. Moreover, member participation is unlimited hence there can be as many posts and comments as a member wishes. However, public posts should strictly be related to entertainment issues to maintain the purpose of the platform. There are increasingly many people in the world seeking to get news relating to emerging entertainment issues. Therefore, a platform dealing with mainly entertainment is bound to have a wide member base. To encourage participation and likability, the platform should always strive to be ahead of all emerging issues and trends in the entertainment world hence giving a constant update of current issues. However, people can also access older issues dating up to 8 years ago by simply placing a search on the platform. As a result, the platform can be considered an archive or source of reference for interested parties in entertainment research. Additionally, the platform can act as form of storage for individual data since it offers space for personal data storage. The personal data stored should not necessarily be entertainment but rather any important data to a member such as documents. This provision is specific to each account holder and the stored data is only accessible by the account holder hence it can be considered safe. Such an incentive gives the platform an extra use that may be considered important by members. Since the platform deals with only credible information, it can act as a source of confirmation on uncertain emerging issues. To further increase credibility, platform administrators can conduct research on emerging issues that are uncertain. For example, in case of a contradicting issue relating to a celebrity, the platform can hold a real time interview with the celebrity and allow members to seek clarification directly. Such transparency and clarification is important to contributors especially, those deeply interested in the subject in play. This is because people tend to build stronger relationships with authentic and credible sources. Additionally, invitation of contributors to seek personal clarification eliminates the possibility of doubts that the platform has ulterior motives. Moreover, interactive programs with renowned persons gives the members a good feeling and encourages more participation. This shows that the platform is not about the administrators’ interests but rather about members’ interests. Additionally, there can be rewards for members with most participation. For example, the member with the highest participation record may get to be the first to address the celebrity hosted. There can also be other incentives for members such as increased member ratings and posting of credible information can be rewarded through gifts. Reactions to incentives may vary among the different members. The same incentive may be liked by some members while other members may not be pleased. For example, allowing a member to address a celebrity fist may not be a pleasant experience for some members since they may be not interested in the subject of discussion or the celebrity. Additionally, not all people are interested in entertainment issues hence the platform may not be likable to all people. At time the platform may seem irrelevant to a particular group of people regardless of the incentives being offered. Therefore, it is important to settle for incentives that are likely to be appreciated and accepted by most people. For instance, in such a platform giving people incentives related to entertainment is likely to be appreciated and accepted by most participants. This is because members greatly engaging in entertainment issues are likely to have interests in entertainment related things. Although such incentives as money may be appreciated by most people, it may be viewed negatively by others. For example, use of money as an incentive in a social media platform may be viewed as a buy off. Additionally, this may change the view of the platform from an informative platform giving it a business oriented view. Such an effect may especially impact members whose main interest was the using the platform for informational purposes. Furthermore, money incentives may bring increased competition within members in a bid to get the incentive. As a result, the purpose of the platform is likely to be altered due to increased focus on participation rather than giving an honest view. A successful social media platform should be based on self-drive of members since this gives the best results due to honesty in the communication. Therefore, the main drivers of the platform should be to invoke interest and need to know among people. In any interaction involving relatively large numbers of people sharing personal views, there is bound to be opinion differences. As a result, debates are likely to emerge concerning different issues in discussion. However, debates are important and allowed as long as they are within stipulated limits. The biggest problem of managing a social media platform is the inability to control content being posted. Moreover, the number of members may be too large and in case of a heated topic posts become increasingly many at the same time. This implies that it is extremely difficult to control the content being posted. Sensitive matters invoke mixed reactions and some members may result to posting inappropriate content such as abusive language. Furthermore, there can be instances where some members intentionally post inappropriate content such as false information regarding a certain subject. Intentionality of the content can be determined through content analysis such as use of “integrative model of content analysis” (Neuendorf and Skalski p.209). To solve such problems it is necessary to have a system that allows members to flag inappropriate content. Additionally, members whose content is flagged frequently should face actions such as banishment from the platform for a certain period of time and reduced reputation that can be reflected on the profile. In cases where levels of inappropriate content are extremely high, banishment from the platform should be permanent. Moreover, in case of insults to an individual members should be liable to actions of the law in case the victim wishes to pursue charges. In such a scenario the platform would be willing to assist in apprehending the perpetrators through use of information provided during registration. Such regulations are presented to all members before registration. With such regulations it is highly likely that members would consider posting only appropriate content. The map #mla13 twitter on the Nodexl graph gallery represents a crowd comprising of highly interconnected participants. In such a map, topics of discussion are likely to be topics that do not fetch a lot of contrast and can be addressed by a relatively large group of people. As a result there is seemingly only one group hence one main hub with all the audience, influencers and a source of information. Such topics are arguably a source of learning and disagreements are significantly minimal. This map is similar to the map on the pew research report indicating a tight crowd (Smith, Rainie, Himelboim, Shneiderman 2014, p. 3). Conversely, the map #phdchat twitter on Nodexl graph gallery represents topics that spark integrations in terms of opinions expressed. As a result of the differing opinions, groups are formed around the hubs with having its set of influencers, audience and sources of information. Formation of these groups is heavily dependent on the relevance of the topic to different groups hence the formation of different groups with distinct features. Such a map may compared to interactions at a community level since there is bound to be disintegrations in relation to opinion regarding the same subject matter. Works Cited Boyd, Danah and Jeffrey Heer. “Profiles as Conversation: Networked Identity Performance on Friendster.” In Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-39), 2006. Neuendorf, Kimberly and Paul Skalski. “Quantitative Content Analysis and the Measurement of Collective Identity”. (n.d). Preece, Jennifer and Ben Shneiderman. “The Reader-to-Leader Framework: Motivating Technology-Mediated Social Participation”. AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, (1) 1, 2009: pp. 13-32 Smith, Marc, Lee Rainie, Itai Himelboim and Ben Shneiderman. “Mapping Twitter Topic Networks: From Polarized Crowds to Community Clusters”. Pew Research Center, 2014. Read More