Use of Ethnography in Social Media - Coursework Example

Use of Ethnography in Social Media Introduction The past two decades have demonstrated a vast foray among audiences and related study techniques (of which Ethnography is a part) into several new dimensions of theoretical and empirical research. While issues ranging from sense making to regular media practices that lead to the operation of social structure have long been debated, studying the methods and interpretations using techniques such as Ethnography have also come under focus and continue to evolve into newer domains. Over the past few years, several new ways of distributed activity among people have gained prominence due to the availability of digital media that provides easy interaction through a networked infrastructure. This has presented analysts with new forms of old issues that need to be studied through the use of mediated communications. Amongst these networked forms of interaction, the popularity of the ‘network of networks’, the Internet, has been propelled to unimaginable heights due to several factors: The growth of the backbone infrastructure necessary to facilitate high speed and high volume data traffic; the popularity of html (Hypertext Mark-up Language) and search technology for obtaining data; rise of access and host providers etc (Sharlene, 2006). But perhaps all this would have proved insignificant had it not been for the emergence of a desire on the part of the average consumer for increasing dependence on electronic media and storage. The decentralized structure of the internet provided users with the capability to send and receive information in multiple formats and through a variety of ways such as electronic mail, documents, online repositories etc. The presence of all these mediums in the public domain has fostered the Internet’s growth as an abode to several virtual communities of use. Private companies have been quick to capitalize on the growth of the web as the new platform for communication and trade by marketing their products and services through various multimedia techniques. For instance, television stations and media networks have launched and promoted websites to promote their services and have also begun to offer an increasing amount of content online (Pink, 2007). Companies further utilize online media to invite viewer and consumer response. However, the growth of these networks cannot be compared to the popularity enjoyed by social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter that have not just occupied prominent places in our everyday lives, but have become integral components of our communication assets. These social websites are used for communication amongst friends, establishing contacts with people known throughout our lives and sharing information of common interest. Further, websites such as Twitter that offer micro-blogging services have enabled instant communication and have revolutionized communication. In fact, Twitter has now emerged as an effective tool for public communication and is used by several prominent personalities to send out messages for promotion and other purposes, helping disseminate information to millions of people connected to the Internet (Rothenbuhler, 2005). The growth of this new social medium along the digital course calls to question the ways in which social scientists study the new emerging trends among people through collection of related data. This new area of study, often termed as ‘Digital Ethnography’, is the primary focus of this paper, which will highlight various strengths and weaknesses encountered in studying this new area of social communication. Data gathering techniques The usage of social websites is commonly done by market research firms such as Nielsen Media Research. Common metrics for measurement include attributes associated with websites like the number of page requests, requests per minute, total duration of usage per region etc. In several instances, the number of page hits is seen as a direct approximation for the trends within a mass audience from a general perspective. Social media has recently thrived on the introduction of new communication methods such as video streaming (YouTube), status messages, document embedding etc. In fact, such introductions have contributed to an increase of 25% in website usage among US households since 2007 (Crawford, 2008). In contrast to viewing a television or listening to a radio, Computer mediated communication (CMC) is quite unique in the manner of attendance. In contrast to a set schedule, Internet based social communications are transient, easily available, multi modal (accessible through a computer, mobile phone etc) and allows for a greater degree of content manipulation by the user. Moreover, there are no visible constraints such as the locality of the source that has offered new possibilities for sharing knowledge and intercultural contact beyond geographical barriers (Ginsburg, 2008). However, despite these seemingly positive gains, social interaction across the web has also come with its unique set of troubles. The easy accessibility of explicit sexual content, violent propaganda, rumours and unethical advertisements have all made their way into social websites and affected specific sections of consumers. Further, the Internet in itself represents a symbolic culture where users largely express something that is coherent. The global and somewhat intimate perception of these elements and their social affiliations has generated widespread interest among interpretive analysts. The new era of networked social interaction is certainly a primary example of the new challenges that a mobile and connected populace presents to ethnographers, who prefer single instance studies of a focus community or a consistent level of subjectivity (Georgiou, 2006). As the subsequent sections will demonstrate, undertaking ethnographic studies in the virtual space is associated with numerous challenges, alternate challenges and a different set of conditions. Web 2.0 It must be pointed out here that social media is not a new concept. In fact, it does not represent a concept or even a comprehensive platform. Technically speaking, it is a component of the much broader ‘Web 2.0’, which marks a change in the approach towards innovation, development and deliverance of open source and real time communication technologies. For the average user, Web 2.0 is the evolution of communication within social circles, among friends, and other communities of interest that has blurred the boundaries that separate each of these phenomena. Further, websites specializing in social networks must not be confused with social networking websites wherein the former focus on building and using communities of common interest. These sites gained traction with time due to the self-organizing capabilities of communities formed in these mediums. The earliest example of such social network sites is ‘Friendster’, which was designed to facilitate online dating (Hammersley, 2007). This site initially encountered trouble with a swamping of several fake profiles of people, places, or virtually anything that were not authentic. Efforts to put an end to such use were met with an instant rebellion. This soon evolved into the use of the site by several indie rock bands that wanted to connect with their fan base. The use of Friendster for such purposes was not welcomed by the site owners resulting in a movement of these users to other sites such as MySpace, which did not put any such restrictions in place and depended on increasing traffic and users for maintaining their viability. This was soon followed by the introduction of Facebook soon after that has grown exponentially since then alongside MySpace (Jensen, 2008). However, this growth has come together with its share of a number of concerns over the culture as well as the risk associated with the information available from these social networks. On a common note, MySpace has evolved to be associated with social deviances and meetups, which has largely been fuelled by constant reports of the presence of sexual predators and other exploitative trends in the social media. In fact, this distinction between Facebook and MySpace has been elaborately documented by Boyd (2008) in his book titled ‘Vieweing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace”. In his argument, Boyd points that the public and social groups of users have directed certain aesthetic differences amongst these two huge public networks, which was based predominantly on Class. In fact, this perspective was important in determining how the public perceived them, although both functioned similarly in terms of functionality and use. A good way to ascertain the effectiveness and utility of social networks is by measuring the ‘network density’. This is performed by monitoring the activity of clusters and examining the level of stickiness. For instance, if a user is actively using a network but none of his contacts or friends are, then such a person is unlikely to use the network for a longer time. An even better method adopted by market research firms is to determine the health of the community then individuals. Further, a certain distinction can also be maintained in this scenario between adults and teens, who have exhibited fundamental differences on the basis of the cultural, social and economic structured at play. Most significantly, conversations among teens appear to be inane on the outside. Experts at Zephoria, a social research company, note that such conversations are mere building blocks of the process towards digital grooming of the social individual (Jensen, 2008). For example, wall posts on Facebook are common forms of ritualistic conversations along a virtual hallway. As social websites such as Facebook evolved, many knowledge workers joined them and began hanging out with friends. However, their interaction with these sites was quite different from the teens. Adults have been found to prefer posting status messages that tend to inform from the outward, while their personal information reveals more of their professional experience. In comparison, teens are much more outright, keep their information updated and are more likely to include information that their friends would be most interested in knowing. Shifting trends of social media also correlate with the relevant demographics. For example, the median age for the popular micro blogging site Twitter is currently 31 and is increasing further (Atkinson, 2007). Even more surprising is the fact that teens seldom use the site for communication despite its immense popularity and growth. One of the reasons can be associated with power, which teens usually don’t maintain at least within the American society over the issue of developing digital tools for communication. Most of us are interested in knowing how searchable we are at least amongst those who have the knowhow to search for associated data. This group may include law enforcing agencies, potential employers or institutions of learning. It is true that individuals haven’t always been searchable, as is exemplified by the inability of parents to use common programming tools (until the preceding decade without Google’s presence) to keep track of their children. This also brings to focus the existence of virtual worlds. In terms of the interaction among social networks, anything that allows for the creation of digital interaction spaces with avatars is enough to stimulate users without requiring the need for a three dimensional immersive online world such as Second Life. In fact, the latter site has not been popular to a large extent given the preference for online games that allow similar fun. Such gaming environments, such as ‘World of Warcraft’, have been quite powerful as they facilitate synchronous interaction in real time (Moores, 2009). Conclusion The era of Social media has indeed emerged as the new realm of public communication and is being actively used by people and organizations as effective means of delivering thoughts and ideas. In fact, the latest presidential campaign of President Barack Obama is the finest example of the use of social technologies to approach voters and deliver the agenda in a clear and lucid fashion (Moores, 2009). The use of websites, emails and other electronic campaigns by the Democratic Party has been a subject of intense study for ethnographers in recent times, who predict a revolution in public campaigns using this new platform. Likewise, the average Internet user is coming to terms with changes to their privacy and online presence. As more information on a person becomes available online, the notion of privacy and personal data is undergoing a rapid transformation. Although there have been calls for staging several social media campaigns to address these issues, researchers are of the opinion such initiatives are not easy to implement due to the powerful nature of platforms like Facebook and Twitter. To counter the urge to rush towards using a social media tool, ethnographers have identified that it is necessary to adopt an appropriate an elaborate social media strategy as exemplified by the Obama campaign. Ultimately, any social media initiative has to take into account its target group of people, community or business organization and set relevant priorities that will provide a clear overview over using social media effectively. The second most important aspect of a successful social media venture is to identify innovative and lucrative ways of motivating users to interact through these social tools. In streamlining this approach, obtaining constant user feedback and improving upon their suggestions is likewise crucial. Social media is a very interactive domain over the Internet and is still in an evolutionary phase without any specific standards or without any comprehensively proven user or market trends. The field of ethnography thus has an important responsibility in assisting those responsible with improving these attractive forms of modern communication in order to create better, secure and robust communication mediums. It is hoped that many more studies will be undertaken in this exciting area of social research in the near future and interesting facts and figures will be available. References 1. Sharlene (2006), Emergent methods in social research. New York: Sage. 2. Pink (2007), Doing visual ethnography: images, media and representation in research. London: Wiley. 3. Rothenbuhler (2005), Media anthropology. Boston: McGraw Hill. 4. Crawford (2008), Construction of the viewer: media ethnography and the anthropology of audiences. University of Virginia. 5. Ginsburg (2008), Media worlds: anthropology on new terrain. University of California. 6. Boyd (2008), Vieweing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace. New York: Routledge. 7. Georgiou (2006), Diaspora, identity and the media: diasporic transnationalism and mediated spacialities. University of Michigan. 8. Hammersley (2007), Ethnography: principles in practice. New York: Taylor & Francis. 9. Jensen (2008), A handbook of media and communication research: qualitative and quantitative methodologies. London: Routledge. 10. Atkinson (2007), Handbook of ethnography. London: SAGE. 11. Moores (2009), Interpreting audiences: the ethnography of media consumption. Chicago: Wiley. Read More