Connecting

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Connecting Interacting through Social Media

• Joanne Jacobs
• Interaction Design Technology Strategy
• _at_joannejacobs joanne_at_joannejacobs.net

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/4
903580359
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Index

• Promise/objectives
• Early web search engines as trust agents
• Later web Information overload
• Rise of social human filters for subject
  expertise
• Behavioural economics and search
• Social media and critical friends
• Social interaction as learning/evaluation

• Socially driven influence
• How to access influencers
• How to engage influencers
• Case studies in socially driven trust
  relationships
• Implications for trust networks and interaction
• Questions

3
Promise objectives

• Demonstrate how social media optimises our
  identification of trustworthy sources
• Show how social technologies facilitate
  critically valuable networks
• Plot a path for learning through technology
  mediated social interaction

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/4
903581129
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1. Trust
2. Critical friends influencers
3. Case studies in social learning

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/paulota
vio/3057375124
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SOCIAL EVOLUTION
Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/tobiast
oft/4356852050/
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Early web

• Search engines as fast indexes

Images source Internet Archive
http//web.archive.org/
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Late 1990s Early 2000s

• Information overload

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/ursonat
e/3729697018
8
Web 2.0

• Rise of social media (early-mid 2000s)

Image source http//todayinart.com/2011/01/06/16-
clean-social-media-icons/
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TRUST
Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/tobiast
oft/4356852050/
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Trust as a social concept

• Humans less likely to be 'gamed' than flawed
  algorithms
• Can develop relationships with trust sources
• Trust is proven or shaken by ongoing behaviours

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/jdhanco
ck/3842546304
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Social media

• Enables discovery of new trust sources
• Facilitates orthogonal links
• Streamlines access to content
• Allows feedback, debate on content

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/theresa
sthompson
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Social media

• Human filters shared experience improved
  content access.

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/lululem
onathletica
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Trust networks

• Nascent properties
• Subject to change, based on interactions
• Require sustenance
• Form the basis of influence

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/jurvets
on/2234378275
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CRITICAL FRIENDS AND INFLUENCERS
Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/tobiast
oft/4356852050/
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Behavioural economics

• Influence of social, cognitive and emotional
  factors on economic decisions.

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/pinkshe
rbet/1360614141
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Behavioural economics

• Framing
• Collective behaviour
• Efficiency/laziness
• Contrived/realistic scenarios
• Opportunities in decisions not taken

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/jurvets
on/4420838699
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Kahneman Thinking, Fast and Slow

• Although Humans are not irrational, they often
  need help to make more accurate judgments and
  better decisions Rational people should be free
  and they should be responsible for taking care of
  themselves But freedom has a cost, which is
  borne by individuals who make bad choices and by
  a society the feels obligated to help them. (pp
  411-12)

Source http//www.amazon.co.uk/Thinking-Fast-Slow
-Daniel-Kahneman
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Fast thinking and trust

• Trust formed through intuition (fast thinking) as
  well as shared experiences
• Social media support communication of shared
  experiences, improving cognitive ease of
  decisions about trust (fast thinking)

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/schmoll
molch
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Trust and social technologies

• Trust crucial for sustainability of online
  relationships

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/fragile
tender/564941677
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Social media and critical friends

• Expectation of critical feedback in social media
  not just positive reinforcement
• Idea development based on collaborative
  authorship/editing not critical reception of
  finished works

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/atomicj
eep/58710053/
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Critical friends human filters

• Social technologies enable access to more
  informed, critical and trustworthy human filters.

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/9098231
4_at_N00/6414301543/
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Learning through social interaction

• Socratic thought and social media
• Social decision making more effective/successful
  than individual decisions
• Adaptive thinking facilitated through
  collaboration
• Higher order learning skills tapped

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/eflon/3
271730476
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Problems with social

• High individual investment and slow thinking
  required for identification of useful sources
• Cognitive laziness can limit critical value of
  networks

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/pinguin
o/4081430041
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Socially driven influence

• Interaction with ideas/brands/products in social
  networks can act as catalyst for shared
  experiences
• Influence not just a matter of brand awareness,
  but of brand expertise

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/2713202
9_at_N06/2822971312
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How to access influencers

• Research
• Referral
• Direct request (for expertise)

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/59
82663752
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Accessing influencers Research

• Social media activity
• Content production and interactions (online and
  offline)
• Sentiment analysis
• Niche networks

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/uggboy/
5279534663
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Influencers Referrals and Requests

• Referrals citations and conversations
• Referrals friends of friends
• Referrals niche network recommendations
• Requests Direct requests for experts in a
  specific field/set of experiences
• Requests Celebrity endorsement of influencers

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/pagedoo
ley/4699835676
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Engaging influencers

• Not celebrities influence based on history of
  trustworthy interactions
• Not advertisers influence sustained through
  impartiality

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/4748977
1_at_N00/2352753067
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Engaging influencers

• Human filters influencers have developed
  cognitive ease across their fields of expertise
• Trust agents influencers produce trustworthy
  content and tend to be linked to other trust
  sources

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/linhnga
n/2833540510/
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CASE STUDIES OF SOCIAL INTERACTION
Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/tobiast
oft/4356852050/
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Case studies

• CORPORATECareOne Debt Relief used social media
  to generate longer buying cycle while improving
  advice. (Link)
• COMMUNITYInstructables.com as a marketing
  vector and to develop a community of users.
  (Link)
• PROBLEM SOLVING Game based complex problem
  resolution. (Link)
• INDUSTRIAL LEARNING IBM staff-initiated
  professional development programmes. (Link)

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/2565227
8_at_N03/3626369316
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CORPORATE

• Site existed as QA for users of debt recovery
  services
• Social introduced to broaden awareness, answer
  questions
• gt Found that understanding, buy-cycle increased,
  sense of trust increased with social

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COMMUNITY

• Community of makers
• Questions, comments always possible
• The more sophisticated the activity, the more
  likely users will buy from a maker
• gt Trust based on expertise, quality of instruction

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PROBLEM SOLVING

• AIDS researchers sought to determine genome
  structure of HIV for a decade
• Fold-It game played by gamers wanting to
  contribute to scientific research
• Problem solved in 3 weeks
• gt Gamer reputation on line trust based on
  expertise.

Image source http//blogs.discovermagazine.com/no
trocketscience/2011/09/18/computer-gamers-solve-pr
oblem-in-aids-research-that-puzzled-scientists-for
-years/
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INDUSTRIAL LEARNING

• IBM noted need for new leaders prof dev but
  adequate curriculum difficult
• Used (internal) social media to curate
  professional development programme
• gt Trust built in firm by ability to contribute to
  learning

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Implications for trust networks

• Technology increasingly being used as a vehicle
  to test trustworthiness
• Social technologies, while fallible, offer most
  promise of uncovering truth, because reputation
  is most at risk for sharing inaccurate,
  untrustworthy ideas.

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/legends
2k/4865390134
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Technology driven learning

• Social technologies enable learning based on
  social negotiation, as well as ongoing
  verification checks.

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/pagedoo
ley/5192063662/
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Promise Fulfilment

• Social media facilitates identification of
  trustworthy sources
• Social technologies can act as an acceptable
  destination and gateway for critical responses
• Technology-mediated social interaction is the
  most promising vector for learning in an age
  where tech is becoming transparent

Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/4
903581129
39
Questions
Joanne Jacobs Tech Strategy Interaction
Design Ph 07 948 318 298 Email
joanne_at_joannejacobs.net Web http//joannejacobs.n
et/ Twitter _at_joannejacobs Skype bgsbjj
Unless otherwise specified, all images used in
this presentation are Creative Commons images,
under an Attribution Licence.
Further reading Southgate, N. (Nov 2011)
Ingrained in the Brain, Research Magazine.
Image source http//www.flickr.com/photos/tobiast
oft/4356852050/