Social Media Predictions for 2014

I always enjoy reading the predictions for Social Media each year. It is so fun to see what people think will happen. Sometimes I agree, but most times not, however, this time I found a couple that I actually agree with. In an article posted this morning by Alex Kantrowitz, he predicts two things I think are we will see in 2014:

          Facebook will not tank necessarily but the average time spent on it will. It has long been predicted that Facebook’s time is coming to an end, yet, it is still a very successful social media site. I do agree that average time users spend on the site will decrease. Mostly because there are numerous social media platforms now that people are using. In the past, Facebook was a major player because options were limited, but today, there are tons of competitors.

      Vine will be the next big social media thing. While I do love SnapChat, I think 2013 was its year and Vine has been out there slowly building its user base. I currently do not use Vine but have to admit that I give it a few more weeks before I am an active user.

Other than that, I have not really seen many predictions that I agree with or just read them and think “Duh.” Have you seen any predictions that you think are worth sharing?

Here is to 2014! Let’s see what social media brings!

Holiday Vacation

As most of you know the holidays are very busy and so that has kept me from being able to find time to blog. Also, I have been looking for interesting social media topics to just file so when I get time to blog, I have some ideas, yet nothing good has really popped out at me. I will be on vacation until the end of the month but expect some great posts in 2014!

Happy holidays everyone. Wishing you all a safe and wonderful season.

Worth Reading

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/21/more-professors-using-social-media-teaching-tools

I would suggest checking out this article on how faculty are using social media in the classroom. Since some of my research has focused on this topic, I find it interesting to see that privacy is still a huge concern. My only question is "What kind of faculty were using social media?" The article did not specify if it was field specific or even education level specific.

Enjoy!

Monitoring Students Online Speech: Is It Too Far?

I am sure by now that most of you are aware of the issues involved with social media when being used by teenagers. Recently, Glendale Unified, a school, announced that they have hired Geo Listening to monitor their student’s online social media behaviors and use. Is this a violation of privacy? That was my first question. Turns out the answer is no because most of these teenagers have public profiles and make public postings. This why I am always stressing to young social media users the importance of locking profiles and always updating privacy settings. You have a digital footprint people and once it is out there, it cannot be erased.

Glendale Unified says they want to monitor cyber bullying, suicides, drugs and other things. While I agree that cyber bullying is QUICKLY becoming a huge issue that has led to several suicides in the past year among teenagers, is it the schools responsibility and right to monitor this through social media? The school claims it is looking for students violating the school conduct codes, but if this free speech is happening outside of school, then how is that a violation?

I think this school is treading on a very thin line and I do not see this social media monitoring as a step in the right direction. While I understand they are trying to be proactive and protect students, I think there are other measures that could be taken. For example, why not spend the $40,000 they are currently paying the Geo Listening on education programs to teach parents and caregivers how to best identify depression and abuse? Why not spend this money on increased security in the school to protect students from possible threats? I am sure as you can tell how I feel about the issue ha-ha. I believe in free speech, even if that speech is hateful. I think it is wrong to hurt people through speech, especially on social media, and I think it is an issue that should be addressed and hopefully one day stopped. However, I think there are more efficient steps that can be taken to protect teenagers from the dangers of online communication and use.

Internet v. Doctor: Patient-Provider Communication Barriers

I was doing some literature searches to look for information to support my current research on why healthcare students are going online. I discovered a research article discussing how patients go online to search for health information before talking to their doctors or medical providers. While this seems like a common thing to do, I started thinking about how much this effects patient-provider communication.

It used to be that a patient would feel sick and go to the doctor. After a thorough workup and discussion between the two, the physician would offer a diagnosis and treatment plan. Because the patient usually did not have any advanced medical knowledge or training prior to entering a doctor’s office, they accepted the diagnosis and treatment plan.

Now, patients are “self-diagnosing” by searching their symptoms online and then meeting with their physicians. When they enter the doctor’s office, they already hold certain amounts of knowledge and opinions over what they think their diagnosis is and what the treatment plan should be. So even as the doctor is communicating with them, the information being given by the patient may be bias to fit the symptoms of what they already “self-diagnosed” themselves with.

What was even more interesting to me was another news article I read stating that physicians are ok with the fact that patients search for health information prior to contacting them. I would like to see research to support this notion because from what I hear from physicians around my office, that is not the case. They discuss how inaccurate health information online causes barriers in patient-provider communication.

I admit to the fact that I do research health information online when I am a patient but I tend to be very selective in what I choose to believe. Most of my research performed online is AFTER meeting with a physician and hearing their opinions because I want to learn more about what the diagnosis and treatment plan. Maybe I am one of the rare ones, maybe it is because I work around physicians and understand/respect their knowledge, or maybe it is because I practice effective communication. Who knows.

Just me thinking here about it all but as a patient, what do you tend to do? If you go online before your appointment, does this affect the communication between you and the doctor?

Status updates with a purpose

It appears that there is never going to be an end to the number of specialized social media websites at our disposal, but there are a plethora of differentiation techniques the current sites are using to help stand apart. One recent example of this is Facebook’s newer profile feature, in which one can proclaim they are organ donors. A recent study out of Johns Hopkins conducted in May of 2012 revealed a substantial increase in the number of organ donors during the two-week study, with the number of organ donors climbing to over twice the normal rate. Yet sadly, the increase was short lived. The months following the new Facebook feature reveal, showed levels of registration returning to their original levels. This fact demonstrates the failings of a single push for a cause instead of a campaign that has different elements to keep the interest of the public.

I must confess that I never heard about this feature until preparing for this blog. While clearly I am not an early adopter of this feature, I do encourage the use of this feature for numerous reasons. Below are just a few of the many benefits to taking part in this initiative.

·         It allows one to raise awareness for a growing need in our society as 18 people a day will die waiting on a transplant due to the shortage in organ donors (organdonor.gov)

·         It enables you to notify your friends and families of your wishes, as hospitals will seek permission from your next of kin (though not always necessary if you are a registered donor).

·          By sharing this information you bring up the topic to friends and family that may have never considered being a donor before.

·         A single donor can save up to 8 lives, so imagine if you get your friends and family involved in this initiative!

I started this post by viewing this feature of Facebook as another way of differentiating it from the numerous social media websites currently available. I think this socially responsible behavior could be an important way for Facebook to build more brand loyalty and a highly favorable image. Even if only a few people are motivated to become donors because of Facebook, I consider it a success.

Will you become a donor? Or if you are already a donor will you tell people through Facebook?

Author:

Clay Craig, PhD.

The CEO and Social Media

One of the news stories I stopped to read today was about how CEO’s should be engaging in social media. My thought was “duh.” I have been saying this for years but still a majority of CEO’s were staying away from social media. Everything this article states is true and so I feel like if a CEO isn’t already actively engaging with its consumers on social media it might just be too late at this point. Sadly, I wish that this article would have come out two years ago instead of today. The main points of the article included:

·         Know what you want from time invested

·         Use listening insights as lever for change

·         Engage in business-minded social networks

·         Be the most trusted name for your news

·         Stay current with media change

·         Think before you tweet (or post)

These are all great points but just something that all CEO’s should already be aware of and practicing. It honestly makes me wonder who these CEO’s are that are not already on social networking sites and why they chose to refrain for SO LONG. There is tons of research offering reasons why CEO’s should be online and the overall benefits of it. This article is an interesting read because it offers some statistics about how employees feel about their companies CEO’s being on social media and percentages on how many global executives want to be online and why. So if you get time check it out.

(http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisperry/2013/05/29/research-social-media-finally-seen-as-essential-for-ceos/)