Evan Alman ENC 1102 Professor Leslie Wolcott 3/11/14

Social Media in Politics, Policy, and Your Personal Life

Introduction

I would like to talk about and research the influence of Social Media within the field of Political Science and the realm of educational centers, specifically in the U.S. There's an immense amount of importance centered on these (social media) mechanisms of information diffusion and creation. Often times in university curriculum they get mentions, but not in-depth discussion like they really deserve. SMT (Social Media Technology) is representative of a melting pot of various consistencies, flavors, and temperatures. Some, such as LinkedIn, are for professionals, whilst some, like Facebook, are considered much less professional. At its very core level, SMT aggregates news, opinions, random gibberish, and everything else in between. It is mostly used for spreading and sharing information, rather than documentation. This will be reflected throughout the bibliography.

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When considering the studies and information available, governments and higher education institutions have incredible influence on many modern social media practices. As such, the responsibility they respectively bear is unique in and of itself. Higher education institutions each have their own special commitments, as do governments. These commitments tend to have varied and highly volatile effects, such as prompting organized rebellion through the aforementioned social media or outright disregard of what is passed down from above (e.g. new school policy, new government mandate). What social media in modern times has the capacity to do is entirely nix this phase; replacing it instead with a possibly interactive, transparent phase that can reliably impact lives in what could ostensibly benefit peoples lives in a positive way. Regarding modern administrators and educators throughout governments, educational institutions, and everything in-between, there cannot afford to be misinformation and a broadening disconnect between the benefits of SMT and the people who refuse to acknowledge its merits, lest modern educational and cultural progress halt. Why this would happen will be addressed further on, especially in the bibliography.

When discussing the institutionalized usage of SMT, one of the first orders of business is a cost vs. benefit analysis. This is where many studies fall apart. There is no common standard for what reasonable usage of SMT (i.e. overuse, underuse, diction, rapport), and this causes inconsistencies and a struggle to compared apples to oranges. It is for this reason that generalized conclusions in this topic field are border-line useless, aside from establishing basic premises, and as such will be used sparingly throughout my annotations. Case-studies, region specific pieces, and large-scale analysis will be used; most sources will be from the past couple of years, seeing as SMT has only gained traction over time, rather than backslid.
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Another unfortunate assumption that must be made and taken into account is the general culpability present throughout SMT is incredibly low compared to many other modern forms of media. In this regard, a certain level of trust must be presupposed for some of these analytical studies to hold any merit. Some take this into account, barely, but not nearly enough for this point to squeeze past unnoticed. With informational integrity comes the integrity of those providing the information. International outlets as well as homegrown United States providers can both have heavy bias when analyzing information and the merits of social media in innumerable ways, but I will address two of the basics. 1. Middle eastern media outlets and educational centers have a higher probability of skewing opinion or misrepresenting the people due to the general unhappy nature of most of the populace these days. Good examples of this can be related to pretty much any Zionist issues, dictatorship issues, or feminist issues. 2. International outlets as well as U.S. ones both tend to heavily lean upon certain facets of data or opinion without really acknowledging another, sometimes equally relevant, piece. These two core basics in mind, the educators, administrators, and people in power to make good changes should take heed to the varied conclusions laid out through my annotations below. Those that create the research studies, experiments, et all, must be unbiased, thorough in their analysis, and the usage of inductive reasoning (top-down analysis) must be kept to a bare minimum. In addition to this, and why inductive reasoning can be less than ideal, is that a majority of people now use SMT, and so, inevitably, some people feel they are qualified to talk about it and jump to conclusions (even though they are not). Being properly credentialized in their specific field, doing background research, and establishing parameters for the research, conclusions, etc., are all required to be considered in this discussion.
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With expressive quantitative and qualitative data alike, the point of this annotated bibliography is to express the storied road social media has taken throughout higher education centers, governments, and federal institutions in the U.S. and where it should continue to be built.

Annotations
Anderson, Gary L. "Media's Impact on Educational Policies and Practices: Political Spectacle and Social Control." Peabody Journal of Education 82.1 (2007): 103-20. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. Anderson, who is affiliated with New York University, discusses the reasonable and straightforward conclusion that online media presents obstacles for educators, and not all of them are ready to meet it. The anxieties and fear mongering that these media outlets propagate restricts those that wish to innovate in incorporation of media into education into a purgatory of reliance on the past while being able to see the future right in front of them. In the realm of U.S. media, SMT lets this continue even after the TV is turned off. Shared by your friends and family, getting away from politically-charged subjects can become a challenge.

Berry, K. S., and C. D. Herrington. "Tensions Across Federalism, Localism, and Professional Autonomy: Social Media and Stakeholder Response to Increased Accountability." Educational Policy 27.2 (2013): 390-409. Print. Authors Berry and Herrington, both hailing from Florida State University, discuss a case study in the use and (debatably) abuse of social media in a specific school district. This is a key example
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of how social media can help organize movements. The most recognizable benefits were numerous: the ability to communicate with many others across an instant online platform about the presented issues, promoted discussion and elaboration, promoted validation of others thoughts, opinions, etc., and above all it promoted a sense of a point of organization, around which everything rotated, hinging on each new issue and development. What is also made abundantly clear is that through the ease of expressing thoughts on such a platform, the ignorant, uninformed, or possibly just unsure out themselves quite easily sometimes. In this case there is clear uncertainty about some issues, as well as the scope of what the district should cover. Disagreement is rampant, and rightfully so. SMT allows for argument on any topic at any time.

Blair, Alasdair. "Democratising the Learning Process: The Use of Twitter in the Teaching of Politics and International Relations." Politics 33.2 (2013): 135-45. Print. Blair Alasdair from De Montfort University analyzes the basics of twitter and its functionality in university education and interaction. Although it's a straightforward analysis and predictable resultants, it shows that social media is not solely a communication tool, but also very pertinent for education as well. Being able to absolve students of the burden of finding articles pertinent to discussion topics, they are instead being aggregated by various media. It becomes a selection process of a trustworthy or semi-trustworthy source. Considering many disciplines works are more and more being judged by impact (as stated in the conclusion), twitter cannot be ignored. Regardless of its varied drawbacks, ranging from students communicating with staff in inappropriate ways to students giving universities bad representation, twitter remains high on the list of applicable tools in the international relations and politics community. A democratic learning tool that cannot be replicated in classroom or textbook is judged to be invaluable.
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Cope, Jonathan, and Richard Flanagan. "Information Literacy in the Study of American Politics: Using New Media to Teach Information Literacy in the Political Science Classroom." Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian 32.1 (2013): 3-23. Print. Flanagan and Cope of College of Staten Island, City University of New York, Staten Island, New York respectively dissect main weaknesses of "new media" i.e. social media. One of their main conclusions is that being able to verify information and obtaining various perspectives can be deceptively difficult. They feel that if new media is going to be upheld and cherished like it is bringing in a new age, this must be discussed. They describe multiple different personality types that characterize internet interactions. Some more conducive to discussion than others, some consume more information than others, etc. Some of their most resounding points revolve around the fact that the pedagogical potential of the internet is a bit more limited to some people than others. Intervention is sometimes needed for the internet to properly service some people.

Cottle, Simon, and Julian Matthews. "U.S. TV News and Communicative Architecture: Between Manufacturing Consent and Mediating Democracy." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 57.4 (2013): 562-78. Print. Simon Cottle (Ph.D., Leicester University) is a professor of Media and Communications and head of the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, at Cardiff University. His latest books are coauthored Disasters and the Media (2013), Transnational Protests and the Media (2012) and sole authored Global Crisis Reporting (2009). Simon is series editor of Global Crises and the Media, an international series for the publisher Peter Lang. Julian Matthews (Ph.D., Brunei University) is a lecturer in the Department of Media and Communication, University of
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Leicester, UK. His research interests include the sociology of news journalists and production and the news representations of risk and social problems. Authors Cottle and Matthews decided to examine one of the older (relatively speaking) forms of SMT that is television; specifically, they decided to look into its contributions to the United States' consenting and democratic natures. Through a thorough and varied combination of qualitative and quantitative data, straightforward reasoning, and past studies, their conclusion hits on a couple of relevant points. It would appear that at least within the realm of U.S. television networks, there is complexity with misunderstood, unacknowledged depth. While there seems to be a form of framing around most expressed media, that does not limit its impact and pull upon its surroundings. Although an architecture is present, it is so complex that it is not limiting, in fact in many ways it would seem to propagate the spread, realization, and credibility of relevant television media. Thus, what is occurring is a very real influence on the lives of the recipients of the hyper-competitive television network products.

Draskovic, Nikola, Martina Caic, and Ana Kustrak. "Croatian Perspective(s) on the Lecturer-student Interaction through Social Media." International Journal of Management Cases 15.4 (2013): 331+. Business Source Premier. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. In this entry-level yet in-depth article 3 researchers from the Zagreb school of Economics and Management (Nikola Draskovic, Martina Caic, and Ana Kustrak) obtain qualitative data as to what role and how much influence social media has upon higher level education. In this study as a whole it appears that students value the informality of certain media more highly than the strictness that the teachers value highly in other kinds of media. Classically speaking, apprehension when it comes to technology is nearly ubiquitous in relation to older generations,

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while younger generations tend embrace it with few qualms. It will take some time for professional sites such as LinkedIn to catch on fully among older generations for this reason. The reason why this matters is that although there certainly are websites and resources out there that teachers as well as older people would heavily appreciate and use, they fear or underuse the internet. As such, they limit themselves from branching out and finding these sites, creating an artificially small userbase. The political climate now has another mark for the youth and a mark against the older generations, who are gimping themselves in the online world.

Meredith, M. J. "Strategic Communication and Social Media: An MBA Course From a Business Communication Perspective." Business Communication Quarterly 75.1 (2012): 89-95. Print. The author, who is affiliated with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discusses the importance of social media and postulates an MBA course specifically dedicated to social media strategy. The ability to distribute information with a positive or negative spin on it, having the capability of building up a following on a live forum, and being able to re-brand yourself at what seems to be the drop of a hat all make distinct appearances in this article. In the world of politics, where appealing to general audiences lets you win, these abilities are incredibly important. The volatility of political issues makes easy re-branding and re-defining of values immensely conducive to success. The author seems to reference these facts, but moreso the viability of a course in higher education revolving around the prevalence and multi-faceted nature of SMT. The authors qualitative data, and conclusion especially, viewed from their businesscommunication perspective specifically, states that success in this hypothetical endeavor would hinge on not only sharing successes and failures, but establishing research specific to the discipline of SMT.

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Ives, Eugenia A. IGeneration: The Social Cognitive Effects of Digital Technology on Teenager. Thesis. Dominican University of California, 2012. N.p.: n.p., n.d. ERIC. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. Despite the egregiously clich title, the author contributes information that spans both sides of the discussion. With a focus on what is considered the "best usage" of social media, there is a heavy emphasis on that which is still unknown, and the fact that we have not had time to catch up to the rushing tide of the digital age. Healthy digital practices are said to be a must; with an incredibly long laundry list of them posted at the end. This serves to establish the important truth that the complex SMT issues have nearly infinite perspectives and opinions swirling around them. Unfortunately for this author, who is probably the least credentialed out of all the annotations, solving the complex issues that are entailed with participation in online communities is not as simple as making a checklist and forcing people to sign it. His thesis is thorough, but lacks feasible solutions much like many other papers, opinions, thoughts, etc. out there involving SMT.

Jeong, Hyun Ju, and Mira Lee. "The Effect of Online Media Platforms on Joining Causes: The Impression Management Perspective." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media57.4 (2013): 439-55. Print. Hyun Ju Jeong (Ph.D. Michigan State University is an instructor at the School of Journalism and Telecommunications, University of Kentucky. Mira Lee (Ph.D. University of Minnesota) is an associate professor of Marketing at the School of Business Administration, Chung-Ang University. With a variety of SMT involved in this study, it's best to focus in on the results and implications, rather then become hitched on the inputs. The main conclusion drawn was that
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there was a direct, positive correlation between the online media platforms and the probability to join a cause. SNS (Social Networking Sites) had a larger positive correlation than non-SNS. This plays into the dialogue of the significance of reporting information vs. reporting and interacting with the information in an online setting.

Kelm, O. R. "Social Media: It's What Students Do." Business Communication Quarterly 74.4 (2011): 505-20. Print. With a strong focus on the application of the social media itself, author Orlando R. Kelm from the University of Texas at Austin discusses the interlocking contexts that online media provides between the producer and the consumer. Constructivist theory is the highlight of this piece. Actual research is done rather than just thought about, using students to analyse. Their contributions include Youtube and even a study tour in China that tends to agree with the positive aspects and downplay the negatives when it comes to social media. To quote from the abstract: "The student work provides evidence of the positive results that come from the use of social media, when viewed from the perspective of social constructivist theories for learning."

Mihailidis, P., and B. Thevenin. "Media Literacy as a Core Competency for Engaged Citizenship in Participatory Democracy." American Behavioral Scientist 57.11 (2013): 1611-622. Print. Mihailidis and Thevenin of Emerson College, Boston, and Brigham Young University, Provo respectively elaborate upon what it means to be an active and engaged citizen in modern representative democracy. With a focus on usage of social media and internet literacy, they establish that education that specializes in these should become an institution nation-wide. They

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embrace media literacy as a collaborative model that can increase political responsibility among the populace and help influence many other issues in a positive manner.

Parmelee, John H., John Davies, and Carolyn A. Mcmahan. "The Rise of Non-Traditional Site Use for Online Political Information." Communication Quarterly 59.5 (2011): 625-40. Print. John H. Parmelee (Ph.D. University of Florida, 2001) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of North Florida. John Davies (Ph.D., University of Alabama, 2004) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communications at Brigham Young University. Carolyn A. McMahan (Ph.D., University of Tennessee, 2005) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of North Florida. Right off the bat, it is established that "this article updates and clarifies what is known about where political information is gathered online." Using quantitative survey data as a means of drawing conclusions, with the survey gathering information on how the respondents search for political information. What was found was that income, social status, and a variety of other factors could help predict what sites someone would browse reasonably consistently. The importance of this is that without going out of ones' way for it to happen, most of the respondents were not having their attentions dominated by mainstream sites, or one site altogether. People don't seem to have one-track minds, judging from this study. That, and demographics are incredibly important when it comes to where, how, and why people absorb political information from SMT.

Rolland, Sylvie E., and Guy Parmentier. "The Benefit of Social Media." International Journal of Market Research 55.6 (2013): 809-27. Business Source Premier. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.

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Rolland and Parmentier from University Paris Dauphine and University Grenoble Alpes respectively, discuss the merits and negatives of social media. With emphasis put on sharing points of view and susceptibility to change from other's points of view they make it that ignoring the volatility of social media is neigh-impossible. The fluidity of the medium, coupled with the uniqueness of BBFGs (Bulletin Board Focus Groups), brings the plausible and reasonable benefits of SMT to the forefront of business study. Administrative and federal practices benefit immensely from these, as well as smaller business owners and operators.

Skovsgaard, Morten, and Arjen Van Dalen. "Dodging The Gatekeepers?" Information, Communication & Society 16.5 (2013): 737-56. Print. Lacking full accessibility of information on the authors, this piece, published in the Journal of Information, Communication, & Society has been peer reviewed. The journal has been through 17 volumes spanning 16 years and "aims to concentrate specifically on the social, economic & cultural impact of the emerging properties of the information age." Both authors are Assistant Professors at the Center for Journalism/Department of Political Science at the University of Southern Denmark and have published in other journals as well as this one. Although there is variation between U.S. and foreign politics, those that are participating candidates share much in common. The juxtaposition of the storied incumbents running against the youthful newcomers is seemingly a constant now. This paper discusses the amount of weight social media holds within different groups of politicians. It is a survey-style data spread with the resultant being that there are distinctly different possibilities when it comes to elections. Not all elections hold social media in high esteem or value, but some do. The more youthful the organization/politician, the

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more social media tends to be valued. Although this is a European study, the conclusions and analysis process apply globally.

Souleles, Nicos. "An Action Research Project on the Use of Facebook in an Undergraduate Visual Communication Study Unit." Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education 11.2 (2012): 127-41. Print. Souleles, who hails from Cyprus University of Technology holds a Doctorate in educational research from the University of Lancaster (England) with emphasis on elearning in art and design . He also holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Education) from KvB Institute of Technology (Sydney, Australia), a Master's degree in Digital Design)from the University of Western Sydney (Australia) and an undergraduate degree (Honours) in Humanities majoring in Political Science and History from the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia). The research project discussed in this article revolves around setting up a group of year one students and enables them to take note of their thoughts and inthe-moment opinions of facebook as a learning tool. In addition to student-led responses to a questionnaire, independent data analysis as well as the usage of a focus group rounded out the study. What is established in the conclusion is that regardless of distinct, binding methodology, students' will continue to feel differently about how Facebook should be used to guide education. In relation to this, how social media in general should function in relation to educational endeavors. However, the explicit benefits of peer-to-peer interaction cannot be ignored.

Zaal, Mayida. "Islamophobia in Classrooms, Media, and Politics." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 55.6 (2012): 555-58. Print.

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Mayida Zaal, Assistant professor at Montclair State University, discusses Islamaphobia with a focus on responsibilities in education. Part of the argument rests upon the use and abuse of social media and that it would take monumental and near-universal changes to policy to revamp the system in a positive way. The demonization and dehumanization that is perpetuated by many global media outlets is neigh-impossible to change at this point, and sweeping law-based changes such as libel laws or slander laws are hardly even feasible to enforce. In this particular case, the Muslim youth is the core example of the effects of this mass-media effort. Regardless of truth, factuality, or reasonable-ness of information, many Muslim people caught flack for something they had no say in causing and probably didnt even associate with. The power of SMT works both ways, and the ability to cause trending topics, specifically trending topics with negative connotations or implications, has the power to rock modern foundations and reshape the world.

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