Teaching and Learning about Difference through Social Media

Reflection, Engagement, and Self-assessment

Lillian Vega-Castaneda, Mario Castaneda

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781351238199
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Teaching and Learning about Difference through Social Media considers the role social media has played in prompting public conversations about difference and diversity, including issues relating to ethnicity, race, religion, political affiliation, gender, and sexual orientation. These issues are addressed in the context of the present political climate. They are also examined with respect to occurrences of hate and violence, including hate crimes and mass fatality events. Using a historical and socio-cultural approach to how we look at these significant issues in the USA, the authors examine the ways difference and diversity are represented in online interactions via social media. In order to encourage a more informed dialogue and critical conversation with students, each chapter includes: discussion questions, self-reflection and self-assessment activities, and suggestions for further reading,.

Ideal for courses in diversity and social justice education and beyond, this content and practice-based text integrates the identification of issues of difference and diversity with suggestions for how we can address these issues in the social media age.

1

The Advent of Social
Media and the People
Who Use It

INTRODUCTION

In Chapter 1, we review the arrival of the internet and its early use with the general public. We talk about the increased opportunities for communication with people known to us as well as complete strangers. We look at the arrival of social media and the increasing numbers of users who use it, daily.

TAPPING INTO YOUR PERSONAL LENS

We begin each chapter with a series of questions that will help guide your reading. We ask that you assess your understanding of the topics to be covered in the chapter, thus asking you to “tap” into your understanding via your personal lens. Consider the following: Do you recall when you first started using a computer? The internet? How old were you? Did you access it at school or at home?

EMERGENCE OF INTERNET USE BY THE GENERAL PUBLIC

The internet was available to many households in the United States in the early to mid-1990s. Prior to that (beginning in the early 1960s), various studies were conducted on technologies that would eventually develop into the internet as we know it today (Leiner et al., 2016).

In his May 26, 1995 memo (Gan, 1995), Bill Gates talked about the coming internet tidal wave. He delineates a plan for Microsoft to dominate the emerging market. People like Gates realized the future and global impact of the internet. The World-Wide Web became available for wide-spread, public use in the early 1990s, with the official launch on August 6, 1991. According to Bryant (2011), “There was no fanfare in the global press. In fact, most people around the world didn’t even know what the internet was” (para. 6).

The internet was available for public use as early as 1982, but it was not widely used. The early use allowed for communication over a shared network. Increasingly, households had access to the internet in the mid-1980s, prior to the availability of web browsers. First users connected to the internet via dial-up (telephone) and awaited a signal. Early users connected via AOL (1985) or Lycos (1994) and primarily used it to check email and to enter chatrooms. The internet took off with the introduction of web browsers like Netscape (1994) and certainly with the arrival of search engines like Yahoo (1995).

The first web browser was developed and was called the World-Wide Web (Bryant, 2011).

With the arrival of Google (the domain was registered on September 15, 1997), the impact on the web was undeniable, and Google quickly became the major search engine of choice, stating officially that its first and foremost area of expertise is the search engine business. The company remains a dominant force in the search industry, with 75% market share in the United States, as of December 2015. Google reports 11.095 billion US desktop searches as of January 22, 2016. As of October 12, 2015, there have been more than 100 billion Google searches (Smith, 2016). The popularity of Google as the search engine of choice catapulted many internet users into easy access to information that previously would have taken days, weeks, or even months, to find (Holt, 2013).

A DEFINITION OF MEDIA

Communication media (commonly referred to as media for short) refers to the various communication tools or platforms used to store and deliver information such as news, entertainment, education, data, promotional messages, and commercials. The various tools referred to as media may include newspapers, magazines, television, music, radio, websites, social networking platforms, movies, etc. We have access to a variety of media on a daily basis, usually, beginning at a young age. Toddlers and pre-schoolers watch cartoons or networks that focus on their age group, including Nick Jr., Sprout, or the Disney Junior channels. This generation of young television viewers has grown up with a variety of programs offered by different cable networks. The growth of Nick Junior (founded in 1999 as Noggin, later changing to Nick Jr.) in the early 2000s and the arrival of kid-based programming like Sprout (founded in 2005) have become regular household names where young children live. Such networks are often one of the child’s first experiences with media.

A DEFINITION OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL NETWORKING

Social media refers to the way that media is electronically distributed (e.g., websites for social networking or blogging). Users congregate into online communities to create, share, and re-share information, data, messages, and other content such as video in a somewhat public and personal context, depending on the type of communication (Schauer, 2015).

Social networking refers to the (often online) creation and use of personal and/or business relationships. Potter’s (2016) definition is somewhat more general and refers to social networking as “a behavior exhibited by humans as they make contact with other humans by forming groups, both formal and informal” (p. 502). For the 21st century, the use of social media sites for networking has become an acceptable form of communication in a formal context (such as LinkedIn) or personal context (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Musically).

CONTEXT

The use of various social networking sites by individuals to provide information about themselves can include a focus on pictures and photo sharing (e.g., Instagram or Facebook), video sharing (e.g., YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo), or snippets of news and cultural stories which are shared and re-shared on Twitter (140-character limit) and other platforms such as Facebook. Social networking allows the individual to create an identity and provide information to known and unknown “friends” and the public about their ideas, interests, opinions, etc. The wide use of social media and networking has grown in the 2000s, most notably with the creation of Facebook (2004) by Mark Zuckerberg for use on college campuses. Facebook became available to the general public in 2006 and signaled the beginning of a new way of communicating online in various social forums (e.g., special interest groups, individual accounts, fan clubs). It became one of the most widely used social networking sites, which serve as a place for news organizations, individuals, businesses, networks, political sites, educational sites, and individuals of various demographic backgrounds to share ideas on hundreds of topics.

INTERNET USE EXPLAINED

We live in a media-saturated culture (Strasburger, Wilson, & Jordan, 2009) that has evolved from simple email exchanges to the use of countless personal websites, blogs, texting, messaging, and the emergence of social media, video sharing websites, and other electronic tools (Potter, 2016). As of 2015, social media use among American adults had increased from 7% to 65% within the prior decade (Perrin, 2015). Since September 2014, 71% of adults use Facebook are at 71%. Their use of Twitter is at 23%; Instagram, 26%; Pinterest, 28%; and LinkedIn, 28%. For younger adults, ages 18 to 29, their use of social networking sites is at 89%. The next highest users of social networking fall within the ages of 30 to 49, at 82%. Of baby boomers (ages 50–64), 65% use social media (PEW Research Center, 2013).

The Pew Research Center’s Social Media Update of 2014 (Duggan, Ellison, Lampe, Lenhart, & Madden, 2015) reports on a September 2014 survey. Notably, Facebook remained the most widely used social media site. While Facebook’s growth has slowed, it is still the most used social media site. Adult use of a variety of social media platforms has increased overall to 52%. Further, adults now use two or more social media sites. Of particular interest is the increase in social media use of senior citizens (ages 65 and older), at 56%. This represents 31% of all seniors who now use Facebook.

Social media and technology use among teens offers some interesting insights. Facebook is still the social media site of choice among American teens, ages 13 to 17, at 71%. Teens use other social network sites, including Instagram (50%) and Snapchat (41%). Teens also use Tumblr (14%), Vine (24%), and Google+ (33%) (Lenhart, 2015). The report also shows that middle- and upper-income teens, whose families earn more than $75,000, most often tend to gravitate toward Snapchat and Instagram. There are distinguishable patterns in social media use among girls and boys. For example, girls appear to favor visually oriented social media platforms, with 61% favoring Instagram, as compared to boys, at 44%. Girls also use Snapchat more than boys: 51% versus 31%.

The early to mid-2000s also saw the first widespread social media use among Generation Y (people born between 1980 and the year 2000; sometimes referred to as Gen Y, or the Millennials) with the introduction of Myspace in 2003, which preceded Facebook by several years. Between 2005 and 2008, Myspace was the largest social networking website that offered interactive personal profiles, blogs, photos, groups, and music. Facebook arrived to mass consumer use as early as 2006.

In 2008, Facebook overtook Myspace in the number of worldwide visitors. By May 2009, Facebook overtook Myspace in the number of US visitors. According to Waterworth (2013), Generation Y was “shaped by the technological revolution that occurred throughout their youth,” and “is online and connected 24/7, 365 days a year” (para. 5).

According to the PEW Research Center, 87% of American adults use the internet, as of January 2014 (Heimlich, 2014), and this number has most likely kept growing dramatically. Americans are digitally connected through their smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, game consuls, and smart TVs. As of January 2014, 90% of Americans had a cell phone. As of October 2014, 64% of Americans have a smartphone. As of September 2012, 95% of teens aged 12 to 17 use the internet. According to Lenhart (2015), “24% of teens go online ‘almost constantly,’ facilitated by the widespread availability of smartphones” (p. 2).

According to the Pew Research Center (2013), teens increased their use of smartphones “substantially,” which provided instant and constant access to the internet. Among teens (ages 12 to 17), 78% have a cell phone; of these, 47% own a smartphone. Twenty-three percent have a tablet or computer. Moreover, 93% have access to a computer at home or own one. Indeed, we are members of a digitally connected culture, mobile and wired. This easy and quick access to the internet and various social media sites has impacted the way we access news.

In Chapter 2, the reader will learn about the emergence of social media as the new “news” source. It includes a discussion on the use of social media and an initial discussion on how media represents “difference” in the new millennium and the treatment of the “other” as part of a national dialogue.

CRITICAL SELF-REFLECTION/CHECK-IN

Reflect on the following questions individually. If this is an in-class meeting, please discuss with another classmate.

1. How has the internet reshaped how we gather information?

2. How has media and social media impacted how we share information, ideas, and opinions?

KEEPING UP TO DATE AND FURTHER READING

Because information on social media and media and news stories is constantly changing and updating, you may want to check the following web-based sources for current information.

1. PEW Research Center – www.pewresearch.org/

2. Facebook Newsroom – http://newsroom....

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• 1 The Advent of Social Media and the People Who Use It
• 2 Social Media as the New “News” Source and the Distancing of Dialogue and Treatment of Difference
• 3 The Civil Rights Act of 1964: Contextualizing the Dialogue on Difference on Social Media
• 4 Racial Intolerance and Social Media
• 5 Religious Views and the Treatment of Others on Social Media
• 6 Women and Girls and Social Media
• 7 Hate, Violence, Terrorism, and Social Media
• 8 LGBTQ Community and Social Media
• Moving Forward: Where Do We Go From Here?
• Index