Social Media Tools

New America Media,

News Report,

Khalil Abdullah,

Posted: Sep 20, 2012

Voto Latino, a non-partisan organization, uses a range of social media tools like Facebook and iTunes to augment celebrity and community activism to encourage voting participation among young Latino citizens. The organization is a founding member of a coalition, now boasting over 1,000 partners, promoting September 25 as National Voter Registration Day, according to Dan McSwain, a Voto Latino representative.

“National Voter Registration Day seeks to do for democracy what Earth Day, for example, has done for the environment,” McSwain said, “which is to have a day on the calendar that’s recognized widely, nationally, that creates a day of action where people from all walks of life, from any race, creed or background, and, particularly important in this instance, is, of any political persuasion, to come together and recognize, to make our voices heard in November, we have to register in September.”

McSwain, who spoke at a media teleconference briefing sponsored by New America Media and the Brennan Center for Justice, explained that the date September 25 was chosen because it’s far enough in front of all of the states’ voter registration deadlines which vary from state to state.

The concept of a national day to promote voter registration received a key endorsement from the National Association of Secretaries of State at its annual meeting in July. NASS, which represents the key state election officials responsible for overseeing the implementation of voting in their respective states, passed a resolution recognizing National Voter Registration “in accordance with our observation of September as National Voter Registration Month.”

The NASS resolution notwithstanding, Myrna Perez, senior counsel for the Democracy Project at the Brennan Center, who also joined the briefing, noted that “over the past two years, elected officials have tried to manipulate the voting system in order to make it harder for some eligible Americans to participate in our democracy and in our elections.” She cited a few examples of those efforts, such as the limiting of early and same day voting in some states as well as legislative efforts to curtail registration drives conducted by non-partisan organizations like the League of Women Voters.

Perez estimated that over 50 million eligible Americans are not registered to vote and McSwain pointed out that possibly as many as 6 million eligible Americans have said they would have registered to vote had they been aware of the registration deadline in their state.

Voto Latino estimates that it has reached 55 million Latino households since its founding in 2004, increased Latino participation in the 2010 Census and registered 120,000 young Latino voters. McSwain said the organization’s guiding principle is “to reach young voters where they are and to speak with them not at them.” To that end, for example, he described a leadership training event this summer in Los Angeles that brought together 300 young Latino community activists from 18 states. McSwain said this kind of grassroots organizing is as critical to the organization’s success as the more visible celebrity and media endorsements and participation for which it is becoming well known.

The organization is supported by foundations but also has corporate support. In 2008, “the best partnership Apple and iTunes had with a non-profit that year” was with Voto Latino, McSwain said, which distributed a free iTunes music sampler for those who chose to be affiliated with the organization’s e-mail list and outreach efforts.

That effort is being replicated again this year and McSwain explained that its field staff is well-trained and honors all state laws governing promotional efforts as they relate to voter registration and election laws. Voto Latino works with artists to be in compliance with copyright laws but what is exciting, he said is that “artists have actively sought Voto Latino out as a way to get involved with their fans and with their communities.” He said the artists comprise big name general audience musicians in addition to those well known in the Latino community. “It means the world to us that those artists are willing to work with Voto Latino and it’s something we really cherish.”

In the last 100 years, presidential campaigning has evolved from radio to TV to the Internet.

Social media platforms now allow candidates and voters to interact more directly and broadly than ever before.

Twitter drives people to immediate action; Facebook allows deeper social interaction; campaign websites provide interactive tools; Tumblr allows users to share funny clips or campaign slogans.

 “Social media platforms obviously create an interactive channel that does kind of confound traditional ways of political communication,” said Seth Lewis, a journalism professor at the University of Minnesota with an emphasis on social media and digital culture.

President Barack Obama’s Twitter account ranks sixth among those with the most followers, placing him above the likes of Taylor Swift and Oprah Winfrey.

The “Ask Me Anything” forum on Reddit, a social news site, is the most recent development in voter-candidate interaction. Obama, libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., have all hosted open question-and-answer sessions on the site.

“It gives the candidates an opportunity to engage with people in a new kind of way,” Lewis said.

College students spend significantly more time on the Internet than other media, according to a 2007 survey by Burst Media.

Of Internet users age 18-29, 86 percent use social media, according to research by the Pew Internet American Life Project.

“I think our campaign is all about talking to voters where they are,” said Jake Levy-Pollans, Minnesota digital director of the organization Obama for America.

He said digital communication is just another form of connecting with voters, “just like knocking on their doors or giving them a call.”

Minnesota Communications Director of Obama for America Kristin Sosanie said people start tuning out the “white noise” of political advertising and seek out things they’re interested in.

Online resources allow voters to specifically research issues that will affect them.

“[Digital content] really gives us a whole new way to reach out to people on the issues that they’re concerned about.”

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney does not have a campaign office in Minnesota.

Obama vs. Romney

Comparing the number of followers on Facebook and Twitter, Obama has a significant lead over Romney.

Lewis said this can be attributed to the fact that Obama has been on social media and in the public eye for longer than Romney.

He said it also could stem from the popularity of social media among their support bases.

Among voters ages 18-29, 64 percent said they would vote for Obama, 29 percent for Romney, according to an April Gallup poll. Romney, conversely, has the edge among older voters.

Lewis said that social media usage between age groups is not clear-cut, but the trend is toward younger groups.

 “Because young people are more accustomed to using social media as a primary mode of communication, then it naturally follows that their political activities are more likely to be connected with those same places where they hang out online,” Lewis said.

Sosanie said older generations prefer face-to-face or phone conversations but high school students mostly prefer texting or tweeting.

Future of elections

Lewis said that every four years, people want to label the election as being “the Internet election” and many want to brand this year as “the social media election.”

 “No doubt, social media has a key role to play in today’s politics, but it’s a bit unclear exactly how it’s connected precisely with patterns of voting and political engagement.”

Sosanie said digital gives the campaign a whole new way to reach out to people on the issues they’re concerned about.

“There’s no secret to our strategy: It’s to involve as many people as possible,” Sosanie said, “and digital is a huge way that we’re doing that.”

Despite spiralling dependency on social media, concerns about privacy were an impediment to greater use, with 16% of respondents claiming social media will kill journalism.

Dr Agnes Gulyas, Principal Lecturer, Department of Media at Canterbury Christ Church University, said: “This year’s survey found that, compared to last year, journalists are using a greater variety of social media tools and are more reliant on social media for many of their professional tasks. However, we also found that journalists are less positive about some of the impacts of social media, such as on their engagement with their audience, their productivity and the quality of journalism.”

Other key findings from the research were:

• 39% of respondents said that social media has improved their productivity.
• The most popular social media among UK journalists is Twitter (80%)
• Those who agree social media enables them to be more engaged with their audience is down from 43% in 2011 to 27%.
• Age is the most important demographic influence on social media use.
• The media sector journalists work in has a more significant impact on their uses and views than other professional factors.
• Using Forrester Research Tecnographics segmentation model as a comparison, the study revealed that journalists’ personal, non-work use of social media differs from those of the general population. Journalists are much more active general users and they a play a key role in the world of social media through content creation, networking and other active uses.

“Unique to this study is the identification of types of professional social media users; architects, promoters, hunters, observers and sceptics” added Kristine Pole, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Canterbury Christ Church University.

“They all approach social media differently, notably patterns of usage, the way that they embed these tools in their work, and their attitudes towards social media. The largest group in the UK is the hunter (35%) who is driven to use social media for sourcing, finding contacts and networking, gives limited contributions to content but has a high number of Twitter followers. Understanding journalists’ social media habits can help media organisations run their businesses more effectively as well as help PR professionals understand how to successfully communicate with different types of journalists”, she said.

Tom Ritchie, Managing Director Cision UK, said: “Our previous studies confirmed that social media usage is standard for UK journalists. It seems that sourcing information has overtaken self-promotion as their primary social activity, and I wonder if this is related to the expressed anxiety over privacy and Big Data.”

More information: Download the full report here: www.cision.com/uk/public-relations-white-papers/social-journalism-study-frm2012/

An infographic of the results is also here: dl.dropbox.com/u/103587400/infographic_SJS-2012.pdf

Provided by

Canterbury Christ Church University

<!–
–>

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  0
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
  

  • Share to facebook
  • PHYSorg.com on FB

• 
  
  
  • Tweet
  • PHYSorg.com on Twitter

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
  
  <!–

  • 
    Reddit

  –>

  • Delicious

  <!–

  • Slashdot

  –>

  • Yahoo! bookmarks
  • RSS
  • QR code

Thumbs are becoming important educational tools this semester, as instructors at Youngstown State University are using social media to communicate with their students.

R.J. Thompson, an assistant professor of art at YSU, uses social networking to not only convey messages, but as a way to show students how to use such tools to excel in their future careers.

Thompson has his students set up accounts on the Students of Design website. Prior to teaching at YSU, Thompson taught at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, where he had a two-hour commute to and from school. Using the Students of Design website and other forms of social media allowed him to still communicate with students.

Students of Design also allows his students to post their projects, and he includes links to his courses’ Twitter accounts, where he posts resources for class.

He also created the site as a response to students posting unfinished work online.

“Being that I know a lot of professional people, a lot of my students would post their unfinished work on Facebook and tag me in it. These guys would then see the work and think it’s terrible because it’s unfinished,” Thompson said.

Now, the students have a place to post their work for feedback before turning in a final product.

“I want to create the center for graphic and interactive design groups to go and interact with each other and share resources,” Thompson said.

The site allows him to get feedback on what lectures students need clarification on, based on the hits the lecture gets on the website.

“I know the information was either understood or not interesting at all depending on how many students revisited the notes. Either way, it helps me improve,” Thompson said.

Some YSU professors have been using social networking as a teaching tool for a while.

Mark C. Vopat, an assistant professor of philosophy and religious studies at YSU, began using Twitter in 2006 when he caught wind of the website during a technology convention.

“I was an early adaptor in Twitter when there was nothing to tweet and no one to follow. Then, the next year, it took off,” Vopat said.

He now uses the social network to convey messages to his students. In the beginning, he was essentially introducing them to the website, and now, more students are familiar with it.

“I have separate Twitter accounts for each class,” Vopat said. “I obviously use email, and I could have set up a Facebook account, but I like Twitter for two reasons. One, I can easily set up a bunch of different accounts, as opposed to setting up six Facebook pages. I also don’t have to go through the tedious email of, ‘What did I miss in class today?’ The students can just check the Twitter.”

He said Twitter was also convenient because even students who do not have an account can still view the page by typing in the Web link.

“Students even now aren’t carrying laptops; if so, they’re ultra-light laptops. But they generally do carry their cellphones. So, for me, Twitter was perfect because all I want to do is basically say, ‘Here is what we covered in class, here is what we’re covering tomorrow, [and] here is a reminder about that quiz coming up,’” Vopat said.

He also posts links to slides, and posts if there is a class cancelation.

Dani Burkhart, a senior business major at YSU, said it’s helpful that Vopat uses Twitter in the classroom.

“What I like about Twitter is it gives you a glimpse and so it’s more private,” Burkhart said.

She said more teachers should incorporate a Twitter account into classrooms.

“It’s a good move because if you miss class, instead of finding someone else who has the class or emailing the teacher, you can check Twitter instead,” Burkhart said.

She also uses her Twitter account to follow celebrities and friends.

Rebecca McAndrew, a freshman business major, does not have a Twitter account. She prefers to get the homework from the teacher rather than checking Twitter.

“I just don’t want to know every little thing that is going on in someone’s life,” McAndrew said.

However, she said that if more teachers were to use Twitter, she would consider getting an account for academic purposes.

He also uses Slideshare, which is a PowerPoint- and presentation-sharing website, in the classroom.

“I use Blackboard, but I don’t always like it as a means of posting information for students to download. Sometimes, I just want something quicker and easier. For instance I’ll post something on Slideshare, and then tweet out the link,” Vopat said.

He also uses Vimeo for video lectures.

Thompson said he believes social networking is important to use because more jobs are becoming available that require knowledge on social media.

“The social media market is just that: It’s marketing. It’s purposeful, strategic and it’s important,” Thompson said.