AN INTRODUCTION TO

SOCIAL MEDIA

by Pete Ashton
for Metapod Connect

ash10.com
fierceearth.wordpress.com
Social Media is all about
telling stories
My Flickr Story
2001: Gave up on film

Went on holiday

Shot 15 rolls of film

Cost £70 to develop

99% rubbish

Photography not for me

2002: L'espion

Bought a teeny little camera

Kept on belt

Took random photos

Put "best" in grid on my

website
2003: Affordable digital camera

Cost under £150

Could preview shots

Photos effectively free

Could share online that day

2004: Joined Flickr
Found Birmingham Flickr Group

Set up by Andy...

...who them moved to Bristol

Group self-organises

Using discussion area of group members start suggesting

projects

Most fail to gain traction

Some succeed
Meeting up offline

Three people turn up

We walk around Digbeth and take photos together

May 2006: Flickrmeets take form

12 people turn up

Nobody has met before offline

Walk around Jewellery Quarter for 2 hours

250 photos uploaded and added to group

June 2006: Formalised Flickrmeets

Set up Birmingham Flickrmeets group

Meets have occured every month since

7,300 photos of Birmingham in pool

381 members

5 - 40 people attend each meet

More self-organising
Someone suggests
approaching Artsfest

17 people get passes

Photograph whole festival

900 photos

Tagged and mapped

Empowering the group
Anyone who contributed becomes an Admin

This gives them the remit and motivation to contribute more

They can also make new Admins

No-one owns the group

So everyone owns the group

2007, I step away

Have been to two in last year

2006-7 Developing my art
Through the viewfinder
Stu brings strange camera to
Flickrmeet

His photos are in TTV group

Instructions on how to make one

are in group

Also community to advice of

taking better photos
Better photographer
Learning by comparison

Learning by observation

Hands-on experience with kit

Feedback from peers

Feedback from strangers (via search, etc)

Motivation to shoot and share

Better person

Long-term friendships

Out of social comfort zone

Connected with my city

Part of a bigger thing

Niche interest as conduit
Significant outcomes
Summary
Lowering barriers to entry.

Personal journeys overlapping with others.

Mechanism to experiment.

High failure rate acceptable.

Ownership of community by the community.

Don't see themselves as "artists"

There is no Birmingham Flickr
Community

It's a process, not a product.

Also, it's not an organisation, nor does it see itself as an

organisation.

Just a part of people's lives.

Birmingham Flickr photos taken from:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/birmingham
http://www.flickr.com/groups/birmingham_flickrmeets/
Fandom
Things that motivate fans

- Sharing emotion

- Building identities

- Collecting intelligence

- Sharing interpretations

- Creating for each other

Nancy Baym's Relating to Fans talk

http://www.onlinefandom.com/archives/relating-to-fans-video-stream/
Fandom
How the Internet amplifies fandom

- Transcends distance

- Provides infrastructure

- Supports archiving

- Enables new forms of engagement

- Reduces social distance between fan and artist

Online Communities
Online Communities
Nature of Online Communities

http://www.pennyarcademerch.com/pat070381.html
Nature of Online Communities

Not all negative actions are trolling.

Often can be cured by dialogue.

If community has ownership, will defend and clean up.

Messiness is part of the process.

Nature of Online Communities

Operating outside of time and space constraints.

Insignificant details are important.

Failure is Cheap and Good
Nothing to lose and everything to gain.

If it works, develop it.

If it fails, learn and try something else.

Success is relative.

5 happy people is 5 happy people.

Good enough is good enough.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/activ_events/do_online/index.html
World Beach Project

Sue Lawty - artist in residence

Reluctant blogger

Talked about work on blog

Feedback from people inspired to copy her

V&A created system to encourage this

http://www.vam.ac.uk/worldbeachproject
 Whuffie

Social Capital

Do good things and people remember.

Give help and others more likely to help you back.

Also a motivation to help strangers.

Selfish?

For the wider good?

 Whuffie

The more you give away, the more you gain.

Give away control and ownership as well as stuff.

This makes sense to small social groups.

Doesn't always make sense to large organisations and brands.

Challenge is finding middle ground.

Tara Hunt - The Whuffie Factor

Power of Information Task Force

http://poit.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/poit/
Power of Information Task Force

"A small group of mums can reach an audience of hundreds of

thousands. They do not need a large organisation with an
expensive IT support system or technological expertise.

"If 30,000 parents were meeting in a park or football stadium to

share information and tips about parenting, government would
take notice.

"Citizens are helping each other in online communities, and

working towards the same goals as government on a range of
issues, from parenting to health and financial management."

Hilary Armstrong MP
Ambient Social Environments

No commitment

No obligation

No membership

No requirements
Ambient Social Environments
Ambient Social Environments

Offhand comment on Twitter.

Starts as a joke and a game.

As more join in it begins to take shape.

People offer their time, skills and equipment.

http://wxwm.wordpress.com/
http://4amproject.org/
Ambient Social Environments

Why?

Organisers had good social capital.

Guided the project but didn't take ownership unless necessary

Project belongs to everyone who contributes

The Internet routes
around blockages
Traditionally a monopoly on provision

Lowered barriers to entry destroy this monopoly.

Information and skills resources online.

Media production tools on PCs.

Online services to share them.

cf Flickr
So how does it work?

or, what is Web 2.0 really?

Metadata
Metadata is also Social

"There are lots of elements that make something 'interesting'

(or not) on Flickr.

"Where the clickthroughs are coming from; who comments on it

and when; who marks it as a favorite; its tags and many more
things which are constantly changing.

"Interestingness changes over time, as more and more fantastic

content and stories are added to Flickr."

http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/
Mashups

Activity online produces data.

This data can be processed by computers.

 In summary then...

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Or something like that.

Let's figure it out together.