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Locus of Control

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Locus of control is a theory in personality psychology referring to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them. Understanding of the concept was developed by Julian B. Rotter in 1954, and has since become an important aspect of personality studies.

One's "locus" (Latin for "place" or "location") can either be internal (meaning the person believes that they control their life) or external (meaning they believe that their environment, some higher power, or other people control their decisions and their life).

Individuals with a high internal locus of control believe that events result primarily from their own behavior and actions. For example, if a person with internal loci of control does not perform as well as they wanted to on a test, they would blame it on lack of preparedness on their part. Or if they performed well on a test, then they would think that it was because they studied enough.[1] Those with a high external locus of control believe that powerful others, fate, or chance primarily determine events. Using the test performance example again, if a person with external loci of control does poorly on a test, they would blame the test questions being too difficult. Whereas if they performed well on a test, they would think the teacher was being lenient, or that they were lucky.[1]

Those with a high internal locus of control have better control of their behavior, tend to be more politically involved,[citation needed] and are more likely to attempt to influence other people than those with a high external (or low internal respectively) locus of control[citation needed]. They also assign greater likelihood to their efforts being successful and more actively seek information concerning their situation.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] History of concept

Locus of control is the framework of Rotter's (1954) social learning theory of personality. In 1966, Rotter published an article in Psychological Monographs which summarized over a decade of research by himself and his students, much of it previously unpublished. Lefcourt (1976) defined perceived locus of control as follows: "Perceived control is defined as a generalised expectancy for internal as opposed to external control of reinforcements" (Lefcourt 1976, p. 27). Attempts have been made to trace the genesis of the concept to the work of Alfred Adler, but its immediate background lies in the work of Rotter students. Early work on the topic of expectancies about control of reinforcement had been performed in the 1950s by James and Phares prepared for unpublished doctoral dissertations supervised by Rotter at Ohio State University.[2]. Another Rotter student William H. James (not to be confused with William James), who studied two types of expectancy shifts:

  • typical expectancy shifts, believing that a success or failure would be followed by a similar outcome; and
  • atypical expectancy shifts, believing that a success or failure would be followed by a dissimilar outcome.

Work in this field led to the hypothesis that typical expectancy shifts were displayed more often by those who attributed their outcomes to ability, whereas those who displayed atypical expectancy more likely to attributed their outcomes to chance. This was interpreted as saying that people could be divided into those who attribute to ability (an internal cause) versus those who attribute to luck (an external cause). Bernard Weiner argued that rather than ability versus luck, locus may differ in attribution to stable versus unstable causes.

Rotter (1975, 1989) has discussed problems and misconceptions in others' use of the internal versus external control of reinforcement construct.

[edit] Locus of control personality orientations

Rotter (1975) cautioned that internality and externality represent two ends of a continuum, not an either/or typology. Internals tend to attribute outcomes of events to their own control. Externals attribute outcomes of events to external circumstances. It should not be thought however, that internality is linked exclusively with attribution to effort and externality with attribution to luck, as Weiner's work (see below) makes clear. This has obvious implications for differences between internals and externals in terms of their achievement motivation, suggesting that internal locus is linked with higher levels of N-ach (Need for Achievement). Due to their locating control outside themselves, externals tend to feel they have less control over their fate. People with an external locus of control tend to be more stressed and prone to clinical depression (Benassi, Sweeney & Dufour, 1988; cited in Maltby, Day & Macaskill, 2007).

Internals were believed by Rotter (1966) to exhibit two essential characteristics: high achievement motivation and low outer-directedness. This was the basis of the locus of control scale proposed by Rotter in 1966, although this was actually based on Rotter's belief that locus of control is a unidimensional construct. Since 1970, Rotter's assumption of unidimensionality has been challenged, with Levenson, for example, arguing that different dimensions of locus of control, such as belief that events in one's life are self-determined, are organized by powerful others and are chance-based, must be separated. Weiner's early work in the 1970s suggested that more-or-less orthogonal to the internality-externality dimension, we should also consider differences between those who attribute to stable causes, and those who attribute to unstable causes.[3]

This meant that attributions could be to ability (an internal stable cause), effort (an internal unstable cause), task difficulty (an external stable cause) or luck (an external, unstable cause). Such at least were how the early Weiner saw these four causes, although he has been challenged as to whether people do see luck, for example, as an external cause, whether ability is always perceived as stable and whether effort is always seen as changing. Indeed, in more recent publications (e.g. Weiner, 1980) Weiner uses different terms for these four causes—such as "objective task characteristics" in place of task difficulty and "chance" in place of luck. It has also been notable how psychologists since Weiner have distinguished between stable effort and unstable effort—knowing that, in some circumstances, effort could be seen as a stable cause, especially given the presence of certain words such as "industrious" in the English language.

[edit] Scales to measure locus of control

The most famous and widely used questionnaire to measure locus of control is the 23-item forced choice items (plus 6 filler item) scale of Rotter (1966), but this is not the only questionnaire—indeed, predating Rotter's work by five years is Bialer's (1961) 23-item scale for children. Also of relevance to locus of control scale are the Crandall Intellectual Ascription of Responsibility Scale (Crandall, 1965), and the Nowicki-Strickland Scale.[4] One of the earliest psychometric scales to assess locus of control, using a Likert-type scale in contrast to the forced-choice alternative measure in Rotter's scale, was that devised by W.H. James, for his unpublished doctoral dissertation, supervised by Rotter at Ohio State University, although this remained an unpublished scale.[5]

Many measures of locus of control have appeared since Rotter's scale. These scales were reviewed by Furnham and Steele (1993), and include those related to health psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, and those specifically for children, such as the Stanford Preschool Internal-External Control Index,[6] which is used for three- to six-year-olds. Furnham and Steele (1993) cite data that suggest that the most reliable and valid of the questionnaires for adults is the Duttweiler scale. For a review of the health questionnaires cited by these authors, see below under "Applications".

The Duttweiler (1984) Internal Control Index (ICI) addresses perceived problems with the Rotter scales, including its forced-choice format, susceptibility to social desirability and heterogeneity as indicated by factor analysis. She also notes that, while other scales existed in 1984 to measure locus of control, "they appear to be subject to many of the same problems" (Duttweiler, 1984, p. 211). Unlike the forced-choice format used on Rotter's scale, Duttweiler's 28-item ICI uses a Likert-type scale, in which people have to state whether they would rarely, occasionally, sometimes, frequently or usually behave as specified by each of 28 statements. The ICI assess variables pertinent to internal locus: cognitive processing, autonomy, resistance to social influence, self-confidence and delay of gratification. A small (133 student subjects) validation study indicated that the scale had good internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha of 0.85).

[edit] Related area: attributional style

Main article: Explanatory style

Attributional style, or explanatory style, is a concept that was introduced by Lyn Yvonne Abramson, Martin Seligman and John D. Teasdale (Abramson, Seligman & Teasdale, 1978). Buchanan and Seligman (1995) have edited a book-length review of the topic. This concept goes a stage further than Weiner, stating that, in addition to the concepts of internality-externality and stability, a dimension of globality-specificity[clarification needed] is also needed. Abramson et al. therefore believed that how people explained successes and failures in their lives related to whether they attributed these to internal or external factors, to factors that were short-term or long-term and to factors that affected all situations in their situations.[clarification needed]

The topic of attribution theory, introduced to psychology by Fritz Heider, has had an influence on locus of control theory, but it is important to appreciate the differences between the history of these two models in psychology. Attribution theorists have been, largely speaking, social psychologists, concerned with the general processes characterizing how and why people in general make the attributions they do, whereas locus of control theorists have been more concerned with individual differences.

Significant to the history of both approaches were the contributions made by Bernard Weiner, in the 1970s. Prior to this time, attribution theorists and locus of control theorists had been largely concerned with divisions into external and internal loci of causality. Weiner added the dimension of stability-instability, and somewhat later, controllability, indicating how a cause could be perceived as having been internal to a person yet still beyond the person's control. The stability dimension added to the understanding of why people succeed or fail after such outcomes. Although not part of Weiner's model, a further dimension of attribution was added by Abramson, Seligman and Teasdale, that of globality-specificity (see the article on explanatory style).

[edit] Applications of locus of control theory

Locus of control's most famous application has probably been in the area of health psychology, largely thanks to the work of Kenneth Wallston. Scales to measure locus of control in the health domain are reviewed by Furnham and Steele (1993). The most famous of these would be the Health Locus of Control Scale and the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, or MHLC (Wallston, Wallston, & DeVellis, 1976; Wallston, Wallston, Kaplan & Maides, 1976). The latter scale is based on the idea, echoing Levenson's earlier work, that health may be attributed to three possible outcomes: internal factors, such as self-determination of a healthy lifestyle, powerful others, such as one's doctor, or luck.

Some of the scales reviewed by Furnham and Steele (1993) relate to health in more specific domains, such as obesity (for example, Saltzer's (1982) Weight Locus of Control Scale or Stotland and Zuroff's (1990) Dieting Beliefs Scale), or mental health (such as Wood and Letak's (1982) Mental Health Locus of Control Scale or the Depression Locus of Control Scale of Whiteman, Desmond and Price, 1987) and cancer (the Cancer Locus of Control Scale of Pruyn et al., 1988). In discussing applications of the concept to health psychology, Furnham and Steele also refer to Claire Bradley's work, linking locus of control to management of diabetes mellitus. Empirical data on health locus of control in various fields has been reviewed by Norman and Bennett (1995). These authors note that data on whether certain health-related behaviors are related to internal health locus of control have been ambiguous. For example, they note that some studies found that internal health locus of control is linked with increased exercise, but they also cite several studies that have found only a weak or no relationship between exercise behaviors (such as jogging) and internal health locus of control. They note similar ambiguity for data on the relationship between internal health locus of control and other health-related behaviors, such as breast self-examination, weight control and preventative health behaviors. Of particular interest are the data these authors cite on the relationship between internal health locus of control and alcohol consumption.

Norman and Bennett note that some studies that compared alcoholics with non-alcoholics suggest alcoholism is linked to increased externality for health locus of control, but other studies have found alcoholism to be linked with increased internality, and similar ambiguity has been found in studies that looked at alcohol consumption in a more general, non-alcoholic population. Norman and Bennett appear a little more optimistic in reviewing the literature on the relationship between internal health locus of control and smoking cessation, although they also point out that there are grounds for supposing that powerful others health locus of control, as well as internal health locus of control, may be linked with smoking cessation.

Norman and Bennett argue that a stronger relationship is found when health locus of control is assessed for specific domains than when general measures of locus of control are taken. Overall, studies using behavior-specific health locus scales have tended to produce more positive results (Lefcourt, 1991). Moreover, these scales have been found to be more predictive of general behavior than more general scales, such as the MHLC scale (Norman & Bennett, 1995, p. 72). Norman and Bennett cite several studies that used health-related locus of control scales in specific domains, including smoking cessation (Georgio & Bradley, 1992), diabetes (Ferraro, Price, Desmond & Roberts, 1987), tablet-treated diabetes (Bradley, Lewis, Jennings & Ward, 1990), hypertension (Stantion, 1987), arthritis (Nicasio et al., 1985), cancer (Pruyn et al., 1988) and heart and lung disease (Allison, 1987).

They also argue that health locus of control is better at predicting health-related behavior if studied in conjunction with health value, i.e. the value people attach to their health, suggesting that health value is an important moderator variable in the health locus of control relationship. For example, Weiss and Larsen (1990) (cited in Norman & Bennett, 1995) found increased relationship between internal health locus of control and health when health value was assessed. Despite the importance that Norman and Bennet (1995) attach to use of specific measures of locus of control, there are still some general textbooks on personality, such as Maltby, Day and Macaskill (2007), which continue to cite studies linking internal locus of control with improved physical health, mental health and quality of life in people undergoing conditions as diverse as HIV, migraines, diabetes, kidney disease and epilepsy (Maltby, Day & Macaskill, 2007)

In the 1970s and 1980s, Whyte correlated locus of control with academic success of students enrolled in higher education courses. Students who tended to be more internally controlled believed that hard work and focus would result oftentimes in successful academic progress and they performed better academically. Those students who were identified as more externally controlled, believing that their future depended upon luck or fate, tended to have lower academic performance levels. Cassandra B. Whyte further researched how control tendency influenced behavioral outcomes in the academic realm by examining the effects of various modes of counseling on grade improvements and the locus of control of high-risk college students.[7][8]

[edit] Organizational psychology and religion

Other fields to which the concept has been applied include industrial and organizational psychology, sports psychology, educational psychology and the psychology of religion. Richard Kahoe has published celebrated work in the latter field, suggesting that intrinsic religious orientation correlates positively, extrinsic religious orientation correlates negatively, with internal locus.[9] Of relevance to both health psychology and the psychology of religion is the work prepared by Holt, Clark, Kreuter and Rubio (2003), in preparing a questionnaire to assess spiritual health locus of control. These authors distinguished between an active spiritual health locus of control orientation, in which "God empowers the individual to take healthy actions"[10] and a more passive spiritual health locus of control orientation, where people leave everything to God in the care of their own health. In industrial and organizational psychology, it has been found that internals are more likely to take positive action to change their jobs, rather than merely to talk about occupational change, than externals (Allen, Weeks & Moffat, 2005; cited in Maltby et al., 2007).

[edit] Familial origins

The development of locus of control is associated with family style and resources, cultural stability and experiences with effort leading to reward.[citation needed] Many internals have grown up with families that modeled typical internal beliefs. These families emphasized effort, education, responsibility and thinking. Parents typically gave their children rewards they had promised them. In contrast, externals are typically associated with lower socioeconomic status. Societies experiencing social unrest increase the expectancy of being out-of-control, so people in such societies become more external.

The research of Schneewind (1995; cited in Schultz & Schultz, 2005) suggests that "children in large single parent families headed by women are more likely to develop an external locus of control" (Schultz & Schultz, 2005, p. 439). Schultz and Schultz also point out that children who develop an internal locus tend to come from families where parents have been supportive and consistent in self-discipline. There has been some ambiguity about whether parental locus of control influences a child's locus of control, although at least one study has found that children are more likely to attribute their successes and failures to unknown causes if their parents had an external locus of control (see the first of the external links listed below).

As children grow older, they gain skills that give them more control over their environment. In support of this, psychological research has found that older children have more internal locus of control than younger children. Findings from early studies on the familial origins of locus of control were summarized by Lefcourt:

"Warmth, supportiveness and parental encouragement seem to be essential for development of an internal locus".[11]

[edit] Locus of control and age

It is sometimes assumed that as people age, they will become less internal and more external, but data here has been ambiguous.[12] Longitudinal data collected by Gatz and Karel (cited in Johnson et al., 2004[citation needed]) imply that internality may increase up to middle age, and thereafter decrease. Noting the ambiguity of data in this area, Aldwin and Gilmer (2004) cite Lachman's claim that locus of control is ambiguous. Indeed, there is evidence here that changes in locus of control in later life relate more visibly to increased externality, rather than reduced internality, if the two concepts are taken to be orthogonal. Evidence cited by Schultz and Schultz (2005), for example Heckhausen and Schulz (1995) or Ryckman and Malikosi, 1975 (cited in Schultz & Schultz, 2005), suggests that locus of control increases in internality up until middle age. These authors also note that attempts to control the environment become more pronounced between the age of eight and fourteen. For more on the relationship between locus of control and coping with the demands of later life, see the article on aging.

A study published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine examined the health effect of childhood "locus of control". 7,500 British adults followed from birth who had shown an internal locus of control at the age of 10 were less likely to be overweight at age 30. The children who had an internal locus of control also appeared the have higher levels of self esteem.[13]

[edit] Gender-based differences in locus of control

As Schultz and Schultz (2005) point out, significant gender differences in locus of control have not been found for adults in a U.S. population. However, these authors also note that there may be specific sex-based differences for specific categories of item to assess locus of control—for example, they cite evidence that men may have a greater internal locus for questions related to academic achievement (Strickland & Haley, 1980; cited in Schultz & Schultz, 2005).

[edit] Cross-cultural issues in locus of control

The question of whether people from different cultures vary in locus of control has long been of interest to social psychologists. Japanese people tend to be more external in locus of control orientation than people in the U.S., whereas differences in locus of control between different countries within Europe, and between the U.S. and Europe, tend to be small (Berry, Poortinga, Segall & Dasen, 1992). As Berry et al. (1992) point out, different ethnic groups within the United States have been compared on locus of control, with blacks in the U.S. being more external than whites, even when socio-economic status is controlled (Dyal, 1984; cited in Berry et al., 1992). Berry et al. (1992) also point out how research on other ethnic minorities in the U.S., such as Hispanics, has been ambiguous. More on cross-cultural variations in locus of control can be found in Shiraev and Levy (2004). The research in this area indicates how locus of control has been a useful concept for researchers in cross-cultural psychology.

[edit] Self-efficacy

Further information: Self-efficacy

Self-efficacy, a related concept, introduced by Albert Bandura, has been measured by means of a psychometric scale[14] and differs from locus of control in that it relates to competence in circumscribed situations and activities (rather than more general cross-situational beliefs about control). Bandura has also emphasised differences between efficacy and self-esteem—using examples where low self-efficacy (for instance in ballroom dancing) are unlikely to result in low self-esteem where competence in that domain is not deemed very important to a particular individual.

Smith (1989) has argued that locus of control only weakly measure self-efficacy because "only a subset of items refer directly to the subject's capabilities" (Smith, p. 229). Smith noted that training in coping skills led to increases in self-efficacy, but did not affect locus of control as measured by Rotter's (1966) scale.

[edit] Summary, critique and the future

Locus of control has generated much research in a variety of areas in psychology. The construct is applicable to fields such as educational psychology, health psychology or clinical psychology. There will probably continue to be debate about whether specific or more global measures of locus of control will prove to be more useful. Careful distinctions should also be made between locus of control (a concept linked with expectancies about the future) and attributional style (a concept linked with explanations for past outcomes), or between locus of control and concepts such as self-efficacy. The importance of locus of control as a topic in psychology is likely to remain quite central for many years.

Locus of control has also has been included as one of the four dimensions that comprise core self-evaluations, one's fundamental appraisal of oneself, along with neuroticism, self-efficacy, and self-esteem.[15] The concept of core self-evaluations was first examined by Judge, Locke, and Durham (1997),[15] and since has proven to have the ability to predict several work outcomes, specifically, job satisfaction and job performance.[15][16][17][18][19]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Carlson, N.R., et al. (2007). Psychology: The Science of Behaviour - 4th Canadian ed.. Toronto, ON: Pearson Education Canada.
  2. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Lefcourt; see Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text
  3. ^ Weiner, 1974
  4. ^ Nowicki & Strickland, 1971
  5. ^ Lefcourt, 1976
  6. ^ Mischel et al., 1974; cited in Furnham & Steele, 1993
  7. ^ Whyte, C., "An Integrated Counseling and Learning Assistance Center" (1980). New Directions Sourcebook-Learning Assistance Centers. Jossey-Bass, Inc.
  8. ^ Whyte, C., "Effective Conseling Methods for High-Risk College Freshmen (1978)." Measurement and Evaluation in Guidance. January, 6, (4). 198-200.
  9. ^ Kahoe, 1974
  10. ^ Holt et al., p294
  11. ^ Lefcourt, 1976, p. 100
  12. ^ Aldwin & Gilmer, 2004; Johnson, Grant, Plomin, Pedersen, Ahern, Berg & McClearn, 2001
  13. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080619/hl_nm/self_confident_dc;_ylt=AqQCX7YWjbZ2hPTBb4Adglqs0NUE
  14. ^ Sherer, Madux et al., 1982
  15. ^ a b c Judge, T. A.; Locke, E. A.; Durham, C. C. (1997). "The dispositional causes of job satisfaction: A core evaluations approach". Research in Organizational Behavior 19: 151–188. 
  16. ^ Bono, J. E.; Judge, T. A. (2003). "Core self-evaluations: A review of the trait and its role in job satisfaction and job performance". European Journal of Personality 17 (Suppl1): S5-S18. doi:10.1002/per.48. 
  17. ^ Dormann, C.; Fay, D.; Zapf, D.; Frese, M. (2006). "A state-trait analysis of job satisfaction: On the effect of core self-evaluations". Applied Psychology: An International Review 55 (1): 27–51. doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.2006.00227.x. 
  18. ^ Judge, T. A.; Locke, E. A.; Durham, C. C.; Kluger, A. N. (1998). "Dispositional effects on job and life satisfaction: The role of core evaluations". Journal of Applied Psychology 83 (1): 17–34. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.83.1.17. 
  19. ^ Judge, T. A.; Bono, J. E. (2001). "Relationship of core self-evaluations traits—self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and emotional stability—with job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis". Journal of Applied Psychology 86 (1): 80–92. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.86.1.80. 

[edit] References

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  • Eisner, J.E. (1997). "The origins of explanatory style: Trust as a determinant of pessimism and optimism". In Buchanan, G.M., Seligman, M.E.P.. Explanatory Style. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. pp. 49–55. ISBN 0-8058-0924-5. 
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  • Holt, C.L., Clark, E.M., Kreuter, M.W., Rubio, D. (2003). "Spiritual Health locus of control and cancer beliefs among urban African American women". Health Psychology 22 (3): 294–9. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.22.3.294. PMID 12790257. 
  • Kahoe, R. (1974). "Personality and achievement correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 29 (6): 812–8. doi:10.1037/h0036222. 
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  • Nowicki, S., Strickland, B. (1973). "A locus of control scale for children". Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 42: 148–55. doi:10.1037/h0033978. 
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  • Weiner, B., ed. (1974). Achievement Motivation and Attribution Theory. NY: General Learning Press. 
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  • Whyte, C., "An Integrated Counseling and Learning Assistance Center" (1980). New Directions Sourcebook-Learning Assistance Centers. Jossey-Bass, Inc.
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  • Xenikou, A.; Furnham, A., McCarrey, M. (1997). "Attributional style for negative events: A proposition for a more valid and reliable measaure of attributional style". British Journal of Psychology 88: 53–69. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1997.tb02620.x. 

[edit] External links

External link for Attributional Style:

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locus_of_control


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19th May 2011 |

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Examples of the share buttons common to many social web pages

Social media includes web-based and mobile technologies used to turn communication into interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content."[1] Social media is media for social interaction as a super-set beyond social communication. Enabled by ubiquitously accessible and scalable communication techniques, social media has substantially changed the way organizations, communities, and individuals communicate.[2]

Contents

[edit] Shaping

[edit] Social media

[edit] Heading text

==
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takes on many different forms including magazines, Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, podcasts, photographs or pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking. By applying a set of theories in the field of media research (social presence, media richness) and social processes (self-presentation, self-disclosure) Kaplan and Haenlein created a classification scheme for different social media types in their Business Horizons article published in 2010. According to Kaplan and Haenlein there are six different types of social media: collaborative projects (e.g., Wikipedia), blogs and microblogs (e.g., Twitter), content communities (e.g., YouTube), social networking sites (e.g., Facebook), virtual game worlds (e.g., World of Warcraft), and virtual social worlds (e.g. Second Life). Technologies include: blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing and voice over IP, to name a few.  Many of these social media services can be integrated via social network aggregation platforms.

Kietzmann et al. (2011) present a honeycomb framework that defines how social media services focus on some or all of seven functional building blocks (identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups). These building blocks help understand the engagement needs of the social media audience. For instance, LinkedIn users care mostly about identity, reputation and relationships, whereas YouTube’s primary building blocks are sharing, conversations, groups and reputation.[2] Many companies build their own social containers that attempt to link the seven functional building blocks around their brands. These are private communities that engage people around a more narrow theme, as in around a particular brand, vocation or hobby, than social media containers such as Facebook or Google+.


[edit] Patents

Number of US social network patent applications published per year and patents issued per year[3]

There has been rapid growth in the number of US patent applications that cover new technologies related to social media. The number of published applications has been growing rapidly over the past five years. There are now over 250 published applications.[4] Only about 10 of these applications have issued as patents, however, largely due to the multi-year backlog in examination of business method patents[5]

[edit] Purpose

[edit] Distinction from industrial media

Businesses may refer to social media as consumer-generated media (CGM). A common thread running through all definitions of social media is a blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value.[citation needed]

People obtain information, education, news and other data from electronic media and print media. Social media are distinct from industrial or traditional media, such as newspapers, television, and film. They are relatively inexpensive and accessible to enable anyone (even private individuals) to publish or access information, compared to industrial media, which generally require significant resources to publish information.

One characteristic shared by both social media and industrial media is the capability to reach small or large audiences; for example, either a blog post or a television show may reach no people or millions of people. Some of the properties that help describe the differences between social media and industrial media are:

  1. Reach - both industrial and social media technologies provide scale and are capable of reaching a global audience. Industrial media, however, typically use a centralized framework for organization, production, and dissemination, whereas social media are by their very nature more decentralized, less hierarchical, and distinguished by multiple points of production and utility.
  2. Accessibility - the means of production for industrial media are typically government and/or privately owned; social media tools are generally available to the public at little or no cost.
  3. Usability - industrial media production typically requires specialized skills and training. Conversely, most social media production does not require specialized skills and training, or requires only modest reinterpretation of existing skills; in theory, anyone with access can operate the means of social media production.
  4. Immediacy - the time lag between communications produced by industrial media can be long (days, weeks, or even months) compared to social media (which can be capable of virtually instantaneous responses; only the participants determine any delay in response). However, as industrial media begins adopting aspects of production normally associated with social media tools, this feature may not prove distinctive over time.
  5. Permanence - industrial media, once created, cannot be altered (once a magazine article is printed and distributed changes cannot be made to that same article) whereas social media can be altered almost instantaneously by comments or editing.

Community media constitute an interesting hybrid of industrial and social media. Though community-owned, some community radio, TV and newspapers are run by professionals and some by amateurs. They use both social and industrial media frameworks.

[edit] Managing social media

Kietzmann et al. (2011) contend that social media presents an enormous challenge for firms, as many established management methods are ill-suited to deal with customers who no longer want to be talked at but who want firms to listen, appropriately engage, and respond. The authors explain that each of the seven functional building blocks has important implications for how firms should engage with social media. By analyzing identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups, firms can monitor and understand how social media activities vary in terms of their function and impact, so as to develop a congruent social media strategy based on the appropriate balance of building blocks for their community.[2]

Increasingly, the term 'social business' is being used. This reflects that social media is not just a marketing discipline, but that it has multiple touch-points in an organization such as customer service, sales, human resource management and R&D. Social business is where social media has broken down silos and barriers that enable employees to have a genuinely more open and collaborative relationship with the outside world.

[edit] Building "social authority" and vanity

According to the European Journal of Social Psychology, one of the key components in successful social media marketing implementation is building "social authority". Social authority is developed when an individual or organization establishes themselves as an "expert" in their given field or area, thereby becoming an influencer in that field or area.[6]

It is through this process of "building social authority" that social media becomes effective. That is why one of the foundational concepts in social media has become that you cannot completely control your message through social media but rather you can simply begin to participate in the "conversation" expecting that you can achieve a significant influence in that conversation.[7]

However, this conversation participation must be cleverly executed because while people are resistant to marketing in general, they are even more resistant to direct or overt marketing through social media platforms. This may seem counter-intuitive but is the main reason building social authority with credibility is so important. A marketer can generally not expect people to be receptive to a marketing message in and of itself. In the Edleman Trust Barometer report in 2008, the majority (58%) of the respondents reported they most trusted company or product information coming from "people like me" inferred to be information from someone they trusted. In the 2010 Trust Report, the majority switched to 64% preferring their information from industry experts and academics. According to Inc. Technology's Brent Leary, "This loss of trust, and the accompanying turn towards experts and authorities, seems to be coinciding with the rise of social media and networks."[8][9]

[edit] Internet usage effects

A study by the University of Maryland suggested that social media services may be addictive,[10] and that users of social media services leads to a "fear of missing out".[11] It has been observed that Facebook is now the primary method for communication by college students in the U.S.[12][13]

Several colleges have even introduced classes on best social media practices, preparing students for potential careers as digital strategists.[14]

There are various statistics that account for social media usage and effectiveness for individuals worldwide. Some of the most recent statistics are as follows:

  • Social networking now accounts for 22% of all time spent online in the US.[15]
  • A total of 234 million people age 13 and older in the U.S. used mobile devices in December 2009.[16]
  • Twitter processed more than one billion tweets in December 2009 and averages almost 40 million tweets per day.[16]
  • Over 25% of U.S. internet page views occurred at one of the top social networking sites in December 2009, up from 13.8% a year before.[16]
  • Australia has some of the highest social media usage in the world. In usage of Facebook Australia ranks highest, with over 9 million users spending almost 9 hours per month on the site.[17][18]
  • The number of social media users age 65 and older grew 100 percent throughout 2010, so that one in four people in that age group are now part of a social networking site.[19]
  • As of June 2011 Facebook has 750 Million users.[20]
  • Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S.[21]
  • Social Media has overtaken pornography as the #1 activity on the web.[21]
  • iPod application downloads hit 1 billion in 9 months.[21]
  • If Facebook were a country it would be the world's 3rd largest.[21]
  • U.S. Department of Education study revealed that online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction.[21]
  • YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world.[21]
  • In four minutes and 26 seconds 100+ hours of video will be uploaded to YouTube.[21]
  • Indians spend more time on social media than on any other activity on the Internet.[22]

According to a report by Nielson[23]

“In the U.S. alone, total minutes spent on social networking sites has increased 83 percent year-over-year. In fact, total minutes spent on Facebook increased nearly 700 percent year-over-year, growing from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion in April 2009, making it the No. 1 social networking site for the month.”

The main increase in social media has been Facebook. It was ranked as the number one social networking site. Approximately 100 million users access this site through their mobile phone. According to Nielsen, global consumers spend more than 6 hours on social networking sites. "Social Media Revolution" produced by Socialnomics author Erik Qualman contains numerous statistics on Social Media including the fact that 93% of businesses use it for marketing and that if Facebook were a country it would be the third largest.[24] In an effort to supplant Facebook's dominance, Google launched Google+ in the summer of 2011.

[edit] Probable historic impact

Social media may have been integral to the Arab revolutions and revolts of 2011.[25][26] As one Cairo activist succinctly put it.[27] However, there is some debate about the extent to which social media facilitated this kind of change.[28]

[edit] Criticisms

Unbalanced scales.svg
 This article's Criticism or Controversy section may compromise the article's neutral point of view of the subject. Please integrate the section's contents into the article as a whole, or rewrite the material. (January 2012)

Andrew Keen criticizes social media in his book The Cult of the Amateur, writing, "Out of this anarchy, it suddenly became clear that what was governing the infinite monkeys now inputting away on the Internet was the law of digital Darwinism, the survival of the loudest and most opinionated. Under these rules, the only way to intellectually prevail is by infinite filibustering."[29]

Tim Berners-Lee contends that the danger of social networking sites is that most are silos and do not allow users to port data from one site to another. He also cautions against social networks that grow too big and become a monopoly as this tends to limit innovation.[30]

Eric Ehrmann contends that social media in the form of public diplomacy creates a patina of inclusiveness that covers traditional economic interests that are structured to ensure that wealth is pumped up to the top of the economic pyramid, perpetuating the digital divide and post Marxian class conflict. He also voices concern over the trend that finds social utilities operating in a quasi-libertarian global environment of oligopoly that requires users in economically challenged nations to spend high percentages of annual income to pay for devices and services to participate in the social media lifestyle.

Matthew Auer casts doubt on the conventional wisdom that social media are open and participatory. He also speculates on the emergence of "anti-social media" used as "instruments of pure control".[31]

[edit] Economic impact by social marketing

Thus, using social media as a form of marketing has taken on whole new challenges. As the 2010 Trust Study indicates, it is most effective if marketing efforts through social media revolve around the genuine building of authority. Someone performing a "marketing" role within a company must honestly convince people of their genuine intentions, knowledge, and expertise in a specific area or industry through providing valuable and accurate information on an ongoing basis without a marketing angle overtly associated. If this can be done, trust with, and of, the recipient of that information – and that message itself – begins to develop naturally. This person or organization becomes a thought leader and value provider - setting themselves up as a trusted "advisor" instead of marketer. "Top of mind awareness" develops and the consumer naturally begins to gravitate to the products and/or offerings of the authority/influencer.[8][32]

Of course, there are many ways authority can be created – and influence can be accomplished – including: participation in Wikipedia which actually verifies user-generated content and information more than most people may realize; providing valuable content through social networks on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter; article writing and distribution through sites such as Ezine Articles and Scribd; and providing fact-based answers on "social question and answer sites" such as EHow and Yahoo! Answers.

As a result of social media – and the direct or indirect influence of social media marketers – today, consumers are as likely – or more likely – to make buying decisions based on what they read and see in platforms we call "social" but only if presented by someone they have come to trust. Additionally, reports have shown organizations have been able to bring back dissatisfied customers and stakeholders through social media channels.[33] This is why a purposeful and carefully designed social media strategy has become an integral part of any complete and directed marketing plan but must also be designed using newer "authority building" techniques.[34]

In his 2006 book, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, Yochai Benkler analyzed many of these distinctions and their implications in terms of both economics and political liberty. However, Benkler, like many academics, uses the neologism network economy or "network information economy" to describe the underlying economic, social, and technological characteristics of what has come to be known as "social media". The basic assumption with social media is there will be a demand for the information published using such media. The quantity of subscribers to the various providers seems to prove that assumption. However, the quality of the contents casted by individuals may be subject of a more distant view, regarding the multicast or even broadcast distribution as powered by vanity of the issuers. In contrast the reception of contents published by organisations shows the curiosity of the subscribers to learn more about the ever renewing world they are part of. Both aspects may generate economic value beyond the providers sake for the issuers of the contents.

However, building reputation and becoming recognized as an expert with a high yield in "social authority" may remind the fact that there is no quality assessment for the issued contents but the acclamation or applause by the readers or the opposite, deprecation or disapproval. That does not guarantee for a reasonable value of the messages.

[edit] Ownership of social media content

Social media content is generated through social media interactions done by the users through the site. There has always been a huge debate on the ownership of the content on social media platforms since it is generated by the users and hosted by the company. Critics contend that the companies are making a huge amount of money by using the content that does not belong to them.[35] Hence the challenge for ownership is lesser with the communicated content, but with the personal data disclosed by the subscribed writers and readers and the correlation to chosen types of content. The security danger beyond is the parasitic conveying, diffunding or leaking of agglomerated data to third parties with certain economic interest.[36]

[edit] Application examples

[edit] Brand monitoring

[edit] Communication

[edit] Collaboration/authority building

[edit] Entertainment

[edit] Leisure example

The Dutch man Ramon Stoppelenburg traveled around the world for free, without spending any money, from 2001 to 2003, thanks to his blog on Letmestayforaday.com. His website was his profile with which he created his own necessary network of online offered places to stay for the night. This made Stoppelenburg one of the first people online who used the online media in a social and effective manner.[citation needed]

[edit] Multimedia

[edit] Confidential Social Media

  • Next Generation / Future Technology Now: useORB.com

[edit] Reviews and opinions

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kaplan, Andreas M.; Michael Haenlein (2010). "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media". Business Horizons 53 (1): 59–68. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003. ISSN 0007-6813. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W45-4XFF2S0-1/2/600db1bd6e0c9903c744aaf34b0b12e1. Retrieved 2010-09-15. 
  2. ^ a b c Kietzmann, Jan H.; Kris Hermkens, Ian P. McCarthy, and Bruno S. Silvestre (2011). "Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media". Business Horizons 54 (3): 241–251. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.005. ISSN 0007-6813. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681311000061. Retrieved 2011-08-23. 
  3. ^ Mark Nowotarski, "Do not Steal My Avatar! Challenges of Social Network Patents, IP Watchdog, January 23, 2011.
  4. ^ USPTO search on published patent applications mentioning “social media”
  5. ^ USPTO search on issued patents mentioning “social media”
  6. ^ European Journal of Social Psychology
  7. ^ Research Survey
  8. ^ a b Inc. Technology Brent Leary Article
  9. ^ Edelman 2010 Trust Barometer Study
  10. ^ "Students Addicted to Social Media - New UM Study". http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/sociss/release.cfm?ArticleID=2144. Retrieved 23 May 2011. 
  11. ^ "FOMO: The Unintended Effects of Social Media Addiction". http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Social-Media-Is-Causing-Anxiety-and-Depression-122260279.html. Retrieved 23 May 2011. 
  12. ^ Harris, Kandace (2008). "Using Social Networking Sites as Student Engagement Tools". Diverse Issues in Higher Education 25 (18). 
  13. ^ "Statistics". Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics. Retrieved 23 May 2011. 
  14. ^ "Top 100 Social Media Colleges-StudentAdvisor". http://www.studentadvisor.com/top-100-social-media-colleges. 
  15. ^ http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/global/social-media-accounts-for-22-percent-of-time-online/
  16. ^ a b c http://digital.venturebeat.com/2010/02/10/54-of-us-internet-users-on-facebook-27-on-myspace/trackback/
  17. ^ . http://www.socialmedianews.com.au/social-media-stats-in-australia-facebook-blogger-myspace/. 
  18. ^ . http://www.socialmedianews.com.au/. 
  19. ^ "Boomers Joining Social Media at Record Rate". CBS News. 2010-11-15. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/15/national/main7055992.shtml. 
  20. ^ http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/23/facebook-750-million-users//
  21. ^ a b c d e f g http://www.socialnomics.net/category/statistics/
  22. ^ http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/global/connecting-and-engaging-with-digital-indian-consumers/
  23. ^ "Time Spent on Facebook up 700 Percent, but MySpace.com Still Tops for Video, According to Nielsen". http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/press-room/2009/time_on_facebook.html. 
  24. ^ Social Media Revolution Video
  25. ^ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/tunisia/
  26. ^ Kirkpatrick, David D. (2011-02-09). "Wired and Shrewd, Young Egyptians Guide Revolt". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/world/middleeast/10youth.html?_r=1. 
  27. ^ http://www.miller-mccune.com/politics/the-cascading-effects-of-the-arab-spring-28575/
  28. ^ Malcolm Gladwell and Clay Shirky on Social Media and Revolution, Foreign Affairs March/April 2011
  29. ^ Keen, Andrew. The Cult of the Amateur. Random House. p. 15. ISBN 9780385520812. 
  30. ^ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=long-live-the-web
  31. ^ Auer, Matthew R. "The Policy Sciences of Social Media". Policy Studies Journal 39 (4): 709–736
  32. ^ Search Engine Watch
  33. ^ http://www.marketingforecast.com/archives/10548
  34. ^ Business Expert Brent Leary on Inc Technology Website
  35. ^ "How much is your content worth?". http://digitalanalog.in/2011/06/28/how-much-is-your-content-worth/. 
  36. ^ Jones, Soltren, Facebook: Threats to Privacy, MIT 2005
  37. ^ Golder, Scott; Huberman, Bernardo A. (2006). "Usage Patterns of Collaborative Tagging Systems". Journal of Information Science 32 (2): 198–208. doi:10.1177/0165551506062337. http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/idl/papers/tags/tags.pdf. 
  38. ^ "Empire Avenue, the stockmarket where YOU'RE for sale". http://thenextweb.com/apps/2010/07/26/empire-avenue-the-stockmarket-where-youre-for-sale-invites/. Retrieved 22 March 2011. 
  39. ^ 10 Ways Geolocation is Changing the World

[edit] Further reading

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media


Categories: Social Media
Tags:

Story Telling

17th May 2011 |

"Raconteur" redirects here. For the rock band, see The Raconteurs.
The Boyhood of Raleigh by Sir John Everett Millais, oil on canvas, 1870.
A seafarer tells the young Sir Walter Raleigh and his brother the story of what happened out at sea

Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include plot, characters and narrative point of view.

Contents

[edit] Historical perspective

The earliest forms of storytelling were thought to have been primarily oral combined with gestures and expressions. In addition to being part of religious ritual, rock art may have been a form of storytelling for many of the ancient cultures. The Australian Aboriginal people painted symbols from stories on cave walls as a means of helping the storyteller remember the story. The story was then told using a combination of oral narrative, music, rock art and dance. Ephemeral media such as sand, leaves and the carved trunks of living trees have also been used to record stories in pictures or with writing. Complex forms of tattooing may also represent stories, with information about genealogy, affiliation and social status.

With the advent of writing and the use of stable, portable media, stories were recorded, transcribed and shared over wide regions of the world. Stories have been carved, scratched, painted, printed or inked onto wood or bamboo, ivory and other bones, pottery, clay tablets, stone, palm-leaf books, skins (parchment), bark cloth, paper, silk, canvas and other textiles, recorded on film, and stored electronically in digital form. Oral stories continue to be committed to memory and passed from generation to generation, despite the increasing popularity of written and televised media in much of the world.

[edit] Contemporary storytelling

Modern storytelling has a broad purview. In addition to its traditional forms (fairytales, folktales, mythology, legends, fables etc.), it has extended itself to representing history, personal narrative, political commentary, and evolving cultural norms. Contemporary storytelling is also widely used to address educational objectives.[1]

[edit] Oral traditions

See also: Oral storytelling
 This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2011)

Albert Bates Lord examined oral narratives from field transcripts of Yugoslav oral bards collected by Milman Parry in the 1930s, and the texts of epics such as the Odyssey and Beowulf.[2] Lord found that a large part of the stories consisted of text which was improvised during the telling process.

Lord identified two types of story vocabulary. The first he called "formulas": "rosy-fingered dawn", "the wine-dark sea", and other specific set phrases had long been known of in Homer and other oral epics. Lord, however, discovered that across many story traditions, fully 90% of an oral epic is assembled from lines which are repeated verbatim or which use one-for-one word substitutions. In other words, oral stories are built out of set phrases which have been stockpiled from a lifetime of hearing and telling stories.

The other type of story vocabulary is theme, a set sequence of story actions that structure a tale. Just as the teller of tales proceeds line-by-line using formulas, so he proceeds from event-to-event using themes. One near-universal theme is repetition, as evidenced in Western folklore with the "rule of three": three brothers set out, three attempts are made, three riddles are asked. A theme can be as simple as a specific set sequence describing the arming of a hero, starting with shirt and trousers and ending with headdress and weapons. A theme can be large enough to be a plot component. For example: a hero proposes a journey to a dangerous place / he disguises himself / his disguise fools everybody / except for a common person of little account (a crone, a tavern maid or a woodcutter) / who immediately recognizes him / the commoner becomes the hero's ally, showing unexpected resources of skill or initiative. A theme does not belong to a specific story, but may be found with minor variation in many different stories. Themes may be no more than handy prefabricated parts for constructing a tale, or they may represent universal truths – ritual-based, religious truths, as James Frazer saw in The Golden Bough, or archetypal, psychological truths, as Joseph Campbell describes in The Hero With a Thousand Faces.

The story was described by Reynolds Price, when he wrote:

A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species Homo sapiens – second in necessity apparently after nourishment and before love and shelter. Millions survive without love or home, almost none in silence; the opposite of silence leads quickly to narrative, and the sound of story is the dominant sound of our lives, from the small accounts of our day's events to the vast incommunicable constructs of psychopaths.[3]

[edit] Märchen and Sagen

Folklorists sometimes divide oral tales into two main groups: Märchen and Sagen.[citation needed] These are German terms for which there are no exact English equivalents, however we have approximations:

Märchen, loosely translated as "fairy tale(s)", take place in a kind of separate "once-upon-a-time" world of nowhere-in-particular. They are clearly not intended to be understood as true. The stories are full of clearly defined incidents, and peopled by rather flat characters with little or no interior life. When the supernatural occurs, it is presented matter-of-factly, without surprise. Indeed, there is very little effect, generally; bloodcurdling events may take place, but with little call for emotional response from the listener.[citation needed]

Sagen, best translated as "legends", are supposed to have actually happened, very often at a particular time and place, and they draw much of their power from this fact. When the supernatural intrudes (as it often does), it does so in an emotionally fraught manner. Ghost and lovers' leap stories belong in this category, as do many UFO stories and stories of supernatural beings and events.[citation needed]

Another important examination of orality in human life is Walter J. Ong's Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (1982). Ong studies the distinguishing characteristics of oral traditions, how oral and written cultures interact and condition one another, and how they ultimately influence human epistemology.

[edit] As art form

[edit] Aesthetics

The art of narrative is, by definition, an aesthetic enterprise, and there are a number of artistic elements that typically interact in well-developed stories. Such elements include the essential idea of narrative structure, with identifiable beginnings, middles and endings, or exposition-development-climax-resolution-denouement, normally constructed into coherent plot lines; a strong focus on temporality, which includes retention of the past, attention to present action, and protention/future anticipation; a substantial focus on characters and characterization which is "arguably the most important single component of the novel";[4] a given heterogloss of different voices dialogically at play – "the sound of the human voice, or many voices, speaking in a variety of accents, rhythms and registers";[5] possesses a narrator or narrator-like voice, which by definition "addresses" and "interacts with" reading audiences (see Reader Response theory); communicates with a Wayne Booth-esque rhetorical thrust, a dialectic process of interpretation, which is at times beneath the surface, conditioning a plotted narrative, and other at other times much more visible, "arguing" for and against various positions; relies substantially on now-standard aesthetic figuration, particularly including the use of metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony (see Hayden White, Metahistory for expansion of this idea); is often enmeshed in intertextuality, with copious connections, references, allusions, similarities, parallels, etc. to other literatures; and commonly demonstrates an effort toward bildungsroman, a description of identity development with an effort to evince becoming in character and community.

[edit] Festivals

Storytelling festivals feature the work of several storytellers. Elements of the oral storytelling art form include visualization (the seeing of images in the mind's eye), and vocal and bodily gestures. In many ways, the art of storytelling draws upon other art forms such as acting, oral interpretation, and performance studies.

Several storytelling organizations started in the US during the 1970s. One such organization was the National Association for the Perpetuation and Preservation of Storytelling (NAPPS), now the National Storytelling Network and the International Storytelling Center. NSN is a professional organization that helps to organize resources for tellers and festival planners. The ISC runs the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN.[6] Australia followed their American counterparts with the establishment of storytelling guilds in the late 1970s. Australian storytelling today has individuals and groups across the country who meet to share their stories.

Currently, there are dozens of storytelling festivals and hundreds of professional storytellers around the world, and an international celebration of the art on World Storytelling Day.

[edit] Emancipation of the story

In oral traditions, stories are kept alive by being re-told again and again. The material of any given story naturally undergoes several changes and adaptations during this process. When and where oral tradition was pushed back in favor of print media, the literary idea of the author as originator of a story's authoritative version changed people's perception of stories themselves. In the following centuries, stories tended to be seen as the work of individuals, rather than a collective effort. Only recently, when a significant number of influential authors began questioning their own roles, the value of stories as such – independent of authorship – was again recognized. Literary critics such as Roland Barthes even proclaimed the Death of the Author.

[edit] In business

For many multi-media communication complex institutions, communicating by using fiction storytelling techniques can be a more compelling and effective route than using only dry facts.[7] Daphne A. Jameson undertook some research into the manner in which language is used in business meetings. Her analysis led her to the following major conclusions:

Using narrative to manage conflicts For managers storytelling is an important way of resolving conflicts, addressing issues and facing challenges. Managers used narrative discourse to deal with conflicts, because direct action was often impossible.

Using narrative to interpret the past and shape the future In a group discussion a process of collective narration can help to influence others and unify the group by linking the past to the future. In discussions, the managers transformed problems, requests and issues into stories. Jameson calls the collective group construction storybuilding.

Using narrative in the reasoning process Storytelling plays an important role in reasoning processes and in convincing others. In the meetings, the managers preferred stories instead of abstract arguments or statistical measures. When situations were complex, narrative allowed them to involve more context.[8]

[edit] In marketing

Storytelling is increasingly used in advertising today in order to build customer loyalty.[9] According to Giles Lury, this marketing trend echoes the deeply-rooted need of all humans to be entertained. Stories are illustrative, easily memorable and allow any firm to create stronger emotional bonds with the customers.

According to Professor Henry Jenkins, four steps should be followed to achieve successful campaigns based on that concept:[10]

Stories should be drillable.
Each piece of the story should be enriching, but not vital to the understanding of the story (so that a customer can still have a clear idea of the bigger picture even though he has missed a part of it)
Involve the fans in the creation process.
Build a world in which your story can evolve (such as Coca-Cola's "Happiness Factory")
Coca-Cola is an example of the use of storytelling. From Iris Bell's tale in 1944 to the "Happiness Factory" today, they have succeeded in involving their customers in their advertising and creating emotional power. The use of storytelling by marketers shows the beginning of a new narrative era in which brand content, brand story, advertainment, street marketing, guerilla marketing ... will be essential communication concepts.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Birch, Carol and Melissa Heckler (Eds.) 1996. Who Says?: Essays on Pivotal Issues in Contemporary Storytelling’’ Atlanta GA: August House
  2. ^ Lord, Albert Bates (2000). The singer of tales, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
  3. ^ Price, Reynolds (1978). A Palpable God, New York:Atheneum, p.3.
  4. ^ David Lodge The Art of Fiction 67
  5. ^ Lodge The Art of Fiction 97
  6. ^ Wolf, Eric James. Connie Regan-Blake A History of the National Storytelling Festival Audio Interview, 2008
  7. ^ By Jason Hensel, One+. "Once Upon a Time." February 2010.
  8. ^ Jameson, Daphne A. (2001). Narrative Discourse and Management Action. Journal of Business Communication, 38 (4), p. 476-511
  9. ^ Lury, Giles (2004). Brand Strategy, Issue 182, p. 32
  10. ^ Huang, Christine(2009). Advertising Age, Volume 80, Issue 40, p. 13

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: File:History of the world.ogg
Wikiversity has learning materials about Storytelling
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storytelling


Categories: Marketing
Tags: , ,

Pete Cashmore

16th May 2011 |

Pete Cashmore

CEO and founder of Mashable
Born September 18, 1985 (1985-09-18) (age 26) [1]
Scotland, Great Britain
Website
Mashable.com

Pete Cashmore (born September 18, 1985) is the CEO and founder of the popular blog Mashable, a Technorati Top 10 blog worldwide. He grew up in Banchory,[2] and founded Mashable in Aberdeen, Scotland in 2005 at age 19. Cashmore now divides his time between Scotland, San Francisco, and New York.

In 2009, Cashmore was chosen as one of Inc.'s "30 Under 30", Forbes' "Top 25 Web Celebs",[3] and The Huffington Post's "Top 10 Game Changers 2009".[4] He writes a weekly column on technology and social media at CNN.[5]

Cashmore's Twitter is one of Twitter's 40 most-followed pages, with 2 million followers. Pete Cashmore was also crowned by INQ as the most influential Briton and most influential Twitter user in the world in 2009.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.facebook.com/petecashmore?v=info
  2. ^ Evans, Teri (May 26, 2011). "14 Things You Didn't Know About Mashable's Pete Cashmore". Globe and Mail (Toronto). http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-managing/leadership/article2034695.ece. [dead link]
  3. ^ Ewalt, David M.. "The Web Celeb 25". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/29/web-celebrities-internet-technology-webceleb09_0129_top_slide_7.html. 
  4. ^ Leo, Alex (November 6, 2009). "HuffPost Game Changers: Who Is The Ultimate Game Changer In Technology?". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/06/huffpost-game-changers-wh_n_347226.html. 
  5. ^ "Has the iPhone lost its cool?". CNN. May 21, 2010. http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/05/21/cashmore.iphone.cool/index.html?iref=allsearch. 
  6. ^ "INQ’s Twitterati List Revealed". http://www.inqmobile.com/lang/en/blog/twitterati/. Retrieved 2009-12-21. 

[edit] External links

UK flag icon Stub icon This article about a writer or poet from the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Cashmore


Categories: Social Media

Mashable

16th May 2011 |

Mashable, Inc.[1][2]
Type Private[3][4]
Founded July 2005
Founder(s) Pete Cashmore
Headquarters New York City, New York
Palo Alto, California(Corporate)[5], U.S.
Key people Pete Cashmore, Chief Executive Officer
Lance Ulanoff, Editor-in-Chief
Ben Parr, Editor-at-Large
Owner Mashable Inc.
Employees 50
Slogan "The Social Media Guide"
Website mashable.com
Alexa rank decrease 201 (February 2012)[6]
Type of site News & blogging
Available in English, French
Current status Active

Mashable (Mashable Inc.) is an American news website and Internet news blog founded by Pete Cashmore.[7] The website's primary focus is social media news, but also covers news and developments in mobile, entertainment, online video, business, web development, technology, memes and gadgets. Mashable was launched by Pete Cashmore from his home in Aberdeen, Scotland in July 2005.

With a reported 50+ million monthly pageviews[8] and an Alexa ranking under 250,[6] Mashable ranks as one of the world's largest websites. Time Magazine noted Mashable as one the 25 best blogs in 2009,[9] and has been described as "one stop shop" for social media.[10] As of February 2011, it has over two million Twitter followers and over 425,000 fans on Facebook.[8]

On March 9, 2009, Mashable announced that it had acquired Blippr, a micro-reviews service based on the concept that users can review games, books, movies, music, and web applications in 160 characters or less.[11]

Contents

[edit] Mashable Awards

On November 27, 2007, Mashable launched the 1st International Open Web Awards to recognize the best online communities and services. Voting was conducted online through Mashable and its 24 blog partners.[12] On January 10, 2008 at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, Mashable announced the winners of the first Open Web Awards.[13] Winners included Digg, Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube, ESPN, Cafemom and Pandora.

The 2nd Annual Open Web Awards was an online international competition that took place between November and December 2008. Among the winners in the 'People's Choice' component were Encyclopedia Dramatica in the wiki category, Digg in the 'Social News and Social Bookmarking' category, Netlog in the 'Mainstream and Large Social Networks' category and MySpace in the 'Places and Events' category.[14]

The 3rd Open Web Awards were held in November and December 2009. Winners included Pandora Radio for best mobile music site or app, Fish Wrangler for best Facebook game, and "Surprise Marriage Proposal in Spain" as best YouTube video.

In 2010, Mashable renamed the Open Web Awards to the 4th Annual Mashable Awards. The Mashable Awards officially launched on September 27, 2010 with nominations for categories including Best Mobile Game, Best Use of an API, Best Web Video, Most Promising New Company and Entrepreneur of the Year

[edit] Mashable Connect conference

Mashable Connect is an annual invite-only conference. It was held on May 12 – May 14, 2011, with 300 attendees. Speakers included Scott Belsky, Founder & CEO, Behance Rohit Bhargava, SVP, Global Strategy & Marketing, Ogilvy. Sabrina Caluori, Director of Social Media & Marketing, HBO, and Greg Clayman, Publisher, The Daily.[15]

Themes discussed included content curation, the democratisation of content, social media, social television, and helping consumers deal with content overload.[16]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mashable, Inc. Privacy Policy
  2. ^ Mashable, Inc.: CEO & Executives - BusinessWeek
  3. ^ Mashable Inc. Small Business News - Inc.com
  4. ^ Mashable, Inc.: Private Company Information - BusinessWeek
  5. ^ Mashable Profile at Business Week
  6. ^ a b "Mashable.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/mashable.com. Retrieved 2012-02-02. 
  7. ^ Ohngren, Kara. "Where the Connected Get Clued In". Entreprenuer. http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2009/december/204064.html. Retrieved 29 June 2011. 
  8. ^ a b Self-reported from the Mashable homepage
  9. ^ McNichol, Tom (February 13, 2009). "Mashable - 25 Best Blogs 2009". Time Magazine. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1879276_1879279_1879302,00.html. Retrieved 29 June 2011. 
  10. ^ Huffington, Arianna (May 25, 2011). "HuffPost Game Changers: Your Picks for the Ultimate 10". Huffpost Media. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/huffpost-game-changers-yo_b_363624.html. Retrieved 29 June 2011. 
  11. ^ Self reported by Mashable
  12. ^ "The 1st International Open Web Awards Start Now". http://mashable.com/2007/11/27/the-1st-international-open-web-awards-start-now/. 
  13. ^ "Mashable Open Web Awards Winners". February 4, 2008. http://mashable.com/2007/12/21/open-web-awards-winners/. Retrieved February 4, 2008 
  14. ^ "Mashable Open Web Awards Winners". http://mashable.com/2008/12/16/open-web-awards-2-winners/. Retrieved December 16, 2008 
  15. ^ mashable.com/connect/.
  16. ^ www.tvgenius.net/blog/2011/05/17/mashable-connect-tv-trends/.

[edit] External links

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashable


Categories: Social Media
Tags:

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