Unit 8: Lecture

Communicating in a web-based world

Social media in business
and educational practices
BUS100: PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Unit 8: This Week’s Focus
Communicating in a web-based world

Writing for the web

Social media for business practices

Social media for educational practices

Benefits and challenges of social media use in education

 Imagine this…
You don’t have a smart phone and you don’t have access to the internet…
How would you send a message to your family to show them how
you spent your first day in a new city?

How would you let your tutor know, quickly, that you will be unable
to attend the day’s tutorial?

How would you find immediate directions to the nearest train

station?

How would you find out about the football scores of a match which
took place in the morning?
 The history of web-based
communication
• The 1st e-message – 1965 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) allowed users to share files and messages on a central disk

• Tomlinson and the @ - 1971 he conceived the method of sending email between different computers and introduced the “@” sign

• Microsoft Mail arrives – 1988 released in 1988 for Mac OS, allowing users of AppleTalk Networks to send messages to each other.

• CompuServe starts internet-based email service – 1989 via dial-up phone connections

• The world-wide-web – 1991Tim Berners- Lee invented the service which supported hyperlinked pages of text

• The start of spam – 1994 from two lawyers from Phoenix, Carter and Siegel, sending an advertisement to internet newsgroups
 Continued…
• The attachment – 1992
• Outlook and Aol email – 1993
• Hotmail launches – 1996
• Wifi was first introduced - 1997
• Google arrives - 1998
• Skype is released to the public - 2001
• Gmail launches – 2004
• Facebook is launched by Mark Zuckerberg - 2004
• Email goes mobile for casual users with the iPhone – 2007
• 4G wireless networks available – 2010
• 5G wireless networks available – 2019 What’s next?....
 Information communication technology
Definition – the entire scope of technologies that enable organisations and individuals to manage information,
functions and processes and to communicate with stakeholders (Buhalis, 2003, cited in Lawson, 2019)

Although not all technology is connected to the web,

the rapid growth of the internet has altered and
operational practice in the field of ICT

Technology also affects what is not connected to the

web:
• Fewer people are wearing traditional wristwatches,
more rely on a mobile phone for the time.
• More people are using their smart phone for
Satnav directions rather than using a conventional
map.
• More Australian’s are viewing news online rather
than in print

Figure 1: News sources used by consumers in Australia (Statista, 2022)

Writing for the web: Why is it different?
People do not read on the web, they scan.
Many people read as little as possible and make snap
judgements about which parts they read, which parts to skim
and which parts to ignore completely (Pernice, Whitenton &
Nielson, n.d cited in Lawson, 2019).

However, those who are motivated may spend more time

reading a page which is of interest to them.

Research by Pernice, Whitenton & Nielson (n,d) found that

when people look at web pages, users often look at words,
headings and sections but of order and fixate only on some of
the words.

‘ People often look for an idea or concept that relates to their

needs [or will] seek a very particular word or set of words [for
something specific]’ (p.15).
Eye-tracking
studies
To document how people read web
content, The Neilson Norman Group
(n.d) used eye-tracking technology to
study hundreds of users interacting
with websites. Monitoring a person's
eye movements to pinpoint where
that person was looking as they
searched and read pages.

Users tended to read web pages

using a mixture of four specific
patterns:
• F-pattern
• Layer-cake
• Spotted
• Commitment
Optimising
website usability
Considering the previous research findings and
data, organisations needs to optimise the
usability and readability of their webpages to
help attract visitors.

Site navigation and menus, page layouts,

language and multimedia content should be
tailored to the needs and habits of web users
and search engines.

Articles for websites and blogs should be written

using the inverted pyramid structure (Lawson,
2019)
 The rise of
Social Media
Quick discussion:
Which apps do you use? For what purposes?
Which have you discontinued use and why?
 Social
Media use
in 2024

Statistica, 2024
The use of Social Media
in business
Organisations use social media as valuable reputation-building tools (Floreddu &
Cabiddu, 2016)
Social media networks can be considered uncontrolled platforms where a single
social media use can easily damage reputation.

Have you ever used Social Media to complain? Was your voice heard?

Social media should be used to engage in two-way dialogue and, as with any
conversation, you need to accept different points of view.

Research by Heinonen (2011) shows consumers are motivated to use social

media networks for three reasons: entertainment, social connection and
information. The consumers contribute to social networks in three different
ways: by consuiming passively, by participating and by actively producing content
(Lawson, 2019, pp.367-368)
Social media in
educational institutions
Each social media platform offers many ways to be used in
the classroom, from sharing announcements to holding live
lectures, and so much more.

First, social media provides a smoother, more direct

communication tool between students, teachers and parents,
who can check in and ask or respond to questions.

Social media allows for more e-learning opportunities as well.

As remote jobs and online classes are becoming more
popular, training students to work from a distance is an
important lesson, and social media can help with that.
Social Media
and education
Which social media tools are
used at KOI?

Have you used them?

What are the benefits and

potential issues of them?

Are there any social media

apps you think would be
useful at KOI?
 Incorporating & accounting for Social Media in
Education | Harry Dyer | TEDxNorwichED
Harry (a digital Sociologist at the University of East Anglia)
discusses how the study of Social Media can help us better
understand how youth are acting and interacting both online and
offline, and how we can (and must) incorporate and account for
social media in the classroom.

Harry calls for an acceptance of the reality of Social Media. He

highlights the increasingly important and positive role it plays
in young people’s lives, how we can better understand Social
Media and young people’s relationship with it, and how we can
incorporate and utilise their Social Media skills in education.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZteEZb
AtsNI
 What’s your thoughts on this?
We can (and must) incorporate and account for social media in
the classroom

We can better understand Social Media and young people’s

relationship with it, and incorporate and utilise their Social
Media skills in education.

(Dyer, 2016) What would you say is your position

on Dyer’s views?

A. Do you mostly agree?

B. Are there parts you would
challenge?
C. Do you mostly disagree?
 The benefits of
social media within
education institutions
Many researchers have argued for the advantage that social media can or
could bring to higher education including:
• Opportunities and support for collaborative and cooperative learning
(Bilandzic & Foth, 2013)
• Awareness of and potential interaction with others, especially affording
multicultural exposure and learning opportunities (Hu, et al. 2017)
• Enhanced media/digital literacy, including development of critical literacy
(Pangrazio, 2016)
• Motivational increases (de-Marcos, Garcia-Lopez, & Garcia-Cabot, 2016)
• Increased informal participation in institutional, social and political
activities (Ranieri, Rosa, & Manca, 2016)
• Integration of formal with informal learning (Greenhow & Lewin, 2016)
• Support for continuing relationship between institutions and graduates in
support of life-long learning and alumni support (Carter, 2018).
(cited in Anderson, 2019)
 The challenges of using social media
in educational settings
Quick discussion:
What challenges or issues do you think social media brings to the classroom?
Can you recommend any ways these issues could be addressed?

• Data security is an issue. The terabytes of data we generate in our interactions on these 9
platforms allows companies to “datafy”, quantify, track, monitor, profile us and sell target adverts
to haunt us. “(Lin, 2018).
• Remember
Social media contains to asheck
explicit bias out
it filters outthis week’s
opposing Bus100
views (living in a filter bubble (Pariser,
2011))
• Bitesize task
Some students and teachers argue that social media has a place in informal learning, but that
The
formal learning reading
(with for the constraints
both its institutional task outlines someiskey
and its benefits) best left to media that
can be more effectively monitored and controlled by the formal learning institution (Anderson,
2019)
benefits and challenges of using social media
• for educational
Keenan et al., )2018), discovered practices
that the largest barriers to use included instructors’ concerns for
“student professionalism”, social media being a distraction, changes to student-teacher
(this will help you for A3!)
relationships and a lack of time for instructors to learn to use social media effectively (Anderson,
2019. p.10)
The power of Access Article A from the week 8 section on Moodle
social media in • Overall, do you think they provide a positive or negative
education view in using social media in education?
• Identify two benefits mentioned of using social media in
education (from the article)
• What examples have they provided to suggest that they are
effective?
• Are these reliable sources?
• What information could have been provided in the article to
increase the reliability of the information?
• What challenges or limitations do they mention?
Coming up in this week’s
tutorial…
Assessment 4: Overview
Creating academic paragraphs
Using cohesive devices to link ideas
Paraphrasing and referencing information
Using persuasive language
 What are the benefits
of using LinkedIn to
promote an event?
Final thought…
Which social media (if
any) have you used at
KOI or in other studies?
 References
Anderson, T 2019, Challenges and Opportunities for use of Social Media in Higher Education, Journal of Learning for Development, 6(1) p.6-19. Available
at: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1212505.pdf [accessed 9 December 2022]

Ansari, J.A.N., Khan, N.A. 2020 Exploring the role of social media in collaborative learning the new domain of learning. Smart Learn. Environ. 7, 9
https://slejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40561-020-00118-7 [Accessed 9 December 2022]

Dyer, H 2016, Incorporating & accounting for Social Media in Education [TedTalk] available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZteEZbAtsNI

The Guardian 2016, How did email grow from messages between academics to a global epidemic? [online] Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/07/email-ray-tomlinson-history

Lawson, C., Gill, R., Feekery, A., Witsel, M., Lewis, M. and Cenere, P. 2019, Communication Skills for Business Professionals. 2nd edn. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781108594349.

Statista 2021, News sources used by consumers in Australia [online] Available at:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/588441/australia-news-sources/#:~:text=News%20sources%20in%20Australia%202022&text=Australians%20use%20
a%20variety%20of,social%20media%20and%2For%20blogs
.