Social Media Project: Twitter and Facebook
Writing for New Media: the Interplay of Text and Image
SWC 200 Instructor: Delia DeCourcy (delia.decourcy@gmail.com)
On Twitter: deliadec
Before You Begin Your Project
- Set up a Twitter account.
- Find out about all the ins and outs of Twitter by reading “Twitter Basics” on the Twitter help site. http://support.twitter.com/
- Check out http://twubs.com/ - This site lets you search #hash tags (tweets by topic on Twitter). If you don’t know what a #hash tag is used for, read Twitter help.
- Check out http://search.twitter.com/ to search various topics on Twitter.
- Experiment with http://brizzly.com/ and http://www.tweetdeck.com/. These sites allow you to view and post updates from/to multiple social networking sites (Fb, Twitter, My Space, Linked In) all in one place.
Deadlines for Experiment or Research Project
Saturday, March 5 by 12midnight
Proposal due via email: delia.decourcy@gmail.com
Wed., April 20 by 12noon
Final draft due via email: delia.decourcy@gmail.com
Option #1 Social Networking Experiment: Twitter or Facebook
Experiment Concept
After examining the multiple uses of Twitter and considering the multiple uses of Facebook, develop a social networking experiment using Twitter or Facebook. This experiment must have a clear goal with measurable results. Like:
- Raise funds for a good cause—like surgery for your fraternity’s dog who was hit by a car. (This was done at UM.)
- Plan an event and publicize it—a guest speaker, a reading, a performance.
- Write a short story.
- Learn a new skill.
Be creative. Think about what you know, what you want to know, new things you’d like to explore, and goals you want to accomplish. Do something original. Do something that you’ll be interested in pursuing every day for 6 weeks. Consider how and whether or not you’ll be able to measure this experiment. Do some Twitter and Facebook research on your initial ideas. Also, see the Ctools Resources folder for ideas (Social Networking> Uses of Twitter).
A few things to consider:
- Delia must be able to view your experiment on Fb or Twitter.
- Your results must be measurable.
Paper on Your Experiment (5-6 pages)
Introduction
Summarize your experiment and your proposed goal, as well as what inspired this goal.
Methods
Discuss the process you used to carry out your experiment. This section should include documentation of all the steps you took to carry out your experiment—people you followed, contacted, what you wrote on your wall, what you tweeted and when etc. Note changes you made in your methods as your experiment progressed, but do not discuss WHY until the discussion section.
**In this section, you should quote yourself and your followers at some length to illustrate methods.**
Results (Data)
This section notes all the outcomes that your social networking resulted in. Outcomes should include your goal—or steps toward achieving the goal, as well as any other unexpected outcomes. Again, quoting from your Fb or Twitter account may be necessary. Be sure to indicate your results over time (use dates).
Discussion and Conclusions
This part of the paper is where you exhibit what you learned. Think hard about your methods and results. What do they tell you? Some things you might discuss:
- Discuss your initial methods and how they evolved to address unexpected results.
- Hypothesize about WHY your methods had to evolve. What does this reveal about Fb or Twitter?
- Analyze and discuss the language you used.
- Diction, sentence structure, voice.
- How might your use of language be related to your results? To your audience?
- What new realizations have you had about the purpose, culture, and users of this social media platform?
This is also a place to use outside sources. Feel free to do so, but it’s not necessary. If you do use outside sources, please cite. You may use APA or MLA format.
Proposal due Saturday, March 5 by 12midnight via email: delia.decourcy@gmail.com
This is your idea for the project. It should be carefully considered and created only after you’ve developed a strong working knowledge of Twitter or Facebook.
Include in your proposal:
- What social network platform you’ll use (Twitter or Facebook)
- Your proposed goal. Be as specific as possible and explain the inspiration for this concept.
- How you will measure results.
- Your Fb or Twitter user name so Delia and other class members can follow.
Option #2 Social Networking Research: Twitter
Research Concept
Propose a research question about Twitter that you will investigate over a 6 week period. This question should look at something having to do with language, audience, tweet content, tweet frequency, retweeting, and/or the nature of Twitter users (authors). It may employ the use of comparison. For example:
- What are the similarities and differences between the tweets of a celebrity (Kim Kardashian) and a company (Macy’s)? What does branding language on Twitter look like?
- What are the differences in language use between the Twitter feed of an athlete, a scholar, an artist, and a college student?
- Select a particular #hash tag (topic) and break down who is tweeting about it and how they are doing so. For example: What are the different ways tweeters have used #Egypt during the revolution?
Be creative. Be specific. Think about what you know about Twitter and aspects of Twitter you’d like to explore. Ask original questions. Research something that you’ll be interested in pursuing every day for 6 weeks. Consider how and whether or not you’ll be able to measure this research question. Select very specific people/groups/publications/companies to follow. Do some Twitter research on your initial ideas. Also, see the Ctools Resources folder for ideas (Social Networking> Research on Social Networking).
A few things to consider:
- Your research question(s) must be measurable.
- You’ll need to set up a method for data collection—tables/charts where you can track your data.
Research Paper (5-6 pages)
Introduction
This section should introduce your project, define your research question(s), and explain what you anticipated the results would be.
Methods
Discuss the process you used to carry out your experiment by documenting who you followed, when, for how long, data collection methods, the categories of your data etc. Note any changes you made in your data collection, but do not discuss WHY until the discussion section.
Results (Data)
In this section, you provide all the data you gathered as well as the trends evident in the data. I recommend creating some tables and/or charts that clearly show your data. This will help significantly in your explanation. Be sure to make clear your results over time (use dates).
Discussion/Conclusions
This is the most important section of your paper and should exhibit that you’ve thought hard about all this data you collected. What does it mean? What does your data reveal about:
- Social networking as a platform?
- Who engages in social networking?
- Communication in our culture—frequency, content etc.?
- The use of language in social media?
- The uses of social media?
Remember, you are looking at a very small segment of the Twitter population, so do be careful not to generalize too much. Stick to what your data tells you.
This is also a place to use outside sources. Feel free to do so, but it’s not necessary. If you do use outside sources, please cite. You may use APA or MLA format.
Proposal due Saturday, March 5 by 12midnight via email: delia.decourcy@gmail.com
This is your idea for the research and a well-defined research question. It should be carefully considered and created only after you’ve developed a working knowledge of Twitter.
Include in your proposal:
- Your proposed question (or questions).
- What data you will need to track
- Who you will follow, what you’ll record and how often, what hash tags you’ll search.
- What results you expect to find.
