Using Social Media for Effective CommunicationAssoc. Prof. Axel BrunsARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and InnovationQueensland University of Technologya.bruns@qut.edu.au – http://snurb.info/ – @snurb_dot_info

Social Media

• Working definition:

– Platforms which build on Web 2.0 technologies to provide space for in-depth social interaction, community formation, and the tackling of collaborative projects.

Social media = Web 2.0 technologies + Community

Image by barjack

How Communities Work

• Communities are concentric – in values:

Shared knowledge

Key principles

Core values and beliefs

I m a g e b y J o h n n y G r i m

How Communities Work

• Communities are concentric – in membership:

Marginal members

General members

Community leaders

I m a g e b y S t e v e C r a n e

Growing the Community

• Encouraging constructive participation:

leaders

number of members

status

marginal members

encourage commitmentmodel desirable behaviour

I m age by m i ke . i n . ny

Encouraging Brand Loyalty

• Developing closer brand ties:

participation pull

Third-party spaces

Branded spaces

In-house space

Image by Maproom Systems

Success in the Share Economy

• Engaging with social media communities:1. Be open.

For users (access) and with users (transparency).

2. Seed community processes by providing content and tools.

Model desired behaviour, assist productive participation.

3. Support community dynamics and devolve responsibilities.

Engage promising community leaders as they emerge.

4. Don’t exploit the community and its work.

Making money is fine, but you don’t own your users.

Adapted from Axel Bruns and Mark Bahnisch. "Social Drivers behind Growing Consumer Participation in User-Led Content Generation: Volume 1 - State of the Art." Sydney: Smart Services CRC, 2009.

#qldfloods Network: @replies & Retweets( Degree > = 15 / Node s i ze : i ndegree / node co l our : ou t deg ree )

(See http://mappingonlinepublics.net/)

More Information

Axel Bruns

Associate Professor

ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation

Creative Industries Faculty

Queensland University of Technology

Brisbane, Australia

Email: a.bruns@qut.edu.au

Twitter: @snurb_dot_info

Blog: http://snurb.info/

Produsage: http://produsage.org/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/snurb

Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond:From Production to Produsage (Peter Lang, 2008)

Social Media Reports:1 – State of the Art

(http://snurb.info/socialmedia-vol1)

2 – User Engagement Strategies(http://snurb.info/socialmedia-vol2)