*When is Social not Social, when it is marketing. The buzz word of the last several years is Social, everyone wants to be social. But we need to think about the meaning of the word social and how it is used in the modern context compared to the more traditional meaning.
Social has been define traditionally as a gathering as a noun or relating to society. We may discuss socializing children or person to help them integrate with society better. When these statements are made do we mean that we want them to use Facebook or Twitter? No, we want them to have a deeper understanding of the nuances of human interaction and how to effectively participate in those interactions. This definition or idea is not how social is being used today.
We evoke the term social we are referring to social networking, which in many ways could be called “social marketing.” But as a society we fail to truly see this underlying doctrine and instead strive to make all parts of our like more “social.” Business attempt to do this by setting up Facebook pages and assigning someone to tweet for them. Education is frantically seeking was to make the learning process more social. In a society where we as a public have become so aware of marketing and even thick skinned do we fall for this notion that social networking is always a good thing… A must have to succeed?
Business have embraced social networking full force and rightfully so because it is marketing. Let me pick on Facebook. It is a a self proclaimed social network, but more accurately it could be defined as a marketing platform. By creating emotional ties and an emotional environment, we are primed for a marketing message. Brain and educational research has found when we are in a heightened emotional state we are more aware and more likely to remember. So throw in some gaming, family photos, and the political rant that your elitist uncle posted and I would venture to guess that we are quite often hitting that heightened emotional state which help all those ads sink in to our subconscious. But to make matter worse we contribute by posting “Likes” of all our favorite businesses to our friend and families as free and willing agent of a profit centric venture. We do not receive any compensation, except maybe sometime the promise of being a contest winner or a little something extra for our virtual farm. Businesses embrace this marketing platform for obvious reasons but why do people buy into it so readily without question.
Education is a different situation entirely. Educators have been seeking ways to make education more social because “that is where the students are.” This to me is a straw-man argument because educators have not sought to inject education into the social lives of students previously. Why now? Because it seems enticing, a way to get instant engagement and make learning a social thing. The issue here is that teachers need to work on pedagogy if they need more engagement to their lessons. And to make learning social may be a good goal, but let’s use the phrase collaborate instead. When students find ways to work together in a productive way for a purpose the are learning to collaborate and it will serve them well in the future. But for students to be social while they are trying to learn, that is a different mentality. Social implies a casual exchange where as collaboration implies a coordinated effort for a purpose.
I think we need to chose our words wisely and be aware of things for what they are not what they claim. There is nothing wrong with social networking as long as we are informed consumers.