When Social Work and Social Media Collide

By Christina Lopatin, @christi_bbttc and christinalopat (found at) gmail

Because online and offline worlds are more integrated now than ever, it has become vital for the social work institutions to instill stricter social media guidelines and risk management strategies.

picture of "Observing group work" by DoDEA Communications is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/21614119@N05

The challenge is that social workers must maintain the privacy of their clients as well as cultivate their professional and personal identities on and off the Internet.

As technologies become more advanced, these challenges will become more daunting.

Harbeck and Wesala considered the ambiguous reality and changing technologies of today and their implication to social work ethics. Despite efforts from the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), policies for official social work practices lag behind the booming growth of online social media. With social media on the rise, social workers and students must stay up to date with their organization’s attitudes towards social media. At the same time, organizations need to instill clear guidelines and standards for their employees.

In order to protect the confidentiality between clients and practitioners and maintain professional boundaries, the authors these fundamental guidelines while online:

  • Be mindful (online identity should intentionally be set with a purpose and consistently monitored.)
  • Exercise caution (understand that your online persona will effect your professional role as a social worker long-term.)
  • Honor the integrity of the profession (especially when social workers identify themselves as social workers on their sites.)
  • Publish an organization-wide, written policy (this helps show transparency through employees, students and clients.)
  • Discuss privacy and social media with clients (this should be a topic in an initial session with a client because it is important for their privacy and confidentiality.)
  • New hires should be trained (students and new employees need to be socialized to understand the organization’s approach and regulations for social media use.)
  • Host workshops or debriefings (this will help equip and prepare practitioners and students with basic online management knowledge and ethic codes.)

These represent a few of the fundamental actions an organization can take as a safe guard for themselves and their clients. Professional standards and the NASW Code of Ethics help keep you accountable, but it is not enough in this fast-paced technological society. The line between professional and personal is easily blurred because of social media. As new technologies emerge, guidelines and approaches will need to be continuously readjusted. Having strict guidelines helps enable integrity and security in the practice.

Voshel, E. H., & Wesala, A. (2015). Social Media & Social Work Ethics: Determining Best Practices in an Ambiguous Reality. Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, 12(1), 67-76. Retrieved May 14, 2016.

How Social Media Engagement Affects Sales

By Guest Author Annie Hoch-South

Through social media, the average consumer has the ability to engage with a company firsthand, something unheard of just a few decades ago. How can companies and businesses use this to their advantage, in the new digital age?

Yoon et al. (2018) looked at the power of user engagement, a tool akin to a double-edged sword. Researchers examined a complete list of the social media and financial data of The Standard & Poor’s 500, an American stock market index of 500 large companies, which was organized using the companies’ Facebook posts from the first quarter of 2010 to the third quarter of 2015. Business revenue was measured each quarter and analyzed. Three hundred and forty-six companies (out of 500) used Facebook at the time of their study. Only 339 companies allowed researchers access and were active enough in their postings. By using data-mining techniques, researchers were able to examine people’s online behaviors and interactions to derive a sense of users’ engagement.

By examining the quality and quantity of consumer comments on Facebook, they found that active engagement (going beyond just hitting the “Like” or “Share” buttons) made consumers more likely to become emotionally and mentally invested in a company. By commenting, users were giving public feedback. More positive comments led to greater revenue, as did larger quantities of comments. Therefore, generating more comments generates buzz, which in turn creates profit and establishes a relationship between consumer and company.

Consumers have the power to interact with companies on a very personal level via instant messaging. Users can post their feedback, both positive and negative, directly in the public comment feed for all to see. People will take that company’s impressions with them offline and continue to shape the behavior of those around and in their social circles. In those social circles, people value acceptance amongst peers and accurate judgements of products, companies, and brands. People notice how other people behave online and follow suit. With more than 50% of social media users engaging with some brand or company and 71% of Internet users using Facebook (as cited in Gunwoo et al., 2018), it would be wise to create a marketing plan that is dedicated to increasing positive engagement and active behaviors. To become active, a company or business must be dynamic and continue to share socially. Be proactive!

Yoon, G., Li, C., Ji, Y., North, M., Hong, C., & Liu, J. (2018). Attracting comments: Digital engagement metrics on Facebook and financial performance. Journal of Advertising, 47(1), 24-37. doi:10.1080/00913367.2017.1405753

( “File:Small shop in newton abbot – panoramio.jpg” by Panoramio upload bot is licensed under CC BY 3.0 )

Youth, sexuality, and social media

By Guest Author Kaitlin Slorey: kslorey {} yahoo.com

As with many things young people use social media for, making sense of sexuality is one of the most important and life-affecting.

It holds, then, that as a society, we need to better understand how rapidly social media technologies are transforming, and how this could overwhelm our youth. Youth face a continuous struggle of contradicting beliefs regarding sexual values and norms. Deciding which behaviors on social media should be supported or disciplined puts forth an unclear sense of “controlled freedom” for youth interacting on social media.

“a Wave of Social media” by winxEsther, licensed under CC BY-ND 3.0

Before social media, there were (and still are) beliefs that sexuality is something to be thought of as harmful to our youth, and thus has caused over-protection from sexual knowledge and openness. However, with highly sexualized popular media, these messages are nearly impossible to avoid.

When young people encounter sexual material in the media, they express moral concerns about such content, while equally valuing it as a source of information and learning.

Although young people seem more open-minded about sexuality than previous generations, Ridder suggests that they enforce stricter self-guiding morals on themselves.

Because of fast-paced changes in this digital age, this leaves little to no room for questioning or negotiating the behaviors that sexuality and social media bring about. We need to consider social media’s material as well as each platform’s important functions (particularly Tinder and Snapchat).

The results were based on 14 focus groups of Dutch-speaking youth in Belgium, including 89 participants from diverse backgrounds (52 girls and 37 boys), between the age of 14 and 19. The first 8 focus groups were conducted in 2012, and the last 6 took place in 2015. In doing so, the research was purposeful within the rapidly evolving culture of social media.

Discussion topics included displaying sexual identity, relationship status, exploring and experimenting with sexual desires through texts (status updates, hashtags, etc.), pictures (from profile pictures to selfies and snaps, etc.), and communicative interactions (chatting, commenting, texting, etc.). As opposed to direct experiences of the participants, this emphasized knowledge about values, and exploring the struggles youth face in a sexual culture in relation to social media.

Ridder noted, “When I asked young people about everyday intimate and sexual practices on social media, they usually talked about related risks and how to avoid them. Whether we talked about a relationship status on Facebook, posting or sending sexy pictures, looking for dates, or sending sexual messages, they found it smart to see sexuality as mostly private matters intended for outside of social media.”

Managing an online reputation and social media use, while balancing ambiguous social norms, was seen as a personal task where the individual is in charge of making these moral decisions. There is not one single way to understand what “good” sexual practices in social media are, but rather is heavily influenced by peer control.

Defining what is too private or what is unacceptable to share online was difficult for the participants to distinguish, but was commonly motivated by these individual moral judgments.

It was common for participants to distance themselves from their peers who behaved in a risky or inappropriate way. Whether talking about sexy pictures, messages, or dating, many of them acknowledged these kinds of behaviors causally, but the moral distancing played out as a way to respond to it in a competitive manner.

Final Thoughts

Competitive value judgments between the different focus groups may suggest a new sense of conservatism in young people’s knowledge on what’s considered “good” sexual values online. This conservatism is a way of dealing with the complexity of both perceived and real online risks in rapidly transforming social media. Relying on traditional values may be comfortable for youth, or makes this mindset of individuality a “smart” choice.

Ridder suggests society should start to engage with young people’s social media lives, interrogating what people hold as normal, natural, and healthy. Addressing the current conflicts about sexuality in the context of social media can further involve how to deal with social media overload, overlaid with issues of how society feels about sexuality and young people.

Ridder, S. D. (2017). Social Media and Young People’s Sexualities: Values, Norms, and Battlegrounds. Social Media + Society, 3(4), 1-11. doi:10.1177/2056305117738992

Does stress actually affect social media usage?

By Briar Anderson

Today, about 65% of adults use social media. Inevitably, social media use has affected different aspects of life like parenting and dating. It connects people around the globe. Many people actually to turn to social media as a stress reliever, as it can provide perceptions of social support.

In a study of 201 adults with Facebook accounts by Denq, Denq, and Hsu, participants were put under two conditions, either stress inducing or not stress inducing. They were then given a 10-minute break on their own computers and allowed to do whatever they wanted. The survey additionally asked questions pertaining to:

  • How much stress they felt when certain events happened (e.g., “In the last month, how often have you felt nervous and stressed?”).
  • Frequency of social media usage (e.g., “How often on average do you ‘like’ someone’s photos or status updates per week?”).
  • Desirable and undesirable life events that range from common to uncommon of someone within the participant’s life. (e.g., if they knew someone who started a new job).
  • Support-seeking behavior on Facebook (e.g., “I tried to get emotional support from friends or relatives on Facebook”).
  • Individual’s perception of social support from family, friends, and significant others (e.g., “I get the emotional help and support I need from my family”).
  • Positive and negative mood affectivity (e.g., “inspired” or “hostile”).
  • Habits on Facebook (e.g., “I do without having to consciously remember”).
  • Urge to use Facebook (e.g., “If it were possible, I probably would use Facebook now”).
  • Feelings of sympathy and concern for others (e.g., “I would describe myself as a pretty softhearted person”).
  • Active or passive usage of Facebook during the 10-minute break (e.g., “did you see only the pictures without reading the text?”).
  • Importance of Facebook (e.g., “how important is your Facebook profile in regards to your happiness?”).

The results indicated that seeking social support may contribute to increased use of social media. Also, increased usage of social media is a gauge of both frequency and strength of inducing habitual behavior regardless of stress. However, the results do not reinforce that habit is a factor in predicting social media usage as a reaction to stress. It shows that a habit of using social media was a stronger indicator of social media usage than stress. This may occur because users with strong habits of using social media may use it regardless of being stressed or not.

This may not come as surprising to many who engage in social media. People naturally seek support from others during stressful times, and social media has become an easy, free, and useful place to do so. But, people’s natural inclination to use social media through both good and bad prevails. Social media is still such a new phenomenon; it will take a lot more time, learning and research to fully understand its effects when used as a stress relief or for social support, and if these harm or help.

Denq, B., Denq, W., & Hsu, W. (2019). Stress and Its Impact on Social Media Usage. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 49(2), 232–245. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047281618772076

Image by Geraint Rowland via Creative Commons

Regretting that time I posted to Doritos’ Facebook page

By Guest Author AJ Schock, adrianne.schock found on wsu.edu

I am certain that everyone has posted something online that they regret. Statistics have shown that 11-46% of adolescents have reported experiencing online regret after sharing content on the Internet.

In the article about online regret, Dhir et al. focused on two main research topics. First, they examined the relationship between Social Networking Sites’ (SNS) brand participation, technology accessibility, and the regret experience and problematic use of Facebook. The second involved the relative influence of SNS’ brand participation, technology accessibility, and the problematic use of Facebook in predicting regrettable online experiences.

In four different cities in Northern India, 804 adolescent (aged 13 to 14 years old) Facebook users were given a pencil-and-paper survey in class on four separate concepts:

  1. Online regret: Did the student feel sad after spending an immense amount of time on Facebook? Was their schoolwork affected by their time spent on Facebook? The students’ answers were measured on a 5-point scale with ‘1’ being strongly disagree and ‘5’ being strongly agree
  2. SNS brand participation: Did the student feel that by participating in discussions on Facebook, brand pages gave them a sense of belonging to said brands? The students’ answers were measured on a 5-point scale with ‘1’ being strongly disagree and ‘5’ being strongly agree.
  3. Technology accessibility: Students reported how they accessed Facebook by answering whether or not they owned a cell phone, had a mobile Internet connection and an Internet connection at home. This measure also dealt with the frequency and excessive use of Facebook.
  4. Problematic Facebook use: Students reported their self-reflections of their own problematic Facebook use, their teachers, parents, and friends’ thoughts about the student’s problematic Facebook use, and conflicts with their parents and friends due to their problematic Facebook use. The students’ answers were measured as unproblematic, low problem level, medium problem level, and high problem level.

Dhir and colleagues found that students with and without home and mobile Internet had the same amount of regrettable online experiences while students with cell phones experienced higher online regret than those without. They determined adolescent brand participation results in online regret. The authors suggested that a possible reason for this is that adolescents are currently captivated with popular brands.  An internal need exists for adolescents to connect with these brands by following the brands on Facebook or participating in a discussion on these pages.

Why would research on brands and regrettable online experiences be important? Branded pages on Facebook face two major problems: retaining existing members and initiating the active participation of community members. Regrettable online experiences lead to brand switching and the termination of services. Managers and administrators of these branded pages should explore different ideas to provide their community members with ways to actively participate without experiencing online regret. Active participation would lead to better ways to retrieve feedback and opinions from users while minimizing the regrettable experience.

Dhir, A., Kaur, P., Chen, S., & Lonka, K. (2016). Understanding online regret experience in Facebook use – Effects of brand participation, accessibility & problematic use. Computers in Human Behavior, 59, 420-430. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.02.040

The Semicolon experiment completed

Last year, I set about conducting a semicolon experiment.

Through adding a sentence through every semicolon mistake (and with most classes prepped on the dangers and misuse of semicolons), here is the final statement, in all its gl0ry. I was running out of things to say by the end, which is probably apparent.

Never use semicolons. College students misuse them, and this hurts your grade. I can’t emphasize this enough. I wish I got paid per instance of semicolon misuse. I would be a very rich man. Ask yourself—does this sentence contain two separate phrases that have complete subjects and predicates? The sentence in question does not. Or, perhaps you added an inappropriate capitalization. Or, perhaps you meant to put in a colon, though that is really a terrible thing to put in a sentence. Or perhaps you accidentally typed it, and missed it on the read-through? Some students (incorrectly) believe that it adds an element of sophistication to their writing. Instead, it reveals a lack of knowledge. This is certainly a safe environment to learn, and try new things. However, you need to make sure you try them correctly. Indeed, did it help your writing to bring in an unnecessary element? I bet that it did not. To make matters worse, it probably cost you points. You could have used these points to improve your GPA. I’m not, however, saying that using semicolons will inhibit your performance in college. However, I will say using them will not help it. I ponder why students continue to use them. Could it be the wanton desire to hurt one’s grade? Perhaps the concept of a complete subject and predicate remains a mystery, untaught in schools? At this point, I don’t know who to blame. Is it the fault of teachers? Is it a dysfunctional education system that encourages teaching to the test? Is it the decline of grammar lessons in school? Is it the fault of Kobe Bryant? Donald Trump? Hillary Clinton? Your ninth-grade English teacher?

 

Life Can Be So Nice

When I first met my wife, I told her there were five musical acts she needed to see, and she has seen four of them: 1) Willie Nelson, 2) Ron Sexsmith, 3) Neil Finn in some form, 4) REM (fortunately before they broke up), and the one who she will not make, 5) Prince. I saw him nine times over 25 years, and each one was unique in its own right.

Musically, he was a titan. Nobody could do what he did. Just listen to his singing. His voice alone made him great. Listen to Damn U if you don’t believe me. That is probably a song most people do not even know. That is how good he was.

Right now, I don’t know how to deal with his death, other than to reflect on where my life intersected with his.

1) Lovesexy, November 1988

Sunday night, after the Thanksgiving holiday. My senior year of high school. This is the benchmark of all concerts to follow, the greatest of the great. I took my friend Dawn, who would be my prom date the following May, would receive a bad cancer diagnosis that summer, and would pass on before Christmas. I can never think of this show without thinking of her. Prince’s death certainly brings up feelings of her, as she was such a beautiful soul, taken too soon.

The concert had everything. It was in the round. The stage had a basketball hoop, a car that went around it, a brass bed, bridges, a piano that rose up into the sky… The band was led by Sheila E on the drums, with a horn section. And Prince did everything. He played guitar, did the splits, danced, played piano, sang like an angel (seriously, his singing was his most underrated talent), moved to all parts of the stage, and even spun a basketball on his finger. It was choreographed, it was improvised, and it was incredible.

I still have the shirt to this day.

2) Paisley Park, September 1995

minneapolis princePrince quit touring America, other than a tiny tour for the symbol album in the early nineties. I had moved to State College, PA, to attend Penn State, and hooked up to the Internet regularly for the first time. Through the old school webspace alt.music.prince, I learned that he would often play at Paisley Park studios on Saturday nights… after reading where he did four consecutive Saturday nights, I took a chance, drove three hours from State College to Pittsburgh, and flew from Pittsburgh to MN.

I was there less than 24 hours. I toured downtown, and saw First Avenue, though didn’t get a chance to find a skyway. I had dinner at a Burger King. Around 7, I pulled into Paisley Park studios, and it was empty. I felt like a chump. So, I walked around a Target to kill time.

I went back around 9ish, and there was a smasll line. I got in it, and eventually they opened the Park. Admission was $10 if memory serves. I walked the halls, saw the platinum albums, his Oscar, R.E.M.’s platinum album for “Out of Time,” and the soundstages. I chatted with his drummer, the great Michael Bland, and his bassist, Sonny T. And then I saw Prince, walking around the people like it was no big deal.

No other star does this that… Neil Young has never let me go to his house and play model trains. Bowie never invited me over to try on clothes. The closest example I can think of is Willie Nelson letting people play his golf course. For as off-putting as I imagine some of his personality quirks likely were, he was incredibly open in his own way, in his own terms.

He came out in all white on stage at midnight, and just shredded on guitar. The set was mostly covers… Voodoo Chile, Honky Tonk Women, The Girl Can’t Help It, I Believe in You… and there it all was, Hendrix, Stones, Little Richard, Dylan… that was Prince and then some.

I was so close I could hear his fingers hit the fret board.

He left on a treadmill that floated him offstage, while playing a beautiful guitar solo to Sweet Thing. The disembodied notes rang out as the crowd cheered.

Again, the dude had a long treadmill that he rode on to move offstage.

I ate breakfast at Denny’s and then slept in the Minneapolis airport to catch a 7 am flight back to PA. I have the bootleg, and you can hear me screaming. It is somewhat embarrassing if you know what to listen for.

3) Phoenix, October 1997, Jam of the Year

I had just moved to Phoenix, and so I went alone. I was still getting to know folks, and did not yet know anyone who would spend 70ish bucks on a ticket for good seats. I did, and was front row, on the left. It was the Jam of the Year tour, which was what he opened with. He did this weird dance thing that involved pretending to brush his teeth.

More notable was the after party, where I used my Pennsylvania driver’s license as a fake credential to move into the VIP area in the upstairs of the club that wrapped around the dance floor. The whole upstairs was closed off, and I may or may not have talked with Kat Dyson, his guitarist at the time. Eventually, bodyguards cordoned all of the radio people and other VIP jabronis into a different section, and I found myself alone with Prince and one of his bodyguards.

I kept my distance, as I figured I would surely be kicked out, and I didn’t want to know if he was an asshole. There was something to just basking in his presence, and being cool with that. Prince gazed down upon his kingdom on the dance floor, and they screamed and pointed when they saw he actually showed up. He even took out his lollipop for them.

Prince and I were both overlooking the balcony, and when he looked my way I flashed him the Hook ‘Em Horns sign. Prince looked back at me, and returned the gesture. We then sat down and talked about the long-term prospects of John Machovich as the Longhorns’ head coach (note: The previous sentence is a complete lie, but the one before it is totally true).

Prince was gone in less than fifteen minutes. The first few months in Phoenix felt charmed.

Thus began the brief period that I walked around with a lollipop that I would point at people.

4) Houston, 1997, Jam of the Year

Back in Houston on winter break, he played Houston on New Year’s Eve. As far as I know, this was one of the only NYE shows he ever played, and the closest thing he did to a NYE 1999 show (see, he had a song, 1999, that… nevermind…).

This time, I took my whole family—mom, dad, and brother. Certainly my mom was skeptical, and I kind of dragged them, but from the moment he hit the stage, she got it. I’m grateful to share that memory with my family, and is one of the only times the four of us ever saw a non-rodeo concert together (Ron Sexsmith in Austin in 2004 is the only other time I can recall). Even though we were in the upper deck, his charisma made it to the top of the Summit.

During one of the many encores, I remember someone playing a drum solo on these drums that lit up when struck. As the lights raised, you could see it was Prince playing. Dude could do anything onstage. At that point, it was after 1 am, and he had been playing over two hours.

He had another after party that I went to with my friends Jayne and her new boyfriend (now husband) Mike, who also attended the show. Mayte, his then-wife, was hanging out by the sound board, and eventually Prince showed up as well. Larry Graham and his band jammed on stage, but at this point it was around 4 a.m., and we were exhausted. Prince apparently jammed on stage for a little bit after we left. Oh well…

A few years later in 2001, when I was deep into stat runs for my dissertation, I received a late night call from my parents, who were on vacation in Miami. They were apparently at a Prince party at Club Opium, hanging with Prince and Lenny Kravitz… or at least they were at the club together.

5) Houston, 2002, The Rainbow Children

I was in whatever fan club he had at the time, one of those that was supposed to last forever and that’s a mighty long time, but was reconfigured a few years later into a different kind of fan club. I lined up early, and got to file in during sound check. Inside, his band was warming up. Prince sat in the middle of the theater working on the sound mix. He eventually jumped on stage, and did something like played the melody to Strange Relationship, but sang the lyrics to Forever in My Life.

He talked to the audience after this (100 of us or so), regretfully hogged by some gal’s selfish overlong story. There was something cool to watch Prince interact with folks while sitting on the lip of the stage.

It took halfway through the actual show for me to realize the extra gear he had turned on, and how his intensity had ratcheted up.  If memory serves, he played no guitar during that show. He mostly played keyboards, or just sang and danced. Maceo Parker did a solo from the balcony. He played Adore during the encore, and ended with Purple Rain on the keys.

This was his most overtly religious show—he could get wrapped up the body but then move to the spirit on a dime, and in his music you find awareness that there was a life beyond what we see. I like to think he walked into Heaven through the out door.

6) Tampa Bay, April 2004, Musicology

This was a last-minute show for me, as I already had tickets to see him in Jacksonville the next night. Close to the show, I found a second row lower level ticket. Since the show was in the round, it was somewhat close to the stage.

He had this awesome section where he played acoustic guitar on a chair, and he just spin around to face different parts of the audience. I imagine this is how his piano shows were. Damn, he still had so much music left to give…

After the small theater show in 2002, it was fun to see Prince play in a giant arena. For whatever reason, fans were finding him again. And with the Rainbow Children tour under their belts, the band was TIGHT.

7) Jacksonville, April 2004, Musicology

The next night I saw him in Jacksonville with my friend Steve, who I had seen quite a few shows with. We had great seats through the fan club… around 6th row on the floor.

As two white guys in our thirties, we were mostly stoic at shows, though I tend to sway with my arms folded. But not at Prince… his performances could make you lose self-consciousness, and as the cliché goes, dance like no one is watching. Clearly, somebody was watching, as the couple next to us was selected to dance on stage, and we weren’t.

It could have had something to do with the dude’s purple suit. I like to believe that… but it was probably our dancing. In retrospect, I would have dressed more outrageously to that show.

8) Houston, August 2004, Musicology

A third show on this tour… I could see this show every night for a year and not get tired of it. Each time I saw it, the show got better, and this was the topper.

I was second row on the other side of the floor, and my mom accompanied me as a birthday present for her. During the concert, he threw a copy of a Rolling Stone magazine right to my mom, but the person in front of us snagged it out of her hands. Still, Prince and my mom knew who that issue was intended for.

It is hard to beat Prince on a Saturday night in Houston.

9) Portland, April 2013, Third Eye Girl

I could not buy advance tickets to this show because my wife was due with our second son any moment, and eating $200 is frowned upon in my house, understandably. That afternoon, when it appeared she wasn’t going into labor, I found a day-of ticket. The hospital was between my house and the Roseland Theater, so I could leave and beat my wife to the hospital (my folks were with her to drive her).Cbirth of child

It was Prince playing in a club. I couldn’t miss it. My wife, overdue with child and quite uncomfortable, would not have enjoyed anything at that point.

He opened with the slowed-up Let’s Go Crazy, and then it got interstellar with Endorphin Machine. Even though he performed “Play That Funky Music White Boy” (I think to troll the Portland audience), it was still a great show—he limited himself to blaring guitar, and played in a style I had not seen save twenty years earlier at Paisley Park.

Even though phones were banned, surreptitiously I still had to keep checking mine to see if I had a message from my wife to get to the hospital. Fortunately, there were none.

The next day, I recovered by taking my oldest child and parents to the zoo. The following morning, 24 hours after I had returned from seeing Prince, my wife’s water broke, and we headed to the hospital.

Prince died on the same day as one of my dearest friends, Jeff.

This loss certainly isn’t as deep as losing a friend or family, but there is something to be said for the relationships we have with artists, who in some ways transcend time and space. Traveling through different cities, and with different people, Prince has been a constant since I heard Little Red Corvette as a wee child. To me, there has not been a musical loss of this magnitude in my lifetime.

Life is a thing you do between Prince concerts. During his shows, you hit transcendence.

Social Media as a Tool for Outreach Activities and Inclusion

By Guest Author Alyssa Korinke

Libraries have long been a space for learning and growth. In fact, social inclusion and outreach activities are considered to be the primary goal of public library services around the world. Technological advancements and Social Networking Services/Sites (SNSs) are offering new opportunities to meet these goals. While relationship building and communication opportunities through SNSs can offer promise, they can also present a dilemma. How do libraries harness these methods to further outreach and inclusion practices?

 

3856030497_a2d2764f7c_zAbdullah, Chu, Rajagopal, Tung, and Kwong-Man sent 110 surveys to libraries around the world that indicated ongoing use of social media tools on their websites. 28 responses (25%) were received and analyzed. Of those 28 responses, 68% were academic libraries and the remaining 32% were public. Respondents were primarily categorized as Chinese speaking (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan) or non-Chinese speaking (Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, UK, USA). One member of each library was asked to answer a series of research questions to discover current social media practices, as well as to learn more about how these tools were working in outreach and inclusion activities.

 

Through the surveys and additional research, Abdullah and colleagues learned that the majority of responding libraries (22 of 28) were using two or more social media tools for a period of four years or more. The primary use for these social tools was simply to reach a broader audience for existing programs and services rather than building new programs around evolving SNSs. Current library staff often felt ill equipped to roll out new social media tactics or platforms, and just one respondent had implemented a social media plan.

 

One of the biggest barriers to more in-depth use of social tools was staffing. Many of the respondent libraries cited low staffing and lack of training as reasons they were not better utilizing the tools. SNSs and social media evolves at a rapid rate and as our world becomes more dependent on virtual communication, engaging digital natives becomes critical to outreach activities. These tools would be best deployed alongside continuing training and mentorship, where there is an adequate staff to maintain feeds and posting schedules. This article had a small sample size, which limits generalization.In summary, social media programs remain a need for libraries, and should be implemented with policies in place, and training scheduled for library staff.

 

Abdullah, N., Chu, S., Rajagopal, S., Tung, A., & Yeung, K. (2015). Exploring Libraries’ Efforts in Inclusion and Outreach Activities Using Social Media. International Journal Of Libraries & Information Services, 65(1), 34-47. doi:10.1515/libri-2014-0055

 

My semicolon experiment

As a professor, there are certain remarks I find myself writing over and over again, to the point that I have several things I can cut and paste in student papers without too much effort that cover common issues. For example, if you are a student who received this message from me, you are probably not the first: “Grammar is not where it needs to be. I would recommend visiting the writing center before the next assignment to work out some of these issues!”

To amuse myself while grading papers, I have begun to add a sentence to my canned remarks for semicolon abusers for every error made. I find semi colons are the most misused character in the English language by students.

Right now, as mid term assignments roll in, here is where it stands:

“Never use semicolons. College students misuse them, and this hurts your grade. I can’t emphasize this enough. I wish I got paid per instance of semicolon misuse. I would be a very rich man.”

Updates forthcoming as necessary!

Couples Communication Exercise: I Said, You Said

By Guest Writer Jessica Colburn

I have had a serious long-term romantic relationship, and even though we are not a married couple, we still have had our fair share of communication problems throughout our relationship. Sometimes it is easier to simply give up, because it feels like your words are not heard.

Boyle, Parr and Tejada emphasize the importance of couples communicating effectively and clearly. To them communication counseling is the key to success in committed relationships. According to the article, couples need to focus on the clarity of the message.
To do this, the couples counselor helps them distinguish between the speaker and listener roles and educates them how to communicate efficiently and clearly especially when emotions are involved. In the I Said, You Said exercise, non-verbal cues are eliminated and the couples attention focuses on the verbal messages the partner is sending. Though non-verbal cues are very prominent in communication, they are often easily misunderstood and the actual message is not taken seriously or correctly.

I Said, You Said

Communication Exercise for Couples:

Step 1: The therapist leads the couples through the exercise by assigning one individual the speaker role and the other the listener role. The couples sit back-to-back, so they can practice focusing on the verbal messages being sent rather than being sidetracked by the non-verbal cues. Next, the speaker gives instructions to draw a picture on the clipboards, which they both do. The speaker and listener can then focus on playing one role at a time and trying to send a clear message. After the couples have completed the exercise
they return face-to-face and discuss their experiences with the therapist.

Step 2: This exercise involves the same techniques, except the therapist wants the couples to progress towards an emotional level. Now, one partner shares a fun memory or experience from their relationship and then the listener repeats exactly what the speaker
just expressed. They exchange roles and follow the same process, ending with questions that reflect their positive emotions.

Step 3: The therapist instructs the couples to follow the same pattern as before, sitting back-to-back. However, this time the speaker shares a sad memory. Now, the couples have a discussion about the differences of the two emotions, as well as distinguish between sharing sadness and not anger. This shows that emotions can play a big role when
trying to communicate effectively.

Step 4: Now the partners advance to the stage where they have a conversation about opposing views. However, the partners cannot address anything that has recently resulted in anger or previously discussed that has created an intense debate. The speaker is
instructed to state their position and then the listener repeats what they heard the speaker say. This gives individuals the opportunity to state their opinion about the topic without having to defend their position.

Step 5 or Quid Pro Quo: In the last step of the exercise the therapist introduces the value of quid pro quo. By using this technique the partners are asked to try to make a small change in their previous statements. Next, the speaker tries out their new revised stance on the issue and the listener repeats what is said. They then switch roles and the therapist becomes more involved in the conversation as the couples become more comfortable communicating about these strong issues. The therapist can help the couples communicate more effectively and clearly by having the couples focus on their tone,
word choice, and volume, which can ultimately hinder or help the message.

In all, couples should know that they can learn from these exercises. Communication is one of the most important aspects of committed relationships, but also includes an on-going work in progress. Nonetheless, if taken seriously, couples can improve their
communication skills by focusing on effectively and clearly stating the message. Also, this can help teach couples the dominance of non-verbal messages over verbal messages. Emotions can sometimes affect the spoken message; however after a couple learns to speak with clarity the emotional aspect can be addressed without changing the
content of the message. Overall, this exercise should be used during earlier stages of a relationship, if communication problems should arise. Even though it is optional to have a therapist present, it is highly recommended for guidance and suggestions during the activity.

Parr, P., Boyle, R., & Tejada, L. (2008). I Said, You Said: A communication exercise for couples. Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, 30(3), 167-173.