Outline

Overview

This unit introduces the fundamentals of strategic social media use for professional and organisational communication, media practice and cultural production. It aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills to become competent, ethical social media communicators and to critically analyse social media forms, services and cultures. Students will explore online, mobile and locative platforms for interacting with audiences, publics and online communities, including professional networks.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit	Media and Communications
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	None
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Jonathon Hutchinson, jonathon.hutchinson@sydney.edu.au
Tutor(s)	Agata Stepnik, agata.stepnik@sydney.edu.au
	Brittany Ferdinands, brittany.ferdinands@sydney.edu.au
	Rachael Bolton, rachael.bolton@sydney.edu.au
	Katariina Rahikainen, katariina.rahikainen@sydney.edu.au
	Jennifer Hagedorn, jennifer.hagedorn@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Presentation	Social Media Design Brief n/a	25%	Week -03 Due date: 13 Mar 2020 at 17:00 Closing date: 17 Apr 2020	6-8 minutes
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Social Media Project n/a	45%	Week 06 Due date: 03 Apr 2020 at 17:00 Closing date: 17 Apr 2020	2500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Online article and comments n/a	30%	Week 07 Due date: 10 Apr 2020 at 17:00 Closing date: 17 Apr 2020	1500 words
Outcomes assessed:
= group assignment ?

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100	High distinction students demonstrate outstanding levels of creativity, storytelling, technical competency and publishing ability. Their productions have a sophisticated approach towards social media by understanding audiences, platforms, content production and regulation. Their assignments demonstrate and draw on outstanding audience engagement techniques. Their content production demonstrates outstanding skills by correctly recording, capturing, manipulating and exporting social media content that adheres to industry standards. The theoretical integration from the course materials is outstanding and academically rigorous. The work exceeds the requirements of the assignments and could be commissioned by ‘real world’ clients.
Distinction	75 - 84	Distinction students demonstrate excellent levels of creativity, storytelling, technical competency and publishing ability. Their productions have a sophisticated approach towards social media by understanding audiences, platforms, content production and regulation. Their assignments demonstrate and draw on excellent audience engagement techniques. Their content production demonstrates excellent skills by correctly recording, capturing, manipulating and exporting social media content that adheres to industry standards. The theoretical integration from the course materials is excellent and academically rigorous. The work exceeds the requirements of the assignments.
Credit	65 - 74	Credit students demonstrate good levels of creativity, storytelling, technical competency and publishing ability. Their productions have a well-rounded approach towards social media by understanding audiences, platforms, content production and regulation. Their assignments demonstrate and draw on good audience engagement techniques. Their content production demonstrates good skills by correctly recording, capturing, manipulating and exporting social media content that adheres to industry standards. The theoretical integration is present. The work demonstrates the requirements of the assignments.
Pass	50 - 64	Pass students demonstrate minimal levels of creativity, storytelling, technical competency and publishing ability. Their productions have some understanding towards social media by understanding audiences, platforms, content production and regulation, but have been masked by some errors and problems. Their assignments demonstrate little to no audience engagement techniques. The theoretical integration is limited. The work minimally the requirements of the assignments.
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity	Learning outcomes

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: According to Faculty Board Resolutions, students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are expected to attend 90% of their classes. If you attend less than 50% of classes, regardless of the reasons, you may be referred to the Examiner’s Board. The Examiner’s Board will decide whether you should pass or fail the unit of study if your attendance falls below this threshold.
Lecture recording: Most lectures (in recording-equipped venues) will be recorded and may be made available to students on the LMS. However, you should not rely on lecture recording to substitute your classroom learning experience.
Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours’ preparation time (reading, studying, homework, essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Week	Lecture [content]
1	What’s so social about social media? In this week’s introductory seminar, we will explore social media from a media and communications perspective, and from a market perspective that examines neoliberal rationales. As such, we will unpack concepts such as what does it mean to be social, what’s social about social media (aren’t all media social?), representation, online identity, publishing and self-representation. We will also investigate the concept of ‘platform’: social media platforms are a combination of many things including hosting provider, access enablers, curatorial tools, rule-maker, and amplifiers. Finally, we will begin to unpack what different forms of capital are present within culture, as a precursor to understanding intermediaries across social media. Key Reading: Lipschultz, J. H. (2018). Introduction to Social Media Concepts Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics (pp. 1-38). New York: Routledge. Lipschultz, J. H. (2018). CMC, Diffusion and Social Theories Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics (pp. 39-66). New York: Routledge. Leaver, T., Highfield, T., & Abidin, C. (2020). Platform Instagram (pp.8–38). Cambridge: Polity. Additional Reading: Bourdieu, P. (1983). The Forms of Capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (pp. 112-141). New York: Greenwood. Fuchs, C. (2014). What is Social Media? Social Media: A Critical Introduction(pp. 31 - 51). London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Practical Exercises: In our three-hour in-class seminar, we will develop our professional online identities by constructing our biographies and profile images. Through a selection process to reveal the appropriate professional platforms, we will then build our online professional profiles. We will also establish our Twitter profiles and join the Facebook page [www.facebook.com/USydSocMed] for MECO6936 to enable class interactivity for the remainder of the semester. We will also go through the editorial process of the class blog which is the central repository for all class content and publishing exercises.
2	Institutions and Social Media. In week 2, we examine how social media is being used in a number of professional industries, especially journalism and public relations. In this context we will explore how content is both found and distributed across social media. For example, it makes sense for journalists to publish their work accordingly across a number of social media platforms, but are they able to use social media as a means to find journalism? Similarly, how might strategic communications professionals use social media to push and pull content? The lens of ‘produsage’ becomes important here, and we will explore participatory culture and understand the motivations behind users contributing to cultural production schemes. What is user-created content? Why do projects and institutions engage crowd sourcing? How is collaboration played out through social media? We will also explore the agency of unseen actors such as interfaces, code, algorithms, and technology and power. Finally, we introduce the cultural intermediary as a key agent who operates across social media as a ‘capital translator’ – one who translate cultural capital into economic value, for example. Key Reading: Lipschultz, J. H. (2018). Social Media in Journalism Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics (pp. 67-96). New York: Routledge. Lipschultz, J. H. (2018). Social Media in Public Relations Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics (pp. 97-130). New York: Routledge. Hutchinson, J. (2017). Institutional Cultural Intermediation Cultural Intermediaries: Audience participation and media organisations (pp. 33-62). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Additional Reading: Bishop, S. (2018). Anxiety, panic and self- optimization: Inequalities and the YouTube algorithm. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 24(1), 69-84. Cotter, K. (2018). Playing the visibility game: How digital influencers and algorithms negotiate influence on Instagram. New Media & Society, 21(4), 895–913. Seo, H., Houston, J. B., Knight, L. A. T., Kennedy, E. J., & Inglish, A. B. (2014). Teens' social media use and collective action. New Media & Society, 16(6), 883-902. Practical Exercises: Building on our professional online identity from last week, we will explore Hootsuite as a platform that connects services and provides basic data analysis. We will also schedule automated social media updating through its functionality and generate reports on key concepts such as ‘reach’ and ‘engagement’. We introduce basic social media analytics and explore why these are useful and how they guide social media strategies.
3	Social Media Metrics and Mobile Innovations This week, we dive deeper into social media metrics and begin to critically examine metrics and analytics that surround social media communication. What are useful metrics in social media, and how might they be used for content production? How are platforms, advertisers and marketeers manipulating metrics to introduce false value? How can metrics be use for social good? With a background of social media metrics and analytics, we then turn our attention to mobile media to explore the impact mobile technologies have on social media communication. What are the industries that surround social media? How has Instagram created its own economy? How do entrepreneurs operate in these environments? This leads us to explore the importance of internet memes and how these cultural artefacts represent varying levels of cultural capital. We return to: who can translate this form of cultural capital? Key Reading: Lipschultz, J. H. (2018). Social Media Metrics and Analytics Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics (pp. 157-182). New York: Routledge. Lipschultz, J. H. (2018). New Mobile Media Technologies, Innovation and Investment Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics (pp. 183-206). New York: Routledge. Leaver, T., Highfield, T., & Abidin, C. (2020). Economies Instagram (pp.100–148). Cambridge: Polity. Additional Reading: Dijck, J. v. (2013). Facebook and the Imperative of Sharing The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Baym, N. (2012). Fans or Friends? Seeing Social Media Audiences as Musicians Do. Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, 9(2), 286 - 316. Practical Exercises: Design a social media strategy and design a user engagement strategy that will assist you in your final pieces of assessment. Having established your area of interest to develop your social media campaign, you will now build the strategy to engage your audience and users.
4	Social Media Ethics and Regulation This week, we focus on the frameworks in which social media operate. We explore the complexities of regulating social media practice at the global, regional, and local perspectives. How do we provide safe and legal communication spaces across social media? What happens when things go awry? How do we monitor social media spaces to ensure there is equality and a variety of voices? By looking at the recent Australian Digital Platforms Inquiry, it is possible to understand the complexities of operating in social media ecology. We finally look at the role ‘digital’ intermediaries play within the social media landscape, with particular focus on multichannel networks (MCNs). Key Reading: Lipschultz, J. H. (2018). Law and Regulation Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics (pp. 233-296). New York: Routledge. Lipschultz, J. H. (2018). Social Media Ethics Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics (pp. 271-296). New York: Routledge. ACCC. (2019). Executive Summary Digital Platforms Inquiry - Final Report(pp.4–29). Canberra. Additional Reading: Lobato, R. (2016). The cultural logic of digital intermediaries: YouTube multichannel networks. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 22(4), 348-360. Till, C. (2020). Propaganda through ‘reflexive control’ and the mediated construction of reality. New Media & Society, Online First, 1–17. Activity: Research the three levels of social media regulation here in Australia (International, regional, and local regulations). Find a recent social media moment that is legally or ethically challenging, and begin to work through how you would resolve this situation under those regulatory processes. How might this differ if the same social media issue happened in China, or Brazil? Find the work of a user spreading disinformation. Explore what they did, how they did it and what were the consequences of such an activity. Think through issues such as, were their activities illegal? Did they harm an individual or group of individuals? Did they demonstrate characteristics of culture jamming? Was there any benefit/implication of their actions?
5	Social Media Practice In this week’s seminar, we use social media as a lens to rethink our practice. What might be considered ‘best practice’ for social media users? Given the regulatory discussions of last week, how is your thinking challenged by ‘best’ practice? How might we as social media producers embody best practice, and indeed transfer those practices to our managed communities? We also look at how social media and cultural production is aligned with media organisations. Working on a best practice model, how do media organisations encourage users to engage with their material? Do they engage users to co-create material with them? How could we include this thinking into a social media strategy and/or campaign? You are required to also watch the Merchants of Cool to understand how certain agents perform cultural translation tasks such as discovering fringe culture and converting that into the mainstream, i.e. “killing it” as one of the producers note. How might cultural intermediaries align/misalign with ‘cool hunters’? Key Reading: Lipschultz, J. H. (2018). Best Practices in Social Media Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics (pp. 297-318). New York: Routledge. Hutchinson, J. (2017). Participation in Media Organizations Cultural intermediaries: Audience participation and media organisations (pp. 87-106). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Leaver, T., Highfield, T., & Abidin, C. (2020). Cultures Instagram (pp.149–173). Cambridge: Polity. Watch: PBS. (2006). Merchants of Cool. Frontline. New York: PBS. Available at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/view/ Activity: Find a digital influencer on YouTube and another on Instagram. Undertake a content/discourse analysis on their pages to understand how they operate, what they produce, how/if they include the audience, and what the possible benefits are of their best practice? Indeed, what is their ‘best practice’?
6	Futures of Social Media Each concept explored until this week has been building towards a summative understanding of how decentralised communication models operate. This is a complex scenario when combining participatory communicative activities and social media with organisations, considering organisations are tasked with eliminating group complexity and communicating a central message. As many of you will be moving on to social media roles within organisations, this is a chance to explore how many large-scale corporations use social media, both effectively and ineffectively, to involve their clients, employees, users and publics. The students will explore the tensions between hierarchies and heterarchies, virtual worlds, open culture and institutional online communities. This week is dedicated to exploring the futures of social media practice, with an emphasis on algorithmic culture. How are algorithms defining what we consume and how we produce material? How is this shaping our social discourse? What is the impact of algorithmic recommendation systems? Key Reading: Lipschultz, J. H. (2018). Future of Social Media and Information Literacy Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics (pp. 319-344). New York: Routledge. Hutchinson, J. (2017). Algorithmic Culture and Cultural Intermediation Cultural Intermediaries: Audience participation and media organisations (pp. 201-220). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Leaver, T., Highfield, T., & Abidin, C. (2020). From the Instagram of Everything to the Everything of Instagram, Instagram (pp.191–217). Cambridge: Polity. Additional Reading: Hallinan, B., & Striphas, T. (2014). Recommended for you: The Netflix Prize and the production of algorithmic culture. New Media & Society, Online First, 1-21. Lohmann, F. v. Your Intermediary is your Destiny. In M. Mandiberg (Ed.), The Social Media Reader (pp. 170 - 178). New York: New York University Press. Activity: Explore the YouTube algorithm. How does it work? What is at play behind the algorithm? What resources online can you find to trick the algorithm (i.e. hacks)? What are the implications of the YouTube algorithm?
7	Students are asked to present their social media projects to the class. Additionally, we will explore WordPress as a content management system that facilitates an internal collaborative publishing tool.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. use social media technologies and practices
LO2. discuss critical perspectives on social media history, platforms, uses and cultures
LO3. investigate and design networked communications strategies
LO4. establish professional social media presences for a defined communications objective
LO5. create, curate, promote, discuss and evaluate social media campaigns and projects

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

We have condensed the assignments into a more digestible format based on last year's feedback, while including brand new literature from a number of sources including the new Instagram book by Leaver, Highfield and Abidin.

Additional information

This unit is taught in intensive mode over 26 hours. This means that in addition to the weekly three–hour seminars held between weeks 1 through 7 inclusive, you will be expected to attend the one day (8 hour) session on Saturday in week 2. It is also expected that each week you will spend at least two hours reading and additional time on self-directed study. That study includes viewing social media platforms, taking notes, blogging, gaming, researching, interviewing, exploring tools and tutorials, and producing media content.

You will need access to an internet-connected computer to access our e-learning site, Canvas, to complete your social media communication studies. This unit requires regular use of Canvas and many study and assessment tasks must be done through the site. The unit also uses Twitter discussions using the hashtag #UsydSocMed, where we will often have intensive question and answer sessions with industry practitioners, experts and researchers.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

MECO6936: Social Media Communication

Semester 1a, 2020 [Block mode] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect