Chapter 4: Digital Communities

Since I have used various social networking for personal, work, and professional, I have learned many terminologies from this chapter. While chapter 4 is short, it’s full with information, especially new terminologies. One terminology that stuck in my head is the word meme, which means “a snippet of cultural information that spreads person to person until eventually it enters the general consciousness”(p. 88). I love to learn new thing and new words. I will talk about this word for the whole week J. I am excited to share what I have learned with others.

The authors discuss the dark side of social media. I agree with the authors that cyberbullying has become a growing problem in online communities and this issue is a very delicate to address. In the last 3 years, I have attended conference section regarding cyberbully at the annual conference of Social for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). I don’t think we as a community know how to handle this problem. I believe it’s important that we teach young generation to recognize the cyberbully behavior.    

 Well, shall we get back to our business? Below are prompt questions for chapter 4:

1. Please summarize main ideas of the chapter.
2. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the chapter.
3. Discuss 5 terminologies that you never heard of before.
4. Review the list of friends you have on Facebook. How many of your friends are “weak ties” and how many are “strong ties”? Identify the relationship bonds you share with those in your strong tie group. Does Facebook help you to strengthen both kinds of relationships? Why or why not?
5. Search Twitter for hashtags related to a brand you like (e.g. #dunkindonuts, #saltlife). What kinds of influence impressions appear for the hashtag you searched?  Can you identify key influences who are sharing tweets with this specific hashtag? 
6. Did you feel the chapter helped in your understanding of how to use social media in merchandising? Explain why or why not. Did anything confuse you? Did the chapter leave more questions for you?