Exploring Social Media x Research Methods

I’m teaching research methods this summer and writing (or trying to write) a paper about incorporating social media into a research methods class. When I’ve taught this class, I have used of Flickr for a photo ethnography assignment and blogs for focus groups. Any other ideas would be much appreciated. Any literature about social media assignments would be helpful as well.

Ideas from other professors are here (I’m looking for more links to add):

Assorted ideas from Kaye Sweetser

Social media press release from Tom Kelleher

Issue tracking with Twitter from Tom Kelleher

I have to admit…I’ve watched a few commercials on my DVR

I’ve noticed a couple of creative tactics the broadcasters are using to get people to actually watch commercials. Or maybe just to trick people into watching commercials. Last night, I watched two shows from my DVR: Lifetime’s Army Wives and TBS’s My Boys. By the way, it was my first time watching Army Wives. My sister has been recommending it and I finally caved in. And I’ve been a loyal My Boys fan from the very first episode and was excited to see it back for Season 3. Go PJ!

Army Wives was sponsored by some haircare brand (obviously, I didn’t watch too closely), but they used the main characters speaking directly to the audience to lead off the commercial breaks. I didn’t quite jump for my remote as quickly as I might normally have.

After the first scene or so in My Boys, I was expecting a commercial. I dropped my remote when I saw that there was another scene. But who were these people sitting around a kitchen table? It wasn’t My Boys, but a brief scene from TBS’s Bill Engvall show. It was so seamless. Sneaky TBS!

One other tactics I’ve noticed lately is that broadcasters will intersperse a quick clip of the show in the commercial pod. When fast-forwarding, I thought the show was back on, but it wasn’t.

Personal Expression on MySpace

I’m interested in learning more about how people express themselves on networking sites like MySpace, particularly with respect to banners, skins, or widgets for brands or pop culture products like movies or television. Do you have the “Sex and the City” skin? Do you have a “Get Smart” badge? Why do MySpace members choose to display these objects on their profiles?

What’s So Social about Television?

I’m exploring the links between social media and reality television. In much the same way that we have an interest in the lives of others from our favorite reality programs, we often have an interest in others that we can connect to online. Why do I look at personal blogs of people I don’t know? Why do I look at the photos of Facebook acquaintances? Do my online activities tap the same fascination I have with the lives of unknown people on reality television?