Listening assignment C

Video 1:

Children and the effect of new social media

Oxford professor Susan Greenfield claims that with the changes in the media environment, the impressionable mind of children can easily change too. She notes that overexpose to social websites like Facebook or Twitter can result in a shorter attention span, a need for ‘ identity-bolstering’ and increased recklessness among future generations.

Dr. Aric Sigman thinks that the brain of a child is shaped according to what they experience at a young age. He claims that experiencing a phenomenon for many hours could have a long tern effect on children.

Sigman also warns that social network media, as Facebook, can replace real contact between children. Dr. Ben Goldacre disagrees. ‘ There is a lot of evidence of people spending time on social networking sites to intensify the relationships they already have. It could equally well be very beneficial’.

Dr. Sigman isn’t convinced by Goldacres argument. ‘ We should stop for a moment and think more carefully about where our society is going. Children can spend hours in their rooms socializing on the internet, rather than playing with real friend. My concern is that new social media is displacing interaction’.

Video 2:

Internal communication with Social Media

Abi Signorelli, director of Internal Communication at Virgin Media talks to James Bennett, Online Managing Editor at Melcrum about the use social media for international communication. Susan will join Bennett on Junee the 24th, fot a social media workshop.

During this workshop, Signorelli will explain what Virgin Media has done in terms of social media. As an example, she talks about the use of Twitter as a mean for internal communication. Besides Twitter, Virgin Media is also planning to join other communication channels, such as Boo and Vlogging.

Because of the speed of technological changes, Ms. Signorelli is always looking for opportunities for her company. During the workshop, she will not only talk about channels worth using, she will also listen to other people’s ideas about internal communication. She’ll also share some guidelines that her company has produced to help people with the use of social media.

Signorelli clams that the important thing about internal communication is the two-way street. People must have the opportunity to respond on each other. Social media gives this opportunity to create a dialog. ‘ It’s all about sharing expertise and social media are opening a lot of doors on that front’.