Deck 7: The Impact of Social Media

Question 1

Social media expert Brian Solis defines social media as "a shift in how people discover, read, and share news and information and content." Solis sees social media as a fusion of _________ and ______________.

A) user-generated content; improvements in the Web
B) sociology; technology
C) interpersonal communication; search engines
D) traditional media; public relations

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Offended by racist comments made on a recent episode of South Park, Darryl is most likely to take which course of action?

A) Tweet with an explanatory hashtag
B) Email the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)
C) Write a letter to the FCC
D) Phone Comedy Central to complain directly to someone at the network

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Collaborative, or participatory, media trace their roots to the __________ movement.

A) FCC
B) DRM
C) FOSS
D) FOMO

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following is a fundamental difference between traditional media and social media?

A) Social media are highly collaborative.
B) Traditional media are more participatory than social media.
C) Traditional media creation and distribution are less expensive than today's social media.
D) Knowledge was shared more freely in the traditional media systems than in current social media systems.

Question 5

Which of the following goals can be best accomplished using distributed computing?

A) Developing models to understand and track global warming
B) Creating breaking news shows
C) Filming homemaking and home improvement TV programs
D) Providing spoiler alerts for reality shows

Question 6

Discussion among workers about a show the day after it airs, which in turn creates more interest among people who haven't seen the show, is known as __________.

A) social marketing
B) information society
C) media framing
D) water-cooler buzz

Question 7

Which of the following assertions is correct about media choice?

A) More choice means better quality.
B) More choice means less competition among media types and channels.
C) More choice means altered production, promotion, and marketing of media due to increased competition.
D) More choice means people are generally less proactive in selecting content.

Question 8

Which company learned the hard way about the power of social media when a customer posted a video on YouTube of a technician sleeping in the customer's home while waiting on hold?

A) AT&T
B) Cablevision
C) General Electric
D) Comcast

Question 9

Increasingly, companies are following online discussions about their organizations in order to listen and respond to customers. This trend focuses on which area of social media?

A) Collaboration
B) Conversation
C) Curation
D) Creation

Question 10

Gatekeeping is associated with which aspect of social media?

A) Creation
B) Conversation
C) Collaboration
D) Curation

Question 11

The classification of content, which facilitates Internet searches, happens through activities such as tagging or creating __________.

A) listservs
B) wikis
C) folksonomies
D) usenets

Question 12

__________ is an example of how curatorial activities can enhance a website's relevance to a large part of the general population by voting on stories that have been submitted.

A) Reddit
B) YouTube
C) Entertainment Tonight
D) The Huffington Post

Question 13

What has become increasingly important to consumers' decisions to purchase items ranging from household goods to media products?

A) Big data
B) Blogs
C) Spam
D) Online reviews

Question 14

__________ are automated mailing-list administrators that allow for easy subscription, cancellation, and delivery of emails.

A) Listservs
B) Usenets
C) Discussion boards
D) Spam mills

Question 15

Digital-media tools that facilitate the creation of content have played a major role in the __________.

A) growth of TV editing software
B) elimination of cultural stereotypes in the media
C) creation of online platforms for extremist views
D) rise of user-generated media content

Question 16

Social media employ a more __________ model of many-to-many communication than do traditional media.

A) heterogeneous
B) expensive
C) controversial
D) dialogic

Question 17

Which of the following assertions about cyberbullying is correct?

A) Bullying originated with the popularity of social media.
B) Social media reduce bullies' inhibitions by offering anonymity.
C) Social media have done little to increase public awareness about bullying.
D) Education experts believe that social media are causing the bullying.

Question 18

Which of the following is an example of what Clay Shirky has called "publish, then filter" media?

A) New York Times op-ed
B) Wikipedia article
C) CNN broadcast
D) MTV video

Question 19

The mainstream mass media are still relevant in current society, particularly for their __________ function.

A) agenda-setting
B) broadcasting
C) dissemination
D) social production

Question 20

The open-source model is informed by a desire to_________.

A) open source codes to highly qualified software engineers
B) make information freely available to anyone and let everyone share in the benefits
C) hike costs for media consumers to increase shareholder profits
D) maintain high standards through rigorous peer review

Question 21

New and different media ecosystems are based on sharing as well as _________ and _________.

A) control; exclusivity
B) collaboration; interaction
C) surveillance; 24/7 monitoring
D) limited access; widespread restrictions

Question 22

Digital culture often sees nothing wrong with borrowing freely from existing media to create something new, a practice that challenges _________.

A) scrolling
B) agenda setting
C) distributed computing
D) intellectual property laws

Question 23

Search engines, recommendations from friends (often known only from online interactions), and RSS feeds are all factors that primarily enhance which fundamental aspect of social media?

A) Curation
B) Creation
C) Choice
D) Conversation

Question 24

People act as their own filters, classifiers, and reviewers in a _________ model, a term coined by Australian media scholar Axel Bruns.

A) gatekeeping
B) gatewatching
C) greenwashing
D) whitewashing

Question 25

One of the first uses of the Internet, _________ is easy to overlook as an element of social media, but its ease of use, prevalence, and capacity make it a powerful communication tool.

A) email
B) Instagram
C) radio
D) television

Question 26

The precursor to Web forums was _________, created in 1979, which even today provides users access to thousands of discussion boards.

A) Small World
B) Camera Obscura
C) Astroturf
D) Usenet

Question 27

The format and _________ nature of discussion boards allow for relatively lengthy expositions on topics whenever convenient.

A) asynchronous
B) synchronous
C) multimodal
D) interactive

Question 28

Andy Annoying, a fan of Taylor Swift, repeatedly posts the same message-"Shake It Off"-in chat rooms, a practice called ___________.

A) cyberbullying
B) scrolling
C) trolling
D) lobbying

Question 29

Which of the following most resembles a series of diary entries or journal pages?

A) Chat rooms
B) Wikis
C) Discussion boards
D) Blogs

Question 30

In addition to rating systems, _________ has become increasingly important for advertisers as a way to appeal to consumers with trusted sources.

A) curation
B) Wikipedia
C) word-of-mouth marketing
D) microblogging

Question 31

Due to the growth of _________, companies can now track audience behavior with more detail than ever before as users surf the Internet and interact with media.

A) agenda setting
B) big data
C) fragmentation
D) produsers

Question 32

Which policy has fostered a strong sense of community in WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link)?

A) Contributors must use their real names.
B) Discussion boards are separated by categories called newsgroups.
C) Conversation takes place in real time.
D) Existing members must sponsor new applicants.

Question 33

Which concept explains the fact that even long-dead actors are connected with Kevin Bacon in the "six degrees of separation" game?

A) Small world
B) Big data
C) Hollywood star system
D) Media hegemony

Question 34

Which company launched its initial public offering (IPO) in May 2012, the largest in Internet history, valued at its peak at $104 billion?

A) Microsoft
B) Spotify
C) Facebook
D) Gannett

Question 35

The launch of _________ in June 2012 was Google's effort to compete with Facebook.

A) LinkedIn
B) Tumblr
C) Flickr
D) Google+

Question 36

Large followings on social networking platforms can translate directly into dollars earned due to _________.

A) media ecology
B) algorithm-driven advertising models
C) media oligopolies
D) product placement

Question 37

In addition to inventing Twitter, Jack Dorsey also created _________.

A) MySpace
B) Wikipedia
C) YouTube
D) Square

Question 38

_________ is creating a movement controlled by a large organization or group designed to look like a citizen-founded, grassroots campaign.

A) Astroturfing
B) Greenwashing
C) Propagandizing
D) Crowdsourcing

Question 39

Zoey has never participated in a discussion board before. What practice would you recommend that she adopt before posting her own messages?

A) Stalking
B) Lurking
C) Tagging
D) Framing

Question 40

Ahead of its time, _________ was one of the most successful early interactive online information services, existing before the Web. It worked because the government in France subsidized it and provided every home with an access device.

A) Sofitel
B) Friendster
C) Minitel
D) Usenet

Question 41

Some studies have shown that about _________ percent of Twitter users contribute over _________ percent of the content.

A) 10/90
B) 20/80
C) 30/70
D) 40/60

Question 42

Once rare and considered extremely bad form in the early days of the Internet, _________ are now considered the scourge of email.

A) catfishers
B) lurkers
C) trolls
D) spam messages

Question 43

Which assertion about chat rooms is accurate?

A) They are not divided by topic.
B) They do not take place in real time.
C) They can be chaotic, much like a crowded, noisy party.
D) They usually involve an online conversation between two people or a few at most.

Question 44

Which social media platform has been described as the anti-Facebook because of its manifesto to never sell advertising or user data?

A) Pinterest
B) Ello
C) Tumblr
D) Reddit

Question 45

Many people have started using Twitter as a kind of _________ news service, following people who tend to find new or interesting stories.

A) open-access
B) collaborative
C) curatorial
D) conversational

Question 46

In 2016, Facebook had _________ billion users.

A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4

Question 47

Which of the following is a unique characteristic of Snapchat?

A) Automatic deletion of photos and videos after viewing
B) Updated postings arranged chronologically
C) Synchronous communication
D) Asynchronous communication

Question 48

Which assertion is accurate about the transition from consumers to produsers?

A) Determining who owns user-generated content on social media sites has become an important legal concern.
B) Traditional brands have lost their meanings for us.
C) Ratings systems that rank the usefulness of a review or comment no longer help us make decisions.
D) Buzz marketing has become less important for advertisers.

Question 49

Registering with a social networking service raises ethical concerns about _________.

A) convergence
B) copyright
C) transparency
D) privacy

Question 50

A 2014 study found that college women reported spending an average of _________ hours a day on their cell phones, while college men spend an average of _________ hours a day.

A) 8/5.5
B) 5.5/8
C) 10/7.5
D) 7.5/10

Question 51

Describe the agenda-setting function of traditional mass media.

Question 52

What is a catfish, and how has this phenomenon entered pop culture?

Question 53

Describe the pros and cons of chat rooms.

Question 54

How has Wikipedia been able to avoid major disruptions by vandals?

Question 55

Describe the significance of ratings, their relationship to social networks, and their impact upon consumer behavior.

Question 56

Explain how the wiki has become more widely known.

Question 57

Are social media making us dumber? Explain scholars' concerns about this issue.

Question 58

Explain the consequences and negative effects of cyberbullying in modern society.

Question 59

Are social media making us less social? Are all of our "friends" on Facebook really our friends?

Question 60

Describe the free and open-source software movement (FOSS).