The course is designed to form a systemic idea of social media among future journalists and to prepare them for the effective use of Web 2.0 platforms in their professional activity.
The course is designed to form a systemic idea of social media among future journalists and to prepare them for the effective use of Web 2.0 platforms in their professional activity.
Specialty | Journalism (Print Media) |
Semester | 7 |
Credits | 3 |
Total hours |
116 |
Classroom hours |
48 |
Lectures | 14 hours |
Seminars and workshops | 18 hours |
Guided self-study |
16 hours |
Evaluation |
Exam |
Course learning goals
1. To acquaint students with the phenomenon of social media, to demonstrate their potential for journalistic practice;
2. To consider the social platforms that are relevant for Belarus, the specifics of their audience, functional capabilities and development trends;
3. Demonstrate the impact of Web 2.0 technologies on social, political and cultural processes;
4. Comprehend in the context of journalism the phenomena of the social media information space (blogging, UGC projects);
5. Teach students how to use social services to search for information and verify it;
6. To instill in students the skills of creating and promoting content via social media, administering account of an editorial office.
Web 2.0 as ideological and technological base of social platforms. Social media as a factor of the transformation of the media system and journalism. The most popular social media functions in journalist’s work.
Lectures: 2 hours
Seminars and workshops: 2 hours
Guided self-study: 2 hours
Assignment: colloquium
Socio-demographic profile of the audience of social services, the functional niche, potential for journalism. Belarusian social media projects: the origin, history and reasons for their decline.
Lectures: 2 hours
Seminars and workshops: 2 hours
Guided self-study: 2 hours
Assignment: project
The impact of social media on the behavior of Internet users. Features of «generation of social networking». Social media and cultural processes. Internet memes as a product of mass cyberspace culture. The use of Internet memes in the mass media. The power of social media for political communication and PR. Public initiatives in the Web 2.0 age: from slacktivism to the self-organization of concerned citizens.
Lectures: 2 hours
Seminars and workshops: 4 hours
Guided self-study: 4 hours
Assignment: presentation
Professional bloggers as a group and as an element of the media market. Commercialization of the blogosphere. Citizen journalism and its features. Successful creative and organizational models of UGC platforms. Mass communities and creative projects in social media. Community market in the social network VKontakte: the specificity of the Belarusian segment.
Lecture: 2 hours
Seminars and workshops: 2 hours
Guided self-study: 2 hours
Assignment: open heuristic task
Lecture 4
The problem of information quality in social media. Misinformation industry in the Web 2.0 space (Astroturfing, fake news, sockpuppeting etc.). Basic strategy of user-generated content verification. Models and technologies of UGC collection. Organization of social media monitoring process in the editorial offices.
Lectures: 2 hours
Seminars and workshops: 2 hours
Guided self-study: 2 hours
Assignment: report
Lecture 5
Distribution of journalistic materials in social media: publications format, broadcast frequency, tone. Teaser, native, borrowed content. «Black» and «white» methods of promotion in social media. Viral marketing technologies. Situational marketing.
Lectures: 2 hours
Seminars and workshops: 2 hours
Guided self-study: 2 hours
Assignment: project
Lecture 6
Степанов, В. А. Социальные медиа : электронный учебно-методический комплекс для специальностей: 1-23 01 08 «Журналистика (по направлениям)», 1-23 01 09 «Журналистика (международная)» /В. А. Степанов ; БГУ, Фак. журналистики, Каф. медиалогии и веб-журналистики. – Минск : БГУ, 2018. – 109 с. : ил. – Библиогр.: с.: 106–109.