[Summary: the ‘Future Connect’ paper on Social Networking and AIDS Communication has just been published by Communications for Social Change Consortium]
Back in February I mentioned a project I was working on with Pete Cranston for AIDS2031, through Communications for Social Change Consortium (CFSC). We were tasked with taking a global look at how young people were engaging with social networking, and what opportunities and challenges that created for HIV/AIDs communicators in communicating with young people.
We finished the paper back in April, but it’s taken a while for it to make it’s way to being available online. But it now is – and you can find the full report to browse, or download as a PDF here.
Whilst we put the report together in the context of work for AIDS2031, and many of the case studies and examples have a HIV/AIDS element to them, my hope is that the full report also provides useful input for anyone exploring how young people in the UK and beyond are engaged with social networking.
In particular, you can take a look at:
- An analysis of the ‘architecture’ of Social Networking – exploring what it is that makes a service a social networking service – and looking at how this leads to certain social phenomena. Thinking about SNS as ‘amplifiers of activity’.
- An exploration of a connected generation – building on previous work from the Youth Work and Social Network research to offer a generalised overview of how young people are engaged with social networking, and the sorts of behaviours and changing behaviours this is leading to.
- A look at how organisations are engaging with social networks – and a series of tentative conclusions presented as ‘principles for social network aware communication‘
The report also includes a full section looking comparatively at social networking by young people in South Africa, UK, Brazil, India and Thailand as well as our attempt to look forward to unfolding trends and future possibilities.
This hope is that this report is only the first step for further work by CFSC and Pete Cranston looking at tracking emerging trends in the use of social networks for social change communication – so all feedback and comments, and ideas for future developments, are most welcome.
Was just posting about Pete Cranston’s excellent session at IAMCR’s Human Rights and Communication conference in Mexico this summer, where he shared findings of your report. Glad to see the report is now available and that you’ve shared links to the presentation. Fascinating reading! Thank you!