Social Media Observations (Skill Summary)

In order to record how UMBC activists operate online, I will be taking time to sit online and watch my Facebook news feed. I want to focus more on Facebook as opposed to other social media outlets because I think it is the biggest outlet and an outlet that most people have. According to the Random House Dictionary, a participant observation is “a technique of field research, used in anthropology and sociology, by which an investigator (participant observer) studies the life of a group by sharing in its activities.” While on Facebook I will be recording: the ways in which people advocate for their social issues, whether it is a positive or a negative post, how the activists communicate with others (also noting if they communicate in an affective manner with those who are not on their “side”). I would like to keep my field notes very organized: splitting things into sections. I think I will have positive and negative outcome sections, a techniques sections, a conversations section and a random notes section. In the positive and negative outcome sections I will note the ways activists interact with others whether it be positive or a negative conversation. I will note what seems to work and what does not. Next in the techniques section I will list the different ways in which these activists try to get through to one another. In the conversations section I will write down as many conversations that I find on my feed that have something to do with social activism.