1. Social Media Freaks Author: Dustin Kidd
Preface and Chapter 1: Social Media, Art, and the Network Society
Instructors: be sure to use this notes section throughout to see my ideas on how to use these slides. You can also add in your own additional notes to use in class. If you print them to have in front of you during class, be sure to select “Layout: Notes” rather than slides, handouts, or outline.
Feel free to send your ideas and feedback to me!
-Dustin
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Overview
In this lesson, we will…
Introduce the basic concepts of Social Media Freaks,
Explore some of the promises and pitfalls of social media,
Discuss the continuum of techno-optimism and techno-pessimism, and
Review the research method virtual ethnography.
But first, an invitation…
This is a broad overview of the slides that follow. Before proceeding, tell your students how they should consume the lecture/discussion. Talk about taking notes and what they should take notes about. Definitions are available in the glossary, but it may be worth encouraging them to write them down as a learning tool.
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

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Invitation
Use this slide as an opportunity to get the students engaged in a discussion about their values regarding social media. Some discussion prompts include:
Do you believe social media has transformed the culture and created a revolution?
How does social media define or shape your generation?
Do you think social media can challenge social inequalities like racism, sexism, and classism?
What are the problems and pitfalls of social media?
Do you ever wish you could quit social media?
If you have quit social media, do you feel like you are missing out?
How is social media different from television, music, or even the internet as a form of popular culture?
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

4. Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.
Invitation
Research Question:
What is the relationship between social media and social inequality?
Has social inequality helped to create social media?
Does social media further social inequality?
Does social media challenge inequality?
Why do oppressed groups embrace social media?
Use this slide to discuss the concept of a research question. Ask your students if there are additional sub-questions they can think of to add to this list. Discuss the concept of social inequality. What does it mean? Social Media Freaks focuses on inequality in terms of race, class, gender, sexuality, and disability. What other inequalities should we be discussing, particularly in terms of social media? What does it mean to refer to certain groups as oppressed?
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

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Theory
Art vs. Media
Kidd argues that social media should be treated as a form of art.
Art: Disciplined, creative work that may be performed by both artistic professionals and outsiders or amateurs.
Social media involves the same kind of disciplined, creative work as art.
By comparison, the term “media” divorces these practices from their creative character.
Use this slide to discuss the meaning of art and ask students if they agree with this definition. How do they know art when they see it? How would they define art? How does it change our understanding of social media to treat it as an artistic practice? Should we have a museum of tweets? Should we publish coffee table books of Instagram posts? Note that Kim Kardashian did just that. The book is called Selfish and it is published by Rizzoli (2015). Kim Kardashian may be disrespected by intellectual circles, by certainly Andy Warhol would admire her artistic use of social media to rise to fame.
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Theory
Freaks and Misfits
Kidd refers to marginalized groups as “Freaks”:
They are treated as freaks by the both the media system and the system of inequality
They embrace being freaks as a source of power
Freak: A sociological type whose origins are internal to a society, but who is pushed to the margins of that society by hegemonic forces and who embraces this marginalized identity as a source of empowerment.
Discuss the concept of “freaks” with your students here. Do they feel comfortable or uncomfortable with the term? When was the last time they used the word freak or heard someone else use it? The word freak is used in a lot of music and other forms of popular culture as something positive and empowering, as in the example of the Janelle Monae song Q.U.E.E.N. that is discussed in the text. Can you think of other examples like that? Why do some groups embrace the idea of being a freak? What does it accomplish for them?
Also, discuss the idea that freak is both an ascribed status (item 1 on the slide) and an achieved status (item 2 on the slide).
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

7. Theory From Industrial Capitalism to Informational Capitalism
Network society: The current economic mode, marked by a shift from industrial capitalism to informational capitalism.
Legitimizing identity: The identity systems held by dominant groups that ultimately function to justify their power.
Resistance identity: A counter-model of identity subscribed to by oppressed or marginalized groups.
Project identity: A new identity system introduced by social actors who are seeking social transformation.
First, discuss the concept of capitalism and explain that it refers to a specific type of economic system that can be contrasted from tribal economies and feudal economies. This is a nice chance to discuss some basic Marx. Capitalism is a system that depends upon the generation and reinvestment of profit, which also demands consistent growth. Explain how this impacts the natural resources that have to be transformed into commodities, including the resources that go into phones, laptops, etc. Discuss the fact that capitalism over time has been driven more by corporations than individual humans, and that laws in the US and elsewhere treat corporations as legal persons.
Two useful clips to support this discussion come from the documentary The Corporation. 1) A Legal Person: 2) Birth:
Then discuss the transition from an industrial age to an information age and Castell’s idea of calling this a ”network society.” Help students understand Castell’s 3 different kinds of identity.
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Concepts
Social Media In general parlance, a broad category of Internet and mobile technology platforms that allow users to join networks with others and to share content in the form of text, images, video, and links. In Social Media Freaks, social media is also viewed as an artistic method through which art can be both created and shared.
Use this slide as a chance to ask students what the word means to them and what apps or platforms they are using. Are some platforms just for peers and others for parents? What are their strategies for posting on social media? Do they ever delete posts? Have they run into any problems with social media? How do they feel about the issue of privacy?
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

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Concepts
The Stranger Georg Simmel’s term for a sociological type who enters society from an external origin and decides to remain, providing a contrasting reference point to those whose origins are internal to the society. What is the difference between a stranger and a freak?
For Simmel, the primary fulfillment of the Stranger as a social type is found in the trader, especially the trader who arrives from far off and then decides to stay. According to Simmel, the trader is always presumed to be on the verge of leaving again. Where do we now find strangers in our society? Where are strangers represented in popular culture?
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

10. Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.
Concepts
The Stranger “The stranger, like the poor and sundry ‘inner enemies,’ is an element of the group itself. His position as a full-fledged member involves both being outside it and confronting it.” --Georg Simmel, German Sociologist
Freaks, according to Social Media Freaks, are the poor and sundry inner enemies. Freaks and strangers have much in common, but the freaks are those who are marginalized from within their own cultures, as opposed the stranger who arrives from elsewhere. Have students think of pop culture stories that illustrate both freaks and strangers.
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

11. Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.
Concepts
Hegemony and Agency Hegemony: A form of domination that is based on culture and politics, as contrasted with domination based on violence and military control. Q: What role can media play in creating hegemony? Agency: A sociological concept that refers to the capacity of social actors to act and make choices, even when the options are not of their choosing. Q: What role can media play in creating agency?
Discuss the concept of socialization and the idea that we accept certain kinds of power and domination as legitimate. Discuss the concept of “normalizing” and how normalizing can be a way of negotiating a kind of power/domination from being considered illegitimate to legitimate.
For agency, be sure to distinguish agency from power.
Use the discussion questions on the slide to talk about the role that commercial entertainment can play in generating both hegemony and agency.
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Analysis
Promises
Community
Agency
Sousveillance
Pitfalls
Bullying & Drama
Surveillance
Interpersonal
Institutional
Market
Police
Compare and contrast the promises and pitfalls of new technology. Are the promises worth the pitfalls? Is new media really delivering on those promises?
Ask students about their experiences with the various types of surveillance. They may show the least concern for market surveillance. This is a good place to discuss their relationship to corporations and the possible uses that corporations might have for amassing so much data on consumers.
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

13. Analysis Social Media & Social Movements
Ask students to explain the logic behind each of the three positions and to identify their own stance.
From page 17: “Optimistic approaches argue either that the revolution can be tweeted or that it already has been. These writers and scholars show great faith in the revolutionary power of social media. Pessimistic approaches argue either that social media is incapable of ushering in a social revolution or even that social media hinders positive social change. Ambivalent approaches weigh the evidence on balance and recognize that change is both difficult and possible.”
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

14. Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.
Analysis
Method Virtual ethnography: An application of ethnographic methods to the Internet, social media, and related digital technologies such as , text messaging, VOIP, and video conferencing. Other terms for this method are netnography, online ethnography, and digital ethnography.
Discuss the value of using virtual ethnography to study the uses of new technology and compare to other possible methods. These include:
Surveys: both online and traditional surveys that might gather data about what people say they do online and how they feel about it.
Interviews and focus groups: open-ended conversations about what people say they do online and how they feel about it.
Quantitative content analysis: These methods include twitterscraping and other automated methods that analyze the content on the internet and social media.
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Discussion
Social Media Dilemma
Watch:
Watch the video, making sure to turn on the closed captions. The video is one minute and 18 second long (1:18). After the video ends, discuss Terry’s actions and Scott’s reaction. What, if anything, should Scott do? Are there other possible interpretations of Terry’s post that Scott should consider? What, if anything, should Terry do differently?
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Discussion
Social Media Disaster
Watch:
Watch the video, making sure to turn on the closed captions. The video is two minutes and 40 second long (2:40). After the video ends, discuss whether it was appropriate for Justine Sacco to be fired. Is this just a case of a racist or thoughtless person making a stupid comment? What role does social media play in how this story unfolded? How would this story have unfolded differently if she had simply texted the comment to a friend or said it in person?
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

17. Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.
Wrap-Up
Key terms, concepts, and names from this unit:
Social Media
Art
Freaks
The Stranger
Georg Simmel
Informational Capitalism
Network Society
Legitimizing Identity
Resistance Identity
Project Identity
Hegemony
Agency
Drama
Stirring the Pot
Baiting
Interpersonal surveillance
Institutional Surveillance
Market Surveillance
Police Surveillance
Sousveillance
Symbolic Interactionism
Multimodal networking
Information flows
Internet of Things
Virtual Ethnography
Use this slide to review the concepts and quiz students on what they learned and what they recall.
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

18. Resources To explore these topics further:
Watch the Frontline Special “Generation Like”
Write your own social media autoethnography, like the one that opens chapter 1
Explore three new social media platforms that you do not currently use
This slide can be removed if you actually plan to incorporate some or all of these into the syllabus.
Westview Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.