This document discusses how scholarly publishers can leverage social media and user engagement to remain relevant. It notes that everyone can now publish and access information online through platforms that democratize content. To combat information overload, filtered aggregation that curates content from trusted sources will be most effective. The document advocates that scholarly publishers focus on building social capital or "Whuffie" through adding value to online communities and leveraging their reputation, rather than focusing solely on profits.

1. Social Media, Social Capital
and Generation G
Why Should Scholarly Publishers Care?
Kristen Fisher Ratan
HighWire Publishers’ Meeting
Spring, 2009

2. 2

3. Digital media is exploding
3

4. Let’s Review
Everyone is a publisher

Everyone is an author

Every platform is an ―expert‖ resource

Everything is democratized

4

5. Data about
content
User-
generated
content
Expert-
generated
content
Traditionally
Published
Content
5

6. Authoring Sites
6

7. User-generated eBooks
7

8. 8

9. ReFrameIt
A browser extension that lets you comment 9
right next to any text or image that you find
on the web – and syndicate

10. Instant Syndication
ReFrameIt
Comment
ReFrameIt
Widget
Network
RSS Twitter
Email Facebook
10

11. Symptoms of Information Overload
Increased cardiovascular

stress
Weakened vision

Confusion and frustration

Impaired judgment based

upon overconfidence
Decreased benevolence to

others
David Shenk, Data Smog

11

12. ―It may sound incredibly un-hip and
reactionary, but to hell with the wisdom of
crowds. Watching the crowd might be
entertaining, but when I need to work, I can
get far better results if I constrain that
crowd to a few people whose opinions I
have reason to respect.‖
-Geoffrey Bilder, CrossRef
12

13. Filtered aggregation
13

14. NY Times Article Skimmer
14
http://prototype.nytimes.com/gst/articleSkimmer/

15. Edited aggregation or Link Journalism
= Combination of news from trusted sources,
vetted by human editors
15

16. Platform for Link Journalism
http://www.publish2.com/
16

17. In the war for attention,
filtered aggregation will win
17

18. Hypermediation
―The reality is that the internet continues to
be a rich platform for intermediation
strategies, and it's the intermediaries who
stand to skim up most of the profits to be
made from Web 2.0‖
-Nick Carr
http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2005/11/hypermediation.php
18

19. ―Aggregating links is where the real power
online is, not in aggregating content and
getting traffic from the resulting links‖
-Kent Anderson
http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2009/04/14/links-matter-more-than-content-folks/
―It’s the links, stupid. And everyone gives
Google their links to read — for free!!‖
19
-Scott Karp
http://publishing2.com/2009/04/11/how-google-stole-control-over-content-distribution-by-stealing-links/

20. Rankings /
Votes
Discussion
Forums /
eLetters /
Comments
Editorials /
Blogs
Original
Academic
Work
20

21. Show Me The Money!
21

22. ―Stop! Money isn’t the capital of choice in
online communities, it is Whuffie!‖
-Tara Hunt
22
Blog: http://www.horsepigcow.com/

23. Whuffie = social capital
23

24. Wikipedia on Whuffie
―the ephemeral, reputation-based currency of
Cory Doctorow's science fiction novel, Down
and Out in the Magic Kingdom.‖
Whuffie replaces money, providing a motivation
for people to do useful and creative things.
Whuffie = ―cred‖
without it you’re a whole lot of spam 24

25. Make Whuffie
Whuffie is about reputation

Historically, scholarly publisher have had

reputation
How can you leverage that?

Add value:

Find or create the relevant filter

Add or integrate the social aspect

Democratize stuff

25
Who is in your community; what do they want?

What can you afford to contribute or give away?


26. Who Cares About Whuffie?
The ―G Generation‖
Trust peer-to-peer communication
Disgusted with greed and dishonesty
Mistrust traditional authorities
The G stands for Generosity 26

27. You!
Thank 27
27