Study Guide: Social Media Analytics & AI - Module 1

Yo, what it is! You know what it is, it’s your man Kingmusa— and welcome to The Study Guide! I'm here to break down today's class notes and help us learn together. Today we are going over Syllabus & Introduction to New Media and we will be focusing on Module 1: Syllabus + Introduction to New Media"

Let’s explore our module on Syllabus & Introduction to New Media. We’ll examine media evolution and new media technologies’ impact.

Key Concept: 

Today, we’ll explore new media, its characteristics, and its differences from old media. We’ll discuss the shift from analog to digital technology, technological convergence, and the blurring of lines between producers and consumers of media. We’ll also touch on the rise of social media and its role in fostering connectivity and collaboration. This week’s module introduces new media technologies, often called Web 2.0, including web-based communication tools like blogs, wikis, social networking platforms, virtual worlds, and other social media platforms. 

    We’ll understand new media’s characteristics and evolution from old media. Dr. Ghanem Elhersh, an expert in new media, the entertainment industry, and social media analytics, teaches this course. Regular readings and engagement with course materials are crucial for continuous learning. A comprehensive syllabus review with assignments, expectations, and the instructor’s contact information is available. Reach out to the instructor during office hours or through other arrangements for questions. Understanding current and future technology is vital for communication professionals in today’s digital world. This course equips you with knowledge and skills in navigating technology, social media, and artificial intelligence. Course materials will be available on D2L, replacing traditional textbooks. We’ll primarily communicate through D2L and email. Regularly review the course materials. The course grade is based on five components: case discussions (20%), quizzes (20%), analysis submissions (30%), term exams (15%), and final projects (15%). Case discussions involve answering module-related questions. Submit an initial response by Thursday and at least two responses to classmates by Sunday. Group discussions are encouraged, especially on the discussion board, as the final project is individual. The course has five case discussions, ten weekly quizzes, three trend analysis cases, a midterm exam, and a final project. Each trend analysis case requires a two to three-page response addressing the provided questions. 

    The course explores big data, machine learning, AI, IoT, IoB, and mobile video marketing. New media is digital content created, shared, and interacted with online, unlike traditional media. Key features include digital nature, interactivity, accessibility, networkedness, convergence, user-generated content, and personalized experiences. New media enables two-way interaction between users and content creators. Social media platforms connect people, foster collaboration, and build communities, offering connection, strong networks, timely updates, and meaningful interactions. New media technology includes digital information transfer, computerized systems, and data networks, often interactive and manipulable. The definition encompasses internet-based concepts like websites and digital mediums like CDs and DVDs. Social media users have grown significantly, from 2.7 billion in 2017 to 5.42 billion in 2025 and expected to continue growing. Mobile-first social platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok focus on visual content and location-based services. 

    Mobile technology enhances social media by enabling location-based interactions and personalized content, and it changes marketing by allowing targeted advertising and personalized promotions. Data growth is rapid across various categories, including transactions, human files, social interactions, and machine-generated data. The shift from human-driven to machine-driven data, driven by IoT and social media, is significant. The Digital Revolution has transformed how we live, impacting culture, traditions, and the economy, introducing new communication methods and business opportunities.

Understanding new media is crucial in today’s digital age, as it has transformed communication, information access, and interactions. It also helps us appreciate technology’s impact on society and media’s evolution.

Here are the main points:

1. New media, primarily digital, enables manipulation, networking, and interactivity. It’s characterized by technological convergence, multiplatform compatibility, and user-generated content. Social media connects people, enabling collaboration and information sharing. New media redefines communication and engagement in the digital age, unlike traditional media. Key characteristics include digital nature, interactivity, accessibility, user control, network communications, convergence, user-generated content, and customization. The Digital Revolution transformed old-school tech, opening new possibilities. Italian tech played a crucial role in communication and interaction, making it a strong platform for business, personal, and international use. Digitalization sped up communication, enabled global business operations, and revolutionized shopping and delivery. It transformed communication, business, and technology access, leading to increased productivity, business growth, and better communication. Technology created new business opportunities and made cloud services convenient. However, responsible use is essential, especially for kids. This course explores new tech, especially AI, and its connection to communication. The book aims to understand “new media” and their impact using Marshall McLuhan’s ideas and methods. McLuhan’s work is crucial in understanding how new technologies affect society and older media. The book examines McLuhan’s legacy as a pioneer in media understanding and its relevance today. It’s divided into three sections: an introduction, a section on traditional media, and a section on new media. Media is interconnected, so it can be read in any order with hyperlinks.
2. New media surpasses McLuhan’s three ages, including pre-oral mimetic and digital interactive forms. It mixes media, uses computers for sharing and interaction, and engages users. New media often reimagines old media, and they evolve together. Unlike mass media, new media is digital, interactive, and easy to process, store, change, find, link, search, and access. It allows sharing creative processes, not just final products. Media are technologies, activities, practices, and social arrangements that come with making and using media. This update focuses on new media like tape recorders, video cameras, fax machines, photocopiers, and personal computers, not covered in the previous analysis. McLuhan’s original work focused on red. This study examines old media in a new light, focusing on how new media changes or doesn’t change communication through electricity. Understanding old media is crucial for new media platforms. The digital world has transformed old media, so we must consider their continued importance. Media interaction is crucial, especially with digital media’s interconnectedness. Media are defined by their relationships with other media, similar to how words derive meaning from relationships. Media and culture have changed due to the evolving media landscape. New media are created, shown, or shared using computers and digital technology. This study explores how digitization has changed old media and brought about new media since McLuhan’s book, “Understanding Media.” It identifies fourteen key features of new media: they’re digital, interactive, facilitate communication and computer tasks, replace older media like music, movies, and money. Technology encompasses hardware, communication, and information processing, including languages like speech, writing, mathematics, science, computing, and the Internet. Media serve human needs and blur the line between tools and media. Technologies like roads, canals, and railroads can function as media for vehicles. The book aims to describe the future of “new media” by examining McLuhan’s “Understanding Media” and updating its insights. The author seeks to contribute to McLuhan’s work by writing an appendix. New media are relative and constantly evolving, becoming obsolete in the future. They are not merely tools but new languages with unique expressive powers, shaping our perception and interaction with the world. New media fundamentally alter communication and thought, leading to new forms and transformations of existing ones. They reshape roles and positions of old media, creating a dynamic interplay between forms.
3. New media are more personal and social than old media like print, radio, and television, being portable and accessible anywhere, anytime. They impact people simultaneously, creating a paradoxical effect. Digital media are composed of numerical codes, enabling compatibility across devices. Analogue media, like vinyl records and cassette tapes, encode physical information that requires specific decoding devices. New media transform music consumption by shifting from physical media to digital formats. New media refer to digital files accessible on platforms like the internet, social media, and personal devices. Unlike traditional media like VCRs, which limited content to physical media, digital media allows users to access content on multiple devices. Users can create their own media, such as mix tapes or VCR movie recordings, which paved the way for modern digital playlists and on-demand viewing. Technology has democratized media creation, making it more accessible to individuals with varying tech expertise.
4. The internet and digital media have revolutionized content creation and sharing, enabling global audiences. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter facilitate global connections, allowing users to share photos, videos, and thoughts with friends, family, and celebrities. Users can also control their online interactions. Web 2.0 emphasizes collaboration and creativity, focusing on problem-solving and creating new content. Platforms like Napster, Flickr, YouTube, and Wikipedia facilitate content creation and sharing. Social networking sites like Facebook enable users to create profiles, connect with others, and share information, making it easier to share personal stories. Facebook, with over 955 million monthly active users, is the most popular social networking site.

This module introduces you to new media, its evolution, characteristics, and impact on society and communication. New media, evolving from analog to digital technology, uses numerical codes for manipulation, networking, and interactivity. This shift blurred the lines between producers and consumers, enabling more personal interactions with media. Social media, a subset of new media, furthered connectivity and interactivity on a mass scale, enabling users to connect, collaborate, and share content. It differs from traditional media by promoting collaboration and sharing. Open-source publishing allows software improvement and sharing, while crowdsourcing utilizes the internet to solve problems and generate new ideas. New media are digital, easily shareable, and have no physical limitations. They are personal and social, contrasting with old media. New media significantly impact traditional media by increasing user involvement and feedback. They compete with user-generated content, but people still seek control and predictability. New media are less platform-bound, easy to share, and more personal and social than old media. 

Social media facilitates communication, collaboration, and information sharing. Digital media is more personalized than analog media. Social media enables content sharing, collaboration, and connections. Web 2.0 emphasizes user-generated content, collaboration, and interactivity. Personal media is content created and shared by individuals, often through social networking sites like Facebook. Facebook serves as a digital diary for tracking lives and connecting with others. New media are more personal, interactive, and social, blurring the lines between content creators and consumers. Technology facilitates the integration of various media and their use on different devices. Social media significantly impacts society, fostering connections, creativity, and collaboration while challenging traditional media practices and empowering user-generated content.

That wraps up today’s episode of The Study Guide. Remember, we teach to learn, and I hope this has helped you understand Module 1: Syllabus + Introduction to New Media better. Keep studying, keep learning, and keep pushing toward your academic goals. Don’t forget to follow me on all platforms @Kingmusa428 and check out more episodes at kingmusa428.com. See y’all next time!"