Social media are the background environment for an increasingly large part of our social life. This means that we often take their functioning for granted, resulting in a habitual use that is scarcely aware of how they impact on our communication.

The course aims to provide students with operational tools to get to know the features (technical, normative, cultural) of the main social media platforms, in order to be able to exploit them for the analysis and production of content suitable for the specific online contexts.

The course has a workshop orientation. After an introduction on the history and evolution of social media, students will work in groups on projects that will allow them to practically deal with the communication methods best suited to the platforms' properties.  

1. History and development of digital social media platforms

• At the origin of social networking sites .
• Platformisation of cultural production.
• Socio-demographic characteristics of user audiences.
• Current trends in social media development and the trans-platform perspective.
• Group work 1: Social media trends (10% of the final grade).

2. Knowing the platforms' specificities

• Affordance, regulation and cultures: how to analyse the platforms' features (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, Telegram, Tumblr).
• Group work 2: Mapping the platforms: Each group constructs a map of a platform of their choice and presents the analysis of the affordances through the walkthrough method to the rest of the class (15% of the finale grade).
• Group work 3: Platforms regulation: The groups will analyse the various forms of regulation of the platforms chosen for the previous work and must produce content that simplifies and disseminates the community guidelines of the same platform (15% of the final grade).

3. Producing content to inform, entertain, promote and activate

• Group work 4: Riding the trends. The groups will work on the creation of entertainment content based on the current trends of the chosen platforms (25% of the final grade)
• Group work 5: Disseminating through social media. The groups will be provided with articles and research reports on relevant social science topics and will have to produce dissemination content in audio, video, visual and text form (25% of the final grade). 

1. Knowledge and understanding: theoretical and methodological knowledge that enables students to approach the analysis of social media platforms, with a focus on the platforms' development, affordances and regulation processes.

1.1 Students gain this knowledge by attending lectures and seminars, reading further material and group exercises.

2. Applying knowledge and understanding: through the ability to create content tailored to the characteristics and cultures of the social media platforms.

2.1. These skills will be acquired through group works.

3. Making informed judgements: students will learn to critically observe the technical, regulatory and social constraints of platforms. 

3.1. This critical look will be exercised in classroom discussions on concrete case studies and in group work.

4. Communication skills: students are expected to actively participate in lectures, exchange opinions and materials on the course's online spaces, and present group work with an appropriate style and specific vocabulary.

4.1. Communication skills will be practised through class discussion and in the presentation of group work. 

5. Learning skills: students will be expected to adopt a learning method capable of combining theoretical and methodological tools from the relevant literature with the ever-changing landscape of digital cultures.

5.1. Learning skills will be exercised through classroom discussions, confrontation with fellow students and during group work.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Slides, video materials and recommended readings will be made available on the dedicated blended learning platform.

Teaching

.In-class lectures, seminars, discussion in class and in the online space, group work.

Innovative teaching methods

Flipped classroom: group presentations where students relate the results of their research to the rest of the class. Discussion, sharing and production of content in the Discord space of the course. Use of Discord as a parallel channel to intervene and ask questions.

Attendance

Students must attend at least 75% of classes and participate in group work. Students who do not meet these requirements are considered "non-attending students" and therefore must study the texts indicated in the "non-attending students" section of the syllabus.

Course books

Supplementary texts useful for group work will be provided during the course. Students who complete the group work and whose work is assessed as sufficient do not need to prepare further texts for the exam.

Assessment

For attending students who have done all the group works to a sufficient standard, the examination will focus on the discussion of the materials produced during the work.

Will result in excellent evaluations: the student's possession of good critical and in-depth skills; the ability to link together the main themes addressed in the course; the use of appropriate language with respect to the specificity of the discipline.
Will result in fair evaluations: the student's possession of a knowledge of the contents; a relative critical ability and ability to connect the topics covered: the use of appropriate language.
Will result in sufficient evaluations: the student's attainment of a minimal knowledge of the topics covered, despite some formative gaps; the use of inappropriate language.
Will result in negative evaluations: difficulty in the student's orientation to the topics addressed in the examination texts; formative gaps; the use of inappropriate language.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Individual study of the texts in the syllabus and use of the resources available on the Moodle platform.
 

Attendance

Study of the indicated texts.
 

Course books

In order to provide the opportunity for non-attending students to compensate through autonomous study what is covered during the lectures, the following materials referring to the same contents of the syllabus are indicated for the purpose of promoting their full understanding:

• Eichhorn, K. (2023). Content: L'industria culturale nell'era digitale. Torino: Einaudi

• Cannavacciuolo, A. (2020). Manuale di copywriting e scrittura per i social: Come scrivere per Facebook, Instagram e LinkedIn. Milano: Hoepli.

• Girolami, A. (2022). Scrolling infinito: Come creare contenuti per vincere la guerra dell'attenzione. Available at: https://scrollinginfinito.it/ 

Students wishing to undertake the course in English are invited to contact the lecturer to agree on the specifics of the study programme.

Assessment

Students will be tested through an oral exam based on the texts listed in the syllabus.

Excellent grades will be given for: the student's capacity for criticism and in-depth study; the ability to link the main themes addressed in the course; the use of appropriate language with respect to the specific nature of the discipline.
The following will result in good grades: the student's possession of a mnemonic knowledge of the contents; a certain critical ability and the capacity to link the topics discussed: the use of appropriate language.
Sufficient assessments will be obtained by: the student's achievement of a minimal knowledge of the subjects dealt with, despite the presence of some learning gaps; the use of a non-appropriate language.
Negative assessments will be given for: the student's difficulty in orienting himself/herself in relation to the topics dealt with in the texts of the examination; gaps in learning; the use of inappropriate language.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.