Social computing is a branch of computer science that studies how people interact with computers and computational systems. Computing is inherently a social activity. Networks connect people for research, education, commerce, and entertainment. Today, a computer that is not connected to the internet appears to be broken—what can we do with it? Social Computing is concerned with how to make technology more person-centered.
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What is social computing?
The social and interactive aspect of online activity is known as social computing. The phrase may be interpreted in contrast to personal computing, which refers to the activities of single users.
Blogs, wikis, Twitter, RSS, instant messaging, multi-gaming, and open source development are just a few examples of social computing. It also includes social networking and social bookmarking sites. The concept of Web 2.0 can be interpreted as the architecture for applications that support its processes.
The term “social computing” is somewhat of a misnomer. It should not be implied that social computer applications are the same as artificial intelligence programs such as socially intelligent computing. The computer is required to exhibit social capabilities and make the person using it feel more socially engaged when they are not.
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Benefits of social computing
Social networking allows organizations to do many things, including disseminating information among its various users, keeping them up to date on new knowledge and experience, reducing interruptions, and connecting them with the best experts for particular needs.
The notion of “social computing” refers to increasing knowledge access speed. In addition, it allows for a wide range of information to be shared through interactions with numerous people. By connecting people and thus lowering the cost of communication, computer technology improves communication among many users. The methodology improves user performance and efficiency, increasing access to specialists. Users obtain a better performance and greater efficiency due to this method.
Social computing reduces traveling expenses since it is linked to the internet process, lowering labor and travel costs. As employee satisfaction rises, so does its role in improving performance and quality of service.
Since this method is used, the overall program’s operation costs, including labor and travel expenses, are reduced. This technique also aids in reducing the amount of time it takes to market your product. It increases economic revenue while also assisting in creating profit as opposed to previous traditional ideas. Social Media has resulted in several large-scale benefits for businesses, including increased traffic to websites and mobile apps and improved web/mobile business performance.
The technique has many more technology interactions and a larger total number of successful inventions. Lower product development costs and marketing expenditures are additional key advantages of the approach. The method also aids in the reduction of overall program research costs.
Types of social computing
Social computing is a social phenomenon whose study includes both a method and an approach. It has two main research themes: sociological study and applied research. And these two research trends affect one another in many ways.
Social science-oriented social computing
Computational social science is a field of study that emphasizes the application of computer technology to the study of society. Social networks analysis and computational social science are two examples of this study area.
First, social network analysis focuses on social fluidity, healthcare, key node mining for disease transmission, and community detection. The various methods of social network analysis are classified into three categories: agent-based modeling, theoretical physics method, and graph theory. Small-world research was pioneered by Milgram et al., with Watts et al. Barabasi, Décsy, et al. determined that the relationship between nodes followed a power-law distribution due to their research. In addition, there have been other important research findings, such as strong and weak ties, structural holes, and information cascades, among others.
Computational social science is also a hybrid discipline employing equation-based and computational modeling. The main emphasis of computational social science research is a sociological simulation and social system modeling via equation-based and computational modeling. As a key technology for computational social science, data mining uses machine learning techniques to find interesting and useful patterns in big data.
Application-oriented social computing
Application-oriented social computing is a specific type of application that uses its principles and technologies, such as communities, social networks, and sociology. The application-oriented social computing era was divided into three stages: group software, social software, and social media.
Groupware was first conceived in the 1970s, though it was initially employed in research institutions. The objective of groupware is to allow for cooperative activities via collaborative technology. Computer-based collaborative work and computer-supported cooperative learning are two prominent group software packages. In 2005, with the fast development of Web 2.0, social media was born.
Social media emphasizes user participation; users may generate, consume, and interact with one another over social networking sites. The wide use of ubiquitous gadgets such as mobile phones and smart devices has garnered much attention from academe and industry.
Examples of social computing
Social computing uses computers and software to create communities around shared interests. All of these examples and blogs, wikis, Twitter, RSS, instant messaging, multiplayer gaming, open-source development, and social networking and social bookmarking sites are all forms. Web 2.0 is closely linked to the notion of social computing.
Many less obvious kinds of social computing are accessible to us today. Consider eBay, where buyers can leave user reviews of sellers and their responses. Look to Amazon, where you may now rate the reviewer rather than only the product.
Importance of social computing in business
Communication methods that are innovative, creative, and mixed under social computing, social software, Web 2.0, or Enterprise 2.0 (E2.0) must revolutionize how companies conduct business.
Social computing has several business advantages:
Enhanced innovation
Most businesses that break away from the norm discover something-an opportunity -that can be exploited to continue the current success.
A successful corporate innovation strategy builds on current assets and concepts innovatively. The use of social computing opens a new stage for innovation, allowing for the easier detection of patterns and ideas.
Increased productivity
Productivity is generally enhanced due to more efficient access to accurate information. This shortens the time required for research and troubleshooting.
All scenarios, therefore, benefit from greater cooperation among members. As more questions are answered, the repeatability of answers improves. There is a baseline of knowledge to assist new employees in getting up to speed more quickly as they join the firm. Much of that information may be found in the social computing infrastructure as content.
Improved employee relations and engagement
Thanks to social media, employees can interact more readily with one another and the company as a whole. Shared connections also improve face-to-face conversations and feelings of belonging to the broader corporate community. Users interacting with one another around similar objectives establish new friendships, common interests are discovered, and cohesion improves as they interact.
Multiple tools have emerged to allow employees to express themselves and air their ideas. Social media, blogs, and wikis provide a space for the employee’s voices to be heard and their thoughts to be validated. They have the ability on many levels to influence company policy and decisions.
Attracting and keeping younger workers
Many argue that companies must modernize their IT infrastructure to appeal to younger employees. These professionals expect a more interactive, mobile, and ubiquitous working environment than previous generations.
It’s not simply about younger workers, either. Although that demographic has more time to experiment and develop facilities faster, people of all ages have used various social computing gadgets and applications.
Promotion and public relations
Publicly visible social computing is becoming increasingly popular among businesses to project brands. However, if this isn’t done carefully, it might be detrimental. An obvious blog authored by the PR department would irritate individuals. The forced “community” events will appear manufactured or opportunistic.
Social computing can help businesses get closer to their consumers and promote their brands. Social computing may improve customer relation management (CRM) because it allows a firm to respond quickly to client concerns by monitoring public opinion about its brand. Many major businesses have also begun using crowdsourcing for research. Enterprise 2.0 is the term businesses use to describe social computing applications in use.
