Week 1 Notebook
General musings as I read: Two readings so far, one from 2008, one from 2011. Certainly, some foundational concepts here, but in some ways, this content seems quaint given the digital contexts in which most of us participate in our daily lives. Even our phones tell us how much time we spend online and in communities in the Web 2.0 environment. The Kietzman et al "Get Serious" article seems really out of date, even if foundational. I just left an edtech where our marketing arm sucked up so many resources it seemed sometimes that the product development was a bit of an afterthought. I don't think any executive now doesn't embed some deep strategy in their operations to engage with social media and marketing, to build market share, brand awareness, and get actionable customer feedback and analytics. AI is definitely making this sort of community-building around a brand far more compelling with personalized interactions. It is also interesting to think about how organizations use social media to build their community within the organization. The edtech I worked for enabled so much interconnectivity to each other and to tools within the organization, too. I got used to it, but Slack was a bit disorienting at first, even though I really appreciated not having an overburdened email inbox. And Slack was fully integrated with our CRM, Sales Force.Com and several other platforms we used.
From a Gemini AI query, it cites the 2011 Kietzmann et al. framework as foundational but updates it — which seems somewhat distinct from the original, and much more timely. See Below:
FROM Gemini AI:
| Functional Block [, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] | Original 2011 Definition (Kietzmann et al.) | Modern 2026 Evolution | Key Strategic Shift |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity | The extent to which users reveal their identities (name, age, gender, profession, location). | Persona & Verification | Shift from self-disclosure to managed, AI-enhanced avatars and paid verification for authenticity. |
| Conversations | The extent to which users communicate with others; includes conversation velocity and risks. | Algorithmic Curation | Interaction is now primarily dictated by discovery algorithms and private "Dark Social" channels. |
| Sharing | The extent to which users exchange, distribute, and receive content via social graphs. | Remixing & Co-Creation | From broadcasting links to active "remixing" where the consumer becomes the co-producer. |
| Presence | The extent to which users can know if others are available or where they are. | Immersive Real-Time | "Being there" through 24/7 Live Streams, VR/AR, and ephemeral spatial updates. |
| Relationships | The extent to which users can be related to others (managing structural network properties). | Creator Economy | Peer-to-peer networks are often replaced by parasocial relationships with niche content creators. |
| Reputation | The extent to which users can identify the standing of others, often tied to trust and sentiment. | Trust & Authenticity | Reputation is no longer just "likes" but "signal-to-noise" ratio and human-in-the-loop validation. |
| Groups | The extent to which users can form communities; includes membership rules and protocols. | DAO & Token-Gated Tribes | Shift to exclusive, self-governing groups using digital assets (tokens/NFTs) for access. |
References
Ahmed, S., & Aziz, S. (2024). The role of real-time engagement in digital trust and authenticity. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 12(4), 1025. nih.gov
Aw, E. C. X., & Agnihotri, R. (2024). Consumers’ parasocial interactions and influencers as third-party endorsers: A modern relationship study. Journal of Consumer Marketing. doi.org
Feng, Y., & Sun, H. (2025). AI-augmented co-creation: Shifting the sharing paradigm in digital marketing. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. doi.org
Gregory, R. W., et al. (2026). Algorithmic stakeholder governance: How social media algorithms shape digital lives. Journal of Management Information Systems. miami.edu [1]
Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, F., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business Horizons, 54(3), 241-251. sfu.ca
Koay, K. Y., et al. (2024). The mediating role of parasocial relationships in the creator economy. Journal of Strategic Marketing. doi.org
Neo, J. R., et al. (2025). Cutting through the fog: Investigating human identification of deepfakes and persona. Journal of Documentation, 82(3). doi.org [1]
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