Is Social Media Gen Z’s Roman Forum? | KRISTEN MARSHALL | TEDxHeriot Watt University
In ancient times the Roman Forum was the beating heart of public life and it served as the site of civic life as well. With users turning to social media as a preferred site to access news, entertainment and information social media has become the major site of public life for the modern world – for good or ill. Generation Z are the first generational cohort to be born as ‘digital natives’ which means they are uniquely susceptible to the influence of social media but are also uniquely positioned to address the challenges and opportunities it offers. This talk will explore social media in the context of digital marketing, sharing insights from digital marketing research to present the challenges and opportunities for Generation Z to critically explore what role social media will play for this generation in the future – and what role Gen Z might take in shaping the future of social media Kristen Marshall is a Digital Marketing Lecturer at Heriot-Watt’s Edinburgh campus. Her research broadly focuses on the impact of social media, the interplay between online and offline habits and how consumers engage with social media around their values and identities. She has a wide range of experience teaching across marketing related courses – most recently Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Marketing Metrics, Digital Customer Experience, Contemporary Issues in Marketing and the Marketing Dissertation. She is passionate about embedding real-world, industry-led experience into Higher Education while creating extra-curricular opportunities for students. She grew up in Canada and lives in Scotland with her husband, three children and labradoodle. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
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