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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 11, No. 5
Publication Date: May 25, 2024
DOI:10.14738/assrj.115.17028.
Levenson, H. R. (2024). The Use of Social Media to Promote Societal Values in an Age of Corporate Competition: One Publishing
Company’s Paradigm-Sage. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 11(5). 346-367.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
The Use of Social Media to Promote Societal Values in an Age of
Corporate Competition: One Publishing Company’s Paradigm—
Sage
Harvey R. Levenson, Ph. D.
Professor Emeritus, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, California
ABSTRACT
This is a paper on the use of social media postings by a publishing company focusing
on issues of humane qualities of a diverse society, Sage. It is presented at a time
when the value and control of social media is in question and being scrutinized by
groups ranging from social scientists to the U.S. Congress as a medium that is
sometimes considered more detrimental than good for users across demographics.
However, Sage, part of a global academic community, developed uniquely positive
messaging for social media and is a model for other organizations. Starting with a
background of Sage, this study is deductive, starting with a brief history of
publishing in the United States and the world, and continuing with the history of
social media, with a focus on LinkedIn. The results present a model that is an
anomaly for social media postings typical of companies messaging to its followers.
Sage’s communication approach is not to sell products and services via social media,
but to educate its followers and stakeholders on the important issues of the day,
particularly those related to the social sciences. It “talks” to its followers and
provides free advice on how to best address human needs across demographics,
and the role that publishing plays in this. The research methods used in this study
are Historical and Descriptive Research, Content Analysis, and Elite and Specialized
Interviewing. The result is a model for communication via social media for
organizations wanting to communicate effectively to its publics. A Content Analysis
looks at four broad categories, 14 specific categories, and 90 topics. The study
covers the people behind the Sage LinkedIn postings; purpose of the postings; Sage
corporate morals, ethics, social responsibilities, values, and philosophy; Sage today
and prospects for the future. The company emits a sense that Sage is a good
company to work for, and with, because it cares about the personal concerns and
well being of society, regardless of whether businesses or individuals are customers
or not. An extensive literature review, including citations, and miscellaneous
publications are presented.
PROLOGUE
Communication is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through
a common system of symbols, signs, or behaviors. (Merriam-Webster)
Communication is the transmission or exchange of information, knowledge, and ideas, by
means of speech, writing, mechanical or electronic media. (Oxford English Dictionary)
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347
Levenson, H. R. (2024). The Use of Social Media to Promote Societal Values in an Age of Corporate Competition: One Publishing Company’s
Paradigm-Sage. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 11(5). 346-367.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.115.17028
Communication is the exchange of information and
expression of feelings that can result in understanding
between people and groups. (Cambridge Dictionary)
Communication is primarily focused on senders who pass
on their message to the receivers. (Aristotle)
This paper is about communication, a process that had a
prescribed workflow for centuries. Divided into two
categories, personal and impersonal, the options were
unchanged until relatively recently with the introduction
of electronics, computers, and social media. For example:
rhetoricians and communication experts have agreed that
the divide between traditional communication from most to
least influential is as follows.
Personal
Face-to-face, Telephone, Handwritten letter
Impersonal
Form letter, Direct mail advertisement, Electronic mailing
list
Computers and social media changed all of this with the
introduction of variable data printing (VDP), Artificial
Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual
Reality (VR); technologies in the hands of everyone
regardless of age or socio- economic status.
INTRODUCTION
This is a paper on the use of social media postings by a
publishing company focusing on issues of humane qualities
of a diverse society, Sage. It is at a time when the value and
control of social media is in question and being scrutinized
by groups ranging from social scientists to the US Congress
as a medium that may be more detrimental than good for
users across demographics. Sage established a positive use
of social media as a model for other organizations to follow.
The Undergirding of Sage
Sage is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California with
locations in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Toronto Canada,
the United Kingdom (UK), Australia, New Zealand, India,
and Singapore. It has substantial domestic and
international reach.
A Brief Evolution of Print
Media to Electronic Media
to Social Media – Time
compression increases with
time.
It took print media 568 years to develop
from Gutenberg’s movable type to the
electronic digital medium of today. Here
is a brief chronology.
Movable Type - Gutenberg - 1456
Linotype - Mergenthaler - 1886
Phototype - Harris - 1954
Satellite Transmission - Dow Jones -
1968
Computer Graphics on CRTs -
Engineering - 1974
Color Monitors/Transmission - 1977
Integrated Systems - Scitex - 1979
Color Satellite Transmission - Gannett
- 1980
Government Deregulation of
Telecommunication - 1980-1985
Low Cost Desktop Publishing - 1985-
1990
Multimedia - 1990-1995
On-demand Digital Color Printing -
1995-2000
2000+
The Diminishing of Prepress
E-commerce
Internet Publishing
Voice Recognition
AI - AR - VR
Levenson, Harvey. R., and John Parsons,
Introduction to Graphic Communication,
IntuIdeas, 2018, pp. 52-53.
Radio
It took radio between 25 and 45 years
(1895 – 1920/1945) to become the first
electronic mass medium, monopolizing
“the airwaves” and defining, along with
newspapers, magazines, and motion
pictures, an entire generation of mass
culture. In 1895 Italian inventor
Guglielmo Marconi built the equipment
and transmitted the first electrical signals
through the air.
Marconi predicted that radio would be
limited in distribution as part of an
exclusive user’s club by those who could
afford the technology.
“The Development of Radio,” PBS.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexpe
rience/features/rescue- development- radio/
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 11, Issue 5, May-2024
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Sage is a global academic publisher of books, journals, and
library resources with a growing range of technologies to
enable discovery, access, and engagement among its users
and followers. Believing that research and education are
critical in shaping society, Sara Miller McCune founded Sage
in 1965. Sage is known for its commitment to social science
research, journals, videos, and textbooks, and content
emphasizing critical thinking, data analysis, and
computational tools. Sage’s mission is building bridges to
knowledge — supporting the development of ideas through
the research process to scholarship that is certified, taught,
and applied. Sara McCune started the company’s first
journal. Today, Sage publishes more than 1,000 journals,
600 new books a year, videos, databases, case studies, and
more. Though Sage’s origins are in the United States, the
company expanded in the 1970’s and 80’s adding offices to
the UK and India, supporting quality research that
transforms society and its understanding of individuals,
groups, and cultures. Sage is committed to working
together with its publishing partners and scholarly
communities to support their growing needs and the
dissemination of their research.
A Communication Anomaly
Sage presents itself to the public, not through hard-core
overt and aggressive advertising typical of many
commercial enterprises, but through a sensitivity to the
social issues of the day. This approach emits a sense that
Sage is a good company to work with because it cares about
the personal concerns and well being of society, regardless
of whether businesses or individuals are customers or not.
The social medium of choice for Sage to post its messages is
LinkedIn, a popular platform for business-to-business (B- to-B) communication among professionals and more
educated subscribers than for open-ended casual platforms
used by people and oranizations of varying ages,
backgrounds, and interests. Examples of these latter
platforms are Facebook, X (previously called Twitter),
YouTube (for video exchanges), Instagram, Pinterest,
Snapchat, and TikTok, to name just a few. Sage created a
communication anomaly unlike any used by other
companies. It does not advertise its products and services;
it “talks” to people through its messaging about topics of
societal interest and concerns, today and in the future. For
example: the following topics are directly from Sage
LinkedIn postings. Notice the social tones strung
throughout: academic, social sciences, scholarship, books,
Television
It took television only nine years to be
publicly broadcast (1927- 1936). The
first public television broadcast took
place in London in 1936, and TV stations
started in the US in 1939. At about 1945,
the appearance of television began to
transform radio's content and role.
Because the earliest television sets were
very expensive, and broadcasts were
geographically limited, it wasn't until the
1950s that television became a mass
medium. Television was first introduced
in India in 1959, and Satellite TV was
introduced in the 1990s.
Fisher, David E., et. al., (Eds.), Science &
Technology, “Television,” Encyclopedia
Britannica, 3/11/24.
www.britannica.com/technology/televisio
n-technology
Social Media
Since its inception in 1996, social media
has infiltrated more than half of the 8.06
billion people in the world. Social
network platforms almost tripled in user
base in the last decade, from 970 million
in 2010 to over 4.95 billion users in
2023. Social media grew at “warp speed,”
compared to print and electronic
communication. Largely unregulated,
social media has had both a negative and
positive impact. Available around the
world to anyone at any place, regardless
of the economy of a society, social media
has caused social unrest and enhanced
revolutions by those living in deprived
societies wanting a better lifestyle. It has
also caused political upheavals. However,
it has had positive impacts on
communication efficiency, education, and
in government and business
negotiations. Relative to print and
electronic media, social media has not
had the advantages of time to develop
among individuals, communities,
businesses, and government at all levels.
Samur, Alexandra and Colleen Christian,
“The History of Social Media in 33 Key
Moments,” Hootsuite, 4/6/23.
https://blog.hootsuite.com/history-social- media/
This study demonstrates how one
company, Sage, has developed a positive
use of social media using LinkedIn as its
platform, representing a model for other
organizations to emulate in the pursuit of
positive use of social media.