Social Media Commons^™

Black Female Athletes’ Use Of Social Media For Activism: An Intersectional And Cyberfeminist Analysis Of U.S. Hammer-Thrower, Gwen Berry's 2019 And 2021 Podium Protests, Ariel Newell

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Much attention has been paid to Black male athlete activism both historically and in the contemporary movement for black lives. Black female athletes have also made historic contributions as activists, and they continue to do so. However, Black female athlete activism has not always been acknowledged or heard. This is a problem, as Black women in American sports and society face overlapping racial and gender inequities and injustices that distinctly marginalize and oppress them. However, some Black female athlete activists (BFAAs) have begun using social media to challenge media narratives about themselves, to redefine what it means to be a …

The Intersection Of Digital Communication & Non-Profit Organizations, Aliyah Burton

Senior Honors Theses

Non-profit organizations are actively addressing prevalent issues in society, seeking to benefit the public and those in need through various forms of intervention and programming. Non-profits have unique leadership and culture, requiring models of communication that fit these unique qualities. Communication is vital to the success of non-profits, particularly in a digital age. This thesis synthesizes the current research on non-profit culture and leadership with data on donor trends, online giving, social media practices, and more points of interest for non-profits when it comes to digital communication. Additionally, a connection is made between strong digital communication strategies and ongoing donor …

Show Me And What Will I Remember? Exploring Recall In Response To Nws Tornado Warning Graphics, Laura Morgan Fischer, Ginger Orton, Jeannette Sutton, Madison Wallace

Journal of Applied Communications

It is critical that organizations deliver timely, effective communication about potential risks and life-saving information. The National Weather Service (NWS) developed a suite of messages known as “experimental graphic products” to be automatically distributed through their local official Twitter accounts at the onset of fast-moving, severe weather events such as tornadoes. However, recent research has suggested messages need to be carefully constructed for audiences to place attention to the content, remember the content, and later act in response to the content. The purpose of this study is to explore what people recall of the NWS Twitter message. We used an …

Exploring Source Credibility When Communicating About Agricultural Science On Twitter, Allison R. Fortner, Alexa J. Lamm, Abigail Borron, Jessica Holt, Allen J. Moore

Journal of Applied Communications

Universities must strategically communicate agricultural science to effectively reach millennials skeptical of agricultural innovations and constantly assessing the credibility of online information. Universities are trusted information sources and must maintain credibility on social media platforms such as Twitter, used by millennials to receive and share information. Source credibility seeks to understand message source and recipient characteristics that influence recipients’ perceptions of a source’s expertise and trustworthiness. The purpose of this study was to explore differences in engagement when specific factors affecting source credibility were emphasized when communicating with millennials about agricultural science on Twitter. The purpose was accomplished by describing …

Modelling Online Advertising Design Quality Influences On Millennial Consumer Attitudes In South Africa, Rodney G. Duffett Dr, Natassha V. Miller Ms

The African Journal of Information Systems

Millennials’ advanced knowledge and exposure to product experiences, and irrelevant placement of online advertising has led to an increase of online advertising avoidance. However, effective online advertising design may assist in establishing more positive sentiments towards digital forms of marketing communication. The study used the visual rhetoric theory as the theoretical basis to examine millennial consumer attitudes. The main research aims were to propose an online advertising design quality model, and to ascertain the influence of online advertising design quality on millennial consumer attitudes. The study employed a quantitative research design via an empirical online survey. Online advertising design quality …

An Analysis Of Players, Teams And Trends As The World Cup Approaches, Jin-A Choi, Yi Luo, Stephen P. Andon, Bond Benton, Keith Green, Keith Strudler

School of Communication and Media Scholarship and Creative Works

While the World Cup is historically a source of national pride for competing nations, the globalization of the sport of soccer and the expansion of coverage of top soccer leagues from around the world also creates the opportunity for sports fans to build a strong sense of fandom for athletes from around the globe. Therefore, while we would expect fans to cheer for their “home” nation and athletes in the upcoming World Cup, we also recognize that fans may have cheering alliances that reside outside national borders. Using the United States as example, its fans have increasingly chosen favorite teams …

Hate Speech Spikes On Twitter After Elon Musk Acquires The Platform, Bond Benton, Jin-A Choi, Yi Luo, Keith Green

School of Communication and Media Scholarship and Creative Works

Unmoderated social media platforms frequently become a haven for misinformation, extremism, and hate. There are challenges unique to unmoderated social media platforms that make the removal of such content and the users who spread it particularly difficult (Artime et al., 2020). When a platform’s focus is unrestricted expression from users, those looking to share and spread antisocial content will presumably use such spaces to share perspectives that would likely be restricted on other platforms. Historically, examples of such “free speech absolutist” spaces suggest that this threat is very real. Specifically, 4chan serves as a space where online anonymity coupled with …

A Preview Of Post Amnesty Twitter: Analysis Of “Groomer” On Twitter After The Colorado Springs Shooting, Bond Benton, Yi Luo, Jin-A Choi, Keith Strudler, Keith Green

School of Communication and Media Scholarship and Creative Works

On November 24, 2022 Elon Musk stated that “general amnesty” would be given to Twitter accounts previously suspended for violent threats, harassment and misinformation. This appears to reflect Musk’s previously stated intent to run the platform as a “free speech absolutist.” The question in many people’s minds is what such an incarnation of Twitter will look like. The tragic shooting at an LGBTQIA+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Nov. 19-20 and the reaction the event generated on the platform provide a case that demonstrates the tensions that will come with reduced platform moderation. “Groomer,” a previously Twitter restricted slur …

Protests And Calls For Boycotting The Qatar World Cup 2022 Spark Online Discussion And Action Away From The Soccer Pitch, Yi Luo, Jin-A Choi, Stephen P. Andon, Bond Benton, Keith Green, Keith Strudler

School of Communication and Media Scholarship and Creative Works

Global sporting events regularly spark conversations on issues beyond the playing field, including those at the nexus of sport and geopolitics. This year’s World Cup is no exception, a conversation that began soon after the event was awarded by FIFA to Qatar, a Middle Eastern nation with a population of just over 3 million residents – exponentially smaller than typical hosts of such events – and with a record of exploitative labor systems and a highly questionable human rights record. While this conversation has led to protests and investigative reports on a range of news networks, it has also become …

Bounded Confidence: How Ai Could Exacerbate Social Media’S Homophily Problem, Dylan Weber, Scott Atran, Rich Davis

New England Journal of Public Policy

The advent of the Internet was heralded as a revolutionary development in the democratization of information. It has emerged, however, that online discourse on social media tends to narrow the information landscape of its users. This dynamic is driven by the propensity of the network structure of social media to tend toward homophily; users strongly prefer to interact with content and other users that are similar to them. We review the considerable evidence for the ubiquity of homophily in social media, discuss some possible mechanisms for this phenomenon, and present some observed and hypothesized effects. We also discuss how the …

Full Issue, Winthrop Mcnair Research Bulletin

The Winthrop McNair Research Bulletin

Winthrop McNair Research Bulletin Volume 5, Full Issue

Shut Up And Dribble: How Twitter Users Attempt To Mute Athlete Opinion, Monejah Black

The Winthrop McNair Research Bulletin

Professional athletes have engaged in several methods of activism to show their discontent with President Donald Trump, including forgoing the traditional White House visit for teams who win national championships. This form of protest has headlined the national media, especially since President Trump has personally uninvited players and teams through Twitter. NBA superstars, such as LeBron James, also took to Twitter to attack and criticize the president, resulting in a cascade of tweets from NBA players with disparaging remarks about the president. This research will analyze and categorize Twitter users’ replies to these tweets. Results show that most of the …

Columnas: The Honors Program Newsletter At Bentley University, Debayan Sen, Hailey Jennato, Gabe Holmes, Daniel Furze

Honors Program

Page 1: SOCIAL MEDIA—A VEHICLE FOR SOCIAL CHANGE OR VIRTUE SIGNALING? ~ By Debayan Sen ’23

Page 2: WILL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ROBOTICS REPLACE THE HUMAN WORKER? ~ By Hailey Jennato ’24

Page 3: HOW TO HEALTHILY COMMUNICATE IN A RELATIONSHIP: NO, NOT JUST A ROMANTIC ONE ~ By Gabe Holmes ’26

Page 4: THE W SLANT ~ By Daniel Furze ’26

A Study On Tourist Guides’ Use Of Social Media Platforms, Ozge Gudu Demirbulat

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

In this research, which was carried out to determine how and for what purposes tourist guides use social media platforms; the Facebook and Instagram accounts of 42 active tourist guides registered with the Trabzon Regional Chamber of Tourist Guides, which was established in accordance with the Profession Law of Tourist Guide numbered 6326, were examined. In the research, it was determined what kind of posts the tourist guides make on their Facebook and Instagram accounts, to what extent they use the relevant platforms as a personal promotional element, and to promote the relevant platforms in the tourism sector. In order …

Examining The Websites Of Fine Dining Restaurants Within The Framework Of Web-Based Marketing: Sample Of The World’S 50 Best Restaurants, Duran Cankul, Batuhan Aktepe

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

In this research, it is aimed to examine the websites of the world's best 50 restaurants within the scope of web-based marketing. In the research conducted for this purpose, the document analysis technique, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was used. According to the list of The World's 50 Best Restaurants, one of the most important restaurant rating systems in the world, the first 50 restaurants were included in the research. Content analysis was applied to the data obtained in the research. In the research, it was concluded that the websites were created under the headings of communication, …

Examining Social Media Views On Post-Pandemic Tourism Rebuilding: The Case Of Twitter, Muharrem Tuna, Nilgun Demirel Ili, Onur Celen

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

The world is trying to keep up with the COVID-19 pandemic's new normal conditions. The ongoing pandemic has adversely affected global tourism sectors and their activities like all sectors. Institutions and organizations in various countries, especially UNWTO, are taking initiatives to ensure the recovery of the tourism sector, which has been seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the case study design, one of the qualitative analysis methods, was used to examine the views on social media activity (motivation) that occurred for the resumption of tourism. In the study, the effects of the pandemic on tourism were determined and a …

Geriatric-Tourism, Pmr, And Thermal Treatments In The Third Age, Ozge Buyuk, Gulsah Akkus

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

This study aims to reveal the situation of geriatric-tourism (gerontourism) in Turkey with longitudinal data obtained from digital and social media. As a result of the study i) geriatric-tourists visiting Turkey mostly benefit from thermal treatments in complementary medicine and PMR in traditional medicine, and also resort to hair transplantation among aesthetic interventions, ii) they come mostly from Iraq and Libya (Middle East), Germany (Europe), Azerbaijan (the Turkic Republics), and Ukraine and Russia (CIS), iii) they mostly prefer big cities such as Izmir, Ankara, Istanbul, Antalya, Bursa, iv) motivation factors are cost, thermal resource richness, medical service quality and additional …

Impression Management Strategies On Instagram: The Case Of Masterchef And Sef Akademi, Nihan Yarmaci Guvenc, Ela N. Koz, Beybala Timur

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

The impressions that individuals form on people they interact with both in daily life and in business life have important outcomes. For this reason, individuals apply certain impression management strategies by using various tools. One of them is social media tools that have a huge impact on public opinion. In this context, this study aimed to determine the impression management strategies of six individuals who are jury members in MasterChef and Şef Akademi TV shows. Therefore, the study utilized a content analysis method based on the data collected from their Instagram posts. The results indicate that the study subjects use …

International Migrants And Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccinations: Social Media, Motivated Information Management, And Vaccination Willingness, Hyunjin Seo, Yuchen Liu, Muhammad Ittefaq, Fatemeh Shayesteh, Ursula Kamanga, Annalise Baines

School of Communication Studies - Faculty Scholarship

Objective

This study examines how those who were born outside the United States and migrated to the country in the past decade used social media and other online sites to deal with uncertainties around the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. In particular, we examine how they used digital communication technologies to tap into online resources and social connections both in the United States and their origin country and how various aspects of online information management were associated with their willingness to get vaccinated against the virus.

Method

We conducted an online survey and in-depth interviews with international migrants aged 18–64 years …

Use Of Twitter Among College Students For Academics: A Mixed-Methods Approach, Stefanie Amiruzzaman, Md Amiruzzaman

Languages & Cultures Faculty Publications

For almost a decade, Twitter use and its impact on students' academic performance have been explored by many researchers. Despite growing scholarly interest, studies have been mostly quantitative in nature. The findings of previous studies are conflicting; thus, an in-depth study is needed to determine how and what impacts college students' academic performance (i.e., GPA) when they spend time on Twitter. The purpose of this study was to understand the effects of Twitter use on college students' academic performance. The present study shows that individual analysis techniques, such as quantitative or qualitative tools, are not enough to understand the underlying …