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Fandom, Media Consumption, And College Sports Knowledge: A Survey Of College Undergraduates, Theodore Charles Greener Jan 2011

Fandom, Media Consumption, And College Sports Knowledge: A Survey Of College Undergraduates, Theodore Charles Greener

LSU Master's Theses

Sports fandom research often states sports fans know and understand facts surrounding various sports, teams, leagues, and players. College sports literature argues that media involvement increases popularity and revenues, and as a result, competition, controversy, and complexity. The Elaboration Likelihood Model posits that when involvement in a subject is high, so too is motivation and ability to comprehend, and as a result, cognition increases. Given this, results show that sports fandom acts similarly to issue involvement, leading to increased sports-media consumption. Together, both fandom and consumption lead to increased knowledge of facts surrounding college sports. Results imply that general interest …


Stay Calm And Tweet: A Best Practice Approach To The Use Of Social Media In A Crisis Situation, Elizabeth Barrow Tadie Jan 2011

Stay Calm And Tweet: A Best Practice Approach To The Use Of Social Media In A Crisis Situation, Elizabeth Barrow Tadie

LSU Master's Theses

At some point in its history every organization will face a crisis situation. How an organization responds to a crisis incident decides its survival. As Internet technology flourishes, public relations practitioners are provided with additional tools to manage crisis situations. This study investigates the role that emerging social media components play in the field of crisis management. It presents a best practice approach to using new technology in times of emergency. A qualitative study of Louisiana public relations practitioners analyzes how and why social media is being integrated into crisis communication plans. Social media components are used to quickly communicate …


The American Empire: A Content And Textual Analysis Of The Media Coverage Of The 2009 U.S. And Colombia Military Base Agreement, Britt Don Christensen Jan 2011

The American Empire: A Content And Textual Analysis Of The Media Coverage Of The 2009 U.S. And Colombia Military Base Agreement, Britt Don Christensen

LSU Master's Theses

The United States maintains a worldwide network of military bases and spends more on military expenses than the rest of the world combined. This project seeks to analyze how the U.S. mainstream media cover and discuss the American Empire both broadly and specifically. I conducted a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative textual analysis of the Media coverage of the 2009 U.S. – Colombian military base agreement, which was protested by Latin American leaders. I analyzed the coverage in the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN.com, and The Miami Herald regarding the US military’s use of bases in Colombia in …


There's An App For That: The Ways Young Adults Access Digital Information, Cydney Lauren Palmer Jan 2011

There's An App For That: The Ways Young Adults Access Digital Information, Cydney Lauren Palmer

LSU Master's Theses

Despite the popular use of smartphones and mobile applications (apps) and their potential impacts in the near future, only scant academic attention has been paid to mobile apps, especially in respect to the gratifications sought from accessing digital information via apps. This exploratory study investigated the relationship between young adults and their use of mobile apps in accessing digital information, particularly in comparison to the current go-to digital information access device, Internet browsers. In addition, this study examined how levels of perceived privacy concern influence digital information use and how the use of digital information access modalities and the level …


Celebrity Versus Non-Celebrity: Parasocial Relationships With Characters In Reality-Based Television Programs, Nicole Webb Henry Jan 2011

Celebrity Versus Non-Celebrity: Parasocial Relationships With Characters In Reality-Based Television Programs, Nicole Webb Henry

LSU Master's Theses

Research of parasocial relationships suggests that audiences engage in one-sided relationships with their favorite personae in the media. This study attempts to explore two types of reality stars: those who had fame before being on reality television and those who have fame because of the show. Using the PSR-Processing Scale, I compared levels of parasocial interactions for each, as well how moral disengagement might play a role for each type of reality star. I also explored whether these parasocial relationships are influenced by the frequency with which respondents watch various types of sub-genres of reality-based programs (i.e. game docs, dating …


Hospice Organizations On The Social Media Scene: Benchmarking The Uses And Strategies Of Hospice Organizations On The Internet In 2011, Emily Tiller Jan 2011

Hospice Organizations On The Social Media Scene: Benchmarking The Uses And Strategies Of Hospice Organizations On The Internet In 2011, Emily Tiller

LSU Master's Theses

As baby boomers age and the hospice industry grows to meet the demands for care, it is important that these organizations reach their consumers in sensitive and responsible ways. Building caring and mutually beneficial relationships with these consumers is important. Social media can give these organizations the platforms to build and maintain these relationships, but most of the hospice organizations in this qualitative study did not make good use of the opportunities online to relate to their publics. Using public relationships and relationship management measurements, this study monitored the online activity of seven hospice organizations. In general, these organizations under …


From "Courtesy Of The Red, White, And Blue" To "If You're Reading This": Patriotic Themes In Country Music Between 2000-2010, Claire S. Carville Jan 2011

From "Courtesy Of The Red, White, And Blue" To "If You're Reading This": Patriotic Themes In Country Music Between 2000-2010, Claire S. Carville

LSU Master's Theses

Music plays an important role in the lives of individuals and often reflects important societal values. Music can also serve as an important reflection of the public’s current opinion at a given point in time. Patriotism is a feeling of love for one’s homeland and has often been the subject matter of music lyrics throughout history. In particular, country music has been perceived as being an especially patriotic genre of music. This thesis utilized quantitative and qualitative content analyses as the methods to examine the patriotic content of country music lyrics over the past decade. The sample was adapted from …


Indexing And Economic News: Coverage Of The 2009 Economic Stimulus Debate, Portia Levasseur Jan 2011

Indexing And Economic News: Coverage Of The 2009 Economic Stimulus Debate, Portia Levasseur

LSU Master's Theses

Indexing theory predicts that, in certain issue areas, media coverage will index levels of elite debate. Elite controversy, the theory predicts, will embolden the press to include a broader variety of sources and coverage should reflect a more open public debate. This has important implications for public opinion. Proponents of the theory expect that it will operate in a variety of issue areas of news coverage, but support for the theory exists largely in the realm of foreign affairs coverage. This study examines television coverage of the 2009 economic stimulus package to evaluate levels of indexing for a domestic, macroeconomic …


The Effects Of Fantasy Football Participation On Team Identification And Nfl Fandom, Jeremy Lee Jan 2011

The Effects Of Fantasy Football Participation On Team Identification And Nfl Fandom, Jeremy Lee

LSU Master's Theses

Nearly 27 million people in North America played fantasy sports in 2009. This quantitative study examined how a person’s level of participation in fantasy football affects team identification, team loyalty, fandom of the National Football League (NFL), and consumer behavior. I also looked at whether fantasy football participants prefer a win by their fantasy team or their favorite team. An online survey was conducted using a snowball sample. I found higher participation levels result in higher team identification, higher team loyalty, and higher fandom, where fandom of the NFL is higher than team identification. Higher levels of participation also led …