Digital Commons Network^™

Ethical Crisis Communication On Social Media: Combining Situational Crisis Communication Theory, Stakeholder Theory, And Kant's Categorical Imperatives, Kayla Christine Murphy

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This guide was created to serve as a tool for crisis communications to assist in crafting ethical responses to crises using social media as the primary communications channel. The guide combines Stakeholder Theory (Freeman, 1984)—a management theory that focuses on the importance of different groups of people, not just shareholders—with Situational Crisis Communication (Coombs, 2007). The guide also adheres to two of Kant’s Categorical Imperatives as the ethical basis and marker. To create the guide, the author relied on archival, or documentary, research to provide the background information and theory to inform the creation of the guide. The guide is …

The Climate Of Public Opinion In The Digital Age: Exploring The Impact Of Social Media On Freedom Of Expression And Political Activeness In Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Hassan Faqihi

Student Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to examine how social media changed the culture of expression in Saudi Arabia. This study surveyed 400 Saudis who use social media in order to explore potential correlations between degree of expression, political activeness, amount of social media use, perceived opinion climate, government censorship and purposes for using social media. A survey questionnaire was used to answer proposed hypotheses and research questions. The results found strong correlations between different variances, namely the amount of social media use, degree of expression freedom, and level of political activeness. Also a strong significant impact was found on the way …

Computer Supported Collaborative Learning: A Business Simulation Activity Using Social Media, Siyoung Chung, Hichang Cho

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Social media are dramatically changing the way welive and make social relationships with others. While students areso immersed in social media in their daily life, social mediaadoption in classroom has been slow. Educators who wish toexperiment with social media for CSCL struggle to find ways toincorporate the expected benefits and advantages of social mediato teaching lessons. This paper reports on the experiences ofusing social media for a business case simulation activity in ahigher learning context. Drawing on a qualitative feedback andsocial media log data of 27 teams of 135 undergraduate students,this paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of socialmedia as …

Confessions Of An Angry Employee: The Dark Side Of De-Identified “Confessions” On Facebook, Arunima Krishna, Soojin Kim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Employees’ communication behaviors are an important area of research for public rela-tions. In this study, employees’ communication behaviors in a de-identified context havebeen studied from the perspective of online flaming by analyzing “confessions” posted on aFacebook confessions page. The theoretical perspectives of the uses and gratification theoryand employee communication behavior in public relations literature were adopted in thisstudy. Positive and negative “confessions” were analyzed to identify employees’ motiva-tions in posting them. While negative posts expressing anger and frustration at policies,personnel, and the management in general dominated the page, positive posts indicatedexpressions of pride, nostalgia, and gratitude for social support from …

News Recommendations From Social Media Opinion Leaders: Effects On Media Trust And Information Seeking, Jason Turcotte, Chance York, Jacob Irving, Rosanne M. Scholl, Raymond J. Pingree

Faculty Publications

Polls show a strong decline in public trust of traditional news outlets; however, social media offers new avenues for receiving news content. This experiment used the Facebook API to manipulate whether a news story appeared to have been posted on Facebook by one of the respondent's real-life Facebook friends. Results show that social media recommendations improve levels of media trust, and also make people want to follow more news from that particular media outlet in the future. Moreover, these effects are amplified when the real-life friend sharing the story on social media is perceived as an opinion leader. Implications for …

Designing And Testing An Inventory For Measuring Social Media Competency Of Certified Health Education Specialists, Julia M. Alber, Jay M. Bernhardt, Michael Stellefson, Robert M. Weiler, Charkarra Anderson-Lewis, M. David Miller, Jann Macinnes

Faculty Publications

Objective: The aim of this study was to design, develop, and test the Social Media Competency Inventory (SMCI) for CHES and MCHES.

Methods: The SMCI was designed in three sequential phases: (1) Conceptualization and Domain Specifications, (2) Item Development, and (3) Inventory Testing and Finalization. Phase 1 consisted of a literature review, concept operationalization, and expert reviews. Phase 2 involved an expert panel (n=4) review, think-aloud sessions with a small representative sample of CHES/MCHES (n=10), a pilot test (n=36), and classical test theory analyses to develop the initial version of the SMCI. Phase 3 included a field test …

Revolutionary Intelligence: The Expanding Intelligence Role Of The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Udit Banerjea

Journal of Strategic Security

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is a military and paramilitary organization that is meant to defend the ideals of the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979. Since its formation, the IRGC has grown in influence and its intelligence role has expanded. This paper examines the role of the IRGC in Iran’s intelligence system through a comprehensive analysis of the organization of the IRGC’s intelligence arm, along with its operations and capabilities. In doing so, the scope, objectives, resources, customers, and sponsors of the IRGC’s intelligence activities are also analyzed. Additionally, this paper explores how the IRGC interacts with the government …

Use Of Social Media As A Virtual Community And Support Group By Left Ventricular Assist Device (Lvad) Patients, Bryan Boling, Amanda Hart, Chizimuzo T.C. Okoli, Tamra Halcomb, Peggy El-Mallakh

The VAD Journal

Abstract

Background

Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) patients may benefit from participating in a social support group; however, several factors may limit the availability of these communities. Alternatively, online social support communities may be more accessible for LVAD patients. No studies have examined patterns and reasons for health-related social media use among people with LVADs

Methods

An online survey of patients actively participating in LVAD social media groups was conducted using both multiple choice and open-ended questions.

Results

Thirty-nine participants (65% male) completed the survey. Participants’ reasons for weekly engagement in online communities were to seek (69.2%) and offer (66.7%) …

Creating A Digital Community In Colleges Through An Interactive Theater Intervention: Guidelines For Cyberbullying Prevention During Freshmen Orientation Week, Benjamin Hindell

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Cyberbullying has created a demand for trainings and workshops that propose “digital citizenship” in schools. These trainings focus on respect for one’s self, peers, and community on and offline (Collier, 2012). Most research in the area has been on junior-high and high-school-age students. However, studies have shown that college age youth also experience cyberbullying. Freshmen may begin college with the psychological trauma of bullying and/or cyberbullying experienced in junior high and high school. They may be perpetrators, victims or both. I propose an interactive cyberbullying prevention program designed for incoming college freshmen that addresses the dynamics of traditional and cyberbullying, …

(Re)Connecting With Listeners: How Radio Stations Are Reaching Beyond The Dial (And Their Competitors) To Connect With Their Audience, Alyxandra Sherwood

Theses

Radio has a history of adapting to new technologies to spread its signal farther and more efficiently to a larger audience. With the emergence of social media, the audience has begun to use non-traditional media channels to reach back and out to each other, thus by-passing traditional media outlets such as radio. Prior studies examined how the audience has shifted its daily routine to incorporate new technology. The present study sought to determine to what extent radio stations in New York State have adapted to use non-traditional media channels, how often they update those channels, and if revenue type had …

How Sports Celebrities Handle Crisis: The Analysis Of Social, Traditional And Controlled Media, Nicole Renee Hendricks

Dissertations

Professional golfer Tiger Woods and former professional cyclist Lance Armstrong were both involved in cheating scandals beginning in 2009 and 2010, respectively. In 2009, allegations of Woods’ infidelity surfaced after Woods crashed his car and had an argument with his wife Elin outside their Orlando home. Woods remained quiet about the incident with his wife and about his alleged infidelity until a press conference was held months later. In the press conference, Woods apologized and admitted the cheating allegations were true.

Lance Armstrong was initially accused of doping and using performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) by a French sports newspaper in 2005. …

Examining The Impact Of Information Communication Technology On Social Skills And Total Likability, Aaron Lee Wallis

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Efficacy Of Social Media Utilization By Public Accounting Firms: Findings And Directions For Future Research, B. Eschenbrenner, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, V. Telaprolu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Social media presents a new platform for businesses to communicate and interact with others, both internally and externally. Social media may be utilized for activities such as sharing success stories and providing industry updates. Although a plethora of opportunities to achieve business objectives with social media usage exists, the efficacy of its use by public accounting firms is unclear. This article identifies the business objectives that Big 4 and second-tier firms are pursuing with social media. Primary business objectives being fulfilled by social media include Knowledge Sharing, Branding and Marketing, and Socialization and Onboarding. The findings suggest that Big 4 …

Using Facebook Advertising To Connect With Extension Audiences, Glenn D. Israel, Ruth H. Borger, Kelly Greer, Susan Kelly, Keri Leymaster Byrum, Jennifer Pelham, Norma Samuel, Lloyd O. Singleton, Robert H. Wells, Timur Momol

Journal of Extension

There is considerable interest in using social media to reach Extension audiences. The study's main objective was to assess the effectiveness of Facebook promotion and event advertising on creating new client contacts as measured by "Likes." The results show the fan base for each county increased slowly prior to and following the Facebook ad, while it increased more rapidly during the advertisement period. Thus, Facebook advertising appears to be an effective tool to increase awareness of Extension Facebook pages. Extension professionals should consider investing in Facebook advertising to expand their fan base.

The Social Media Marketing Map (Part 1): A Tool To Empower The Digital Leaders Of Extension, Amanda Christinsen, Paul Hill, Sidney Horrocks

Journal of Extension

To date, Extension still lacks a strong social media presence. By now the majority of Extension professionals understand the importance of social media in advertising their programs, but don't know where to start. The Social Media Marketing Map (SMMM) provides guidance, helping busy Extension professionals design and implement a social media strategy to engage audiences and connect them to online or face-to-face Extension events.

Analyzing Domestic Abuse Using Natural Language Processing On Social Media Data, J Nicolas Schrading

Theses

Social media and social networking play a major role in billions of lives. Publicly available posts on websites such as Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and Facebook can contain deeply personal accounts of the lives of users – and the crises they face. Health woes, family concerns, accounts of bullying, and any number of other issues that people face every day are detailed on a massive scale online. Utilizing natural language processing and machine learning techniques, these data can be analyzed to understand societal and public health issues. Expensive surveys need not be conducted with automatic understanding of social media data, allowing …

Isu Tubuh Perempuan Dalam Post Terkait Nobra Day Melalui Sudut Pandang Feminisme Posmodern, Margarita Febrica Nonga Putri

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

Woman’s body is an issue in No Bra Day movement in the social media, basically, mobilizes female netizens to fight breast cancer together by taking off their bras for a day. As it started globally on October 13th, 2013, this movement attracts pro and contra reaction. The responses are linked by the use of related hash tags. As exposing women’s body to the public sphere considered as uncommon, this movement is oftentimes underestimated. On the contrary, this movement brings a new meaning on woman’s body. This encoded meaning cannot be absorbed thoroughly by the female netizens because of the patriarchal …

Understanding Computer-Mediated Health Communication: Meta-Analytical Reviews Of Social-Media-Based Interventions, Online Support Group, And Interactive Health, Qinghua Yang

Open Access Dissertations

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) has been increasingly applied in health communication to provide interventions and education. A key question confronting health communication research is the effects of new technology on health communication. Despite the advantages of computer-mediated health communication (CMHC), the overall results of computer-mediated health interventions are mixed. To provide insights to CMHC scholars and generate cumulative knowledge, the current dissertation project consists of three meta-analytical reviews under the umbrella of CMHC. Specifically, three studies analyzed the general effectiveness of social-mediabased health intervention, online support groups, and online interactive health interventions. Moreover, a series of moderator analyses were conducted to …

Library Display 2.0: Evolving From Monologue To Dialogue, Ilishe Mikos, Brandy R. Horne, Kari D. Weaver

Faculty Publications

Generally created by individual librarians and anchored to a physical space, library displays are often static, limited, and fleeting. However, these displays can evolve into wider, more affective, multi-dimensional, 21st century, virtual spaces by incorporating collaborative discourse between multiple librarians, by reaching out to the community for content, and by using technological tools, such as email, Google Drive, Google Images, QR codes, and social media. This paper presents a case study of the life of a library display from inception through execution. By pooling the skills, experiences, and stakeholder networks of two librarians and an MLIS intern, the library’s December …

Missing Photos, Suffering Withdrawal, Or Finding Freedom? How Experiences Of Social Media Non-Use Influence The Likelihood Of Reversion, Eric P.S. Baumer, Shion Guha, Emily Quan, David Mimno, Geri K. Gay

Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

This article examines social media reversion, when a user intentionally ceases using a social media site but then later resumes use of the site. We analyze a convenience sample of survey data from people who volunteered to stay off Facebook for 99 days but, in some cases, returned before that time. We conduct three separate analyses to triangulate on the phenomenon of reversion: simple quantitative predictors of reversion, factor analysis of adjectives used by respondents to describe their experiences of not using Facebook, and statistical topic analysis of free-text responses. Significant factors predicting either increased or decreased likelihood of reversion …

Reported Literacy, Media Consumption And Social Media Use As Measures Of Relevance Of Spanish As A Heritage Language, Isabel Velázquez

Spanish Language and Literature Papers

Aims and objectives: This paper explores one dimension of language maintenance among college-aged heritage speakers of Spanish (HSS) in three communities of the U.S. Midwest. The aim was to understand whether Spanish was relevant at a point in life in which they were developing their own networks away from their families. Research questions: Were reading and writing in Spanish relevant for the participants? Did they use Spanish when on social media? Did they text in Spanish? Was Spanish relevant for them when consuming content on electronic media?

Methodology: This analysis is part of a larger study on HSS in communities …

Detecting, Modeling, And Predicting User Temporal Intention, Hany M. Salaheldeen

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

The content of social media has grown exponentially in the recent years and its role has evolved from narrating life events to actually shaping them. Unfortunately, content posted and shared in social networks is vulnerable and prone to loss or change, rendering the context associated with it (a tweet, post, status, or others) meaningless. There is an inherent value in maintaining the consistency of such social records as in some cases they take over the task of being the first draft of history as collections of these social posts narrate the pulse of the street during historic events, protest, riots, …

How Does The Fortune 500 Use Twitter To Engage Stakeholders? An Examination Of Interactivity, Message Valence, And Company Type, Michael North

Open Access Dissertations

This study examines how Fortune 500 companies use Twitter on a daily basis. Chapters include an introduction explaining the importance of Twitter to companies by discussing some of the most damaging 140-character mishaps and some impressive crisis management strategies. A literature review is presented beginning with a discussion of computer-mediate communication (CMC), interactivity, word-of-mouth (WOM), message valence, and ending with a section differentiating between business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) companies. Lastly, the methodology, operationalizations, and research design are presented to examine companies’ interactivity with users, message valence, how B2Bs differ from B2Cs, and how long users can expect to wait …

How Social Is Social? Nonprofit Audience Engagement By Types Of Facebook Posts, Linda Mckay

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

In the 1960s, philosopher Jürgen Habermas introduced his idea of the public sphere—a space where citizens could meet openly to discuss all manner of issues facing society, free of controlling influence like the state. The discussions integral to Habermas’s public sphere rely on Buber’s relational theory of dialogue wherein participants meet in the “between” to understand each other. Modern scholars, conjecture that the Internet and possibly even social networking sites (SNSs) like Facebook and Twitter are the modern-reincarnation of Habermas’s public sphere. This study reviews current literature supporting the theory that SNSs can function as modern-day public spheres and conducts …

Spotting The Self-Monitor: Accuracy In Self-Monitoring Based On Facebook Profiles, Elizabeth Danielle Ramirez

Theses and Dissertations

Past studies have examined the relationship between social network usage and certain personality traits. For instance, correlations have been found between Facebook usage and personality aspects such as narcissism, shyness, and interdependence. However, previous research has only looked at self-ratings and researcher coding of such personality traits in order to look at these relationships. Furthermore, few studies have examined how accurately individuals are perceived or how accurately they present themselves using Facebook profiles. The current study examined the relationship between self-ratings and perceiver ratings of self-monitoring and likability. In the first phase of the study, a self-rating scale was used …

Social Media As Game Strategy: Twitter In The #Infolit Instruction Session, Kelly M. Blanchat, Lydia Willoughby

Publications and Research

The lure of distractions can entice even the strongest of student wills in a computer classroom. Research requires strategic thinking and ordered planning to drown out the noise of online distractions. This poster demonstrates a unique way to capitalize on the natural overlap of research, communication, and social media by employing game strategy to lead learning outcomes for undergraduate student research. Instead of silencing social media, this activity incorporates Twitter as a platform to introduce information literacy concepts and participatory practices of scholarship.

Wide Right: How Isp Immunity And Current Laws Are Off The Mark In Protecting The Modern Athlete On Social Media, Dominick J. Mingione

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

“[Y]our tranny looking dad is a disgrace to American football,” “I would rape the shit out of her,” and “[The] [B]ears are easier than you on prom night,” are just a sampling of some of the alarmingly harassing tweets received by Chloe Trestman between the night of November 9, 2014 and November 10, 2014. Who is Chloe Trestman, and what could she have possibly done to warrant such abuse? Chloe’s father is Marc Trestman, the head coach of the Chicago Bears. And the twitter vitriol, or “twitriol,” directed toward Chloe was in response to the Bears’ blowout loss to their …

Public Relations For The Bereaved: Online Interactions In A Community For Stillbirth And Neonatal Death Charity, Roxana Maiorescu

Emerson Authors, Researchers, & Creators

This paper uses the case of the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society (SANDS) in the UK and assesses its use of social media. The results reveal that SANDS engages in one-way communication and fails to take full advantage of the potential of the Web 2.0 to increase awareness, raise funds, and break the taboo around stillbirth and neonatal death. The results can be used to improve SANDS’ online communication and can be applied by similar nonprofits in the UK.

Tongues Untied Truth Revealed: Body Image, Social Media, Identity Development, And Meaning-Making In Overweight And Obese Black Gay Msm, Amari Ja-Lynn Enam

Dissertations

This phenomenological study explored the meanings attributed to internalized messages about body image within the context of identity development from the perspectives of overweight/obese men of African descent (OMAD) among a group of 6 men who have sex with men (MSM). I was interested in those messages that have been incorporated, adopted, or integrated into OMAD-MSM’s sense of self. Informants shared body image-related experiences from interactions with family, friends, dating/sex partners, and the media/social media.

Academic literature has explained identity development processes among African Americans through various lenses but research has not adequately explored the convergence of multiply oppressed social …

Testing The Pub Principle: A Look At Push And Pull Communication On Facebook, Tyler Grant Page

Theses and Dissertations

This research tests the value of push and pull communication on Facebook in the first effort to test the validity of the Pub Principle and Social Intrusion Theory. This theory explains how audiences engage in a tug-of-war with commercial forces during mass communication and that commercial messaging is ultimately dependent upon the acceptance or rejection of its intended audience. The pub principle explains that social media is unlike traditional mass media and that the rules commercial forces must play by are different than for other mass media. Using a mixed-method approach, this research confirms the validity of this principle and …