Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Medical Misinformation On The American Public, Jessica Ashby

Ballard Brief

Medical misinformation has always existed, but it has recently become more frequent due to the development of the internet and social media. Medical misinformation can cover a wide variety of topics, and studies show that some groups are more likely to be affected by medical misinformation than others, like those with less trust in health care, less health literacy, and a more positive attitude toward alternative medicines. Aspects of the internet, like echo chambers and algorithms, have contributed to the rise of medical misinformation, along with belief in anecdotal evidence and alternative remedies that are not backed by science. Some …

Educator Perceptions Of Appropriate Social Media Practices, Amanda Hope Preece

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this qualitative pilot study was to investigate the perceptions of educators regarding appropriate social media practices. Specific elements of appropriate social media use by teachers investigated include understanding of acceptable use policies and freedom of speech, the relationship between social media and professional development, and best practices for educators concerning their social media usage. Purposeful, convenience, and snowball sampling were used to select study participants. Study participants (N=24) were preservice teachers completing student teaching or mentor teachers for Marshall University College of Education and Professional Development. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 teacher candidates and 12 mentor …

The Link Between Social Media And Body Image Issues Among Youth In The United States, James Krzymowski

Ballard Brief

Social media has a pervasive impact on body image in the United States, influencing one’s mental, physical, and social health. Body image issues encompass negative feelings and experiences related to one's physical appearance and are characterized by a preoccupation with perceived physical defects. This occurrence is especially common among youth. The harmful effects of constant exposure to idealized images, unrealistic beauty standards, and the influence of social media influencers are wide-ranging and severe. This brief focuses on the United States because of the competitive culture, the high cosmetic surgery rates, and leadership in social media use. Contributing factors such as …

Ownership Of Social Media Accounts In Bankruptcy Cases, Garrity Kuester

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Section 541(a) of title 11 of the United States Code (the "Bankruptcy Code") defines "property of the estate" broadly to include "all legal or equitable interests of the debtor in property as of the commencement of the [bankruptcy] case." Congress did not identify social media accounts as property of the estate under section 541(a)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code. Bankruptcy courts have generally concluded that business social media accounts constitute property interests. As such, these accounts often fall under the purview of the bankruptcy estate.

This memorandum discusses the courts’ analysis of the classification and ownership of social media accounts …

Formational Living: A Blueprint For Spiritual Formation Within A Virtual Church Community, Darcy Lynn Shepherd

Doctor of Ministry

An opportunity exists to design and develop an educational and experiential spiritual formation website for the virtual E-Church community at The Potter's House to create safe fellowship space, offer formational resources and inspire the community to "Live More Like JesusTM."

Three key insights emerged upon completion of the research: (1) 100% of respondents found The Daily Clay to be a helpful resource to learn more about spiritual formation; (2) 100 % of respondents thought The Daily Clay would be a helpful resource for a church community; and 100% of respondents indicated that they would subscribe to The Daily Clay. Collectively, …

A Roadmap To Nil And Taxation, Doron Narotzki, Yariv Brauner

American University Business Law Review

The landscape of college sports has dramatically changed in recent years. What was once considered a place for amateur athletes pursuing education now partially mirrors, at least for some student-athletes, the structure and financial dynamics of professional leagues such as the NFL, NBA, and MLB. However, the collegiate sports ecosystem still remains distinct, shaped by unique regulatory frameworks governed by the NCAA. This article reviews and analyses the implications of these changes, and focuses on the tax considerations surrounding Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights and how the evolving nature of college sports also presents certain tax implications, some of …

Navigating Social Media In Healthcare: Implications, Challenges, And Guidelines For Physicians, Charles F. Clinton, Logan Brown, Bhuvaneshwari Muchandi, José Ignacio González Martínez, Candler Boyett

South Atlantic Division GME Research Day 2024

No abstract provided.

Decoding Sentiment In Online Communication: A Social Media Analysis Of Fashion Companies, Karolina Mania, Monika Jedynak, Aneta Kuźniarska, Karolina Woszczyna

European Management Studies

Purpose: The aim of this article was to identify differences in the emotional tone of verbal messages published on the Facebook accounts of selected companies within the fashion industry, focusing on organizations with an active presence on this platform.

Design/methodology/approach: The sentiment analysis was conducted using the CLARIN software suite. Over a three-month period in 2023, companies’ posts and users’ comments were collected and analyzed. Sentiments were categorized into six groups: ambiguous statements, strong and weak negative statements, strong and weak positive statements, and neutral statements. Analysis was performed at sentence, document, and aspect levels, employing both lexicon-based …

Politics Speak Louder Than Skills: Political Similarity Effects In Hireability Judgments In Multiparty Contexts And The Role Of Political Interest, Franz W. Moenke, Filip Lievens, Ursula Hess, Philipp Schaepers

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Recruiters increasingly cybervet job applicants by checking their social media profiles. Theory (i.e., the political affiliation model, PAM) and research show that during cybervetting, recruiters are exposed to job-unrelated information such as political affiliation, which might trigger similarity-attraction effects and bias hireability judgments. However, as the PAM was developed in a more polarized two-party political system, it is pivotal to test and refine the PAM in a multiparty context. Therefore, we asked working professionals from the United States (two-party context, N = 266) and Germany (multiparty context, N = 747) to rate an applicant’s hireability after cybervetting a LinkedIn profile …

Socially Acceptable Securities Fraud, Christine Hurt

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

What is a lie? Moreover, where is it a lie? Lies are bad. Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 create liability for issuer firms and individuals who make “an untrue statement of a material fact” or omit “a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading.” In the ninety years since the passage of the Securities Exchange Act, however, the number of ways in which market participants may publicly disseminate statements that will be consumed by investors has exploded; does 10b-5 really apply to all these …

Corporate Governance Through Social Media, Christina M. Sautter

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Retail investors and other stakeholders are vigorously and loudly taking positions regarding corporate governance issues on social media. They are gathering on social media to discuss which stocks to invest in and to debate and collectively act on corporate governance-related matters. Propelled by new technologies and social media, retail investor engagement has shifted away from traditional venues like corporate voting and shareholder proposals. Retail investors have opened tens of millions of new brokerage accounts since 2020. These new retail investors, primarily Millennials and GenZ’ers, are adept at using technology and naturally gather and obtain information on social media. A co-author …

Tax Sentiment And Compliance: Evidence From Social Media, Andrew Belnap, Jacob Thornock, Kevin Standridge, Braden Williams

Faculty Publications

Motivations for voluntary tax compliance that fall outside of a standard, rational model can be intrinsic or extrinsic. We use social media rhetoric about taxes to create a measure of tax sentiment that reflects taxpayers’ extrinsic, behavioral motivations for voluntary compliance, and then examine the association between public tax sentiment and tax compliance. Our machinelearning based approach for measuring sentiment uses millions of tax-related tweets, which vary by time and geography. We find that tax sentiment is negatively associated with tax compliance. Our main findings and cross-sectional tests are consistent with the notion that paying one’s taxes is a way …

Assessing The Connection Between Social Media And Ideological Polarization, Joshua Stiekman

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Does the usage of social media make individuals more polarized? Previous studies have shown that political use of the internet does make individuals more likely to politically participate, but little academic work has looked at the dynamic of ideology and the social media usage, despite the increase of social media usage in everyday life. This study uses Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok to see if social media users are more polarized, and which ideological groups are more polarized on social media. Moderates are included to differentiate if there is a difference. This study analyzed data from the …

Impacts Of Self-Diagnosing And The Role Of Social Media, Sara Steffens

A with Honors Projects

This poster explores outcomes of self-diagnosing mental illness/disorders and how social media factors in.

You Are What You Eat: Social Media's Influence On Health And Beauty Practices For Young Latinx Women, Anaís Martínez Castañeda

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis delves into the experiences of young Latinx women, exploring how they internalize societal messages propagated through social media that equate whiteness with wellness and beauty standards. Conversations with young LatinX women reveal that performances of whiteness intertwine with dietary practices and notions of thinness, influencing their perceptions and behaviors. This internalization leads to harmful tendencies of body surveillance and diet restriction in an attempt to conform to dominant social media norms. Furthermore, this messaging can result in the rejection of ethnic foods and adversely impact their overall well-being. However, amidst these challenges, participants reevaluated their internalized beliefs and …

Conspiracy Theory Ideation In The Hypermodern Era: Epistemologies Of Conspiracy Communities On Reddit, Rachel L. Anderson

Scripps Senior Theses

Underpinning injurious right-wing political coalitions, anti-vaccination campaigns, out-group derogation, and, in drastic circumstances, instances of genocide, conspiracy theory informs myriad anthropogenic movements that jeopardize pillars of democracy and scientific reasoning. Yet, the label of “conspiracy theorist” is also manipulated and weaponized as a mechanism of social control. The epithet of conspiracy theorist may systematically deflect “questions or concerns about power, corruption, and motive” thus “demobilizing certain voices and issues in public discourse” (Husting and Orr 2007:127). The construction of conspiracy theorists as primitive champions of paranoid fantasy thus symbolically silences socially anomalous or embargoed discourse. Using a content analysis of …

Cybercrime Scenarios, Thomas E. Kadri, Samuel Won

Books and Book Chapters

Technological innovation alters the commission, definition, and conception of crime. In some cases, computers, social media, and the internet have made existing criminal activity harder to detect or easier to commit. In other cases, they’ve created new forms of criminal activity that challenge longstanding views about the permissibility and punishment of human behavior. Through a range of cybercrime scenarios, this book will address topics such as digital privacy, free speech, terrorism, cybersecurity, image-based sexual abuse, stalking, harassment, doxing, and identity theft.

We’Re Going Streaking!: Associations Between The Gamification Of Mediated Communication And Relational Closeness, Caleb T. Carr, Sarah F. Rosaen

Faculty Publications - Communications

Communication technologies have long been used to develop and maintain relationships; but recently, channels have increasingly sought to gamify interactions among users. The present study explored if individuals’ interpersonal and entertainment use motives were associated with interpersonal interactions and message composition, as well as subsequent relational outcomes (i.e., closeness). A survey of 156 collegiate Snapchat users revealed that interpersonal and entertainment motives were significantly related to Snapchat behavior (Streak count and Streak Snaps, respectively) and relational closeness. However, those using Streaks for entertainment motives sent impersonal Snaps more frequently and reported lower relational closeness with their partner.

Emotional Cues Pertaining To Social Media Usage Impact On College Students, A'Maya Tatum, April Rico, Elizabeth Ann Godfrey, Scovs Majors

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

Discussions about the effects of social media continue to grow in recent years, more people have become invested in how our previously exposed perceptions have influenced our perceptions of social media. Priming is the idea that implicit content can explicitly impact our perception of later topics and experiences. Priming has played a major role in how we perceive several aspects of our lives, and social media is no different. In this study, we investigate how priming with positive or negative words related to social media affects the individual’s view of social media and their perceived usage. We hypothesize that there …

An Exploratory Study Of Anti-Black Racism In Social Media Behavior Intentions: Effects Of Political Orientation And Motivation To Control Prejudice, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Samantha A. Wilcox, Justine K. Brace, Melissa Anderson

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Considering the widespread prevalence of racist content and opinions on social media, there is a pressing need to understand how users react to such content in ways that might lead them to be drawn into echo chambers of racism, hate speech, and potentially even violence. We conducted an online study to investigate how two individual differences—political orientation and motivation to control prejudice (MCP)—may predispose people to accept anti-Black racism expressed in social media messages. Non-Black participants viewed racist and egalitarian mock social media posts and reported how likely they would be to respond favorably and/or engage in supportive social media …

Digital Activism Through Humour And Satire: An Analysis Of The Use Of Tiktok And X For Political Accountability In Uganda., Shemei Agabo

Master of Arts in Digital Journalism

This study aimed to analyze the use of satire through TikTok and X networking sites as dialogue tools, specifically for political activism in Uganda. The study looked at the two communication platforms as avenues of expanding the civic space for the citizens, in a country faced with a lot of restrictions for legacy media and traditional online platforms. The study is significant because it analyzes how social media platforms can be used for political activism in a country like Uganda, ruled by stringent rules regarding speaking to power. The method of study was an exploratory study design and the qualitative …

An Analysis Of The Use Of Whatsapp In The News-Making Process: A Case Of Bbc Africa., Maureen Nasimiyu Nyukuri

Master of Arts in Digital Journalism

This study analyses the use of WhatsApp in the newsroom at BBC Africa, with a particular focus on the experiences of journalists, critical success factors and challenges journalists face when using the app. This study was guided by three objectives: To examine the experience of journalists in the use of WhatsApp in the BBC Africa newsroom, to assess the critical factors in the adoption and use of WhatsApp in the BBC Africa newsroom and to explore the challenges that Journalists face when using WhatsApp in the BBC Africa newsroom. It was anchored on the technology acceptance theory (Davis, 1989) and …

Breaking News Stories In The Age Of Citizen Journalism: Daily Nation’S Utilisation Of User Comments On Facebook, Agewa Waruguru Wainaina

Master of Arts in Digital Journalism

This study examines how the Nation Media Group (NMG) utilises comments made on its social media platform to break, update, and ultimately publish stories on social media platforms, the study focused on Facebook. Previous studies have established that the audience has the power to determine what content media houses publish, even forcing social media editors to delete or change stories they publish online. Thus, media practitioners must understand how to best engage with their online consumers while delivering quality journalistic content and maintaining integrity. Through the literature review of similar studies, it was found that scholars have determined that audience …

Privacy Vs. Social Capital: Examining Information Disclosure Patterns Within Social Media Influencer Networks, Eidan James Rosado

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Adversaries have several ways to leverage and expose the data disclosed in social media network engagements for different motives including but not limited to fraud, discreditation, or social engineering. Previous research on social media interactions discussed increased engagements where influencers and viral trends were involved. Studies also discussed engagements declining over time. Within posts or engagements, personal identifiable information (PII) can be shared with varying rate of risk severity. Publicly available data such as this can be leveraged by adversaries. With the absence of insights of whether influencers impact engagements and disclosures, the goal of this study was to obtain …

Capable Rhetoric: Embodied Rhetorical Listening And Midwives' Arguments For The Maternal Body On Instagram, Aminta C. Quintero-Jackson

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

When women find out they are pregnant, they encounter discourse about their bodies they may not have consciously considered before. Frequently, the information is based on ideologies that consider maternal bodies to be inherently problematic. The discourse in this information informs and shapes women’s choices about the role of medical oversight in their pregnancies and impacts the perceptions they have of themselves.

Midwives argue that mothers and their bodies are not inherently problematic but are powerful and capable of childbirth. They argue that medical oversight has been too aggressive in birth management, interrupting the natural process of birth and causing …

Language, Hip Hop, And Identity Work On Youtube, Matt Garley, Cecelia Cutler

Publications and Research

As hip hop has evolved into the dominant form of global popular music, YouTube has become a locus of fan-artist interaction. This chapter examines how hip hop artists and fans produce their identities and engage with hip hop culture on YouTube. This identity work centers around establishing credibility, glocal and ethnic positioning, and signaling stances of resistance and simultaneous alignment with ultralocal and global hip hop personae. Building on a background of research about language and identity in hip hop, particularly in the Internet sphere, the chapter summarizes the state of the art and then highlights the authors’ own explorations …

Smart Device Ownership And Use Of Social Media, Wearable Trackers, And Health Apps Among Black Women With Hypertension In The United States: National Survey Study, Jolaade Kalinowski, Sandesh Bhusal, Sherry L. Pagoto, Robert Newton, Molly E. Waring

Population and Public Health Science Faculty Publications

The majority of Black women with hypertension in the United States have smartphones or tablets and use social media, and many use wearable activity trackers and health or wellness apps, digital tools that can be used to support lifestyle changes and medication adherence.

From Conspiracy To Normalcy: The Mainstreaming Of Qanon In “Disney Grooming” Messages Online, Daniela Peterka-Benton, Bond Benton, Joel Penney

College of Communication and Media Scholarship and Creative Works

In March of 2022, The Walt Disney Company voiced opposition to Florida’s "Parental Rights in Education" (“Don’t Say Gay”) in support of LGBTQ+ stakeholders within in the company and the public. This research studied a dataset of 68,481 tweets where the company’s stance was constructed as “grooming” children, i.e. manipulating children for sexual abuse. Tweets were collected from March 13, 2022 to May 16, 2022 representing a two month period from Disney’s stance against "Parental Rights in Education.” As grooming is a term often associated with human trafficking and Disney is a major media company, this study is interested in …

Exploring The Digital Landscape: A Survey On Social Media Engagement Among Rheumatology Fellows, Sathvik Saineni, Richa Purohit, Reanne Mathai, Rajan Sambandan, Richard M. Perez, Neha Bhanusali

North Florida Division GME Research Day 2024

No abstract provided.

The Original Instagram: Whose Property Is It?, Sue M. Altmeyer

American University Business Law Review

When a worker creates a personal social media account and then uses it to promote their employer, courts differ as to whether subsequent use by the employer can operate as an implied transfer of the account when the employment relationship ends. Allowing an implied transfer flies in the face of traditional contract and property law principles and results in workers unknowingly giving up their right to a valuable asset they created. The better rule in determining ownership of a social media account is to first determine who owned the account at the time of original creation and then determine whether …