Digital Commons Network^™

Influencer Model Management: Grounded Theory Approach To Communication Influencer, Young Joon Lim

Communication Faculty Publications

The term “influencer” has become widely recognized in the realm of influencer marketing, which refers to a form of social media advertising that capitalizes on the credibility of popular social media influencers to effectively reach a large target audience while maintaining an aura of authenticity. However, despite the significance of this concept, there is a noticeable lack of articles that have delved into the conceptual and theoretical development of an influencer model. Therefore, this study aims to address this research gap by adopting a classic grounded theory approach to identify and explore the common factors that contribute to the emergence …

Cracking The Shield: Cda Section 230, Algorithms, And Product Liability, Kevin Ofchus

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

You've Been Fact-Checked! Examining The Effectiveness Of Social Media Fact-Checking Against The Spread Of Misinformation, Ben Wasike

Communication Faculty Publications

Using a random sample of active social media users (N = 1,156), this study examined the effectiveness of social media fact-checking against online misinformation sharing. Data indicates that these fact-checks are minimally effective in stopping the spread of misinformation on social media. Being aware of the fact-checks, being fact-checked, or even having content deleted from one's account were not deterrents to sharing misinformation. The fear of isolation was the strongest deterrent, suggesting that account freezes, suspensions, or bans were the most effective ways to curtail the spread of misinformation. The study contributes to research on fact-checking, to research on …

Working Across Boundaries: School Leaders Redefining Communities Of Practice Through Twitter, Jennifer Bailey, Forrest Kaiser, Ron Rhone, Stephanie Atchley

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Attrition rates among school leaders have risen in recent years, and scholars cite a lack of meaningful connections and responsive professional learning as leading reasons why they are leaving the field. School leaders are called to navigate unfamiliar and complex challenges, often working in isolation with limited opportunities for collaboration and professional growth. Social media forums, like Twitter, have potential to support a Community of Practice to facilitate learning around school leadership; however, there is a lack of scholarship exploring how school leaders use social media to support their needs. This mixed-methods study used sentiment and content analysis along with …

Effect Of The Intensity Of Instagram Usage As A Social Media Tool On Conspicuous Consumption, Duygu Firat

Journal of Global Business Insights

As internet usage grew, social media sites proliferated, and consumers began to use them more frequently. On social media, people share their daily lives, but they also express what they want to symbolize. This sharing includes conspicuous buying or consumption, presenting both opportunities and challenges for organizations. Therefore, the aim of this research was to investigate how the intensity of Instagram’s usage as a social media platform affects conspicuous consumption. The data was gathered through a questionnaire administered to Instagram users (N = 230). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) determined the effect of the intensity of Instagram’s …

The Power Of Identity Cues In Text-Based Customer Service: Evidence From Twitter, Yang Gao, Huaxia Rui, Shujing Sun

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Text-based customer service is emerging as an important channel through which companies can assist customers. However, the use of few identity cues may cause customers to feel limited social presence and even suspect the human identity of agents, especially in the current age of advanced algorithms. Does such a lack of social presence affect service interactions? We studied this timely question by evaluating the impact of customers’ perceived social presence on service outcomes and customers’ attitudes toward agents. Our identification strategy hinged on Southwest Airlines’ sudden requirement to include a first name in response to service requests on Twitter, which …

Evaluating Universities Twitter Web Pages Responding To The Black Lives Matter Movement, Hind Albadi, Thomas Kenny

Communications: Faculty Publications

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in May 2020, many colleges and universities responded by making statements on their website and social media channels condemning racism. Higher education institutions began initiatives for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) for faculty, staff, administrators, and students on campus. Three years later, this study investigates whether universities are still offering and promoting workshops, classes, events, and activities related to DEI to campus communities. To do so, the researchers conducted a content analysis on Twitter categorizing tweets over a one-month period, then they classified the Tweets using the top 10 colleges …

When Cool Has Consequences: The Unintended Effects Of Facebook’S Most Popular Features, S. O. Jeffcoat

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

The aim of this work is not only to add to the literature analyzing the past and current impact that Facebook has on the more than 2.2 billion global users of the application (Wagner & Swisher, 2017), but also to synthesize the features of Facebook and offer reasonable solutions for reducing the occurrence of the unintended effects of the features of Facebook. Three questions are to be kept in mind: “What are the features of Facebook?”, “What have been observed as unintended effects of the features of Facebook?” and “What viable solutions exist in mitigating the unintended effects of the …

Workers' Online Self-Disclosure Regarding Job Resignation On Twitter: A Netnographic Study, Edo Nur Karensa, Imamatul Silfia, Laili Muttamimah, Rafiidha Selyna

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

Twitter, as a micro-blogging platform, is also utilized by workers in Indonesia to express themselves online, one of which is about the reason for resignation through the hashtag #EsokHariPastiResign pioneered by @hrdbacot. This study aims to examine what and how information about resignation is shared by workers, and what forms of self-disclosure are taken. The research method used netnography by analyzing 243 workers' tweets. The results show that workers have various reasons for resigning which are classified into eight aspects, namely social problems, supervisory, health, personal, pay, job security, professional growth, and personal value. Workers predominantly disclose themselves in forms …

In Quest Of Mother’S Worth: How Millennial Instamoms’ Sharenting Revisits Women’S Traditional Roles, Rony Agustino Siahaan

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

This paper aims to investigate the performance of the so-called digital mothers "Instamom" in Indonesia in the cultural contradiction between the construction of women's subjectivity that commodifies motherhood and intersubjectivity as to fulfilling women’s traditional role. Using performativity theory, I argue that the phenomenon of Instamoms’ sharenting is a communicative practice in the digital space that demonstrates the performance of a fluid and dynamic maternal identity without rigid boundaries. This research applies a digital ethnography approach to the everyday life’s practices of Stay-At-Home-Mothers that focus on the complexities of women's experiences in engaging with social media throughout the transition to …

Small Historically Black Colleges And Universities Bridging Social Capital: The Use Of Language, Tone And Content To Share Information On Instagram, Pamela Peters

Journal of Research Initiatives

The COVID-19 pandemic has strained higher education institutions, especially small Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). As campuses closed and reopened, Black communities' digital divide grew, adding to the need to stay connected. This study uses social capital to examine how institutions use language, tone, content, and information to bridge social capital. An analysis of 35 small liberal arts HBCUs’ Instagram posts was undertaken to compare post frequency, types of information, engagement, tone, language, and content in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the pandemic, 2020 and 2021. This study indicates that post-oversaturation in 2020 and 2021 and information …

Some Reason Prevalence Of Anxiety And Depression Among People Of Different Ages: A Review, Sarah H. Shaalan, Rana Neama Atiya, Shaden M.H. Mubarak, Sahar Aqeel Hussain

Maaen Journal for Medical Sciences

Depression is a widespread, chronic clinical illness that affects thoughts, attitudes, and actual wellbeing. Low spirits, a lack of energy, resentment, sleepiness, and an inability to appreciate life are some signs of it. In any event, clinical investigations to date have demonstrated that dejected people don't respond well to treatment. Therefore, in this exceptional issue, we will purposefully examine sadness at the conduct level, with a special focus on a few fascinating points, such as "The study of disease transmission of sadness and constant clinical illness Potential components that included 'differences in sexual orientation,' 'age contrasts,' 'impact on social factors,' …

Managing Digital Media During The Lockdown: The Case Of Sanctuaries In Lazio, Italy, Marc-Marie Mutangala, Lorenzo Cantoni

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The period of the first COVID-19 total lockdown in Italy and in the world offered a very interesting context to evaluate the use of Mobile Information and Communication Technologies (MICTs) by Catholic shrines for their pastoral care. This research was carried out through a survey and interviews with leaders (rectors) of sanctuaries of Lazio, the region of Italy where Rome is placed. The sample chosen evaluates which initiatives the rectors of these sanctuaries have undertaken to keep in touch with the faithful and other constituencies during the first pandemic lockdown. As in the case of telework, which allowed working at …

Coping With Covid Through Tangled And Social Media, Maram Alturky

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

In response to the events of COVID-19 in 2020, social content creators found connections between their lives and the life of Rapunzel as represented in Disney’s 2010 retelling of the Rapunzel tale, Tangled. To show these connections, YouTube videos were made to highlight the similarities between people’s lives under quarantine and Rapunzel’s containment in the tower. While these videos were seemingly made to play on current life events, they illustrate the many ways in which fairy tales have been used to bridge the fantastical and reality when attempting to cope with trauma. This article explores the connections between fairy tales …

All The News That’S Fit To Be Identified: Facilitating Access To High-Quality News Through Internet Platforms, Sonja R. West, Jonathan Peters, Lefteris Jason Anastasopolous

Scholarly Works

Roughly half of Americans get some of their news from social media, and nearly two-thirds get some of their news from search engines. As our modern information gatekeepers, these internet companies bear a special responsibility to consider the impact of their platform and site policies on users’ access to high-quality news sources. They should adopt policies that clear the digital pathway between the public and press by facilitating such access. To that end, the companies must first, address the threshold issue of how best to identify high-quality news sources. This article examines factors that would be useful, drawing from legal …

A Case Study On How Hbcus Use Social Media To Reduce Uncertainty Of Covid-19, Kelsey Anne-Gabrielle Armstrong

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This case study aims to understand how HBCUs use social media to deliver crisis communication messages to students about COVID-19 and how the HBCU culture impacts student perspectives. The theory guiding this study is uncertainty reduction theory (Berger & Calabrese, 1974), as it explains the communication strategies used to reduce uncertainty during a crisis. Data collection was conducted using semi-structured interviews and content analysis. Data analysis strategies included deductive and inductive coding and directed content analysis. The study results provide insight into how the HBCU culture impacts the perspective of an HBCUs response to COVID-19 and overall crisis communication messaging …

Sticks And Stones May Break My Bones But Words Will Never Hurt Me...Until I See Them: A Qualitative Content Analysis Of Trolls In Relation To The Gricean Maxims And (Im)Polite Virtual Speech Acts, Angelika C. Smith-Jones

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The troll is one of the most obtrusive and disruptive bad actors on the internet. Unlike other bad actors, the troll interacts on a more personal and intimate level with other internet users. Social media platforms, online communities, comment boards, and chatroom forums provide them with this opportunity. What distinguishes these social provocateurs from other bad actors are their virtual speech acts and online behaviors. These acts aim to incite anger, shame, or frustration in others through the weaponization of words, phrases, and other rhetoric. Online trolls come in all forms and use various speech tactics to insult and demean …

Trust But Verify: The Influence Of Social Media And Core Values On Consumer Trust In Business, Zoie M. Lagoudis

Student Theses and Dissertations

This research will evaluate the relationship personal core values have with businesses we see on social media. Three different research questions will be considered: (a) How do companies' social media presence impact consumer trust in a company? (b) How do social media marketing and advertising campaigns influence consumer purchasing intentions? (c) How does the alignment or misalignment of values portrayed through CSR activities affect trust in a company's brand?

Social media has become an expansive e-commerce tool companies use for promotional purposes. Companies take many approaches to advertising campaigns, but a popular method is incorporating advocacy efforts into their marketing …

Emotional Distress During Covid-19 By Mental Health Conditions And Economic Vulnerability: Retrospective Analysis Of Survey-Linked Twitter Data With A Semisupervised Machine Learning Algorithm, Michiko Ueda-Ballmer, Kohei Watanabe, Hajime Sueki

Center for Policy Design and Governance

The brief summarizes "Emotional Distress During COVID-19 by Mental Health Conditions and Economic Vulnerability: Retrospective Analysis of Survey-Linked Twitter Data With a Semisupervised Machine Learning Algorithm," co-authored by Michiko Ueda-Ballmer, Kohei Watanabe, and Hajime Sueki in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Informal Learning In An Online Book Club: A Qualitative Case Study, Toni E. Pilcher

Theses and Dissertations

This article examines the online book club called Victober, which is held every October on Youtube and other social media apps. As a qualitive case study, the research uses interviews, observations, and digital documents to explore the interactions and informal learning experiences of four women who participated in Victober 2022. The author identifies five overarching themes that emerged from the data: content creation, community identity, individual identity, rewards, and anticipation. These themes highlight the significance of content creation for YouTube and social media platforms, the sense of community fostered by Victober, the balance between individuality and belonging, the rewards of …

Review, Democracy And Fake News: Information Manipulation And Post-Truth Politics, Peter Krapp

Secrecy and Society

No abstract provided.

Tiktok Use, Flow, And Addictive Behaviors, Santiago Vigil

McNair Summer Research Program

Abstract

TikTok’s design exploits sensory preferences through continuous scrolling, providing a seamless infinite amount of content. Therefore, I hypothesized that TikTok creates a flow state where people are immersed in the app and may lead to addiction-like symptoms. TikTok use may also be associated with boredom proneness and anxiety. Via a self-report survey, participants indicated their use of social media apps, answered items measuring their psychological flow state on TikTok and Instagram (as a comparison), reported the frequency of behaviors indicating symptoms of addiction, and rated their self-esteem, boredom proneness, and general anxiety. Results showed 7 of the 9 flow …

Advocacy On Facebook: A Content Analysis Of How Small Los Angeles- Based Npos Use Social Media To Engage Audiences, Wen Chen Denq

Dissertations

This dissertation examined the Facebook activities of seven small nonprofits in Los Angeles to understand their social media use and audience responses. Prior research has distinguished three broader engagement strategies used by Nonprofit Organizations (NPOs), including information provision (awareness-raising), action-related messaging (mobilizing), and community-building efforts (organizing). These strategies can play essential roles in drawing in audiences, but also in moving individual supporters toward greater levels of engagement by increasing donations or becoming more engaged champions for the cause. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of organizational Facebook messages and audience responses was conducted over 3 months. The NPOs included in this …

Terror Management And The News: An Exploration Into The Effects Of Framing On Mortality Salience, Peter Montwill

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The present study explores the link between Terror Management Theory and the use of its principles within news media. Political news media in the digital age undergoes a variety of framing effects, more specifically episodic and thematic frames of stories. To induce mortality salience, college-aged participants were presented with stories framed from the perspective of an individual’s experience or a general theme of experiences regarding the controversial pro-life topic and a non-controversial hiking topic. These stories are presented in the style of Instagram posts to mirror how college-aged people consume news media. The stories also contain wording designed to induce …

Museums, Covid-19 And The Pivot To Social Media, Jamie Larkin, Andrea Ballatore, Ekaterina Mityrova

CCI Articles and Research

This paper examines social media activity by UK museums during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a general perception that as museums closed their doors for extended periods, their digital presence increased to maintain connections with their audiences. However, much of the research conducted in this area is based on small-scale studies and examples of best practice from large, well-resourced museums. By contrast, this study utilizes a comprehensive database of over 3300 active UK museums to understand the use of Facebook and Twitter across the sector. Specifically, the paper examines the frequency with which museums posted to these digital platforms as …

Correlation Between Altmetric Score And Citation: A Study Based On 1000 Highly Cited Cancer Scientific Outputs, Mohammad Ahmadian, Hossein Vakilimofard, Hamzeh Mazaherilaghab

Proceedings of the IATUL Conferences

Objective: In recent years, indicators based on social media have been introduced as a complementary and expeditious tool along with scientometric indicators to evaluate scientific outputs. The aim of this study was to comprehensively analyze the altmetric indices on 1000 titles of the most cited articles in the field of cancer, which is one of the most vital issues in the medical community and is the second leading cause of death after CVDs. Material and Methods: The present study was descriptive and performed using altmetric indices. Bibliographic information of the research sample was extracted from the Scopus citation database. Data …

The Youtube Social Capital - Library Users Finding A Place And Space On Youtube, Lindall Adams

Proceedings of the IATUL Conferences

The library is a source of social capital. Several studies have examined how library spaces, services, and programs generate social capital. In this manner, the physical library became the third space, following the first and second spaces of home and work. However, during the global lockdown, the third space closed its doors and redirected its attention to social media platforms. While libraries have been engaged in Web 2.0 endeavours since the early 2000s, maintaining social network presence has not been an option. Libraries were given the opportunity to reengage with social media as a result of the pandemic, and new …

Examining Entrepreneurial Passion Within Online Communities, Fredrick Rice

Business Administration Dissertations - Archive

Examining Entrepreneurial Passion Within Online Communities

Generation Z’S Perceptions Of Hunting And Conservation Efforts In Arkansas, Hannah Ferguson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hunting participation numbers have steadily declined since the 1980s and Generation Z is not engaging in hunting. Hunting is one of the most effective tools for managing wildlife populations and ensuring the success and local ecosystem conservation. Many wildlife stewardship institutions, such as Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in Arkansas, are funded by sales taxes imposed on firearms, ammo, and archery equipment. With a decline in hunting participation, it is imperative state-run wildlife stewardship organizations and other hunting institutions learn the best practices for communicating with younger generations. This study sought to understand Generation Z’s perceptions of hunting and conservation …

"A Show That Proves The Worst Monsters Are Real": Media And Social Media Impact On Criminal Trials And Post-Conviction Guilt As Perceived By Criminal Justice Students., Jennifer Leigh Patterson

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

This study, using survey data collected in 2022, investigates how consuming true crime media, from media such as podcasts, influences fear and anxiety among criminal justice students. In addition, the relationship between viewing criminal trials in real time and forming opinions different from the sentencing juries is assessed. Results suggest that there is no significant relationship between the consumption of true crime media and fear or anxiety. Moreover, viewing criminal trials in real time does not have a signficant effect on the formation of opinons that differ from criminal juries. Limitations, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.