Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Social Media, Technology, And The Higher Education Classroom, Brian F. Mcfadden, Nicole R. Clarity, Susan J. Drucker

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

This paper reflects on the ways that media technology infiltrate, push, and pull educators in the 21^st century. The authors write about the importance of including new technology in our courses to better prepare students for their future careers and lives while also acknowledging the challenges that inclusion can present. By highlighting how technology serves as a facilitator for classroom participation and the ways the emergent technology can enhance a journalism curriculum, the paper points to some of the ways that emergent technology in our classes can have an enduring positive effect on our students in the future. However, …

Social Media Influencers' Impact On Consumer Purchasing Decisions, Kennedi O. Kutz, Kiara Espinal, Erin Flynn, Julia Cheney

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

The study entails how social media usage and parasocial relationships with social media influencers impact the audience’s purchases as a consumer. The survey covers a wide range of questions discussing the different social media platforms, how often they engage on them, and how often they click and engage with advertisements and influencers. It also covered questions that collected the participants' demographics to better understand which groups are more likely to be influenced by advertisements and influencers. We have found that younger audiences are more likely to have their consumer purchases influenced by social media advertisements and influencers than older audiences. …

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 …

Content Analysis Of Athletic Brand Posts On Instagram, Pallavi Khurana, Thora Knight

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

Social media has enabled brands to share marketing content and interact with their customers. This research aims to understand the online brand communication strategy by analyzing the posts of fitness brands Nike and Lululemon on Instagram. Through content analysis, both the visual and textual content of an overall 300 brand posts were be examined. The concepts used for analysis include message appeals, photo characteristics, and engagement. The study provides insights into the message characteristics, and persuasive appeal strategies fitness brands use to engage with customers. The results indicate that there are similarities as well as differences in how the athletic …

Putting The Social In Social Media: How Human Connection Triggers Engagement, Stephanie Adomavicius

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

Social media has become the preferred channel of information and has altered patterns of interaction and connection. As a result, society now revolves around a two-way form of communication with constant dialogue and instant responses. Public relations practitioners have had to adapt and change their strategy in order to keep up with the times, and because of this, engagement is now considered to be a measurement of success.

In terms of social media, engagement is how users interact with content and participate in online conversations. This study will uncover what causes people to engage on social media and identify the …

We Don’T Want To Talk About It: Communication Strategies For Teaching Less Popular Subjects, Heather M. Stassen-Ferrara, Christine A. Geyer, John M. Livermore, Maureen M. Louis

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

Some subjects are the unloved: the required course in academic writing, the required course in public speaking, the course in communication theory, the course in basic mathematics. This paper brings together perspectives from professors in Communication Studies, Mathematics, and Writing to consider the critical connection between communicative practice and learning, applying a networked perspective of interconnections.