Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Adapting, Overcoming, And Connecting: How College Sports Social Media Responded To Covid-19, Jackson Sepko

Honors Theses

This project, inspired by the researcher’s own experience as a digital media marketing assistant for Ole Miss Athletics, investigates how certain NCAA team accounts grew their social media engagement in the 2020-21 seasons despite the challenges and interruptions of COVID-19. First, metrics from data analytics firm SkullSparks were analyzed to determine which accounts increased their engagement metrics the most or performed strongly compared to their peers. Then, those accounts’ posts were analyzed using CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned data analytics tool, and using Twitter’s advanced search features to see which posts overperformed compared to each account’s average posts.

From there, with an …

Duality In Digital Discourse: The History And Future Of The American Public Forum, Nicholas Weaver

Honors Theses

From the onset of the republic, the liberty to speak freely and debate openly has stood guard and helped preserve all other American rights. While this concept has endured, the means by which it exists in society has changed immensely. As the public forum has evolved to fit the modern needs of the citizenry, political discourse has become less a defense against tyranny and more a chaotic space of conflicting opinions.

In the United States, privately-owned social media companies have grown at an unprecedented rate, yet lawmakers have been slow to exercise any authority to regulate these corporations. For public …

Sealds: A Quantitative Content Analysis Of #Donttrashyourvote On Twitter, Viviek Patel

Honors Theses

Public relations research has slowly integrated with the study of advocacy organizations, but little research has integrated this and social movements. Using the pyramid model of mobilization-driven relationship-building social media based advocacy, this study employed a quantitative content analysis to examine the prevalence of previously identified communicative functions in social media messages by SEALDs. Unlike previous research on advocacy and health organizations, action messages were the most common. This study also investigated the influence of message type on audience engagement through retweets. The results indicate that information tweets had the most retweets. This study also analyzed how social movements recruit …

An Analysis Of The Skill Sets Needed To Be Successful In Nonprofit Public Relations, Hannah Williamson

Honors Theses

The public relations industry is ever-changing, as it evolves to adapt to societal changes. Technological advancements and social media have largely contributed to changes in the way public relations professionals attempt to reach their target publics. In fact, research shows many public relations professionals do not think the term “public relations” will accurately define the work they will be doing in the near future. As the industry changes, the job duties of public relations professionals adapt as well.

This study researched the public relations industry to understand what skill sets professionals should possess in order to be successful. The study’s …

The Red Swimsuit: Essays, Jacqueline Knirnschild

Honors Theses

This thesis is a collection of creative non-fiction essays that offers a collage of ethnography, reportage and memoir. The Red Swimsuit blurs the lines between what is considered social science, journalism and art. These essays will become part of a book- length work of creative non-fiction that will explore what it’s like to grow up as a woman in a globalized world wrought with social media, hookup culture and cross-cultural interactions. The Red Swimsuit provides first-hand experience, reflexive narration, and reflection on life as a member of Generation Z, also known as iGen.

The Future’S So Bright: A Business Plan And Market Research Analysis Of Fraze, Elizabeth Lanford

Honors Theses

This thesis is an overview of the creation and operation of Lindy and Liz, LLC dba Fraze. Fraze is an online boutique specializing in custom, beaded sunglasses. This thesis contains details of the founding, operation, and future of the business. The following business plan will give insights to marketing strategies, target audience demographics, and sourcing procedures.

Accompanying this business plan is market research relevant to the target market of Fraze. Part I details secondary research about the effects of social media on this target market and their consumption habits. It also contains insights about the products and marketing techniques most …

Through The Screen: Examining Peer Relationships, Social Anxiety, Loneliness, And Social Media In Undergraduates, Lindsay Sappington

Honors Theses

Interpersonal connections are a fundamental human need, and as technology becomes more ubiquitous, these connections have shifted to frequently occur online through social media platforms. Two factors that independently influence peer relations are loneliness and social anxiety. However, no study to date has concurrently examined the relation of these psychological factors, social media use, and peer relationships. As such, the aims of the current study were to 1) examine the associations between peer relationships, social media use, loneliness, and social anxiety; 2) investigate the moderating role of quality of peer relationships in the relation of social anxiety and loneliness; and …