Communication Technology and New Media Commons^™

Examining The Ethical Dilemmas Of Advertising On Tiktok, Sophia Neubaum

Journalism Student Works

In recent years, journalism has completely transformed to adapt to the digital age. Modern journalists use social media for breaking news updates and adapt their stories for all platforms. Advertisers and journalists have more opportunities than ever to advertise their products online and on social media, however, it is imperative that professionals in this field report and advertise ethically on every platform. As social media trends and platforms change, so do the opportunities for online advertisers. TikTok is a rapidly growing social media app that is used by youths around the world. While there is plenty of opportunity for advertising …

Consumer Response To Green Brands Vs. Traditional Brands On Digital Platforms: An Analysis Through A Series Of Case Studies, Madison Busick

Honors Scholar Theses

In the age of environmental crisis, consumers are increasingly aware of the environmental impact of their decisions. Accordingly, many companies seek to provide more eco-friendly and sustainable products while building their brand around these values. Consumers also are increasingly using and engaging on social media and other digital platforms. But just how well do these "green" brands do in the digital space? This study aims to compare differences between brands that embody environmentalist values and traditional brands with a variety of case studies across several consumer goods segments including clothing, cosmetics, and technology. The data is collected from a variety …

Instagram And Eating Disorders: An Empirical Study Of The Effects Of Instagram On Disordered Eating Habits Among Young Girls, Katherine Wayles

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scholars have studied the relationship between body dissatisfaction and social media use, particularly focusing on young women as vulnerable consumers. Many studies concentrate on the amount of media consumed, rather than the specific activities and behaviors associated with feelings of low self-esteem or poor body image. It is important to determine exactly what behaviors and social media engagements contribute to disordered relationships with food, assessing a user’s pre-existing weight/body concerns in relation to the amount and type of media they consume. Instagram in particular is included in this study, as it is an image-based social networking site where users can …

Gen Z & Social Media Influencers: The Generation Wanting A Real Experience, Alexandra Wolf

Honors Senior Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Digital Development: What It Means For Teachers, Amy Lightfoot

Teacher India

Technology can be leveraged for teachers’ professional development. Amy Lightfoot explains how.

Empty Streets, Active Feeds: Moroccan Youth Activism In The Age Of Social Media, Samantha Jaloza

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Since the February 20 movement in 2011, Morocco has not witnessed large waves of political activism from its young population. However, Moroccan youth are not inactive citizens, and it would be a mischaracterization to call young Moroccans apolitical or disinterested. Rather, Moroccan youth are finding new ways to interact with political and social issues. With the increase in access to the Internet over the last fifteen years, social media has become an important forum for Moroccan youth, who have often felt marginalized from more traditional forms of political participation like unions and political parties. This research explores the ways that …

Extension Needs Outreach Innovation Free From The Harms Of Social Media, Jonathan J. Swinton

Extension Research

Despite the outreach-building benefits of social media for Extension, it is time for Extension professionals to find new innovative ways to reach out that do not involve social media. An increasing body of research has demonstrated the harms social media use imparts on the health and well-being of those in our communities. Our future use of social media as a primary method of outreach may perpetuate these harms, requiring our best efforts to develop new methods of outreach that do not negatively affect those we serve.

Marriage Migrants’ Use Of Social Media, Soontae An, Sun Sun Lim, Hannah Lee

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This study analyzed the role and impact of social media use on the daily lives of marriage migrants. We empirically examined a moderated mediation model by surveying 201 marriage migrants. This study focused on four key concepts: social stigma, empowerment, self-stigma, and social networks forged via social media such as Facebook, Kakao Talk, LINE, and Viber. The results confirmed that the detrimental effect of social stigma can be mitigated by robust social networks, and a greater feeling of empowerment resulted in less self-stigma. Consequently, social networks through social media acted as a buffer against negative public opinion or any belittling …

Social And Entertainment Media, Justin Bailey

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

This chapter first appeared in Discerning Ethics, ed. Hak Joon Lee and Tim Dearborn, 2020, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com

More information about this book:

https://www.ivpress.com/discerning-ethics

Extrajudicial Statements And Prejudice In The Digital Age: Creating Factors To Preserve The Balance Between Attorney And State Interests In Trial Litigation, Emily R. O'Hara

William & Mary Law Review

As social media’s prevalence and usage grows within the United States, people and organizations capitalize on new media to send news to users. In 2017, 67 percent of people consumed their news from social media websites, and the rate continues to grow. Local and national news sources bring newsworthy stories to active users on social media sites such as Twitter, where users can communicate and interact with one another to promote ideas and spread information. These online accounts cover not only mundane, day-to-day news, but also salacious stories relating to civil and criminal lawsuits.

In April 2018, attorney Neal Katyal …

The Sociological Imagination In Studies Of Communication, Information Technologies, And Media: Citams As An Invisible College, Anabel Quan-Haase, Molly-Gloria Harper, Shelley Boulianne

FIMS Publications

In this 2020 CITAMS special issue of Information, Communication & Society, we bring together an important body of work that draws on the sociological imagination to ask critical questions of our times. We selected nine papers that represent both the breadth of sociological work taking place within CITAMS as well as the diversity of its members. CITAMS is welcoming of a range of perspectives in more than one way. We welcome studies of a range of tools and practices. For example, Kadylak and Cotten (this volume) study the willingness of older adults to use six different emerging technologies in …

Attentional Social Media: Mapping The Spaces And Networks Of The Fashion Industry, Ate Poorthuis, Dominic Powers, Matthew Zook

Geography Faculty Publications

In this article we use big data methods to analyze the attention paid to the fashion industry on social media. The article argues that for the fashion industry, like many industries, the core product is a form of knowledge that is dependent on gaining and holding people’s attention. To understand this attentional economy, social media offers a unique window because it is increasingly a central space within which fashion knowledge is created and shared. Using long-term, geotagged big data from Twitter, we analyze the hitherto difficult-to-explore spaces and places of the global fashion industry. The article suggests that the data …

The Dark Tetrad, Social Dominance Orientation, And Online Political Discussion, Cory D. Taylor

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Previous literature into online trolling behavior has focused upon the role of the Dark Tetrad and political measures separately. This study extended the existing body of research by examining the relationship between the Dark Tetrad personality traits, social dominance orientation (SDO) and online political trolling in the United States of America. The data was collected using an online questionnaire from American users of Facebook and Reddit in the summer of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter movement, and in the runup to a hotly contested national election. Positive correlations were found between all of the Dark Tetrad traits, …

Media Literacy, Scientific Literacy, And Science Videos On The Internet, Sonny Rosenthal

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Although video is not a new format for communicating about science, video-sharing platforms have democratized the process. Individuals who wish to share information or ideas about science can use these platforms to connect with potentially large and diverse audiences. This has benefits and drawbacks. The benefits are related to increased access to scientific information and greater public engagement with science. The drawbacks are related to communication within echo chambers and the spread of misinformation. This mini-review presents these benefits and drawbacks with respect to the science video landscape and media and scientific literacies. It concludes with a brief synthesis of …

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It, Darren Linvill, Patrick Warren

Publications

Internet trolls don’t troll. Not the professionals at least. Professional trolls don’t go on social media to antagonize liberals or belittle conservatives. They are not narrow minded, drunk or angry. They don’t lack basic English language skills. They certainly aren’t “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds,” as the president once put it. Your stereotypical trolls do exist on social media, but the amateurs aren’t a threat to Western democracy

Professional trolls, on the other hand, are the tip of the spear in the new digital, ideological battleground. To combat the threat they pose, we must first understand …

Can "Slacktivism" Work? Perceived Power Differences Moderate The Relationship Between Social Media Activism And Collective Action Intentions Through Positive Affect, Mindi D. Foster, Eden J.V. Hennessey, Benjamin T. Blankenship, Abigail Stewart

Psychology Faculty Publications

We argue that the often-used critique of social media activism as merely a ‘feel-good’ mechanism can be countered by conceptualizing social media activism as a necessary type of collective action (i.e., consensus mobilization), incorporating theory on the benefits of positive feelings for activism, and by examining how power may affect these relationships. Women from two different samples (MTurk and university) were randomly assigned to recall a high- versus low-power experience, view real-world events of sexism, and then complete questionnaires assessing endorsement of social media activism, positive affect, and collective action intentions. A dual moderated mediation analyses at the second stage …

Surveillance And The Self: Understanding Privacy And Identity In Digital Environments, Alecea Ritter Standlee

Friday Forum

The widespread use of internet enabled devices among contemporary US adults has given rise to a series of questions about issues of identity, privacy and group behaviors. The increasing use of algorithmic systems in social media and the attendant privacy concerns among users may also contribute to increased levels of strategic management of identity among users. In order to contribute to this discussion, this project examines perceptions and practices of privacy and self-representation in digital spaces among college age adults 18-24. This project utilizes semi-structured interview data collected with college students in the Eastern United States and focuses on both …

Media Literacy Education In The Age Of Machine Learning, Teemu Valtonen, Matti Tedre, Kati Mäkitalo, Henriikka Vartiainen

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The media environment has radically changed over the past few decades. Transition and transformation of media platforms has enabled algorithms and automation to take over media processes such as production, content generation, curation, delivery, recommendation, and filtering of information. It has also enabled tracking of users’ actions, data mining, profiling, and the use of computational and machine learning techniques for purposes like behavior engineering, targeted advertisement, spread of mis- and disinformation, swaying political moods, and many others. In the field of media literacy education, the need to understand algorithm-driven media requires educators to re-think the connections between media literacy education …

Can Cooler Heads Prevail? New Media Technology And Affective Polarization, Brian Kendall Watson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Are new media technologies stirring up negative partisan feelings in the American public? Can researchers find ways of using new media tools to reduce affective polarization? Relying on a series of experiments featuring online newsfeeds and social media discussions, this dissertation seeks to answer these questions by testing the influence of partisan news and political discussions in realistic Internet environments. Two custom news “portals” (2016, 2018) expose participants to actual partisan news content. Two Facebook discussion experiments (2017, 2019) randomly assign participants to start real political discussions on their personal social media accounts, using discussion-initiation strategies designed to reduce partisan …

2019 Technical Report: A Review Of Age Verification Mechanism For 10 Social Media Apps, Paola Zippo, Liliana Pasquale

Reports

This technical report analyzes the 10 most used apps among children aged 8-12: Snapchat, Instagram, Tiktok, Viber, Skype, Facebook, HouseParty, Discord, Messenger, WhatsApp. For each application we assess whether the terms of use specify a minimum age that is compliant with the GDPR and whether the specified age is the same across all EU countries. We also verify whether each app provides mechanisms to verify the age of the user and how easy is to circumvent the verification mechanisms. The remainder of this report discusses the results of our study providing evidence to support the answers provided for each question.

The Effects Of The Source Of Celebrity Information On Parasocial Relationships, Noelle Roys, Monique Newman, Mark Spooner-Leduff

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The purpose of the study is to examine how the source of information about celebrities affects media users’ feelings toward them. Specifically, we will focus on two ways in which people relate to media figures. Parasocial relationships (PSR) are one-sided relationships that people form with media figures. The concept of parasocial interaction (PSI) is closely related in that it entails one-sided involvement with a media figure, but the experience is restricted to the duration a person is viewing the figure. Due to the nature of social media and to celebrities’ increasing use of social media platforms, existing research implies that …

The Impact Of The Web And Social Media On The Performance Of Nonprofit Organizations, Namchul Shin

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This research empirically analyzes the impact of both the Web and social media on the performance of nonprofit organizations by using 100 nonprofit organizations ranked by web traction measures, including Facebook Likes and Twitter Followers. Our findings from ANOVA and non-parametric tests demonstrate that nonprofit organizations with higher web traction have greater contributions and grants than others with lower web traction. These findings suggest that the use of the Web coupled with social media promotes better, interactive (two-way) communications with the public, as well as fundraising and that nonprofit organizations that attract more supporters on the Web and social media …

Social Media And Censorship: Rethinking State Action Once Again, Michael Patty

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

Live Ambience And Homestead Away From Home: Social Media Use And Dependency By Visiting Chinese Students In The United States, Zixue Tai, Jue Lu, Fengbin Hu

Journalism and Media Faculty Publications

This study investigates social media dependency relations among Chinese college students during their three-month study abroad sojourn in the United States. Data were collected using a multimethod approach of ethnography, field observation, and in-depth interviews. Inspired by the lens of media system dependency (MSD) theory, the analysis focuses on the diverse goals and motivations that drive student behavior in social media engagement, as well as various contextual factors leading students to adapt and transition to the U.S. social networking sites (SNS), and the subsequent outcomes. The findings indicate that task-driven and assignment-centered goals dominate social media use, and that multidimensional …

Influencer Marketing: Consumer Responses To Instagram Influencers, Gloriann Schaefer

Senior Honors Theses

Influencer marketing is the promotion of services and products through individuals with a large social media following. The research contained within this thesis will discuss the topic of influencer marketing and the responses of the consumers targeted. This study observed the different types of responses and comments that followers of Instagram influencers left on their posted content.

The themes and characteristics of responses of Instagram influencer followers will be found through a qualitative content analysis. The study is supported by self-presentation theory, which suggests that individuals, in this case social media influencers, present themselves in a way that results in …

Applying A Modified Technology Acceptance Model To Qualitatively Analyse The Factors Affecting Microblogging Integration, Tian Luo, David Richard Moore, Teresa Franklin, Helen Crompton

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The purpose of this research is to examine factors affecting students’ perception and engagement of microblogging integration using a qualitative approach. We employed a qualitative case study design to explore potential factors affecting microblogging integration in a hybrid course. Using the technology acceptance model (TAM) model as an umbrella framework, we examined through in-depth interviews with 18 participants the impact of microblogging integration into instruction that affected students’ reported use and perceptions of their microblogging-supported learning experiences. We found that individual differences, system characteristics, social influence and facilitating conditions all have impact on student participation and engagement in microblogging integration …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Social And Digital Media Communications On Organization-Public Relationship Building With Employees, Iris Cumberbatch

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

More than a decade after the emergence of social and digital media, professional communicators increasingly use these channels to interact with a wide array of stakeholders. Simultaneously, public relations (PR) and communications leaders seek to understand whether their efforts to communicate and engage with stakeholders through these channels are effective in establishing and building relationships, as well as to measure “effectiveness” in the new technology-driven communications landscape. With this study, I addressed a gap in the academic research with regard to understanding the effectiveness of social and digital media as a communications tool by assessing employees’ perceptions of their organization …

The Global Disinformation Order: 2019 Global Inventory Of Organised Social Media Manipulation, Samantha Bradshaw, Philip N. Howard

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Executive Summary

Over the past three years, we have monitored the global organization of social media manipulation by governments and political parties. Our 2019 report analyses the trends of computational propaganda and the evolving tools, capacities, strategies, and resources.

1. Evidence of organized social media manipulation campaigns which have taken place in 70 countries, up from 48 countries in 2018 and 28 countries in 2017. In each country, there is at least one political party or government agency using social media to shape public attitudes domestically.

2.Social media has become co-opted by many authoritarian regimes. In 26 countries, computational propaganda …

Social Networking Sites And Indian Students: A Study On The Usage Pattern, Dhanyasree V.K., Jaideep Sharma

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Social networking has become an inevitable part of our routine life. Such media open up a wide variety of tools that facilitate communication with fellow beings. This study tried to understand the use of social networking sites by the youth; especially the engineering students. Data was collected through survey method using a structured questionnaire. The results show that students keep profiles on multiple social networking sites, but use only one site actively. Majority of the students use them at least once a day, major purpose of visit being keeping in touch with their existing friends and finding old friends. Chat …

Inside The Virtual Ambazonia: Separatism, Hate Speech , Disinformation And Diaspora In The Cameroonian Anglophone Crisis, Sombaye Eyango Jules Roger

Master's Theses

This study examines the dynamics of the anglophone separatist claims in Cameroon, the so-called “Anglophone Crisis”. I focus on explaining why the separatist claims reemerged in 2016 after being shut down for about 20 years. It explains how the Anglophone separatist revendications have sustained over time despite the extremely centralized power of the Paul Biya government.This paper first argues that the Anglophone Crisis is more than an identity struggle between Anglophone/Francophone Cameroonians, but rather a conflict about historical and institutional grievances, political competition, and regional politics involving the neighboring state of Nigeria.

Second, it verifies the hypothesis that the sustainability …