Social Media Commons^™

Medium As King: Social Media & The Political Campaign, Isaac Shea

Masters Theses

There is a growing need for a greater understanding of the intersection between great content, effective targeting and proper media usage in mediated communication and especially in American politics. As more campaigns move their efforts online in an attempt to reach a rapidly growing digital constituency, more content will continue to be less visible. The major quest for this study will be to challenge the long-standing idea that “content is king” which Bill Gates termed at the inception of the internet. A theoretical background of Marshall McLuhan and Kathleen Hall Jamieson will not only allow us to answer this question, …

Crowdsourcing Management Education Assessment, Owen P. Hall Jr, Charla Griffy-Brown

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Assessment is now at the center of the new business education zeitgeist. This focus is the direct result of feedback from the business community regarding the growing gap between their needs and graduates from many business schools. Recently this divide has fallen under even closer scrutiny because of increasing student debt and the growing controversy over return-on- investment. Today business leaders are looking for web-savvy, problem-solving graduates. To this end, AACSB and regional accrediting bodies are calling for the adoption of comprehensive collaborative learning strategies to better align graduates’ skill sets with the real needs of business. Crowdsourcing, which is …

Towards A Taxonomy Of Challenges In An Integrated It Governance Framework Implementation, Mathew Nicho, Suadad Muamaar

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The rapid adoption of IT governance (ITG) frameworks in organizations worldwide, along with the subsequent need to select and integrate overlapping ITG frameworks has presented practitioners with challenges in choice and integration of frameworks. In this respect, the purpose of this study was to explore the ITG frameworks integration (ITGFI) challenges faced by organizations worldwide; develop and test a theory-based integrated ITG challenges (IIC) taxonomy model created from extant literature; and validate and compare these with those empirically extracted from three case studies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The results present the audience with a taxonomy of a prioritized …

Comparative Empirical Analysis On Computer Software Piracy Behaviors Between China And The United States: An Exploratory Study, Xiang Fang, Sooun Lee

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Using the data collected from several universities in China and the United States, which have drastically different piracy rates, economic development stages, income levels, and national cultures, this study aims to identify which demographic factors affect software piracy significantly. Totally, the dataset includes 600 valid responses. Multivariate data analysis, supported by Multivariate Analysis of Variance and Turkey’s test, reveals that among various factors, country difference and gender most significantly influence software piracy. In addition, this study offers recommendations on how to curb software piracy effectively.

The Agenda Setting Effects Of Cnn’S Twitter In The 2016 Super Tuesday Primaries, Joy Huertas

Masters Theses

Governmental fall downs, electoral outcomes, terrorism propaganda, and climate change awareness are just some of the commonly known results of the effects of news media coverage on the public opinion and society as a whole. For years, researchers have utilized the agenda setting theory as a basis for their studies on the effects of the news media coverage on the public opinion in countless of contexts. The purpose of this study was to analyze the agenda setting effects of a major broadcast news organization but from one of their most influential social media channels, Twitter. CNN’s daily Twitter mentions of …

The Digital Battleground: The Political Pulpit To Political Profile, Shylee Garrett

Celebration of Learning

Social media has infiltrated our daily lives, and with an upcoming election, the messages disseminated are becoming increasingly important for the public electorate. By examining Twitter accounts of 2016 Republican presidential candidates through a content analysis, I was able to decipher patterns, preferences and post effectiveness. As my Senior Inquiry research continues, I will be able to use my model to decipher the best practices for political use of Twitter for future elections and political candidates.

Mobile Audience, Social Media, And Action Research: An Examination Of Non-Profits And Mobile Engagement, Rebekah Bjork, Brian Palaggi, Ryan Mckee

Concordia Journal of Communication Research

Non-profit organizations in the United States are becoming more dependent on the use of social media accounts, to market to their mobile audiences, because they are free to use. With the constant advancements in technology, True Friends marketing department struggles to keep up with the lack of staff and necessary resources. The researchers chose to investigate how True Friends Organization could improve the quality of their mobile engagement through the analysis of their social media and Google analytics accounts. Specifically, the researchers implemented action research to evaluate if the increased use of Instagram expands True Friends mobile audience. The researchers …

Broadband And Mobile Internet Services In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2016 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca Vogt, Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph Cantrell, Bradley Lubben, Larry J. Mcelravy Jr.

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

A recent Pew Research Center survey revealed that home broadband adoption has plateaued in the United States. In addition, there has been an increase in adults who use a smartphone to access the Internet but do not have traditional broadband service in their home. Given these national trends, how do rural Nebraskans access the Internet? Are they accessing the Internet from their cell phones? Are they subscribing to high-speed Internet services at home? How satisfied are they with their Internet services? How important do they feel Internet access is for various items? This paper provides a detailed analysis of these …

Mcv Wines Social Media Marketing Campaign: Successfully Marketing Wine To Millennials, Dillon Payne

Journalism

The following study investigates how to develop a commercial on a social media platform in order to advertise a product to millennials – in this study, wine is the product. The number of consumers is increasing as each year more and more millennials become 21 years old, thus being able to be the next and newest consumer of the wine industry. The campaign’s focus was to create a wine commercial for a tasting room called MCV Wines and market it on social media to see if millennials would be interested in purchasing wine after seeing the commercial. Withscholarly research, the …

Officer On Duty: How An Image Can Change In An Instant, Derrick Battle

Masters Theses

The deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice sparked an uproar in many communities across the United States. These incidents brought to light that there is an issue that remains prevalent between citizen and police officers. The New York Police Department, Ferguson Police Department, and the Cleveland Department of Police have all dealt with tension involving the communities they serve. Since these incidents changes have been made within each department. Some had the help of the Department of Justice to reform old polices. While law enforcement does what they believe it is necessary to protect the public, sometimes …

Collective Rumor Correction On The Death Hoax Of A Political Figure In Social Media, Alton Y. K. Chua, Sin-Mei Cheah, Dion Hoe-Lian Goh, Ee-Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Conversations on social media networks that discuss a crisis incident as it unfolds have become a norm in recent years. Left to its own devices, such conversations could quickly degenerate into rumor mills. Little research has thus far examined the correction of rumors on social media. Using the third person effect as a theoretical underpinning, we developed a model of collective rumor correction on social media based on an incident surrounding the death hoax of a political figure. Tweets from Twitter were collected and analyzed for the period when a spike of circulating rumors speculating the demise of Singapore's first …

Advocacy Campaign For Women's Reproductive Health And Access On Social Media, Rachel Crist, Jules Montes, Lauren Frank

Student Research Symposium

Advocacy organizations increasingly rely on social media (e.g. Twitter hashtags) to foster issue awareness. Social media platforms can be promising communication channels to reach diverse audiences; however, it is unclear how effective these campaigns are at reaching audience members whose views do not align with the campaign. Using diffusion of innovations as a theoretical framework, this study examines the #BirthControlHelpedMe campaign to better understand the response to an advocacy campaign promoted via Twitter. Focus groups were conducted separately for men and women. The moderator led participants in a semi-structured discussion of perceptions of birth control. Participants were then shown example …

The Effects Of Social Media On Music Sharing, Rachel Zucker

Senior Theses

Studying music and its evolution in a society can give researchers a clue about the culture of a group of people as a whole. I believe that studying the way that music is shared is an integral part of this. In my research, I explored the historical roots of the digitization of music, while simultaneously examining the evolution of social media networks and their role in music sharing. Through my research, I gained an understanding of the flow of music exchange in today’s society by identifying the current, dominant social media and music streaming platforms and examining how each platform …

Why Do People Continue Using Facebook: An Empirical Study From The Perspectives Of Technology Adoption And Social Contract, Chen-Wei Chang

Dissertations

Online stalking, identity theft, and other privacy-related issues have become the major reasons that impede users from continuously using their Facebook accounts. To better understand how privacy risks, among other factors, have come into play, in terms of affecting users’ intention to continue using social networking sites, the present study applies three theories (i.e., the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2, social contract theory, and technology continuance theory) to develop a new model for Facebook use continuance. An online survey (N = 450) was performed by administrating a random sampling method in January and February of 2014. …

Adapting Nonverbal Coding Theory To Mobile Mediated Communication: An Analysis Of Emoji And Other Digital Nonverbals, Carley Durante

Masters Theses

Nonverbal communication has been an area of communication theory studied for decades. Despite more daily communication occurring over mediated communication, there is a lack of research surrounding digital communication, specifically mobile-mediated communication (MMC). While there has been research conducted regarding computer-mediated communication (CMC), specifically studies examining email communication and instant messaging (IM), the mobile conversation is relatively untouched by current scholarship. This paper will streamline nonverbal coding research to set the groundwork for application and translation of nonverbal coding elements to mobile-mediated communication and the text message conversation. Even more specifically, the elements of kinesics, vocalics, and chronemics will be …

From Building Vocabulary To Talking About Family Traditions Together: Discussions On The Facebook Group “Hoisan Phrases 學講台山話”, Melissa Chen, Genevieve Leung

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

This poster focuses on online discourses of an online Facebook group - “Hoisan Phrases.” “Hoisan Phrases” is used to construct positive ideologies about Hoisan-wa. Using multicompetence and symbolic competence frameworks, these online interactions are sites where Hoisan-wa speakers engage in the ability “to perform and construct various historicities in dialogue with others” (Kramsch & Whiteside). Humor serves as a way of moving beyond negative ideologies of Hoisan-wa. Data comes from a corpus of three years’ worth of posts. The data demonstrates a re-envisioning of the way we view Hoisan-wa vis-à-vis online communication, and expands the domains of language use.

News In Virtual Reality, Samantha Macy

Honors Theses

Virtual reality (VR) is the next frontier of news media, but we know little about the impact is has on viewers. The goal of this experiment is to gain a better understanding of the social presence and information retained by watching news in VR. Participants will either consumer news in a VR setting, a highly interactive online format, or print. Then, using a survey, social presence and information retention were assessed. Research participants were undergraduate students at a large Midwestern university. It is expected that VR news will result in higher social presence and information retention than news in highly …

The Strength Of Weak Social Ties: Social Activism And Facebook, Nichole Akai Giraldi

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

The use of Social Networking Sites, Facebook in particular, has become a major avenue of communication; Facebook has become a platform where people can discuss any topic of their choice to include social issues within society. While some argue Facebook is only a disseminator of information, others argue that in addition to being a disseminator of information it is also a motivator of social activism. Facebook profiles consist of one’s social ties, both strong and weak, which have the potential to expose users to different information daily. Using Mark Granovetter’s strength of weak social ties theory as a framework, the …

Social Media & Political Engagement: Environmental Organizations, Social Media And Political Engagement, Tyler Cate

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Social media is becoming more important in today’s digital society, but how effective is the use of social media when it comes to political engagement? How do environmental organizations use social media and is it effective in encouraging their “followers” to engage in online and/or offline political activity? I collected Facebook and Twitter data from ten environmental organizations to assess the effectiveness of each posting. I hypothesize that the groups making direct calls for action via social media receive a greater response – beyond “clicktivism” or “slacktivism” – than the groups that do not. The data includes the number of …

"We Can't Do It Without You!" Crowdfunding As Cultural And Economic Negotiations Within Neoliberal Culture, David Zachary Gehring

Institute for the Humanities Theses

This thesis is a qualitative study that critically examines crowdfunding campaigns established to fund music projects. It argues that these campaigns are instantiations of neoliberalism, influenced by and reflective of cultural commitments operative within music communities and a shifting industrial context. For this study, neoliberalism represents a particular mode of free market capitalism characterized by discourses emphasizing individual agency free from regulatory constraints, and the rearticulation of cultural values rhetorically prioritized over market interests. Emerging within this cultural and industrial ecology informed and motivated by neoliberalism, and shaped through the dynamic flux of fan/artist relationships and industrial uncertainty, the crowdfunding …

The Effect Of Relational And Interactive Aspects Of Parasocial Experiences On Attitudes And Message Resistance, Riva Tukachinsky, Angeline Sangalang

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study examines direct and interaction effects of parasocial interactions (PSIs) and relationships (PSRs) on message resistance (reactance and counterarguing) and message-consistent attitudes. PSI involves the give-and-take within the media encounter, whereas PSR entails the relational bonding with the media figure that continues to exist outside the context of any particular media exposure. A 2 (high/low PSI) × 2 (high/low PSR) experiment revealed that PSI (but not PSR) can increase message resistance, particularly when PSR is low. No significant effects of PSR/PSI on attitudes were found. The study suggests that, contrary to past theorization, PSIs may facilitate, rather than reduce, …

Washington State School District Superintendent Use Of Social Media For Public Relations And Communication, Jonathan R. Tienhaara

Education Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine usage and perception of superintendent participation in social media for the purposes of public relations and communication in the State of Washington. Tenets of Social-Customer Relationship Management (Social-CRM) were used as the theory to support how social media can be used to establish and enhance public relations with school district stakeholders. Washington’s (N = 295) school district superintendents were electronically surveyed to collect data on their use and perception of social media utilization for public relations and communication. The data were analyzed to determine how Washington superintendents use social media for …

Establishing A Brand: How To Create A Household Name For A Wine Brand Through Social Media And Image, Megan Rodrigues

Journalism

This paper was conducted as a Senior Project for the Journalism Department at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California during a 10 week quarter. This paper explores the topic of wine branding through social media and image. The research for this paper consisted of interviews with three experts that are currently working in the wine industry as well as a literature review of several articles and books that support the topic. The questions that arose about wine branding, brand recognition, social media, wine label and image during the literature review were then asked to the three experts: …

Public Relations In The Restaurant Industry: Using Visual Social Media To Increase Consumer Relationships, Carly M. Cady

Journalism

As daily social media usage grows, marketing through these platforms become increasingly important for public relations professionals. Instagram, one of the most popular social media platforms, provides a new way to instantaneously reach millions of potential customers through the use of visuals. However, with limited knowledge of this new public relations tool, standing out and creating a successful presence for your business is difficult. This study is to explore how visual social media, specifically Instagram, can be used to increase consumer knowledge in the restaurant industry.

Investigation of current literature regarding the topic and gathered opinions of industry professionals will …

Social Incentives In Pervasive Fitness Apps For Obese And Diabetic Patients, Yu Chen, Mirana Randriambelonoro, Antoine Geissbuhler, Pearl Pu

Faculty Publications, Information Systems & Technology

Social incentives such as cooperation and competition are found to motivate users in pervasive fitness applications. This work investigates how social incentives work for individuals with obesity and diabetes. We used a mobile fitness application called HealthyTogether as an experimental platform, which allows dyads to achieve fitness goals together and compete in an online community. We conducted a fourweek study with 16 obese and diabetic patients who used HealthyTogether to exercise with a buddy. Results show that participants exercised more with social incentives compared with their baseline. Collaborating with buddies to compete in a community was reported as motivating for …

When More Information Does Not Help: The Connection Between Facebook Monitoring Behavior, Relationship Uncertainty, And Relationship Quality, Tyler Morgan, Mackenzie Salitsky, Katjana Stutzer, J R. Thomas

Communication Studies Student Scholarship

This study examines the connection between relationship uncertainty, relationship satisfaction, and Facebook monitoring activity. We hypothesized that (1) people who monitor a romantic partner’s Facebook activity will also report feeling less satisfied in their current relationship, (2) increased monitoring of Facebook will correlate with greater uncertainty in romantic relationships, and that (3) greater uncertainty in a relationship will adversely affect relationship quality. Using an online survey taken by a volunteer sample of 77 participants across the United States, we found support for these hypotheses.

Layer-Switching Cost And Optimality In Information Spreading On Multiplex Networks, Byungjoon Min, Sang-Hwan Gwak, Nanoom Lee, K. I. Goh

Publications and Research

We study a model of information spreading on multiplex networks, in which agents interact through multiple interaction channels (layers), say online vs. offline communication layers, subject to layerswitching cost for transmissions across different interaction layers. The model is characterized by the layer-wise path-dependent transmissibility over a contact, that is dynamically determined dependently on both incoming and outgoing transmission layers. We formulate an analytical framework to deal with such path-dependent transmissibility and demonstrate the nontrivial interplay between the multiplexity and spreading dynamics, including optimality. It is shown that the epidemic threshold and prevalence respond to the layer-switching cost non-monotonically and that …

The New Reflexivity: Puzzle Films, Found Footage, And Cinematic Narration In The Digital Age, Jordan Lavender-Smith

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“The New Reflexivity” tracks two narrative styles of contemporary Hollywood production that have yet to be studied in tandem: the puzzle film and the found footage horror film. In early August 1999, near the end of what D.N. Rodowick refers to as “the summer of digital paranoia,” two films entered the wide-release U.S. theatrical marketplace and enjoyed surprisingly massive financial success, just as news of the “death of film” circulated widely. Though each might typically be classified as belonging to the horror genre, both the unreliable “puzzle film” The Sixth Sense and the fake-documentary “found footage film” The Blair Witch …

Wikia: Between Documentary Simulacra And Documented Fictions, Caroline Courbières, Sabine Roux

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Wikis are digital community spaces that have attracted high traffic but virtually no study as socio-communicational platforms. These platforms offer individuals the possibility of engaging in unique writing activities by defining a distinct material configuration and imposing a protocol of enunciation. Wikis are platforms developed through the contributions of anyone, and constitute collaborative encyclopedias dedicated to a cultural topic. This article more specifically examines the Harry Potter Wiki, which is devoted to the literary universe of J.K. Rowling. Our semio-communicational analysis concerns the structure, the authors and the contents of the French and Anglo-Saxon versions of this wiki. First we …

Facebook: The Alienation From Oneself, Kaitlin F. Knapp

All College Thesis Program, 2016-2019

We live in the Age of Information: a time when technology has advanced in speed and the number of ways people can communicate has increased. Social media is one such advancement; this thesis will focus specifically on the consequences of the site Facebook. The mission statement of the Facebook company is “to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.” While Facebook serves as a document of its users’ lives, through its unique process of documentation, Facebook alienates the user from the image of herself that she intended to create. This thesis uses the …