Social Media Commons^™

The Effects Of Deepfakes And Synthetic Media On Communication Professionals, Axel Ebermann

Student Theses and Dissertations

The spread of misinformation and disinformation is regarded as one of the most salient challenges for communication professionals around the world.

Now, a new technology called "DeepFakes" or “Synthetic Media” has the potential to further uproot the infosphere. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will enable the mass creation of synthetic audio-visual content that resembles real videos, in which people will appear to say or do things they never actually said or did.

The existing literature predominantly focuses on three aspects of DeepFakes and Synthetic Media: the technical background, coverage of preexisting DeepFakes and possible solutions to combat the malicious use of the …

Engaged Social Media In Higher Education While Avoiding The Label Of "Striving", Jessica Nerren

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Striving has become a word laden with problematic meanings in the world of higher education. For instance, if a university is too aligned with business, or becomes overly selective, or deviates from original purpose or mission, then, at times, those actions are seen as striving (O’Meara, 2007). O’Meara (2007) defines striving as participation in efforts to improve status and prestige in line with the hierarchy. Allen (2021) echoes the problematic nature of this practice witnessed abroad, equating striving educational practices with neoliberalism, potentially overshadowing primary purposes of the institution, such as learning and teaching, or drowning out important parts of …

Walking Into A News Desert: How Arkansas College Newspapers Are Coping With The Decline In Print Journalism, David Keith

Dissertations

News deserts is a reference to geographic areas — most commonly counties — where no newspaper is published. The number of these areas continues to grow as more newspapers shut their doors because of financial difficulties brought on by a lack of advertising, a lack of readers, and the shift to online news consumption. College students studying journalism find themselves on the cusp of entering a profession where the number of workplaces and jobs is shrinking. They know it and the advisers of their college newspapers know it. Even with this arid prospect before them, the students are reporting news …

The Impacts Of Social Media On Social Movements, Gabriela Aguilar

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

As time passes by there is more representation of social movements due to their high exposure on social media. Technology has become a major part of our everyday lives and on average we spend many hours on social platforms. We are exposed to the injustices that occur every minute of every day through social media. Before, when technology was not accessible for everyone the news people received were from television, newspapers, or even magazines. Now, we have platforms such as Twitter and TikTok among others that provide us with news on any malpractice that occurs in our communities and society. …

Nonprofit Narratives: How Two Organizations Use Social Media And Rhetorical Appeals To Address Issues Of Sexual And Domestic Violence, Samuel Hiester

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Though often seen as a panacea for organizational objectives, nonprofits must be judicious in deploying social media, particularly due to resource limitations. Nonprofits deploy many types and styles of digital texts, including social media. Classical rhetorical appeals can be effective means for achieving positive impact in that context. When used correctly, these ‘digital texts’ can be leveraged for maximum engagement with audiences. This study examines both a large, national organization – the National Sexual Violence Resource Center – and a small, regional one – Branch House Family Justice Center – for not only what sort of digital texts are utilized, …

The Influence Of Social Media On The Tourism Industry: A Content Analysis Of Culinary Tourism Brands Via Instagram, Angela White

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The tourism industry in the United States is constantly changing and being influenced by social media, specifically Instagram. Culinary brands use Instagram to advertise their restaurants and dishes in a creative, visual way. As a result, Instagram is now being used as a tool by tourists and both potential and current customers to share their dining experiences and find these locations based on the visual appeal. This study provides a content analysis of Instagram account information and photo composition within eight popular culinary tourism destinations by examining the strategies used by the accounts. 50 randomly selected photos were used from …

Social Media Influencers (Smis) In Context: A Literature Review, Charles Alves De Castro, Isobel O'Reilly Dr, Aiden Carthy

Articles

This review focused on three main areas, "Social Media Influencers (SMIs) in Context, The Impact of SMIs on Adolescents, and Consumer Behaviour in a Digital Era – Generation Z in Perspective". This article aims to further the overall understanding of SMIs and outlines the impact of SMIs on adolescents‘ lives. Thus, the main objective of this literature review is to raise awareness within the marketing field about the influence of social media influencers on adolescents and how brands promote their products and content through social media influencers. The review comprised a regular search using electronic journal databases and secondary data …

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 …

Negative Commentary—Negative Consequences: Legal Ethics, Social Media, And The Impact Of Explosive Commentary, Jan L. Jacobowitz Ms.

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Connecting and sharing on social media has opened communication channels and provided instantaneous information to billions of people worldwide. Commentary on current events, cases, and negative online reviews may be posted in an instant, often without pause or thought about the potential repercussions. This global phenomenon may not only provide news of the day updates, humor, and support for those in need but also is replete with ethical landmines for the unwary lawyer. Lawyers commenting on current events, their cases, or responding to a client’s negative online review, have suffered damage to their careers. In some instances, they have even …

Examining Media Dependency And Parasocial Relationship On Protective Action Behaviors During Covid-19, Amy Hyman

Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated the significant role that mass media plays in disseminating messages to the public during disasters and public health crises. Information disseminated during a disaster influences individuals’ decision-making process regarding protective actions, or mitigation behaviors. This study examined the relationship between media dependency theory, parasocial relationship, and media effects (cognitive, affective and behavioral) during the COVID-19 pandemic. A quantitative approach was used with a convenience sample. The sample focused on residents in the state of Arkansas and specific generational cohorts. The results found that the generational cohorts had different media preferences during the height of …

The Impact Of American Media Consumption On Saudi Young Adults' Social Media Behavior, Lifestyle, And Attitude Toward Non-Traditional Behaviors, Mohammed Khushaim

Student Theses and Dissertations

It is common knowledge that media has an influential role within human culture. They form the primary vehicle through which popular culture gets its identity (Hacker, 1975). American media are the leading source of entertainment and culture for the world. Hollywood movies particularly, exert great persuasive pressure on the behaviors of Saudi youth, by encouraging them into new lifestyle patterns and fashion (Gabner, 1986), despite their culture being defined by the Islamic heritage and historical position for trade. This paper will analyze the psychological, behavioral, and cultural effects of American media consumption on Saudi Youth. It will first outline the …

"You All Look Like @Wolfiecindy:" The Homogeny Of Facial Self-Presentation Among Female Instagram Users, Kelly Mcginty

Theses & Dissertations

The emergence of a single facial aesthetic among professionally beautiful women on Instagram has popularized and idealized a specific look (i.e., Instagram Face) within a generation of young women and has normalized nonsurgical interventions and the use of photo editing in order to achieve it. It is the face of Kim Kardashian West, Kylie Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski, Bella Hadid, and many other women who are considered attractive and who have large followings on the social platform. Through data collected by a quantitative content analysis, this thesis investigates how these women all look astoundingly the same, with uniformly high and contoured …

The Curious Cases Of Cancel Culture, Loydie Solange Burmah

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Cancel culture is a complex phenomenon that challenges our notions of civic practices, perpetuates surveillance practices amongst individuals who encourage digital public shaming and obscures communal ideas regarding accountability. Hence, it is imperative to complicate and nuance “cancel culture” to understand the different meanings derived from its diverse mechanizations. Other matrices such as power, platform governance, decoloniality, and more bolster ideas about the phenomenon’s extensive sociocultural reach. Using a critical digital ethnographic approach, I exemplify with the analysis two cancel culture cases uncovering themes such as selective cancelations, cancelation effectiveness, performative activism, performative wokeness, hypocrisy, victimization, and empathy. This study …

Media And Social Media Best Practices For Feminist Activist Groups And Organizations, Arien Rozelle

The Seneca Falls Dialogues Journal

Feminist organizations and activist groups from the Women’s Suffrage movement to the Women’s March have utilized media relations tactics and techniques to share organizational messages. Over time, the art of media relations has evolved from a tactical role to a strategic necessity, one that is vital to the success of any activist organization or group as they seek to inform, educate and/or persuade their intended audience through the use of media and social media.

This essay identifies best practices for feminist activist groups and organizations to help begin or improve their media relations efforts, ranging from initial hiring, to media …

Operating The Digital Space In The Age Of Protest Participation, Kyle Stanley

LSU Master's Theses

This study examines young African American adults’ usage of social media and other digital spaces as tools to build community given the rise in protest participation in North American (U. S.) society while at the height of a global health pandemic. Since early adulthood is a time where African Americans are most active online, this study will examine how and why those African Americans are turning to digital spaces to find social connections. Racism and racial injustice are two of the most pressing issues in the African American community, and it is clear that it can be an emotionally laborious …

Towards A Large-Scale Intelligent Mobile-Argumentation And Discovering Arguments, Controversial Topics And Topic-Oriented Focal Sets In Cyber-Argumentation, Najla Althuniyan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

User-generated content (UGC) platforms host different forms of information, such as audio, video, pictures, and text. They have many online applications, such as social media, blogs, photo and video sharing, customer reviews, debate, and deliberation platforms. Usually, the content of these platforms is provided and consumed by users. Most of these platforms, mainly social media and blogs, are often used for online discussion. These platforms offer tools for users to share and express opinions. Commonly, people from different backgrounds and origins discuss opinions about various issues over the Internet. Furthermore, discussions among users contain substantial information from which knowledge about …

A Remote Environment’S Effect On The News Consumption Of College Students, Amelia R. Webb

Anthós

This study investigates how PSU Honor Students' news interactions have changed with the shift to a remote environment. After conducting four interviews, it found that students' news exposure increased in a remote environment. This change caused students to be more aware of the news's mental health impacts, and they adjusted their news interactions accordingly.

How To Escape 130 Years Of Being Unnatural, Incompetent, And Unviable: American Women Presidential Candidates Take To Social Media, Izabella Becherer

University Honors Theses

For 130 years, American media coverage on women in presidential races remains unchanged despite the drastic difference in women's rights. While male candidates receive commentary on their policy, women often fall into discussions about their hair, their hemline, or their husband. Three core narratives about women then stem from their media characterization: unnatural, incompetent, and unviable. Unnatural, in that women, by nature, are not meant to be in political office. Incompetent, implying women are not smart enough for political office. Unviable, arguing that America is not ready to elect a female or females are "unelectable". The key to escaping this …

The Impact Of The Media Coverage Of Sexual Violence On Its Victims/Survivors, Jaidaa Taha

Theses and Dissertations

As part of their daily routine, journalists are often assigned to cover accidents or traumatic events to keep the public updated. With the high competition and the constant deadline pressure, reporters are usually pressured to talk to the subjects of these traumatic accidents too soon to publish their stories. This in turn leaves limited room for them to think about how this coverage is affecting their interviewees. This study aims to examine the impact of the media’s coverage of sexual assault on the victims/survivors of the assault themselves. Media outlets often follow stories of sexual violence, tackling a lot of …

How Should We Regulate The Internet? A Proposal, Natalie Petruzelli

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

With the invention of the internet providing newfangled methods of spreading information around the world, misinformation has also found home in these pathways, disrupting the general public’s ability to discern fact from fiction and creating divides in society. Regulation must be enacted to stop the effects of misinformation, but the efforts of technology companies and the general public have been insufficient thus far. Regulatory control of the internet and its content should be the responsibility of the government, based on their constitutional right to intervene under certain circumstances and the fact that previous efforts by other parties to mitigate misinformation …

Remaking Cinema: Black Hollywood Films, Filmmakers, And Finances, Kiana A. Carrington

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The goal of my project was to create a dataset of black film that can be used for analysis of fiscal trends in black film. It includes the estimated budget, domestic and worldwide box office numbers for over 700 American black films. I defined black films as those that centered on African American stories and African American characters, or were made by Black filmmakers. I also included movies embraced by African American audiences that were made by non-Black filmmakers like Bad Boys, Django Unchained, and The Color Purple. I used a combination of Box Office Mojo, The Black Cinema Database, …

Social Media As A Tool For Evangelism Among Youth And Young Adults, Trisney Bocala

Student Research

This research aims to answer the question of which social media platforms youth prefer and what types of content they prefer. Using data collected from a quantitative survey, this research seeks to identify the most-used social media platforms and most appealing formats of content so that Seventh-day Adventist churches, media organizations, and digital missionaries can more effectively utilize social media as a tool for evangelism among youth, defined as 15 to 24 years of age.

Perilous Place: Personal Stories Point To Possible Solutions To Widespread Flooding In The Mississippi Delta, Jared Poland

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and create journalistic stories highlighting the Yazoo Backwater Pumps Projects relationship to climate change while utilizing narrative storytelling techniques. Before explaining the methodology used for conducting research and interviews, the researcher describes the influence that innovations of mass communication channels have had on the way humans form groups and persuasively advocate for their positions. The researcher describes their historical perspective of mass media innovations that were vital considerations during their discovery and investigation of this politically divisive issue. The researcher more specifically focuses on the innovations that have occurred since the digital …

The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence In The Customer Journey: A Case Study Of Bosch Usa And Defy South Africa, Tariro S. Munyengeterwa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to gain traction and is increasingly reshaping the media and marketing communications field. While significant research has been conducted on the impact of AI in other fields, there is little empirical evidence on how AI is affecting the customer journey. The present study explored both organizations’ current use of AI tools and how customer perceptions about AI affect AI usage and adoption through the lens of diffusion of innovation theory. The research was conducted using mixed-method qualitative research. In-depth interviews and a case study content analysis were conducted to collect and analyze the data. The results …

Investigating The Role Of Social Capital And Everyday Communication In Campus Community Resilience During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Kaleb A. Turner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigated the role of social capital and everyday communication in campus community resilience capacities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study conceptualized the university community as a micro-community that experienced sharp disruption as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the same way that traditionally conceptualized communities harness communication to build resilience, this study provides evidence that micro-communities, such as the university campus, have the same potential. Focus groups with students, faculty, and staff, as well as one-on-one semi-structured interviews with students, resulted in 557 pages of single-spaced transcripts that provided rich data to understand this community resilience context. …

How Risk-Related Statistics, As Reported In News And Social Media, Are Linked To The Use Of The Public Transit System, Prashiddhi Pokhrel

Thinking Matters Symposium

Due to the pandemic, people have started relying more on televisions, news, social media, and other news outlets for guidance. Moreover, with the increasing amount of news, data, and information there is also an increase in the amount of misleading statistics. People’s opinions and decisions significantly depend on the data, statistics, and information that they are exposed to, as well as their sources. For this project, we want to look at how information and its sources are affecting the decision made by the general public for the usage of the Portland Transit System. It is very important to know why …

A Tale Of Two Companies: The Importance Of Public Relations Amidst The Shift Towards Corporate Activism, Olivia Schwab

Honors Theses

By comparing the controversies that stemmed from Papa John’s John Schnatter and CrossFit’s Greg Glassman, some obvious public relations strategies stand out, including but not limited to understanding an audience, adapting to a changing environment, establishing a crisis communications plan, and taking controversial stands on issues close to the audience’s hearts. Most importantly though, if companies preach messages of social change, they must follow up on their stances with corrective action to do their best to help facilitate it in society.

While examining the history of corporate activism, it is clear why and how some corporations become the victims of …

Controversy, Coverage And Cancel Culture: The Daily Mississippian's Reporting Of The 2018 Ed Meek Controversy, And Related Findings, Mason Thomas Scioneaux

Honors Theses

As this thesis reflects a body of work completed by a journalism student near the conclusion of a journalism education at the University of Mississippi, I approached research and writing in that way. I interviewed three people, for an hour each, and the things I learned in those interviews greatly affected the conclusions I reached with this thesis. My full transcripts from those interviews are located in Appendices A-C. I also did a lot of scouring through articles of The Daily Mississippian from fall 2018 and otherwise; I looked at every single edition of the paper from that semester, both …

Best Practices For Voter Engagement Within Higher Education, Alyssa Tomins

Honors Projects

It is imperative that higher education institutions learn more about how to recruit members of younger generations to participate in future elections. Young people have historically voted at low rates, but that trend has started to change in recent years as more resources are being devoted to voter engagement among young people. This leads to the interest of understanding what best practices and strategies have academic institutions utilized to advance voter engagement on their campuses. This qualitative study analyzes these best practices and strategies at 84 colleges and universities, all of whom are members of The Andrew Goodman Foundation Vote …

Nabisco Oreo Social Media Campaign: Be Oreoriginal, Abigail Adams

Undergraduate Research Conference

Be OREOriginal is an inspiring idea that encourages consumers to not only be true to themselves and their passions but create things that reflect their imaginations and creativity in any form that feels right to them. This campaign aims to involve today’s teenagers in something that will give them an opportunity to find a creative outlet and inspire them to follow their passions. In addition, this campaign hopes to help these young people connect with each other on a more personal level through the shared passions of art.