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Articles 1 - 24 of 24
Full-Text Articles in Social Media
Modeling The Spread Of Competing Narratives In Multimodal Social Media Network, Mayor Inna Gurung
Modeling The Spread Of Competing Narratives In Multimodal Social Media Network, Mayor Inna Gurung
Theses and Dissertations
Social media has fundamentally transformed how narratives are produced, contested, and disseminated, enabling competing interpretations of the same event to spread rapidly across networked populations. Understanding how narratives gain traction over others in these environments is critical for addressing misinformation, supporting informed public discourse, and designing effective counter-messaging strategies. Yet existing research largely treats narrative propagation as a single-process phenomenon and focuses predominantly on textual data, overlooking both the competitive dynamics between opposing narratives and the growing role of visual symbolic communication in shaping how narratives are received. This dissertation addresses these gaps through a multi-platform, multimodal framework applied to …
Multimodal Analysis Of Content Drift And Algorithmic Bias In Youtube Recommendations, Mert Can Cakmak
Multimodal Analysis Of Content Drift And Algorithmic Bias In Youtube Recommendations, Mert Can Cakmak
Theses and Dissertations
Recommendation systems play a major role in shaping how users encounter information on digital platforms, yet their influence often unfolds through sequences of recommended content rather than isolated outputs. This dissertation investigates recommendation bias on YouTube by examining how recommendation pathways evolve across long-form videos and YouTube Shorts. Focusing on politically sensitive narratives, including the China–Uyghur conflict, the South China Sea dispute, and Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election, the dissertation develops a unified framework for understanding how recommendation systems reshape exposure across platform formats. Using an audit-based and multimodal methodology, the dissertation combines controlled recommendation collection, topic and relevance analysis, emotion …
Decoding Symbolic Influence On Youtube Engagement, Emotion Resonance And Trust In Information Campaigns, Diwash Poudel
Decoding Symbolic Influence On Youtube Engagement, Emotion Resonance And Trust In Information Campaigns, Diwash Poudel
Theses and Dissertations
This study examined how symbolic images in YouTube videos influences viewers’ emotions, trust, and engagement with political content online. Approximately 2,000 videos were collected and analyzed, with a focus on both thumbnails and standout frames. The findings revealed that cultural symbols were particularly effective at capturing attention and evoking strong emotional reactions—especially anger and disgust. Notably, these same symbols also enhanced viewer trust, making audiences less susceptible to misinformation. Statistical tests confirmed that these effects were consistent and significant. To ensure the validity of these results, additional analyses were conducted to assess potential biases in YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, as well …
Role Of Multimedia And Conative Words In Online Socio-Political Mobilization, Mainuddin Shaik
Role Of Multimedia And Conative Words In Online Socio-Political Mobilization, Mainuddin Shaik
Theses and Dissertations
In the digital age, social media platforms have become vital for political mobilization, enabling rapid information dissemination, real-time engagement, and virtual community formation. This dissertation presents a novel multi-method framework to analyze mobilization dynamics on multimedia-centric platforms, focusing on Instagram, X (formally Twitter), and TikTok. The study examines Brazilian political protests (November 2022–February 2023) and disinformation and anti-disinformation campaigns during Taiwan's 2024 presidential elections. The research applies a multi-method framework to analyze mobilization characteristics in Brazilian and Taiwanese social movements, grounded in the Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory. This approach assesses how multimedia formats—images, sidecars, and videos—influence cognitive mobilization at …
A Comparative Study Of Toxicity Propagation Using Epidemiological Models, Niloofar Yousefi
A Comparative Study Of Toxicity Propagation Using Epidemiological Models, Niloofar Yousefi
Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation explores the spread and intensity of toxic content on social media, with a particular focus on platform X (formerly known as Twitter). The growing presence of toxic interactions has sparked concerns about their effects on public discourse. Utilizing epidemiological models such as SIR (Susceptible, Infected, Recovered), SIS (Susceptible, Infected, Susceptible), SIRS (Susceptible, Infected, Recovered, Susceptible), SEIRS (Susceptible, Exposed, Infected, Recovered, Susceptible), and the novel SEImIhRS model (Susceptible, Exposed, Moderate Infected, High Infected, Recovered, Susceptible), which are traditionally used to study infectious disease dynamics, this dissertation examines toxicity in platform X discussions. A key contribution of this work is …
A Study To Explore How People Evaluate The Quality Of Their Medical Information From The Social Media For Celiac Disease, Phillip Arnold
A Study To Explore How People Evaluate The Quality Of Their Medical Information From The Social Media For Celiac Disease, Phillip Arnold
Theses and Dissertations
Every day, millions of people visit various social media platforms to post updates on their daily lives, to search for information, and to repost and/or potentially like posts on social media. This has led to scores of pieces of misinformation appearing on these social media posts. While some misinformation can be harmless and disregarded by the general public, there are various subject matters, including medical treatments and diseases, where misinformation on the treatment and other various subjects involving the disease can lead to dire consequences. This research proposes to investigate how social media users vet their data on two different …
Modeling Knowledge Graphs And Its Applicability In Multi-Source Social Network Data, Abiola Sylvester Akinnubi
Modeling Knowledge Graphs And Its Applicability In Multi-Source Social Network Data, Abiola Sylvester Akinnubi
Theses and Dissertations
Social network analysis is becoming more relevant with the rise of Large Language Models and other AI frameworks, particularly as online content creation surges. However, analyzing social network data from different platforms to study online opinions and influence campaigns remains challenging. Even more complex is the concept of multi-source social network analysis. Knowledge graphs, an essential part of Web 4.0 and crucial in information modeling and encoding, offer a unique solution. They allow for a more concise encoding of relationships between entities and related discussions. However, there is limited investigation into using multi-source data for examining online information campaigns and …
Extracting Narrative Using Gpt-3 From Youtube Videos And Its Visualization, Mayor Inna Gurung
Extracting Narrative Using Gpt-3 From Youtube Videos And Its Visualization, Mayor Inna Gurung
Theses and Dissertations
YouTube, the leading video-sharing social media platform, is home to a vast number of videos, with over one billion hours of content consumed daily. However, with 500 hours of fresh content added to the platform every day, ensuring the quality of the content has become a daunting task, making it challenging to prevent the spread of low-quality information. The manual review of malicious content by moderators is time-consuming and highlights the need for faster analysis and processing tools. This paper proposes a novel approach that utilizes Generative Pre-Trained Transfer-3 (GPT-3), with 175 billion parameters, to extract narratives from YouTube videos. …
Analyzing Blogs About Uyghur Discourse Using Topic Induced Hyperlink Network, Ifeanyichukwu Joshua Umoga
Analyzing Blogs About Uyghur Discourse Using Topic Induced Hyperlink Network, Ifeanyichukwu Joshua Umoga
Theses and Dissertations
The Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group that descends from the general region of Central and East Asia. In recent years, the Chinese government has been accused of violating the human rights of Uyghur Muslims by imprisoning them in camps and subjecting them to forced labor, forced abortion, and other harmful treatments. Aside from western news outlets, lot of information is available on blogs regarding the Uyghur issue. The information found in these blogs provide an alternative lens to analyze the Uyghur discourse from non-traditional media outlets. However, it is difficult to show the connection between blogs and how information …
Multicultural Analysis Of Topic And Emotion Drift On Youtube’S Recommendation System, Ugochukwu Olaitan Peter Onyepunuka
Multicultural Analysis Of Topic And Emotion Drift On Youtube’S Recommendation System, Ugochukwu Olaitan Peter Onyepunuka
Theses and Dissertations
YouTube serves as a primary information source for many users, with its recommendation algorithm playing a vital role in video discovery and viewership on the platform. It determines what users are exposed to and is responsible for a significant portion (70%) of the content users engage with on the platform. It is therefore crucial to scrutinize recommendation systems to understand potential algorithmic biases that may spread disinformation. Previous studies have shown that the recommendation algorithm favors a small number of videos, creating mild ideological echo chambers. This study aims to investigate the extent to which YouTube's recommendation algorithm spreads disinformation …
Toxicity And Reddit: A Study Of Harmful Effects On User Engagement And Community Health, Nahiyan Bin Noor
Toxicity And Reddit: A Study Of Harmful Effects On User Engagement And Community Health, Nahiyan Bin Noor
Theses and Dissertations
The rise of social media has led to an alarming increase in harmful content, including abusive language, disrespect, and hate speech. While social media platforms have attempted to address this issue, harmful content cannot be completely eradicated before it impacts individuals or communities. In this thesis, we conduct a comparative analysis of toxicity on three social media platforms: Twitter, Parler, and Reddit. Using Reddit data, our study employs a tree structure to visualize and divide each conversation thread, allowing for an in-depth examination of the impact of toxic content on communities. We also used different machine learning algorithms to classify …
Detecting And Characterizing Suspicious Behaviors Within Youtube Channels, Oluwaseyi David Adeliyi
Detecting And Characterizing Suspicious Behaviors Within Youtube Channels, Oluwaseyi David Adeliyi
Theses and Dissertations
Online social networks have been a target of misinformation and manipulative campaigns in recent years. Although, recent literature has been developed to identify individual suspicious accounts that are connected to coordinated manipulative campaigns on platform such as Twitter, there is a need to detect and characterize large-scale coordinated efforts within other contexts. YouTube is the one of the most popular and visited websites in the world and has also been a target of misinformation and online campaigns in recent years, making analysis of suspicious behaviors within the platform vital for the research community and policymakers at large. In this research, …
A Framework To Evaluate Trustworthiness In Online Video-Based Information Environments, Thomas Marcoux
A Framework To Evaluate Trustworthiness In Online Video-Based Information Environments, Thomas Marcoux
Theses and Dissertations
Online misinformation has been shown to be a significant threat, with measurable real world impact. This has become especially evident during the COVID-19 crisis, where online spaces saw the propagation of false or inaccurate information on healthcare, protective equipment, vaccines, and more, causing major public health repercussions. Although many video-based online platforms are used as vehicles of such misinformation and are counted as some of the most popular and influential social media platforms, current research faces a lack of systemic methodology to analyze such content and detect potential misinformation efforts. This work proposes a solution by introducing an adaptable framework. …
Toxicity And The Effect On Digital Communities, Karen Watts Dicicco
Toxicity And The Effect On Digital Communities, Karen Watts Dicicco
Theses and Dissertations
Social networks or social media platforms have been around since the 1980s. With the increase of users every year, we have seen the rise of harmful content such as rude, disrespectful, unreasonable, abusive comments, and hate speech. The increase of harmful content was even more noticeable in 2020 with COVID-19 and election topics. Mainstream social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, continue to increase their efforts to reduce harmful content such as hate speech, harmful content, and misinformation. However, social media platforms cannot catch and remove all toxic content from their platforms before it impacts an individual …
A Computational Framework For Assessing Connective Action Behavior Of Cyber Crowds In Social Media, Billy Spann
A Computational Framework For Assessing Connective Action Behavior Of Cyber Crowds In Social Media, Billy Spann
Theses and Dissertations
Social media technology has disrupted and revolutionized citizen participation in protests, demonstrations, and social justice movements. In recent years, online information campaigns have moved from the more formal and organizationally backed collective action, to new forms of citizen based and personalized organization known as connective action. Social media platforms also provide a method to coordinate and influence behavior. These platforms can become catalysts for deviant behavior that results in dissemination of misinformation, disinformation, and mobilization of physical crowds. In this context, there is a need to understand the behaviors that motivate the actors and groups that participate in these social …
Improving The Quality Of Crisis Communications Using Social Media Analytics, Alex Joshua Berry
Improving The Quality Of Crisis Communications Using Social Media Analytics, Alex Joshua Berry
Theses and Dissertations
In this research, social media data from a public school district was utilized to help improve district communication during and after a crisis. Data was analyzed by utilizing the programming languages R and Python. The programming languages helped generate data that allowed this research to evaluate how the quality of crisis communication could be improved by using these methods. In the study, the data identified emotions in the text of comments, identifying information gaps (finding questions), and manually identified misinformation to show school districts various methods to help generate messages that can help answer the questions of parents and community …
Ptsd And Video Games: A Veteran View Of The Value Of Gaming Through Recovery, Nyssa Danielle Curtis
Ptsd And Video Games: A Veteran View Of The Value Of Gaming Through Recovery, Nyssa Danielle Curtis
Theses and Dissertations
PTSD is a pervasive and complicated mental health disorder affecting 20% of US military veterans. Currently, 22 veterans die per day due to suicide, and the majority are not enrolled in VA. As veterans face barriers in seeking care following trauma, many are turning to video games as a form of self-care. Guided by research literature, a veteran survey, and anecdotal evidence from the veteran author, this thesis paper explores ways in which communication through video games can influence PTSD therapy, tapping into their use to increase therapeutic benefits. Seventeen veterans participated in an online survey, which inquired about their …
Leveraging Social Network Analysis And Supervised Machine Learning To Study Coordination In Online Information Campaigns, Tuja Khaund
Theses and Dissertations
Online social networks (OSNs) are a major component of societal digitalization. OSNs alter how people communicate, make decisions, form or change their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Thus, they can now impact financial systems and political communication at scale. As one type of OSN, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. serve as outlets for users to convey information to an audience as broad or targeted as the user desires. Over the years, these social media platforms have been infected with automated accounts, or bots, that are capable of hijacking conversations, influencing other users and manipulating content dissemination. Although …
Structural Decomposition Of Deviant Cyber Flash Mobs On Twitter: Examining Statistical And Network Features Using Focal Structure Analysis, Billy Spann
Theses and Dissertations
Online Social Networks (OSNs) are largely considered a powerful vehicle to disseminate information. It is common to see social media used for propaganda maneuvering, disinformation campaigns, and crowd manipulation. These platforms also provide a method to coordinate and influence behavior. Many crime organizations use social media to coordinate events and then quickly disperse making it difficult to identify the actors. The focus of this study is to advance our understanding of the use of collective action theory measurements in communication networks extracted from Deviant Cyber Flash Mobs (DCFMs). We assess the formation of these cyber collective groups by analyzing the …
A Framework Towards Computational Narrative Analysis On Blogs/Social Media, Kiran Kumar Bandeli
A Framework Towards Computational Narrative Analysis On Blogs/Social Media, Kiran Kumar Bandeli
Theses and Dissertations
Social media is widely used to express views and share opinions with others. With the availability of inexpensive and ubiquitous mass communication tools like social media, creating narratives, false information and propaganda is both convenient and effective. Social media users leverage this platform to further their views by framing narratives and participating in online discourse. Almost all events, issues, crises are discussed on social media. Blogs are a good source of data for sociologists and political scientists to gain situational awareness by tracking different opinions, political views, and narratives being shaped. Blogs, unlike other social media platforms, are not regulated …
Role Of Multiple Social Media Platforms In Online Campaigns, Muhammad Nihal Hussain
Role Of Multiple Social Media Platforms In Online Campaigns, Muhammad Nihal Hussain
Theses and Dissertations
Social media that started as a tool that connected high school students has found various uses. We are now connected more than ever. It has altered the way information reaches us. People use social media to learn not only about their family and friends but also to stay updated about news and global events. Organizations use social media to learn about their customers, politicians use it to reach out and influence voters, and protesters use it to plan and coordinate their activities. Social media is playing a central role in various campaigns be it marketing campaigns by companies to political …
140 Characters Of News: An Examination Of Twitter Usage During The 2016 Presidential Election And How Candidate’S Tweets Are Reported In Traditional Media Nationally, And In Red, Blue, And Swing States, Lillee Hill
Theses and Dissertations
During the 2016 federal election cycle, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton made use of the social media tool Twitter in opposing ways. The thesis looks at how the print media reported on candidate’s uses of Twitter on a national level by looking at The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today. On a state level, papers in Georgia, Ohio, Florida, Washington, and California were examined to see how the tweets were reported on. Qualitative content analysis was used to determine how the papers reported on tweets sent by the candidates from the date when each was formally nominated …
Studying Online Deviant Groups (Odgs): A Socio-Technical Approach Leveraging Social Network Analysis (Sna) & Social Cyber Forensics (Scf) Techniques, Samer Al-Khateeb
Studying Online Deviant Groups (Odgs): A Socio-Technical Approach Leveraging Social Network Analysis (Sna) & Social Cyber Forensics (Scf) Techniques, Samer Al-Khateeb
Theses and Dissertations
In today’s information technology age our thinking and behaviors are highly influenced by what we see on the Internet and our smartphones screens, e.g., watching a fake or photo-shopped image of a well-known individual makes some of us think it is true. But in many cases, it is not. The initial use of social media for benign purposes, e.g., to socialize with friends or browse pictures has increasingly transitioned to include malicious activities, e.g., cyber-terrorism and cyber-warfare. These nefarious uses of Online Social Networks (OSNs) pose a significant threat to society and are under-studied, thus requires research attention. Online Deviant …
Effectiveness Of Online Health Communities: Assessment Of Social Support And Stress, Amit Saha
Effectiveness Of Online Health Communities: Assessment Of Social Support And Stress, Amit Saha
Theses and Dissertations
With increasing prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among the younger generation, there is a shortage of adequate resources to deliver care for the individuals dealing with autism. Families dealing with autism face enormous economic costs and emotional stress to provide care for personnel diagnosed with ASD. Globally, almost two billion people use social media regularly to connect and stay in touch with their friends, family, and acquaintances irrespective of distance. For the families dealing with autism, social media provide an open and easily accessible platform to share, gather and exchange information. Systematic analysis of this extensive interaction among autism …