Social Media Commons^™

I Miss My Computer: Online Artistry, Web Aesthetics, And Coming-Of-Age In A Digital Landscape, Catherine Capeci

Masters Theses

This thesis explores how young artists develop their creative practices in a world informed by digitality. Through survey research of 44 art students between the ages of 14 and 22, as well as a process of autoethnographic inquiry, I examine how artists in high school and college relate to digital imagery, web archives, online gaming, and social media platforms, and how these experiences inform artmaking. I believe that art educators should explore how the internet informs aesthetic and conceptual sensibilities, and how these sensibilities show up in young artists’ work, more so than focus on digital media as its own …

Finding A Way Out Of The Filter Bubble: The Confusion Of A Heavy Social Media User, Longwen Miao

Masters Theses

This thesis studies how algorithmic recommendation systems reshape visual perception, aesthetic judgment, and the construction of selfhood within contemporary digital culture.

Everything begins with the experience of repeatedly encountering algorithmically recommended content on everyday digital platforms. On these platforms, images, sounds, and social interactions are continuously selected, repeated, and reorganized by predictive systems, forming an environment in which perception is constantly structured and adjusted.

From this observation, the research raises two central questions: how do algorithmic recommendation systems reshape visual perception, aesthetic judgment, and self-recognition, and how might these systems be intervened in or made perceptible through artistic practice? Within …

There Is No Real : The Burden Makes It Real, Matthew L. Brown

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the concept of burden ship as a framework for understanding human connection and meaning within contemporary life.  Through a series of interconnected essays, this project examines different facets of burden including themes of knowledge, time, identify, responsibility, and choice, and through this exploration, the project investigates how these burdens shape Individual and collective experiences of reality.

These essays are accompanied by artistic projects that use light, digital interaction, weight, constriction, and material tension, as methods of embodying burden in physical form.

At the core of this thesis, is the belief that meaning is not passively discovered; it …

I Believe, Rusudan Dushuashvili

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates how products become believable and desirable through the stories that surround them, and how design enables the continuous cycle of desire that defines consumption. Drawing on  the underlying structures of myth-making, identity, and belonging that allow consumer culture to function, it argues that consumer culture operates through the same instruments older systems of belief have always used — narrative, ritual, sacred objects, and shared language — and that design is what makes the story stick to the object.

“I Believe” is an archive of objects collected from contemporary consumer culture. Half are products found in the marketplace; …

Numb., Anna Rapson

Masters Theses

Social media platforms, from their conception, posed a break in the lived experience of the average human being’s day to day routines. Although access to information has always been shaped by portals into other lived realities—through photojournalism, print legacy media, news broadcasts both on radio and television—social media has posited a novel phenomenological architecture where borders between embodied reality and perception of lived experience are simultaneously blurred and reinforced. This morphed duality of consciousness positions the body and mind in tension, deconstructing pre-social media conceptions of the ontology of lived experience. In a digital world shaped by limitless input by …

“What Planet Are You On” - Making Meaning Of Sustainability Through Storytelling, Nancy T. Ladeinde

Masters Theses

The term “Sustainability” has come to stay as it is deeply integrated into our everyday life, although it seems complex to understand and engage with. The purpose of this thesis is to know how Unilever, a global consumer goods organization, makes meaning of its sustainability efforts. The method used to achieve this is a thematic analysis of Unilever’s campaign “What Planet Are You On?” a brand campaign documenting their sustainability efforts. Building on storytelling as a theoretical framework, it delves into the strategic use of stories as a communication tool for sustainability efforts, emphasizing its impact on brand narrative, stakeholder …

Personal Branding, Reality Television, And Social Media: How Former Big Brother Contestants Create, Maintain, And Alter Their Public Image, Justin L. Richards

Masters Theses

This study interrogated how these theories were potentially used, or aspects of the theories used to create, alter, or maintain, the contestant’s personal brands on two social media platforms. Informed by previous literature on personal branding and impression management, 1,021 pieces of social media communication were analyzed, 499 pieces of communication from Taylor Hale, and 522 pieces of communication from Paulie Calafiore. This study determined that there were up to five different patterns on the kind of content produced that still qualified under these theories for Taylor Hale, and up to four different patterns for Paulie Calafiore. Some patterns appeared …

The Influence Of Institutional Social Media And College Students' Choice, Anna Fishbein

Masters Theses

Social media has become a way of personal communication as well as a way for brands and businesses to connect with consumers. In the past twenty years, the expansion of technology into everyday life has impacted the way we interact and communication. There is a lack of information surrounding how social media is influencing prospective students’ college choice. There are studies focused on student college choice, and studies focused on how social media impacts consumers, but there is limited research focused on bridging the two concepts. This quantitative study utilized a causal-comparative survey to explore the influence of institutional social …

Capturing The Digital Dollar: How Religious Nonprofits Are Adopting Social Media For Adoption, Engagement, And Community, Hannah Xiang Mei Rotter

Masters Theses

The objective of this thesis was to quantify the impact of religious, media-related nonprofit adoption rate, online presence, and online giving technology. Specifically, this thesis focuses on the nonprofits’ adoption, use, and interactivity on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. This thesis study was rooted in Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations Theory, and its constructs were used to best understand the adoption and impact of use within the religious nonprofit sector (Rogers, 2003). First, the researcher defined and evaluated the nonprofit’s active online presence, sophistication of technology integration, and impact of these findings. Second, the researcher quantitatively examined audience interactivity. Targeting a …

Branding Small Businesses In Small Communities, Lacey Jenkins

Masters Theses

Branding has grown into a vital part of communicating a brand to its audience members. Unfortunately, large portions of branding tactics are geared towards large corporations in large communities. Small and mid-sized businesses require different tactics in order to create a brand that effectively communicates its purpose and values to its consumers. Because of this, this thesis is looking at the branding tactics of a small business in Charleston, Illinois. This business, Phoenix Elite, showed weaknesses in multiple areas of its branding package. Using a literature review, the goal is to create a better understanding of what branding is, as …

Audience Engagement Strategies In The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Rachel Halle

Masters Theses

Audience engagement research examines the strategies content creators use to enhance audience involvement beyond simply watching the content. This analysis applies audience engagement strategies generated from television, branding, and social media research to video blogs (vlogs), specifically in the context of the narrative of The Lizzie Bennett Diaries. As part of that analysis, this effort also identifies ways in which those strategies integrated into the vlog format. The strategies included addressing the audience directly, mentioning the vlog within the narrative, mentions of YouTube or the internet, asking the audience for input, and mentioning audience input with the vlog. All strategies …

Romantic Rejection In Gay Potential Relationships: A Gay Blog Analysis, Rebecca Ferlotti

Masters Theses

Little research has been done on gay potential relationships (when two daters had gone on five or fewer dates or would-be dates), and there was no existing research available on romantic rejection in gay potential relationships. Most existing literature on romantic rejection focused on heterosexual relationships and long-term homosexual relationships. This thesis analyzed 48 blog entries from four publicly-accessible gay dating blogs ( The Guyliner ; It Gets Worse ; Gay Dating Stories ; and 100 Guys, 100 Storie s) that described romantic rejections. This thesis concluded romantic rejections for the four gay bloggers overall were most frequently implicit, due …

"Mystery Meat" And "Bulldyke": Disciplining Gender And Silencing Women Sports Reporters On Reddit, Kayla J. Peterson

Masters Theses

Most of the sports industry is a male dominated space where women are very rarely accepted. We see men in the field, whether they work or play, defend the space and tell women reporters to “stay in their lane.” This study focuses on an online news-sharing site, reddit, and examines how sports fans take it upon themselves to defend sports as a male space. Reporters, such as Sarah Spain, Jemele Hill, and Doris Burke, are subjected to hundreds of comments that silence them and discipline them based on their gender. This study emphasizes the need for gender equality in what …

Student Use Of Institutional Social Media, Hayley Elizabeth Hanger

Masters Theses

This study is a quantitative exploration of student use of their university's social media accounts at a mid-sized Midwestern institution. The survey was conducted via Qualtrics and was emailed to all undergraduate on-campus students. T-tests showed that differences in reason for use existed across gender, race, and first-generation status. Chi Square test results showed a statistically significant gap between the amount of White and non-White students following institutional social media accounts. Descriptive statistics also indicated that lack of awareness is the driving reason students do not follow institutional social media accounts. Recommendations were made to increase advertisement of social media …

The Influences Of Social Media: Depression, Anxiety, And Self-Concept, Emily Baker

Masters Theses

The current study examined correlations between social media use and its effects on depression, anxiety, and changes in self-concept through quantitative and qualitative data. Variables included in the analysis of Study 1 were depression, anxiety, time spent using social media, number of platforms used, perception of addiction, and type of use. Study 1 showed no significant correlations between social media used and depression or anxiety, however observational analyses of correlation tables revealed a relationship between time spent using and number of platforms used; time spent using and perception of addiction; time spent using and perception of addiction; time spent using …

Facebook Intensity Use Related To Gender Identity And Self-Esteem Among Female College Students, Li Zhang

Masters Theses

As a popular social media platform, Facebook has already become a vital part of college students’ social lives. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among Facebook use, gender identity and the level of self-esteem among young female college students (from age 18 to 23). Previous studies have argued that Facebook has the ability to enhance or reshape gender identity by providing control over online self-presentation. In addition, by using Facebook intensively and frequently, users gain popularity (a larger network of Facebook friends), which also increases users’ self-esteem and the feeling of being connected with others. In …

Building A Blog/Building A Brand: Public Relations Campaign For "Goodwill Hunting" Fashion Blog, Yanik Gene Flowers

Masters Theses

The ability to consistently and cohesively communicate a brand's identity is the central focus of a public relations campaign. This project chronicled the creative and promotional efforts put forward to effectively communicate the brand of Goodwill Hunting - a fashion blog based on the thrift adventures of a 21-year-old college student. Exploring concepts embedded in branding, authenticity, blogging and social media; this campaign was able to establish and maintain a brand identity for Goodwill Hunting through the intentionality of content creation and promotional activity. Goodwill Hunting's blog site and Instagram account was ran for four months and the efforts of …

The Relationship Between Resilience, Coping, And Social Media, Lillian N. Hurley

Masters Theses

This study was designed to explore relationships between measures of resilience, coping strategies, social media usage, and depression. Resilience refers to one's ability to endure and recover from adversity. Many theories about what contributes to the development resilience have been explored without a clear consensus. Taormina (2015) argued that adult personal resilience is comprised of four dimensions - determination, endurance, adapatability, and recuperability. Coping, a construct related to resilience, is the process of regulating emotions, cognition, behavior, physiological responses, and the environment in response to stressful events. Past research indicated those with poorer mental health have the tendency to use …

Why A Negative Body Image? A Study On Gender, Social Media, And Mass Media, Taryn Bland Teeters

Masters Theses

This study was designed to identify the contributors to body image (BI) dissatisfaction. The factors affecting the adult body image and the extent of their consequences were examined. This study attempted to determine the extent to which these individual's peers, the mass media, and social media affect their BI, body shaming, and the individual's shame of others.

An anonymous online questionnaire was utilized and sent to participants by snowballing through the use of Facebook and email. Participants were asked to identify their age, gender, pleasing and displeasing body parts, their use of social media, and an overall rating of their …

Tools Of Change: Equipping Nonprofits With The Tools To Inspire Change, Nicole Irons

Masters Theses

Whether I am working for a small nonprofit in Indiana or at an elephant sanctuary in Cambodia I have seen consistent areas of struggle and shortcomings in nonprofit organizations. After years of working in different organizations the struggles nonprofits consistently face are a lack of resources in three main areas. These main areas of struggle are: visibility, funding, and people. The idea then occurred to me of why? And while these resources seem to appear unconnected, what if they all stem from one problem? Could we create a tool (or set of tools) to help alleviate these main struggles? Is …

Timelines And Trade Chat: Comparing Contextual Self-Disclosure And Perceived Social Capital On Social Networking Sites And Massively Multiplayer Online Games, Ryan P. Castillo

Masters Theses

This study examines the associations between usage intensity, user motivations, and contextual self-disclosure, and social capital on two popular online mediums, Facebook and World of Warcraft. Contributing to the efforts of previous research, which has found both online gaming communities and social networking sites to positively affect access to informational and social support, this analysis shows that intimate self-disclosure in each online medium differs not only in context, but in its impact on dimensions of social capital, and that the various effects of self-disclosure on social capital can be attributed to differences in communicative affordances and community held standards of …

Interpersonal Impressions Of Emoji Use In Computer-Mediated Decision Making, Austin Jonathan Beattie

Masters Theses

Text-messaging is among the most popular forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC). However, the lack of most nonverbal cues in text-messaging interaction limits communication in certain contexts. Some recent innovations, such as emoji, attempt to enhance nonverbal limitations in text messaging. However, despite ample scholarship in text messaging, nonverbal communication, and CMC, a smaller body of research explores their intersections. This study reviews literature in these areas and, through the lens of Media Richness Theory, offers several hypotheses regarding the effects of emoji on interpersonal impressions in a decision-making scenario. It then experimentally tests and quantitatively measures how emoji usage in …

Citizens On Twitter: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Emerging Political Satire, Kathryn Miller

Masters Theses

This thesis provides an overview of the history of satire, its rhetorical structure, and my interpretation of its historically culminated five fundamental characteristics. I also introduce that the rise in popularity of American political satire through various media has inspired a new wave of American satirists who project their own political satirical messages through social media platforms and how Twitter, in particular, has provided those "average" individuals with the opportunity to more actively, directly, and satirically take part in political discussions. With a collection of two data sets of tweets—one larger live tweet sweep during the first 2016 presidential debate …

Of Music And Media: A Producer Study Of Promotional Encoding On Social Media Through The Lenses Of Paratext And Medium Theory, Connor D. Wilcox

Masters Theses

While music promotion has been important aspect for musicians, bands, and musical organizations for well over a century, the rise of social media in the digital era has profoundly changed the way these promoters perceived of and practice their commercial task of selling music. Paratexts (Gray, 2010a) offer an effective lens for focusing on these promotions while encoding/decoding (Hall, 1980) justifies producer studies to examine and uncover vital aspects of production shape the text and medium theory adds further focus by recentering the medium as being distinctly influential. Existing research on music promotion highlights the uniqueness and evocativeness of the …

New Year, New Look: Communicating An Organizational Identity For The Eiu Women's Basketball Team, Nathan Bryant

Masters Theses

The attempt to increase and maintain stakeholder engagement and interaction is one of the main pursuits for public relations practitioners today. With new and changing ways to reach and engage stakeholders through various social media outlets public relations professionals now more than ever have to find a way to make their products stand out among the multiple messages a person views in a given day. This public relations campaign attempted to increase engagement and interaction with the Eastern Illinois University's women's basketball team by giving the team a new organizational identity. This identity was conveyed through the team's social media …

Communicating With Customers On Social Media In The United States And South Korea: An Analysis Of Four Companies' Practices, Yeonkyung Lee

Masters Theses

"In this study, I analyzed four companies' Facebook and Twitter posts to study the similarities and differences of American and Korean businesses' communication practices on social media. The study used a qualitative research method: each Facebook and Twitter post was assigned as a unit and coded. Southwest Airlines, General Electric, Asiana Airlines, and Samsung Electronics were selected, and a total of 402 Facebook posts and 465 Tweets from July 6 to September 5, 2016, were collected. Each post was coded by two coders under three coding categories: post-content, medium, and Aristotle's pisteis. After the data was coded, I analyzed each …

An Analysis Of Black Undergraduate Students' Social Activism Through Social Media Usage, Tayla Richards

Masters Theses

Social media has become a tool for college students to engage in social activism. Black undergraduate students is one population that actively utilize social media's impact as illustrated through recent activist movements and demonstrations within university communities. This study sought to explore and analyze the ways that Black undergraduate students utilize social media platforms in general and for activism. The researcher conducted one-on-one interviews with three Black undergraduate students and analyzed their posts on each of their frequently used social media platforms in order to study how their personal narratives were connected to their social media use.

Results showed that …

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, …

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 …

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 …