Social Media Commons^™

Metaphors, Mental Models, And Multiplicity: Understanding Student Perception Of Digital Literacy, Jason Tham, Kenyan Degles Burnham, Daniel L. Hocutt, Nupoor Ranade, John Misak, Ann Hill Dunn, Isabel Pedersen, Jessica Lynn Campbell

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Faculty Publications

This study examines student perception of digital literacy from their engagement with the Fabric of Digital Life, a digital archive of emerging technologies. Through grounded theory analysis we identified the ways students make sense of an unfamiliar technology. Our results show students assign metaphors to understand a new digital platform, apply mental models transferred from previous conceptual domains onto new technologies, and express multiply-layered approaches that facilitated their digital literacy development––an indication for instructors to orient toward an expansive description of digital literacy that caters to student learning needs as well as their professional futures.

A Big Data Exploration Of The Informational And Normative Influences On The Helpfulness Of Online Restaurant Reviews, Stephanie Meek, Violetta Wilk, Claire Lambert

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 Edith Cowan University With the proliferation of user generated online reviews, uncovering helpful restaurant reviews is increasingly challenging for potential consumers. Heuristics (such as “Likes”) not only facilitate this process but also enhance the social impact of a review on an Online Opinion Platform. Based on Dual Process Theory and Social Impact Theory, this study explores which contextual and descriptive attributes of restaurant reviews influence the reviewee to accept a review as helpful and thus, “Like” the review. Utilising both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, a big data sample of 58,468 restaurant reviews on Zomato were analysed. Results revealed …

A Critical Analysis Of The Body Positive Movement On Instagram: How Does It Really Impact Body Image?, Ayla S. Gelsinger

Spectra Undergraduate Research Journal

Instagram, a photo based social networking site, is one of the most popular forms of social media. The Body Positive Movement campaign surfaced on Instagram in 2012 and aimed to confront the unrealistic expectations and unrepresentative portrayals of women in popular media and advertising. The present study aimed to analyze whether posts that were tagged #bodypositive or #bodypositivity upheld the initial goals of the movement by taking note of the characteristics (including race, sex, gender, and body type) of people that were featured in the top posts of the #bodypositive or #bodypositivity tags. Resultant fieldnotes were coded into the following …

Social Media User Relationship Framework (Smurf), Anne David, Sarah Morris, Gareth Appleby-Thomas

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The use of social media has spread through many aspects of society, allowing millions of individuals, corporate as well as government entities to leverage the opportunities it affords. These opportunities often end up being exploited by a small percentage of the user community who use it for objectionable or unlawful activities; for example, trolling, cyber bullying, grooming, luring. In some cases, these unlawful activities result in investigations where swift retrieval of critical evidence required in order to save a life.

This paper presents a proof of concept (PoC) framework for social media user attribution. The framework aims to provide digital …

The Effects Of Engaging In Digital Photo Modifications And Receiving Favorable Comments On Women’S Selfies Shared On Social Media, Megan A. Vendemia, David C. Deandrea

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

The present study explores how the construction and distribution of selfies might interact with features of newer media to affect women who share selfies on social media. In particular, this study focuses on how specific types of photo modification and the nature of favorable audience feedback received on one’s images might exert influence on women’s state self-objectification and body image concerns. A 3 × 2 between-subjects lab experiment was conducted to explore how the type of photo modification (appearance modifications, nonappearance modifications, or no modifications [control]) and nature of positive feedback (appearance comments vs. nonappearance comments) affect state self-objectification, state …

The Role Of Mass Media And Social Media In Developing Awareness Of Self-Care Behavior Against The Outbreak Of Covid-19, Alireza Atarodi, Meisam Dastani, Mohammad Ghorbani, Ahmadreza Atarodi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Background: One of the problems that human beings usually face are Crises and the spread of communicable diseases, and they occasionally appear in societies and make many problems with human beings. Human beings need ways to prevent or reduce its possible harms, one of which seems to inform and raise or improve awareness of self-care behaviors against such incidents through mass media and social media. Therefore, this study aimed to survey the role of mass media and social media in developing awareness of self-care behavior against the outbreak of COVID-19.

Methods: In this descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study, 500 …

Humans Gone Wild: Analysis Of Zoo Controversy Regarding Online Communication And Public Agenda, April Rink

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

Modern zoological parks, as community enterprises housing exotic animals with hundreds, sometimes thousands of visitors every day, must prepare for the innate possibility of dangerous situations. When such controversy does arise, clashing viewpoints among media outlets, the zoo’s communications department, and the public’s mediated communication encourages examination with a theoretical eye. This paper utilizes the controversy of the Copenhagen Zoo’s public dissections to illustrate each of the parties’ influence on one another through Bitzer’s Rhetorical Situation. That analysis lays the groundwork justifying the public’s influence on the media’s agenda, also illustrated through the Cincinnati Zoo’s controversy regarding Harambe the gorilla. …

Internet Regulation In Egypt: Outcomes And Policy Recommendations, Sara Eldemerdash

Theses and Dissertations

With the rapid developments the Internet is witnessing, the topic of internet regulation sees itself taking center stage in a rising global debate among many stakeholders. This debate centers around hot topics and fundamentals such as the rights of free speech and access to information, intellectual property, as well as user and data privacy, and security issues. Egypt is no exception; especially after the uprising and mass demonstrations in 2011 and the growing concerns around internet regulation and freedom of expression.

This thesis aims at examining the development process of the current Internet regulation policy in Egypt to study its …

Instagram Use And Young Women's Body Image And Self-Objectification In Egypt, Sara Hussein

Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigates the effect of Instagram use on young Egyptian women’s body image and how it is related to self-objectification. The aim of this research is to understand how Instagram usage affects women’s body image and makes them dissatisfied with their bodies; besides, it also tests how the comments women receive on their Instagram accounts affect them positively or negatively, and how the more hours they spend on Instagram, the more pressure they face to acquire a better body shape. Additionally, it examines the direct relationship between feministic beliefs and body surveillance and self-objectification. Moreover, self-objectification and Cultivation …

The State Of #Digitalentrepreneurship: A Big Data Leximancer Analysis Of Social Media Activity, Violetta Wilk, Helen Cripps, Alexandru Capatina, Adrian Micu, Angela-Eliza Micu

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper examined online sentiment, key themes and patterns evident in social media activity about digital entrepreneurship. It provides a snapshot-in-time, visual-first perspective on social media user-generated-content (UGC) to better understand the topic of digital entrepreneurship. Global data consisting of 31,017 publicly available UGC which used the #digitalentrepreneurship (hashtag) and the keywords ‘digital entrepreneurship’ were collected. A computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS), Leximancer, was used for an automated text-mining analysis. There is positive online sentiment surrounding digital entrepreneurship technology, ecosystem and industry, and one which promotes women transformation of digital entrepreneurship globally. Negative sentiment pointed out that future …

Law Student’S Response To The Covid 19 Infodemic On Social Media: An Empirical Study, Jibran Jamsheed

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Object: The primary aim of this study is to analyze and determine the skills of undergraduate law students regarding the handling of misinformation about COVID 19 on Social Media. It determines the most reliable and most popular social media platforms used by the law students and also highlighted the different methods used by them to separate the grain from the chaff on social media.

Methodology: This quantitative study was conducted using the survey design. A structured questionnaire was distributed among the participants to collect the data. The collected was analyzed while using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences …

Examining Audience Receptivity To Theatre Across Various Technological Mediums, Chingyi "Ac" Chan

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This creative project and study was proposed to investigate the impacts of online theatre on audience members’ emotions, feelings, and comprehension of the show. The Research questions asked were: RQ1: How does the viewing medium, if at all, affect the audience's response to a theatrical performance? And RQ2: Which, if any, technological mediums do audiences members prefer to use to watch theatre? Three versions of the same play were made and adapted to their respective social media platforms: YouTube, Instagram Live, and TikTok. Participants were asked to watch one of the three shows and fill out a survey. Forty participants …

Kiss Of Love Campaign: Contesting Public Morality To Counter Collective Violence, Sonia Krishna Kurup Miss

Peace and Conflict Studies

The paper studies the immense opposition to a nonviolent campaign against the practice of moral policing in Kerala to understand the dominant spaces, collective identities, and discourses that give shape to the outrage of public morality in India. The campaign through its politics specifically targeted rightwing and political groups as well as socially embedded familial and institutional structures that exercise control over individuals through patriarchal regimes. The adverse reaction to the campaign revealed that collective aggression or violence can be used to impose majoritarian values and exert social control through the authority of public morality and everyday acts of moral …

What Does A Pandemic Sound Like? The Emergence Of Covid Verbal Art, Karen E. Pennesi

Anthropology Publications

In times of social upheaval, people create and engage with verbal art for entertainment and a feeling of connection. While millions of people were forced to stay home to reduce the spread of COVID‑19 from March to July 2020, verbal artists posted recorded performances online and viewers had more time than usual to watch and share them. COVID verbal art refers to songs, poems, and comedy skits that mention social and physical distancing, quarantine and isolation, hygiene and cleaning practices, everyday experiences during the pandemic, as well as social and political critiques of policies and practices that explicitly mention COVID‑19 …

What Do You Meme? An Analysis Of How College Students At Central Washington University Use Memes, Skyler Smith

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Memes have become a key part of modern living on the Internet. However, it is still unclear who is creating, sharing and interacting with memes. This study examines meme use in college students at Central Washington University while also examining the definition of a meme within the population. Data were collected via questionnaire and interviews resulting in 14 responses and 18 total interviews conducted with 6 participants. Analysis suggests that college students use memes as an important component of private conversations and to reiterate their public identities. On the other hand, meme making is not as prevalent as other types …

The Technology Transfer Network Dynamic In The Information Technology Industry Of Yucatan, Mexico, Francisco Cima, Pilar Pazos, Ana Maria Canto

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The present paper explores the technology transfer linkages among universities, research centers, and private companies in Yucatan, Mexico's information technology industry. Social network analysis (SNA) was used as a method to identify the structural characteristics of the technology transfer collaborations, and the changes in the patterns of interactions among institutions over the years. Data were obtained from the National Council for Science and Technology repository (CONACYT). Associations formed to enhance technology advancement and innovation practices between 2010 and 2018 were analyzed in this study. Network transitivity, the patterns of triadic configurations, and heterophily were compared to uncover the evolution of …

Teaching And Learning News Media In Politically Unsettled Times, H. James Garrett, Mardi Schmeichel, Joseph Mcanulty, Sonia Janis

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Our research explores and elaborates the ways preservice teachers come to know and begin conceptualizing ways of teaching about news media. We report on what we interpret as their understandings and, perhaps more importantly, their misunderstandings of media literacy as they relate to their emerging ideas about what it means to teach others about crucial social and political issues of our time. The students with whom the authors worked demonstrated problematic misperceptions and misunderstandings about important media concepts and topics. These preservice teachers misunderstood the ways in which news media is different from other media genres. Additionally, they often indicated …

Entertainment-Education Behind The Scenes: Case Studies For Theory And Practice, Lauren B. Frank, Paul Falzone

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

This Open Access book tracks the latest trends in the theory, research, and practice of entertainment-education, the field of communication that incorporates social change messaging into entertaining media. Sometimes called edutainment, social impact television, narrative persuasion, or cultural strategy, this approach to social and behavior change communication offers new opportunities including transmedia and digital formats. However, making media can be a chaotic process. The realities of working in the field and the rigid structures of scholarly evaluation often act as barriers to honest accounts of entertainment-education practice. In this collection of essays, experienced practitioners offer unique insight into how entertainment-education …

Youtube Sebagai Arena Produksi Dan Reproduksi Kultur Hip-Hop, Edra Ramadhan Praliansyah

Antropologi Indonesia

This article discusses the so-called YouTube rapper phenomenon, a new subgenre of hip-hop music whose emergence was caused by YouTube. Rap or hip-hop, which has a long history of intergroup resistance from stage to stage, has now moved to YouTube as a new battleground, producing the YouTube rapper subgenre. This article shows that the hip-hop community was very responsive to YouTube, which was their new stage, alongside Discord and Facebook as more textual media employable for debate and discussion. This article argues that YouTube has the capacity to become a center of hip-hop capitalization in Indonesia, as in elsewhere, because …

The Sound Of Identity: Audios And Hashtags As Nexuses Of Practice On Tiktok, Lindsey Wright

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study investigates TikTok audios and hashtags through the lens of digital literacy studies, using Ron Scollon's nexus of practice as a theoretical framework. The researcher sought to investigate literacy practices on TikTok, such as how lurkers and posters interact with the app in ways that both define and are defined by their individual identities. Relative to other social media platforms, there is a dearth of research on TikTok. This study contributes to the gap while also building off the findings of Kaye et al., who investigated authorship and (mis)attribution on the app, and Sachs et al.'s claim that Goffman's …

The "Information Pandemic": Technical Communication And False Information On Social Media In The Age Of Covid-19, Mia M. Stephens

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The goal of this thesis is to explore the various forms of rhetoric utilized in digital communities pertaining to COVID-19. The body of this thesis synthesizes social media data with original human subjects research, supplemented by a review of the literature surrounding digital communication. The analysis of these freestanding communities highlights the differences in communication throughout these spaces, as well as discusses their differences in reaction to disordered information. Through rhetorical analysis of the language employed by COVID-19 denialist communities on Twitter and a review of the experiences of COVID-19 “long-haulers” in COVID-19 related online communities (such as Facebook and …

From Screen To Shining Screen: Representations Of Youtube As A Democratic Platform For A Community Of Authentic Creators, Emily Tarvin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This dissertation analyzes representations of the social media platform YouTube, as described by its community and the company, in order to understand how the platform fits within American narratives of democratic technology. I argue that throughout different descriptions of YouTube, such as the corporate branding of the platform as democratic and the communal understanding of YouTube as outside of mainstream media, the language of democracy functions as a balancing act. The YouTube company, content creators, and regular viewers use democratic rhetoric to negotiate the ideals of community on the platform and capitalist endeavors, such as advertising and brand deals. I …

How Twitter Exposes Daily Whiteness Practices In Mexico And Argentina, Erika Maribel Heredia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This dissertation questions: How is the social imaginary about the meaning of being white in Mexico produced, reproduced, and problematized in Twitter Discourse? How is the social imaginary about the meaning of being white in Argentina produced, reproduced, and problematized in Twitter Discourse? How are the social imaginaries in Twitter Discourse in Mexico and Argentina related to the cultural and symbolic power exercised by the United States, and does US power influence the structure of privileges built around Whiteness? For doing that, I collected up to 10K tweets using two keywords to identify discourses surrounding Whiteness in tweets from users …

Effects Of Clickbait Headlines On User Responses: An Empirical Investigation, Supavich Fone Pengnate, Jeffrey Chen, Alex Young

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This study investigates the influence of a conventional method of delivering news headlines, clickbait, on online users’ perceptions and responses. An experiment was conducted on two groups of news headlines—traditional news and clickbait—to provide empirical evidence of the effects of clickbait on online users. The findings suggest that clickbait headlines can evoke users’ arousal and curiosity. In addition, the results from structural equation modeling fill the gap in the literature by providing evidence of the factors influencing users’ intention to read and share online news. The results reveal that while the major determinant of users’ intention to read news stories …

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 …

Assessment Of Cooking Matters Facebook Platform To Promote Healthy Eating Behaviors Among Low-Income Caregivers Of Young Children In The United States: A Pilot Study, Qi Zhang, Jill Panichelli, Leigh Ann Hall

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

How best to deliver healthy-eating education through social media among a low-income population remains understudied. To assess the impact of the Cooking Matters (CM) Facebook page on healthy eating behaviors among low-income caregivers, we conducted a pre–post survey of new CM Facebook followers in early 2020. A convenience sample was recruited at baseline from WICShopper app users and the CM Facebook page. The recruited sample included 397 low-income caregivers of a child younger than 6 who never followed CM Facebook. Among the baseline caregivers, 184 completed the follow-up survey. Paired t-test and McNemar–Bowker tests were conducted to compare the outcomes …

Cultivation Theory: Media Effects Toward Consumer Evaluations Of The Criminal Courts, Lindsey Dale Elliott

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

A substantial body of literature connects media effects to consumer perceptions of the criminal justice system. Research on the topic of cultivation theory has highlighted that an increased fear of crime within the general populace, due to an exaggeration of violence and criminal activity in the mass media, has spurred increased support for punitive policing, harsher sentencing, and positive feelings toward capital punishment. However, no research exists to explicate the cultivation of consumer perceptions toward the criminal courts. This study examines the impact of media consumption through television, the internet, and social media on consumer evaluations of the criminal courts. …

The Consent Of Man: An Examination Of Privacy Awareness, Surveillance, And Privacy Policy (Mis)Use, Will Reilley Silberman

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

The problem of privacy is nuanced, pervasive, and requires an elevated approach. Given the lack of consistency with regard to privacy’s conceptualization and operationalization, research is needed that examines variables related to privacy to better understand how privacy operates in the present day. This dissertation aims to better understand nuances of privacy by gauging knowledge of online privacy, technological affordances related to privacy, and knowledge of surveillance. In this study, human subjects from a large southern University were presented with an opportunity to use a privacy-invasive smartphone application. After doing so, they viewed one of three privacy policies. Finally, they …

The Persuasive Power Of Instagram Metrics: Examining How User-Generated Cues Affect Consumer’S Perception Of Influencer Credibility, Madison Lea Wallace

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Since 2019, Instagram has been testing the removal of a visible like count on posts. This change particularly pertains to social media influencers whose popularity is visibly displayed through the number of likes and comments their posts receive. Therefore, the present study experimentally investigated how varying levels of the like (i.e. hidden, approximate, and exact) and comment (hidden and exact) display on Instagram’s Explore page affect user’s credibility evaluations of unknown influencers. Guided by the Heuristic Systematic Model, MAIN Model and Warranting Principle, this study conducted a 3 (like display: hidden likes, approximated number of likes, and exact number of …

Image Source Identification Using Convolutional Neural Networks In Iot Environment, Yan Wang, Qindong Sun, Dongzhu Rong, Shancang Li, Li Da Xu

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

Digital image forensics is a key branch of digital forensics that based on forensic analysis of image authenticity and image content. The advances in new techniques, such as smart devices, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial images, and social networks, make forensic image analysis play an increasing role in a wide range of criminal case investigation. This work focuses on image source identification by analysing both the fingerprints of digital devices and images in IoT environment. A new convolutional neural network (CNN) method is proposed to identify the source devices that token an image in social IoT environment. The experimental results …