Social Media Commons^™

Framing The Fight: Revolutionary Feelings In Virtual Communities, James Reilly

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study considers how social media impacts emotional processing, and ultimately social movement development. Through a multidisciplinary lens, I explore how social media fits within larger media ecologies, particularly during times of social upheaval and collective action. Grounded in an examination of organizational efforts in advance of the 2011 Egyptian revolution, I look at how communication patterns create common emotional cues that help form the movement. Considering framing, emotional habitus, and subjective agency within digital spaces, I demonstrate how social media has emerged as an articulating space for social movements to develop and plan before drawing wider, offline populations to …

Legislating The Taboo: Taboo Subcultures, Political Communication, And Public Policy, Rebecca S. Krisel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation, titled "Legislating the Taboo: From Subculture to Public Policy," comprises three articles that collectively delve into the intersection of taboo subcultures, political communication, and public policy. While the fields of sociology and anthropology more thoroughly explore the concepts of "taboo" and "subcultures," political science has not given them due attention. This research seeks to bridge this gap by examining how taboo subcultures evolve into political constituencies with policy demands and how these demands are communicated through various mediums, including mainstream and social media.

The first article, "Virtual Dance Communities and The Right to the Internet," investigates how the …

Resilience And Advocacy: A Narrative Analysis Of Disability Campaigns In The United States, Jennifer-Lyn B. Youberg

Student Theses and Dissertations

This narrative analysis delves deeply into the REV UP, #IHelpVeterans, and Snack Zone disability campaigns, dissecting their shared themes and strategies. It underscores the pivotal role of community engagement, stressing the importance of not just raising awareness but actively involving communities in advocacy efforts. Moreover, it highlights how these campaigns leverage personal narratives to humanize disability issues, making them more relatable and compelling. Additionally, the study emphasizes the necessity of advocating for systemic change, pointing out that while individual actions matter, broader structural reforms are needed to address deeply entrenched barriers. By fostering collaboration, amplifying marginalized voices, and pushing for …

À La Comment Du Peuple — How Youth Communicated, Connected, And Collaborated Online Around The French Presidential Election Of 2022, Nicholas H. Howe

Senior Theses

How are French youth communicating online with themselves and how are they interacting with the information they consume? This study considers the question by examining YouTube comments from the comment sections of two interviews done on presidential candidates during the 2022 presidential election by 26-year-old influencer, Hugo Decrypte. These comments were compared with comments from interviews done by traditional TV news sources on the same candidates (BFMTV, a privately owned broadcaster, and Touche pas à mon poste!, an originally public broadcast hosted by a Gen-X TV personality). The comments were scraped using Octoparse web data extraction software and then sorted …

The Effectiveness Of The Israeli Digital Diplomacy Targeting The Arab Public On Social Media Platforms, Moeen Koa, Hiba Nassar

An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)

This study assessed the effectiveness of the Israeli occupation state's digital diplomacy directed at the Arab public according to a three-dimensional framework. The study employed content analysis to analyze a sample of posts from two Israeli official pages on Facebook from October 13 to November 13, 2022, based on three dimensions proposed by Bjola and Jiang (2015): agenda-setting, presence-expansion, and conversation-generating. The results showed that despite the effectiveness of the occupying state's digital diplomacy according to these dimensions, the authors see these dimensions as superficial metrics that do not express the efficacy of this type of diplomacy. The high number …

Understanding The Misunderstandings: Using Deliberative Democracy And Communication Ethics To Overcome Societal Polarization In Post-Truth America, Jessica Neu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work contributes to communication scholarship by advancing the discussion of deliberative democracy to include communication ethics and popular culture artifacts to use as case studies in an exploration of how to engage in a type of dialogic civility that acknowledges identity politics without allowing it to be a barrier to progress in a post-truth society. As such, this work provides a sense of how to engage in conversation that recognizes and hears the Other in a way that makes all stakeholders uncomfortable. From this discomfort comes growth, as individuals do not necessarily need to completely alter their ideologies, morals, …

Queering Tv In The Age Of Tiktok, Greta Reel

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

This thesis asks how fans have created their own queer representation on the social media platform TikTok. It looks at the tools afforded by TikTok that fans have used to “ship” non-canon woman-loving-woman couples and to “queer” television show characters. It also examines how fans on TikTok have reacted to television plotlines they were unhappy with, such as the “bury your gays” trope. Four shows, all after the year 2000, are used as case studies. These shows are Wednesday (2022-present), Criminal Minds (2005-present), Stranger Things (2016-present), and Killing Eve (2018-2022). Numerous TikTok videos and comments revolving around each show are …

Image Repair Strategies And Theories And The Lost Apology In Crisis Communication, Bridget Crowley

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This research paper examines different image repair strategies and theories, and how well three different real-life examples of recent responses to crisis utilized strategies that are discussed. The literature review covers specific image repair strategies and theories, and then there is the analysis of specific cases where public figures went through a crisis and responded in an effort to clear their names. The findings summarize why each case was not successful, and why people with large followings need to know key image repair strategies that can help save one’s reputation.

The Prevalence Of Anti-Feminist Content On Tiktok And Youtube Shorts, Naomi Jones

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

In today's digital landscape, online platforms serve as hubs of political discourse, akin to modern-day town halls. Among these platforms, TikTok has surged in popularity, emerging as a significant arena for ideological exchange. However, it has also become a breeding ground for anti-feminist rhetoric, a trend not exclusive to TikTok but also observable across competitors like YouTube Shorts. A content analysis conducted on the initial 100 videos suggested by both TikTok and YouTube Shorts for a new account revealed several noteworthy insights. Within this sample, it was found that 5% of TikTok videos contained anti-feminist themes, while only 3% of …

An Open Conversation: Deliberating Perceptions Of Power Through New Media, Abigail Barnes

Dissertations

This research aims to investigate aims to critically assess how mediated participants utilize new media spheres deliberate upon perceptions of power through rhetorical criticism and critical discourse analysis. Since the conception of social media, users have utilized the platforms to network, negotiate, and dissent from controversies through mediated public deliberation. The present study aims to nuance how Habermas’ original conception of deliberative rhetoric has transformed through new media deliberation. To exemplify this change in deliberative rhetoric, the present study will also critically evaluate online social movements through the case study of the AOC Tik Tok Challenge, responses to online controversies …

Advertising On Snapchat: Exploring The Influence Of Celebrities Among Young Women In Saudi Arabia, Hessah Alqahtani

Dissertations

This study explored the influence of Snapchat celebrities on the purchase decisions of young women in Saudi Arabia. Uses and Gratifications theory and Source Credibility theory were used to investigate motivations for and factors that affect engagement with Snapchat celebrities. An online survey was conducted among 467 social media users. It was found that most Saudi women (62.9%) were motivated to engage with Snapchat celebrities to seek information.They would likely to purchase products endorsed by celebrities who were deemed trustworthy, attractive, and experts in the field. They also responded more favorably to celebrities who they believe are a fit for …

Misinformation In U.S. Food And Agriculture: A Policy Analysis Of Impacts And Recommended Solutions, Jamie Woodside

Journal of Food Law & Policy

This paper aims to review the current state of play of misinformation in the U.S. food and agriculture sectors—delving into the roots of misinformation, its propagation through social media and traditional channels, and its consequences for the agricultural sector and society at large. Additionally, through an examination of existing laws, regulations, and potential legal remedies, this paper aims to shed light on the challenges posed by misinformation and offers recommendations for mitigating its harmful effects.

A Parent's Guide To Social Media Safety, Catherine Grimley

Gator Team Child Juvenile Law Clinic

The goal of this White Paper is to provide parents and other caregivers with a compilation of literature from some of the most popular social media platforms in one convenient place. It aims to help parents understand what parental controls and account settings are available, so they can facilitate important conversations with their teens regarding social media safety.

The Accuracy Of Videos Related To Breastfeeding On Tiktok: A Content Analysis, Brianna Jack

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Breastfeeding is widely recognized as the best nutrition for infants, yet its rates remain below recommended levels due to various factors. One such factor is the dissemination of misleading information, often from online sources like social media. This study investigates the accuracy of information in TikTok videos related to breastfeeding and whether differences exist between the accuracy of videos and narrator identification, skin color, and gender. This study also aims to investigate the relationship between the accuracy and popularity of videos based on the number of views, likes, comments, and shares. A content analysis was used to code the most …

An Examination Of Missing Person Social Media Engagement Through Data Mining And Experimentation: An Application Of The Crisis And Emergency Risk Communication Model, Cailin M. Kuchenbecker

Communication (PhD) Dissertations

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), approximately 600,000 individuals are reported missing each year in the United States (2022). When missing person cases do not meet alert (e.g., AMBER) criteria, law enforcement often utilize social media to crowdsource information to ultimately return the missing home. Therefore, guided by the crisis and emergency risk communication model (CERC; Reynolds & Seeger, 2005) and its recently clarified propositions (Miller et al., 2021), the purpose of this dissertation was to (a) identify strategies law enforcement use to crowdsource missing person information and (b) experimentally test message characteristics that facilitate prosocial sharing of …

Sexual Exploitation: The Crisis And Eradicative Solution, Tonnie Adams Bracey

Nonprofit and NGO Studies Student Projects

French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” I find this to be true in our current era of the digital age. Although technology has gifted a newly improved and vast method of making worldwide connections and broadening our perceptions and views, a change in how we communicate has conveniently presented itself, but the historic pattern of how we handle these new advancements have indeed stayed the same.
Smart phones are a mainstream vessel employing the world with a plethora of information while giving all sorts of people access to individual’s lives …

Storytelling For Social Change: Using Victim Narratives From Social Media To Disrupt Rape Myth Acceptance Among College Students, Grace Carmack

Journalism Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study employed a narrative intervention experiment aimed at challenging college students' acceptance of rape myths (RMA). Rape myths are erroneous beliefs that shift blame for sexual violence (SV) from perpetrators to victims and encompass stereotypical misconceptions about women. Three authentic narratives, shared anonymously on social media by college victims of sexual violence, were selected for their varying levels of graphic detail and situational context. The study's objective was not only to interrogate RMA among college students but also to discover which of the three narratives was most effective in reducing RMA among readers, utilizing the Transportation Theory as a …

Instagram And Influencer Marketing: An Empirical Study Of The Parasocial Interaction Theory And Its Effects On Purchase Intention, Caroline Marie Chumley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scholars have studied different factors that contribute to a parasocial interaction theory, and how this relates to purchase intention in the marketing industry. Previous research concentrates on parasocial interactions between television personalities and consumers, rather than influencers on social media. It is important to determine exactly what factors lead consumers to create a parasocial interaction with influencers in the media and determine how that parasocial interaction mediates purchase intention. Influencer marketing on Instagram is included in this study, as it contains brand-sponsored posts and allows users to interact with each other. This study utilizes the parasocial interaction model to determine …

The Constant String Of Crises: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Twitter Responses To Celebrity Crisis Communications, Megan Willman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Celebrity crises are more prominent in today’s social-media-fueled world than ever before. Public relations teams are hired to handle these instances on behalf of the celebrity, but no one can control the discourse that ensues on social media. The end goal of these teams is to restore trust and reputation with stakeholders and fans. Although there have been many studies on crisis communications, there are few studies thus far that have examined the strategy as well as the discourse of such timely crises. The public figures included in this paper are Ashton Kutcher, Lizzo, Luke Combs, Mila Kunis, and Taylor …

Groomer Discourse: A Transgender-Sensitive Critical Discourse Analysis Of Queerphobic Hate Speech On Twitter, William Evans

Honors Theses

In recent times, online internet hate speech has received more and more attention due to its adaptive and mutative nature, emerging not in a vacuum but instead sprouting from the seeds of social inequity. A specific form of queerphobic hate speech known as groomer discourse or predation libel has taken new form in online spaces. This recent development, targeted almost exclusively towards the queer community and their allies, is uniquely situated at the intersection of transgender rights and sexual education in the United States. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, this study expands Spallaccia’s gender-sensitive critical discourse analysis (CDA) into a …