Social Media Commons^™

A Research Proposal: Gender Differences In The Experience And Impact Of Fear Of Missing Out (Fomo), Valeria Garcia, Yesenia De Leon

Posters - 2026

Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is the anxiety individuals feel when they believe others are having rewarding experiences without them, a feeling that has increased with the rise of social media. Constant exposure to others' curated lives can lead to social comparison, increased social media use, and negative outcomes such as decreased academic focus and poorer mental health. Research suggests that FoMO may be experienced differently across genders due to differences in social expectations and online behaviors. For example, women may be more likely to engage in social comparison and seek validation, while men may use social media for different …

Next-Generation Democratic Cyber Statecraft - Balancing The Signal: Shutdown Shocks And Democratic Digital Governance, Scott M. Di Panni

School of Public Policy Capstones

This paper develops Next-Generation Democratic Cyber Statecraft (NG-DCS), a unified strategic doctrine for democratic governments to contest the cognitive domain against authoritarian adversaries. Drawing on twenty-six years of cross-national panel data (1999–2024) spanning 213 countries, game-theoretic modeling, and qualitative case analysis, the paper establishes three interconnected empirical and theoretical foundations. First, cross-national OLS regression across 160+ countries demonstrates that regime type is the dominant structural determinant of internet freedom (R²=0.615, β=2.513, p< 0.001), explaining more than twice the variance attributable to per-capita wealth (R²=0.268). Democratic governance, not economic development, produces open digital environments. Second, a two-way fixed effects (TWFE) difference-in-differences study exploiting government-ordered internet shutdowns as discrete policy interventions finds that digital restrictions causally degrade V-Dem governance quality by 0.21–0.38 standard deviations (p< 0.001 across all specifications). Treatment effects are immediate (β=−0.302 at k=0) and persist through five post-treatment years (β=−0.246 at k=+5), indicating structural rather than transitory governance damage. Parallel trends validation (p=0.352) and Callaway–Sant’Anna heterogeneity-robust estimation (ATT=−0.230, SE=0.077) support causal identification. Instrumental variable triangulation (2SLS β=−0.949, p=0.005) confirms that simultaneity was attenuating, not inflating, the primary estimates. Third, formal game-theoretic analysis reveals that the current U.S.–adversary equilibrium is (Restrain, Escalate)—the risk-dominant but Pareto-inferior outcome of a Stag Hunt structure. China, Russia, North Korea, and Venezuela each occupy structurally distinct positions (Stackelberg commitment, asymmetric two-level, autarky, and reactive trigger, respectively), requiring differentiated doctrinal responses rather than a uniform strategic playbook. Generative AI and algorithmic governance are shown to accelerate cognitive vulnerability by collapsing influence operation costs and exploiting engagement-optimized platform architectures that systematically degrade deliberative capacity in democratic populations.

Rvx In The Spotlight: Generating Awareness Growth For Belmont, Eloise G. Dornfeld, Lynda K. F. Clark, Kathryn E. Roller, Zoe E. Walls

SPARK Symposium Presentations

RVX is a student organization at Belmont University dedicated to students with the passion for dance and love for K-pop. With recent success of a dance cover for the “K-pop Demon Hunters” song “Golden,” the team has grown in following on social media. However, on campus awareness has not had the same trajectory. Spotlight PR, composed of four students in the spring 2026 Public Relations Campaigns class at Belmont University, partnered with RVX to increase general student and faculty awareness on campus. RVX began in 2017 with seven members and has grown to 26. Most notably, the student organization has …

Nicky’S Coal Fired: 10 Years Of Good, Better, Best, Isabel Y. Hodell, Lily K. Rosen, Jillian G. Gardner, Maren C. Conaghan, Victoria Mata

SPARK Symposium Presentations

Maren C. Conaghan, Jillian G. Gardner, Isabel Y. Hodell, Victoria Mata, Lily K. Rosen

Team Name: Bella PR Firm

Public Relations Campaigns Class, Belmont University, Spring 2026

Faculty Adviser: Dr. Bonnie P. Riechert, APR, Fellow PRSA

Abstract Summary: Nicky’s Coal Fired (https://www.nickysnashville.com/) is a family-owned Italian restaurant founded in 2016, located in The Nations neighborhood of Nashville, TN. The restaurant was established to bring the local community together through scratch-made Italian cuisine. In Spring 2026, a team of students (Bella PR Firm) in Public Relations Campaigns class at Belmont University partnered with the organization to celebrate their sustained …

Influencer Effect? An Examination Of Dunkin’ And Tarte’S Use Of Influencers, Amanda D. Damiano Ph.D., Wenjing Xie Ph.D.

AMTP Proceedings 2026

The purpose of this project was to understand public perceptions of brands using influencers. The brands Dunkin’ and Tarte Cosmetics served as case studies for this study. A mixed-methods approach was undertaken. Specifically, social media listening in the form of a content analysis was conducted. That was then followed by an online survey of students from a medium-sized university in the northeast. A number of factors were measured related to participants’ stated brand and influencer effectiveness on social media in general, as well as specific to Dunkin’ and Tarte. Additionally, participant demographic factors were measured in accordance with their stated …

Social Media Microtrends And The Economic Realities Of Young Consumers, Camila Berumen

Posters - 2026

This study expects to reveal how social media microtrends act as indicators of the economic realities' young consumers experience, including financial pressure, shifting spending habits, and changing values around consumption. By analyzing how these realities are expressed through digital trends, the research will provide a deeper understanding of how economic conditions are communicated in everyday online behavior. This research addresses the issue that traditional economic measures often overlook lived experience, especially among younger generations. By focusing on microtrends, the study offers a more nuanced and accessible way to understand how economic realities are felt and expressed, rather than just measured. …

Sentra, David Aguilar

Posters - 2026

In the fast-paced space of event organization, fostering continuous collaboration among participants is essential. However, organizers often lose valuable time monitoring multiple, disconnected systems once an event is underway. Enter Sentra: an all-in-one Discord bot tailored specifically for weekend events like hackathons. Sentra bridges the gap between participants and organizers by consolidating seamless team matchmaking, robust support ticketing, and automated AI moderation into a single, unified interface.

The Role Of Short-Form Video Content Strategy In Campaign Performance In Service Operations, Arianna Yates, Aileen Olivares

Posters - 2026

Short-form video content, particularly Instagram Reels, has become central to digital marketing strategies aimed at increasing engagement and campaign effectiveness. As consumer attention spans decline, marketers increasingly rely on visually engaging, concise, and interactive content formats. Prior research highlights the importance of content characteristics in shaping engagement outcomes. However, limited empirical evidence exists on which specific attributes most strongly influence performance in short-form video contexts. This study examines how call-to-action (CTA), audio type, and authenticity influence engagement rates in Instagram Reels.

Retreat, Renew, Reflect: Exploring Digital Marketing Strategies For Faith-Based Retreat Centers, Rebecca A. Mickler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In today’s fast-paced world, retreat centers offer a vital opportunity for rest, reflection, and spiritual renewal. Despite growing societal awareness of mental health and wellness, many religiously affiliated retreat centers face stagnant participation, aging leadership, and operational challenges that threaten their long-term sustainability. This qualitative-dominant mixed methods study uses bright spots analysis to examine how Villa Maria Education and Spirituality Center (VMESC), a Catholic retreat center, can strengthen its digital marketing strategies to attract new audiences while maintaining mission alignment.

Bright spots analysis examines positive outliers, organizations that achieve notable success despite operating within similar constraints, to identify practices that …

Translating Research For The Public: Lab And Online Engagement, Hannah Jiron

Posters - 2026

In the world of psychological research, we spend countless hours in the lab gathering data that has the potential to change lives. But if that data stays locked away in spreadsheets or professional journals, it remains "invisible" to the very people who need it most. As our research moves into the digital age, we have a unique opportunity to "uncloister" science taking it out of the lab and bringing it into the community. This poster explores why simply having good data isn't enough. For research to truly matter, it requires active management and a heart for public outreach. We argue …

Conservation Communication In Web 2.0: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Alveus Sanctuary's Strategies On Twitch.Tv, Hope Denison

Senior Theses

This thesis examines how environmental creators can effectively transmit conservation messages in the evolving Web 2.0 media environment. The case of Alveus Sanctuary, a virtual sanctuary and education center on Twitch.TV, is used to explore the strategies currently used to engage audiences and raise ecological awareness online. Thematic analysis of interviews with the sanctuary’s founder revealed that Alveus combines traditional environmental education with an influencer business model to engage online audiences, leveraging parasocial behavior, interactivity, and collaboration to garner support. A quantitative content analysis of social media posts revealed that these strategies effectively induce parasocial engagement in online spaces. These …

Deinfluencers As Institutional Actors: Dramaturgical Work And The Embedded Contestation Of Consumerism, Gokcen Coskuner-Balli, Charlene Chu, Niklas Myhr, Cristina Nistor

Business Faculty Articles and Research

"In the sections that follow, we develop theoretical scaffolding for our analysis. We begin by reviewing the literature on institutional work, focusing on how embedded actors engage in purposive actions to disrupt taken-for-granted norms. Next, we examine theoretically how influencers operate, setting the stage for understanding how deinfluencers leverage and subvert these roles. We then review scholarship on anti- consumption and consumer resistance, highlighting how deinfluencers depart from conventional activist modes by adopting culturally embedded, everyday practices. Collectively, these literatures inform our conceptualization of deinfluencing as a dramaturgically enacted form of institutional work. Subsequently, we present our methodology, followed by …

Operation Overload - Matryoshka's Next Layer, Leland Fecher, Patrick Warren, Laura Adams, Bb Fonseca, Kylie Gilbert, Alexa Gubanich, Lexi Katramados, Miles Rockow, Alexander Sharp, Katelyn Smith, Lee White

Media Forensics Hub Creative Inquiry Reports

For this project our team expanded our search for inauthentic actors to new locations, specifically Bluesky. With the help of internet watchdogs Antibot4Navalny and dTeam, we began investigating a network known as “Matryoshka”1, aka “Operation Overload”2, aka “Storm-1679.”3 We discovered the network was stealing the identities of moderately known people of influence ranging from political candidates to university staff members. Because Twitter/X users had not created versions of themselves on Bluesky, due to its relatively new arrival on the social media scene, their identities were ripe for the taking by nefarious actors. During the time we observed this campaign (January …

What’S Critical In Critical Media Literacy? Barriers And Good Practices In Adult Education, Stefanie Mayer, Stefanie Fridrik, Josef Mühlbauer, Brigitte Temel, Viktoria Eberhardt

Journal of Media Literacy Education Pre-Prints

While there is broad consensus regarding the social and educational need for CML, its actual didactic content and especially the meaning of ‘critical’ are far from clear. The article argues for a turn to educational practices. Findings are based on empirical research on adult education in Vienna (Austria) consisting mainly of interviews with expert-practitioners in the field of adult education and media and/or digital literacy. We confront academic definitions of the critical impetus of CML with an analysis of innovative projects, which were designed for accessibility and addressed learners facing high educational barriers. Our findings encourage a turn towards the …

From Texas To Tehran: A Multilingual, Irgc-Affiliated Influence Operation On X, Instagram, And Bluesky, Ella Murray, Darren Linvill

Media Forensics Hub Reports

We disclose and analyze a new network of at least 62 accounts affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolu- tionary Guard Corps (IRGC). These accounts can be broadly collected into two groups, one set operat- ed in Spanish pretending to be located in the Americas and one set operated in English pretending to be in the British Isles. Among the first set are accounts claiming to be in Texas, California, Venezuela, and Chile, while the second set of accounts claim to be from Scotland, England, and Ireland. All these accounts systematically amplify politically divisive content and disinformation aligned with IRGC nar- ratives, …

Leveraging Csr To Buffer Brand Challenges During Crises: A Saudi Arabian Perspective, Nouf Alrayes, Abdullah Alhidari

Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets

Crises, such as economic downturns or global health pandemics, pose significant business challenges. Engaging in CSR initiatives that contribute to societal well-being can help mitigate the negative consequences of crises, reinforce customer gratitude, and minimize corporate hypocrisy. CSR is critical in shaping a company’s accountability and ethical responsibilities. Consequently, there is an opportunity for the firm to see the role of CSR and how it affects customers’ responses and attitudes during any difficult situation. Drawing upon attribution theory and the customer gratitude reciprocity cycle, a conceptual framework was developed to test the impact of CSR on the variables: corporate hypocrisy, …

Political Mediatization In The Digital Era: The Case Of Walhi West Sumatera’S Environmental Advocacy, Muhammad Thaufan Arifuddin, Ernita Arif, Yuliandre Darwis, Rinaldi Rinaldi, Muhammad Al-Amin Dalmenda

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

This article examines how political mediatization operates at the local level through environmental civil society activism in post-authoritarian Indonesia. Focusing on the West Sumatra chapter of the Indonesia Forum for Environment (WALHI) as a critical case, the study argues that media logic is not merely imposed by political elites or mainstream media, but is strategically appropriated by local civil society organizations to contest oligarchic power, shape public agendas, and sustain democratic engagement at the subnational level. Using a qualitative case study approach, data were collected through participant observation, in-depth interviews with environmental activists and youth organizers, and an analysis of …

The Moderating Effects Of Executive Functions: A Multi-Level Analysis Of Daily Stress And Problematic Social Media Use, Wee Qin Ng, Hwajin Yang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Mixed findings on the relationship between daily stress and social media use suggest the presence of moderators that buffer this link. Previous longitudinal studies, with assessment intervals from 1 month to 1 year, may not accurately capture daily fluctuations in stress and social media use. To address this gap, we conducted a fine-grained, temporally sensitive 7-day daily-diary longitudinal study investigating the dynamic within-person and between-person associations between daily stress, problematic social media use, and objective screen time. Using a theory-driven approach, we examined whether executive functions (EF)—a set of cognitive processes crucial for goal-directed behaviors—moderate the link between daily stress …

Sustainability Of Local Media In The Era Of Disruption: A Case Study Of Ayobandung.Com, Bibo Bani, Nindi Aristi, Ira Mirawati

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

This study examines the sustainability strategy of local media in responding to the challenges of digital disruption in the media industry. The case selected for the research is AyoBandung.com, local digital news portal under PT Ayo Media Network. Local media are structurally vulnerable to platform dominance, forcing them to balance journalistic integrity with economic adaptation. This research employs a qualitative case study approach, with data collected through in-depth interviews with internal stakeholders, including editorial and business management teams. The findings reveal a clear structural and functional separation between the AyoBandung and creative agency, with distinct workflows, content types, and …

The Israeli Propaganda And Discourse In Arabic Language On Social Media Platforms: The Facebook Pages Of Avichay Adraee And The Coordinator As A Case Study, Karmel Badawnh

Middle East Journal of Communication Studies

The image of Israel is created based on pre-determined agendas and meticulously crafted narratives caused by Hasbara and the Israeli Ministry of Propaganda. These organizations target Palestinian and Arab audiences to portray Israel as a ‘humanitarian’ and ‘peace-loving’ nation that is ‘pro-Arab’; while masking the truth that Israel is an occupying power. Moreover, these organizations focus on the so-called sacrifices and efforts of Israel in pursuit of peace.

The study highlights seven contents of Israeli propaganda. From this, Israeli spokespersons, Israeli media units, Al-Munaseq’s page, and Avichay Adraee underwent specialized training. These contents include: giving exaggerated attention to the operational …