Social Media Commons^™

We Love Or Hate When Celebrities Speak Up About Climate Change: Receptivity To Celebrity Involvement In Environmental Campaigns, Sejung Park

2019 Faculty Bibliography

This study investigates public receptivity to celebrity's climate change advocacy on YouTube through a semantic network analysis. The results of this study suggest that the YouTube video generated a number of viewers' responses. Celebrity endorsement not only leaded public voices on climate change issue, but also their opinions on the celebrity endorser. This study found that most of viewers were polarized in their judgment and attitude toward the celebrity advocate either positively or negatively. This study offers an exploratory examination of the perceived star power and the role of celebrities as spokespersons for social causes. This study contributes to the …

The Problem Of Technology: Human Communication In The Age Of Automation, Alyona Leontyeva

Honors Undergraduate Theses

With the introduction of technology, our existence became different. Today we use technology for every aspect of our lives. We can study, work, communicate, and entertain ourselves. We find it very convenient to communicate via e-mail, text messaging, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Myspace, and Snapchat to connect with people in work, school, social and familial networks. Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed that Facebook's new mission is to "bring the world closer together" (Zuckerberg, 2017). The means of accomplishing that is through technological communication. According to research on close relationships and the use of technology as a way of communication, "mobile phone-based channels …

Promoting Support For Public Health Policies Through Mediated Contact: Can Narrator Perspective And Self-Disclosure Curb In-Group Favoritism?, Riva Tukachinsky, Emily Brogan-Freitas, Tessa Urbanovich

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

An online 2 × 2 factorial experiment (N = 203) examined the effect of parasocial contact on support for public health policies in the context of opioid addiction. We hypothesize that because of an intergroup dynamic, individuals are less likely to engage with an outgroup character than an in-group character featured in a news magazine article. Results support the in-group favoritism hypothesis. The study examines two narrative devices for overcoming this tendency: the narrator’s perspective and amount of insight into the character’s inner world through character self-disclosure. We find support for the narrator perspective but not for the self-disclosure effect. …

Live Ambience And Homestead Away From Home: Social Media Use And Dependency By Visiting Chinese Students In The United States, Zixue Tai, Jue Lu, Fengbin Hu

Journalism and Media Faculty Publications

This study investigates social media dependency relations among Chinese college students during their three-month study abroad sojourn in the United States. Data were collected using a multimethod approach of ethnography, field observation, and in-depth interviews. Inspired by the lens of media system dependency (MSD) theory, the analysis focuses on the diverse goals and motivations that drive student behavior in social media engagement, as well as various contextual factors leading students to adapt and transition to the U.S. social networking sites (SNS), and the subsequent outcomes. The findings indicate that task-driven and assignment-centered goals dominate social media use, and that multidimensional …

#Metoo And The Politics Of Collective Healing: Emotional Connection As Contestation, Allison Page, Jacquelyn Arcy

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

Participants in the #MeToo movement on Twitter expressed emotions like rage, pain, and solidarity in their personal accounts of sexual violence. This article explores the digital circulation of these affects and considers how the outpouring of tweets about sexual harassment and abuse contribute to a feminist politics centered on collective healing. The particular emotions expressed in the #MeToo Twitter archive subvert the logics of quantification and visibility that undergird popular feminism and the attention economy, and produce an affective excess that works toward movement founder Tarana Burke’s original project of “mass healing.” At a moment wherein popular feminism emphasizes individual …

Make The Inaugural Great Again: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Donald J. Trump’S Inaugural Address, Danielle F. Dickerson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I utilized three distinct theories (ideographs, dramatism, and the bully pulpit) to rhetorically analyze and assess President Trump’s 2017 inaugural address. Ultimately, I analyzed whether Trump deviated from Campbell and Jamieson’s (1985) presidential inaugural expectations. While the presidential inaugural address was the only text analyzed, implications were drawn from Trump’s rhetoric leading up to and within the inaugural. This thesis also analyzed Trump’s rhetoric through social media, specifically Twitter, and looked at the context surrounding the inaugural. I suggest, through my research, that Trump does deviate from the traditional framework of the inaugural address, and ultimately modernized …

"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 …

Influencer Marketing: Consumer Responses To Instagram Influencers, Gloriann Schaefer

Senior Honors Theses

Influencer marketing is the promotion of services and products through individuals with a large social media following. The research contained within this thesis will discuss the topic of influencer marketing and the responses of the consumers targeted. This study observed the different types of responses and comments that followers of Instagram influencers left on their posted content.

The themes and characteristics of responses of Instagram influencer followers will be found through a qualitative content analysis. The study is supported by self-presentation theory, which suggests that individuals, in this case social media influencers, present themselves in a way that results in …

Positive And Negative Effects Of Social Media On Adolescent Well-Being., Katie Kennedy

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Social media use is rapidly growing among adolescents, studies cite that the rates of “constant use” doubled from 2015 to 2018 (Anderson & Jiang, 2018; Lenhart, 2015). Social media use can have a serious negative impact on areas of well-being including feelings of depression, anxiety, fear of missing out, body image, bullying and sleep. Mojtabai, Olfson and Han (2016) cite the problematic use of mobile phones and social media applications as one of the trends aligning with the increase in major depressive episodes. Conversely, use of social media can promote positive feelings of well-being including creating a sense of community, …

The Ethics Of Identifiers And Causal Relations In Journalism, Alycia Wilson

Honors Theses and Capstones

The AP Stylebook, a guide used by many journalism organizations to inform editorial decision making, says identifiers such as race should be included in news stories when "pertinent." But how do we determine when an identifier is pertinent? My analysis of news stories demonstrates that sometimes identifiers can suggest a causal relation between an identity and an event. For example, journalists will identify race in any story involving a white police officer shooting a black suspect, even if the facts of the story suggest that the shooting was justified. Journalists also widely reported the sexual orientation of the victims in …

Snapchat And Civic Engagement Among College Students, Laurie Rice, Kenneth Moffett

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

During the 2016 presidential election cycle, Clinton and Trump used Snapchat as one part of their overall voter outreach and engagement efforts. This portion of their campaign strategy was disproportionately targeted toward younger voters, since those between 18 and 25 comprise a vast portion of Snapchat’s user base. Did their efforts, those of political parties, or those of interest groups on Snapchat produce higher levels of civic engagement among college students? We utilize a survey that we conducted from a college campus in the Midwest in October 2016 to answer this question. Using a series of matching analyses, we discover …

An Examination Of The Organization-Public Relationship Dimensions Of Communication Between Museums And Its Publics, Christine Swartz

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how museums build relationships with audiences to gain financial contributions and volunteer support. Financial support to museums has been dwindling in recent years and new revenue streams are needed for low-resource museums to survive. A content analysis of 485 Facebook posts of four small and large sized museums along with a survey of 131 respondents were conducted within the theoretical lens of organization-public relations. Results from study one indicate that larger museums fared better than smaller museums in terms of transparency, authenticity and positivity measures whereas on measures of credibility both the large and the smaller museums …

Micro-Influencers’ Impact On Engagement Levels For Fashion Retail Brands On Instagram, Marilia Quiterio Capeli

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the increase of social media usage and its relevance for the millennial generation, social media influencers rise as credible sources who influence their followers purchase behaviors. Micro-influencers have up to 400,00 followers and fashion brands are constantly collaborating with them to generate brand awareness. The purpose of this study is to analyze how micro-influencers impact engagement levels on fashion retail brands’ accounts on Instagram and what common visual patterns the posts with higher levels of engagement present. A sample of 817 posts from three different brands were analyzed to provide insight in what kind of posts generates higher engagement …

A Network Agent-Based Model Of Ethnocentrism And Intergroup Cooperation, Carlos M. Lemos, Ross J. Gore, Laurence Lessard-Phillips, F. Leron Shults

VMASC Publications

We present a network agent-based model of ethnocentrism and intergroup cooperation in which agents from two groups (majority and minority) change their communality (feeling of group solidarity), cooperation strategy and social ties, depending on a barrier of “likeness” (affinity). Our purpose was to study the model’s capability for describing how the mechanisms of preexisting markers (or “tags”) that can work as cues for inducing in-group bias, imitation, and reaction to non-cooperating agents, lead to ethnocentrism or intergroup cooperation and influence the formation of the network of mixed ties between agents of different groups. We explored the model’s behavior via four …

2019 Icrcc Proceedings Table Of Contents, Conference Organizers

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

These proceedings are a representative sample of the presentations given by professional practitioners and academic scholars at the 2019 International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference (ICRCC) held March 11-13, 2019. The ICRCC is an annual event that takes place the second week in March in beautiful sunny Orlando, Florida. The conference hosts are faculty and staff from the Nicholson School of Communication. The goal of the ICRCC is to bring together prominent professional practitioners and academic scholars that work directly with crisis and risk communication on a daily basis. We define crisis and risk broadly to include, for example, natural …

Tweeting To Prepare: An Examination Of Government And Organizational Messages During National Preparedness Month, Jenna L. Currie-Mueller

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

Each year, disasters have devastating consequences in the United States. Consequences are long term and extend beyond the disaster’s immediate impact area. Establishing a culture of preparedness is necessary for the U.S. A prepared populace responds more effectively to disasters and is less stressful on community infrastructure and resources during the response phase. One of the ways government organizations and non-government organizations can encourage preparedness actions is via social media. This study examined preparedness messages existing independently of an emerging event disseminated on Twitter by government and non-government organizations. A total of 6,374 tweets were analyzed from data collected during …

Social Listening During Crises: A Practitioner Guide For Crisis Communication On Social Media, Cory Young, Hunter Simmons, Margaret Stewart

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

Stewart & Wilson (2016) created the STREMII model (pronounced STREAM-ee) as a means to assist institutions and organizations with social media crisis communication using a six-stage cyclical process, including: (1) social listening, (2) targeting audience(s), (3) engaging & responding, (4) monitoring and evaluating, (5) interacting, and (6) implementing changes [1] . Stewart & Young (2017) revisited the model, refining the stages to highlight the need for ongoing social listening and responsive engagement across all levels of crisis [2]. At present, the model is theoretical and applied only within a pedagogical context. In order for the STREMII model to be useful …

Electoral Competitiveness And Social Media Strategies: Who Goes Negative When And Why?, Connor Brown

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Social media is becoming more integrated into every politician’s career. Previous research suggests that throughout an election a challenger is the one who is more likely to use negative campaigning while running for office. I analyze what strategies are being used by challengers and incumbent candidates while running for office. The data I use is provided by Zachary Auter and Jeffrey Fine (2016). Their data looks at both the 2010 election where we began to see politicians use Facebook ads in their campaigns. I find that a challenger is more likely to adopt negative messages while they are running and …

Beauty Boys: The Aesthetic Labour Of Transformation, Keer Wang

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Under the advertising banner of recognizing gender fluidity, the past year has seen global makeup brands announcing male spokesmodels for campaigns that seek to be more diverse in capturing the emerging Generation Z by promoting makeup for boys. The media has described the rise of the “boy in makeup” as propelled by male social media influencers known as beauty boys who are destabilizing the traditional boundaries of gender roles. I turn my attention to the necessary interrogation of the corporeality of these socially mediated bodies in manner of a Foucauldian genealogy approach to trace the power relations of subjectification and …

Deploying Natural Language Processing To Extract Key Product Features Of Crowdfunding Campaigns: The Case Of 3d Printing Technologies On Kickstarter, Nina Chaichi, Tim R. Anderson

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the technology management field, informal source of information such as social media has been used for technology mining, leader user detection, and etc. However, usually unstructured nature of the informal information introduces some challenges. This study is part of an effort to automate key product features extraction from crowdfunding campaign's textual information, in order to analyze the effect of them on the decision-making process of crowdfunding backers. This paper intends to evaluate the performance of UDPipe R package and six keyword extraction techniques on candidate features selection from textual data of 3D printer campaigns on Kickstarter. In the end, …