Ship disaster will spur public safety rethink in China

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Yangtze River ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
The Yangtze River ◽  
Cruise Ship ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Negative Publicity ◽  
Media Censorship

Subject The Eastern Star cruise ship disaster. Significance The rescue and recovery operation for the capsized Eastern Star river cruise ship finished on June 14. The Eastern Star, an aging economy-class tourist vessel of shallow draft, carrying 454 passengers, was struck by a squall as it took a curve in the Yangtze river in Hubei province on June 1. The boat capsized, trapping passengers and crew below water. Only 12 people survived. Despite a media shut-down, recriminations are surfacing about responsibility for and handling of the disaster. Impacts Regulations will be stepped up, with policing largely delegated to the insurance industry rather than civil society. The incident stress-tested a reinforced social media censorship system, which overall performed well. The authorities are rightly concerned about negative publicity, but this sort of incident poses negligible threat to social order.

Virus will divert but not derail gender rights fight

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Equal Pay ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cultural Shifts

Subject Gender rights movements. Significance Since 2017, a new wave of the fight for gender equality has spread globally as activists share tactics and build transnational networks through social media. From the online #MeToo Movement to massive women’s strikes, demands to end sexual harassment and violence are already leading to cultural shifts and a barrage of new legislation. Despite backlash, and disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global gender rights movement will give rise to significant legal, social and political change. Impacts Governments globally will see greater civil society pressure to pass new legislation on sexual violence and harassment. Companies will be required to abide by new regulations governing harassment and equal pay in a growing number of countries. COVID-19 will temporarily slow organising efforts, but in the long term bring new allies to the movement.

Application of unstructured grid finite-volume coastal ocean model (FVCOM) to the Yangtze River hypoxic zone

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 2410-2418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhanhong Wan ◽  
Zongfu Ren ◽  
Xiaochun Wang ◽  
Honghao Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Finite Volume ◽  
Yangtze River ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Trade Wind ◽  
Freshwater Flux ◽  
The Yangtze River ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Coastal Ocean Model

Purpose To observe the relations between three important factors resulting in estuarial Hypoxia phenomena of Yangtze River – wind, river flow, and stratification. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the possible reasons why hypoxia occurs in late spring and disappears in October. Design/methodology/approach To overcome the difficulty in examining the role of physical and biological factors affecting hypoxia based on measurement alone, finite-volume community ocean model (FVCOM) was introduced into the investigation. Observed freshwater flux data from Yangtze River, monthly averaged wind speed data, and other observed data were input into the model; the accuracy of which was validated with various kinds of data. The authors used the trajectories of Lagrangian particles from Yangtze River to study the regions of strong riverine influence under different wind forcing conditions and compared the simulation results with former observations. Findings Trade wind is a significant factor to influence the forming and receding of hypoxia across the Yangtze River. Originality/value Using FVCOM to investigate estuary hypoxia is more economical and effective.

Consumer devotion to a different height

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 963-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmud Hassan ◽  
Luis V. Casaló Ariño
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Defensive Strategies ◽  
Defensive Behaviors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Collection Data ◽  
Negative Publicity ◽  
Potential Damage

Purpose – Effective handling of negative word of mouth in the social media has dramatic impact on customer retention, deflects potential damage and improves profitability. Although marketers enact various defensive strategies to combat such negative publicity, consumers are increasingly acting on behalf of marketers and new value creating behaviors are noticed within virtual brand communities. The purpose of this paper is to explore the kind of consumers’ defensive behaviors present within Facebook brand communities (FBCs). Design/methodology/approach – A netnographic approach guided the data collection. Data were gathered by downloading messages; only the threads related to member’s defensive behaviors were downloaded and archived. This resulted to 34 pages of data with 418 individual comments and 6,257 words in total. Findings – Data reveals that defensive behavior is practiced within Facebook, noticing that more diverse types of defensive behaviors are practiced in high involved products. Also, defensive behaviors are more prevalent within utilitarian rather than hedonic brands. Research limitations/implications – This study suggests that marketers should be open to engage and empower consumers to fulfill the role of defending the brand within brand communities first. Originality/value – This work adds to previous literature on handling complaints in social media by analyzing how devoted consumers may defend the brand against negative remarks done by other consumers in FBCs. This study not only confirms that defensive behaviors are apparent within the eight FBCs considered, but also investigates possible differences between high and low involved brands and also utilitarian and hedonic brands.

Citizen ire drives Paraguay anti-corruption campaign

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Border City

Subject Corruption probes under the new government. Significance The state prosecution service has begun an investigation into alleged illicit enrichment by the Zacarias Irun clan that has dominated economic and political life in the border city of Ciudad del Este for nearly two decades. Bringing down the clan could have profound consequences for the massive illegal smuggling trade based in Paraguay’s second-largest city. Impacts Social media may begin to play an increasingly important role in a more active civil society. New Supreme Court appointments may bolster efforts to combat corruption. Anti-corruption moves could yet bring a backlash from the former president and his allies.

Calls to audit social media algorithms will rise

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Legal Obligation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Independent Review ◽  
Harmful Content ◽  
End To End

Significance The problem of misinformation, polarisation and harmful content on social media has in recent years exposed the ineffectiveness of self-regulation by platform operators. Yet remedies are difficult to implement. One proposal is to require platforms to submit their algorithms -- the ones used to promote and filter content -- to independent review and audit. Impacts Further civil society reports on the role of social media algorithms in promoting disinformation will strengthen calls for audits. Independent audits will fail to tackle harmful content on end-to-end encrypted platforms, boosting calls to end encryption. Mainstream social media platforms face no legal obligation to stop monetising disinformation.

Political priorities mar Angolan diversification goals

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
National Security ◽  
The State ◽  
Operating Environment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fuel Subsidies ◽  
Regime Survival ◽  
Use Of Social Media

Significance The dos Santos administration ostensibly prioritises developing non-oil industries to increase macroeconomic resilience. Initiatives to date have been insubstantial, ineffective and are undermined by the difficult operating environment. Impacts Living costs will increase due to the removal of fuel subsidies, which pushed up petrol prices by 28%, increasing inflationary pressures. Heavy security spending will ensure that rising urban protests do not escalate to threaten national security. However, use of social media will make it harder for the state to clamp down on civil society groups, despite new policy restrictions. Wariness of foreign military adventures will ensure that capacity is focused domestically, assisting regime survival.

Consumers' purchase intention of wild freshwater fish in China from the perspective of ecological protection

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinggui Chen ◽  
Hui Wang
Keyword(s):  
Freshwater Fish ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Purchase Intention ◽  
Yangtze River ◽  
Behavioral Control ◽  
Yangtze River Basin ◽  
Perceived Behavioral Control ◽  
The Yangtze River ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Yangtze River Basin

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers' purchase intention of wild freshwater fish. Facing the endangering ecology in the Yangtze River Basin, the Chinese government has implemented a ten-year fishing ban policy to protect the wild freshwater fishery resources from 2020. In this context, such questions are raised as how do consumers react to this and are they willing to reduce or even refuse to purchase wild freshwater fish to protect the aquatic biological resources in the Yangtze River Basin?Design/methodology/approachA total of 1,235 consumers from eight provinces (including two province-level municipalities) in the Yangtze River Basin filled out the online questionnaires. The data (n = 1,096) are analyzed by structural equation model (SEM) to verify the relationships between the variables.FindingsThe results show that subjective norm is the strongest direct determinant of purchase intention, followed by personal norm, attitude, environmental concern and perceived behavioral control. It is also found that attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and environmental concern have significant effects on personal norm which plays a significant mediating role in forming purchase intention. On this basis, specific policy recommendations are proposed.Originality/valueThis paper investigates consumers' purchase intention from the perspective of ecological protection and obtains a more comprehensive explanation of the purchase intention by combining the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and theory of norm activation.

Leveraging interactive social media communication for organizational success

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-161
Author(s):  
Feifei Chen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Communication Framework ◽  
Social Movement Rhetoric ◽  
The Government

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how microblog communication enabled a new form of hybrid net-roots third-sector organization that rely heavily on the internet to achieve multiple organizational successes in civil society, social movement and service providing in China, where the government holds predominating power over the third sector. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative inductive analysis was conducted to analyze two successful organizations’ Sina tweets sent from their Weibo debuts to the dates when they achieved their first milestone successes. In the analysis, the author iteratively alternated between emic data coding and etic reference to literature on social movement rhetoric and nonprofits’ microblog communication. Findings This study developed an indigenous communication framework featuring three key communication strategies: changing perceptions, mobilizing action, and building and maintaining relationships, each associated with specific tactics. These strategies and tactics allowed both organizations to tap into social media’s interactive features to engage publics and construct legitimacy. Research limitations/implications This paper enriches social media-based communication research and classic social movement rhetoric, and further illustrates strategic communication’s active role in reacting to and reforming institutional contexts. Findings from study might be extended to address similar problems experienced by nonprofits across countries, especially within those that operate in a context where institutional separation from a predominant government is unavailable. Originality/value This original communication framework developed in this study crystalizes strategic microblog use by a nascent type of nonprofit when fulfilling functions reflects civil society, social movements and traditional nonprofit organizations in an understudied political and social context.

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