scholarly journals Evidence based social media use: an exploratory UK investigation into residents’ perceptions of police Facebook use

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-71
Author(s):  
Ashley Cartwright ◽  
Chloe Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Police Services ◽  
Use Of Social Media

Purpose Social media is an integral part of modern society and is used by billions of people worldwide. In a policing context, police services are starting to use social media platforms to interact with their communities. However, academic literature is lagging regarding the effectiveness of police use of social media. The purpose of this study is to gather public perceptions regarding the police’s use of social media particularly the use of Facebook. Design/methodology/approach The study administered a cross sectional survey recruiting participants who are policed by one of the larger police services in England and Wales. A total of 294 respondents completed the survey providing their views on their police service’s use of social media. Findings The results of the present study provide overwhelming support for the police’s use of social media by the public, with most respondents actively following their local police service’s social media accounts. The study additionally provides a number of important findings in relation to the preferences of the public with regards to their police service’s use of Facebook. Practical implications The findings presented here provide police services with an insight into how to implement an evidenced-based approach to their social media activity. Originality/value The present study takes an alternative approach to understanding the effectiveness of police social media use by simply asking residents, an approach not used in this area of policing research to date.

Use of social media, student engagement, and academic performance of business students in Malaysia

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 625-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Said Ibrahim Alshuaibi ◽  
Ahmad Said Ibrahim Alshuaibi ◽  
Faridahwati Mohd. Shamsudin ◽  
Darwina Ahmad Arshad
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Use Of Social Media

Purpose Social media is a popular communication tool for college students in many countries including Malaysia. Even though the literature indicates that the use of social media in a higher learning environment is likely to enhance academic performance of college students, the mechanism that explains such association is yet to be explored. Based on the claims that the integration of social media use is purposeful to enhance student engagement, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of student engagement as a potential mediator between social media use and academic performance of college students in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach A total number of 227 business students in one of the public universities in Malaysia were randomly chosen to participate in this study. Questionnaire was used as the main data collection technique, which was personally administered during class sessions. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling-partial least square (SEM-PLS). Findings The result showed the multidimensionality of student engagement. It also indicated that cognitive engagement mediated the relationship between social media and academic performance, but not behavioral, emotional, or agentic engagement. The result suggests that social media has the potential to be used in a learning environment as it promotes cognitive engagement of students in class and subsequently their academic performance and success. Research limitations/implications One of the limitations of the present study is that the generalizability of the finding to a much larger population of students may be limited as the sampled students were recruited from business students in one of the public universities in Malaysia only. Students of different academic programs in different universities may have a different pattern of using the social media. Practical implications This study will help higher learning institutions and educators think of ways to integrate the use of social media in learning activities to help students achieve better academic performance. As shown by the findings, such use can encourage students to be cognitively engagedt in class in which the students can be more active learners. Originality/value The present study adds to the literature in social media use by addressing the issue of how it helps enhance academic performance of college students in a single model. Past studies tended to examine the role of social media and student engagement and the effect of student engagement on academic performance separately. Furthermore, this study took into consideration various types of social media used by college students who tend to have multiple accounts.

scholarly journals The “anti-vax” movement: a quantitative report on vaccine beliefs and knowledge across social media

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Staci L Benoit ◽  
Rachel F. Mauldin
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Knowledge Score ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Knowledge And Beliefs ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Vaccine Information

Abstract Background Social media use has become a mainstay of communication and with that comes the exchange of factual and non-factual information. Social media has given many people the opportunity to speak their opinions without repercussions and create coalitionS of like-minded people. This also has led to the development of a community know as anti-vaxxers or vaccine deniers. This research explores the extent to which vaccine knowledge has reached on social media. Methods This cross sectional research explored the relationship between the spread of information regarding vaccines in relation to social media use. A sample of 2515 people over the age of 18 around the world completed the survey via a link distributed on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. A series of questions on vaccine knowledge and beliefs were compounded to create an individual’s “knowledge score” and a “belief score”. Knowledge scores were ranked from low knowledge to high knowledge with increasing scores. Belief scores were ranked from belief in myths to disbelief in myths with higher scores. This score was then analysed, using a Welch test and post hoc testing when applicable, across demographics and questions relating to social media use. Results Significant relations were found in both the knowledge and belief categories, many of which were similar findings between the two. North Americans had significantly lower knowledge and belief scores compared to all other continents. While the majority of people primarily use Facebook, Twitter users were significantly more knowledgeable. It was also found that higher education was correlated with higher knowledge and belief scores. Conclusions Overall, these correlations are important in determining ways to intervene into the anti-vax movement through the use of social media. Cross demographics were not analysed in this study but could be in future studies. To better understand the social media exposures related to vaccine information a follow up structured interview research study would be beneficial. Note that due to the cross sectional nature of this study, causal relationships could not be made.

scholarly journals Physical Activity and Attitudes Toward Social Media Use of Active Individuals During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia: Cross-Sectional Survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mezna A. AlMarzooqi
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Physically Active ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Background: Social media became an integral part of the lives of people because it encourages social relations and shares interests, activities, and real-life connections. As quarantine and lockdown orders are prolonged, many people, as well as those physically active individuals, typically responded to this stressful condition by using social media platforms.Objective: This study aimed to examine the level of physical activity of physically active individuals and their attitudes toward social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among physically active individuals in Saudi Arabia between June 2020 and July 2020. An online survey was employed among eligible participants who completed a self-administered questionnaire that covered reasons for physical activity and attitudes toward social media platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic.Results: Of these 323 participants, 29.1% were in the age group of 18–24 years, 66.6% were women, and 67.8% were single. The proportion of participants whose metabolic equivalent of tasks-min/week from vigorous activity <1,680 was 31.9%, and all of the participants follow people or pages in social media related to sports teams and fitness models. The average number of hours spent on social media per day was 2.95 ± 0.90 h. The majority of the participants showed positive attitudes toward social media used for exercise and physical activity. Of the eight variables, age, level of physical activity, and the average of hours spent on social media emerged as significant predictors of attitudes toward the use of social media (P < 0.05).Conclusions: The present survey results indicate adverse consequences of home quarantine as reflected by a small proportion of participants who had differences in levels of vigorous activities during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. Social media appears to be a key avenue to promote and disseminate health interventions to promote physical activity during this COVID-19 pandemic.

The Use of Social Media in Disaster Situations

2012 ◽  
pp. 11-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido Lang ◽  
Raquel Benbunan-Fich
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Virginia Tech ◽  
Information Gathering ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
The Public ◽  
Virginia Tech Tragedy ◽  
Use Of Social Media

Recent disasters highlight the importance of social media supporting critical information gathering and dissemination efforts by members of the public. Given that disasters pose unique challenges and social media are evolving rapidly, how can one compare the effectiveness of social media in different disaster situations? Drawing from prior work on e-participation, this paper proposes a novel framework for social media use based on four key modules: selection, facilitation, deliberation, and aggregation. A comparative analysis of social media use following a man-made disaster (the 2007 Virginia Tech tragedy) and during a natural disaster (the 2009 Britain blizzard) exemplifies the value of the proposed framework. Future research can build on and leverage the present work by analyzing and incorporating additional cases on the use of social media in disaster situations.

Antecedents and consequences of social media marketing use: an empirical study of the UK exporting B2B SMEs

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 284-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riyad Eid ◽  
Ziad Abdelmoety ◽  
Gomaa Agag
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Export Performance ◽  
Empirical Evaluation ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Antecedents And Consequences ◽  
Use Of Social Media

Purpose The social media have enabled companies to reach out to global markets and provided them with the opportunity to customize their strategies and offerings in an unprecedented way. Given the scant empirical evaluation of social media use in the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) business-to-business (B-to-B) context, this paper aims to offer a comprehensive description of the antecedents and consequences of social media use in international B-to-B SMEs and the way in which this use affects their export performance. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a sample of 277 British B-to-B SMEs and uses positivist research with a quantitative approach, adopting a survey strategy through questionnaires and structural equation modeling. Findings The results reveal that the use of social media influences export performance through the quality of international business contacts – understanding customers’ views and preferences, brand awareness and knowledge of the competition in various international markets. This study contributes to the emerging literature on B-to-B SMEs digital marketing by determining the mechanism through which B-to-B SMEs may benefit from using the social media in their efforts to export. Originality/value Despite the promising potential of the social media, especially for export-oriented companies, very limited attention has hitherto been paid to the relationship between the use of social media and export performance. This study attempts to fill the gap by investigating the extent to which actual use of social media impacts on the performance of exporting firms.

scholarly journals The use of social media in the B2B sales process: a meta synthesis

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Graziela Perretto Rodrigues ◽  
Adriana Roseli Wünsch Takahashi ◽  
Paulo Henrique Muller Henrique Prado
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Business Organizations ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sales Process ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Business To Business

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand how business-to-business organizations use social media during the sales process. Design/methodology/approach The meta-synthesis steps methodology (Hoon, 2013) was applied. Findings This study presents a theoretical framework and contributes to improved understanding of how business can use social media in the sales process stages. The results allow identifying stages, discussing the integration between marketing and sales and generating benefits for the organization. Originality/value The proposed framework helps in understanding the previously performed fragmented studies. This study shows that social media use not only influences the sales process stages and increases the benefits to the business but also works as a mediator in the relation between sales process stages and identified benefits.

A human rights perspective on the use of social media by the ambulance services

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 532-537
Author(s):  
Chris Jones
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Ambulance Service ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
The Public ◽  
Legal Duty ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Uk

Social media use on behalf of ambulance services by paramedics, student paramedics and ancillary staff—‘corporate tweeting’, as it has become known—has in recent times been the subject of much debate in the paramedic profession. It has been argued that social media use is an unstoppable tide and a necessary means of imparting information to members of the public about the work the ambulance service performs. Conversely, others have argued that by tweeting about their patients, the ambulance service is breaching a fundamental code of professional ethics due to the use of confidential patient data. This article explores the UK legal framework of privacy and confidence in the healthcare context, from a human rights perspective, and seeks to demonstrate that some corporate tweeting has breached not only ethical standards, but may also have crossed the line into unlawfulness owing to the public nature of the organisations involved, and their legal duty to protect the human rights of their service users.

Cognitive needs and use of social media: a comparative study of gratifications sought and gratification obtained

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-90
Author(s):  
Ashfaq Hussain ◽  
Ghulam Shabir ◽  
Taimoor-Ul-Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Uses And Gratification ◽  
Uses And Gratification Theory ◽  
Information Professionals ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Information Comprehension

Purpose The purpose of this study is to compare the gratification sought and gratification obtained for cognitive needs from social media among information professionals in the limelight of uses and gratification theory. Cognitive needs are related to knowledge, acquiring information, comprehension etc., and gratification sought and gratification obtained are two distinct components of the uses and gratification theory. Design/methodology/approach For this quantitative research study, a self-administered survey questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants of the study. Sample of this study was 700 information professionals who are necessarily users of social media. Findings Finding of this study depicted that gratification obtained and gratification sought from social media for cognitive needs are different from each other, and information professionals need to revisit their social media use for cognitive needs. Research limitations/implications The present study is limited to gratification sought and gratification obtained for cognitive needs among information professionals. Practical implications This study has determined that information professionals need to revisit their social media use for cognitive needs, as the obtained gratifications are different from gratification sought from social media. Social implications Social media provides versatility of information in different forms and large numbers of information professionals are the users of social media around globe. Perceived use of social media for cognitive needs has been resulted into destructed gratifications. This study has brought the actual outcome of the use of social media to the audience so that they may rectify their social media use. Originality/value This study is a significant contribution for information professionals to review the gratifications sought and obtained from social media for cognitive needs. It has been established in this study that gratifications sought are significantly different from gratifications obtained from social media among information professionals.

scholarly journals Between hope and fear: developing social media guidelines

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaël Opgenhaffen ◽  
An-Sofie Claeys
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Potential Risks ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine employers’ policy with regard to employees’ social media use. Specifically, the authors examine the extent to which employers allow the use of social media in the workplace, what opportunities can be related to employees’ social media use and how social media guidelines are implemented within organizations. Design/methodology/approach In-depth interviews were conducted with HR and communication managers of 16 European companies from different sectors and of varying size. Findings Some organizations believe that social media should be accessible to employees while others ban them from the workplace. Most respondents believe that organizations can benefit from employees sharing work-related content with their own network. However, they encourage the sharing and retweeting of official corporate messages rather than employees developing their own messages. This fear regarding employees’ messages on social media is reflected in the broad adoption of social media guidelines. Research limitations/implications Future research should chart the nature of existing social media guidelines (restrictive vs incentive). Accordingly, the perceived sense and nonsense of social media guidelines in companies should be investigated, not only among the managers but also among employees. Practical implications Organizations should remain in dialogue with employees with regard to social media. Managers seem overly concerned with potential risks and forget the opportunities that can arise when employees operate as ambassadors. Originality/value The use of in-depth interviews allowed the authors to assess the rationale behind social media guidelines within organizations in depth and formulate suggestions to organizations and communication managers.

scholarly journals Social Media Use, Self-Efficacy, Perceived Threat, and Preventive Behavior in Times of COVID-19: Results of a Cross-Sectional Study in Pakistan

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qaisar Khalid Mahmood ◽  
Sara Rizvi Jafree ◽  
Sahifa Mukhtar ◽  
Florian Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Perceived Threat ◽  
Preventive Behavior ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Cross Sectional

Although the role of social media in infectious disease outbreaks is receiving increasing attention, little is known about the mechanisms by which social media use affects risk perception and preventive behaviors during such outbreaks. This study aims to determine whether there are any relationships between social media use, preventive behavior, perceived threat of coronavirus, self-efficacy, and socio-demographic characteristics. The data were collected from 310 respondents across Pakistan using an online cross-sectional survey. Reliability analyses were performed for all scales and structural equational modeling was used to identify the relationships between study variables. We found that: (i) social media use predicts self-efficacy (β = 0.25, p < 0.05) and perceived threat of coronavirus (β = 0.54, p < 0.05, R2 = 0.06), and (ii) preventive behavior is predicted by self-efficacy and perceived threat of coronavirus (R = 0.10, p < 0.05). Therefore, these results indicate the importance of social media's influence on health-related behaviors. These findings are valuable for health administrators, governments, policymakers, and social scientists, specifically for individuals whose situations are similar to those in Pakistan.

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