scholarly journals Broken Walls: Challenges to Patriarchal Authority in the Eyes of Sudanese Social Media Actors

2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 278-302
Author(s):  
Albrecht Hofheinz

This article presents and discusses voices of active social media users from the urban Sudan on the social impact of internet and mobile communication, with a focus on changes in individuals’ attitudes to established patriarchal norms, in particular regarding relations between the sexes, and between young people and their parents’ generation. The picture that emerges from interviews and online sources is that of young people often impatient with the pace of change in their society, while at the same time professing that the new technologies have enabled them, in their own lives, to break established norms, to expand the realm of their private sphere, and to assert their own voice. Such sociocultural change risks going unnoticed if one focuses mainly on the political side of the Arab Spring; it may, however, be as important as regime change to the understanding of current dynamics in the Arab world.


Matrizes ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Derrick de Kerckhove

The article metaphorically uses the human limbic system to describe the new system of social interaction created by social networks, exploring the conditions involved in the creation and development of emotions on the Internet, in such a way as to reveal the relation between technology and psychology. In defence of the argument that the immediacy of social media favours reactions to public events, it presents examples such as the individual responses to the financial global crisis and the demand for more transparency in the governments and financial institutions, in cases like WikiLeaks and the Arab Spring. It concludes that the Internet allows individuals to extend their action, that now have a global reach, with possible effects upon citizenship.


Author(s):  
Giandomenico Di Domenico ◽  
Annamaria Tuan ◽  
Marco Visentin

AbstractIn the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, unprecedent amounts of fake news and hoax spread on social media. In particular, conspiracy theories argued on the effect of specific new technologies like 5G and misinformation tarnished the reputation of brands like Huawei. Language plays a crucial role in understanding the motivational determinants of social media users in sharing misinformation, as people extract meaning from information based on their discursive resources and their skillset. In this paper, we analyze textual and non-textual cues from a panel of 4923 tweets containing the hashtags #5G and #Huawei during the first week of May 2020, when several countries were still adopting lockdown measures, to determine whether or not a tweet is retweeted and, if so, how much it is retweeted. Overall, through traditional logistic regression and machine learning, we found different effects of the textual and non-textual cues on the retweeting of a tweet and on its ability to accumulate retweets. In particular, the presence of misinformation plays an interesting role in spreading the tweet on the network. More importantly, the relative influence of the cues suggests that Twitter users actually read a tweet but not necessarily they understand or critically evaluate it before deciding to share it on the social media platform.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 198-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliza Hixson

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the social impact that two events, the Adelaide Fringe Festival and the Clipsal 500, have on young residents (16-19 years old) of Adelaide. The purpose of this paper is to examine how young people participate in these events and how this affects their sense of involvement in the event and contributes to their identity development. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed methods approach was adopted in which focus groups and questionnaires were conducted with secondary school students. As an exploratory study, focus groups (n=24) were conducted in the first stage of the research. The results of the focus groups were used to develop a questionnaire that resulted in 226 useable responses. The final stage of the research explored one event in further depth in order to determine the influence of different participation levels. Findings – This study found that young people demonstrated more involvement in the Adelaide Fringe Festival and their identities were more influenced by this event. Further investigation of the Adelaide Fringe Festival also indicated that level of participation affects the social outcomes gained, with those participating to a greater degree achieving higher involvement and increased identity awareness. This is demonstrated through a model which aims to illustrate how an event impact an individual based on their role during the event. Originality/value – This paper applies two leisure concepts in order to analyse the impact of events. Activity involvement is a concept which examines the importance of the activity in the participant's life. Also of importance to young people is how activities contribute to their identities, especially because they are in a transitional period of their lives.


Modern Italy ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierluigi Erbaggio

Based on Roberto Saviano's book Gomorra (2006), production of the TV series Gomorra – La serie (2014) was met with scepticism as many feared it would glamorise organised crime and, consequently, attract young people toward Camorra affiliation. The series' bleak portrayal of criminals and criminality was offered as a response to such concerns. Despite the preoccupations, Gomorra – La serie was hugely successful and, because of its quality, was sold to other countries. In Italy, the series' success can be measured by the popularity of its Twitter hashtag #GomorraLaSerie. Engaged with Henry Jenkins' theories of media convergence and based on a corpus of tweets bearing this official hashtag, this article proposes a quantitative analysis and advances conclusions regarding the Italian TV audience and second-screen viewing practices. Additionally, through a qualitative study of Saviano's tweets about the series, it examines the writer's use of the social media platform as a tool of narrative continuity. Finally, the article highlights a few examples of fan-generated media and concludes with remarks regarding Saviano's problematic position at the centre of a transmedia object.


This chapter focuses on mainstream media as amplifier and how viral marketers can have greater social impact. For viral marketers to achieve a greater social impact, the ultimate goal is to have their ideaviruses enter traditional mainstream media – national or regional television networks and influential newspapers, which function as an amplifier for Internet mercenary marketing. A usual pattern is first to launch an ideavirus on the Internet, to make it brew, grow and spread along the social media networks so as to infect whoever is in its path. When it obtains a certain online “reputation,” it is a time to get the mainstream media involved. Once it is covered by the mainstream media, it would intensify the interest on the Internet in searching and sharing the story.


Author(s):  
Kamil Demirhan

This chapter analyzes the capacity of social media usage and the social media strategies of political parties that became the members of Turkish Parliament after 2011 election. The social media usage increases in parallel to the improvements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and it becomes an important tool with its communicative functions to realize activities in social, political, and economic fields. In the globalization process, developments in ICTs and changes in the meaning of democracy have been realized parallel to each other. Politics has become more open to interaction and the participation of different actors. ICTs have created new opportunities to interaction and participation of social actors. These improvements require transformations in the role and functions of political parties. They have to arrange their programs and structures according to participative understanding of democracy and new technologies. Social media usage is seen as a requirement for political parties and party leaders for adaptation to these developments, and it is also seen as a device with its potential for realizing participation, communication, and interaction to adapt to the changes in the understanding of politics.


2015 ◽  
pp. 1196-1225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamil Demirhan

This chapter analyzes the capacity of social media usage and the social media strategies of political parties that became the members of Turkish Parliament after 2011 election. The social media usage increases in parallel to the improvements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and it becomes an important tool with its communicative functions to realize activities in social, political, and economic fields. In the globalization process, developments in ICTs and changes in the meaning of democracy have been realized parallel to each other. Politics has become more open to interaction and the participation of different actors. ICTs have created new opportunities to interaction and participation of social actors. These improvements require transformations in the role and functions of political parties. They have to arrange their programs and structures according to participative understanding of democracy and new technologies. Social media usage is seen as a requirement for political parties and party leaders for adaptation to these developments, and it is also seen as a device with its potential for realizing participation, communication, and interaction to adapt to the changes in the understanding of politics.


Author(s):  
Vladlena Benson ◽  
Stephanie Morgan

Effective social media usage has particular challenges for HE institutions. The many opportunities afforded by social media, increasingly demanded by students, have negative potential. Social technology requires substantial investment to do well, and in particular, it can be very hard to measure its performance. In this chapter, the authors focus on how aligning with strategic objectives can reduce the risk and enhance the effectiveness of social media use throughout the student lifecycle. They also consider the risks which social media investment entails in HE. Using a case study of a UK university, the authors identify common themes for social media adoption in educational settings. They offer practical recommendations and key areas to consider before launching or enhancing a social media strategy in the field of HE.


Author(s):  
Steve Coles

This chapter examines how social enterprises can improve the well-being of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). NEET or NEETs refer to young people aged 16–24 who are not in education, employment or training. There are two subcategories of NEETs: unemployed young people (those who are actively seeking work) and economically inactive young people (those who have not actively sought work recently and/or are unable to start work imminently). The chapter first explains what we mean by ‘NEET’, ‘well-being’ and ‘social enterprise’ before providing an overview of the prevalence and make-up of the NEET population. It then considers the risk factors of becoming NEET and the consequences of NEET status, along with the social impact of social enterprises. It also uses the case of the Cambridgeshire County Council in Scotland to show how budget cuts adversely affect NEETs and concludes by emphasising the importance of entrepreneurship for NEETs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 4299
Author(s):  
Alba Viana Lora ◽  
Marta Gemma Nel-lo Andreu

Alternative metrics are increasingly used to measure the social impact of research. This article seeks to analyze the social impact of research in the field of tourism. For this purpose, we will determine the extent to which the articles in this field reach society by examining the scores they achieve on social media and studying the correlation between scientific impact and social impact. Altmetric information will be used for data extraction and analysis. The results show a low correlation between citations and the Altmetric Attention Score (AAS), as well as a presence that is not captured by most publications in the field of study. Interestingly, publications with higher AASs are concentrated in the same journals. The article concludes by determining that alternative metrics can be used to complement academic impact but cannot be a substitute for it. Further progress is needed in the development of a framework that unifies both impacts.


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