scholarly journals The social media political participation model: A goal systems theory perspective

Author(s):  
Johannes Knoll ◽  
Jörg Matthes ◽  
Raffael Heiss

Although studies suggest that the use of social media can promote political participation (PP), there is a lack of theorizing about the psychological processes underlying this relationship. This article attempts to fill this gap by suggesting a social media political participation model. Taking a goal systemic perspective, the model specifies a set of interrelated processes that need to be realized so that social media use affects PP. Furthermore, key contingent conditions are outlined and insights into fostering PP are offered. The article explains ways of testing the model with surveys and experiments. Implications for future research are discussed.

Author(s):  
Tracii Ryan ◽  
Kelly A. Allen ◽  
DeLeon L. Gray ◽  
Dennis M. McInerney

The use of social media is rapidly increasing, and one of the major discussions of the 21st century revolves around how the use of these applications will impact on the social relationships of users. To contribute to this discussion, we present a brief narrative review highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of social media use on three key aspects of social connectedness: social capital, sense of community, and loneliness. The results indicate that using social media can increase social capital, lead to the formation of friendships and communities, and reduce loneliness. However, some social media site users may experience weakening friendships, online ostracism, and heightened loneliness. Therefore, we argue that the use of social media has contradictory effects on social connectedness. Moreover, the direction of these outcomes is contingent upon who is using the site and how they are using it. Based on these arguments, possible directions for future research are discussed. It is recommended that discourse be continued relating to the association between online social behaviour and connectedness, as this will enable researchers to establish whether the positive outcomes of social media use outweigh the negative.


Author(s):  
Guido Lang ◽  
Raquel Benbunan-Fich

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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1339-1358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tetsuro Kobayashi

Despite the concern that partisan selectivity in the political use of social media leads to mass polarization, the empirical evidence is mixed at best. Given the possibility that these inconclusive findings are attributable to moderators in the process that have not been adequately studied, this article elaborates the roles played by different forms of social identities. By analyzing three datasets collected in Hong Kong, where Chinese and Hong Kongese identities are constructed in a nonmutually exclusive way, this study demonstrates that (1) partisan selectivity in media use is reliably detected among those with single Hong Kongese identity, but not among those with dual identities of Hong Kongese and Chinese, (2) the political use of social media polarizes the attitudes and affects of single identifiers, whereas it has depolarizing effects on dual identifiers, and (3) these contrasting effects on polarization between single and dual identifiers have downstream consequences for political participation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 284-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riyad Eid ◽  
Ziad Abdelmoety ◽  
Gomaa Agag

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.


Author(s):  
Stefania Manca ◽  
Maria Ranieri

<p class="3">Research on scholars’ use of social media suggests that these sites are increasingly being used to enhance scholarly communication by strengthening relationships, facilitating collaboration among peers, publishing and sharing research products, and discussing research topics in open and public formats. However, very few studies have investigated perceptions and attitudes towards social media use for scholarly communication of large cohorts of scholars at national level. This study investigates the reasons for using social media sites for scholarly communication among a large sample of Italian university scholars (N=6139) with the aim of analysing what factors mainly affect these attitudes. The motivations for using social media were analysed in connection with frequency of use and factors like gender, age, years of teaching, academic title, and disciplinary field. The results point out that for the most used tools the influence of the variables examined was higher in shaping scholars’ motivations. In fact, frequency of use, age, years of teaching, and disciplinary field were found to be relevant factors especially for LinkedIn and ResearchGate-Academia.edu, while gender and academic title seemed to have a limited impact on scholars’ motivations for all social media sites considered in the study. Considerations for future research are provided along with limitations of the study.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-288
Author(s):  
Rahul Gadekar ◽  
Peng Hwa Ang

Who benefits more from the use of social media—those who are already socialable and have a wide network of friends or those who do not and so seek to make up for their deficiency by going online? The social enhancement hypothesis says that extroverts benefit more through being able to enlarge their network of friends online more than introverts. The social compensation hypothesis, on the other hand, argues that social media use benefits introverts more; shy users who avoid face-to-face communication can communicate freely online. MANOVA analysis of the survey of 1,392 college students in a western state of India who are Facebook users found evidence predominantly for the social enhancement hypothesis.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaël Opgenhaffen ◽  
An-Sofie Claeys

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.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristiina Tammisalo ◽  
Mirkka Danielsbacka ◽  
Emilia Andersson ◽  
Antti O. Tanskanen

Older adults have recently begun to adopt social media in increasing numbers. Even so, little is known about the factors influencing older adults’ social media adoption. Here, we identify factors that predict the use of social media among older adults (aged 68–73) and compare them to those of their adult children (aged 19–56) using population-based data from Finland. As predictors for social media use, we utilized demographic factors as well as characteristics of the respondents’ social lives. In addition, we test whether social media use in older adults is predicted by the social media use of their adult children. The data used in this study uniquely enable the study of this question because actual parent-child dyads are identifiable. In both generations, women and those with higher education were more likely to use social media. Predictors specific to men of the older generation were being divorced and younger, and predictors specific to women of the older generation were having better health and more frequent contact with friends. A higher number of children predicted use in both men and women in the older generation. As for the younger generation, specific predictors for social media use in women were younger age, divorce, higher number of children, and more frequent contact with friends. For men in the younger generation, there were no significant predictors for social media use besides higher education, which predicted social media use in all groups. Finally, social media use in a parent representing the older generation was predicted by the social media use of their adult children. This study provides novel information on the predictors of the use of social media in two family generations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Garcia ◽  
Robert J. Zeglin ◽  
Shari Matray ◽  
Robert Froehlich ◽  
Ronica Marable ◽  
...  

Purpose: The purpose of this article was to gather descriptive data on the professional use of social media in public rehabilitation settings and to analyze existing social media policies in those agencies through content analysis.Methods: The authors sent a survey to all state administrators or directors of these agencies (N = 50) in the United States, requesting frequency and other descriptive information, plus a copy of their social media policies (if available). The available policies were reviewed using content analysis procedures.Results: The results showed that although the frequency of social media use was high, training and inclusion of ethics was low. Regarding policy, approximately 42% reported a lack of an existing policy, and 38% were unsure about having a policy guide. The analysis of the available policies yielded 11 themes around which these policies were organized.Discussion: The authors offer a discussion of these results and its implications for policy and practice as well as future research. These include the need for more comprehensive social media policy creation in agencies and the role of clinical supervisors in ensuring ethical practice.


Author(s):  
Guido Lang ◽  
Raquel Benbunan-Fich

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 article 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.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document