“I Wish I Could Grow a Full Beard”: The Amateur Pogonotropher on the Beardbrand YouTube Channel

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-306
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Ideal Type ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Ideal

Pogonotrophy refers to beard cultivation including growth and grooming practices. This exploratory study contributes to the little understood role of beard culture on YouTube. Scholarship examining the relationship between social media platforms such as YouTube and beard culture is almost nonexistent. This gap in the research allows us to ask the following: What sorts of content do users circulate about beards on YouTube? And, how does this content contribute to how users interact and learn about beards? A total of 62,061 user-generated comments across 310 videos featured on the Beardbrand YouTube channel were collected and examined using qualitative media analysis. Three themes emerged from an analysis of these data: the yeard quest, the ideal type, and how to beard. The findings illustrate the important role that YouTube plays in fostering contemporary beard culture. Suggestions for future research are noted.

Visual Representations of Indigenous Tourism Places in Social Media

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-108
Author(s):  
Susanna Heldt Cassel ◽  
Cecilia De Bernardi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Visual Communication ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Media Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Indigenous Tourism

This article focused the analysis on social media representations of Sápmi using the hashtags #visitsápmi and #visitsapmi, which nuance official, top-down versions of the place communicated in other contexts, but simultaneously are more focused on visitors and their experiences. The results show that the making of the Sápmi region as a place and a tourism destination through social media content is an ongoing process of interpretation and reinterpretation of what indigenous Sámi culture is and how it connects to specific localities. Future research should look at the broader understanding of places that can be accessed through social media analysis. The main argument is that visual communication is a very important tool when constructing the brand of a destination. Considering the growing role of social media, the process of place-making through visual communication is explored in the case of the destination VisitSápmi, as it is coconstructed in online user generated content (UGC). From a theoretical viewpoint, we discuss the social construction of places and destinations as well as the production of meaning through coconstruction of images and brands in tourism contexts. The focus is on how places are created, branded, and made meaningful by visualizing the place in a framework of tourism experiences, in this case specifically examined through indigenous tourism. We use a content analysis of texts, photographs, and narratives communicated on social media platforms. Regardless of negotiated brand management's efforts at official marketing, branding, and tourism planning, the evolution of Sápmi as a place to visit in social media has its own logic, full of contradictions and plausible interpretations, related to the uncontrollable and bottom-up processes of UGC.

Understanding the Experiences of Anger in the Onset and Progression of Psoriasis: A Qualitative Study Using Social Media (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Hughes ◽  
Rachael Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Psychosocial Interventions ◽  
Skin Condition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Chronic Skin ◽  
Skin Conditions ◽  
The Impact

BACKGROUND Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin condition, which can be affected by stress. Living with psoriasis can trigger negative emotions, which may influence quality of life. OBJECTIVE This study explored the experiences of people with psoriasis with attention to the potential role of anger in the onset and progression of the chronic skin condition. METHODS Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with twelve participants (n=5 females, n=7 males) recruited online from an advert on a patient charity’s social media platforms. Data were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS Four key themes were identified: (1) ‘I get really angry with the whole situation:’ anger at the self and others, (2) the impact of anger on psoriasis: angry skin, (3) shared experiences of distress, and (4) moving past anger to affirmation. CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest that anger can have a perceived impact on psoriasis through contributing to sensory symptoms and unhelpful coping cycles and point to a need for enhanced treatment with more psychological support. The findings also highlight the continued stigma which exists for people living with skin conditions and how this may contribute to, and sustain, anger for those individuals. Future research could usefully focus on developing targeted psychosocial interventions to promote healthy emotional coping with psoriasis.

Social Media and Identity

2019 ◽  
pp. 1365-1386
Author(s):  
Erika Melonashi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Media And Identity

The present chapter aims to explore the relationship between social media and identity by reviewing theoretical frameworks as well as empirical studies on the topic. Considering the complexity of the concept of identity, a multidisciplinary theoretical approach is provided, including Psychological Theories, Sociological Theories and Communication Theories. These theories are revisited in the context of online identity formation and communication through social media. Different aspects of identity such as gender identity, professional identity, political identity etc., are discussed and illustrated through empirical studies in the field. Moreover, the role of social media as a factor that might either promote or hinder identity development is also discussed (e.g., phenomena such as cyber-bulling and internet addiction). Finally recommendations and suggestions for future research are provided, including the need for multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks to the investigation of the relationships between social media and identity.

Social Media Use Among Olympians and Sport Journalists in Hungary

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-199
Author(s):  
Agnes Kovacs ◽  
Tamas Doczi ◽  
Dunja Antunovic
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Media ◽  
Hungarian Case ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

The Olympic Games are among the most followed events in the world, so athletes who participate there are exceptionally interesting for the media. This research investigated Olympians’ social media use, sport journalists’ attitudes about Olympians’ social media use, and the role of social media in the relationship between Olympians and sport journalists in Hungary. The findings suggest that most Hungarian Olympians do not think that being on social media is an exceptionally key issue in their life, and a significant portion of them do not have public social media pages. However, sport journalists would like to see more information about athletes on social media platforms. The Hungarian case offers not only a general understanding of the athlete–journalist relationship, and the role of social media in it, but also insight into the specific features of the phenomenon in a state-supported, hybrid sport economy.

scholarly journals Success in an Online Giving Day: The Role of Social Media in Fundraising

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Bhati ◽  
Diarmuid McDonnell
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Audience Engagement ◽  
Social Media Data ◽  
Size Number ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Media Data

Social media platforms offer nonprofits considerable potential for crafting, supporting, and executing successful fundraising campaigns. How impactful are attempts by these organizations to utilize social media to support fundraising activities associated with online Giving Days? We address this question by testing a number of hypotheses of the effectiveness of using Facebook for fundraising purposes by all 704 nonprofits participating in Omaha Gives 2015. Using linked administrative and social media data, we find that fundraising success—as measured by the number of donors and value of donations—is positively associated with a nonprofit’s Facebook network size (number of likes), activity (number of posts), and audience engagement (number of shares), as well as net effects of organizational factors including budget size, age, and program service area. These results provide important new empirical insights into the relationship between social media utilization and fundraising success of nonprofits.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel C. Woolley ◽  
Philip N. Howard
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Autonomous Agents ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The People ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Qualitative Work

Computational propaganda is an emergent form of political manipulation that occurs over the Internet. The term describes the assemblage of social media platforms, autonomous agents, algorithms, and big data tasked with manipulating public opinion. Our research shows that this new mode of interrupting and influencing communication is on the rise around the globe. Advances in computing technology, especially around social automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, mean that computational propaganda is becoming more sophisticated and harder to track. This introduction explores the foundations of computational propaganda. It describes the key role of automated manipulation of algorithms in recent efforts to control political communication worldwide. We discuss the social data science of political communication and build upon the argument that algorithms and other computational tools now play an important political role in news consumption, issue awareness, and cultural understanding. We unpack key findings of the nine country case studies that follow—exploring the role of computational propaganda during events from local and national elections in Brazil to the ongoing security crisis between Ukraine and Russia. Our methodology in this work has been purposefully mixed, using quantitative analysis of data from several social media platforms and qualitative work that includes interviews with the people who design and deploy political bots and disinformation campaigns. Finally, we highlight original evidence about how this manipulation and amplification of disinformation is produced, managed, and circulated by political operatives and governments, and describe paths for both democratic intervention and future research in this space.

The role of communication technology in political change and the freedom of digital media

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Abdullah ◽  
Kurdistan Saeed ◽  
Kanaan Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
New Information ◽  
Media Space ◽  
The Relationship

This study examines the nature of the relationship between journalists and politicians in the age of media entrepreneurship, with emphasis on the factors and challenges faced by both media entrepreneurs and politicians while using digital media. This study relies on an inductive approach through using the qualitative method, this involves conducting interviews (N: 41) with journalists to discover whether they work in traditional media organizations or/and own and manage digital media enterprises, it also brings to lights new information about politicians, especially those who have media inclinations. This study reveals that digital media provide journalists with opportunities to achieve professional and financial independence. However, their work in the context of Iraqi scope does not go beyond spreading propaganda and promoting various agenda of political parties and politicians. In terms of the content of media entrepreneurship, this study unveils anonymous social media which are affiliated with/ or supported by politicians which work as piracy for trolling political opponents and activists. It is assumed that such social media have serious repercussions for freedom and privacy. This worries activists and journalists that they are unable to express their opinions freely for fear of being attacked by anonymous social media working on behalf of politicians. Therefore, the ethics of social media and their ownership seems to be a major concern in the Iraqi political media space, and it should be taken into consideration in future research.

The role of social media in political change in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yahya Fatah
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Kurdistan Region ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Relationship

This study deals with the relationship between the political field and the media field especially the role of the social media platforms on the political transformation recently in Kurdistan region of Iraq. This is done through a scientific and theoretical study about the controversial relationship between both politic and media and by directing a group of questions concerning this subject to the media experts and socialists in both of Sulaymaniyah and Polytechnic University of Sulaymaniyah. Finally the researcher reaches a group of results, of which: most of the sample members see that the social media platforms is a suitable environment to express and oppose the authority in the Kurdistan region but it is also see that the social media platforms causes stirring up strife and chaos in the region and they also see that it encourages violence which leads to burning party headquarters and governmental institutes in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. On the other hand, most of the sample people see that the role of the religious leaders is stronger than the role of the social media on the community in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Robert K. Merton et al.,

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward C. Page
Keyword(s):  
Social Stratification ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Ideal Type ◽  
Historical Comparative ◽  
Class And Status ◽  
Bureaucratic Behavior ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Ideal

This article offers a critique ofA Reader in Bureaucracy, by Robert K. Merton et al. It examines four themes in the papers and debates in the book, many of which were central to the study of bureaucracy in the 1950s and 1960s: the debate with Max Weber over his historical-comparative ambitions of the ‘ideal type’ of bureaucracy, formality and informality, the relationship between social stratification and bureaucracy, and the problematization of authority. The discussion outlines Weber’s perspectives on bureaucracy, particularly the ideal type of bureaucracy, his preconditions of bureaucracy, and the bureaucratizing tendencies in modern society. The chapter then turns to the problematic link between social class and status and bureaucracy, together with the role of formal rules and hierarchy in explaining bureaucratic behavior. It concludes by assessing the influence of sociology in general, and of theReaderin particular, on contemporary public policy studies.

Social Media and Identity

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Erika Melonashi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Media And Identity

The present chapter aims to explore the relationship between social media and identity by reviewing theoretical frameworks as well as empirical studies on the topic. Considering the complexity of the concept of identity, a multidisciplinary theoretical approach is provided, including Psychological Theories, Sociological Theories and Communication Theories. These theories are revisited in the context of online identity formation and communication through social media. Different aspects of identity such as gender identity, professional identity, political identity etc., are discussed and illustrated through empirical studies in the field. Moreover, the role of social media as a factor that might either promote or hinder identity development is also discussed (e.g., phenomena such as cyber-bulling and internet addiction). Finally recommendations and suggestions for future research are provided, including the need for multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks to the investigation of the relationships between social media and identity.

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