scholarly journals “Should I Stay or Should I Leave?”: Exploring (Dis)continued Facebook Use After the Cambridge Analytica Scandal

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 205630512091388
Author(s):  
Allison J. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
News Reports ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Research Interviews ◽  
Decisions To Stay ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Do So

Social media platforms bring both benefits and risks which have been documented copiously in extant academic literature. A range of issues related to privacy and trust inhibit the fulsome enjoyment of social media by users. In 2018, several news sources documented that Cambridge Analytica acquired psychographic data for Facebook users and used that data to target ads for the November 2016 US election. Although none of the news reports indicated that Facebook was complicit in this matter, some Facebook users publicly announced they would leave Facebook and encouraged others to do so. Using in-depth interviews with 10 undergraduate and graduate college students aged 18–29 years, this research study explores decisions to stay with or leave Facebook following the Cambridge Analytica case as such decisions intersect with privacy concerns. While all the respondents were concerned about their privacy, many of them believed that participation in social media requires an exchange of personal data for the use of the service. None of the respondents left Facebook permanently because of the Cambridge Analytica incident. But several reported non-use and reduced use prompted by privacy concerns and other social concerns associated with the use of Facebook. Although these research interviews are centered on a very specific event, they are instructive on the various approaches to privacy patterns and trust in social media. Greater transparency, advocacy, and transnational cooperation would be critical interventions to inspire greater trust in social media platforms.

scholarly journals A Gap in Networked Publics?

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-109
Author(s):  
Petter Bae Brandtzaeg ◽  
María Ángeles Chaparro Domínguez
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Significant Information ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Networked Publics ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract Several recent studies have examined how professional journalists use social media at work. However, we know little about the differences between younger and older journalists’ use of social media for newsgathering. We conducted 16 in-depth interviews comparing eight young journalists (median age = 24) with eight older journalists (median age = 50) in Norway. The younger journalists reported using multiple social media platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, to collect politically significant information, news observations, sources and comments. By comparison, the older journalists reported relying heavily on elite sources on Twitter. This reluctance to use a variety of social media platforms may limit older journalists’ exposure to a variety of news sources. As a result, younger journalists seem to follow a more multi-perspectival approach to social media and may be more innovative in their newsgathering. Hence, younger journalists may be exposed to more diverse types of news sources than older journalists. Together, the findings indicate a generational gap in ‘networked publics’ concerning how younger and older journalists approach newsgathering in social media.

scholarly journals The Nested Precarities of Creative Labor on Social Media

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630512110213
Author(s):  
Brooke Erin Duffy ◽  
Annika Pinch ◽  
Shruti Sannon ◽  
Megan Sawey
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
Creative Economy ◽  
Cultural Industries ◽  
Professional Success ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Media ◽  
Depth Interviews

While metrics have long played an important, albeit fraught, role in the media and cultural industries, quantified indices of online visibility—likes, favorites, subscribers, and shares—have been indelibly cast as routes to professional success and status in the digital creative economy. Against this backdrop, this study sought to examine how creative laborers’ pursuit of social media visibility impacts their processes and products. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with 30 aspiring and professional content creators on a range of social media platforms—Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, and Twitter—we contend that their experiences are not only shaped by the promise of visibility, but also by its precarity. As such, we present a framework for assessing the volatile nature of visibility in platformized creative labor, which includes unpredictability across three levels: (1) markets, (2) industries, and (3) platform features and algorithms. After mapping out this ecological model of the nested precarities of visibility, we conclude by addressing both continuities with—and departures from—the earlier modes of instability that characterized cultural production, with a focus on the guiding logic of platform capitalism.

Social Media and Emotional Well-being: Pursuit of Happiness or Pleasure

2021 ◽  
pp. 1326365X2110037
Author(s):  
D. Guna Graciyal ◽  
Deepa Viswam
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Pursuit Of Happiness ◽  
Social Dysfunction ◽  
Combining Data ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Depth Interviews

Virtual engagement of lives has been made possible with the advent of social media. Almost 80% of the day are spent virtually on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, etc. Usage of social media to connect to and communicate with the ones we care about is always healthy, termed as social networking. Social dysfunction occurs when the constant communication leads to the point where our real or offline life gets replaced by virtual or online life. There is a slight boundary between social networking and social dysfunction. When social networking is advantageous, social dysfunction affects emotional well-being. When emotional well-being is affected, many users experience a compulsion to dissociate from the real world as they find virtual world, full of fantasy and enjoyment. When the Internet was created, perhaps no one was aware of its potential. More than the convenience for sharing of information it has brought the world so close to crumbling the geographical boundaries. The more people-to-people communication is, the more is the strengthening of relationships, bonds grow stronger with ‘more’ social media platforms. Being on ‘more’ social media platforms has become a benchmark for living amidst the younger generation. Either as an activity of happiness or as an activity of pleasure, users tend to use social media at varying levels. This paper aims to conceptualize the the intricacies of social media in young lives and to discern whether their association is happiness or pleasure activity. The research method of this paper has a mixed-methods research design combining data from structured survey with information outputs from in-depth interviews.

scholarly journals Explaining Donation Behavior in Medical Crowdfunding in Social Media

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402110145
Author(s):  
Zhengwei Huang ◽  
Jing Ouyang ◽  
Xiaohong Huang ◽  
Yanni Yang ◽  
Ling Lin
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Interpersonal Relationship ◽  
Elaboration Likelihood ◽  
Perceived Trust ◽  
Likelihood Model ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Perceived Behavior Control ◽  
Donation Behavior ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Social Media Network

Medical crowdfunding in social media is growing to be a convenient, accessible, and secure manner to cover medical expenses. It differs from traditional donation initiatives and medical crowdfunding on non-social media platforms in that projects are disseminated via social media network and among acquaintances. Through semi-structured in-depth interviews on donation behaviors of 52 respondents, this study uses grounded theory to extract seven main categories that affect medical crowdfunding donation behavior in social media, namely interpersonal relationship, reciprocity of helping, attitude toward donation, perceived behavior control, perceived trust, project information, and characteristics of patients. In the spirit of Elaboration Likelihood Model, we develop a theoretical framework that the seven factors influence donation behavior in medical crowdfunding in social media via a central and a peripheral route.

Avenues to News and Diverse News Exposure Online: Comparing Direct Navigation, Social Media, News Aggregators, Search Queries, and Article Hyperlinks

2021 ◽  
pp. 194016122110091
Author(s):  
Magdalena Wojcieszak ◽  
Ericka Menchen-Trevino ◽  
Joao F. F. Goncalves ◽  
Brian Weeks
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Search Engines ◽  
Direct Access ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
News Websites ◽  
The Us ◽  
Social Media Platforms

The online environment dramatically expands the number of ways people can encounter news but there remain questions of whether these abundant opportunities facilitate news exposure diversity. This project examines key questions regarding how internet users arrive at news and what kinds of news they encounter. We account for a multiplicity of avenues to news online, some of which have never been analyzed: (1) direct access to news websites, (2) social networks, (3) news aggregators, (4) search engines, (5) webmail, and (6) hyperlinks in news. We examine the extent to which each avenue promotes news exposure and also exposes users to news sources that are left leaning, right leaning, and centrist. When combined with information on individual political leanings, we show the extent of dissimilar, centrist, or congenial exposure resulting from each avenue. We rely on web browsing history records from 636 social media users in the US paired with survey self-reports, a unique data set that allows us to examine both aggregate and individual-level exposure. Visits to news websites account for about 2 percent of the total number of visits to URLs and are unevenly distributed among users. The most widespread ways of accessing news are search engines and social media platforms (and hyperlinks within news sites once people arrive at news). The two former avenues also increase dissimilar news exposure, compared to accessing news directly, yet direct news access drives the highest proportion of centrist exposure.

scholarly journals Confronting the digital mob: Press coverage of online justice seeking

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 597-612
Author(s):  
Daniel Trottier
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Press Coverage ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Reports ◽  
The Press ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Uk

This article offers an exploratory account of press coverage of digitally mediated vigilantism. It considers how the UK press renders these events visible in a sustained and meaningful way. News reports and editorials add visibility to these events, and also make them more tangible when integrating content from social media platforms. In doing so, this coverage directs attention to a range of social actors, who may be perceived as responsible for these kinds of developments. In considering how other social actors are presented in relation to digital vigilantism, this study focusses on press accounts of those either initiating or being targeted by online denunciations, and also on a broader and often amorphous range of spectators to such events, often referred to as ‘internet mobs’. Relatedly, this article explores how specific practices related to digital vigilantism such as denunciation are expressed in press coverage, as well as coverage of motivations by the public to either participate or facilitate such practices. Reflecting on how the press represent mediated denunciation will illustrate not only how tabloids and broadsheets frame such practices, but also how they take advantage of connective and data-generating affordances associated with social platforms.

scholarly journals Grassroots prescriptivism

English Today ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morana Lukač
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Standard Variety ◽  
Radio Stations ◽  
Actual Usage ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Language Norms ◽  
Telephone Calls ◽  
Do So

People engage in discussions on which linguistic items are ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’, ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ on a daily basis. They do so in private conversations, but also publicly by way of telephone calls to radio stations, letters to newspapers and, since the dawn of the participatory internet, on social media platforms, such as blogs, microblogs (i.e. Twitter), forums and Facebook. Conspicuously, however, in linguists’ theoretical models of language standardisation, speakers have traditionally been marginalised as passive followers of the norms established by language authorities. The types of discussions mentioned are viewed as having no impact on actual usage or on what it is that constitutes the standard variety, while standard language norms are, according to such accounts, enforced by language experts, codifiers and ‘model speakers [such as journalists and newsreaders] and authors’ (Ammon, 2015: 65).

Spiritualism and the Resurgence of Fake News

2020 ◽  
pp. 222-237
Author(s):  
Kristy A. Hesketh
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Fake News ◽  
News Stories ◽  
News Reports ◽  
The World ◽  
Spirit World ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
False News

This chapter explores the Spiritualist movement and its rapid growth due to the formation of mass media and compares these events with the current rise of fake news in the mass media. The technology of cheaper publications created a media platform that featured stories about Spiritualist mediums and communications with the spirit world. These articles were published in newspapers next to regular news creating a blurred line between real and hoax news stories. Laws were later created to address instances of fraud that occurred in the medium industry. Today, social media platforms provide a similar vessel for the spread of fake news. Online fake news is published alongside legitimate news reports leaving readers unable to differentiate between real and fake articles. Around the world countries are actioning initiatives to address the proliferation of false news to prevent the spread of misinformation. This chapter compares the parallels between these events, how hoaxes and fake news begin and spread, and examines the measures governments are taking to curb the growth of misinformation.

New communication technologies, social media, and public health

2021 ◽  
pp. 29-36
Author(s):  
Patrick S. Sullivan ◽  
Aaron J. Siegler ◽  
Lisa Hightow-Weidman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Data Services ◽  
Public Data ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Access To Data

New communications technologies constitute a rapidly changing field with tremendous opportunities for public health practice. Platforms include a variety of apps, which share the general characteristics of platforms to share words, text, and video content, but which have important differences in their preferred formats of media, strategies for sharing information within social networks, and user bases. These technologies can facilitate public health efforts through the provision of information, as portals for communication with those in need of services, and as platforms for public health interventions. Social media platforms also give rise to the possibility of using public data to increase understanding of health concerns and programmes—for example, using public data on internet searches or social media postings to identifying trends in infectious diseases. Despite these exciting possibilities, there are important heterogeneities globally in the coverage of smartphone devices, in data speed, and in access to data services. There are also important considerations about possible harms of technologies, and about privacy concerns for users of social media in the context of public health.

scholarly journals Distortions of political bias in crowdsourced misinformation flagging

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (167) ◽  
pp. 20200020
Author(s):  
Michele Coscia ◽  
Luca Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Item ◽  
Real World Data ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Political Bias ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
News Source ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Current Content

Many people view news on social media, yet the production of news items online has come under fire because of the common spreading of misinformation. Social media platforms police their content in various ways. Primarily they rely on crowdsourced ‘flags’: users signal to the platform that a specific news item might be misleading and, if they raise enough of them, the item will be fact-checked. However, real-world data show that the most flagged news sources are also the most popular and—supposedly—reliable ones. In this paper, we show that this phenomenon can be explained by the unreasonable assumptions that current content policing strategies make about how the online social media environment is shaped. The most realistic assumption is that confirmation bias will prevent a user from flagging a news item if they share the same political bias as the news source producing it. We show, via agent-based simulations, that a model reproducing our current understanding of the social media environment will necessarily result in the most neutral and accurate sources receiving most flags.

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