scholarly journals Birds of a Feather Flock Together Online: Digital Inequality in Social Media Repertoires

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 205630512110528
Author(s):  
Emőke-Ágnes Horvát ◽  
Eszter Hargittai
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Network Sites ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Digital Inequality ◽  
Data Analyses ◽  
Self Selection ◽  
Internet Skills ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Repertoires

Communication has long been concerned with people’s media repertoires, yet little of this approach has extended to the combination of social media platforms that people use. Despite their considerable popularity, research has found that people do not select into the use of social network sites (SNSs) randomly, which has implications for both whose voices are represented on them and where messaging can reach diverse people. While prior work has considered self-selection into one SNS, in this article we ask: how are different SNSs linked by user base? Using national survey data about 1,512 US adults’ social media uses, we build networks between SNSs that connect SNS pairs by user base. We examine patterns by subgroups of users along the lines of age, gender, education, and Internet skills finding considerable variation in SNS associations by these variables. This has implications for big data analyses that depend on data from particular social media platforms. It also offers helpful lessons for how to reach different population segments when trying to communicate to diverse audiences.

Social media news deserts: Digital inequalities and incidental news exposure on social media platforms

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110595
Author(s):  
Matthew Barnidge ◽  
Michael A Xenos
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Digital Inequality ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Online Networks ◽  
Midterm Elections ◽  
Incidental Exposure ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Civic Skills ◽  
New Form

Some people live in social media “news deserts,” while others are embedded in online networks that are rich in news content. These news deserts represent a new form of digital inequality—distinct from problems of access, resources, or civic skills—that could foreclose one of the ways social media are believed to contribute to informing citizens and engaging them in democratic processes: providing opportunities for incidental news exposure. This study investigates incidental exposure on social media platforms, drawing on an online survey administered just before the 2018 US Midterm Elections ( N = 1493). The study finds that even after controlling for key individual-level factors, characteristics of social media discussion networks play a role in explaining variation in incidental exposure. The results are discussed in light of prevailing theory about incidental exposure, public engagement, and digital inequalities.

Internet Skills and Why They Matter

2019 ◽  
pp. 109-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eszter Hargittai ◽  
Marina Micheli
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Young People ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Socioeconomic Inequalities ◽  
High Income ◽  
Digital Tools ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Digital Inequality ◽  
Internet Skills

Given that the Internet is now ubiquitous in high-income nations, do Internet skills still matter? The authors of this chapter synthesize a body of research that shows how Internet skills, defined across ten dimensions, remain critical, especially as the technology becomes ever more significant and embedded into everyday life. Having the requisite skills to use the Internet and related social media is essential to avoid being excluded from key facets of society. This chapter demonstrates the need to build the study of skills into digital inequality scholarship that seeks to address concerns over online experiences tending to follow and reinforce socioeconomic inequalities. Complementing research by Quan-Haase, Zhang, Wellman, and Wang (Chapter 5, this volume), this chapter challenges stereotypes of young people being tech-savvy, showing that youth are not universally knowledgeable about digital tools and media.

scholarly journals Social Media Phenomena in Corporate Disclosure Practise (A case study of Nestlé)

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Chleitosia Violen Dentya Paradisa Naibaho ◽  
Chleitosia Visien Dentya Paradisa Naibaho ◽  
Arthik Davianti
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Corporate Disclosure ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Twitter Account ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Parent Companies ◽  
Corporate Information

<p class="Imar-Abstract"><em>The use of social media among companies to disclose and disseminate corporate information is rocketing. This study examined to what extent companies use social media platforms, especially Twitter. It identified the disclosure of Multinational Companies (MNCs) in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia. The study analyzed Nestlé as it operates in more than half of the countries in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. The data was based on Nestlé Twitter accounts, both parent and the subsidiary, which is collected from the beginning of the year to December 31st, 2019. This study utilized a descriptive qualitative method using content analysis in the form of a case study to analyze the information shared and disclosed by this consumer goods company. The results showed that Nestlé uses Twitter for disclosing information that covers environmental, branding, health, gender, education, and others. It is found that Nestlé parent company disclosed more data than its subsidiary in Indonesia, and content shared by Nestlé Indonesia is quite different because of cultural differences. Indonesia’s subsidiary followed the pattern of information disseminated by their parent companies on its Twitter account. Overall, the results indicated that Twitter is rarely used in Southeast Asia for many disclosure purposes, either financial or non-financial information.</em></p>

scholarly journals THE CONCEPT OF ‘SHARING’ IN CHINESE SOCIAL MEDIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luolin Zhao ◽  
Nicholas John
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Sites ◽  
The State ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Chinese Social Media

In this paper we analyze the concepts of fenxiang and gongxiang—the Mandarin words for ‘sharing’—in the context of Chinese social media. Drawing on earlier work on ‘sharing’, and based on analyses of four corpuses and changes over time to the homepages of 32 Chinese social network sites (accessed through the Wayback Machine), we find that the concepts of fenxiang and gongxiang offer a heuristic for understanding Chinese social media, while also pointing to an important facet of the discursive construction of Chinese social media. Although seeming to refer to the same activities as ‘sharing’, analysis of the language of fenxiang and gongxiang in Chinese social media reveals the entanglement of a new individualistic self with a self that remains socially embedded in pre-existing relationships; it shows how micro-level harmony (fenxiang) and macro-level harmony (gongxiang) cohere with each other; while also reflecting the interplay among social media platforms, users, and the state.

scholarly journals Potential Biases in Big Data: Omitted Voices on Social Media

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eszter Hargittai
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
User Characteristics ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Internet Skills ◽  
Social Media Platforms

While big data offer exciting opportunities to address questions about social behavior, studies must not abandon traditionally important considerations of social science research such as data representativeness and sampling biases. Many big data studies rely on traces of people’s behavior on social media platforms such as opinions expressed through Twitter posts. How representative are such data? Whose voices are most likely to show up on such sites? Analyzing survey data about a national sample of American adults’ social network site usage, this article examines what user characteristics are associated with the adoption of such sites. Findings suggest that several sociodemographic factors relate to who adopts such sites. Those of higher socioeconomic status are more likely to be on several platforms suggesting that big data derived from social media tend to oversample the views of more privileged people. Additionally, Internet skills are related to using such sites, again showing that opinions visible on these sites do not represent all types of people equally. The article cautions against relying on content from such sites as the sole basis of data to avoid disproportionately ignoring the perspectives of the less privileged. Whether business interests or policy considerations, it is important that decisions that concern the whole population are not based on the results of analyses that favor the opinions of those who are already better off.

scholarly journals INFLUENCERS AND MEDIA: INFLUENCER-GENERATED CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AS A JOURNALISTIC SOURCE

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-73
Author(s):  
Aleksa Anđelić
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Social Network Sites ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Daily Newspapers ◽  
Soft News ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Media ◽  
Source Of Information

The growing popularity of social media platforms, especially YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, has enabled online influencers to appear in addition to previously known celebrities, representing a new global phenomenon and new role models for young people. Biran and his associates in the paper “Detecting influencers in written online conversations” state that influencers are the participants in online communication who have credibility in the group, who persevere in order to convince others and who introduce ideas that others accept or support (Biran et al., 2012: 38-39). Research on journalistic sources, especially research on content created by influencers on social media services, is a significant contribution to research in the field of media pluralism. Research on social network platforms as a source of information in Serbian literature is rare, which contributes to the significance of this research. The purposes of the research are to determine whether the content created and published by influencers on social network platforms in Serbia is a source of information for online editions of Serbian daily newspapers, the type of content in question, as well as whether the media gain new audiences that follow influencers. Qualitative-quantitative content analysis and web surveys were used for the research. Based on the qualitative-quantitative analysis of domestic daily newspapers (Danas, Politika, Večernje novosti, Blic, Kurir, Alo, Telegraf, Informer), we can conclude that the media use the profile content that influencers publish on social network sites as a source for texts which are soft news. According to the web survey in which 175 respondents participated, we can conclude that texts about influencers in the media are followed by 38 respondents and that the media are gaining new audiences who follow influencers on social network sites.

Social Media Consumption Among Kenyans

2021 ◽  
pp. 88-120
Author(s):  
Patrick Kanyi Wamuyu
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Baseline Survey ◽  
Media Consumption ◽  
Entertainment Education ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Use Of Social Media

Despite the growing popularity of social media among Kenyans, there is limited baseline data on the consumption of these platforms by different Kenyan communities based on demographics such as age, gender, education, income, and geolocation. The study set out to fill this gap through a baseline survey on social media consumption in Kenya. The study used a mixed-method approach, involving a survey of 3,269 respondents and 37 focus group discussions. The social media platforms in use are WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Snapchat. However, the use of social media differs by demographics. Kenyans use social media for entertainment, education, jobs, politics, sports, and social issues. Most Kenyans access social media using phones for 1-3 hours daily. Motivations for using social media include the acquisition of information, entertainment, and social interactions. Most social media users have experienced fake news, cyberbullying, and bombardment with graphic images of sex and advertisements. Kenyans consider social media to be addictive, expensive, and time-wasting.

Social Network Sites (SNS) and Their Irrepressible Popularity

2020 ◽  
pp. 234-263
Author(s):  
Tuğba Koç ◽  
Adem Akbıyık
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Social Network Sites ◽  
Behavioral Addiction ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Addictive Behaviors ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
E Mail ◽  
Day By Day

Popularity of social media is increasing day by day and there are thousands of social media platforms on the internet with different features. This chapter discusses the term social media in general and examines its evolution in detail from the beginning of the first e-mail to today. Authors explore the terms pertaining to the domain of Social Network Sites (SNS) which are considered as one of the most used forms of social media. Authors present a discussion about a popular topic “SNS addiction” and examine its characteristics with a brief literature review. Accordingly, despite the fact that excessive use of social network sites cannot be formally accepted as a behavioral addiction; shy and young, extroverted, and neurotic women with no relationship are more likely to develop addictive behaviors towards social media.

scholarly journals Prevalence of Use of Social Network Sites among Adolescent Secondary School Students, Lilongwe, Malawi

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 55-63
Author(s):  
John Kuyokwa ◽  
Howard Bowa
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Social Network Sites ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
School Students ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Social Media Platforms

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of use of social network sites among adolescent students in secondary schools.  A cross-sectional study design was done and simple random sampling technique was used. Quantitative research methodologies were used in data generation and analysis. Data was collected in April (2019), n=59 students were involved. SPSSv26 and Excel were used in quantitative data analysis. N=59 participants involved; Females (54%) and Males (46%). Aged between 10-19 years; attending year 1 to 4 of secondary school education.  Gadgets used for social networking were smartphones (88%), personal computers (8%) and iPads (4%). The social network sites that were used were Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter and WhatsApp. The study further observed that some students are bullied on social media platforms. The purpose for use of these social network sites was for the following reasons; entertainment (45%), keep in contact with old friends (39%), make new friends (10%) and academic purposes (9%). Adolescents are using social network sites in secondary schools. If the use of social media platforms can be well utilized, it may result in improved education among learners in low income settings like Malawi.

MOBILE SOCIAL MEDIA

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
PHILIP ADEBO
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Social Revolution ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Way

The emergence of mobile connectivity is revolutionizing the way people live, work, interact, and socialize. Mobile social media is the heart of this social revolution. It is becoming a global phenomenon as it enables IP-connectivity for people on the move. Popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace have made mobile apps for their users to have instant access from anywhere at any time. This paper provides a brief introduction into mobile social media, their benefits, and challenges.

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