scholarly journals Manipulating Meaning: Language and Ideology in the Commodification of Online Sociality

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 249-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anu A. Harju ◽  
Ella Lillqvist
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Marxist Ideology ◽  
Context Manipulation ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Language And Ideology ◽  
Media Corporations ◽  
Cognitive Illusion ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Operational Logic

Abstract Marxist Internet scholars have recently shed light on the commodification and exploitation of social media users. While some of these studies have also acknowledged the ideological nature of how online sociality is understood and discussed, they have not yet addressed in great detail the ways in which ideology figures in the process of commodification of social media users. We address this question by combining Marxist ideology theory with insights from cognitive pragmatics. Focusing on the idea of illusion, we draw on Relevance Theory and employ the notions of “relevance” and “cognitive illusion” to discuss the ideological process we call context manipulation, a concept that helps bring to focus the discursive obscuring of the capitalist operational logic of social media corporations. We illustrate our cognitivepragmatic model of ideology with examples of Facebook’s discursive practices. The paper contributes to the discussion on ideology in cultural studies and the discussion on commodification of online sociality in critical Internet and media studies by offering a revised interpretation of Marx’s ideology theory that highlights the discursive and cognitive nature of ideological processes, and by elaborating on the workings of ideology in the specific context of corporate social media.

scholarly journals “Rewarding Good Creators”: Corporate Social Media Discourse on Monetization Schemes for Content Creators

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 205630512096987
Author(s):  
Susanne Kopf
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Digital Labor ◽  
Executive Authority ◽  
The Social ◽  
Textual Data ◽  
Analytical Research ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Media Corporations ◽  
Shed Light

This discourse analytical article deals with the power relations between social media corporations and content creators in the context of monetization schemes of social media businesses, i.e., schemes that allow creators to monetize their social media content. Specifically, this study presents an analysis of discourse material pertaining to YouTube’s monetization scheme (the YouTube Partner Program [YPP]) to shed light on the broader point of how social media corporations position themselves in relation to creators who (seek to) earn money on social media. While some research on social media has focused on their potential to empower users/content creators, less optimistic scholars have addressed social media corporations generating massive profits by exploiting creators, for example, in the form of free digital labor. By comparison, there is a lack of research, especially empirical discourse analytical research, on creators’ paid digital labor and on how social media corporations conceptualize paid creators. This study redresses this gap regarding one of the oldest monetization schemes—the YPP. Using corpus linguistic tools to explore textual data from 46 YouTube sites detailing the YPP, this study homes in on references to content creators, YouTube, and how these players are connected to one another. The findings show that although the name YPP elicits the impression of cooperation on equal terms, YouTube represents itself as legislator, judge, and executive authority. This indicates that despite the ability of partnered content creators to share in the social media businesses’ profits, they do not inhabit a particularly empowered position.

Attentional capture helps explain why moral and emotional content go viral

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Brady ◽  
Ana P. Gantman ◽  
Jay Joseph Van Bavel
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Emotional Content ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Psychological Process ◽  
Emotional Stimuli ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Lab Experiments ◽  
Perceptual Systems ◽  
Shed Light

Our social media newsfeeds are filled with a variety of content all battling for our limited attention. Across three studies, we investigated whether moral and emotional content captures our attention more than other content and if this may help explain why this content is more likely to go viral online. Using a combination of controlled lab experiments and nearly 50,000 political tweets, we found that moral and emotional content are prioritized in early visual attention more than neutral content, and that such attentional capture is associated with increased retweets during political conversations online. Furthermore, we found that the differences in attentional capture among moral and emotional stimuli could not be fully explained by differences in arousal. These studies suggest that attentional capture is one basic psychological process that helps explain the increased diffusion of moral and emotional content during political discourse on social media, and shed light on ways in which political leaders, disinformation profiteers, marketers, and activist organizations can spread moralized content by capitalizing on natural tendencies of our perceptual systems.

scholarly journals Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: Responding to Investors’ Criticism on Social Media

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 7396
Author(s):  
Yuming Zhang ◽  
Fan Yang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Media Criticism ◽  
Csr Communication ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Csr Disclosure ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Impact

Companies use corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures to communicate their social and environmental policies, practices, and performance to stakeholders. Although the determinants and outcomes of CSR activities are well understood, we know little about how companies use CSR communication to manage a crisis. The few relevant CSR studies have focused on the pressure on corporations exerted by governments, customers, the media, or the public. Although investors have a significant influence on firm value, this stakeholder group has been neglected in research on CSR disclosure. Grounded in legitimacy theory and agency theory, this study uses a sample of Chinese public companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange to investigate CSR disclosure in response to social media criticism posted by investors. The empirical findings show that investors’ social media criticism not only motivates companies to disclose their CSR activities but also increases the substantiveness of their CSR reports, demonstrating that companies’ CSR communication in response to a crisis is substantive rather than merely symbolic. We also find that the impact of social media criticism on CSR disclosure is heterogeneous. Non-state-owned enterprises, companies in regions with high levels of environmental regulations, and companies in regions with local government concern about social issues are most likely to disclose CSR information and report substantive CSR activities. We provide an in-depth analysis of corporate CSR strategies for crisis management and show that crises initiated by investors on social media provide opportunities for corporations to improve their CSR engagement.

scholarly journals The Relationship of Sustainability Communication on Social Media with Banking Consumers’ Loyalty through e-WOM

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3832
Author(s):  
Gao Wei ◽  
Wang Lin ◽  
Wu Yanxiong ◽  
Yan Jingdong ◽  
Sadik Yusuf Musse
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Consumer Loyalty ◽  
Csr Communication ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Impact

Prior literature has largely addressed corporate social responsibility (CSR) from outcomes related to organizational themes. However, its importance for achieving consumer-related outcomes is something that has been largely ignored by contemporary researchers. Likewise, how CSR communication through social media can create positive emotions on the part of consumers has to date been under-explored. Hence, the present study aims to fill these gaps by investigating the impact of CSR communication of an organization through social media on consumer loyalty. The study also proposes electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) as a potential mediator between this relationship. The proposed model of the present study was tested in the banking sector of a developing country. The data were collected from a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed through the structural equation modeling technique (SEM). The results of the present study validated that CSR communication of a bank through social media directly and indirectly, through e-WOM, influences consumer loyalty in a positive manner. The results of the present study will be helpful for policymakers to better understand how well-planned CSR communication of an organization on social media can lead towards better consumer-related outcomes such as consumer loyalty and e-WOM.

Social Media Policies: Implications for Contemporary Notions of Corporate Social Responsibility

2015 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Stohl ◽  
Michael Etter ◽  
Scott Banghart ◽  
DaJung Woo
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Corporate Social

scholarly journals The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Restoring Green Concepts: Qataris Response to Social Media Campaigns

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rana Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Media Technology ◽  
Media Campaigns ◽  
Awareness Campaigns ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
And Behavior

This research focuses on consumer behavior in Qatar and the individual social responsibility in support of environment. The research also describes the role of social media and CSR in promoting awareness campaigns and how effective they are in changing conceptions and behavior. This is measured by focusing on standards, emotions and actions of individuals and how they are affected by CSR campaigns launched by corporations and public sectors.The study measures the uses and impact of new media technology such as mobile applications and social media in achieving the environment pillar of Qatar vision 2030 in addition to designing effective CSR campaign. The Trans theoretical Model of behavior change, by Prochaska and DiClemente (1983) will be examined through a quantitative analysis on social media users.

scholarly journals Motives Behind The Integration Of CSR Into Business Strategy: A Comparative Study In French SMEs

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 1975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linh-Chi Vo ◽  
Karen Delchet-Cochet ◽  
Hakim Akeb
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
Operational Performance ◽  
Integrative Study ◽  
Medium Enterprises ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Shed Light

<p>Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has become an important and substantial area of study for quite a few years. In this literature, while so much research has shed light on what makes SMEs integrate CSR into their business strategy, the existing results regarding their economic, social, and environmental motives are contradictory. In this article, we aim at making a contribution by conducting an integrative study. More specifically, we compare the roles of economic, social, and environmental motives in driving SMEs to make CSR become an integral part of their strategic planning and routine operational performance. Our sample includes 155 French SMEs.</p>

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