scholarly journals The #MeeToo Movement as an e-Discourse: Social and Legal Effects

HumaNetten ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 56-74
Author(s):  
Marcel Danesi ◽  
Laura Ervo ◽  
Lukas Kindberg ◽  
Kerstin Nordlöf
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Sexual Misconduct ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Social Consciousness ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
American Media ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Political Form

In this article, the #MeToo movement, as a socio-political form of e-discourse (discourse enacted on social media platforms and other types of online channels), will be examined in terms of the effectiveness of its discursive forms and the kinds of effects these have had on social consciousness generally with regard to sexual misconduct in the workplace, and in terms of the cases it has made famous against individuals via “trial-by-social-media,” and their outcomes in people’s lives. The specific cases discussed in this paper are those concerning well-known Swedish and American media personalities, which are assessed within a broad discourse and legal framework. Overall, we conclude that, while movement has had a profound effect on social consciousness, so far it has not impugned the validity of legal systems in countries such as Sweden and the United States. Keywords:#MeToo, e-discourse, social media trials, legal systems, sexual misconduct, sexual assault, sexual abuse

A survey of Instagram users with asthma to evaluate the acceptability of a planned clinical trial intervention (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry Spitzer ◽  
Brent Heineman ◽  
Marcella Jewell ◽  
Michael Moran ◽  
Peter Lindenauer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
College Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Healthy Behaviors ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Hispanic White

BACKGROUND Asthma is a chronic lung disease that affects nearly 25 million individuals in the United States. There is a need for more research into the potential for health care providers to leverage existing social media platforms to improve healthy behaviors and support individuals living with chronic health conditions. OBJECTIVE In this study, we assess the willingness of Instagram users with poorly controlled asthma to participate in a pilot study that uses Instagram as a means of providing social and informational support. In addition, we explore the potential for adapting photovoice and digital storytelling to social media. METHODS A survey study of Instagram users living with asthma in the United States, between the ages of 18 to 40. RESULTS Over 3 weeks of recruitment, 457 individuals completed the pre-survey screener; 347 were excluded. Of the 110 people who were eligible and agreed to participate in the study, 82 completed the study survey. Respondents mean age was 21(SD = 5.3). Respondents were 56% female (n=46), 65% (n=53) non-Hispanic white, and 72% (n=59) had at least some college education. The majority of respondents (n = 66, 81%) indicated that they would be willing to participate in the study. CONCLUSIONS Among young-adult Instagram users with asthma there is substantial interest in participating in a study that uses Instagram to connect participants with peers and a health coach in order to share information about self-management of asthma and build social connection.

scholarly journals 1414. #Vaccine Twitter Influencers: is it Just About Reach and Followers?

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S714-S715
Author(s):  
Jean-Etienne Poirrier ◽  
Theodore Caputi ◽  
John Ayers ◽  
Mark Dredze ◽  
Sara Poston ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Small Proportion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Research Support ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Media Messages ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background A small number of powerful users (“influencers”) dominates conversations on social media platforms: less than 1% of Twitter accounts have at least 3,000 followers and even fewer have hundreds of thousands or millions of followers. Beyond simple metrics (number of tweets, retweets...) little is known about these “influencers”, particularly in relation to their role in shaping online narratives about vaccines. Our goal was to describe influential Twitter accounts that are driving conversations about vaccines and present new metrics of influence. Methods Using publicly-available data from Twitter, we selected posts from 1-Jan-2016 to 31-Dec-2018 and extracted the top 5% of accounts tweeting about vaccines with the most followers. Using automated classifiers, we determined the location of these accounts, and grouped them into those that primarily tweet pro- versus anti-vaccine content. We further characterized the demographics of these influencer accounts. Results From 25,381 vaccine-related tweets available in our sample representing 10,607 users, 530 accounts represented the top 5% by number of followers. These accounts had on average 1,608,637 followers (standard deviation=5,063,421) and 340,390 median followers. Among the accounts for which sentiment was successfully estimated by the classifier, 10.4% (n=55) posted anti-vaccine content and 33.6% (n=178) posted pro-vaccine content. Of the 55 anti-vaccine accounts, 50% (n=18) of the accounts for which location was successfully determined were from the United States. Of the 178 pro-vaccine accounts, 42.5% (n=54) were from the United States. Conclusion This study showed that only a small proportion of Twitter accounts (A) post about vaccines and (B) have a high follower count and post anti-vaccine content. Further analysis of these users may help researchers and policy makers better understand how to amplify the impact of pro-vaccine social media messages. Disclosures Jean-Etienne Poirrier, PhD, MBA, The GSK group of companies (Employee, Shareholder) Theodore Caputi, PhD, Good Analytics Inc. (Consultant) John Ayers, PhD, GSK (Grant/Research Support) Mark Dredze, PhD, Bloomberg LP (Consultant)Good Analytics (Consultant) Sara Poston, PharmD, The GlaxoSmithKline group of companies (Employee, Shareholder) Cosmina Hogea, PhD, GlaxoSmithKline (Employee, Shareholder)

scholarly journals GOVERNANCE OF THE FACEBOOK PRIVACY CRISIS

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence J. Trautman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
New York Times ◽  
The United States ◽  
Front Page ◽  
Select Committee ◽  
The New York Times ◽  
Social Media Platforms

In November 2018, The New York Times ran a front-page story describing how Facebook concealed knowledge and disclosure of Russian-linked activity and exploitation resulting in Kremlin led disruption of the 2016 and 2018 U.S. elections, through the use of global hate campaigns and propaganda warfare. By mid-December 2018, it became clear that the Russian efforts leading up to the 2016 U.S. elections were much more extensive than previously thought. Two studies conducted for the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), by: (1) Oxford University’s Computational Propaganda Project and Graphika; and (2) New Knowledge, provide considerable new information and analysis about the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) influence operations targeting American citizens.By early 2019 it became apparent that a number of influential and successful high growth social media platforms had been used by nation states for propaganda purposes. Over two years earlier, Russia was called out by the U.S. intelligence community for their meddling with the 2016 American presidential elections. The extent to which prominent social media platforms have been used, either willingly or without their knowledge, by foreign powers continues to be investigated as this Article goes to press. Reporting by The New York Times suggests that it wasn’t until the Facebook board meeting held September 6, 2017 that board audit committee chairman, Erskin Bowles, became aware of Facebook’s internal awareness of the extent to which Russian operatives had utilized the Facebook and Instagram platforms for influence campaigns in the United States. As this Article goes to press, the degree to which the allure of advertising revenues blinded Facebook to their complicit role in offering the highest bidder access to Facebook users is not yet fully known. This Article can not be a complete chapter in the corporate governance challenge of managing, monitoring, and oversight of individual privacy issues and content integrity on prominent social media platforms. The full extent of Facebook’s experience is just now becoming known, with new revelations yet to come. All interested parties: Facebook users; shareholders; the board of directors at Facebook; government regulatory agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); and Congress must now figure out what has transpired and what to do about it. These and other revelations have resulted in a crisis for Facebook. American democracy has been and continues to be under attack. This article contributes to the literature by providing background and an account of what is known to date and posits recommendations for corrective action.

Rumors on the Net: A Brackish Suspension of Speech and Hate

2019 ◽  
pp. 174387211988012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Wagner ◽  
Sarah Marusek
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Public Memory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
Cyber Culture ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mob Mentality

The legitimacy of public memory and socially normative standards of civility is questioned through rumors that abound on online social media platforms. On the Net, the proclivity of rumors is particularly prone to acts of bullying and frameworks of hate speech. Legislative attempts to limit rumors operate differently in France and throughout Europe from the United States. This article examines the impact of online rumors, the mob mentality, and the politicization of bullying critics within a cyber culture that operates within the limitations of law.

scholarly journals March Mammal Madness and the power of narrative in science outreach

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Hinde ◽  
Carlos Eduardo G Amorim ◽  
Alyson F Brokaw ◽  
Nicole Burt ◽  
Mary C Casillas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High School ◽  
Social Media ◽  
High School Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Students ◽  
Science Outreach ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Teaching Life ◽  
Creative Products

March Mammal Madness is a science outreach project that, over the course of several weeks in March, reaches hundreds of thousands of people in the United States every year. We combine four approaches to science outreach – gamification, social media platforms, community event(s), and creative products – to run a simulated tournament in which 64 animals compete to become the tournament champion. While the encounters between the animals are hypothetical, the outcomes rely on empirical evidence from the scientific literature. Players select their favored combatants beforehand, and during the tournament scientists translate the academic literature into gripping “play-by-play” narration on social media. To date ~1100 scholarly works, covering almost 400 taxa, have been transformed into science stories. March Mammal Madness is most typically used by high-school educators teaching life sciences, and we estimate that our materials reached ~1% of high-school students in the United States in 2019. Here we document the intentional design, public engagement, and magnitude of reach of the project. We further explain how human psychological and cognitive adaptations for shared experiences, social learning, narrative, and imagery contribute to the widespread use of March Mammal Madness.

Muslim Television Preachers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuve Floden
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The United States ◽  
Satellite Networks ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Muslim television preachers, also called Muslim televangelists or media preachers, became popular with the rise of television, satellite networks, and the Internet. However, these individuals can trace their roots to earlier preachers who used newspapers, radio, and cassettes, as well as the phenomenon of popular storytellers from the medieval period. Today, Muslim television preachers are found worldwide, both inside and outside the Arab world, in countries such as Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United States, and more. Some of these preachers have traditional religious educations, with degrees from Al-Azhar or elsewhere, but many do not, instead holding degrees in subjects like business, accounting, or engineering. Like their counterparts from other religions, Muslim television preachers have also expanded beyond the realm of television and often spread their message through other means, such as seminars and lectures, book publications, websites, videos on YouTube, and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Prominent examples of Muslim television preachers include Amr Khaled and Yusuf al-Qaradawi, as well as others like Muhammad al-Sha‘rawi and Moez Masoud of Egypt, Muhammad Hassan and Wagdi Ghoneim (Salafi preachers from Egypt), Javed Ahmad Ghamidi and Farhat Hashmi of Pakistan, Zakir Naik of India, Abdullah Gymnastiar (Aa Gym) and Arifin Ilham of Indonesia, Tareq al-Suwaidan of Kuwait, and Ahmad al-Shugairi of Saudi Arabia, to name a few.

Facebook will probably avoid US regulation

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Debate ◽  
Content Type ◽  
European Legislation ◽  
Congressional Committees ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Subject Facebook regulation prospects. Significance Facebook’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg spent ten hours before Congressional committees on April 10 and 11, fielding questions from concerns that Facebook’s byzantine privacy practices allowed information on 87 million people to be collected by political consultancy Cambridge Analytica to enabling Russian interference in elections in the United States. Zuckerberg signalled that the era of social media self-governance was over with an admission that the regulation of Facebook and other platforms was “inevitable”. Less clear is what such regulation will look like. Impacts The scandal is likely to set off an international debate on what governments should do to rein in platform overreach. Facebook’s practices will come under more severe scrutiny in Europe. US social media platforms will be vulnerable to European legislation on data protection, privacy, antitrust, content and taxes. Europe and the United States will diverge further on the regulation of 'Big Tech'.

Title IX and What Could Be

2020 ◽  
pp. 213-230
Author(s):  
J. David Elrod
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Title Ix ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Sexual Misconduct ◽  
The United States

Within the society we live and interact with today, many people in the United States have heard about Title IX even if they may not know what falls under Title IX. We can hardly go from one day to the next without accounts of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct flooding our radios, televisions, and social media. Title IX covers so much more than just sexual harassment. This chapter will dive into the historical perspective of the evolution of Title IX. The authors focus the conversation through a social justice lens to get a clearer understanding that Title IX is not a policy about or for females but about individuals “regardless of sex” and therefore covers all individuals, and their rights should be acknowledged.

The Politics of Pandemics

2021 ◽  
pp. 48-73
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Insight Into

The COVID-19 pandemic has colored the politics of 2020 from international to domestic, and the responses by countries have been politicized and limited by various actors. Regimes, both democratic and not, are using the chaotic pandemic environment to consolidate power under the executive, control the masses through decree, and shifting towards national and power bloc supply chains from the international supply chain that has been for all nations in the era of globalization and immediately after. This chapter will provide insight into how various nation-states are using nationalism to combat the pandemic, including the United States, United Kingdom, Chile, Russia, and Hungary. The chapter highlights the availability of the internet and social media platforms to spread mis- and dis-information that can hinder the work of a legitimate government attempting to respond earnestly and effectively to the pandemic.

scholarly journals #Selfie: Instagram and the United States Congress

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 205630511881337 ◽  
Author(s):  
David O’Connell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Congress ◽  
Congressional Representation ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Personal Accounts

This article is based on a content analysis of the 17,811 Instagram posts made by all 534 members of the United States Congress who were seated for the duration of the first 6 months of the 115th session. I find that women are significantly more likely than men to have an Instagram account. Senators and women post significantly more times to their accounts. And a member’s personal characteristics, such as their chamber, party, and age, had significant effects on the type of content posted to Instagram. I conclude that members of Congress use Instagram similarly to how they use other social media platforms, that parties in and out of power use Instagram in substantively different ways, and that the more personal accounts of younger members suggest future changes in Congressional representation.

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