Influencers as socio-technical actors: mapping the paths of influence and the traces of the digital influencers’ system in Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Locatelli
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Social Shaping Of Technology ◽  
Media System ◽  
The Social ◽  
Relevant Social Groups ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Social Shaping ◽  
Italian Context

In recent years, digital influencers or digital opinion leaders have emerged as a global phenomenon, one providing a rich field of investigation for several disciplines from sociology to marketing. The goal of the paper is to study this phenomenon by adopting an ecological approach, not focusing only on a single dimension but observing the influencer system as an environment with its own rules and subjects, examining the other components of the system and tracing the relationships between them. The original contribution of this paper is to conceptualize influencers as socio-technical actors, i.e. as social subjects that operate within technological platforms, and to adopt an interdisciplinary approach, starting from sociological and marketing studies on the influencer phenomenon and then moving on to STS studies that have focused on the social shaping of technology to shed light on how the influencers are transforming the (social) media system in which they are inserted and then the chain of communication industry. The argument will therefore start by reviewing the theories that address this phenomenon and by sketching a genealogy, tracing its roots in the cultural and social context of the participatory web and web 2.0. It will move, then, to investigate the dynamics of shaping social media platforms, reviewing the studies that have investigated them, from the Social Shaping of Technology approach to platform studies. The paper will apply the analysis to the Italian context, unfolding the dynamics of influence with the support of the case study of ClioMakeUp (the leading beauty creator in Italy), examples, and grey literature from the Italian context. In the final part, the paper will map the traces of the influencer system in Italy and the communication chain, focusing on the processes of mutual shaping between brands, communication agencies, influencer enterprises, regulatory bodies, media, and of course platforms. The STS approach proved to be useful in disentangling the several actors of the system, but as platforms evolved the opportunities for mutual shaping have gradually diminished as the balance of power seems to be tending in favor of the platforms. More research is needed to further understand the concepts of closure, script, and relevant social groups within social media platforms.

scholarly journals Why Does the Archbishop Not Tweet?

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Gelfgren
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Church Of Sweden ◽  
Social Shaping Of Technology ◽  
The Social ◽  
Societal Context ◽  
Social Shaping ◽  
The Church

Abstract In summer 2012, the Archbishop of the Church of Sweden appeared on Twitter. There was only one problem - it was not the Archbishop himself who was tweeting, but an anonymous person. A discussion then ensued on Twitter and in the blogosphere between those in favor of the Archbishop and his department and mainly social media proponents. The present article describes and analyzes the social media debate, and how authority and hierarchies are negotiated in and through social media. The analysis is based on Heidi Campbell’s “Religious-Social Shaping of Technology” model, and emphasizes the need to take into account not only the faith and tradition of the religious actor, but also the societal context in which the negotiating process takes place. In this case, the concepts of “mediatization” and “secularization” are used to understand the broader context of the process.

scholarly journals (Nearly) Ten Years of Social Media and Political Elections in Italy: Questions, Platforms, and Methods

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 205630512110634
Author(s):  
Luca Rossi ◽  
Nicola Righetti ◽  
Giada Marino
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Political Protest ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Italian Context ◽  
Three Components

In this article, we reconstruct the academic discourse surrounding social media and elections in an Italian context. We follow Neumayer and Rossi’s conceptualization of academic discourse concerning political protest and digital technology as constructed out of three components: (a) the social phenomena under investigation, (b) technological development, and (c) methods and techniques. In the context of social media and elections, these three components may be identified as (a) the research questions that researchers seek to answer, (b) the social media platforms and data used for the analysis, and (c) the methods adopted to analyze the data. While these three dimensions are deeply intertwined, we argue that, when analyzed independently, it is possible to better see both the longitudinal evolution of each dimension and their interdependencies.

Representasi Feminisme dalam Video Klip ‘Nightmare’ oleh Halsey

Koneksi ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 338
Author(s):  
Faiz Zulia Maharany ◽  
Ahmad Junaidi
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Mass Communication ◽  
Video Clip ◽  
Charles Sanders Peirce ◽  
Patriarchal Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Barrier Wall

'Nightmare' is the title of a video clip belonging to a singer and singer called Halsey, in which the video clip is explained about the figure of women who struggle against patriarchal culture which has been a barrier wall for women to get their rights, welfare and the equality needed they get. This research uses descriptive qualitative research methods. Data collection techniques are done through documentation, observation and study of literature. Then, analyzed using Charles Sanders Peirce's semiotics technique. The results of this study show the fact that signs, symbols or messages representing feminism in the video, 'Nightmare' clips are presented through scenes that present women's actions in opposing domination over men and sarcastic sentences contained in the lyrics of the song to discuss with patriarchy. Youtube as one of the social media platforms where the 'Nightmare' video clip is uploaded is very effective for mass communication and for conveying the message contained in the video clip to the viewing public.‘Nightmare’ adalah judul video klip milik musisi sekaligus penyanyi yang bernama Halsey, dimana pada Video klipnya tersebut menceritakan tentang figur perempuan-perempuan yang berusaha melawan budaya patriarki yang selama ini telah menjadi dinding penghalang bagi perempuan untuk mendapatkan hak-haknya, keadilan dan kesetaraan yang seharusnya mereka dapatkan. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian kualitatif deskriptif. Teknik pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui dokumentasi, observasi dan studi kepustakaan. Kemudian, dianalisis menggunakan teknik semiotika milik Charles Sanders Peirce. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukan bahwa terdapat tanda-tanda, simbol atau pesan yang merepresentasikan feminisme di dalam video klip ‘Nightmare’ yang dihadirkan melalui adegan-adegan yang menyajikan aksi perempuan dalam menolak dominasi atas laki-laki dan kalimat-kalimat sarkas yang terkandung dalam lirik lagunya untuk ditujukan kepada patriarki. Youtube sebagai salah satu platform media sosial dimana video klip ‘Nightmare’ diunggah sangat efektif untuk melakukan komunikasi massa dan untuk menyampaikan pesan yang terkandung di dalam video klip tersebut kepada masyarakat yang menonton.

“Tradition,” Vernacularism, and Learning to Be a Folk Musician With Social Media

2020 ◽  
pp. 442-466
Author(s):  
Simon Keegan-Phipps ◽  
Lucy Wright
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Shaping

This chapter considers the role of social media (broadly conceived) in the learning experiences of folk musicians in the Anglophone West. The chapter draws on the findings of the Digital Folk project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK), and begins by summarizing and problematizing the nature of learning as a concept in the folk music context. It briefly explicates the instructive, appropriative, and locative impacts of digital media for folk music learning before exploring in detail two case studies of folk-oriented social media: (1) the phenomenon of abc notation as a transmissive media and (2) the Mudcat Café website as an example of the folk-oriented discussion forum. These case studies are shown to exemplify and illuminate the constructs of traditional transmission and vernacularism as significant influences on the social shaping and deployment of folk-related media technologies. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the need to understand the musical learning process as a culturally performative act and to recognize online learning mechanisms as sites for the (re)negotiation of musical, cultural, local, and personal identities.

scholarly journals Russian-Speaking Digital Buddhism: Neither Cyber, nor Sangha

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 449
Author(s):  
Timur Badmatsyrenov ◽  
Elena Ostrovskaya ◽  
Fyodor Khandarov ◽  
Innokentii Aktamov
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Graph Model ◽  
Social Shaping Of Technology ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Modeling Techniques ◽  
Social Shaping ◽  
Key Issues

The paper presents the results of a study that implemented a mixed methods approach to explore the question of correlation between online and offline activities of Buddhist organizations and communities in Russia. The research was carried out in 2019–2020 and addressed the following key issues: How do Buddhist websites and social media communities actually interact with offline organizations and Russian-speaking Buddhist communities? How do the ideological specifics of Buddhist organizations and communities influence their negotiations with the Internet and strategies towards new media technologies? Within the methodological frame of the religious–social shaping of technology approach by Heidi Campbell, we used the typology of religious digital creatives to reveal the strategies created by the Russian-speaking Buddhist communities developing their own identity, authority, and boundaries by means of digital technologies. In the first stage, we used quantitative software non-reactive methods to collect data from social media with the application of mathematical modeling techniques to build a graph model of Buddhist online communities in the vk.com social network and identify and describe its clusters. The second stage of the research combined biographical narratives of Buddhist digital creatives and expert interviews.

A market-based rationale for the privacy paradox

2021 ◽  
pp. 016344372110158
Author(s):  
Opeyemi Akanbi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Market Structures ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Privacy Paradox ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Privacy Risks ◽  
Social Collective

Moving beyond the current focus on the individual as the unit of analysis in the privacy paradox, this article examines the misalignment between privacy attitudes and online behaviors at the level of society as a collective. I draw on Facebook’s market performance to show how despite concerns about privacy, market structures drive user, advertiser and investor behaviors to continue to reward corporate owners of social media platforms. In this market-oriented analysis, I introduce the metaphor of elasticity to capture the responsiveness of demand for social media to the data (price) charged by social media companies. Overall, this article positions social media as inelastic, relative to privacy costs; highlights the role of the social collective in the privacy crises; and ultimately underscores the need for structural interventions in addressing privacy risks.

Playing platformized language games: Social media logic and the mutation of participatory cultures in Chinese online fandom

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110594
Author(s):  
Yiyi Yin ◽  
Zhuoxiao Xie
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Form Of Life ◽  
Fan Communities ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Media Logic

This study discusses the shifting dynamics of fan participatory cultures on social media platforms by introducing the concept of “platformized language games.” We conceive of a fan community as a “speech community” and propose that the language and discourses of fan participatory cultures are technological practices that only make sense in use and interactions as “games” on social media platform. Based on an ethnography of communication on fan communities on Weibo, we analyze the technological-communicative acts of fan speech communities, including the platformized setting, participants, topics, norms, and key purposes. We argue that the social media logic (programmability, connectivity, popularity, and datafication) articulates with fans’ language games, thus shifting the “form of life” of celebrity fans on social media. Empirically, fan participatory cultures continue to mutate in China, as fan communities create idiosyncratic platformized language games based on the selective appropriation of the social media logics of connectivity and data-driven metrics.

Factor Analysis of Students’ Exposure to Social Media for Food and Beverage

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-118
Author(s):  
Noora Shrestha
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Rotation Method ◽  
The Social ◽  
Food And Beverage ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Strongly Agree ◽  
Self Administered Questionnaire

Food and beverage marketing on social media is a powerful factor to influence students’ exposure to social media and application for food and beverage. It is a well-known fact that most of the food and beverage business target young people on the social media. The objective of the study is to identify the factors associated to the students’ exposure in the social media platforms for food and beverage. The young students between the ages 20 to 26 years completed a self-administered questionnaire survey on their media use for food and beverages. The questionnaire was prepared using Likert scale with five options from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The data set was described with descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation. The exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation method was used to extract the factors. The most popular social media among the respondents were Facebook, Instagram, and You Tube. 73.3% of the students were exposed to food and beverage application in their mobile device and 76% of them followed the popular food and beverage pages in social media. The result revealed that social media posts, promotional offer, and hygienic concept have positively influenced majority of the students’ exposure to social media for food and beverage. Keywords: Factor analysis, Social Media, Food and Beverage, Student, Promotional Offer.

Telegentics and COVID 19 : Through the Pandemic and Beyond (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soumiya Ravi ◽  
Radhika Dhamija ◽  
Aaina Kocchar
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Professional Societies ◽  
Viable Solution ◽  
Adequate Care ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Federal Laws ◽  
Lasting Change

BACKGROUND The COVID 19 pandemic led to restrictions on the conventional ways of healthcare delivery. Telemedicine provided a viable solution that was in line with the social distancing policies imposed to minimize disease transmission. This demanded physicians adapt to new ways of healthcare delivery. OBJECTIVE We surveyed geneticists across the country to determine their experience and to ascertain if telegenetics will be a lasting change. METHODS A 23 item standardized survey was distributed to various US-based geneticists via email and other social media platforms focusing on their experience of providing care via telemedicine. RESULTS We received 69 responses from physicians across 26 states. Of these, 91% practiced in academia. 70% responded that pediatric genetics takes up more than 50% of their practice. 68% had over 50% of their practice switch to telemedicine. 77% felt they could provide adequate care via telemedicine and 94% of providers would like to continue telemedicine post-pandemic. CONCLUSIONS The future of telemedicine looks promising as the majority of clinicians would like to routinely use telemedicine post-pandemic. Uniform guidelines for use of telemedicine in genetics may need to be proposed by professional societies and supported by federal laws.

scholarly journals Social Media in an Emergency: Use of Social Media in Rescuing Abducted School Girls in Nigeria

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 67-75
Author(s):  
Muhammad Abdullahi Maigari ◽  
Uthman Abdullahi Abdul-Qadir
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Social ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
School Girls ◽  
The Government ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Domestic Assistance

This paper examines the abduction of the schoolgirls in Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria in 2014. The paper examined how the abduction of the schoolgirls generated responses and support for the rescue of the abducted girls from people and organization from different parts of the globe. The Islamists terrorist organization operating in Borno State has attracted the attention of the world since 2009 when they started attacking government establishments and security installations northeast which later escalated to major cities in Northern Nigeria. Methodologically, the paper utilized secondary sources of data to analyze the phenomenon studied. The paper revealed that the development and innovations in information and communication technology which dismantled traditional and colonial boundaries enabled people to express support, solidarity and assist victims of conflict who resides millions of Kilometers away. This shows that Internet-based communications technology has reduced the distance of time and space that characterised traditional mass media. The campaign for the release of the schoolgirls on the social media platforms particularly Twitter and Facebook has tremendously contributed to the release of some of them. Furthermore, the girls freed from abduction have received proper attention: education and reintegration programmes which enable them to start post-abduction life. In this regard, social media has become a tool for supporting the government in moments of security challenges which the Bring Back Our Girls campaign attracted foreign and domestic assistance to Nigeria in the search of the abducted girls and the fight against the Islamist insurgents.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document