scholarly journals Social Networking Sites and Perceived Content Influence: An Exploratory Analysis from Focus Groups with French Adolescents

Author(s):  
Boris Chapoton ◽  
Véronique Régnier Denois ◽  
Mabrouk Nekaa ◽  
Franck Chauvin ◽  
Valentin Flaudias

Social networking sites (SNSs) are invested in heavily by marketers aiming to reach a growing number of consumers. Concerns regarding the influence of posts displayed on SNSs in relation to behaviour were raised, in particular the promotion of ill-health behaviour directed to adolescents who may be at risk from suggestible practices. Although adolescents tend to be critical towards traditional forms of advertising, little is known about their perception of influencing strategies developed online, especially where sponsor- and user-generated content coexist. This exploratory study aims to gather information directly from adolescents about their use of SNSs their awareness of the influence that SNS content may have, particularly when it comes to tobacco and alcohol messages. Ten focus groups were conducted with 39 adolescents (11–16 years old; 56.4% male). Qualitative analysis documents the differences associated with adolescents’ favourite SNSs. The different parameters linked to each SNS and the expectation to find entertaining content and values associated with friendship may decrease adolescents’ perception of potential risk for health associated with SNS use. Authors advocate for the development of educational programs based on eHealth literacy and the use of social marketing techniques to facilitate and motivate adolescents to develop their competences.

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 738-756
Author(s):  
Lorleen Farrugia ◽  
Mary Anne Lauri ◽  
Joseph Borg ◽  
Brian O’Neill

This article focuses on adolescents’ use of anonymous social networking sites (SNSs). Their perceptions and attitudes toward one such platform, Ask.fm, are discussed using the framework of uses and gratifications theory to explore motivations for using it. Four focus groups and four interviews were carried out with 22 Maltese adolescents (10 female and 12 male) aged 11 to 16 years. Thematic analysis of data collected was undertaken to identify and develop themes relevant to Ask.fm use. Findings indicate that the platform is a space where adolescents interact with others as part of their identity exploration. The role of anonymity was salient throughout. Ask.fm users were aware of the risks related to using the site; yet, the possibilities for fun, peer acceptance, and identity exploration may be driving them to experiment with this risky behavior. The implications arising from these exploratory findings may be applicable to other anonymous SNSs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 558-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayan Chirayath Kurian ◽  
Blooma Mohan John

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore themes eventuating from the user-generated content posted by users on the Facebook page of an emergency management agency. Design/methodology/approach An information classification framework was used to classify user-generated content posted by users including all of the content posted during a six month period (January to June 2015). The posts were read and analysed thematically to determine the overarching themes evident across the entire collection of user posts. Findings The results of the analysis demonstrate that the key themes that eventuate from the user-generated content posted are “Self-preparedness”, “Emergency signalling solutions”, “Unsurpassable companion”, “Aftermath of an emergency”, and “Gratitude towards emergency management staff”. Major user-generated content identified among these themes are status-update, criticism, recommendation, and request. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to theory on the development of key themes from user-generated content posted by users on a public social networking site. An analysis of user-generated content identified in this study implies that, Facebook is primarily used for information dissemination, coordination and collaboration, and information seeking in the context of emergency management. Users may gain the benefits of identity construction and social provisions, whereas social conflict is a potential detrimental implication. Other user costs include lack of social support by stakeholders, investment in social infrastructure and additional work force required to alleviate the technological, organisational, and social barriers in communication among stakeholders in emergency management. A collective activity system built upon the Activity Theory was used as a lens to describe users’ activity of posting content on the Facebook page of an emergency management agency. Practical implications By analysing the findings, administrators and policy makers of emergency management could identify the extent to which the core principles of disaster recovery are accomplished using public social networking sites. These are achieved in relation to: pre-disaster recovery planning; partnership and inclusiveness; public information messaging; unity of effort; and, psychological recovery to maximise the success of recovery in a disaster. Furthermore, a core principle which evoked a mixed response was timeliness and flexibility. Originality/value Previous studies have examined the role of social networking sites in disastrous situations, but to date there has been very little research into determining themes found in user-generated content posted on the Facebook page of an emergency management agency. Hence, this study addresses the gap in literature by conducting a thematic analysis of user-generated content posted on the Facebook page of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.


2010 ◽  
pp. 1234-1245
Author(s):  
Manuel W. Mah

Social marketing is a way to influence the behaviors of stakeholders in the healthcare system. This chapter will define the traditional transaction marketing concepts of exchange, segmentation, competition, the marketing mix, and audience orientation. Then it will describe the current paradigm shift to relationship marketing with its logic of collaboration and the cocreation of value. Relationship marketing is enhanced by the arrival of Internet-based “social media” such as blogs, file sharing sites, and social networking sites that place creativity and communication channels under “audience” control. These developments in marketing strategy and social software will profoundly affect the next generation of social marketing programs.


Author(s):  
Galit Margalit Ben-Israel

This article deals with citizen engagement and public participation being in crisis on the Israeli home front, in the era of Web 2.0. Since 2004, Web 2.0 characterizes changes that allow users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content in social networking sites: Facebook, Twitter, blogs, wikis, YouTube, hosted services, applications, WhatsApp, etc. Since 2006, Israel is involved in asymmetric conflicts. The research defines the impact of Web 2.0 on public engagement in the Israeli home front. The case studies examined in the research are: 1) The 2006 Lebanon War (July-August 2006); 2) The Gaza War (27 December 2008 and ended on 18 January 2009); 3) Operation Pillar of Defense (November 2012); and 4) The 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.


Author(s):  
Lisa Quirke

This poster summarizes the findings of a qualitative, exploratory study on Afghan youth’s information seeking, sharing and use regarding religion. Data collection included interviews and participant observation. Findings included the key role of technology, the iKoran and social networking sites in particular, in facilitating information seeking and sharing on Islam.Cette affiche résume les résultats d’une étude qualitative exploratoire auprès des jeunes femmes afghanes sur leurs pratiques de recherche, de partage et d’utilisation de l’information concernant la religion. Les données recueillies proviennent d’entrevues et d’observation des participantes. Les résultats démontrent le rôle clé de la technologie, iKoran et les sites de réseautage social en particulier, et facilite la recherche et le partage d’information sur l’Islam.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting Liu ◽  
Jianhong Xia ◽  
Lesley Crowe-Delaney

Social networking sites (SNSs) are known to have a role in promoting tourism and influencing how it is marketed to consumers, but there seems to be few deep analyses of SNS’s efficacy in tourists’ decision making and destination promotion. To address this, we present Tourism Information Diffusion Ecosystem (TIDE), a novel theoretical framework to help understand this system of tourism SNS information diffusion. TIDE defines who participates in the system, what roles participants play in distributing tourist information contained within user-generated content, how content within a network is distributed, and if this user-generated information, once diffused, has been transferred into tourists’ visiting actions, and the reasons why these actions have been generated. We discovered user typologies and the powerful characteristics of this network structure to be important factors affecting visiting actions in choosing particular tourist destinations.


First Monday ◽  
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry Neale ◽  
Rebekah Russell-Bennett

Why do users of social networking sites recommend some applications to their friends while rejecting others? What value do they obtain from applications? This exploratory study investigates the value users derive from ‘cool’ Facebook applications, and explores the features that either encourage or discourage users to recommend applications to their friends. Our qualitative data reveal consumers derive a combination of functional value along with either social or emotional value from the applications. Female Facebook users indicate self-expression as important motivators, while males tend to use Facebook applications to socially compete. Three broad categories emerged for application features; symmetrical features can both encourage or discourage recommendation, polar features where different levels of the same feature encourage or discourage, and uni-directional features only encourage or discourage but not both. Recommending or not recommending an application tends to be the result of a combination of features and context, rather than one feature in isolation.


Author(s):  
Damon Chi Him Poon ◽  
Louis Leung

This research identifies the gratifications sought by the Net-generation when producing user-generated content (UGC) on the internet. Members of the Net-generation want to vent negative feelings, show affection to their friends and relatives, be involved in others’ lives, and fulfill their need to be recognized. These gratifications, to a large degree, were found to be significantly associated with the users’ various levels of participation in UGC (e.g., Facebook, blogs, online forums, etc.). What’s more, narcissism was predictive of content generation in social networking sites, blogs, and personal webpages, while leisure boredom was significantly linked to expressing views in forums, updating personal websites, and participating in consumer reviews. In particular, the results showed that Net-geners who encountered leisure boredom had a higher tendency to seek interaction with friends online. Implications of findings are discussed.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document