Contextualizing Social Media Ecology and Its Pedagogical Affordances: The Perspective of High School Teachers

The potential of social media technology has made its use a daily habit among individuals, institutions, and communities. However, several studies on technology adoption, especially social media use in education, focus more on its impact on the student than the teacher, who is generally perceived as a key stakeholder. This study used purposive sampling to select teachers who taught grades 7–10 and had used social media in their teaching activities. In-depth interviews were carried out with participating teachers to get their opinions and perspectives about how they used social media in their teaching activities (N=11). Inductive and deductive coding were used for the latent content analysis and four categories emerged: (1) SM technology in the classroom, (2) positive perceived contextual affordances, (3) negative perceived contextual affordances, and (4) support for social media. Results of the study show that, besides the schools’ learning management systems, YouTube was the major SM app that was regularly used by participants in their lessons. Also, all participating teachers expressed their interest in teaching with social media. However, they cited some challenges as weaknesses towards social media use in teaching.

Download Full-text

Between hope and fear: developing social media guidelines

Employee Relations ◽

10.1108/er-04-2016-0086 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 39 (2) ◽

pp. 130-144 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Michaël Opgenhaffen ◽

An-Sofie Claeys

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Media Use ◽

Future Research ◽

Social Media Use ◽

Content Type ◽

Work Related ◽

Potential Risks ◽

Use Of Social Media ◽

Depth Interviews ◽

Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine employers’ policy with regard to employees’ social media use. Specifically, the authors examine the extent to which employers allow the use of social media in the workplace, what opportunities can be related to employees’ social media use and how social media guidelines are implemented within organizations. Design/methodology/approach In-depth interviews were conducted with HR and communication managers of 16 European companies from different sectors and of varying size. Findings Some organizations believe that social media should be accessible to employees while others ban them from the workplace. Most respondents believe that organizations can benefit from employees sharing work-related content with their own network. However, they encourage the sharing and retweeting of official corporate messages rather than employees developing their own messages. This fear regarding employees’ messages on social media is reflected in the broad adoption of social media guidelines. Research limitations/implications Future research should chart the nature of existing social media guidelines (restrictive vs incentive). Accordingly, the perceived sense and nonsense of social media guidelines in companies should be investigated, not only among the managers but also among employees. Practical implications Organizations should remain in dialogue with employees with regard to social media. Managers seem overly concerned with potential risks and forget the opportunities that can arise when employees operate as ambassadors. Originality/value The use of in-depth interviews allowed the authors to assess the rationale behind social media guidelines within organizations in depth and formulate suggestions to organizations and communication managers.

Download Full-text

Guiding the conversation

Corporate Communications An International Journal ◽

10.1108/ccij-06-2017-0057 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 23 (3) ◽

pp. 423-437 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Justin Walden

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Public Relations ◽

Media Use ◽

Social Media Use ◽

Content Type ◽

Public Relations Practitioners ◽

Frontline Workers ◽

The Usa ◽

Normative Expectations ◽

Depth Interviews

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how public relations practitioners view their role in guiding their organizations’ frontline (nonnominated) employees’ social media use and the tensions that organizations must navigate when they interact with their employees online. Design/methodology/approach This study utilizes in-depth interviews with 24 PR practitioners in the USA. Data were analyzed via grounded theory’s approach to open, axial, and select coding. Findings PR practitioners engage in three activities to guide employees’ social media use: serving as a reactive-technical resource; supporting employee communities; and responding to incidental monitoring of social media posts. Research limitations/implications The study extends stakeholder theory by describing the normative expectations that are placed on employees when it comes to discussing the organization online. Practical implications Recommendations are offered for PR practitioners regarding the boundary-respecting management of nonnominated employees’ social media use. Social implications Findings point to a greater understanding about frontline workers’ roles in supporting their organizations and the need for organizations to carefully explain social media policies. Originality/value Scholars have not fully explored the challenges that firms face when they seek to influence employees’ personal social networking activities. There is new insight about the ways in which organization can ethically engage with employees in digitally mediated spaces.

Download Full-text

Social Media Education Provided by National Governing Bodies of Sport: An Examination of Practices for Youth Olympic Games and Olympic Games Athletes

Communication & Sport ◽

10.1177/21674795211053627 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 216747952110536

Author(s):

Andrea N. Geurin

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Mixed Method ◽

Olympic Games ◽

Media Use ◽

Uses And Gratifications Theory ◽

Social Media Use ◽

Olympic Athletes ◽

The Social ◽

Depth Interviews ◽

And Training

Social media provides athletes with many opportunities as well as challenges. Scholars have argued for proactive, educational social media training instead of traditional policy and punishment models, yet research on this topic is limited. Therefore, this study sought to understand the social media training/education national governing bodies (NGBs) provided to athletes ranging from Youth Olympic Games (YOG) to Olympic level, and to examine NGB communication employees’ perceptions regarding athletes’ social media use and their organization’s social media training. Utilizing uses and gratifications theory, a sequential mixed method was employed involving a survey of U.S. NGBs and in-depth interviews with NGB communication personnel. While most NGBs used proactive, educational social media training for Olympic athletes, few did the same for YOG athletes. NGB employees felt social media use posed significant benefits or gratifications to athletes, and education and training helped to enhance those benefits as well as minimize the challenges, or failed gratifications, athletes experience on social media.

Download Full-text

Digital pruning: Agency and social media use as a personal political project among female weightlifters in recovery from eating disorders

New Media & Society ◽

10.1177/1461444820926503 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 146144482092650

Author(s):

Hester Hockin-Boyers ◽

Stacey Pope ◽

Kimberly Jamie

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Eating Disorders ◽

Media Use ◽

Self Care ◽

Social Media Use ◽

The Past ◽

Political Project ◽

Depth Interviews

In the past decade, a wealth of research has focused on women and social media. Typically assembled according to the logic of ‘risk’ and ‘exposure’, this extensive work tends to operate within a negative paradigm whereby women’s engagement with the digital produces harmful outcomes for wellbeing. This article makes a novel contribution to this literature by tracing the ways in which women who are in recovery from eating disorders and engaged in weightlifting strategically navigate their social media ‘worlds’ and give meaning to this process. Our data draw on 19 in-depth interviews and our findings examine 2 key themes. First, we challenge the negative paradigm that frames women’s social media use and demonstrate how the digital can support positive wellbeing for women in recovery. Second, we introduce the concept of ‘digital pruning’, a personal political project framed within the language of self-care, which involves unfollowing unhelpful or triggering content.

Download Full-text

The social media see-saw: Positive and negative influences on adolescents’ affective well-being

New Media & Society ◽

10.1177/1461444818755634 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 20 (10) ◽

pp. 3597-3623 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Emily Weinstein

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Media Use ◽

Principal Component ◽

Well Being ◽

Social Media Use ◽

Multiple Dimensions ◽

The Social ◽

Relational Interactions ◽

The Relationship ◽

Depth Interviews

Social media use is nearly universal among US-based teens. How do daily interactions with social apps influence adolescents’ affective well-being? Survey self-reports ( n = 568) portray social media use as predominantly positive. Exploratory principal component analysis further indicates that positive and negative emotions form orthogonal response components. In-depth interviews with a sub-sample of youth ( n = 26), selected for maximum variation, reveal that affect experiences can be organized across four functional dimensions. Relational interactions contribute to both closeness and disconnection; self-expression facilitates affirmation alongside concern about others’ judgments; interest-driven exploration confers inspiration and distress; and browsing leads to entertainment and boredom, as well as admiration and envy. All interviewees describe positive and negative affect experiences across multiple dimensions. Analyses suggest the relationship between social technology usage and well-being—whether enhanced or degraded—is not confined to an “either/or” framework: the emotional see-saw of social media use is weighted by both positive and negative influences.

Download Full-text

SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND POLITICAL COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES AMONG SELECTED ENTREPRENEURS IN NIGERIA

Nnamdi Azikiwe University Journal of Communication and Media Studies ◽

10.47851/naujocommed.v1i2.92 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Doris Ngozi Morah ◽

Chinwe Elizabeth Uzochukwu

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Political Communication ◽

Political Development ◽

Media Use ◽

Media Technology ◽

Social Media Use ◽

Public Issues ◽

New Public ◽

Social Media Platforms ◽

Communication Challenges

Social media technology has become ‘the mouth-piece’ of the millennium, especially in Nigeria and Africa. It provides the much-needed oxygen for universal democratisation processes and considered as most suitable for expression of opinion on public issues, affairs and debates. Though its impacts are still incipient, it is palpable that social media platforms promote a new public sphere for negotiation between political, national, public and cultural interests, especially in Nigeria. The survey investigates how entrepreneurs are using social media to participate in governance actively and inherent challenges hinged on Technology Determinism and Agenda Setting theories. Deploying purposive sampling, to select 200 respondents from Enugu and Anambra States of Nigeria, findings show that social media, especially Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp augment interest, participation, interaction and socialisation among artisans and traders with regards to politics to a great extent. The findings, however, contrast the notion that media literacy is a barrier to social media use, which assumes that uneducated people may not be able to manipulate social media effectively. Results also demonstrate that social media could be an excellent strategy for futuristic political development in selected cities. The study, therefore, recommends a decrease in the cost of data tariff to enable artisans and traders, especially the rural-based entrepreneurs have access to the Internet and social media.

Download Full-text

Punching up or turning away? Palestinians unfriending Jewish Israelis on Facebook

New Media & Society ◽

10.1177/1461444820908256 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 146144482090825

Author(s):

Nicholas John ◽

Aysha Agbarya

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Media Use ◽

Minority Group ◽

Social Media Use ◽

Majority Group ◽

Power Differentials ◽

Depth Interviews

This article explores the Facebook unfriending of users from a majority group by members of a minority group, focusing on Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel. Indeed, this is the first study to focus on power differentials among Facebook users in the context of unfriending. The article thus adds depth to our understanding of unfriending, while also shedding light on the experience of social media use from the perspective of an oppressed minority. Based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with twenty ’48 Palestinians (Palestinian citizens of Israel), we present various triggers for unfriending (mainly, encounters with racism and surveillance), and show that Palestinians’ stories of unfriending Jewish Israelis are sometimes about punching up and sometimes about stepping away. However, while unfriending is broadly considered an apt response to abuse, it also distances Palestinians from centers of power in Israel. This suggests an important way in which social media reproduce inequality.

Download Full-text