Blogs as Pathways to Information and Influence Within the Kenyan Blogosphere

2021 ◽  
pp. 238-260
Author(s):  
Patrick Kanyi Wamuyu
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Technology Education ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Centrality Metrics ◽  
Kenyan Women ◽  
Cross Tabulation ◽  
Media Mining

Kenya has a robust blogger community, with hundreds of active bloggers and a variety of stimulating blogs on politics, agriculture, technology, education, fashion, food, entertainment, sports, and travel. The purpose of this chapter was to explore whether Kenyans participate in online discussions and to determine the role of Kenyan bloggers in online communities. Data was collected through a survey of 3,269 respondents aged between 14 and 55 years and social media mining on Twitter using Network Overview, Discovery and Exploration for Excel (NodeXL) API. Survey data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation while mined data was analyzed for centrality metrics. The study identified Farmers Trend, Ghafla Kenya, KahawaTungu, and Kachwanya as influential blogs in the Kenyan blogosphere and that most Kenyan women read travel and food and fashion blogs while men mostly read sports and politics blogs. This chapter contributes to a better understanding of the Kenyan blogosphere.

scholarly journals Meat as a matter of fact(s): the role of science in everyday representations of livestock production on social media

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (06) ◽  
pp. A01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrika Olausson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Representation Theory ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Social Representation Theory ◽  
Strong Position

In recent times we have allegedly witnessed a “post-truth” turn in society. Nonetheless, surveys show that science holds a relatively strong position among lay publics, and case studies suggest that science is part of their online discussions about environmental issues on social media — an important, yet strikingly under-researched, debate forum. Guided by social representation theory, this study aims to contribute knowledge about the role of science in everyday representations of livestock production on social media. The analysis identifies two central themata, namely lay publics' contestations of (1) facts and non-facts, and (2) factual and non-factual sources.

scholarly journals The Negative Role of Social Media During the COVID-19 Outbreak

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-228
Author(s):  
Harith Yas ◽  
Ahmad Jusoha ◽  
Dalia Streimikieneb ◽  
Abbas Mardania ◽  
Khalil Md Nora ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Study Results ◽  
The World ◽  
Negative Role ◽  
Health Institutions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Source Of Information

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the power of social media in the dissemination of information. The current pandemic has hurt not only social media users but also on state's sustainable development. As a result, the present study seeks to understand the reasons for using social media during the COVID 19 pandemic by screening various topics and assessing the impact of misinformation on social media, primarily psychological and mental effects. The study utilized a quantitative research design. Participants were individuals between the age of twenty and fifty. Data was collected using a questionnaire shared online to the 360 participants. The studies' responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the arithmetic percentage method using graphs and figures. The study results revealed that many respondents use social media as a source of information, news, and psychological nourishment. Besides, the results indicated that participants below 50 years of age used social media frequently. Whatsapp, Twitter, and Youtube were the most used social media sites among the participants. The findings indicated that most participants used social media as a source of vital information during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study recommends that governments and health institutions focus on developing abilities to respond simultaneously to misinformation cases. This study has facilitated more knowledge into the uses of social media in times of health crises. The study acts as a blueprint to prepare the world for managing social media information sharing in the future.

Fueling civil disobedience in democracy: WhatsApp news use, political knowledge, and illegal political protest

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110478
Author(s):  
Homero Gil de Zúñiga ◽  
Manuel Goyanes
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Civil Disobedience ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Political Protest ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Panel Survey Data ◽  
News Use

Prior scholarship has consistently shown that informed citizens tend to better understand government actions, expectations, and priorities, potentially mitigating radicalism such as partaking in illegal protest. However, the role of social media may prove this relationship to be challenging, with an increasingly pervasive use of applications such as WhatsApp for information and mobilization. Findings from a two-wave US panel survey data show that WhatsApp news is negatively associated to political knowledge and positively associated to illegal protest. Less politically knowledgeable citizens also tend to engage in illegal protest more frequently. Results also suggest an influential role of political knowledge in mediating the effects of WhatsApp news over illegal protests. Those who consume more news on WhatsApp tend to know less about politics which, in turn, positively relates to unlawful political protest activities. This study suggests that WhatsApp affordances provide fertile paths to nurture illegal political protest participation.

THE USE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES AS AN ELEMENT OF CREATING THE IMAGE OF A TOURISM COMPANY ON THE INTERNET

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 105-120
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Borodako ◽  
Michał Rudnicki
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
The Internet ◽  
High Tendency ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Cross Tabulation ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose. Analysis of opinions of Polish tourists staying in Krakow regarding the websites of tourist companies offering particular types of services. Method. To collect empirical material, surveys were conducted among Polish tourists staying in Krakow. The analytical part uses methods of analysis of structures and cross-tabulation showing the dependencies of the offer assessment of individual tourism companies on selected characteristics of respondents. Findings. The main conclusions obtained on the basis of the research were confirmation of the dominating role of accommodation and catering facilities in obtaining tourists’ opinions and a high tendency of tourists to share their opinions and memories via social media. Research and conclusions limitations. Among the main limitations that do not allow for the generalisation of results for all tourists in our country we may find the extent of data collection - of local nature. Moreover, the presented results show the online image of Kraków tourism companies perceived only by domestic tourists, which may be important for the objectivity of the obtained results. Practical implications. Among the practical implications, a clear signal should be given to selected tourism providers regarding the need to improve their image (e.g. by improving the visibility and availability of the offer). The obtained research results clearly confirm the necessity to use new technologies in the tourism industry, particularly, social media and mobile technologies, which have become the leading channels of communication and creating the image of companies on the Internet. Originality. Research in the field of evaluation concerning touristy company websites, with such a detailed breakdown into particular types of services, are not encountered in the literature. However, the issue of the image of companies on the Internet is a problem known and developed since the beginning of the 90s of the twentieth century. Type of paper. Research paper.

scholarly journals News Repertoires and Political Information Efficacy: Focusing on the Mediating Role of Perceived News Overload

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402098868
Author(s):  
Hae Jung Oh ◽  
Zhieh Lor ◽  
Jihyang Choi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Political Information ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Adequate Information ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
The Relationship

In an era of news abundance, people increasingly feel uncertain as to whether they possess adequate information to participate in politics. However, previous research has not paid attention to the issue of such efficacy. To fill the gap, this study examines (a) how different types of news repertoire are associated with political information efficacy and (b) how perceived news overload mediates the relationship. The findings show that people have three distinct types of news repertoires, such as commentary-oriented, TV, and social media news repertoires, and those who consume news via a commentary-oriented news repertoire tend to have a higher level of political information efficacy, while the use of TV and social media news repertoires does not show significant effects on political information efficacy. In addition to that, the perceived news overload negatively mediates the link between all three types of news repertoires and political information efficacy. Two-wave original survey data were used for analyses.

scholarly journals Identifiability as an “Antidote”: Exploring Emotional Contagion and the Role of Anonymity in Twitter Discussions on Misinformation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Chen ◽  
Hao Yuan ◽  
Mike Yao
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Personal Identity ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Emotional Contagion ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Contagion Effect ◽  
Discussion Threads

Misinformation carries both distorted facts and sophisticated emotional signals. Comparing to facts that could be labeled as true or false, we are more concerned about contaminative negative emotions transferring digital-ly among users. In this study, we explored an emotional contagion effect among misinformation discussion participants on Twitter. We analyzed the sentiment of 573 tweets in 192 discussion threads. Our result revealed that highly emotional tweets do not have a universal effect on the online discussions, but it affects those individuals with limited social and personal identity cues (i.e., being anonymous). We found that anonymous members of the online discussion are more susceptible to emotional contagions than those are not. We also suggest coping strategies that protect social media users’ emotional well-being during the era COVID-19.

scholarly journals SEARCHING FOR THE FORGOTTEN: EXAMINING THE ONLINE PRESENCE OF VICTIMS OF POLICE KILLINGS

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Pierre ◽  
Morgan Currie ◽  
Britt Paris ◽  
Irene Pasquetto
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Social Media Data ◽  
Social Media Mining ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Media Data ◽  
Official Police ◽  
Media Mining

This paper examines the potential role of social media in enhancing the understanding and perception of victims of police killings and the data collection surrounding these incidents. Through a series of content analysis and social media mining exercises, the authors observe the emergence of three distinct types of social media content offered on victims of police killings: persistence of the deceased’s activity across social media, sensational commentary on videos and blog postings, and memorials on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. As part of a larger investigation of the availability and accessibility of official police homicide data, this paper aims to present social media data as a potentially powerful source of information to supplement quantitative reports. This process may be especially useful for the most affected communities, particularly BIPOC communities.

scholarly journals Fear of Missing out, Social Media Engagement, Smartphone Addiction and Distraction Moderating Role of Tracking Apps in the Youth.pdf

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srimanth Vempati ◽  
Manoj Kumar Bhuma ◽  
Jinan Fiaidhi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Smartphone Addiction ◽  
Android Application ◽  
Social Engagements ◽  
Moderating Role

Smartphones offer high portability and web availability simultaneously which has prompted a considerable increment in the number of people using social media progressing, particularly the ’Twenty to thirty- year-olds’. The over utilization of smartphones and social media has resulted in a few issues which include people’s mental conditions. Our proposed paper shows on how much time the users spend time on their smartphones and social media, which seems to be increasing rapidly everywhere and considered to be a social problem, arising from a lack of offline social network that results in decreasing social engagements in real-life. This paper includes a survey android application from which user’s survey data is analyzed, to look at the cause and effects of the utilization of smartphones and social media.

Fear of Missing out, Social Media Engagement, Smartphone Addiction and Distraction Moderating Role of Tracking Apps in the Youth.pdf

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srimanth Vempati ◽  
Manoj Kumar Bhuma ◽  
Jinan Fiaidhi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Smartphone Addiction ◽  
Android Application ◽  
Social Engagements ◽  
Moderating Role

Smartphones offer high portability and web availability simultaneously which has prompted a considerable increment in the number of people using social media progressing, particularly the ’Twenty to thirty- year-olds’. The over utilization of smartphones and social media has resulted in a few issues which include people’s mental conditions. Our proposed paper shows on how much time the users spend time on their smartphones and social media, which seems to be increasing rapidly everywhere and considered to be a social problem, arising from a lack of offline social network that results in decreasing social engagements in real-life. This paper includes a survey android application from which user’s survey data is analyzed, to look at the cause and effects of the utilization of smartphones and social media.

scholarly journals The Role of Social Networks in Egypt’s January 2011Revolution

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Hosni Mohamed Naser
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Online Social Networks ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Citizen Journalism ◽  
Egyptian Revolution ◽  
Social Media Networks ◽  
The Revolution

This paper examines the role of the online social networks, especially Facebook, during the Egyptian revolution in January 2011. Analysis of a sample of pages shows how these networks helped people exchange information before, during and after the 18 days revolution which ended the reign of former president - Hosni Mubarak. The study analyzes how online discussions and media coverage before the revolution enabled citizens to communicate with each other and share content online, and eventually move their revolutionary ideas from the virtual world to the streets of Egypt. Analysis shows that during the revolution, social media functioned as a political organizer, an alternative media, and a medium for citizen journalism. The study reveals that social media created an alternative public sphere for Egyptian activists, thus helping them communicate their ideas with the general public without restraints. In addition, social networks provided people with the opportunity and the freedom to discuss their country’s situation at all levels. Success of the revolution shows the important role social media plays as a means of information sharing. The study concludes that using social media networks helped the Egyptian revolution and had significant impact on the democratic transition in Egypt. 

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