scholarly journals REDDIT QUARANTINED: CONSEQUENCES OF DEALING WITH DISTRUST IN SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS THROUGH RESTRICTING ENGAGEMENT

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Copland
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Social Media Site ◽  
Online Abuse ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
A Site

Online abuse has become a matter of trust for social media platforms, whose role as a facilitator of public debate has been called into question. In response social media companies have become more active in regulating and banning particular users and channels. Through the use of affordances theory, this paper examines one example of the regulation of content on a social media site, the revamp of the quarantining function on Reddit in late 2018. Quarantines are designed to halt participation within and growth of subreddits without banning them outright. The paper uses quantitative and qualitative data to examine the consequences of this revamp on two subreddits, r/Braincels and r/TheRedPill. Through studying activity levels on these subreddits the paper argues that quarantines did limit discussion within these subreddits. However, it also argues that the revamp had unintended consequences, in particular a growth in distrust between subreddit users and Reddit as a site, and a shift of users away from Reddit to less regulated sites. The paper argues that quarantining shifted the affordances of Reddit, in this instance resulting in greater discouragement of activity on particular subreddits. Using the mechanisms and conditions framework (Davis and Chouinard, 2016) the paper however argues that users adapted to and circumvented this discouragement to continue engaging in particular behavior. While quarantining had short term benefits, using an affordances framework this paper argues it had unintended consequences, ones which can result in a continued radicalization of actions and beliefs, furthering distrust in the online sphere.

Advertisers up scrutiny of social media fake activity

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Share Price ◽  
Value For Money ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Regulatory Pressure ◽  
Advertising Budget ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Subject Advertising on social media. Significance There is growing alignment between regulatory pressure on social media companies to suppress fake accounts and the firms' commercial interest in attracting advertisers. Advertisers, who provide the bulk of social media platforms’ revenue, are beginning to question whether they are getting value for money when their advertising budget is spent on fake clicks. Impacts Action against fake activity on social media will cause a short-term dip in the firms’ share price. Demand will rise for 'influencers' who can show their following consists of genuine users. Some advertisers will distance themselves from social media due to the latter’s failures on tackling hate speech and polarisation.

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.

scholarly journals The influence of YouTube: selling luxury cosmetics in the digital age

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Chidley
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Brand Awareness ◽  
Instructional Videos ◽  
Brand Recognition ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Luxury Cosmetics ◽  
Use Of Social Media

This MRP analyzes the use of social media in selling high-end cosmetics. As social media continues to evolve, luxury cosmetics companies like Nudestix are using social media platforms like YouTube to create brand awareness. This paper uses a textual and visual content analysis of six YouTube videos to analyze how how-to and instructional videos may be used to market and promote lesser known, indie cosmetics brands. Research on marketing, in addition to other research articles, is used to explain the importance of brand stores, seed and word of mouth marketing campaigns. This research study uses qualitative data collected from the YouTube video sample to provide insights for indie cosmetics brands looking to grow their indie cosmetics brand using beauty influencers and how vlogs can create brand recognition.

scholarly journals For lack of a better word: neo-identities in non-cisgender, non-straight communities on Tumblr

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Feraday
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Creation ◽  
A Site

Non-cisgender and non-straight identity language has long been a site of contention and evolution. There has been an increase in new non-cisgender, non-straight identity words since the creation of the internet, thanks to social media platforms like Tumblr. Tumblr in particular has been host to many conversations about identity and self-naming, though these conversations have not yet been the subject of much academic research. Through interviews and analysis of Tumblr posts, this thesis examines the emergence of new identity words, or neo-identities, used by non-cisgender and non-straight users of Tumblr. The work presents neo-identities as strategies for resisting and challenging cisheteronormative conceptions of gender and attraction, as well as sources of comfort and relief for non-cisgender/non-straight people who feel ‘broken’ and excluded from mainstream identity categories. This thesis also posits that Tumblr is uniquely suited for conversations about identity because of its potential for self-expression, community, and anonymity.

Impact of Social Media and Technology Companies on Digital Journalism

2019 ◽  
pp. 147-170
Author(s):  
Şükrü Oktay Kılıç ◽  
Zeynep Genel
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Business Models ◽  
The Other ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Digital Journalism ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media And Technology ◽  
The Impact

A handful of social media companies, with their shifting strategies to become hosts of all information available online, have significantly changed the news media landscape in recent years. Many news media companies across the world have gone through reorganizations in a bid to keep up with new storytelling techniques, technologies, and tools introduced by social media companies. With their non-transparent algorithms favoring particular content formats and lack of interest in developing solid business models for publishers, social media platforms, on the other hand, have attracted widespread criticism by many academics and media practitioners. This chapter aims at discussing the impact of social media on journalism with the help of digital research that provides an insight on what storytelling types with which three most-followed news outlets in Turkey gain the most engagement on Facebook.

scholarly journals Posting About Cancer: Predicting Social Support in Imgur Comments

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 205630512096520
Author(s):  
Brent J. Hale ◽  
Ryan Collins ◽  
Danielle K. Kilgo
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Online Support ◽  
Support Provision ◽  
Coping With Cancer ◽  
Social Media Site ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Previous Scholarship

People who are affected by cancer can benefit greatly from social support and digital social networks, though our understanding of online support is primarily founded in dominant platforms like Facebook. In addition, while previous scholarship indicates that social support is available online, little research has examined predictors of support provision. A content analysis was performed to examine the relationship between narrative features in Imgur posts and social support in comments. Imgur ( Imgur.com ) is a social media site and image-hosting platform, amassing over 250 million monthly visitors. Six post features were hypothesized to predict support, including explanations of the diagnosis experience, evidence of agentive problem solving, indications of positive reappraisal, pleads for the audience to get a checkup, references to mortality, and inclusion of humor. The results of this study indicate a relationship between narrative construction and social support, finding that the inclusion of narrative features in cancer-related posts influenced the provision of support in comments. Findings of this study could have implications for a multitude of stakeholders interested in social support provision, including healthcare professionals and researchers interested in the use of social media platforms for support, and organizations interested in designing supportive online platforms for individuals coping with cancer.

scholarly journals The COVID-19 Mental Health Content Moderation Conundrum

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630512094818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ysabel Gerrard
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Safety Measures ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Personal Connections ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Time Record ◽  
Media Society ◽  
The Uk

At the time of writing (mid-May 2020), mental health charities around the world have experienced an unprecedented surge in demand. At the same time, record-high numbers of people are turning to social media to maintain personal connections due to restrictions on physical movement. But organizations like the mental health charity Mind and even the UK Government have expressed concerns about the possible strain on mental health that may come from spending more time online during COVID-19. These concerns are unsurprising, as debates about the link between heavy social media use and mental illness raged long before the pandemic. But our newly heightened reliance on platforms to replace face-to-face communication has created even more pressure for social media companies to heighten their safety measures and protect their most vulnerable users. To develop and enact these changes, social media companies are reliant on their content moderation workforces, but the COVID-19 pandemic has presented them with two related conundrums: (1) recent changes to content moderation workforces means platforms are likely to be less safe than they were before the pandemic and (2) some of the policies designed to make social media platforms safer for people’s mental health are no longer possible to enforce. This Social Media + Society: 2K essay will address these two challenges in depth.

Facebook and cultural identity: Discourses on mediation among international students

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-322
Author(s):  
Delia Dumitrica
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Cultural Difference ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Awareness Raising ◽  
Identity Discourses ◽  
And Performance ◽  
A Site ◽  
Media And Communication ◽  
Four Discourses

Abstract Digital mediation is implicated in the production of cultural identity in multiple ways. The representations produced and circulated on social media platforms, along with the ubiquitous nature of these platforms, become part and parcel of the production and performance of cultural identity. This paper investigates discourses of Facebook mediation and cultural identity among a sample of international undergraduates in media and communication at a major Dutch university. The analysis of 43 written student essays reveals four discourses: Facebook as a mirror of cultural identity, as a cultural mosaic, as a site of cultural difference and as an opportunity for critical reflection on the idea of cultural identity. Interestingly, these discourses are permeated by a recurrent vision of individual control of both mediation and cultural identity. This article discusses the ideological work entailed in these discourses, calling for more awareness raising on the ways in which social media actively construct social reality.

scholarly journals The COVID States Project #60: COVID-19 vaccine misinformation: From uncertainty to resistance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Ognyanova ◽  
David Lazer ◽  
Matthew Baum ◽  
James Druckman ◽  
Jon Green ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Social Media Platforms

In mid-July 2021, President Biden emphatically claimed that social media platforms were “killing people” by facilitating the spread of vaccine misinformation. Not long after, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell similarly declared that misinformation was to be blamed for the low vaccination rates of Americans.The public debate that followed brought to the forefront a series of important questions. How prevalent is the public’s belief in vaccine misinformation? Is that belief associated with vaccine resistance? Are some social groups more susceptible to it than others? Are social media companies responsible for the higher levels of vaccine resistance among some of their users?This report focuses on the first three questions, exploring misinformation beliefs across social groups and their connection with vaccine attitudes. We address the last question in our previous report and in a post published by the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document