scholarly journals Researching intimacy through social media: A cross-platform approach

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (60) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Cristina Miguel
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Cross Platform ◽  
Media Interaction

This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of how to study the way people build intimacy and manage privacy through social media interaction. It explores the research design and methodology of a research project based on a multi-sited case study composed of three different social media platforms: Badoo, CouchSurfing, and Facebook. This cross-platform approach is useful to observe how intimacy is often negotiated across different platforms. The research project focuses on the cities of Leeds (UK) and Barcelona (Spain). In particular, this article discusses the methods used to recruit participants and collect data for that study - namely, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and user profiles analysis. This cross-platform approach and multi-method research design is helpful to investigate the nature of intimacy practices facilitated by social media at several levels: online/offline, across different platforms, among different types of relationships, within both new and existing relationships, and in different locations

Education on the Digital Terrain: A Case Study Exploring College Athletes’ Perceptions of Social-Media Training

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimmy Sanderson ◽  
Blair Browning ◽  
Annelie Schmittel
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
College Athletes ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Media Education ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Athletic Departments ◽  
Social Media Platforms

College athletes are active on a variety of social-media platforms. As a result, most athletic departments require them to participate in social-media education. Although this practice is becoming more prominent, little research has explored how college athletes perceive such training. This case study explored college athletes’ social-media use and their perceptions about social-media education. Semi structured interviews of 20 college athletes at a Division I university were conducted. Using social-cognitive theory as a framework, analysis revealed that while participants expressed a desire for social-media education, they indicated that most of the messages they receive about social media tend to be forgettable. Consequently, athletic departments need to take a more refexive approach to social-media education that incorporates college athletes’ feedback to optimize this instruction.

Negotiating Intimacy through Social Media

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vahideh Golzard ◽  
Cristina Miguel
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Intimate Relationships ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Iranian Women ◽  
Self Disclosure ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Interaction ◽  
Meaningful Relationships

In Iran, social media platforms have become powerful tools for political and interpersonal communication. They open new ways for their users, particularly women, to negotiate their intimate relationships with their family, (potential) partners or friends. Intimacy online is usually achieved through reciprocal visual and textual self-disclosure, which in turn may lead to face-to-face encounters. For Muslim Iranian women, social media allows room for self-expression, a way to combat loneliness and create meaningful relationships with like-minded people. However, at the same time, women are confronted by a number of risks associated with social media interaction in Iran, such as censorship, online (sexual) harassment, or cybercrime. Based on in-depth interviews and participant observation with Muslim Iranian women in Tehran, this paper explores the extent to which social media platforms (blogs, Facebook and dating sites) have created both challenges and opportunities for them by transforming the ways in which they create and maintain intimate relationships online.

scholarly journals Managing Diverse Online Networks in the Context of Polarization: Understanding How We Grow Apart on and through Social Media

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 205630512097571
Author(s):  
Cigdem Bozdag
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Diverse Group ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Online Networks ◽  
Network Diversity ◽  
Communication Space ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Cross Platform

Social media enable their users to be connected with a diverse group of people increasing their chances of coming across divergent viewpoints. Thus, network diversity is a key issue for understanding the potentials of social media for creating a cross-cutting communication space that is one of the premises of a functioning democracy. This article analyzes the strategies social media users adopt to manage their network diversity in the context of increasing polarization. The study is based on 29 semi-structured interviews with diverse social media users from Turkey and qualitative network maps. Furthermore, the study adopts a cross-platform approach comparing Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp in relation to the diversity of their users’ networks. The study shows that social media users adopt different strategies interchangeably in specific contexts. These strategies include visible (unfriending, blocking) and invisible (muting, unfollowing, and ignoring) forms of disconnection, debating, observing divergent opinions, and self-censorship. Political interest of social media users, political climate, issue sensitivity, and “imagined affordances” of social media platforms play a role in users’ choices about which strategy to choose when they are confronted with divergent viewpoints through their diverse online networks. Building on the unfriending literature that points out to rather partisan users, who unfriend, unfollow or block others, this article demonstrates that in peak moments of polarization, also the politically disengaged or moderate users disconnect from diverse others.

FOSTERING STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES IN ENGLISH WRITING WITH MICROBLOGGING IN TWITTER

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Pham Thi Thu Hien
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Learning Tools ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Qualitative Research Methodology

Twitter and Microblogging are two separate entities but completes each other. Both of them can be used as language learning tools and their potential has been proved by several scholars. This study tries to examine students’ experiences in integrating microblogging with twitter. It is also study about the beneficial roles of microblogging with Twitter in language learning, its relation to writing, and its appropriateness in language learning. This study employs a qualitative research methodology, and case study as its research design. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were employed in this study to find out about participants' views about microblogging and Twitter. From this study, it can be concluded that the participants of the study underwent various experiences during the implementation of microblogging with Twitter. They also felt that microblogging with Twitter at some point advantages them to systematically arrange their ideas, and allows them to choose appropriate diction of their ideas. They also stated that Twitter can be an appropriate means in language learning, especially in English writing<em>.</em>

scholarly journals A Tale of Two Disasters

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 694-694
Author(s):  
Tammy Mermelstein
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Ice Storm ◽  
Social Media Analysis ◽  
Individual Survival ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Abstract Preparing for or experiencing a disaster is never easy, but how leaders communicate with older adults can ease a situation or make it exponentially worse. This case study describes two disasters in the same city: Hurricane Harvey and the 2018 Houston Texas Ice Storm and the variation in messaging provided to and regarding older adults. For example, during Hurricane Harvey, the primary pre-disaster message was self-preparedness. During the storm, messages were also about individual survival. Statements such as “do not [climb into your attic] unless you have an ax or means to break through,” generated additional fear for older adults and loved ones. Yet, when an ice storm paralyzed Houston a few months later, public messaging had a strong “check on your elderly neighbors” component. This talk will explore how messaging for these events impacted older adults through traditional and social media analysis, and describe how social media platforms assisted people with rescue and recovery. Part of a symposium sponsored by Disasters and Older Adults Interest Group.

scholarly journals How Popular Culture Prompts Youth Collective Political Expression and Cross-Cutting Political Talk on Social Media: A Cross-Platform Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630512110088
Author(s):  
Ioana Literat ◽  
Neta Kligler-Vilenchik
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Political Expression ◽  
Political Views ◽  
Political Talk ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Cross Platform ◽  
Symbolic Resource ◽  
Political Differences

Adopting a comparative cross-platform approach, we examine youth political expression and conversation on social media, as prompted by popular culture. Tracking a common case study—the practice of building Donald Trump’s border wall within the videogame Fortnite—across three social media platforms popular with youth (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram), we ask: How do popular culture artifacts prompt youth political expression, as well as cross-cutting political talk with those holding different political views, across social media platforms? A mixed methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative content analysis of around 6,400 comments posted on relevant artifacts, illuminates youth popular culture as a shared symbolic resource that stimulates communication within and across political differences—although, as our findings show, it is often deployed in a disparaging manner. This cross-platform analysis, grounded in contemporary youth culture and sociopolitical dynamics, enables a deeper understanding of the interplay between popular culture, cross-cutting political talk, and the role that different social media platforms play in shaping these expressive practices.

scholarly journals Developing a social media strategy for R&D in energy efficiency – a case study in progress

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 ◽  
pp. 00006
Author(s):  
Elmar Bartlmae ◽  
Luis Arboledas-Lérida ◽  
Natalie Höppner
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Online Tool ◽  
Assessment And Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Procedures ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Social Media Strategy

Social Media platforms are increasingly receiving attention from scholars, as they are presumed to be both useful tools for undertaking professional assignments and a medium for engaging with large audiences and communities, within and outside academia. Additionally, these novel practices online need proper assessment and evaluation procedures. This paper aims to address the possibilities and challenges for niche research and development (R&D) projects in communicating their research via social media. The authors applied a seven-step social media strategy to an ongoing energy efficiency case study and discuss an online tool for monitoring the respective impact on social media.

Consumer engagement in online brand communities: a social media perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Dessart ◽  
Cleopatra Veloutsou ◽  
Anna Morgan-Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Consumer Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Online Brand Community ◽  
Conceptual Relationships

Purpose – This paper aims to delineate the meaning, conceptual boundaries and dimensions of consumer engagement within the context of online brand communities both in term of the engagement with the brand and the other members of the online brand communities. It also explores the relationships of consumer engagement with other concepts, suggesting antecedents of engagement. Design/methodology/approach – Data are collected through semi-structured interviews with 21 international online brand community members, covering a variety of brand categories and social media platforms. Findings – This paper suggests that individuals are engaging in online communities in social network platforms both with other individuals and with brands. The study also identifies three key engagement dimensions (cognition, affect and behaviours). Their meaning and sub-dimensions are investigated. The paper further suggests key drivers, one outcome and objects of consumer engagement in online brand communities. These findings are integrated in a conceptual framework. Research limitations/implications – Further research should aim at comparing consumer engagement on different social media and across brand categories, as this study takes a holistic approach and does not focus on any particular category of brands or social media. Consumers’ views should also be evaluated against and compared with marketing managers’ understanding of consumer engagement. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the fast-growing and fragmented consumer engagement literature by refining the understanding of its dimensions and situating it in a network of conceptual relationships. It focusses on online brand communities in rich social media contexts to tap into the core social and interactive characteristics of engagement.

Digital consumers as cultural curators: the irony of Vaporwave

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Schembri ◽  
Jac Tichbon
Keyword(s):  
Research Design ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Digital Natives ◽  
Digital Music ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cultural Codes ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Underground Music ◽  
Symbolic Production

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address the question of cultural production, consumption and intermediation in the context of digital music. Design/methodology/approach This research adopts an interpretivist, ethnoconsumerist epistemology along with a netnographic research design combined with hermeneutic analysis. Interpreting both the text view and field view of an ethnoconsumerist approach, the netnographic research design includes participant observation across multiple social media platforms as well as virtual interviews and analysis of media material. The context of application is a digital music subculture known as Vaporwave. Vaporwave participants deliberately distort fundamental aspects of modern and postmodern culture in a digital, musical, artistic and storied manner. Findings Hermeneutic analysis has identified a critical and nostalgic narrative of consumerism and hyper-reality, evident as symbolic parallels, intertextual relationships, existential themes and cultural codes. As a techno savvy community embracing lo-fi production, self-releasing promotion and anonymity from within a complexity of aliases and myriad collaborations, the vaporous existentialism of Vaporwave participants skirts copyright liability in the process. Accordingly, Vaporwave is documented as blurring reality and fantasy, material and symbolic, production and consumption. Essentially, Vaporwave participants are shown to be digital natives turned digital rebels and heretical consumers, better described as cultural curators. Research limitations/implications This research demonstrates a more complex notion of cultural production, consumption and intermediation, argued to be more accurately described as cultural curation. Practical implications As digital heretics, Vaporwave participants challenge traditional notions of modernity, such as copyright law, and postmodern notions such as working consumers and consuming producers. Social implications Vaporwave participants present a case of digital natives turned digital rebels and consumer heretics, who are actively curating culture. Originality/value This interpretive ethnoconusmerist study combining netnography and hermeneutic analysis of an online underground music subculture known as Vaporwave shows digital music artists as cultural curators.

scholarly journals The use of Twitter and Facebook Social Media in Communicating & Disseminating Weather and Climate Information by Kenya Meteorological Department

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-21
Author(s):  
Misiani Zachary ◽  
Lun Yin ◽  
Mwai Zacharia ◽  
Xiaohan Zhang ◽  
Yanyan Zheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
The Other ◽  
Significant Part ◽  
Climate Information ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Weather And Climate ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Today, traditional media is still a significant part of disseminating weather and climate information, still they have not been able to reach out to all users of the target audience alone. On the other hand, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc. are used as a tool of communicating weather and climate information to various users in a well-organized manner like never before. Using a scientific research methodology of case study, the research was designed to explore how the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) is using Twitter and Facebook accounts for weather and climate information dissemination to various users.

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