Assessing the Social Media Presence and Activity of Major Greek Cities During 2014-2017

This chapter describes how little is known about how Greek local authorities capitalize on the potential of social media as a communication channel. The authors present the results of following up on a 2014 study assessing major Greek cities' presence on social media at the time. The authors check whether and how Greek cities may have improved their levels of acting and reacting via social media so as to identify eventual positive changes and/or patterns and discuss potential ways to implement comprehensive strategies for social media as civic interaction tools for local governments. A set of 52 major cities all over Greece (administrative capitals of the corresponding prefectures), has been chosen as the research population. Findings show that local authorities are advancing in the exploration of social media for communication with citizens, but have not yet reached a level at which they would use them as catalysts for citizen interaction in order to enhance civic engagement.

How 'Social' Are New Zealand Public Libraries?: An Evaluation of the Use of Social Media for Relationship Marketing

<p>Introduction: The use of social media by businesses to communicate with their customers and to encourage repeat business is growing. Are New Zealand public libraries strategically employing social media in order to develop relationships with their users for the purpose of marketing the library? Aim: To determine which New Zealand public libraries are using social media. Also to determine the extent to which some New Zealand public libraries are optimizing their use of social media to create relationships with their users. Methods: Four public libraries in New Zealand were selected, based on their active social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to examine the Facebook posts, Tweets and blog posts as well as the comments and library replies. Topsy (Topsy.com) was used to locate some of the Tweets. Information about the library users that communicated with the library using SM was obtained by examining Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter accounts and user blogs/websites, as well as the search engine Google and the New Zealand White Pages.The use of three social media tools by four New Zealand public libraries in urban areas was examined for evidence of strategy and purpose, particularly in enhancing their relationships with their users. Results: The four New Zealand public libraries in urban centres were found to be using social media, but not always strategically. Each of the libraries applied aspects of social media optimization to use one tool more effectively than the other available tools.</p>

How 'Social' Are New Zealand Public Libraries?: An Evaluation of the Use of Social Media for Relationship Marketing

<p>Introduction: The use of social media by businesses to communicate with their customers and to encourage repeat business is growing. Are New Zealand public libraries strategically employing social media in order to develop relationships with their users for the purpose of marketing the library? Aim: To determine which New Zealand public libraries are using social media. Also to determine the extent to which some New Zealand public libraries are optimizing their use of social media to create relationships with their users. Methods: Four public libraries in New Zealand were selected, based on their active social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to examine the Facebook posts, Tweets and blog posts as well as the comments and library replies. Topsy (Topsy.com) was used to locate some of the Tweets. Information about the library users that communicated with the library using SM was obtained by examining Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter accounts and user blogs/websites, as well as the search engine Google and the New Zealand White Pages.The use of three social media tools by four New Zealand public libraries in urban areas was examined for evidence of strategy and purpose, particularly in enhancing their relationships with their users. Results: The four New Zealand public libraries in urban centres were found to be using social media, but not always strategically. Each of the libraries applied aspects of social media optimization to use one tool more effectively than the other available tools.</p>

Social Media Research Network: Social Media Toolkit

The Social Media Research Network was co-founded by Chantelle Roulston and Akash Shroff in August 2021 with the support of Dr. Jessica Schleider and the Lab for Scalable Mental Health (LSMH). Since 2018, LSMH has been recruiting adolescents and parents using social media—primarily Facebook and Instagram. As of September 2021, our social media presence has reached 1.4 million people across the world. More than 35,000 individuals have interacted with our posts and messages and more than 6,000 youth, young adults, and parents have completed our single-session interventions. We wanted to share our current success and improve our processes by forming a collaboration of psychology/adolescent development research labs.The SMRN Social Media Toolkit is designed to consolidate social media experiences and suggestions from various labs into a useful document for others to use. This is by no means an exhaustive list of social media platforms and suggestions. We have limited the toolkit to include the use of Facebook and Instagram, owned and trademarked by Meta Platforms, Inc.. Instagram and Facebook encompass a very large audience (diverse in age, location, and race/ethnicity). The platforms have a lot of overlap and have been successful in research efforts for the authors. This toolkit outlines broad concepts of branding, post design, and post management. It also provides details, suggestions, and tips on how to create an account, gain a following, increase engagement, and more on both Facebook and Instagram. . Lastly, it details the process of using paid Facebook and Instagram advertisements for research purposes (i.e., recruiting participants).The ultimate goal of SMRN is to increase collaboration across research groups so that we can leverage the entire network’s social media presence to improve recruitment, science communication, and outreach efforts for all research groups involved. We hope this document will serve as a preliminary guide for the research groups within the network.

Social Media Exploration and Exploitation by Small and Medium Enterprises for Business Continuity

This paper aims to examine social media usage by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the context of business continuity. A key concern for businesses in times of disasters, such as the COVID19 pandemic or hurricanes, is continuity. This is especially true for SMEs that lack the expertise, awareness, and ability to dedicate specific resources to disaster planning and management. SMEs are quick to explore social media for functions such as customer acquisition, perhaps due to greater flexibility and agility than large companies. However, SMEs are constrained by a lack of resources, limiting the extent to which they can exploit social media. We collect data from 68 SMEs and analyze the extent to which they explore and exploit social media tools. Our findings suggest that the firms fail to exploit their social media presence to leverage long-term strategic benefits, which would be helpful during a disaster. Our contribution includes ways to analyze social media exploration and exploitation and suggestions to strategically manage social media use for business continuity.

Social Media Exploration and Exploitation by Small and Medium Enterprises for Business Continuity

This paper aims to examine social media usage by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the context of business continuity. A key concern for businesses in times of disasters, such as the COVID19 pandemic or hurricanes, is continuity. This is especially true for SMEs that lack the expertise, awareness, and ability to dedicate specific resources to disaster planning and management. SMEs are quick to explore social media for functions such as customer acquisition, perhaps due to greater flexibility and agility than large companies. However, SMEs are constrained by a lack of resources, limiting the extent to which they can exploit social media. We collect data from 68 SMEs and analyze the extent to which they explore and exploit social media tools. Our findings suggest that the firms fail to exploit their social media presence to leverage long-term strategic benefits, which would be helpful during a disaster. Our contribution includes ways to analyze social media exploration and exploitation and suggestions to strategically manage social media use for business continuity.

Civic Engagement in exile: Exploring Social media Presence of Dissidents From Bangladesh

The emergence and the consequent popularity of social media in the 21st century have given dissenters living in exile an unprecedented opportunity to stay involved in domestic debates and disseminate information to local and international audiences. From an authoritarian context, the rebellious voices from exiled spaces are considered threats for building external pressure on the regime. In contemporary Bangladesh, the right to exercise freedom of expression is increasingly curtailed by various state-sponsored repressive measures, forcing many dissidents to leave the country. But many of them are continuously participating in civic affairs taking place in the digital sphere of the society they physically left behind. Why and how do certain exiled dissidents influence public discourse in Bangladesh through social media platforms? This is a vital question that drives the qualitative ethnographic research which employs interviews of five exiles and analysis of their social media usage from May to October 2020.

Polarization of COVID-19 Vaccine Discourse on Twitter: Implications for Vaccine Policy (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED Since COVID-19 vaccines became broadly available to the adult population, sharp divergences in uptake have emerged along partisan lines. Researchers have pointed to a polarized social media presence contributing to the spread of mis-/dis-information as being responsible for these growing partisan gaps in uptake. The major aim of this study was to identify and describe influential actors, topics, behaviors, and community structures related to COVID-19 vaccine conversations on Twitter prior to the vaccine roll-out to the general population and discuss implications for vaccine promotion and policy. Using Twitter data on COVID-19 vaccination during July 2020, we found that Twitter vaccine conversations were highly polarized with different actors occupying separate “clusters.” The anti-vaccine cluster was the most densely connected group. Among the 100 most influential actors, medical experts are outnumbered both by partisan actors and by activist vaccine skeptics/conspiracy theorists. Scientists and medical actors were largely absent from the conservative network, and anti-vaccine sentiment was especially salient among actors on the political right. Conversations related to COVID-19 vaccines are highly polarized along partisan lines with “trust” in vaccines being manipulated to the political advantage of partisan actors.