European Conference on Social Media

A Discourse Analysis of AI Narratives in Spanish Speakers' Social Media Platforms

2025-05-29T09:56:09+00:00

This study examines how international news outlets frame artificial intelligence (AI) discussions on social media in Spanish-speaking Latin America, highlighting social media's role in shaping perceptions and attitudes. Fuchs (2024:35) conceptualises social media as techno-social systems in which information and communication technologies enable and constrain human activities that create knowledge produced, distributed, and consumed in a dynamic and reflexive process that connects technological structures and human agency. The paper centres on how discourses in social media are communicated to audiences when content about AI is distributed on those platforms, looking at the narratives embedded in those posts. This exploratory research uses critical discourse analysis to analyse how selected regional outlets address AI outside the Global North. It focuses on how news stories are published on the X.com (formerly known as Twitter) accounts of CNN Español, BBC Mundo, Infobae, and Telesur, two outlets coming from the Global North and two outlets originating in the Global South. Despite the growing popularity of platforms like TikTok and Instagram, X.com still fulfils the role of the digital public sphere, where it remains a popular social media application in Latin America with 57.5 million users (Statista, 2024). Using Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis, textual analysis, discourse practice, and social practice, the initial results of over 300 tweets found that AI is often framed using metaphors of competition and transformation, portraying it as a geopolitical contest and an unstoppable societal force. AI is also personified with human-like qualities, which can obscure the human and corporate influences behind its development. In addition, the study highlights distinctive patterns in how AI content is produced and consumed across social media platforms, where it uses expert opinions to legitimise its content. Finally, it reflects on how the editorial approaches of the selected outlets demonstrate how institutional ideologies and power structures influence the framing of AI. These findings contribute to the knowledge about journalism discourses and AI from the perspective of the Global South.

Language Management Theory: A Device to Control Social Media effects on Language Usage- A South African Context

2025-04-14T12:27:31+00:00

Language Management refers to any specific efforts made to modify or influence language practice (Nekvapil & Sherman, 2015). Language management takes place when a language deviation has been noted. The main purpose of language management is to enforce the correct and sound use of a language, according to the standards of a given context. Language could be managed by a Macro structure (government and private institutions) or Microstructure (individual activists or general citizenry). In the educational setting – a Microstructure, it is the responsibility of language teachers to influence good language practice, by ensuring that school learners use language correctly. Teachers are duty-bound to guard against any language deviations in accordance with the requirements of language subject curriculum. With the growing usage of social media and its widespread accessibility to school learners, teachers in South Africa constantly deal with language deviations caused by social media. This is in response to school learners’ use of social media writing style in the classroom. Although, it is not wrong for learners to deviate from the norms when writing on social media, teachers bemoan school learners’ tendency of transferring social media writing style to the classroom. The contamination of classroom language by social media language necessitates language management. This paper spotlights Nekvapil’ Language Management Theory (LMT) as an effective tool to control language deviations influenced by social media. It bridges a gap between theory and practice by demonstrating how South African teachers manage language use in schools. This is qualitative research and uses interpretivism worldview to understand language management through educator’s lenses. Open-ended interviews were done with 20 teachers from South Africa, Limpopo to get their experiences on how they ensure good language practice in the school. The collected data demonstrated that teachers have put various measures in place to management language.

The Power of Storytelling in Product Placement of TikTok’s Short-Form Content: A qualitative study

2025-03-13T13:33:05+00:00

This research explores the role of storytelling in product placement within short videos on social media, with a focus on the success of TikTok. With the rapid growth of social media marketing, TikTok has become a prime platform for brands to seamlessly integrate their products into engaging, story-driven content. The study uses a two-phase qualitative methodology; phase 1 consists of in-depth interviews with TikTok users and influencers, while stage 2 includes focus groups. The thematic analysis highlights how storytelling enhances the effectiveness of product placement on TikTok by shaping users' perceptions, influencing their behaviors, and positively impacting overall brand perception. The findings reveal three major themes: storytelling enhances the effectiveness of product placements on TikTok by fostering entertainment, engagement, and perceived usefulness. When products seamlessly integrate into relatable storylines, users perceive them as more genuine, memorable, and practical. Storytelling on TikTok enhances product placements by making them feel more authentic, increasing brand trust, engagement, and purchase intent. This makes it a beneficial strategy for brands in the changing world of social media marketing. This study applies the Narrative Transportation Theory to short videos on TikTok, demonstrating that even short stories can maintain viewer interest and enhance the effectiveness of product placements. This study offers marketers and content creators TikTok product placement strategies using narrative. By integrating storytelling into short video content, brands can enhance viewer engagement, brand memory, trust, brand recall, and buy intentions.

A Representation of AI Technology in Turkish News Media and YouTube Journalism

2025-03-25T17:14:04+00:00

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into various domains has led to significant social, political, economic, and cultural transformations, making it a central topic in media discourse. This study examines how AI is represented and reflected in Turkish news media and YouTube journalism, which has emerged as an alternative to traditional news outlets. By analyzing AI portrayals in mainstream news, digital native news and user-generated content, we aim to uncover the social meanings attached to AI and explore how news media self-reflects on this disruptive technology. Our research is guided by three interrelated questions: How is AI framed in Turkish news media and YouTube journalism? What social meanings are attributed to AI through media discourse? How does Turkish news media engage in self-reflection regarding AI’s impact on journalism? Utilizing media spectacle theory, representation theory, and the semiotics approach we argue that AI is not only a technological phenomenon but also a cultural construct shaped by ideological and discursive frameworks of language. Using qualitative content analysis and discourse analysis as a multi-method approach, we identified key themes in AI-related news and discussions, including fears of automation, ethical dilemmas, and its implications for media production and reception. AI’s media representation aligns with broader concerns regarding its influence on democratic discourse and public opinion. Our findings empirically suggest that AI's portrayal in Turkish news media is shaped by a tension between optimism and skepticism depending upon the news’ narratives, reflecting the broader socio-political anxieties embedded in Turkish society. Furthermore, we explore the semiotic dimensions of AI narratives, highlighting how media serves as both a mirror and a mediator of social consciousness as an agent of metaculture. This study contributes to the growing body of research on AI and media by offering a nuanced perspective on its representation within a specific national context. By situating AI within a broader technocultural discourse, we underscore its role in shaping the future of journalism and new truth regimes as a part of political communication. Ultimately, our research raises critical questions about media ideology, metanarratives, and the role of AI in redefining the boundaries of truth and representation.

Exploring Influencer Burnout through Trans-Parasocial Relationships in the Age of Commercialised Social Media

2025-02-17T17:43:36+00:00

With the rapid growth of social media, individuals have gained the ability to cultivate large, dedicated audiences and establish themselves as Social Media Influencers. Influencer marketing—a $21.2 billion industry in 2023 (Statista, 2024)—relies on influencers to promote brands through reciprocal connections with followers, conceptualized by Lou (2021) as trans-parasocial relationships. Unlike traditional parasocial interactions, these connections are more dynamic and involve mutual engagement. In the process of building these relationships and commercializing their influence, influencers must meet strict deadlines and also navigate the demands of followers while remaining authentic. This study explores how the pressures of maintaining these relationships and meeting brand expectations contribute to influencer burnout. Categorising social media Influencing as a profession, this research investigates how influencers navigate stress and cope with unique career demands. By highlighting Social Media Influencer burnout, this research seeks to bridge a gap in the theoretical understanding of influencer well-being, offering practical insights for fostering resilience and prioritizing mental health in the ever-demanding world of social media marketing.

International Students: Challenges, Social Media Use, and Adaptation

2025-03-13T17:34:58+00:00

Social media are an inseparable part of our lives, offering tools for communication, information sharing, and social interaction. For international students, these platforms can help overcome challenges such as cultural adaptation, academic pressures, and social isolation. Using the ‘Swiss Army knife’ metaphor, this paper highlights the adaptability of social media platforms in meeting diverse user needs, such as seeking information, maintaining connections, and fostering support. Affordances like visibility, persistence, and anonymity enable international students to connect with their home cultures, explore the host country’s norms, and document their personal journeys. Yet, these same platforms can reinforce boundaries that hinder their integration into the host culture. The uses and gratifications (U&G) theory helps explain motivations behind social media use, such as social interaction, information seeking, escapism, and self-expression. This study will collect public posts on X, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit with hashtags relevant to international students. I will apply thematic analysis to identify themes and patterns in these posts, exploring how key motivations and affordances shape students’ online behaviours and adaptation strategies. Insights from this study will contribute to the broader understanding of social media’s impact on international students’ adjustment, emphasizing how affordances and user motivations intersect to shape their experiences in the host country.

Feminism, Sustainability, and Social Media Shaping Beauty Industry

2024-12-06T19:21:40+00:00

This study examines how feminist ideals, sustainability, and personalization shape Estonia's beauty industry's consumer behaviour and business strategies. It employs a mixed-method research design, combining semi-structured interviews with representatives from five local companies—four beauty brands and one recycling packaging partner—with a consumer questionnaire targeting women aged 21–29. The interviews explored business strategies around sustainability, feminist marketing, and personalization, while the consumer questionnaire integrated textual and pictorial data to capture preferences and perceptions. Key findings highlight a strong consumer preference for eco-friendly and personalized beauty products, dissatisfaction with mass-market offerings, and the significant role of minimalist, sustainable packaging in purchasing decisions. Feminist marketing campaigns celebrating diversity and body positivity resonate strongly with consumers, while technology-driven solutions like AI-enabled personalization align with demands for convenience and efficacy. Local beauty brands emphasized challenges such as balancing sustainability with scalability and addressing gaps in inclusivity and transparency. This study underscores the potential for innovation aligning with consumer values, offering actionable insights into navigating the dynamic beauty industry landscape. Future research should explore cross-cultural variations and the expanding role of technology in personalization and social media-driven marketing.

Social Comparison and Inverted Male Gaze in Marketing: An Exploratory Study of Gay Male Instagram Users’ Reasons for Stopping and Holding the Scroll

2025-04-05T09:45:27+00:00

It is argued that images of fit muscly men on Instagram disrupt the scroll for men and gay men in particular. Six pack abs may make gay men stop and hold the scroll, as may other body features, such as muscles, facial features, hair and beard, or even an obvious bulge in tight shorts. These are some of the main reasons why gay Male Instagram Users (MIUs) stop their scroll and stay on an image. However, there are other factors (i.e. affective triggers) such as the background imagery, weather, or their own emotions and desires. Marketers may exploit this when composing messages aimed at men. Little research has been undertaken to date into “inverted” male gaze - i.e. how males look upon themselves and other males in advertising, particularly on social media. This study aims to bridge this gap and make a theoretical contribution to the study of inverted male gaze in marketing. It will focus on the use of the male body from an idealised and idolised point of view on Instagram, focussing on a sample of gay men. Adopting the lens of social comparison theory, the research objectives (ROs) are as follows: RO 1 – To investigate which aspects of male body image influence gay MIUs to stop and hold the scroll. RO 2 – To explore if affective triggers impact the scrolling behaviour of gay MIUs. RO 3 – To contribute to the literature and knowledge and suggest updates to the theory. The research employs a qualitative interpretivist approach. Phase One involved an autoethnographic study of the author’s Instagram scroll, and an identification of the appealing aspects of body image and affective triggers on scrolling behaviour. Phase Two is underway using semi-structured interviews with a sample of gay MIUs to probe which aspects (if any) of male body image and affective triggers influence the scrolling behaviour of gay MIUs, and to identify the marketing implications of this. This is important and of interest to theorists and practitioners. Findings are expected in 2026.

Emotional Triggers and Cognitive Manipulation in Romanian Social Media: A NLP Analysis

2025-03-11T20:57:10+00:00

Emotionally charged speech has become a key component of disinformation efforts in the era of social media. To elicit strong emotional responses, speakers strategically employ cultural and historical allusions in their highly engaging media appearances on various internet platforms and so is the case for Romania as well. This work uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools to identify and analyze these speeches' emotional signals and language patterns, especially those intended to evoke negative emotional reactions like hatred, fury, and fear. We aim to highlight how historical allusions are used to influence public opinion by analyzing the interaction between quick, automatic emotional reactions (System 1 thinking) and more thoughtful, rational replies (System 2 thinking) when culture and history are embedded. The results of this investigation show how speakers adeptly lead listeners from an initial emotional connection to controversial beliefs that are intellectually defined and frequently aligned with polarized societal or political goals. Our findings contribute to the understanding of how emotionally charged language fosters ideological division and perpetuates disinformation in the digital space. Moreover, the research offers a critical lens on the cognitive mechanisms that make individuals susceptible to such manipulative tactics, providing insights that could inform strategies to counter disinformation and promote more informed public discourse. This paper is part of a broader PhD research program focused on analyzing narratives and narrative strategies in disinformation, with all findings contributing to this purpose.

The Social Life of ChatGPT: Insights From TikTok

2025-03-26T01:26:28+00:00

ChatGPT is reshaping ideas of agency, companionship, and emotional intelligence in a post digital world. Research has often focused on ChatGPT’s implications in industry settings, such as education, but less attention has been given to how humans personally engage emotionally with digital AI tools. TikTok, shaped by algorithmic visibility and creative user content, offers a unique space to examine these interactions, particularly among younger generations. As ChatGPT’s popularity grows, TikTok has become a site where discourse around generative AI’s adoption and usage unfolds and can be situated as a rich context for analyzing its role in everyday life. This work-in-progress adopts a posthumanist lens to examine how TikTok users construct narratives around ChatGPT's social roles, exploring the platform as a system where norms are renegotiated, and social narratives are co-constructed. The findings reveal that ChatGPT is frequently positioned as a friend, attributed to perceived affordances such as its perceived neutrality, limited need for socioemotional reciprocity, and constant availability. These affordances can lead to emotional dependency and overreliance, as users view these AI features as more advantageous for social and emotional connections than human interactions. The preliminary findings underscore ChatGPT’s emerging role as a relational entity in human-AI interactions. This paper contributes to ongoing discussions about the implications of AI integration as an agent in society and highlights broader shifts in societal norms, and provides insights into how TikTok, as a networked platform, plays a role in these shifts.

Dehumanisation in Russian and Ukrainian Telegram in 2022: Strategic vs. Reactive approaches

2025-03-07T12:48:42+00:00

This paper presents a comparative analysis of dehumanising language on popular Telegram channels in Ukraine and Russia during the 2022 Russian invasion, examining differences between the two countries and how this language evolved over time. We use a mixed-methods approach to address two questions: who are the primary agents of dehumanisation in each country; and how did the use of dehumanising language develop both qualitatively and quantitatively following the invasion? Preliminary findings reveal a significant post-invasion rise in dehumanising language on both Russian and Ukrainian channels. However, Russian dehumanisation predominantly originates from state-affiliated channels, reflecting a top-down, strategic approach, often relying on clichés and disinformation amplifying historical grievances. In contrast, Ukrainian dehumanisation emerges from independent voices, including bloggers and community leaders, showing a bottom-up, reactive pattern. It appears more varied and emotionally expressive, showing a dynamic response to the immediate context. These findings suggest that dehumanisation in Russian Telegram may be strategically deployed to reinforce unity and historical grievances, whereas Ukrainian dehumanisation seems reactive, potentially serving as a protective response. This contrast highlights the importance of tailored strategies to address dehumanisation on social media from the perspectives of aggressor and defender in wartime.

Intermedia Agenda-Setting at the Network Level: Turkish Women's Volleyball Team in Media and Instagram

2025-02-28T08:10:58+00:00

McCombs (1992) highlighted the evolution of the agenda-setting concept, which has expanded from public issues to encompass gender-related topics, particularly in sports media. Research indicates that male athletes receive significantly more coverage than female athletes, often portrayed in ways that emphasize power and dominance, while female athletes are depicted through the lens of femininity and family life. This disparity influences audience perceptions of female athletes' importance. In Türkiye, media coverage of female athletes is similarly limited, with negative portrayals and objectification prevalent, especially in football. However, Turkish women's volleyball presents a notable exception, as female athletes have surpassed male counterparts in elite competitions. Their achievements in 2023 gained significant attention from both national and international media (e.g., Anadolu Ajansı, The New York Times). This study employs McCombs' agenda-setting theory to analyse the influence of Instagram on mainstream media coverage of the Turkish Women's Volleyball Team's triumphs in 2023. While traditional agenda-setting theory has demonstrated that media shapes public perceptions, the rise of social media has altered this dynamic, allowing citizens to influence mainstream narratives. Utilizing a network agenda-setting (NAS) framework, the study will explore whether Instagram content about the volleyball team's success influenced mainstream media coverage or vice versa. The NAS model posits that media connects different issues in news stories as bundles, transferring the salience of these bundled messages to the public. Given that Instagram boasts over 2 billion users globally, including 58.7 million in Türkiye, this study aims to assess the correlation between Instagram and traditional media agendas. It hypothesizes that mainstream media anticipates the public's Instagram agenda (Hypothesis 1) and that Instagram posts predict the content of newspapers (Hypothesis 2).

Framing the Fallout: AI-Generated Visual Disinformation and the Fukushima Wastewater Narrative on Chinese Social Media

2025-03-19T18:33:47+00:00

This paper explores the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), visual disinformation, and nationalist narratives through a case study of Fukushima wastewater-related imagery on China's social media. Using Rodriguez and Dimitrova’s four-layer visual framing model, the study analyses AI-generated visuals from Xiaohongshu, revealing how these images shape public discourse. The findings highlight the nuanced interplay of denotative symbols, stylistic elements, connotative meanings, and ideological frames in reinforcing nationalist sentiment. This paper argues for a more comprehensive analytical approach to understanding AI-driven visual disinformation in digital ecosystems.

Social Media and LGBTQ+ Experiences in the Aftermath of the 2023 Turkey-Syria Earthquake: A Case Study of Kaos GL

2025-04-09T10:22:21+00:00

There is a growing consensus that natural disasters exacerbate pre-existing social inequalities, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities, including LGBTQ+ individuals and groups. Their vulnerabilities during such disasters are heightened by intersecting factors such as discrimination, limited access to essential services, and social stigma. In this context, the media plays a crucial role in shaping public perceptions of disasters and influencing disaster management policies; however, LGBTQ+ individuals' experiences are often underrepresented or overlooked in mainstream media coverage of these events (McKinnon et al., 2016). Such an omission not only erases the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ+ communities, including discrimination in shelters, barriers to healthcare access, and an increased risk of violence, but also reinforces the heteronormative frameworks that dominate disaster narratives, further marginalizing these individuals in broader crisis response efforts. In contrast, social media can both mitigate and amplify these disparities. While it provides a platform for advocacy, mutual aid, and solidarity, it also carries risks, such as the spread of misinformation and the potential for cyberbullying, particularly for already marginalized groups. Given these dynamics, it is crucial to explore how social media is used by vulnerable communities, particularly in times of crisis. As both a tool for support and a potential source of harm, social media platforms play a role in shaping how marginalized groups navigate and respond to disasters. Against this background, this study examines how social media platforms were utilized by LGBTQ+ communities in Turkey following the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake, with a particular focus on the Kaos GL Association, Turkey’s first officially recognized LGBTQ+ organization. Through thematic analysis of content shared on Kaos GL’s social media accounts and interviews with two key contributors, the research explores how LGBTQ+ individuals engaged with social media platforms in the aftermath of the disaster and the role these platforms played in shaping their experiences. Thematic analysis revealed three key findings regarding LGBTQ+ individuals' experiences with social media after the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake: (1) Social media amplified LGBTQ+ voices, fostered solidarity, and created a sense of belonging, especially on platforms like Kaos GL; (2) It served as a crucial tool for highlighting LGBTQ+ needs and mobilizing resources such as shelter and medical aid; (3) Discrimination and social exclusion persisted offline and online, with social media also being used to spread harmful rhetoric, further marginalizing LGBTQ+ communities during the crisis. These findings underscore the complex role social media played in shaping the post-earthquake experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals in Turkey, highlighting its potential to foster solidarity while also amplifying vulnerability. While previous research has examined the dual role of social media during crises, this study adds to the existing literature by examining how these roles specifically played out within the socio-cultural and political context of the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake.

Bias in Personalized Social Media Content: Impact on Romanian Generation Z Decision Making

2025-01-20T09:35:54+00:00

In an era dominated by personalized digital experiences, social media platforms play an increasingly influential role in shaping young adults' perceptions and decisions. With the use of algorithms that personalize social media feeds for individual users, concerns have arisen regarding the extent to which such personalization reinforces preexisting biases and influences user behavior, with a focus on how it influences biased decisions in a variety of contexts, including political opinions, lifestyle choices, and shopping habits. This study investigates the impact of personalized social media content on the decision-making of Romanian Generation Z users. The research analyzes how personalized feeds shape perceptions, preferences, and decisions by examining algorithmic bias in content curation and exposure to diverse viewpoints. Furthermore, the study examines digital literacy and critical thinking by exploring how aware Generation Z is of algorithmic personalization and its potential biases, providing information on its ability to engage with digital content critically. In this context, it is important to mention that throughout the article, we provide users' perspectives on how they perceive, feel, and think about the influence that the media has on their daily lives. Given the lack of research on the willingness of Generation Z to share information on social networks, we also addressed this issue. The data for this research were collected using a questionnaire conducted on a sample of Romanian university undergraduate students, all part of Generation Z. Based on the collected data, we present the results regarding the awareness of the participants about personalized content, their perceptions of bias, and the influence this has on their decision-making. The findings contribute to understanding the implications of algorithmic personalization for young adults in the Romanian context, highlighting the importance of critical social media literacy and promoting informed decision-making in the digital age.

The Relationship between Incivility and Negative Emotions in Conversations about Immigrants on Reddit

2025-04-04T19:45:21+00:00

Being characterized by a strong participatory culture, social media have revolutionized the way people communicate and exchange information, fostering important debates, acting as an extension of everyday talk between individuals and emerging as a new space for socialization. Conversations about health, entertainment, sports, politics, and more are actively held, offering insight into how online communities communicate and interact around various themes. Through this ongoing dialogue, online social media communities reveal how users negotiate differences and build collective narratives, making these digital platforms a vital ground for analysing contemporary discourse. This becomes increasingly important knowing how negative, prejudiced and toxic discourse can propagate online and how it affects not only users but society at large. In this article, we examine debates on immigration in Portugal and Europe on Reddit, focusing on sentiment, emotion, and the level of incivility in this context. Analysing a database of 2,167 posts and comments on a Portuguese-language subreddit, we adopt a mixed-methods approach to explore how emotions are linked to incivility towards immigration and immigrants, especially from Brazil. Patterns of incivility and negative emotions are identified, revealing a high frequency of communication norm violations accompanied by feelings of anger in discussions about immigration. We found considerable overlaps between negative emotions, particularly anger, and breaches of the contextual norm and the relational norm, whereas emotions like sadness, fear, and even pleasure only seldom seem to be indicative of the presence of incivility. Overall, our analysis illustrates how different emotions affect the maintenance or breach of communication norms in online interactions. This article not only contributes to the scientific literature on online behaviour in Portuguese-speaking environments but also informs policymakers and online platform moderators on strategies to manage and mitigate incivility in virtual debates, particularly by understanding the role emotions play in fostering or curbing disrespectful discourse.

Community Autonomy and Centralised Governance: A Textual Case Study Of The Reddit API Virtual Sit-In

2025-01-09T08:02:54+00:00

Many content creators in online communities experience a power imbalance because of centralised social media governance while also focusing on profit. This paper investigates the Reddit API protest as a notable case of digital activism in the context of centralised online community governance. This coordinated protest aimed to disrupt Reddit’s operations, draw attention to the perceived injustices of the API changes, and pressure the platform to reconsider its policies. To determine how the Reddit API virtual sit-in demonstrated the difficulties of reconciling community autonomy with a perceived power imbalance, an interpretivist worldview was adopted. A total of 139 posts from June to July 2023 in nine subreddits were analysed using deductive, followed by inductive, thematic analysis. Data analysis revealed three main themes, namely planned disruption, collective action and solidarity, platform response and perceived success. The results reveal that while the protest showcased considerable community mobilisation, Reddit’s centralised governance structure limited the success of the virtual sit-in. The study contributes to discussions on digital activism and platform governance, suggesting that without decentralised models that empower user communities, digital protests may primarily serve as expressions of discontent rather than as mechanisms for noticeable changes.

X Marks the Spot: An Examination of X and Its Transformation from Twitter

2025-04-17T15:53:45+00:00

This study examines X and perceptions and opinions related to the platform since Elon Musk took it over. We address the following research question: 1) What role do the characteristics of users of X have on their opinions and attitudes of the social media platform? A large-scale survey was conducted with 408 participants recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Only a small subset of participants do not use X (15%), while a large percentage (39%) of those who do use it do so for less than five hours per week. A small number (11%) of participants use it more than 20 hours a week. A plurality of participants (37.3%) believed that individuals should be at least 18 years old to use X, while others thought 16 (17.0%) or 17 (2.9%) was old enough. The study also explores differences in opinions and use of X since Musk took over the company, as well as perceptions related to the role government should play with respect to the regulation of social media in general. Differences based on demographics are also explored, as well as political party affiliation. Those that identify as Republican have seen their opinions related to X, its policies, and Musk increase much more than those that identify as Democrat. A subset of participants (N=121) that identified X as one of the two social media platforms they used the most were asked additional questions related to their use of the platform. A plurality of participants (39.2%) indicated they were personally better off with X, while others were either not sure (28.0%) or believed their life was not better as a result (32.8%). In contrast, when they were asked whether society is better off with the existence of X, participants were evenly split between ‘yes’ and ‘no’ at 36.8% each, followed by those that were not sure (26.4%). Limitations, implications, and directions for future research are explored.

Unlocking Employee Engagement: Key Drivers for Participation in Corporate Influencer Programs on LinkedIn

2025-02-05T16:30:39+00:00

The nature of corporate communication has undergone significant changes in recent years. One notable trend is the increasing use of employees as brand ambassadors, as evidenced by the proliferation of corporate influencer programs. However, a critical question is often overlooked: under what conditions are employees genuinely willing to participate in such programs? This predicament poses a substantial challenge to companies, who must devise compelling strategies to attract and engage employees in these initiatives. This study aims to address this gap by examining the critical factors influencing employee participation in corporate influencer programs on LinkedIn through a conjoint analysis. More than 100 employees, representing a range of company types from start-ups to large corporations, were surveyed. The findings reveal that a modern and actively cultivated corporate culture is essential for employees, while external recognition and occasional support (such as social media guidelines) play only a minor role.

Image Content Analysis of Egyptian Athletes Visual Self-Presentation Strategies on Instagram

2025-03-12T07:57:17+00:00

The study of visual presentation strategies on social media has increasingly captured the attention of academics, particularly those specializing in sports communication and self-image branding among professional athletes. This investigation aims to analyze the visual self-presentation strategies employed by Egyptian male and female athletes on Instagram to effectively convey their images to fans and sports stakeholders. Utilizing image content analysis as a methodology, this research examines the online tactics used by athletes, focusing on the visual elements of their posts and comparing the online presence of 10 Egyptian male and female professional athletes by analyzing 1,000 images. The collection of images began with the athlete's most recent post and proceeded backward to gather 100 images for each athlete. The findings reveal that Egyptian athletes strategically utilize images to position themselves, with the effectiveness of their self-presentation largely contingent upon the nature of the content they share. Despite observable disparities in online engagement between male and female athletes—stemming from cultural influences and the predominant role of men in the Egyptian sports landscape—there is a recognition among athletes of the critical importance of visual self-presentation. However, many athletes struggle to implement effective online strategies due to limited resources and knowledge. The practical implications of this study emphasize the necessity for athletes to develop tailored online strategies that align with their specific objectives and the image they wish to project. Such strategies should consider the athlete's current performance status and career stage, striking a balance between on-field and off-field imagery while prioritizing content that resonates with their audience. Additionally, fostering workshops or training sessions on effective social media use could empower athletes to leverage their visual branding more effectively, ultimately enhancing their engagement with fans and stakeholders within the sports community. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how cultural contexts shape self-presentation strategies in the digital age.

Stories of #EndSARS: Applying Social Network Analysis through a Postcolonial Framework

2025-01-31T16:05:45+00:00

Social media has become central to contemporary activism, transforming how movements worldwide mobilise and organise around shared goals. The #EndSARS movement in Nigeria started in 2017 as a citizen-led effort that confronted police brutality, especially from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian Police. Facilitated primarily by social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, data shows that more than 8 million unique authors participated in creating content that commented on or provided support to the offline protests (NENDO 2020). Much like other contemporary social media activism efforts, #EndSARS lacked established and movement-recognised spokespersons; instead, networked microcelebrities and influential voices emerged intermittently, each with varied social capital, reflecting the movement's decentralised nature. This paper presents research into the lived experiences of #EndSARS activists on Instagram, utilising a modified social network analysis to identify these individuals without relying on popularity metrics alone. Adopting a postcolonial lens, this research centred on inclusive representation to disrupt traditional hierarchies where dominant voices speak over, or on behalf of, marginalised communities. This approach was implemented through Richardson's (2000) crystallisation and by operationalising Tufekci's (2013) concept of the "networked microcelebrity". Standard social network analysis metrics were adapted to recognise diverse voices and multifaceted connections among activists. The resulting visualisation platform highlights interactions among 117 information-rich participants, offering multidirectional perspectives on the movement's narrative. This approach enhanced the visibility of less-prominent activists and provided a nuanced, visually engaging map of the networked narratives driving #EndSARS. In a broader context, this approach initiates the conversation on decolonising social network analysis to incorporate more diverse and representative voices.

Scroll, Share, Sustain: The Impact of Social Media on Social and Environmental Sustainability

2025-03-16T16:50:43+00:00

Global development agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals are focused on sustainability as a tool to improve the multi-faceted dimensions of human lives. Social media is one technology at the forefront of research into sustainability due to its social nature and ability to monitor human behaviour. Social media has become an integral part of society with a far-reaching impact that extends beyond our personal lives. Since its inception in the early 2000s, social media has grown exponentially and transformed in the variety of platforms available, usage and influence. It has become a powerful tool for sharing information, influencing behaviours and opinions and starting global movements. In this regard, these platforms are essential in shaping our understanding and actions around sustainability. However, there is a lack of comprehensive research on both the positive and negative impact of social media on sustainability and how exactly social media influences sustainability. This systematic literature review (SLR) paper aims to explore the impact of social media on social and environmental dimensions of sustainability, examining both the negative and positive implications of its pervasive use. The SLR assessed 70 studies using the Web of Science and Science Direct databases. The results of this study show the dual impact of social media on social and environmental sustainability. Positive impacts include promoting sustainable consumer behaviour, facilitating corporate social responsibility campaigns, improving brand perceptions and increasing engagement with sustainability topics. However, unintended consequences of social media can propagate issues like greenwashing, overconsumption, promotion of extremist views, and misinformation. The implications of this study might be used by digital policymakers, organisations and individuals who seek to exploit these platforms for sustainable development.

Fascism and Paranoia in the Market of Information

2025-03-17T00:52:16+00:00

My paper is a theoretical exploration bringing together psychoanalysis, political theory and media studies to show how conspiracy media are expressions of paranoia that, in their attempts to resolve the contradictions present in liberalism, necessarily reproduce fascist ideology. Alternative political cultures and neoliberal media structures are posing increasingly greater challenges to the ideological authority of liberal institutions, exposing media users to the contradictions inherent in liberal democracy. Paranoia in the Lacanian structure is characterised by the radical rejection of the authoritative signifier, substituting this authority with some other, usually malevolent, omnipotent authority via a delusion. In substituting this authority, the newly formed reality retains investment in the signifiers of the old symbolic order but is imbued with new meaning. Fascism has been argued to be an ideology that attempts to purify the contradictions of liberal democracy, by either privileging the popular will over the rights of the individual or privileging the rights of the individual over the popular will. In my paper I draw on existing Lacanian analysis of fascism as containing a paranoid structure where, in confrontation with its failures, radically rejects the traditional authority of liberalism, resulting in the substitution of authority with some imagined corruptive obstruction (such as a Jewish cabal). As such, it is an ideology that distorts and gives new meaning to the discourse of liberal democracy. I will then link this argument to contemporary conspiracy theory media, demonstrating its paranoid character and how it reproduces the ideology of fascism in its attempts to reconcile the failures of liberalism by imagining some corruptive obstruction.

Social Media and Enterprise Password Reuse Problem: Password Security Guidelines for Manufacturing Enterprises

2025-05-18T11:54:20+00:00

The widespread use of the same passwords for social media and enterprise accounts presents a significant risk to
organisational security. Through social engineering attacks such as phishing, hackers can try and gain information from users,
using this information to try and guess your password to your social media accounts and attempt to see whether it is the
same for your enterprise account. This study aims to create campaign guidelines for raising awareness amongst social media
users about password security. The following Secondary Research Objectives have been used to aid the Research Question.
Secondary Research Objective 1
(SRO1) was to assess security risks, preventive measures, best practices, and challenges related to password reuse across
various platforms. Secondary Research Objective 2 (SRO2) aimed to identify key elements for successful password security
campaigns. Using these Secondary Research objectives, we will be able to address the Research Question and apply critical
reasoning to come up with guidelines that can help users learn about password security and raise awareness about safe
password security practices. In essence, the study emphasises a layered approach that combines strong policies, user
education, and balanced usability to enhance password security effectively. Through these efforts, this study aims to develop
personalised social media campaign guidelines to improve employee's understanding of password security, encouraging a
culture of proactive cybersecurity practices and safeguarding organisational data.

Digital Anti-Rationalism: Understanding the Alignment of Vitalism, Social Media, and Right-Wing Messaging

2025-05-18T11:59:15+00:00

This paper examines the relationship between social media and fascism. The main argument is that social media
and fascism share anti-rational drives. For fascism, this is due to its roots in vitalism, and for social media, it is due to its
position in a continuum of media concision. Through an interdisciplinary analysis including media studies, propaganda
analysis, and scholarship on fascism, the paper will expand on the concept of concision in the media as elucidated by Noam
Chomsky, applying it to social media to demonstrate how it limits evidence-based argumentation. This will be done by
situating social media within a larger trajectory of concision, showcasing how social media platforms like X, TikTok, and more,
are concise by design. The paper will then trace the anti-rationalist roots of fascism, focusing on the connections to vitalism
and its dependence on intuition and emotion instead of evidence and rationality. By linking those elements to social media,
the paper will ultimately articulate the ways in which the concision of social media and the anti-rationalism of fascism align,
creating a media ecosphere that privileges fascist rhetoric due to its inherent irrationality. This examination will look at those
pieces in conjunction with the “firehose of falsehood” propaganda model, which relies on rapid, high-volume media content.
The ultimate argument of this paper is that social media, in their concision, limit discourse in a way that undermines
rationality, presenting significant implications for politics around the world.

Microintervention Strategies on Social Media to Protect Women's Body Image: A Review & Future Research Directions

2024-12-26T08:02:31+00:00

This review examines findings from 23 studies published between 2013 and 2023, offering a comprehensive understanding of the impact of social media interventions, such as body-positive content, self-compassion messaging, and realistic portrayals of beauty. It evaluates how these strategies affect women's cognitive and emotional processes. It provides a detailed explanation of the visual inputs used, including various types of imagery or videos and their corresponding effects. Furthermore, it identifies significant research gaps, particularly concerning early adolescence—a critical period for body image development—and emphasizes the need for further exploration into the long-term impact of these interventions on a diverse range of demographics. The study serves as a useful resource for practitioners, delivering evidence-based insights into effective and harmful visuals. By doing so, it encourages a responsible approach to the visual content employed in marketing efforts, fostering the promotion of positive body image and emotional well-being in online environments.

Risks of Harm through Social Media Use: Scams and How Users Respond

2025-02-11T00:54:59+00:00

Media reports abound of harm that can occur to the individual when using social media, from financial, emotional to psychological. To date, research around online harm and mitigation has tended to focus on specific risks such as phishing scams and identity theft. Some studies have explored the influence of factors such as age, cognitive ability, education, personality and risk propensity; while others have examined the effects of the type of attack, e.g. investment scam, on scam compliance. However, few studies, if any, have explored the individual’s approach to the holistic notion of potential risk and harm that might occur through social media use, particularly scams, given that one seldom knows what sort of, when and where such an attack may occur. This study aims to address this gap in the research. Informed by, amongst others, Protection Motivation Theory (Rogers, 1975), Reactance Theory (Brehm, 1966) and Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), exploratory interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 25 individuals to ascertain (1) their knowledge and/or experience of scams and consequent harm in social media use and (2) their mitigation responses. Findings indicate a range of scam knowledge and experience. Financial damage occurred most frequently, and often significant emotional harm. A variety of tactics was embraced by the interviewees in order to mitigate the potential harm of social media use. These ranged from becoming expert in certain types of attacks, to adopting a head-in-the-sand approach. Various demographic, personality and contextual factors seemed to contribute to vulnerability and favoured mitigating tactics. Suggestions are provided as to how to provide holistic guidance to users and the role of banks, social media and regulatory/advisory bodies. Areas of future research are also indicated.

Co-Creation as a Success Factor: Enhancing Customer Loyalty trough Social Network Engagement

2025-03-20T10:15:32+00:00

In the digital transformation era, businesses face mounting challenges in formulating innovative strategies to enhance customer engagement and cultivate long-term brand loyalty (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004; Jaakkola & Alexander, 2014). Traditional marketing approaches are diminishing in effectiveness, necessitating alternative means of fostering meaningful interactions with consumers. Co-creation has emerged as a pivotal strategy in this regard, actively integrating customers into the innovation and product development process (Mahr et al, 2013; Sarasvuo et al, 2022). This participatory engagement fosters an emotional connection between consumers and brands, consequently reinforcing brand affinity and customer retention (Breidbach & Maglio, 2016; Oklevik et al, 2024). Social networks serve as instrumental platforms in facilitating co-creation, enabling real-time interaction between customers and brands. These digital environments empower consumers to contribute ideas, articulate preferences, and engage in collaborative development efforts (Sarkar & Banerjee, 2021). This dynamic fosters enhanced customer satisfaction and provides valuable insights for businesses, which can be leveraged to refine their offerings. Furthermore, participatory experiences engender a sense of community, reinforcing brand loyalty by fostering a perception of shared ownership in the brand’s trajectory (Cossío-Silva et al, 2016). This paper examines the multifaceted impact of co-creation within social networks and identifies key success factors necessary for its effective implementation (Bogers et al, 2015; Gemser & Perks, 2015). By categorising distinct types of co-creators and analysing their motivational drivers, this study provides strategic insights for optimising customer engagement. The research delineates different co-creator personas, such as recognition-seekers, knowledge-driven contributors, and pragmatic participants, and evaluates their influence on the co-creation process. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this study integrates qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys to classify and analyse co-creator typologies. This methodological framework allows for a comprehensive exploration of behavioural drivers and the efficacy of co-creation initiatives. Findings indicate that successful co-creation initiatives must be designed to accommodate the heterogeneity of co-creator motivations. Companies should integrate both intrinsic and extrinsic incentives to ensure participants perceive their contributions as valuable. Moreover, transparency in the innovation process, explicit communication of expectations, and the cultivation of an inclusive and rewarding engagement environment are essential in sustaining long-term customer participation (Oklevik et al, 2024). Ultimately, co-creation within social networks emerges as a potent mechanism for strengthening customer relationships, driving brand advocacy, and fostering a sustainable competitive advantage (Füller, 2006). Businesses that strategically implement co-creation practices can cultivate a loyal customer base while enhancing their capacity for innovation and responsiveness in an evolving market landscape (Ramaswamy, 2009).

Transforming Social Media Usage Paradigms Among Millennials: Analysing Preferences, Behaviours, and Strategic Implications

2025-02-13T13:23:45+00:00

The paper examines the current trends and usage of social media platforms by Millennials, with an emphasis on their preferences, behavioural patterns and the paradigm shift of using these platforms. This paper presents an overview of current studies addressing trends in social media usage, with a particular focus on academic and scholarly publications, as well as studies. The paper presents an analysis of self-reported data on social media use among Millennials. The author conducted comprehensive research and a series of individual in-depth interviews with the objective of determining the number of social media platforms currently utilised by Millennials, the primary reasons for their usage, the individuals they follow on social media, their preferences regarding post content, and their perceptions of the various social media platforms. Particular attention is paid to the perception of social media platforms in relation to educational institutions. The paper also offers recommendations for educational institutions regarding the use and communication through social media platforms.

Impact of AI in Social Media: Addressing Cyber Crimes and Gender Dynamics

2025-05-18T12:08:40+00:00

Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) in social media has transformed digital interactions, enhancing content
moderation, user experience, and security. However, this evolution has also introduced significant cybersecurity risks,
particularly gender-based cybercrimes, algorithmic bias, and privacy violations. This paper examines AI’s dual role in
mitigating and exacerbating cybercrimes on social media, focusing on gender dynamics and ethical concerns. It explores AIpowered
moderation tools, their effectiveness in detecting harmful content, and the unintended consequences of
algorithmic bias. Additionally, it highlights how AI-driven misinformation and deepfake technology contribute to online
exploitation. The study evaluates regulatory frameworks, ethical AI deployment, and policy interventions aimed at reducing
algorithmic discrimination and strengthening digital safety. By analyzing both technological advancements and systemic
vulnerabilities, this research proposes strategies for fostering a safer, more equitable online environment. Beyond content
moderation, AI significantly impacts user behavior and information dissemination. Algorithmic personalization can reinforce
echo chambers, exacerbate polarization, and contribute to the virality of harmful content. Cybercriminals leverage AI for
advanced phishing attacks, automated disinformation campaigns, and deepfake-based fraud, requiring adaptive security
measures. The paper also discusses emerging policy frameworks that balance AI innovation with accountability, advocating
for an interdisciplinary approach involving policymakers, technologists, and civil society. The findings underscore the need
for transparent AI governance, improved dataset diversity, and a hybrid human-AI approach to content moderation.
Ultimately, this paper emphasizes the importance of ethical AI design and proactive intervention to ensure AI-driven social media platforms serve as tools for protection rather than harm.

Dimensions of Youth Interaction on TikTok: Exploring Creativity, Multimodality, and Digital Literacy

2025-03-17T08:59:45+00:00

This paper explores youth perceptions of TikTok, looking for how this platform influences their daily experience and how they build their relationship with technology. We rely on qualitative research using interviews as a method to search for evidence. Based on the analysis of data collected from 19 participants between 11 and 23 years old, interviewed by 4 researchers, individually or in groups, during seven interviews of approximately one hour, during a school year. This study addresses how users interpret their activities on the social network TikTok—after transcription of the interviews, using HappyScribe, which were subsequently reviewed manually, a total of 71 documents were obtained. A double coding process, automatic and manual, was carried out. This combination of quantitative and qualitative methodology allows for a broader understanding of the trends and patterns that mark the youth experience on TikTok. A closer look at this technique shows that it was carried out by analyzing the terms, considering the context in which each of the codes appears. This function uses an algorithm to generate a hierarchy of codes based on recurring phrases in the data. The results show that TikTok is not only an entertainment platform, but also a space for the production and negotiation of shared meanings among the platform's users, who employ different linguistic strategies. Young people generate content by adapting to algorithms and re-signifying trends based on their cultural experiences. Likewise, there is a constant interaction between creativity and algorithmic regulations, which influences which meanings consolidate or disappear. The common perceptions identified in this work reveal not only the relevance of TikTok as a tool for social interaction among young people but also how it is configured as a creative space related to the acquisition of multimodal skills and even capable of enhancing various forms of literacy.

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Lurker? Lurking, AI, and Social Media Literacies

2025-02-20T09:01:45+00:00

This paper identifies the trajectory of literature on the concept of lurking and uses key examples from this development to suggest their usefulness to Social Media Literacies (SML). Although itself a relatively new area, SML scholars have argued for the need to prioritise critical thinking over usability of social media platforms (McWhirter, 2024). An idea often ignored in much digital and social media research is that of lurking. But can this concept be of use to the newly developing area of SML? Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) research tools uncover not only developments in the conceptual thinking on lurking scholarship but also identify key ideas that help to support the argument for lurking as a key frame for SML? The work explores the evolution of the concept of the lurker over the past three decades and argues that the idea is an important lens onto the digital world. Lurking is broadly representative of a silent majority in online spaces where most users are not (always) creating, reacting to, or sharing content. Sipley (2024) highlights the negative history of the lurker, calls for more attention to be brought to this phenomenon, and questions the developmental thinking on the concept. This research uses different types of AI to sort and synthesise conceptual literature on lurking from 2000 to 2024, finding that much developmental thinking has occurred, moving the debate beyond simplistic “posters versus lurkers” contexts. The paper reflects on the usefulness of AI research assistants – such as ASReview Lab and NotebookLM – in distilling and analysing conceptual ideas about lurkers and lurking. These tools quickly uncover work that develops the lurker idea and highlight key papers. In turn these concepts are explored with their relevance to SML, from an awareness of behaviours in online contexts, to social media research methods, to surveillance capitalism.

Motivations and Consumption Patterns on TikTok among Higher Education Students

2025-01-20T16:00:20+00:00

This study investigates TikTok's motivations and consumption patterns among higher education students. Given the increasing use of social media by young people and the emerging popularity of TikTok, the main objective is to identify the motivations that lead these students to use the platform and determine the types of content they consume and share. A mixed methodological approach was adopted, combining quantitative and qualitative methods. Questionnaires were administered to 125 students, and structured interviews were conducted with 6 selected students. Based on previous studies and validated through a pre-test, the questionnaire collected data on social media usage, motivations for using TikTok, and types of content consumed and shared. The interviews explored issues emerging from the quantitative data collected through the questionnaire and provided a deeper understanding of the student's experiences. The results indicate that Instagram is the most used social network by students, followed by TikTok. The main motivations for using TikTok include entertainment, searching for content related to their interests, the need for relaxation, and keeping up with current events. Regarding the types of content, students prefer to consume humorous videos, product reviews, musical content, and popular challenges. However, most users adopt a passive role, consuming content without producing or sharing their own videos. The interviews confirmed these trends, revealing that students value TikTok as a source of entertainment and information, with little interest in active content creation. The study concluded that TikTok plays an important role in the digital routine of university students, serving as a content platform that meets their needs for entertainment and information. Some findings suggest that understanding the primary motivations for using TikTok can inform strategies for utilising the platform effectively and integrating it into the learning environment. The study's identification of preferred content types (humorous videos, product reviews, musical content, and popular challenges) can guide the development of educational content that resonates with students. The fact that most students are passive consumers of TikTok content, primarily watching and engaging minimally, has implications for both students and educators. For students, it suggests a potential for increased media literacy education to help them critically evaluate and interact with online content more actively. It presents an opportunity for educators to explore innovative ways to leverage TikTok's engaging format for educational purposes, encouraging active participation and content creation. Apart from expanding this study to larger samples, future research may explore some of these implications and look into the potential that TikTok may have as a learning tool and dilute its reputation of being just a mind-numbing and time-consuming app.

Impact of TikTok Usage on Higher Education Students: Addiction, Flow State, and Sense of Belonging

2025-01-21T14:25:20+00:00

This research explores the impact of TikTok usage among higher education students, focusing on three dimensions: addiction, flow state, and sense of belonging. Recognising the significant role that TikTok plays in young people's digital lives, the study aims to analyse how this platform affects students at a Portuguese School of Higher Education according to these dimensions, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of the effects associated with its use. A mixed methodology was adopted, combining quantitative and qualitative methods. A sample of 125 students answered a questionnaire, and structured interviews were conducted with 6 participants. The questionnaire included specific scales to measure the flow state, sense of belonging, and signs of addiction related to TikTok usage. The interviews provided a deeper exploration of individual perceptions of the platform's impact on their lives. The results reveal that students frequently experience the flow state when using TikTok, reporting that time "flies" and that they become deeply absorbed by the content. Despite this, according to quantitative data collected, most do not consider themselves addicted to the platform. However, during the interviews, students acknowledged that TikTok can be addictive, admitting to spending more time than intended and losing track of time, suggesting a discrepancy between initial self-assessment and more in-depth reflection. Regarding the sense of belonging, most students do not feel part of the TikTok community, which may be attributed to their predominantly passive use of the platform and lack of interaction or content creation. This indicates that building a sense of belonging is linked to more active and interactive participation patterns. It is concluded that TikTok has a significant impact on higher education students, inducing flow states and potentially contributing to addictive behaviours. The absence of a sense of belonging suggests that passive usage does not foster a sense of community, which may affect how students relate to the platform and other users. These results have important implications for understanding the impact of social media on young people's well-being and mental health, highlighting the need to promote balanced and mindful usage. Future studies may focus on designing strategies aimed at mitigating potential negative effects deriving from the addictive use of this sort of technology and explore the role of content creation as a way of fostering a sense of belonging.

Integrating Social Media in Library Services within Higher Education Institutions: A Systematic Review

2025-03-10T16:58:23+00:00

This study examines how academic libraries integrate social media to enhance engagement and service delivery. Using the PRISMA methodology, a systematic review of literature from 2010 to 2024 was conducted across Scopus, Academic Search Ultimate, Web of Science, ERIC, and Google Scholar. The PICO framework guided the inclusion criteria, focusing on peer-reviewed studies evaluating the impact of social media on library services. A total of 20 studies were analysed, revealing that social media significantly enhances real-time communication, increases resource accessibility, and fosters interactive user engagement. However, challenges such as privacy concerns, institutional policies, and inconsistent adoption strategies were also identified. This review highlights best practices for effective social media integration in academic libraries and provides recommendations for future implementation. The findings contribute to the growing body of research by offering a consolidated evaluation of social media strategies in higher education libraries, informing both practitioners and policymakers

Linked Resources in Debates About the German Network Enforcement Act on Twitter

2025-03-12T19:14:57+00:00

This paper analyses linked resources in debates about the German Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) on Twitter. Public discourse about this law has been contentious in Germany and abroad with opponents of it cautioning against overblocking and threats of censorship, while supporters highlighted the necessity to hold platforms accountable for illegal content to protect minorities and eventually the democratic public sphere. The conversation on Twitter provides valuable insights into the stakeholders, topics, and communicative practices that shaped this discussion about platform regulation and free speech, which has substantially impacted the European digital policy agenda, eventually culminating in the Digital Services Act (DSA). We first collected tweets mentioning NetzDG and produced a network graph to visualise the interaction between accounts that took part in these debates based on their retweet activity. Then, we extracted every URL inserted in the tweets collected to understand what resources those accounts refer to. Findings revealed that accounts linked to the German right-wing party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) tend to share links to so-called alternative online media sites and reference content of AfD politicians on other social media platforms (Eg.: Youtube and Facebook). The cluster composed of liberal tech, media, and legal experts, however, tends to reference specialized IT blogs and websites, while the cluster composed of accounts related to the German liberal Party (FDP) primarily linked content of the legacy media. These findings allow us to identify the informational resources and media that have had the greatest impact on the NetzDG discussion on Twitter through their relevance for the groups represented by the individual network clusters. Furthermore, they shed light on the ways in which this highly technical and juridical expert discourse concerning the regulation of speech online is translated for a discussion in broader society.

Co-creation and Social Media in Public Policy Development

2025-03-11T11:09:19+00:00

Social Media has lately witnessed a roller coaster progress, from timidly connecting students to performing countless and chameleonic functions, tailored to the users’ needs, to being a pipeline for vast amounts of data that provided support for infamously ran election campaigns. It has thus equally contributed to changes in social practices, redefining the public sphere, reshaping organizations, voicing the silent actors, while bridging societies to their public institutions and governments to people. Moreover, the current digital transformation is protecting people’s rights, ensuring that all players act safely and responsibly, while technology unites people in a leveled up democratic process, to make change happen. In this context, a plethora of research speaks about raising awareness activities (Stoch& Roodt, 2016), highlighting that digital media can build social capital (Armstrong& Butcher, 2018) or generate collective action (Milan, 2015; Bennett & Segerberg, 2012) in organized “cloud protesting”. More recent research concentrates on activism as a powerful tool for decolonisation (Garbe, 2024) or explores its utility and effectiveness to advance citizens’ voices where the absence of strong institutions is a challenge in transitional democracies, (Saka & Ojo, 2024) through connective emotion.This helps participants digitally organize themselves, even though they sometimes lack an identifying cause (George & Leidner, 2019.) Concurrently, the present paper shows how social media mobilization backed by real public space initiatives and the power of social learning, social support and connectivity have been used in a co-creation campaign aimed at bringing change in Romanian public policy. The tested hypothesis was that social media provides an open, democratic and widely available arena for citizen discussions and involvement in developing public policies, with goal oriented results that serve the public interest, with legitimacy and triggered authority involvement. First we defined collaboration, the co-creation of public policies and their role in actively and directly involving citizens in the governing process, then reviewed literature on social media’s role as a platform for open discussions, drafting and supporting public policies. To gather data and validate the hypothesis we used Zelist Monitor application, to track the activity of the campaign’s Facebook page and analyzed fan metrics, interaction index and responsivity, engagement and sentiment analysis. Results have validated the hypothesis and thus they can further be used in future research, to identify which of the public values can garner enough support for co-creation to occur and thus lead to social change.

Impact of Humanized and Humorous Content on Social Media for Brand Metrics

2025-05-18T12:27:58+00:00

Brands face the challenge of creating engaging content for their audiences. Brand managers must decide what and
how to communicate effectively and cost-efficiently. Social networks provide an economical avenue for direct consumer
engagement, especially among younger demographics. The growing prominence of video content on platforms like TikTok
and YouTube highlights the need for carefully crafted social media video strategies. This study explores the impact of humanized and humor-based content on consumer perception metrics, such as brand personality, authenticity, leadership, and equity. It also examines generational and gender-based differences in these perceptions. Methodologically, it analyzes case studies of social media videos from Swee and Lidl, contrasting humanized and humorous content with rational, less humanized approaches. Data were collected from a sample of 122 respondents through a questionnaire, assessing their perceptions of the brands' social media content. Statistical techniques, including descriptive analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and chisquare tests, were employed to analyze brand perception differences across content types. Results reveal that humanized and humorous content outperforms rational content in enhancing brand personality, authenticity, leadership, and equity for both brands. The findings underline the importance of humanization and humor in social media strategies, especially for improving consumer engagement and perception. Implications for academic research, brand management practices, and future studies are also discussed, emphasizing the value of these approaches in contemporary digital marketing.

Beyond Content: Social Media Interfaces as "Texts" in Critical Media Literacy

2025-04-09T09:31:06+00:00

The interface of a social networking service (SNS) plays a crucial role in shaping how users engage with and experience the platform (Suchman, 2007; Verbeek, 2015), influencing their interactions, self-expression, and social connections. However, young users may not always recognize interface elements—such as layout, colors, menus, buttons, infinite scrolling, autoplay, and notifications— and their potential influence on attention and engagement (Anderson and Wood, 2021). While media education initiatives frequently deconstruct media "texts" with young people, they largely focus on content-related issues such as misinformation, neglecting the impacts of interface design on perceptions and experiences. This study advocates for an expanded media literacy approach that considers interfaces as "texts" to be critically analyzed. Rooted in critical media literacy (Kellner and Share, 2005), this project aims to document adolescents' representations and experiences of social media interfaces and identify educational strategies promoting critical competences. Conducted in French-speaking Belgium, it adopts a design-based research method (Anderson & Shattuck, 2012) to create and evaluate an offline pedagogical activity. Initial focus groups with 35 adolescents aged 13–18 provided insights that shaped the activity's design, shedding light on young users' awareness of interface components, their potential role and effects, and their attitudes towards these design features. The prototype of the activity was tested in four schools. It combines semiotic approaches (Jewitt and Henriksen, 2016; Souchier, Candel and Gomez-Mejia, 2019) with experiential learning (Kolb, 2015), creating a game-based simulation where learners engage in speculative design (Willis and Anderson, 2013). This approach encourages students to analyze and (de)construct social media interfaces, reflecting on their production and reception contexts. Ultimately, this research calls for an expanded approach to media education that includes interface awareness as a key component of Digital Literacy.

Truth, Lies, and Algorithms: Interdisciplinary Pedagogical Strategies for Media Literacy

2025-03-24T10:54:25+00:00

The spread of misinformation on social media presents a critical challenge for students across disciplines. Despite its far-reaching impact on diverse fields, media literacy is often relegated to specialized courses rather than integrated across curricula. This paper offers actionable pedagogical strategies—grounded in the theoretical frameworks of critical pedagogy, experiential learning, and transactional reading theory—to help postsecondary students navigate and resist misinformation in varied disciplinary contexts by emphasizing critical media literacy. The proposed activities encourage students to critically analyze social media content, evaluate its credibility, and reflect on its societal impacts. By bridging theory and practice, this paper contributes to the growing body of research on interdisciplinary media literacy; it also underscores the transformative potential of experiential learning in preparing students for ethical, informed, and cross-disciplinary digital engagement.

Do Food-Related Social Media Content Influence Dietary Habits Among Young Adults? An Empirical Examination

2025-03-14T10:06:20+00:00

In recent years, there has been a remarkable increase in the usage of social media for exchanging and sharing information across several domains, including but not limited to lifestyle trends, fitness routines, entertainment contents, food related contents, and dietary practices, among others. This study aims to unravel the complexities involved with the influence of food related social media content on dietary habits. The primary objective is to explore how exposure to such contents affects food choices, body image perceptions, and nutritional awareness among young adults. This study utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods to assess the association between exposure to food related social media content and dietary habits. Individuals in the age range of 18 to 26 are considered as young adults in this study. The quantitative data was collected through an electronic survey completed by 110 respondents, and additional interviews were conducted with 30 selected individuals. The survey examined participants view on body image and the impact of social media food ads on food purchasing behaviour and dietary choices. Some of the important findings obtained from this study are as follows: First, participants indicated accessing several social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Tik-Tok, with a substantial majority engaging for over 5 hours a day. Fashion, lifestyle, entertainment, and food were the most popular genres, with one-third of participants trying new diets or recipes after engaging with food content online. Two-third of participants felt body image pressure, often altering diets due to food-related social media content, while many prioritised visual appeals over nutrition, with 50% influenced by social media marketing. This study is a novel attempt to unravel the complex interplay between social media and dietary behaviors particularly among young adults.

Keywords: Social Media Platforms, Young Adults, Food Related Content, Dietary Trends, Social Psychology.

How Destination Familiarity Impacts on Word of Mouth of Tourist Destinations: The Moderation Effects of Social Media Engagement

2025-03-11T15:41:05+00:00

With the advent of the Internet, communication has changed, and new concepts have emerged, especially in tourism. Today, there are many tourist destinations, so competition is increasing. However, cities must find an effective method of differentiating themselves and demonstrating the value of their brand through social media posts since almost everyone is active in the digital world. Using social media, citizens can create and send content or choose word-of-mouth to pass on information about touristic destinations. Communication is vital for marketing and building a close relationship with the customer. Familiarity with the destination is essential because tourists should be prepared for what they will find when visiting a country. This article aims to study the effects of familiarityn the acceptance of tourist destinations moderated by engagement in social media. A quantitative approach was used, and a questionnaire was used to conduct the researchUsing literature-tested scales, this study collected data from a sample of 915 individuals, which was analysed using SMART PLS software. The results identified that social media engagement is vital in moderating the relationship between familiarity with the destination, advertising stimulation and word of mouth.

Influence of Social Media Platforms on the Purchase Decisions of Luxury Apparel

2025-03-14T10:06:12+00:00

The widespread usage of social media and its impact across several dimensions of individuals’ daily lives has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention to providing insightful explanations. However, very few studies have looked into understanding how social media directly influences the decision-making process regarding purchases in the luxury apparel sector. This study seeks to add onto the discipline’s understanding of this dimension. A pilot survey was conducted prior to the main electronic survey to evaluate the feasibility and reliability of the questionnaire responses. An electronic survey was rolled out and a total of 100 responses were received. The respondents fall within the age range of 20 to 40. Additionally, in-depth interviews were conducted with six selected individuals to gain further insights. The study’s primary findings indicate that, on average, the respondents reported that, on average, they spend between three to six hours per day on various social media platforms. Social Media is generally preferred over traditional media primarily for two main reasons: real time updates and information available on social media and the various forms of multimedia content that are supported upon social media platforms. It is understood that social media plays an influential role in every stage of the consumer decision making process, but especially the stages of product awareness and evaluation of alternatives. Positive brand reputation and ease in the purchase process are crucial factors that motivate consumers to complete a purchase decision. Negative reviews may not completely prevent purchase decisions, but they possess the potential to postpone or prompt consumers to consider alternative products. Numerous factors contribute to the final purchase decision, yet various forms of social media content serve as motivational elements that enhance purchase intentions. This study aims to provide valuable insights into the intricate relationship between social media content and consumer purchase decisions of luxury apparel, contributing to both academic discourse and
practical marketing strategies.

Factors Influencing Purchase Intention on Social Commerce – A Preliminary Study

2025-01-06T16:00:05+00:00

This preliminary study seeks to explore the factors influencing purchase intention on social commerce platforms among young Portuguese consumers. Understanding these factors is essential, as social commerce continues to grow rapidly, particularly among younger demographics who increasingly rely on social media for purchasing decisions. Portugal serves as an ideal context for this investigation due to the lack of relevant research in social commerce and to its flourishing digital economy and the high social media engagement among its youth population. To gain deeper insights into these consumer behaviours and preferences, a focus group was conducted with nine participants who actively engage with social media platforms, aiming to get insights on the key elements that shape consumer behaviours in online shopping environments. The discussion, recorded in participants' native language, was later transcribed and translated for analysis. Key findings revealed that trust is a critical factor, with participants emphasizing the importance of costumer reviews, clear return policies and secure payment options. Additionally, personalised shopping experiences, leveraging social media’s customisation capabilities, were highlighted as significant drivers of purchase intention. Participants also suggested that social commerce platforms could boost visibility for small and local businesses through discoverability features. The use of interactive tools, such as live videos, was identified as the main way to build trust and engagement. These insights offer valuable implications for social commerce platforms and sellers aiming to enhance user trust and increase purchase intention. The findings offer valuable insights into consumer behaviour in social commerce, informing platform design strategies to optimize consumer involvement and improve purchase intentions.

Media Modalities and the Spread of Fake News: Diagnosticity and Involvement Effects

2025-05-18T12:45:26+00:00

The proliferation of fake news about climate change presents a significant challenge to global efforts to address
this urgent environmental issue. While fake news was previously predominantly text-based, it has evolved in recent years to
incorporate more dynamic multimedia formats like pictures, audio, and video, with the potential to significantly influence
users and amplify its spread online. This study investigates how different presentation modalities (text-only, image with text,
and video with text) influence the believability and dissemination of fake news about climate change. An online experiment
was conducted with 456 participants randomly assigned to view fake news posts in one of the three formats. The study
examined the effects of these presentation formats on perceived accuracy and sharing intentions, as well as the mediating
role of content diagnosticity and the moderating role of personal involvement. The experimental outcomes reveal the
following: 1) Video with text significantly enhances perceived accuracy compared to text-only format, while image with text
shows no significant difference; (2) The effect of presentation format on perceived accuracy is mediated by perceived
diagnosticity; (3) Personal involvement moderates these relationships, with highly involved individuals being less influenced
by presentation format; (4) Perceived accuracy positively correlates with sharing intentions across all formats. The study
contributes to our understanding of fake news dissemination by integrating the MAIN model, cognitive theory of multimedia
learning, and elaboration likelihood model. It highlights the role of the "realism heuristic" in processing fake news content
and reveals how perceived diagnosticity influences accuracy judgments. These findings provide valuable insights for
researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working to develop effective strategies for combating fake news and promoting
media literacy in the context of climate change communication. They suggest that media literacy programs should focus on
enhancing critical evaluation skills, particularly for video content. Additionally, increasing personal involvement in climate change issues may lead to a more critical evaluation of information across different modalities.

The 10-Year Shift: How AI Reshaped Social Media from 2014 to 2024

2025-04-24T20:24:50+00:00

Social media has reshaped how we communicate, market products, and share information, leading to a significant rise in academic research over the past decade. The growing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into social media has added new dimensions to this transformation, particularly in content personalization, misinformation detection, and automated user interactions. This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of AI-related social media research between 2014 and 2024 based on 996 documents indexed in Scopus. The analysis explores how research has evolved, which platforms have attracted the most attention, and what themes have emerged. Scopus keyword search results show that Messenger (295,816), Facebook (39,469), and YouTube (18,448) have dominated the academic landscape, reflecting their long-standing influence in digital communication. Meanwhile, platforms like TikTok and Mastodon, though smaller in publication volume, are gaining traction in recent studies, signalling a shift toward short-form video, decentralized networking, and AI-driven engagement. Platform-specific trends also emerged: Facebook is often linked with misinformation research, Instagram and TikTok with marketing, and LinkedIn with professional networking. The role of AI in social media studies has grown rapidly, especially in content curation, automated moderation, chatbot technology, and ethical concerns around privacy and deepfakes. While AI brings efficiency and personalization, it also raises issues like filter bubbles, algorithmic bias, and political polarization. This study identifies significant research gaps related to AI-generated content, regulatory challenges, and digital governance. By mapping out these trends, the study offers valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and tech leaders aiming to build more ethical, transparent, and user-focused social media platforms.

Developing and Validating the AI-SMEQ: Measuring the Effects of Artificial Intelligence on Social Media Users

2025-04-13T20:48:29+00:00

The increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in social media platforms has transformed user engagement, personalized content delivery, and the spread of misinformation. Despite its growing influence, a lack of standardized instruments remains to measure AI's effects on user behavior. This study introduces and validates the AI-SMEQ (Artificial Intelligence and Social Media Effect Questionnaire), a psychometric tool designed to assess AI’s impact on social media users. Data were collected from 300 participants, and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were conducted using SPSS and JASP. The final model consisted of four factors: (1) AI-driven engagement & Personalization, (2) AI Influence on Social Media Habits, (3) AI and Misinformation Exposure, and (4) AI Awareness & Control. The model fit indices demonstrated strong validity (CFI = 0.92, TLI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.06), and reliability analysis confirmed internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.78- 0.95). The AI-SMEQ offers a valuable tool for future research on the role of AI in digital consumption, misinformation, and user autonomy.

Cross-Platform Content Strategies on Social Media: A Case of Body Positivity Advocate Tess Holliday

2025-03-17T22:20:49+00:00

Social media platforms, particularly Instagram and TikTok, provide new opportunities for body positivity advocates to challenge traditional beauty norms. This study examines how Tess Holliday employs cross-platform content strategies to maintain brand consistency and enhance audience engagement. Using a case study approach, this research analyzes 109 Instagram posts and 254 TikTok videos from 2024, categorizing content into 12 key themes. Findings reveal that Holliday tailors her content to platform-specific characteristics: Instagram reinforces her strong and confident brand identity, while TikTok highlights a more authentic and vulnerable side, leveraging viral trends for wider reach. Additionally, synchronizing core content across platforms helps maintain brand coherence. Existing research often focuses on single-platform strategies, overlooking how influencers navigate multi-platform environments. This study fills that gap but remains limited by its single-case scope and short-term data. Future research should expand case selection and adopt longitudinal methods to track evolving strategies. This study contributes to digital branding theory and offers practical insights for marketers and content creators on optimizing cross-platform engagement while ensuring brand consistency.

Evaluating the Different Approaches to Social Media Regulation and Liability

2025-02-25T09:41:20+00:00

With more than 5,17 billion users, social media is one of the most powerful forces in the world today. Consumers and businesses rely on it for connecting, researching, and communicating. Over the years, social media platforms have evolved into complex landscapes plagued by data privacy breaches, content moderation controversies, and mounting concerns about mental health outcomes. But how do governments and social media companies protect the public safety against risks and threats that social media present, such as misinformation, deep fakes, hate speech, and extremist communication? The discussion explores the different approaches to regulation and liability of social media platforms. Some governments have shifted away from social media platform self-regulation of content moderation to legal regulation. For example, the European Union Digital Services Act and the United Kingdom Online Safety Act provide for the accountability of a social media company for illegal and harmful content on its platform, but the approaches differ. Government control treads a fine line between free speech and censorship, over-regulation that may stifle innovation, and the responsibilities that come with running a platform, public safety and the future of the internet. In the United States (US) free speech is protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution which allows citizens to express themselves without government interference. Since social media companies are private companies, they can decide which speech they wish to host and amplify. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides immunity against liability for user-generated content. In recent years there have been legal disputes regarding the immunity protection and content moderation decisions. Allowing a social media platform to self-regulate may be good for innovation, but social media is now a powerful communication space with billions of voices and some of these voices are illegal or harmful. It may be that some form of government oversight should be in place to protect the public safety. The discussion highlights that governments around the world are increasingly alarmed by the potential for social media platforms to be exploited, and this has resulted in an ongoing struggle between the need for free expression and the imperative to maintain public safety.

Memetic Election Cycles in US Presidential Campaigns

2025-05-12T17:31:33+00:00

This article explores the concept of memetic election cycles, examining how memes have become a central tool in U.S. political campaigns since at least the 2008 Obama campaign. Through a review of key literature on political communication, participatory culture, and digital marketing, the study analyzes the evolution of memes as viral political content, but also as a viable means to mobilize the masses behind increasingly polarized political parties and campaigns. It highlights how campaigns such as those of Obama, Trump, Biden, and Harris leveraged memes not only for voter engagement but also as branding tools that shaped public perception. Using examples from recent election cycles, including the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections, the article discusses the role of memes as grassroots digital marketing and viral political advertising. Additionally, the research explores the potential influence of memes on voting behavior and the risks of disinformation. The findings suggest that memes serve as a hybrid form of digital folklore and marketing, influencing both electoral discourse and voter behavior.

Audience Engagement on YouTube: A Merge of Consumer and Media Engagement

2025-01-13T17:57:01+00:00

This theoretical paper presents a reconceptualisation of “audience engagement” on YouTube and how such a definition may help us to further understand the audience engagement strategies of YouTubers. Audience engagement is commonly referred to as audiences’ participatory activities, including liking, commenting, subscribing, and the direct consumption of video content on YouTube. However, this paper, through the lens of brand marketing and media production, sees YouTubers as both personal brands and content creators. With this angle in mind, the paper discusses how, by seeing YouTubers as personal brands, audience engagement with YouTubers is a form of consumer engagement, a marketing concept that describes the relationship between brands and consumers. The paper will then discuss how, by seeing YouTubers as content creators, audience engagement is also a form of media engagement, the concept that describes audiences' experience of “transportation” when consuming media products. The paper ultimately argues audience engagement with YouTubers is a merge of consumer and media engagement as a multi-dimensional way to understand audience experience on YouTube. The paper proposes that YouTubers’ audience engagement strategies can be understood in two primary ways. The first is from a consumer engagement perspective, by seeing some YouTubers’ strategies as a way of triggering the audience’s active connections outside video consumption, just like other brands’ consumer engagement strategies. The second is from a media engagement perspective, by interpreting some YouTubers’ strategies as a means of encouraging transportation experience among viewers. This paper adds to the existing literature on the concept of audience engagement on YouTube and social media platforms. It also offers a new way of understanding and new directions for exploring YouTubers’ strategies for fan building, from the perspective of consumer and media engagement in today's and future YouTube landscape, where YouTube creators are continuously becoming a convergence of brands and individual personalities.