Browsing by Subject "Social media"
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Item 501(c)Social video series : social media best practices for nonprofits in the digital age(2012-12) Cool, Bailey Anne; Watkins, S. Craig (Samuel Craig)This video series and report act as an educational tool to help small to mid-sized nonprofits use social media in the most beneficial way for their organization, by offering advice and tactics based on actual stories from nonprofits in Austin, Texas. As the landscape of marketing and media changes, nonprofits must be willing to utilize social media for their development strategies, event planning, volunteer recruitment and engagement, and have an up to date social media policy. Six nonprofit organizations tell their success stories and discuss the importance of integrating social media into their marketing strategies and campaigns.Item Adolescent social media use: Coping or avoidance?(2017-03-13) Harmon, Jennifer Marie; Venta, Amanda; Henderson, Craig; Crosby, JamesThe growing frequency of social media site use raises concerns regarding its psychological effects on users, particularly adolescents. The current study examined the moderating roles of social media coping and experiential avoidance within the relation between frequency of social media use and internalizing/externalizing symptoms of psychopathology in a sample of 334 college students between 17-19 years of age. It was found that neither social media coping nor experiential avoidance appeared to be related to internalizing or externalizing symptoms in the present sample.Item Analyzing content deviance in American community journalism websites and social media(2013-12) Funk, Marcus James; Sylvie, GeorgeThis dissertation explores deviance, operationalized through news factors, among American community weekly, community daily, large daily, and national daily newspaper websites and social media posts. Computerized quantitative analysis indicates that circulation size makes little to no significant difference concerning the publication of deviant news factors; smaller circulation sizes are significantly related to the publication of news concerning local communities, but not egalitarian news factors generally. Qualitative, structured interviews of community newspaper editors and publishers illustrate a different agenda - a clear focus for news on "regular people and routine events," arguably egalitarianism, over news on "unusual people or extraordinary events," arguably deviance. This indicates a need for further evaluation and development of computerized content analysis, gatekeeping theory, and the community newspaper industry. Results also suggest a need to reconsider and re-evaluate normative deviance as a concept and point to two potential theoretical developments: considering a Deviant-Egalitarian Spectrum and drastically broadening the current fringe focus of deviance research.Item Barack Obama and the rhetoric of a black president(2013-12) Young-Johnson, Connie; Brummett, Barry, 1951-This dissertation analyzes the discourse of Obama’s speeches to argue my thesis that Obama won election by virtue of his rhetorical speechmaking but more specifically, his ability to manage race in those speeches. I define and refer to Obama’s rhetorical handling of race in his speechmaking throughout the campaign as the rhetoric of race management. By rhetorical race management, I mean the strategic use of race (or obfuscation of race) in one’s discourse to manage or affect the audience’s beliefs or opinions of the listener. From a communication-based standpoint, understanding how race operated in this election requires us to examine the history of racism in the United States as well as critical scholarly work on the subject. Understanding how Obama was able to manage race in his rhetoric is necessary because it forces us to perhaps reexamine and scrutinize the 2008 Presidential election more carefully for several reasons. As rhetorical scholars, if we are in the business of understanding how our icons and politicians can potentially manipulate and use our rhetorical signs and symbols against us—or in spite of us--it is in our best interest to understand why the process occurred and why we allowed it to happen. I suggest that Obama’s deliberate attempt to weave ideological constructs like patriotism and the American Dream into his campaign strategy obfuscated his representation as the marginalized “other” and created a new political identity that has little to do with marginalization. By examining the theories of scholars like Kenneth Burke, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Walter Fisher, and Dana Cloud, I outline how race and racism historically operated in our political elections, from both a sociopolitical, or quantitative perspective, as well as a critical perspective. By using a multimethod analysis, we are better positioned to understand how Barack Obama successfully played the race card in the Presidential Election of 2008. More importantly, I argue in my conclusion why his use of rhetorical race management, was absolutely necessary if he were to become the first African-American president in a historically racist country.Item Behind-the-scenes of a brand : the impact of perceived backstage on consumer responses(2011-12) Moon, Jang Ho; Lee, Wei-Na, 1957-; Choi, Sejung M.; Pe�a, Jorge F.; Whittaker, Tiffany; Wilcox, GaryConsumers watch what a brand does, listen to what a brand says, and expect to make a meaningful connection with a brand via social media. Thus, creating effective and persuasive content on behalf of a brand to attract consumers becomes an important task for today’s marketers in social media. In this dissertation, brand information disclosure is defined as any communication of a brand’s relevant information, thoughts, and feelings, which are generated and deliberately disclosed by marketers. Further, disclosing perceived backstage of a brand by showing various behind-the-scenes information is proposed as a unique type of brand information disclosure, which is interpreted as a higher degree of brand information disclosure. Motivated by the integral role of self-disclosure in interpersonal relationships, the purpose of this dissertation study is to investigate the influence of a brand’s disclosure of perceived backstage information through social media. Specifically, this study explored how the degree and the scarcity of information disclosure would influence on consumer’s intimacy, liking, and trust toward a brand as well as consumer-brand relationship quality. Further, the study attempts to investigate the moderating role of consumer’s advertising skepticism on consumer responses. The findings from this dissertation study illustrate that degree of brand information disclosure is a significant influence on consumers’ brand evaluations and consumer-brand relationship quality in a social media environment. In addition, findings highlighted the influential role of the scarcity of information disclosure, depending upon the degree of information disclosure. Moreover, the findings evidenced how the consumer’s general advertising skepticism can play a significant role when consumers are exposed to information from the brand via social media.Item Benefits of Internet use in supporting rural life : managing social networks and exchanging social support in a rural area(2010-05) Park, Namsu; Strover, Sharon; Straubhaar, Joseph; Stein, Laura; Tyner, Kathleen; Lasorsa, DominicThe purpose of this study was (1) to examine rural residents’ perceived social support from Internet use for communication and (2) to understand the meanings associated with rural Internet users’ social media use, particularly with respect to mediating diverse social ties and exchanging different types of social support. To assess how Internet use affects rural residents’ sense of social support, this study investigated dynamic relationships between online communication and perceived social support by looking at interaction effects relative to extroversion, size of social networks, broadband use, and length of time using the Internet. To explore how social media are situated in a rural area, the present study investigated how rural residents use social network sites (SNSs) to maintain social contacts and exchange social support with members of their networks.Item Brand communities on social media : a case study of microblog hosted by BenQ in Taiwan(2009-12) Wu, Ying-chin; Choi, Sejung Marina; Sung, YongjunThe importance of social media is growing day by day because consumers increasingly use online platforms to facilitate social interaction. One new form of social media is microblog. The real time and ubiquitous communication that can deliver to a network of people is a great benefit for marketers to build online brand communities. The paper investigates the communication between the company and consumers based on BenQ’s case in Taiwan. The focuses lie in addressing the types of topic, techniques for marketing purposes and eWOM. These findings should assist marketers and academics in their understanding of brand communities on social media.Item Brand personality research on Twitter(2015-05) Chung, Arnold Dongwoo; Wilcox, Gary B.Social media has become a new channel for both brands and social media users. On social media channels, not only does a brand provide messages to their followers, but also social media users consume, contribute, and create brand related messages. In these social media messages, the brand personality that consumers actually do think and feel is included. In previous brand personality research, surveys have been the primary research methodology, however in this study, text mining in social media was utilized to examine brand personality. More specifically, Twitter messages, including the keywords Apple, Samsung, iPhone, and Galaxy, were collected and examined.Item Celebrity and fandom on Twitter : examining electronic dance music in the Digital Age(2012-12) Anaipakos, Jessica Lyle; Kumar, Shanti; Staiger, JanetThis thesis looks at electronic dance music (EDM) celebrity and fandom through the eyes of four producers on Twitter. Twitter was initially designed as a conversation platform, loosely based on the idea of instant-messaging but emerged in its current form as a micro-blog social network in 2009. EDM artists count on the website to promote their music, engage with fans, discover new songs, and contact each other. More specifically, Twitter is an extension of a celebrity’s private life, as most celebrities access Twitter from their cellphones and personal computers, cutting out gatekeepers from controlling their image. Four power player producers in EDM are used as case studies for analysis of the intimacy and reach Twitter provides. Chosen because of their visibility, style, and recognition, Deadmau5, Diplo, Skrillex, and Tiësto represent different EDM subgenres, run their own record labels, have dedicated fans, and are accessible through social media. All use Twitter to announce shows, interact with fans, promote contests and merchandise, and share stories and pictures of their personal lives with their fan followers. Tweets are a direct line for fans to communicate with these celebrities through the reply, retweet (RT), and mention functions on Twitter. Fan tweets to and from these EDM celebrities are also examined by looking at celebrity-fan encounters in the cyber world and the real world, aftereffects of celebrity RTs, and engagement with said celebrities. The internet is the lifeline for this subculture as it changed the way EDM is shared, promoted, and packaged. Twitter and other social media sites give producers the exposure they never experienced with traditional media and allow fans to participate in a global subculture. To sum up, this is a study on how Twitter influenced EDM and personalized the relationship between producers and fans.Item Characterizing the relationship in social media between language and perspective on science-based reasoning as justification for belief(2014-05) Evans, James Spencer; Baldridge, JasonBeliefs that are not the result of science-based interpretation of evidence (e.g., belief in ghosts or belief that prayer is effective) are extremely common. Science enthusiasts have expressed interest in automatic detection of non-science-based claims. This thesis intends to provide some first steps toward a solution, specifically aimed at detecting Twitter users who are likely or unlikely to take a science-based perspective on all topics. As part of this thesis, a set a Twitter users was labeled as being either "pro-science" (i.e. as having the view that beliefs are rational if and only if they are in accord with science-based reasoning) or "non-pro-science" (i.e. as having the view that beliefs may be reasonable even if they are not in accord with science-based reasoning). Word frequency ratios relative to a neutral dataset, and a simple topic alignment technique, suggest considerable linguistic divergence between the pro-science and non-pro-science users. High accuracy logistic regression classification using linguistic features of users' recent tweets support that idea. Supervised classification experiments suggest that the pro-science and non-pro-science perspectives are not only detectable from linguistic features, but that they can be abstracted away from particular topics (i.e. that the pro-science and non-pro-science perspectives are not inherently topic-specific). Results from distantly supervised classification suggest that using easily acquired, weakly labeled data may be preferable to the much slower process of individually labeling data for some applications, despite the pronounced inferiority to the fully supervised approach in terms of accuracy. The best classifier obtained in this thesis has an accuracy of 93.9%.Item Competencies, Importance, and Motivations for Agricultural Producers' Use of Online Communications(2013-05) Shaw, Kelsey E; Meyers, Courtney; Doerfert, David; Irlbeck, EricaFarmer demographics are drastically changing and it is essential that farmers and ranchers are taking the story of agriculture directly to the consumer. Online communication tools may serve as a tool for this farmer to consumer communication. The purpose of this study was to determine agriculturists’ use of online communication tools. The target population for this study was members of organizations targeting beginning farmers and ranchers in Texas, Illinois, and Georgia. An online survey was administered electronically to members of seven organizations, and 185 completed questionnaires were analyzed for this study. It was determined that agriculturists of all levels of experience are not currently utilizing online communication tools to their full potential, for either business or personal reasons. Additionally, several specific training needs were identified regarding these tools. A wide variety of motivations and barriers were identified that might encourage or discourage agriculturists from attending future training sessions.Item Considerations for open source intelligence through the lens of information and communication technology(2013-05) Starr, Colter Roy; Westbrook, LynnOpen source intelligence (OSINT) has always been strongly tied to the information and communication technology (ICT) of the day. This paper is an examination of the current state of OSINT as it relates to ICTs by looking at overarching problems that exist across multiple types of collection methods, as well as looking at specific cases where there are issues, such as China and the Middle East, and ending with some minor recommendations on how to fix or minimize the issues highlighted.Item Conspicuous participation : what is it & how does it impact communication strategies of nonprofit organizations?(2011-05) Schlissel, Erin Nicole; Drumwright, Minette E.; Wilcox, GaryThe following report defines the concept of conspicuous participation and it demonstrates how it impacts nonprofit marketing efforts through social media. This is accomplished through providing an in-depth theoretical background, a detailed typography describing how conspicuous participation is currently being used to promote interactions with nonprofit organizations, and through two case studies, which offer real-world examples of how nonprofit organizations are utilizing this concept. Conspicuous participation can be defined as The act of publishing original or existing content in an online space that is visible to others, either all members of the general public or members of a private social network, in order to interact with and/or show support for a defined community or organization.Item Consumer engagement and relationship building in social media : the effects of consumer self-determination and social relatedness(2014-08) Kim, Eunice Eun-Sil; Drumwright, Minette E.; Choi, Sejung MarinaWith the continuing growth of consumer participation in brand activities in social media, social media marketers and researchers have sought to tap into consumer engagement and relationship building by creating interpersonal social media environments that can facilitate consumers’ sense of belonging or social relatedness. Although consumer engagement and relationship building have become mainstream research topics in social media, little is known about which marketing efforts brands should undertake in order to engage various consumers who have different motivations to engage with brands. The purpose of this research was to explore the mechanism by which consumer motivations and perceptions of social relatedness influence consumer engagement and relationship building in the context of social media. Three studies were conducted to examine whether the extent to which consumers’ experience of social relatedness in social media moderates the effects of self-determination on consumer engagement (i.e., intrinsic motivation and future intention) and relational outcomes (i.e., satisfaction, affective commitment, control mutuality, competence trust, and benevolence/integrity trust). The findings consistently showed that consumers’ perceptions of the social relatedness they experienced within social media moderated the effect of self-determination on intrinsic motivation and affective commitment. Specifically, the positive influence of social relatedness on consumers’ intrinsic motivation and affective commitment to brand activities was greater for consumers with a low level of self-determination than for those who were motivated by a high level of self-determination. Consumers with low levels of self-determination yielded greater intrinsic motivation and affective commitment when they experienced high perceived social relatedness than when they perceived low perceived relatedness. However, among brand followers in social media, the consumer self-determination × social relatedness interaction effects on the relational outcomes were greater for those who were high in self-determination than for those who were low in self-determination. Overall, this research highlights the importance of fulfilling consumers’ need for social relatedness in the context of social media, especially for those who are motivated to engage in brand activities via external factors. Further, findings of this research yield insights into segmenting consumers based on the level of consumer self-determination and consumer type.Item Consumer-brand relationships and effective management of social media(2010-05) Henry, Daniel D.; Choi, Sejung Marina; Sung, YongjunRelationship marketing is an important part of the development of brands. The following report conceives the role of relationship marketing and how brands can use social networks as a key for unlocking a relationship with their consumer. This report presents the managerial implications on relationship marketing, the importance of dialogue, and social media. This report is for marketers to understand the importance of initiating, developing and maintaining a relationship with consumers and translate the concepts so that brands can successfully apply them into social networks.Item Creation of a Social Media Policy for Law Enforcement Agencies(Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT), 2017) Bettis, JamesDuring the last two decades, technology advancements have had an impact on how law enforcement organizations operate. One of these technological advancements has been the evolution of the internet and the ability to communicate electronically. Twenty years ago, sitting at a computer, typing an email, and having it sent to the recipient almost instantly was a new and novel idea. Now a person can type their thoughts, feelings, and ideas from their phone or other portable device from virtually anywhere at any time. This is accomplished through social media. The use of social has provided new challenges and opportunities law enforcement agencies. In order to mitigate the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities, agencies will need to create a social media policy. This policy will need to address how the agency is represented on social media. This includes who will be allowed to utilize social media on the agency’s behalf as well as how it will be used for investigative and emergency purposes. The policy will also need to address employees’ rights as they pertain to social media use, both on and off-duty.Item Delivering value through social networking : creating lifetime loyalty in young alumni : an interactive qualitative analisys of the undergraduate experience & using social media experience(2014-05) Garcia, Adriana R.; Drumwright, Minette E.Social networking has become integrated into every aspect of business that one can imagine and universities must take advantage of the phenomenon to build personal relationships with young alumni in an effort to build a lifetime of loyalty. This study addresses some issues that should be considered to build loyalty in young alumni, from the moment of their first arrival, rather than waiting until after they graduate to cultivate them. This study examines how alumni relations officers can help build relationships through social networks, and in-school interventions that will help creating lifetime loyalty among young alumni. Young alumni, who are more familiar with technology than older generations of alumni are a prime target audience that should be considered to study efficient and effective way for universities to get their messages out. Through an interactive qualitative analysis study, this research addresses the factors that keep alumni from wanting to hear about and be vested in their alma mater before they graduate and how they will communicate with the university after graduation. This study explores the broad question, Why do some students use alumni social media and some do not? To answer the question, the researcher explores the phenomenon of The Undergraduate Experience and Using Social Media. Using Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA), this study identifies the elements that make up The Undergraduate Experience and The Using Social Media Experience. The study goes further by identifying how these elements relate in a system of influence. The study concludes with practical solutions for the engagement of alumni.Item Digital intifada : a discourse analysis of the Palestine solidarity groups in social media(2016-08) Almahmoud, Meshaal Abdullah; Atkinson, Lucinda; Love, BradfordThis thesis investigates the discourse adopted by Palestine solidarity groups utilizing Facebook. Three pro-Palestine groups were highlighted as a case study for this thesis: Palestine Solidarity Campaign, International Solidarity Movement and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement. The research questions address the methods of discourse Palestinian solidarity groups' employ, utilization of different contents and themes, level of engagement, selection of format, news resources, and impact of 2014 Gaza war. This study analyzes variations among the three groups and components influencing differentiations. The literature review highlights transformation in both individual and collective communication and social media's changing social and political structures. Research includes the usage of social media to frame social movements’ platform and social media benefits for collective action and how framing is achieved and collective identity developed. Lastly, it illuminates the trend of connective action and personalization. The discourse analysis approach was applied to investigate the set of selected Facebook posts in 2014. The results show that the three solidarity groups generally applied resource mobilization theory. Posts reporting some form of a violation contained the most correlating content. Human rights theme rose to the majority of the total number of posts. The most used contents in the posts aim for audience sympathy, responsibility and being connected, as for a shared pursuit to occur. Reporting a violation, the most used content, triggers sympathy. Responsibility is motivated by calling followers for action, which is the second most used content by all groups. Reporting news as applied to many types of top used contents, resulted in the group member's feeling connected. The total average engagement for the three groups multiplied highly during the war in Gaza, but sank considerably after termination of the war. However, the average engagement subsequent to the war remains markedly higher than pre-war levels. The patterns of posting revealed tendencies not to post only text, without attaching another format. Posts with links or photo account for a higher proportion. The majority of the three solidarity groups' news resources come from five pro-Palestinian major news websites. Yet, numerous international sources, either mainstream or independent media, were utilized as well.Item Digitally defined : how Muslim millennials represent themselves online(2015-05) Rahman, Fauzeya Zahera; Chyi, Hsiang Iris, 1971-; Jensen, RobertIslam is the second-most common religion in the world as well as the fastest-growing religion in the United States. Muslim Americans are a demographic often not studied independently of the global Muslim identity. This study aims to analyze Muslim Americans and how they represent themselves online via social media. One of the oft-touted promises of social media is the opportunity for virtually anybody to be their own publisher. Through carefully curated combinations of photographs, updates and links, anyone can represent her identity in precisely the manner in which she sees fit. This study looks closely at Muslim American college students who've grown up almost exclusively post-9/11 to see how they represent and negotiate their identities online through social media. As "digital natives," this diverse group is experienced living online and uses the broad social media landscape strategically to represent themselves on their own terms. Often they use social media to counter what they see as stereotypical narratives and misconceptions about Muslims in the mainstream media.