The Journal of Social Media in Society
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“Who are we Online?” Approaches to Organizational Identity in Social Media Contexts
No full textIn the last year the conversation about organizing and organizations in digital contexts has seen theoretically valuable additions. This paper presents a contribution to this dialogue, looking at the strict separation between a functionalist, social constructionist, and postmodern perspective on organizational identity in the social media context. Through semi-structured interviews with social media marketing professionals who engage daily in the representation of their organizations online, and the concept of identity work as an interpretive lens, this article shows how the very discourse of organizational identity has changed as a result of the persistent, public, editable, and immediate context of social media platforms. The somewhat rigid theoretical approaches to organizational identity might be conflated in practice.
Creating, Consuming, and Connecting: Examining the Relationship Between Social Media Engagement and Loneliness
Get PDFThis study explores the relationship between social media attitudes and behaviors and loneliness among college students. The study looks at the interaction of loneliness with three popular social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), as well as how often those students create and/or consume content within each platform. A survey administered to 432 undergraduates at two universities in the Pacific Northwest identified a significant relationship between social media attitudes and behaviors and offline loneliness. In particular, as students’ affinity for Twitter and Instagram increased, their self-reported loneliness decreased. Similarly, the more they both created and consumed content within Twitter and Instagram, the more reported loneliness decreased. No significant correlations among attitudes, behaviors and loneliness were found for Facebook usage.
Social Comparison of Idealized Female Images and the Curation of Self on Pinterest
Get PDFThe online social network, Pinterest, has grown in significance since its introduction in 2010, perhaps because of its emphasis of visual content, known as “pins.” According to the Pew Research Center, when it comes to Pinterest, “Women are about five times as likely to be on the site as men, the largest difference in gender” among popular social networking sites. While the literature indicates that idealizes images in traditional advertising venues have a negative impact on women’s self-perceptions, the present study extends this research to consider how newer social media, Pinterest in particular, affects women’s body image and self-esteem. The empirical findings of the present study, based on the results of an online survey of women, will greater understanding of the degree to which exposure to idealized images on Pinterest have an effect on self-evaluations. The study is based on social comparison theory as a moderator of effects, along with body image and self-esteem. The findings will be of interest to those concerned with the unintended consequences of social media use
Internet Dependency and Academic Performance
No full textThis study investigated the relationship between Internet use (including the use of social media), the level of Internet dependency, and academic performance as measured by self-reported student grade point average (GPA). Results reveal that there is no statistically significant relationship between the level of Internet dependency, the amount of time spent on the Internet, or the amount of time spent on social networking or social networking sites and academic performance as measured by GPA. Results did reveal a statistically significant relationship between the amount of time spent on the Internet and Internet dependency
Fuzzy, Transparent, and Fast: Journalists and Public Relations Practitioners Characterize their Connections and Interactions in Social Media
Get PDFThis mixed-methods study, based on a survey including open-ended responses from 167 journalists and public relations practitioners, examines views on social media interactions between these professionals. Grounded in journalism ethics and news production research, the study examines how professionals navigate rapidly changing social media. Results show journalists and PR practitioners see themselves as working in the same digital space. Journalists and PR professionals responded that it was ethical to become social media “friends” and followers with each other. Still, these relationships are evolving
Social Media and News Gathering: Tapping into the Millennial Mindset
Get PDFSocial media are transforming the way information travels within and between networks of individuals. Many pundits claim that individuals no longer seek news but instead news finds individuals, particularly on social media websites. The current study is an exploratory look at how one specific group of individuals—Gen Y—gathers news. Data was collected from an online survey and results indicate that Gen Y is increasingly relying on social media for information and news. Interestingly, despite their preference of social media for news gathering, young adults still perceive traditional media sources as more credible than social media sources. Other findings are presented, and both theoretical and practical implications are drawn.
Length Matters: Message Metrics that Result in Higher Levels of Perceived Partner Responsiveness and Changes in Intimacy as Friends Communicate through Social Network Sites
Get PDFThis study focuses on how young adults enact their relationships in public through self-disclosing interactions on Facebook. A Facebook self-disclosure status update, along with as many as three corresponding response comments, was copied by each of 271 participants from their own Facebook Wall, and pasted to an online survey. Status update and response comments contain characters such as letters, numbers, and symbols to express meaning. Seven textual measures were used to quantify the content of these messages; one such measure was a count of the number of characters contained in each response. Results show message length is associated with perceived partner responsiveness and feelings of increased intimacy with those who reply to one’s status update with a response comment. Women, and close friends and family post longer messages. The outward appearance of a message matters for the perception of responsive communication on Facebook
Parasocial Interactions Online: Candidate Intimacy in Webpages and Facebook
Get PDFResearch presented in this article assesses cognitive processing and behavioral outcome differences that occur when the public interacts with political candidates’ webpages as opposed to viewing their Facebook pages. Further, an exploration into perceptions individuals have of these candidates and the potential for developing parasocial relationships is pursued. Findings suggest that perceptions of intimacy are directly related to perceptions of candidates’ credibility and potential political action; these findings have clear implications on future political marketing strategies
The Influence of Personality Factors and Motives on Photographic Communication
No full textThis study examined photographic communication within the uses and gratifications framework. Several personality factors were tested as predictors of motives for communicating via photographs. Memory, relationship maintenance, self-expression and relationship formation motives positively predicted photographic communication. Extraversion positively predicted most photo messaging use motives, while Neuroticism was a negative predictor of photo messaging use. The remaining three personality predictors, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, and Conscientiousness also provided significant findings
The Usage and Online Behavior of Social Networking Sites among International Students in New Zealand
No full textThis study examines SNS use by international students located in Auckland, New Zealand. The frequency of SNS usage and behaviour of international students, who are away from their home countries, is different from the general youth of the host country. The study used a questionnaire that revealed the most popular SNS were Facebook, Google+, Twitter, MySpace, and Linkedin. The new addition to this commonly cited list is QQ, a Chinese SNS, which is extremely popular among students from China. The results also show support for reasons for SNS usage namely personal, entertainment, commercial, and academic. Unlike in other studies, female students are found to be quite proactive in sharing personal information. Finally, the study discusses implications of these results for managers and students, and offers a set of recommendations for further research.