The last decade has seen a pronounced increase in feminist activism and sentiment in the public sphere, which scholars, activists, and journalists have dubbed the “fourth wave” of feminism. A key feature of the fourth wave is the use of digital technologies and the internet for feminist activism and discussion. This dissertation aims to broadly understand what is “new” about fourth wave feminism and specifically to understand how social media intersect with everyday feminist practices in the digital era. This project is made up of three case studies –Bumble the “feminist” dating app, private Facebook groups for women professionals, and the #MeToo movement on Twitter— and uses an affordance theory lens, examining the possibilities for (and constraints of) use embedded in the materiality of each digital platform. Through in-depth interviews and focus groups with users, alongside a structural discourse analysis of each platform, the findings show how social media are used strategically as tools for feminist purposes during mundane online activities such as dating and connecting with colleagues. Overall, this research highlights the feminist potential of everyday social media use, while considering the limits of digital technologies for everyday feminism. This work also reasserts the continued need for feminist activism in the fourth wave, by showing that the material realities of gender inequality persist, often obscured by an illusion of empowerment. / Media & Communication

This sandwich thesis of works published from 2010 – 2017 takes up the discursive articulation of “social media” as a mobilizing concept in relation to a variety of other concerns: authorship and popular fiction, writing and publishing, archives and everyday life, celebrity and the opaque morality of media promotion. The project addresses social networking platforms (primarily Twitter and Facebook) and those who serve and critique their interests (authors, readers, academics, “everyday people,” national archives, celebrities and filmmakers), often focusing on the “meta” of the media they take as their focus: extratexts, reviews and interviews, tweets about books and books about tweets, critical reception, etc. It considers “social media” as an idea or, more accurately, a system or constellation of ideas, a discourse or discourses beyond the mere technological. It examines the authority and impact of these discourses—not the use or usefulness of social media, but the ways these media are taken up, avoided, buttressed and manipulated in the most casual to the most politically contingent venues. In order to better comprehend and articulate the ideas, investments and ideological frameworks grounding social media discourse, this collective work traces and critically assesses the comparisons we make in an effort to render these media familiar and readable; the genealogies we construct in an effort to contextualize them and make their meanings legible; the stories we tell and the venues in which we tell them, to harness their creation and existence for other means, to authorize and deauthorize, to empower and disavow. By examining writing on and about social media, this work offers an alternative, context-specific approach to new media scholarship that, in its examination of things said and unsaid, will help inform our contemporary understanding of social media and, by extension, our social media experience. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This sandwich thesis of works published from 2010 – 2017 considers how we talk and write about social media in relation to a variety of other concerns: authorship and popular fiction, writing and publishing, archives and everyday life, celebrity and the opaque morality of media promotion. The project addresses social networking platforms (primarily Twitter and Facebook) and those who serve and critique their interests (authors, readers, academics, “everyday people,” national archives, celebrities and filmmakers), often focusing on the “meta” of the media they take as their focus: “extratexts,” reviews and interviews, tweets about books and books about tweets, critical reception, etc. By examining writing on and about social media, this work offers an alternative, context-specific approach to new media scholarship that, in its examination of things said and unsaid, will help inform our contemporary understanding of social media and, by extension, our social media experience.

Throughout the 2016 U.S. presidential election, public debate and media coverage was shaped by so called "fake news" – news articles which were intentionally false, and designed to influence opinion and policy. Although fake news itself is not a new concept, the way in which it was covered, and the was it was spread on social media platforms, was. Given this, scholarly literature examining fake news, and specifically the content or stylistic characteristics of fake news, is minimal. My research seeks to address that gap through examining different content characteristics of fake news articles spread on social media in 2016, and testing the impact of those characteristics on Facebook engagement (the number of likes or shares an article received). I find political fake news circulated during the 2016 U.S. election is relatively homogeneous in content: it avoids policy discussion, is highly partisan, and negative in tone. Furthermore, personal content, policy discussion, partisan lean, and article tone have no detectable effect on the engagement received on Facebook. My research serves to provide avenues for future research, and increase our understanding of how fake news is spread. More importantly, given the negative influence fake news has on public discussion and democratic legitimacy, my research also increases our understanding of how to best combat the influence of fake news, and how to limit its spread. / Master of Arts / Throughout the 2016 U.S. presidential election, public debate and media coverage was shaped by so called “fake news” – news articles which were intentionally false, and designed to influence opinion and policy. Although fake news itself is not a new concept, the way in which it was covered, and the was it was spread on social media platforms, was. Given this, scholarly literature examining fake news, and specifically the content or stylistic characteristics of fake news, is minimal. My research seeks to address that gap through examining different content characteristics of fake news articles spread on social media in 2016, and testing the impact of those characteristics on Facebook engagement (the number of likes or shares an article received). I find political fake news circulated during the 2016 U.S. election is relatively homogeneous in content: it avoids policy discussion, is highly partisan, and negative in tone. Furthermore, personal content, policy discussion, partisan lean, and article tone have no detectable effect on the engagement received on Facebook. My research serves to provide avenues for future research, and increase our understanding of how fake news is spread. More importantly, given the negative influence fake news has on public discussion and democratic legitimacy, my research also increases our understanding of how to best combat the influence of fake news, and how to limit its spread.

I den här uppsatsen undersöks sociala medieverktyg. Syftet är att förstå vad sociala medieverktyg är och kan vara, och att med hjälp av denna kunskap kunna peka ut verktyg som är användbara för en specifik användargrupp. Begreppets (sociala medieverktyg) innebörd och olika varianter beskrivs. Det framgår att verktygen kan se väldigt olika ut och att de kan kategoriseras i olika sociala medieverktygs-kategorier. Två intervjuer genomfördes för att kunna förstå vad den aktuella användargruppen behöver och önskar i ett socialt medieverktyg. Det framgick bland annat att användarna behövde ett verktyg som möjliggjorde samtalsliknande text-kommunikation, samt ett verktyg för mer permanent information. Informationen från intervjuerna jämfördes därefter med ett antal idag existerande sociala medieverktyg. De verktyg som stämde bäst överens med användarnas önskemål – Facebook och WhatsApp – pekades därefter ut som de lämpligaste verktygen för den specifika användargruppen.

Objectives. Social Networking Sites (SNSs) have exploded in popularity around the world and are composed of hundreds of millions of users. SNSs give the ability to communicate, share photos, send files, and update personal information instantaneously and continuously. Research is now being done on these sites to determine their usefulness and study whether or not its existence can enhance learning and the lives of people. The purpose of this study is to examine whether or not Facebook use has an effect on life satisfaction through Facebook identity salience and Facebook role enactment. Methods. Using data acquired at the University of Texas at Austin, this research uses a path model to identity relationships between Facebook use and life satisfaction. Results. My research finds that identity theory can be applied to learning the effect Facebook use has on life satisfaction. Overall, greater Facebook identity salience and more Facebook friends are associated with greater life satisfaction. We also find that for females, the more time spent on Facebook, the lower the reported life satisfaction. Conclusion. My research has demonstrated that identity theory can be used to examine roles that are voluntary and not highly central to one's overall life functioning. The model designed can be used as a blueprint to examine other roles relating to social media. My hope is that future research looks at the importance of the social media roles for younger generations and how they compare to older generations with more salient roles. / Master of Science

While ethnomusicological scholarship has begun to address Internet studies, the field has yet to amply consider digital diaspora theory. Arguing that the increasing digital aspect of social capital – defined as “the benefits individuals derive from their social relationships and interactions” (Ellison, Steinfeld, and Lampe 2010, 873) -- affects social, cultural, and musical capital in diasporic community groups, I discuss the pivotal role that social media, videosharing sites, and other Internet platforms play in connecting diasporic communities. I develop a hybrid ethnographic fieldwork model for examining contemporary diasporas’ music consumption and production that builds upon Putnam’s (2000) work on social capital, Song’s (2009) analysis of virtual communities, Brinkerhoff’s (2009) conceptualization of digital diaspora, Turkle’s (2011) fieldwork on technology’s impact on social interaction, Sparling’s (2006) conception of cultural capital in Gaelic Cape Breton, and O’Hara and Brown’s (2006) examination of music consumption. To address the high value of music production and consumption in Cape Breton culture, I introduce the concept of musical capital. I define this as arts currency, both tangible and intangible, which can be procured, acquired, or shared, as a more specific way to discuss the shifts in participation and consumption documented in my fieldwork in 2014-15, conducted both online and at the Canadian-American Club in Watertown, Massachusetts. Forms of musical capital analyzed include Skype music lessons, songs of diasporic longing, fiddle sessions, online videos, and in-person performances. I conclude that the online availability of one’s culture has long-range effects for community participation by non-musicians. While artists still gather in person to practice and perform, the greater diasporic community can now interact with other members online and virtually experience their culture, though the personal social capital benefits are not equal to in-person interactions. These changes reflect a larger social capital shift within contemporary American society and acknowledge the impact of the increased use of, and reliance upon, Internet platforms as a means for creating, consuming, and disseminating musical and cultural capital.

Yes / The purpose of this study is to investigate what type of Facebook posts help cruise lines build bridging and bonding social capital. The study applies the Chi-Square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) method to identify which types of posts establish bridging and bonding social capital. The analysis is conducted on an international cruise line’s official Facebook posts posted between 1 January 2018 and 1 January 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic. The results highlight that media type, embedding passenger motivation, and a ship image help establish both bridging and bonding social capital, while content type helps establish bridging social capital. The paper is original because it helps understand how cruise lines can improve bonding and bridging social capital via social media. The paper also enhances understanding of social capital theory in the travel industry by investigating the relationship between Facebook post types and social capital in cruise shipping.

When people access online health information, unfortunately, they have access to both clinically accurate and inaccurate information that they may then utilize to make informed personal health decisions. This research fills a gap in the literature of online health communities as they relate to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The conduct of this research required a multi-phased and multi-method approach, best presented in three distinct essays. In Essays 1 and 2, data gathering within two online health communities specific to COPD allowed this study to address three research questions: (1) what are the information needs of COPD patients that result in their participation in online health communities; (2) what are the information sources offered to the participants in these online communities; and (3) is the information obtained via those communities credible. Essay 1 harvested data from a moderated website hosted by a non-profit organization for patients with COPD and Essay 2 harvested data from a non-moderated Facebook group also serving this unique group. Data Miner, a Chrome extension designed to extract data, was used to collect data, key words and themes which brought an understanding of the health information needs of participants and identified what health information sources were preferred. Using NIH guidelines, the credibility of sources exchanged were evaluated for both groups. The research presented in Essay 1 showed that COPD patients have health information needs and that a clinically monitored social health online community, that is available 24/7 to answer questions that arise at the time of need, provides much needed support. The research in Essay 2 illustrates the need for healthcare workers to be aware of unmoderated sites and promote these sites for the purpose of socialization only, and not for medical information. Building on the knowledge gained through the data analysis in Essays 1 and 2 and based on the theoretical frameworks established in the health belief model, social exchange theory, and the technology acceptance model, Essay 3 generated a new integrated model that seeks to understand information seeking effectiveness in online health communities was proposed. This model identifies the relationships between the types of disease specific information sought by members of 65 COPD Facebook groups, and member success in acquiring credible and clinically accurate health information to use in making health decisions related to disease management and the development of effective health management behaviors. Structural equation modeling was utilized to analyze survey responses and test the proposed model for statistical significance This study has important implications for health educators and medical professionals that will enhance their understanding of the benefits of online peer health communities and will guide them in providing their patients with an "information prescription" guiding them to clinically accurate and understandable, disease specific health information between office visits and at the patient's time of need.

The overpopulation of domestic animals has become an ongoing problem across the United States. Approximately 1.5 million animals are being euthanized in the United States every year. In fact, shelters euthanize about 23 % of the animals they take in. However, the euthanasia rate would be much greater without animal rescues, which are different than animal shelters. Animal rescues are unique from shelters because they are not government-funded, and they do not usually have a physical location. Because of these factors, animal rescues rely on volunteers to care for the animals they save and donors to fund their operations. Animal rescues heavily depend on social media to fulfill many of their needs, including fundraising and volunteer recruitment, which makes the nonprofits particularly vulnerable to failure without a social media following. This research combined a content analysis of animal rescues' Facebook posts with a survey of the rescues to determine which Facebook affordances and message frames animal rescues used online were positively related to online and offline success metrics. The content analysis focused on analyzing posts for message frames, and the survey provided information about annual success. The combination of a content analysis and a survey uncovered relationships between Facebook characteristics, online message frames, and offline success metrics.

This paper examines how does within the Pagan community uses social media, specifically Facebook groups, as a way of community building, knowledge gathering, and platform for digital ritual. The research was based on a combination of interviews and observational data gathered from various groups. To help analyze the data gathered, theoretical approaches of both mediatization and materiality are employed to understand how digital spaces are being used as a tool for those within the Pagan community within their religious tool-kit, as well as understanding how digital landscapes are being used in order to conduct ritual.