Developments such as the ubiquity of electronic networks and the breadth of digital platforms beyond simple forums have lead to major economic and social transformations worldwide (Agarwal et al, 2008). This research will explore developments in the area of social networking using Internet technology in order to determine factors that lead to success. Despite considerable growth among the number of online communities available, very few are successful at retaining members and continued usage by its members (Ma & Agarwal, 2007). The purpose of this dissertation is to determine factors leading to a successful social networking site (SNS). Through the unification of the IS success model and social capital theory, a new model is develop called the SNS success model. The result of this study support eight hypotheses with one hypothesis unsupported. It was shown that content quality, system quality, and trust positively affect social capital and user satisfaction. User satisfaction positively affects continued use intention. Social capital was shown to support user satisfaction but the relationship with continued use intention was non-significant. Further investigation demonstrated that the relationship between social capital and continued use intention was fully mediated by user satisfaction. This study contributes to knowledge by developing a model displaying success factors for SNS success. Further, it demonstrates the relationship between social capital and continued use intention through the mediation of user satisfaction. This study serves as a foundation of research in the emerging area of SNSs. It also has practical implications for practitioners to help SNS administrators understand factors that influence usage. Recommendations for future research and practical implications for SNS administrators are also discussed.

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abstract: ABSTRACT This study describes student interactions in the academic social network site Edmodo versus student interactions in Facebook. This qualitative case study relies upon four high school juniors enrolled in Advanced Placement Language and Composition who use Edmodo to complete assignments for their English class. Their experiences were gathered in an attempt to describe specific experiences in a complex system. Students were selected using an Internet Connectedness Index survey. Using a Virtual Community of Practice framework, students were asked about their experiences in Edmodo. This study concludes that Edmodo and Facebook can be compared in three categories: accessibility, functionality, and environment. Unlike Facebook, which students access regularly, students access Edmodo only to fulfill the teacher's participation expectations for the specific grade they wish to receive. Additionally, students appreciated the convenience of using Edmodo to complete assignments. The functionality of Edmodo is quite similar in layout and appearance to Facebook, yet students were unaware of the media sharing capability, wished for private messaging options, and desired the ability to tag peers for direct comment using the @ sign, all options that are available in Facebook. Students felt the environment in Edmodo could best be characterized as intellectual and academic, which some mentioned might best be used with honors or AP students. A surprising benefit of Edmodo is the lack of social cues enable students to feel free of judgment when composing writing. Some felt this allowed students to know their classmates better and share their true personae free from judgment of classmates. As a result of the case studies of four students, this study seeks to illustrate how students interact in Edmodo versus Facebook to provide a robust image of the academic social network site for teachers seeking to implement educational technology in their classes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Administration and Supervision 2013

Given the increasing number of younger immigrants from China, we have noticed diversified performances of Chinese-American teenagers based on the age they come to the U.S. This thesis thus examines three specific aspects—assimilation, social network site (SNS) use, and reaction to Asian stereotype—of Chinese-American teenagers living in Austin, regarding intraethnic differences between and among different clusters of this cohort as the second generation immigrant. By employing semi-structured interviews conducted with teenagers who have respective immigrant history and family background, a wide array of patterns about assimilation, SNS use, and reaction to Asian stereotype are traced and analyzed alongside demonstrating outlines and traits in terms of different generation clusters (1.25ers, 1.5ers, 1.75ers and 2.0ers). A total of ten Chinese-American teenagers, aged from 15 to 18, are recruited and interviewed through snowball approach, allowing for the surface of intraethnic variations on the aforementioned aspects. Preliminary discussions are made to tease out how these three aspects are intertwined. / text

MySpace is a social network site (SNS) that forms an essential part of modern online communication. The creation of a personal profile in MySpace allows a user to connect with a global network of friends and communicate in a number of different ways. This thesis sets out to explore the experience of MySpace in terms of the self, identity and community. MySpace will be studied from a constructionist form of social psychology that benefits from new dialects of movement, performance and process. MySpace is conceptualised as a mediated community where users shape and are shaped by their experience of using the site. This study uses empirical data taken from the natural use of MySpace. A total of 100 open-access profiles are explored for the myriad ways that users constitute the self and identity in MySpace. The analysis identifies a number of functions of mediating the self including: the brand me, the hoped-for self and the self in potential. The brand me describes the reflective ability to realise other normative capacities through the practice of blogging in MySpace. This focuses on the ability to create new forms of subjectivity in MySpace interactions. In a similar vein, the hoped-for self explains the modification of the self through the act of profile changing and focuses on the actual, everyday practices of the self. Each of these analytic themes demonstrates the importance of the relational connections in MySpace. Finally, the self is defined as in potential as the analysis demonstrates an ongoing need for a narrative construction to the profile that is performed in both the visual and the textual aspects of the page.

The increasing usage of social networking sites, such as Facebook has changed the way that corporations and customer interact with each other. New ways of customer-corporation interactions evolve constantly, enabling customers to participate and co-create value with the corporations. An organisation that has taken this a step further is Skånetrafiken, which uses Facebook as a channel for its customer service. This thesis focuses in the interactions that occur between Skånetrafiken and its customers, which in this case takes place on Facebook.   The purpose of this thesis is to explore the what, how and why customer and corporation interaction occur on Skånetrafiken's Facebook page. In order to approach the phenomenon of co-creation, we conducted a case study as a research design and strategy. Data collection methods we used were observations on Skånetrafiken’s Facebook page, an interview and a focus group discussion.     The findings indicate that there must be an engagement for the co-creation process to begin and that the co-creation process is continuous rather than a fixed model. It further turned out that different types of interactions occur, not only customer-to-corporation, but also customer-to-customer and customer-to-employee interactions. The limitations of the study imply that the findings cannot be generalised on all organisations since only one organisation have been examined. This thesis further gives a practical implication by presenting an applicable framework for co-creation on Facebook. Additionally, few if any have previously studied phenomenon of co-creation on Facebook, which contributes to the original value of the thesis.

Diploma thesis discusses one of the largest social network sites - Facebook. It aims to find out how is perceived by its older users, that means, trying using semi-structured individual interviews to answer the following questions: "How adults uses Facebook? What does it lead to? And can be find similar criteria in Facebook in the use of Facebook as among adolescents or is more suitable use the approach with the help of a typology users?" Based on research it was found that the development of adults use on Facebook passes through similar stages as development of adolescents use, but with large differentiation, not only between the two different age groups, but also between adults. Grasping the behaviors of adults seem to be more appropriate with the creation of their typology which allows more account of the individual features of individuals, whether they are Provokatéři, Neználci, Závislí or Ledabylí users. KEYWORDS Adult Facebook Social network sites Typology User

This master thesis aims to map the behavioral patterns of Facebook usage and the dependence of these patterns on the users' characteristics. This thesis had the goal to generate hypothesis about peoples' behavior on Facebook - what information, where and why people look for and what information, with whom and why they share. In other words, to describe "the life on Facebook" and to contribute to expanding the knowledge about Facebook's social role, its deeper theoretical reflection and to anchor Facebook more solidly into the system of media theories. In the first theoretical part I have characterized and defined Facebook, sketched its history and development, briefly summarized the studies concerned with Facebook and as well described the contemporary media studies theoretical approach to Facebook. The research itself was carried out through the series of qualitative interviews with Facebook users. Based on this data analysis I have formulated various hypotheses about peoples' behavior on Facebook, about the regularities in the way people share and search for information on Facebook. These hypotheses should serve as a basis and foundations of the subsequent quantitative research.

Esta pesquisa propõe-se a estudar a apropriação do aplicativo Snapchat pelo Portal UOL para produção de conteúdo jornalístico. O foco está em observar as stories, que são narrativas criadas a partir de fragmentos de até 10 segundos que desaparecem após 24 horas, produzidas pelo perfil do UOL. Para isso, selecionamos as stories que foram produzidas sobre política e republicados no site TV UOL, totalizando 28 vídeos com 657 fragmentos, chamados de snaps. A análise empírica foi dividida em duas etapas: uma de caráter quantitativo, que busca observar a ocorrência de elementos previamente mapeados nos snaps; e outra qualitativa, cujo olhar recai sobre como esses snaps são estruturados para criar as stories. Como resultados, apontamos elementos frequentes, como o uso de snaps nativos e a preferência por vídeos frente a outros formatos multimídia, como fotos, textos e áudios. Também observamos que as stories não seguem um padrão e aliam formatos narrativos diferentes, como cobertura do local dos fatos, entrevistas e bastidores. / This research proposes to study the appropriation of the Snapchat application through the UOL Portal for the production of journalistic content. The focus is on watching stories, which are narratives created from fragments of up to 10 seconds that disappear after 24 hours, produced by the UOL profile. For that, we selected the stories that were produced on politics and republished on the site TV UOL, totaling 28 videos with 657 fragments, called snaps. The empirical analysis was divided in two stages: one of quantitative character, which seeks to observe the occurrence of previously mapped elements in the snaps; and another qualitative, whose look falls on how these snaps are structured to create the stories. As results, we point out frequent elements such as the use of native snaps and the preference for videos versus other multimedia formats such as photos, texts and audios. We also note that stories do not follow a pattern and link different narrative formats, such as spot coverage, interviews, and backstage.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:38:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Boris Brancaglion Keiserman.pdf: 560389 bytes, checksum: 140ad861b2701396254e66d5ebc24c9c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-10-18 / The use of social networking sites on the internet is a phenomenon of growing importance in our everyday life. With over 37 million users in Brazil and 1 billion worldwide, Facebook is today the most popular social networking site in the West. A great number of books and magazine articles have dedicated their pages to Facebook, how it has changed our lives and how some lives have become it´s hostage. This dissertation is an attempt to understand the significance of Facebook to its users, aiming to comprehend what is written, how it´s written and why information is published on Facebook. It is an exploratory study, which has as an objective to analyze information posted on the Facebook Wall by participants of a social network trying to understand the different types of interactions which occur between the network´s users. A qualitative analysis was conducted referring to 72 hours of wall activity on a Facebook user´s all and then the category which was targeted as the one generating the greater number of responses was qualitatively analyzed. We have concluded that publications with personal reports are of extreme importance in maintaining Facebook activity, disclosing emotional content which aid in maintaining the user´s offline social network active. It is a way of maintaining a support network in an easy and efficient fashion / O uso de redes sociais virtuais na internet é um fenômeno de crescente importância na vida cotidiana . Com mais de 37 milhões de usuários no Brasil e 1 bilhão no mundo, o Facebook é hoje a rede social virtual mais popular no Ocidente. Muitos livros e artigos de revistas dedicam suas páginas para discorrer sobre o Facebook, como ele mudou nossas vidas e como tornou algumas vidas reféns. Esse trabalho buscou compreender o significado do Facebook para seus usuários, por meio do que se escreve, como se escreve e porque se escreve. Trata-se de um estudo exploratório, que tem por objetivo analisar informações postadas no mural do Facebook por participantes de uma rede social, buscando compreender o tipo de interações que ocorrem na rede entre seus participantes. Para tanto, foi realizada uma análise quantitativa sobre dados recortados por um período de 72 horas de atividade de um mural do Facebook e posteriormente foram analisadas qualitativamente as publicações dentro das que mais geraram respostas por parte dos próprios usuários da rede. Concluímos que os relatos pessoais dos usuários são de extrema importância na manutenção da atividade do Facebook, pois fazem referência a conteúdos afetivos, que ajudam na manutenção das redes sociais off-line dos usuários. Portanto as mensagens postadas permitem aos usuários construir e manter uma rede de apoio ativa, de forma fácil e eficiente