This study aimed to investigate the reasons that players play the online game of Happy Farm(HF) on facebook, and to investigate the relationship among disinhibition, conformity and Internet addiction of HF¡¦s players. Data was collected from a sample of 298 players who played on HF. Instruments include three types of measures, HF Disinhibition Scale, HF Conformity Scale and HF Internet Addiction Scale. Data analysis methods included Descriptive statistics, Independent-Samples T Test, One-way ANOVA, MANOVA, Pearson correlation, and Multiple Regression Analysis. The findings from the study were summarized as follows: (a)There were more female players are more than male players on HF. (b)The main reason for the players to play HF is to kill time. (c) Players of HF did not show a tendency of disinhibition, conformity and Internet addiction .(d)There was a significantly positive correlation between disinhibition and Internet addiction on HF. (e) There was a significantly positive correlation between conformity and Internet addiction on HF. (f) Self-disclosure and compliance were the most significant predictor to predict Internet addiction on HF.

Today, with so many developed new communication technology, it is indispensible to modern people absorbing and searching information through the Internet. By both receiving and releasing news, it is getting more easier to us sharing ideas, exchanging information, having more interactions and maintaining closer relationship nowadays. Based on such situation, the relationship and trust among people would sometimes cause massive influence than mass communication media. luence we have is more than mass media. The service of ¡§Facebook Places¡¨ has been creating a massive trend to millions of users to leave a message or upload a photo by ¡§check-in¡¨ via Facebook recently no matter where, when, what or with who. And such situation has plenty of similarities with the ¡§Word of Mouth¡¨ concept which we have learned before. Based on the Word of Mouth theory, the aim of the research is to discuss if the effect of ¡§Word of Mouth¡¨ and the consumer behavior would be influenced by Facebook ¡¨check-in¡¨ service. The research is focusing on 300 Facebook users ( no matter one who have tried the ¡§check-in¡¨ service before or not) through questionnaires by paper and online. In conclude, it is related between the effect of ¡§Word of Mouth¡¨ and Facebook ¡§check-in¡¨ service, because most users would have much concerns on these places or stores appearing on Facebook via ¡§check-in¡¨ service, and would have high willingness to visit them since their friends or families have ¡§check-in¡¨ before.

<p>Det här examensarbetet utfördes från februari till mitten av april, våren 2010 på företaget Junebud. Jag arbetade efter hypotesen att en stark närvaro på sociala medier har en positiv effekt på aktiviteten på spelets hemsida samt för att få nya spelare att hitta till spelet. Spelet som marknadsfördes heter MilMo och är ett socialt massivt multiplayer spel för barn och ungdomar, som är gratis att spela. Om spelaren vill få tillgång till extra material kan han/hon betala en mindre summa pengar men något köptvång föreligger ej för att endast spela. För att genomföra marknadsföringen på de sociala medierna valdes fyra stycken nätverk på Internet ut; Facebook, Deviantart, MySpace och Youtube. Det som skapades var en fangrupp, en sida för konst, en profilsida och en kort film som visar spelet. Till detta kom även tre stycken nyhetsbrev, att strukturera upp och underhålla ett forum för spelare samt att emaila traditionella medier som nyhetssidor om spel och se vilken effekt det fick. Resultatet visar att många företag idag har en profil på sociala medier, men att de ofta bäst utgör ett komplement till produktens egen hemsida. Det som drev upp spelaraktiviteten mest var omnämnande på externa sidor om spel, samt det första nyhetsbrevet ut till spelarna</p>

<p>I och med Internets utveckling har det skapats nya möjligheter för kommunikation. Det har skapats plattformar där människor kan dela med sig av information, kunskap och åsikter. Dessa plattformar kallas för sociala medier och innebär att människor i större utsträckning kan interagera med varandra utan att fysiskt behöva befinna sig på samma plats.</p><p>Idag är Facebook en av världens mest besökta webbsidor och har över 400 miljoner aktiva användare. Det innebär att det är en spännande kanal för företag att utnyttja i marknadsföringssyfte. Facebook är ett nytt fenomen inom marknadsföring och det innebär att det är ett relativt outforskat område. Vi har studerat hur Facebook fungerar som marknadskommunikationskanal och vad det kan innebära för möjligheter respektive risker för företag.</p><p>I vår studie har vi utgått från modeller och teorier inom marknadskommunikation. Vi har även intervjuat företag och konsulter, samt gjort en observationsstudie för att studera hur Facebook fungerar i praktiken som marknadskommunikationskanal.</p><p>Studien har resulterat i styrkor och svagheter, respektive möjligheter och risker som kan medföras när företag använder Facebook som marknadskommunikationskanal.</p> / <p>The development of the Internet has opened up new possibilities for communication. It has created platforms where people can share information, knowledge and opinions. These platforms are called social media and with this new technology people have greater opportunities to interact with each other without physically being in the same place.</p><p>Today Facebook is one of the most visited web pages with over 400 million active users. This means that it is an exciting channel for companies to use for marketing purposes. Facebook is a new phenomenon regarding marketing and is a relatively unexplored area. We have studied how Facebook works as a marketing communication channel and the risks and opportunities that it may imply.</p><p>In our study we have used models and theories within the area of marketing communication. We have also interviewed companies and consultants, and made an observational study to research how Facebook works in practice as a marketing communication channel.</p><p>The result of the study has resulted in strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and risks it may imply using Facebook as a marketing communication channel.</p>

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, November, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

The research examines and explores the differences and similarities between how the social media platform of Facebook is used in the context of the basketball industry. The research centers on the respective Finnish and Swedish basketball leagues. More precisely, the study scrutinizes nine basketball teams social media representatives – four Finnish and five Swedish – perceptions on how their respective sport clubs act on the medium of Facebook, through the use of relevant marketing theories. “How do Swedish and Finnish basketball clubs manage their brands and fan clubs on Facebook?” In the recent years sport marketing has been researched extensively, however the research on sport marketing has focused solely on more established sport leagues (e.g. National Basketball Association, Premier League among other bigger leagues). The major emphasis in sport marketing has been on bigger leagues; this research focuses on the smaller and less established leagues of Finland and Sweden. There is a limited or no literature to be found of sport marketing, which specifically focuses on smaller national leagues. Additionally, the study adds knowledge to a relatively new and evolved way of marketing. Social media marketing research is at its infantry stage, at least when considering research done in more traditional marketing, thus the research could add knowledge to this young marketing sphere. The study is based on a social constructivist approach, where the social actor creates reality. The teams’ social media representatives had their own unique interpretations of team’s actions on the social media platform of Facebook. Moreover, the primarily reason for the study was to create understanding of the perceptional Facebook practices used by two countries basketball teams. The main research question was divided into three research objectives to get more accurate results. Relevant theories of branding and customer relationship management, where emphasis is on relationship marketing, were used to answer the three more specific research objectives. More specifically the theory of relationship marketing is used to identify the teams’ relationship management practices on the social media platform of Facebook and the theory of brand equity was used to understand how the teams’ build their brand image on the medium. Additionally, appropriate organizational definitions are used to recognize the underlying reasons why the sample teams are motivated to use the platform of Facebook. The results indicated that there were both similarities inside the examined country’s teams’ perceptions of Facebook activities and differences between these perceptional practices. However, the differences were of a lessening degree than similarities. Similarly, the country comparison showed that there were only minor differences between Facebook practices used by two countries’ club practices. The study gives a sound general view of smaller and less established sport league teams, thus the study could give a good foundation for further studies on other smaller and less established countries sport league clubs. Furthermore, it could also be used as a building block for a more extensive study, where perceptions of multiple club key stakeholders could be compared with each other to find similarities and differences between their perceptions gaps.

According to Nicole B. Ellison and Danah M. Boyd in their article on “Social network sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship”, they defined Social Networking Sites as “Web-based services that allow individuals to (1) Construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) Articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) View and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system”( 2007). In other words, Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are websites that are designed to simplify communication between users who share similar activities, attitudes and interests. Today the growth and role of social networking sites has become an issue not only for the users themselves but also for scholars and industrial researchers. My aim in this research will be to explore Social Networking Sites in general. The concept of Social Networking Sites is very broad; therefore my main study will be dealing primarily with how privacy and restrictions plays a role in identity management with reference to Facebook.

Using Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development and Higgins’s self discrepancy theory, this report provides a framework for understanding adolescents’ use of social networking websites and the implications of such use for their identity development and subsequent well-being. Suggestions for working with adolescents and future research are outlined. / text

Recent technological innovations affecting romantic relationships include the rise in prominence of social networking sites (SNSs), including Facebook. SNSs have become an increasingly fundamental part of developing and maintaining relationships. A majority of research focuses on the ways in which individuals access SNSs. Less studied is how individuals' use of SNSs affects their romantic relationships. An important aspect of the stability of romantic relationships is the construct of commitment. Relationship commitment is conceptualized as the intent to continue a relationship into the future and is composed of many constructs that can either keep individuals in or pull them away from the relationship. One aspect that may pull individuals away from their relationship is the quality and availability of potential alternatives, or relationship forms other than the current one. There is evidence that using tools like Facebook may prompt individuals to pay attention to alternative relationship options. This study examined how SNSs use may affect current relationships with a sample of 645 unmarried individuals in dating relationships and with current Facebook accounts. All participants completed measures of their Facebook use, relationship commitment, and attention to relationship alternatives. A sub-sample of 432 participants were randomly assigned to one of two study conditions. One condition prompted participants to view the Facebook profiles of friends that they might consider as possible relationship partners and the other condition prompted participants to view organizations they follow on Facebook. Analyses indicated that Facebook monitoring condition did not predict differences in individuals' reported commitment. However, hierarchical regression analyses using the full sample revealed that high levels of online monitoring of alternatives were associated with low levels of commitment for both males and females, but more so for males. Analyses also revealed that low levels of satisfaction predicted high levels of monitoring of alternatives and high levels of Facebook use predicted high levels of online monitoring of alternatives. These results suggest that tools such as Facebook can be used to monitor alternatives, yet doing so may negatively affect current romantic relationships. Future studies should explore these relationships by using a repeated measures design to assess change over time. / text

The increasing popularity of sites like Facebook causes content providers to reassess how and where to provide their information in order to reach the most users through user interaction with content. As such, news providers are building content not only to be online specific, but also to be Facebook specific. This study investigates the communication framework that exists when people interact on Facebook to express approval or disapproval on posted topics. Moreover, it studies what codes and conventions presented in Facebook site architecture shape user reaction on specific topics. Lastly, this study investigates the connection between user reaction on topics and the rated level of closeness of respondents and their Facebook friends. / text