The rise of ethical consumerism has contributed to that organisations increasingly include CSR policies in their business and marketing strategies. Consumers want to make more ethically based purchasing decisions, and are guided by organisations’ ethical claims and by product labels. However, there are many different ethical organisations and labels on the market today and consumers find it difficult to separate them and know what each of them stands for. Ethical consumerism stems from green consumerism and has contributed to the development and rise of the Fair Trade movement. The general idea of Fair Trade is to support producers in poor countries, and by purchasing Fair Trade products consumers can contribute to realising the Fair Trade objectives. Previous research has identified a gap between consumers’ attitudes and actual behaviour regarding Fair Trade consumption. Consumers clearly express a positive attitude towards the Fair Trade movement and Fair Trade products, but their attitudes are not reflected in actual purchases. Researchers suggest that the gap could depend on lack of information and proof that Fair Trade actually contribute to better working and living conditions of producers in poor countries, but this had not yet been investigated. Our main purpose with this degree project is to identify factors that could affect the attitude-behaviour gap, and more precisely how access to information affects the existing gap. Our conclusions and recommendations are providing valuable insights for Fair Trade and other ethical organisations and businesses that are part of ethical value chains. We therefore formulated the following research question: In what ways can Fair Trade certification organisations and retailers diminish consumers’ attitude-behaviour gap in Fair Trade consumption? In order to answer our research question, we formulated the following four sub-purposes; to investigate the dialogue between Fairtrade and consumers; to investigate how Fairtrade and retailers communicate and share information with each other; investigate retailers’ expected and perceived responsibility as part of the Fairtrade value chain; identify what factors consumers believe are important regarding Fairtrade and their Fairtrade consumption. Our study is delimited to Sweden and is based on content analysis of communication between Fairtrade Sweden, consumers and retailers, on Fairtrade Sweden's Facebook page. The study has both qualitative and quantitative characteristics, although focus is on qualitative data analysis. We collected a total number of 1671 posts and comments, where 357 were published by Fairtrade, 1215 by consumers and 99 by retailers and other businesses. All data were collected and categorised manually and copied into an excel sheet where each post and comment were coded. The analysis and discussion of our empirical findings are further based on theory within the fields of Fair Trade consumption, ethical and political consumerism, online communication, retail marketing and branding. The main findings from this research are that consumers view retailers as an important actor in the Fair Trade value chain. Consumers put high value in communication and cooperation between Fair Trade and retailers, but these two actors have not realised the advantages and opportunities of it. We have also observed that consumers seek to maximise utility and that the existing attitude-behaviour gap thereby is influenced by several factors. Branding and labelling within Fair Trade consumption are important for consumers' purchasing decisions. Although, we have observed that product brands that have the Fairtrade mark are perceived as more important than the Fairtrade brand itself. Consumers are loyal to brands and do not show a willingness to switch brands to buy a Fairtrade marked product. Moreover, Fair Trade consumption is influenced by other ethical and environmental concerns. Consumers want Fair Trade organisations to be ethical and also environmentally friendly at all stages and throughout the entire value chain.

Older adults are increasingly using social networking sites such as Facebook to maintain social relationships. A growing body of literature indicates that frequent communication with family members and close friends influences successful ageing. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to establish the nature of the relationship between the impact of Facebook communication and successful ageing on older adults living in the rural municipality of Hagfors. This study defines an older adult as a person aged 55 years and above. Self-reported life-satisfaction, social engagement and social trust are used as indicators of successful ageing. Predictions about Facebook communication and successful ageing are tested by theories of socio-emotional selectivity and social capital. This is based on 15 semi-structured interviews conducted with older adults living in the municipality of Hagfors. The results indicate that having small social connections and frequently exchanging privately composed communication with family members and close friends promotes successful ageing. Facebook is found to be a potential source of social capital.

Internet and Internet communication technologies have become an integral part of life for most of us. Commercial potential of these technologies has already been identified. The advent of new forms of communication and sharing content on the Internet, so-called Web 2.0, brought new trend to our lives. This new trend with great potential for further commercialization of the Internet, are social networks. This thesis deals mainly with issues of use of social networks for commercial communication. Social networks offers a wide range of opportunities for business development on the Internet in the future. Volume of use of social networks in the future depends not only on users of social networks, but also on skills and experience of corporate entities. The goal of the thesis is to provide a comprehensive view on this issue, analyze the current uses of each commercial channel on social networks and provide insight to possible future progress. The work is divided into three chapters. The first, theoretical part, defines online communication channels, social networks and analyse basic problems of commercial use of social networks. In the second part author provides an overview of the possibilities of use of social networks and their potential, their advantages and disadvantages. And also methods how to enter a field of social networking with a business. The third part is a case study of use of social networks for business development in a particular company. In this charter author applies knowledge from the theoretical part. Reader of the thesis should thus gain a complete understanding of the issues of commercial uses of social networks. In theoretical, and also in practical direction. The thesis could thus be a applicable guide for the use of all the opportunities that social networks provide these days. The benefit for the reader should be the ability to apply theoretical and practical procedures for developing their own business.

Main aim of consideration in this thesis is communication in social networks. In theoretical part is its reader informed about meaning of words virtual reality, social networks, and about their individual specifics during communication via Facebook platform. The depth interviews in practical part of this thesis are used for research on motives, which affect individuals in direction of joining and active using of social networking account. The separate depths interviews are done with representatives of each Facebook member groups. The groups are differentiated by age and opinions on Facebook using. The main contribution of research is verification of evident and latent motives, which influence people in the field of joining Facebook community.