Recent years witnessed incredibly increasing popularity of online social networking sites around the globe. The emergence of new social media, including online social networking sites, brings the communication world a brand-new area to explore. The success of Facebook and MySpace in the U.S. has attracted a considerate number of communication scholars to examine this phenomenon from different perspectives. As the most cutting-edge tool to investigate a newly-grown medium, uses and gratifications perspective focuses on why people use social media, and how people use them to satisfy their needs. In this study, the most popular online social networking site in China, Renren, was selected to investigate the uses and gratifications of Chinese college students. Four motivations, that is, socializing, entertainment, self-status seeking, and information seeking, were utilized to measure how much weight Chinese college students give to each motivation. Culture's impact on the usage of online social networking sites was also investigated. The concept of interdependent self-construal and independent self-construal was borrowed to examine how culture could play a role in SNS use among Chinese college students. The study found Chinese college students use SNS to gratify their needs of socializing, entertainment, information seeking, while self-status seeking seems to be a weaker factor of SNS use. Six themes emerged in the study including: 1) vision and outlook expansion, 2) friendship maintenance, 3) a sense of self-worth, 4) information seeking, 5) entertainment, and 6) cultivated as a habit, to pass time. In addition, Chinese college students seem to have independent self-construal rather than interdependent self-construal, but the tendency is weak and self-report statistics show they tend to give moderate answers regarding to the self-construal. The influence of different self-construals towards motives in using Renren is subtle. Further explanations of observed finding were provided in the thesis.

Tackling obesity among adolescents requires the optimization of existing obesity treatment strategies. For this purpose, social and personal circumstances, individual needs and behavior of therapy participants need to be analyzed to tailor aims, content and methods of therapy interventions to the target groups. A total of 432 obesity therapy participants between 11 and 17 years completed a written survey in a national multi-center study conducted in 2015. The data collection on behavior, in terms of physical activity, media use and sociodemographic variables, was based on questionnaires from the KiGGS, HBSC and JIM studies. The results show that participants were found to be physically active together with friends (75.5%), alone (41.4%) and in sports clubs (34.9%). Girls (OR 1.55) were less likely to participate in sports clubs. Social networks, especially YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, were widely used. However, differences emerged among sociodemographic groups (e.g., boys vs. girls) regarding the use of social network features. A third of participants reported that smartphone apps regularly encouraged them to exercise. The findings imply that obesity therapy approaches need to be adapted and more differentiated according to the specific needs of the target groups.

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Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Technology Degree in Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2014. / Social computing researchers are devoting efforts to understand the complex social behaviour of people using social networking platforms, such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, so as to inform the design of human-centered and socially aware systems. This research study investigates the factors of perceived trust, user satisfaction, social norm and perceived behavioural control, to develop a model for predicting the continuance intention of people to use online social networking for business transactions. In order to validate the predictive capability of the model developed, an online survey was used to collect 300 useable responses from people who have used LinkedIn and Twitter social networking platforms for business transactions at least once. The Partial Least Square (PLS) mathematical analysis tool was thereafter used to perform confirmatory factor analysis, analysis of measurement and structural models. The study results provide significant evidence in support of the factors of perceived trust, social norm and user satisfaction, as determinants of the continuance intention of people using online social networking platforms for business transactions. Perceived trust was found to exhibit a strong relationship with social norm and explains a variance of (R2=0.47). In addition, social norm explains a variance of (R2=0.44) and user satisfaction explains a variance of (R2=0.42), resulting in the model predicting (R2=0.56) continuance intention. In addition, the research model was tested for the moderating effects of usage habit, which were found to significantly moderate relationships between continuance intention and perceived trust, PBCand social norm, resulting in an improved predictive capability of (R2=0.89). The moderating result indicates that a higher level of habit increases the effect of perceived trust, Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC) and social norm on continuance intention. This result confirms the theoretical argument that the strength of user satisfaction to predict continuance, is strengthened by usage habit. The results of this research study generally have practical implications for individuals who desire to offer commercial services on online social networking technologies, to seriously consider building trust and maintaining user satisfaction to sustain their businesses. They should also think of strategies embedded in peer pressure, to attract, retain and establish trustworthy relationships with customers.

The introduction of Social Media (SM) into sports communications in professional leagues is disrupting the traditional methods of sports media relations. In the past, teams used websites to post information for fans, but it was strictly a one-way format of communication whereby a story was posted for fans to read. To fully engage with this new communication channel, the sports communications departments in professional leagues have begun to use SM to communicate directly with fans through platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Currently, SM like Twitter allows the team communication departments to communicate directly with fans in an interactive two-way format that is not mediated by a reporter or someone from a traditional media outlet. In addition, the open format of SM means that media relations staff are no longer the only intermediary between the media and the players; through the use of SM like Twitter, a professional athlete can now communicate directly to fans without gatekeepers like the media or the sports communications department of the team. This thesis will explore how SM has changed media relations from several different perspectives. The first perspective is related to the risks that are associated with the use of SM by professional athletes: without an intermediary or a filter for athlete-fan communication, many athletes have caused irreparable damage to their reputation and the reputation of their team. The second perspective is related to the benefits for teams that use SM as a platform to connect with fans: the ability to connect with fans using SM is new to sports communications and represents an interactive one-to-one and one-to-many mode of communication through which the fan can directly communicate with the team. Finally, this research will look at how Twitter has changed media relations in sports from the perspective of the lived experiences of people who work in sports media. To explore the risks associated with athletes’ use of social media, this research used Situational Crisis Communication Theory as a theoretical framework to explore reputation-damaging incidents that occurred through social media. The study reviewed national media stories reported in North America from 2009 to 2010 that were perceived to have negative impact on athletes’ reputation. In total, 17 incidents were reviewed — seven incidents in particular demonstrated the athlete as the source of the SM crisis. Through the review and categorization of these 17 situations, the study was able to identify four broad categories of situations that a sports communication manager needs to be prepared for. The four categories identified were “Rookie Reporter”, “Team Insider”, “Opportunist”, and “Imposter”. Each of these categories are invaluable for team communication managers to recognize in order to address the risks associated with social media. To explore the benefits associated with the communications department’s use of social media, this research used Uses and Gratification theory as a theoretical framework to explore how and why fans followed team Twitter accounts. This study was conducted in partnership with the Canadian Football League (CFL) and a total of 526 people responded to an online survey that was tweeted out to them for their feedback. The results of the survey indicated several significant findings — in particular, the phenomenon of converged sports fan consumption was identified, which has not been previously acknowledged in academic research. The phenomenon of converged sports fan refers to the multi-screen environment whereby a sports fan decides where, when, and how they want to consume sporting content. This research identified that in-game consumption of SM while watching television and the mobile consumption of SM are both dominant ways for fans to interact with their teams. This multi-modal format of connecting with the team supports the idea of Henry Jenkins’s Black Box Fallacy (2006, p. 13): as teams move forward in developing communications platforms to reach their fans, they will need to recognize that all channels can and do work together. In order to further understand how Twitter has changed sports media relations, the study used long semi-structured interviews with a phenomenological research design to understand how Twitter has impacted sports media relations. The phenomenological analysis of the informant interviews suggested that Twitter is the source of three themes of change: general media relations, mechanical job functions, and other changes specific to sports media relations. The significance of Twitter’s impact on sports media relations cannot be understated. With the ubiquitous use of SM like Twitter, it is important to understand how sports media relations can use SM to manage the image of their respective teams and athletes. After looking at SM and sports from three different perspectives, the pivotal finding was the role that Twitter and mobile communications play in ‘flattening’ sports media relations. Similar to how Friedman (2006) argued that the convergence of the personal computer drove globalization, Twitter and the increased adoption of mobile communications have flattened the role of sports media relations. This research will explain how the flattening of sports media relations happened and what the implications might be for sports media professionals.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Technology Degree in Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2014. / Social computing researchers are devoting efforts to understand the complex social behaviour of people using social networking platforms, such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, so as to inform the design of human-centered and socially aware systems. This research study investigates the factors of perceived trust, user satisfaction, social norm and perceived behavioural control, to develop a model for predicting the continuance intention of people to use online social networking for business transactions. In order to validate the predictive capability of the model developed, an online survey was used to collect 300 useable responses from people who have used LinkedIn and Twitter social networking platforms for business transactions at least once. The Partial Least Square (PLS) mathematical analysis tool was thereafter used to perform confirmatory factor analysis, analysis of measurement and structural models. The study results provide significant evidence in support of the factors of perceived trust, social norm and user satisfaction, as determinants of the continuance intention of people using online social networking platforms for business transactions. Perceived trust was found to exhibit a strong relationship with social norm and explains a variance of (R2=0.47). In addition, social norm explains a variance of (R2=0.44) and user satisfaction explains a variance of (R2=0.42), resulting in the model predicting (R2=0.56) continuance intention. In addition, the research model was tested for the moderating effects of usage habit, which were found to significantly moderate relationships between continuance intention and perceived trust, PBCand social norm, resulting in an improved predictive capability of (R2=0.89). The moderating result indicates that a higher level of habit increases the effect of perceived trust, Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC) and social norm on continuance intention. This result confirms the theoretical argument that the strength of user satisfaction to predict continuance, is strengthened by usage habit. The results of this research study generally have practical implications for individuals who desire to offer commercial services on online social networking technologies, to seriously consider building trust and maintaining user satisfaction to sustain their businesses. They should also think of strategies embedded in peer pressure, to attract, retain and establish trustworthy relationships with customers. / M

This dissertation aims to provide a strategic qualitative economic analysis of the illicit drug trafficking industry as it evolved in its modern form across the Americas in the latter part of the 20th century, with principal focus on Colombia and Mexico, and to assess its impact on the security environment in the Americas with the ultimate ambition to provide tangible recommendations for complex disruptive countermeasures. The key premise upon which all the conclusions are later formulated is that trafficking in illicit substances is primarily an entrepreneurial activity aimed to generate profit and economic approach to the issue therefore yields the most promising prospects for tangible results. Narcoterrorism in its own merit, and drug-related violence in general, is contemplated, analyzed and explained as one of the key tactics inherent to the trafficking business model. Finally, a critical assessment of existing counter-narcotics strategies is performed in order to outline deficiencies of these policies with the aim to provide alternative and more effective countermeasures against illicit trafficking.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-06-15T12:34:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Mariana Leonhardt Hallage.pdf: 4649504 bytes, checksum: 73447bf4b5dfd8e3f3979822307c794c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-15T12:34:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mariana Leonhardt Hallage.pdf: 4649504 bytes, checksum: 73447bf4b5dfd8e3f3979822307c794c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-03 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This study intends to understand how fashion brands keep their strategies of branding and its own stories, while being internet’s social agents, through real time communication in digital social medias. The analysis is based by the view of the conflicting dynamic between the need showed by brands to be always visible and the scheduled volatility of images and videos produced in the cyberspace, particularly in social medias which its premise surrounds the idea of producing content units that lasts in visibility only for only day after being created and started its disclosure. To achieve this main reflection of thoughts, we intend to analyze the ephemeral audiovisual content production that three brands, being in the market as fast-fashions, besides of observing how they hand with their own image complexities by passing information of branding for volatile images. The logic of digital communication in real time and the one of fashion system are incredibly like each other, in terms of language and expressions of the needs of these brands, which will be also included here, in conclusion of this study. It will be elaborated case studies analyzing the brands C&A Brasil, Forever21 and Topshop, in their activities on digital social medias Snapchat and Instagram Stories, by collecting sixty days of image production. Talking about results, we could found content units which helps on the creation of a singular narrative strategy for each brand, maintaining their media visibility to their spectators / O presente estudo busca entender como algumas marcas de moda reiteram suas narrativas, enquanto agentes sociais na internet, através da comunicação em tempo real nas redes sociais digitais. A análise é balizada tendo em vista a dinâmica conflitante entre a necessidade que possuem, de estarem sempre visíveis, e a volatilidade programada das imagens e vídeos produzidos no ciberespaço, especificamente em redes sociais digitais, cuja premissa é que se produzam unidades de conteúdo, que durem por até um dia após o início de sua veiculação. Para atingir essa principal reflexão, analisa-se a produção de conteúdo audiovisual efêmero que três marcas em regime fast-fashion elaboraram, além de observar como lidam com complexidades imagéticas, na passagem de informação de imagem de marca para imagens voláteis. As lógicas de comunicação digital em tempo real e do sistema de moda apresentam pontos de convergência e similaridades, em termos de linguagem e expressão dos anseios dos agentes do mercado, que também serão abordados na dissertação. A análise dos dados percorre sessenta dias das marcas C&A Brasil, Forever 21 e Topshop, nas redes sociais digitais Snapchat e Instagram Stories, avaliando suas produções imagéticas. Como resultados, são evidenciados conteúdos que visam criar estrategicamente algumas narrativas, para auxiliarem as marcas na construção de uma imagem própria, singular