Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / SMMEs have been touted as the major driver of any economy – they create jobs, reduce poverty level and generally improve the livelihood of a society. Even with these lofty advantages, SMMEs encounter numerous challenges. These range from lack of access to funding, poor education and understanding of small business management practices. Embedded in small business management practice, is the need to undertake proper marketing. Marketing has recently featured as one of the main challenges of small businesses. Lately several marketing channels have emerged in response to this challenge. These channels have been reported to have positive impact on the bottom line of businesses. This study sought to discover whether social media platforms are deployed within the hospitality sector in the Cape Metropole, Western Cape Province, South Africa, to enhance the growth of restaurants. The study was motivated by the lack of alternative marketing channels using social media platforms, especially in the hospitality industry in the Cape Metropole. Essentially, to achieve this aim, a survey was conducted of SMMEs with employment capacity of not more than 50 employees, specifically within the hospitality sector in the Cape Metropole. A quantitative methodology was applied, using a self-administered questionnaire, distributed to 100 SMMEs in the Cape Metropole. The method of data analysis was purposive. The findings of this research indicate that most of the sampled small businesses used social media platforms. The findings also suggest that SMMEs perceived social media to have moderately effective marketing tools, with WhatsApp as the most effective, followed by Facebook and Twitter. The findings suggest that most respondents used the platform to inform their clients about a business promotion; for new product marketing; for customer loyalty, and for socialising with clients. It was found that if the highest percentage, used for socialising, was then channelled towards strategic marketing, it would significantly boost small business marketing capabilities. This could fill the gap of sustainable marketing strategies.

Orientador: Cláudio Bertolli Filho / Banca: Maria Cristina Gobbi / Banca: Mirna Tonus / Resumo: No dia 11 de julho de 2012 a jovem estudante Isadora Faber, de 13 anos, criou uma página no Facebook chamada "Diário de Classe". O objetivo era utilizar o espaço para denunciar deficiências na educação pública no Brasil a partir da sua realidade particular, vivida na escola Ebm Maria Damázio Coelho, em Florianópolis (SC). Depois de despertar a atenção da imprensa e ganhar repercussão nacional, o caso ilustrou diversas perspectivas sobre as novas formas de expressão e conversação trazidas por tecnologias da informação, especialmente sites de redes sociais como o Facebook. Ao analisar o conteúdo presente no diário de Classe, no contexto das reações sociais e midiáticas à página, o presente trabalho permite observar de que maneira os atores sociais constroem identidades e reforçam cidadanias em ambiente social. Para isso, investiga, sob a perspectiva intercultural de Néstor Garcia Canclini, como as apropriações do Facebook em diálogo com a mídia tradicional possibilitaram a participação social e favorecem o ciberativismo em uma contexto de modernidade reflexiva / Abstract: On July 11 th 2012, a young student called Isadora Faber, 13 years old, created a page on Facebook called "Diário de Classe" - gradebook. The target was use the tool to report deficiences of public education in Brazil from her particular reality, experienced in school Maria Damázio Coelho, in Florianópolis (SC). After gretting press attention and gaining national visibility, the case illustrated several perspectives on new forms of expression and conversation brought by information technology, especially from social networking sites such as the Facebook. By analyzing the content present in "Diario de Classe", in the context of social and media reactions to the page, this work allow us to observe how social actors construct identities and reinforce citizenship in social environment. To reach this, investigates with intercultural perspective of Néstor Canclini, how Facebook's appropriation in dialogue with the traditional media allow social participation and favor cyberactitivism in a context of reflexive modernity / Mestre

FundaÃÃo Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Cientifico e TecnolÃgico / O estudo da memÃria e da narrativa e de sua relaÃÃo com a produÃÃo e o consumo de imagens mostra-se um caminho desafiador, sobretudo na contemporaneidade, quando tentamos compreender esses processos nos ambientes digitais. A fotografia opera nos processos de significaÃÃo, isto Ã, nos significados que os sujeitos conferem a um dado acontecimento, no modo como eventos e pessoas sÃo lembrados, contados e compreendidos. Em especial, a fotografia digital produzida para ser compartilhada online introduz um campo de problemas interessantes para investigaÃÃo dos processos de memÃria e narraÃÃo autobiogrÃficas. Este estudo propÃe analisar como as fotografias compartilhadas no Facebook atuam sobre a produÃÃo de memÃrias autobiogrÃficas, com efeitos, portanto, sobre atuais formas de narraÃÃo de si. Em outras palavras, procuramos entender como as novas formas digitais de produzir imagens (principalmente aquelas produzidas para serem compartilhadas) operam na forma como os usuÃrios constroem suas lembranÃas do vivido, articulando as relaÃÃes entre passado, presente e futuro a partir das imagens midiatizadas. AlÃm disso, investigamos como essas novas maneiras de âguardarâ a memÃria atuam sobre a criaÃÃo das atuais narrativas autobiogrÃficas, isto Ã, as histÃrias que as pessoas contam sobre si mesmas. Esta pesquisa apoia-se nos estudos de memÃria, narrativa e novas mÃdias de Van Dijck , Brockmeier e Sibilia, e em Dubois e Samain no que se refere à natureza, ao funcionamento e à anÃlise da fotografia. O estudo qualitativo consistiu em duas etapas: 1) aplicaÃÃo do questionÃrio semi-estruturado com temas sobre fotografia e memÃria; 2) codificaÃÃo e anÃlise das fotografias disponibilizadas para a pesquisa, selecionadas pelos respondentes. O convite à participaÃÃo se deu no prÃprio Facebook. Identificamos os fatores que contribuem para o processo de escolha da imagem compartilhada e os processos individuais e sociais que circunscrevem as prÃticas de produÃÃo e compartilhamento da fotografia digital, procurando estabelecer uma relaÃÃo entre a produÃÃo de memÃria e as autonarrativas. / The study of memory and narrative and its relation with the production and consumption of images has shown a challenging course, especially nowadays, when we try to understand these processes in digital environments. The photo operates in the processes of meaning attribution, that is, the meanings that subjects give to a certain event, in how people and events are remembered, narrated and understood. In particular, the digital photograph produced in order to be shared online introduces an interesting field of research of both and autobiographical memory and narration. This study proposes to analyze the photos shared on Facebook that play on the autobiographical memories, with effect therefore on current forms of self-narration. In other words, we try to understand how the new digital ways of producing images (especially those produced to be shared) operate in the way users build their memories of a lived moment, articulating the past, present and future from the mediatized images. In addition, we investigate how these new ways of "saving" memory influence the creation of current autobiographical narratives, that is, the stories that people tell about themselves. The qualitative study consisted in two stages: 1) application of semi-structured questionnaire with topics about photography and memory; 2) coding and analysis of the photographs available for research, selected by respondents. The invitation to participate was given on Facebook. We identified the factors that contributed to the process of choosing the shared images, as well as the individual and social processes that circumscribe the practices of production of digital photography sharing, with the intention of establishing a relationship between the production of memory and self-narratives.

In today’s era online social networks are getting extensive popularity among internet users. People are using online social networks for different purposes like sharing information, chatting with friends, family and planning to hang out. It is then no surprise that online social network should be easy to use and easily understandable. Previously many researchers have evaluated different online social networks but there is no such study which addresses usability concerns about online social network with a focus on Facebook on an academic level (using students as subjects). The main rationale behind this study is to find out efficiency of different usability testing techniques from social network’s point of view, with a focus on Facebook, and issues related to usability. To conduct this research, we have adopted the combination of both qualitative and quantitative approach. Graduate students from BTH have participated in usability tests. Our findings are that although think aloud is more efficient then remote testing, but this difference is not very significant. We found from survey that different usability issues are in Facebook profile, media, Picture Tagging, Chatting etc. / We have identified different usability issues in Facebook such as issues in media, chatting, facebook profile, changing profile name etc. Here we can say that although think aloud protocol is more efficient then remote testing but this difference is not very significant. We have also suggested some extension in usability testing techniques. If participants of usability test do not verbalize while interacting with the system and keep their focus on performing the test. After completion of each task participants can express their thoughts and opinions what they did. Furthermore we sent our founded results to developer for validation purpose. Developers replied that the results of this research are satisfactory. / Tariq Alam Address: Folkparksvagen 18:19, 37240 Ronneby, Sweden E-mail: chochoswati@hotmail.com, Muhammad Ali Address: Folkparksvagen 18:19, 37240 Ronneby, Sweden E-mail: alijpjgujrat@yahoo.com

Based on the rapid development of Big Data, the data from the online social network becomea major part of it. Big data make the social networks became data-oriented rather than social-oriented. Taking this into account, this dissertation presents a qualitative study to research howdoes the data-oriented social network affect its users’ privacy management for nowadays. Within this dissertation, an overview of Big Data and privacy issues on the social network waspresented as a background study. We adapted the communication privacy theory as a frameworkfor further analysis how individuals manage their privacy on social networks. We study socialnetworks as an entirety in this dissertation. We selected Facebook as a case study to present theconnection between social network, Big Data and privacy issues. The data that supported the result of this dissertation collected by the face-to-face and in-depthinterview study. As consequence, we found that the people divided the social networks intodifferent level of openness in order to avoid the privacy invasions and violations, according totheir privacy concern. They reduced and transferred their sharing from an open social networkto a more close one. However, the risk of privacy problems actually raised because peopleneglected to understand the data process on social networks. They focused on managed theeveryday sharing but too easily allowed other application accessed their personal data on thesocial network (such like the Facebook profile).

M.A. / Identity is a broad term that has changed across time and within context. This paper focuses specifically on notions of ‘public versus private’ identity within an online context. Within this study I took both a qualitative and quantitative approach as a means of data collection. This research was aimed at answering the one research question: ‘How do UJ Facebook members use notions of public and private to perform their identity?’ I employed a ‘mixed methodology’ of a qualitative and quantitative approach to enable in gaining data. As part of my qualitative research I applied the ethnographic approach; I observed a total of 25 profiles in order to understand the way in which the UJ Facebook members ‘perform’ their identities through their individual profiles. For twelve months I used observations to understand and explore identities of UJ Facebook members. As part of my quantitative research, I randomly selected 105 individuals as a representation of the UJ Facebook group and with the use of a statistics programme (SPSS) I statistically represented my findings. During my twelve months of research I observed individual profiles of UJ Facebook members and focused on ‘identity markers’ to help me to understand how identities are represented within this space. By identity markers, I refer to markers such as name, sex, birth date, relationship status, religious and political viewpoint, and so on. These markers help create a perception of one’s identity based on the information that is filled in when the profile is created by the individual. Thus, both my qualitative and quantitative findings paint a picture of how profile pictures, status updates, walls, information, applications and so on help communicate a message of identity to an ‘outsider’. I have found a tension between public and private performances of identity. In tension, I don’t mean dishonesty but rather the tensions communicated by the UJ Facebook members in the way in which their identities are performed. For example, one of my participants does not indicate her relationship status, but her status updates and wall is a constant communication with her boyfriend. Therefore, at times these messages contradict each other and this tends to raise questions about ‘how public’ and ‘how private’ ones profile really is.

Social media is fast becoming an ever-increasingly significant part of the world of business and a phenomenon which cannot be evaded. The advent of social media in the workplace compels organisations to acclimatise to the transformation emanating from employees‟ adoption of these technologies (Hanaki & Casella, 2008). Approximately seventy percent of organisations do not have a social media governance framework in place (Fink et al., 2011). Social media governance in organisations is very disjointed; companies have varying stances as to social media strategy, the risks, benefits and business use of social media (Thompson et al., 2011). The growth of social media and its use in the business environment will see a more standardised approach to social media governance (Thompson et al., 2011). Being at the forefront of technology development in Africa, and in certain areas, globally (Government of the Republic of South Africa, 2012), places added emphasis on IT organisations in South Africa to set the standard as it relates to social media governance. The diversity and depth of the human and technology resources within these organisations, creates an environment conducive to establishing and pioneering sound social media governance structures. The treatise consists of a study on the governance of social media and the successive development of two frameworks; an integrated framework for the governance of social media in the workplace, as well as integrated framework for a social media policy within an IT organisation. These frameworks are empirically evaluated amongst employees, within the context of Information Technology (IT) organisations, in South Africa. Several recommendations are proposed by the author in relation to the adoption of the proposed frameworks.

Narcissism is increasingly being regarded as one of the biggest socio-cultural problems of the contemporary era. Indeed, recent studies by Baldwin and Stroman (2007) and Buffardi and Campbell (2008), among others, have advanced that new media technologies – in particular social networking websites – have significantly exacerbated the rise and spread of narcissism in contemporary society. Based on this premise, namely that social media provide the perfect platform for the promotion of self-infatuation, this research project will provide a critical analysis of the potential influence of social media in the development of a widespread narcissistic socio-cultural condition. In this regard, claims that increasingly consumerist, individualist and media-saturated societies are nurturing a culture of extreme narcissism, vanity and entitlement, will be examined in relation to an increase in the use of consumerorientated new media technologies. In particular, by examining the structural components of the popular social networking site, Facebook, this treatise will highlight the connection between the use of this form of new media and the engenderment of an acutely consumerist and narcissistic subjectivity – namely, commodity narcissism. That is, by examining the growth of narcissism from the 1940s through to the new millennium, the role of the media, and most recently new media technologies, in the promotion of commodity narcissism will be examined as factors of particular significance in the formation of contemporary subjectivity. In relation to this, the impact of commodity narcissism on the perpetuation and propagation of capitalist isolation, alienation and insecurity will be investigated with a view to exploring the potential impact of such narcissism on the efficacy of the democratic process. Finally, some remedial measures, which co-opt rather than negate such social media, will be proposed.

Social media have become a widely used tool to communicate with the orgnisations stakeholders. Institutions of higher learning are also venturing into this new way of marketing and communication. This study intended to determine how South African institutions of higher learning are using social media for marketing and communication purposes. Firstly, a literature study was conducted to gain an understanding on how social media are used. Further an empirical study was conducted, which consisted of two phases. The first phase was a case study on NMMU and Stellenbosch University. Structured-interviews, focus groups and observation were used to collect data from the cases. The collected data were then used to construct a questionnaire that was used for a survey. The survey was distributed to all 23 universities, 50 public FET colleges and the 200 private FET college. 92 institutions responded to the survey. The findings prove that there are various opportuntities and challenges in using social media although it should be stressed that the opportunities outweigh the threats. There is no visible difference between colleges social media implementation in relation to institutions of higher learning. Most institutions use more than one social media tool. Facebook is the most widely used social media followed by Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. Flickr, MXit, Google+ and Blog are the least used social media. The observations of the NMMU and Stellenbosch University show that these two institutions are striving to engage with their target audiences. Although the institutions are using social media, some of the concerns are that institutions are not measuring their social media use. For those who are measuring, most depend on the free measurement tools which focus only on the quantitative measure. The governance of the social media use is none existent. Most respondents stated that they do not have a policy or guidelines informing social media management. Most of the respondents felt that they want to use more social media tools in future although some of the challenges alluded to were lack of capacity, human resources and budget.

Social media is playing an increasingly important role in people’s lives and is becoming a part of most organisations’ business models. Businesses cannot ignore this phenomenon due to the increasing influx of Generation Y employees in their businesses and the Generation Y consumers who are going to buy their products and services in the future. Social media is changing the way that marketing is being conducted, in a positive way. It is changing from businesses focusing on selling products or services to customers, to businesses building relationships with customers and adding value to their lives through their products and services. This phenomenon was the base for this study. The research problem was identified as follows: SMME business owners do not understand the importance and impact of social media on their businesses. Sub-problems were identified as: defining social media and networking, describing the importance of this, which strategies are currently being used in business, how it compares to traditional networking, how this is used in recruitment strategies and what are the disadvantages of social media and networking. The research problem and sub-problems were addressed in a literature study and an empirical study. The literature study included information on SMME businesses, their importance in our economy and how social media can help them. The empirical study was done using SMME’s registered with the George Business Chamber. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to the owners of the businesses by email. The answers were analysed and collated on a spreadsheet which were presented in graph and diagram format. Social media and networking are becoming an integral part of businesses especially small businesses. They specifically have an important role to play in creating economic wealth and creating employment. SMME’s are faced with a lot of challenges which make it difficult for them to become successful and sustainable. Social media can play a role in overcoming a lot of these challenges by helping SMME’s with marketing, customer engagement, relationship building, recruitment, and finding valuable information, experience and partners. Social media also has disadvantages which include: virus attacks, risk of confidential information leaking and so forth, but these can easily be managed by social media polices and rules. A bigger risk lies in the fact that if a business owner ignores the existence of social media, this can lead to conversations by consumers about this business being ignored and not responded to. Another big risk for SMME’s is the fact they are at a competitive disadvantage by ignoring this new technology. This was clear from the empirical results in this study which stated that 53 percent of the businesses surveyed, were aware their competitors are using social media. The empirical results indicated a very low use of social media activities among the SMME’s surveyed but showed potential as the SMME’s understood the importance of social media and were eager to implement strategies in their businesses. The reasons offered for not using social media included the fact that it was difficult to measure its worth in time and money, advice is needed from experts and so forth. Social media and networking are not quick or cheap methods for businesses to advertise and sell their products or services. They are tools to be used over time, in order to engage with customers and build relationships. Consumers and customers expect value for their money and if they find this from a business, they will gladly share it with others. On the other hand, if they do not find value for money it could have a negative impact on the business. SMME’s must not try to replace their current marketing strategy with social networking activities. They should integrate it slowly into their current business models and search for unique ways in which it could improve the relationship with their current customers and find new customers. It should help them to either showcase their existing value added products or services, or improve it if it is not worth selling. Small businesses now have the platform to compete.