The number of social media platforms (SMP hereinafter) is ever-increasing, and all of these platforms compete for more attention and content. The global social media market is expected to grow to $223.11 billion in 2022 (Social Media Global Market Report, 2022). In an era characterized by the meteoric rise and evolution of Social Media Platforms (SMPs), understanding the interplay between platform features and user behaviors is both critical and complex. In this dissertation, we aim to elucidate the relationship between SMPs and society, with the ultimate objective of fostering a healthier social media ecosystem. This dissertation is comprised of two incisive essays, both of which are underpinned by robust theoretical frameworks. The first essay adopts an expansive purview of the SMP ecosystem. Grounded in Uses and Gratifications Theory and media studies, it establishes a user typology based on the previous typologies and examines the interaction between user motives, SMP scores, and SMP features. Employing the Analytic Hierarchy Process, a sophisticated decision-making tool, the study quantifies utility-driven choices across platforms. A notable revelation is the heterogeneity in user reliance on SMP features, contingent upon their underlying motives. This essay offers critical insights into the multifaceted nature of SMP utilization. The second essay focuses specifically on Reddit's ChangeMyView community, an exemplar of constructive discourse in the SMP environment. It constructs a theoretical model premised on the Elaboration Likelihood Model and the concept of pre-suasion, and utilizes a mixed-methods approach to explore the persuasive strategies using Content Analysis. We also utilize ChatGPT in the Content Analysis to corroborate our inferences. The findings confirm our theorization about the role of the Delta reward system in fostering reflective engagement with content, which leads to informed opinion formation. Collectively, with these essays, we aim to provide extensive insights into the dynamic interplay between SMPs and users. Both essays hold significant implications for research community, SMP decision-makers, organizations that use SMPs, and a broader audience interested in optimizing their social media repertoire. Through a theory-driven and empirical lens, employing several epistemologies, this dissertation provides a holistic depiction of the SMP ecosystem. / Doctor of Philosophy / The landscape of social media is constantly evolving with an ever-growing number of platforms vying for user attention. In this dissertation, we aim to analyze the relationship between social media platforms and their users, seeking ways to foster a healthier and more constructive social media environment. This dissertation is structured into two distinct yet interconnected essays. In the first essay, we look at the broader ecosystem of social media platforms. It categorizes users based on their motivations for using social media, such as seeking information or connecting with others. We examine how different features of social media platforms cater to these diverse motivations. To accomplish this, we employ a method known as the Analytic Hierarchy Process, which is a decision-making tool used to measure and analyze choices. The key insight from this essay is the diversity in how users interact with social media features, and how this interaction is influenced by their underlying motivations. In the second essay, we take a closer look at a specific community on Reddit called ChangeMyView. This community is unique as it encourages users to engage in thoughtful and reasoned debates. In this essay, we develop a theoretical model to understand the mechanisms through which information is processed and opinions are changed within this community with a strong focus on Delta system, a feature that rewards users for successfully changing someone's opinion through challenging their view and pointing the flaws in their thinking. Collectively, the dissertation provides an in-depth understanding of the dynamic relationship between social media platforms and users. It does so through rigorous analysis underpinned by theoretical frameworks. This research is not only academically significant but also has practical implications. It provides valuable insights for decision-makers to improve social media platforms, aids organizations in understanding how best to engage with social media, and informs users on optimizing their social media interactions. In essence, this dissertation serves as a comprehensive analysis that bridges the gap between the ever-evolving features of social media platforms and the multifaceted behaviors of their users.

<p dir="ltr">The purpose of this paper is to highlight how racial stereotypes, such as the model minority stereotype, are contributing to the continued exclusion of Asian Americans in conversations concerning public health issues like alcohol use. The paper elaborates on potential reasons for the continued overlook of this subpopulation in the United States, highlights the overlooked diversity within the Asian American community, and points out the reality of negative repercussions of alcohol use and treatment barriers within this community. The paper emphasizes the need to shift away from reactive treatment care and towards culture-specific preventative interventions and treatments. Specifically, the paper explains why preventative interventions for Asian American college students can discourage both short-and-long term harm caused by alcohol use and highlights key individual and environmental factors to consider when creating preventative interventions and treatments.</p><p dir="ltr">With the growing need for culture-specific preventative treatments for alcohol use, nuanced explorations of the relationships between environmental and individual factors for Asian American college students is needed to better understand alcohol initiation and endorsement among this understudied population. As such, the goal of the current study was to examine the relationships between social identity stereotypes, descriptive norms surrounding alcohol use, and social media usage to see how their interactions influenced Asian American college student’s alcohol use. The current study confirmed that descriptive norms surrounding alcohol mediated the relationship between social media alcohol exposure and alcohol use. Additionally, generation status was found to be a significant individual factor that cannot be overlooked when creating treatment or programming for this population. The study highlights the importance and need for disaggregated Asian American data to develop a nuanced understanding of the epidemiology for alcohol use within this population. Practical implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.</p>

Social ångest på sociala medier är ett relativt outforskat område där fortsatt forskning underlättas av psykometriskt tillfredsställande självskattningsskalor. Följande studie syftade till att översätta Social Anxiety Scale for Social Media Users (SAS-SMU) och psykometriskt utvärdera den avseende dess latenta dimensioner, interna konsistens samt konvergerande respektive divergerande validitet i ett svenskt urval. Därutöver undersöktes samband mellan total användning och passiv respektive aktiv användning av sociala medier och social ångest, eftersom tidigare studier visat en tendens till passiv användning. Tre faktorer erhölls för SAS-SMU och resultaten visade hög intern konsistens samt att skalan konvergerade med SPIN, och divergerade med OCI-R, SWSL, PHQ-9 och GAD-7. Skalans tredje faktor erhöll dock svagare samband med SPIN jämfört med de andra faktorerna. Social ångest associerades med passiv användning i högre utsträckning än aktiv, samt med längre genomsnittlig användning av sociala medier. Resultaten skiljer sig från tidigare studier där signifikanta samband endast erhållits mellan passiv användning och social ångest. / Measurement scales are needed to facilitate further research on social anxiety in the context of social media. This study aimed to translate the Social Anxiety Scale for Social Media Users (SAS-SMU) and evaluate its psychometric properties in a Swedish sample regarding its underlying dimensions, internal consistency, converging and diverging validity. Furthermore, relationships between passive, active and total use of social media and social anxiety were explored, since previous studies have shown a tendency towards passive use. Three factors were retained for SAS-SMU with satisfactory internal consistency. SAS-SMU converged with SPIN and diverged with OCI-R, SWLS, PHQ-9 and GAD-7. However, the association between its third factor and SPIN was weaker compared to the other factors. Results indicated that higher levels of social anxiety were more strongly associated with passive use than active use, as well as longer general social media use. This is at odds with previous studies only reporting significant correlations between social anxiety and passive use of social media.

abstract: Social media has been extensively researched, and its effects on well-being are well established. What is less studied, however, is how social media affects romantic relationships specifically. The few studies that have researched this have found mixed results. Some researchers have found social media to have a positive influence on relationship outcomes, while other have found social media to have a negative influence. In an attempt to reconcile these discrepancies, the current thesis study explored possible mediators between social media use and relationship health outcomes which, to my knowledge, has not been investigated in previous literature. Three moderators were explored: type of social media use (active use versus passive use), relationship-contingent self-esteem, and social comparison orientation. The baseline portion of the study had 547 individuals, recruited from Arizona State University’s SONA system as well as Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, who were in a romantic relationship for at least three months; the follow-up portion of the study had 181 participants. Results suggest that women who passively use social media exhibit a negative association between hours per day of social media use and baseline relationship satisfaction. Men who passively use social media exhibited a negative association between hours per day of social media use and follow-up relationship satisfaction, as well as a negative association with baseline commitment. While relationship-contingent self-esteem did not moderate the association between hours per day of social media use and relationship health, it was positively related to both men and women’s baseline relationship satisfaction and baseline commitment. Social comparison orientation (SCO) produced minimal results; women low on SCO exhibited a negative association between social media use and baseline relationship satisfaction, and higher SCO for men was associated with lower baseline commitment. Finally, exploratory post-hoc mediation models revealed that relationship comparisons mediated the association between hours per day of social media use and baseline relationship, as well as baseline commitment, for both men and women. Previous research supports the findings regarding passive social media use, while the findings regarding relationship-contingent self-esteem and relationship comparisons add new findings to the romantic relationship literature. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2019

Background: Social media (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter) as communication channels have great potential to deliver Human papillomavirus self‐test (HPVST) intervention to medically underserved women (MUW) such as women of low income. However, little is known about MUW’s willingness to participate in HPVST intervention delivered through social media. We evaluated factors that contribute to MUW’s intention to participate in the social media‐related intervention for HPVST. Methods: A 21‐item survey was administered among women receiving food from a local food pantry in a U.S. southern state. Independent variables were social media usage facilitators (including confidentiality, social support, cost, and convenience), and barriers (including misinformation, time‐consuming, inefficient, and privacy concerns). Dependent variables included the likelihood of participating in social‐driven intervention for HPVST. Both variables were measured on a 5‐point scale. We used multinomial logistic regression to analyze the data. Results: A total of 254 women (mean age 48.9 ± 10.7 years) comprising Whites (40%), Hispanics (29%), Blacks (27%), and Other (4%) participated in the study. We found that over 44% of the women were overdue for their pap smears for the past three years, 12% had never had a pap smear, and 34% were not sure if they had had a pap smear. Over 82% reported frequent social media (e.g., Facebook) usage, and 52% reported willingness to participate in social media‐driven intervention for HPVST. Women who reported that social media provide privacy (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 6.23, 95% CI: 3.56, 10.92), provide social support (AOR = 7.18, 95% CI: 4.03, 12.80), are less costly (AOR = 6.71, 95% CI: 3.80, 11.85), and are convenient (AOR = 6.17, 95% CI: 3.49, 10.92) had significantly increased odds of participating in social media intervention for HPVST. Conclusions: The findings underscore that the majority of the MUW are overdue for cervical cancer screening, regularly use social media, and are willing to participate in social media‐driven intervention. Social media could be used to promote HPV self‐testing among MUW.

No description available.

This study investigated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and social networking addiction to determine if it was mediated by anxious-avoidant attachment. It was hypothesized that the presence of an anxious-avoidant attachment pattern developed as a result of childhood maltreatment would mediate the correlation between anxious-avoidant attachment and social networking addiction. This would mean that participants who developed an anxious-avoidant attachment style due to childhood maltreatment would use social media in unhealthy ways. To measure childhood maltreatment, the Adverse Childhood Experiences scale (ACE) was used. The Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised scale (ECR-R) was used to measure anxious-avoidant attachment. Finally, social networking addiction was measured by the Social Networking Addiction Scale (SNAS). The sample was relatively young (M = 19.88, SD = 2.62), (n = 82). Three bivariate correlations and multiple linear regression were conducted to determine if an anxious-avoidant attachment pattern mediated the connection between childhood maltreatment and social networking addiction. A significant correlation was found between childhood maltreatment and anxious-avoidant attachment, as well as between anxious-avoidant attachment and social networking addiction. However, no correlation was found between childhood maltreatment and social networking addiction. It was concluded that no mediation was present.

No description available.

<p>   </p> <p>Health-related misinformation presents a significant threat to public health and wellbeing. Misinformation exposure is associated with decreased compliance with public health initiatives, decreased trust in science, and greater levels of disease transmission. Unfortunately, fact-checking is not a panacea for mitigating the negative effects associated with misinformation exposure. The present dissertation, guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior, investigated across two studies whether providing participants with different levels of media literacy education could enable them to successfully determine news articles, on a variety of different health topics, contained either legitimate or illegitimate information. Both studies utilized a three-group, pretest-posttest, between-subjects experimental design in which participants were randomly assigned to either a brief or detailed media literacy skill promotion message, or a no-message control. The messages took the form of Facebook posts from a fictitious organization dedicated to promoting media literacy. The first study recruited 305 undergraduate students. Results from the first study indicated that participants assigned to the detailed message condition were more successful compared to the other conditions in identifying health-related misinformation. A content analysis of participants’ open-ended responses revealed that participants in the detailed message group were the most likely to utilize skills related to media literacy and were the least likely to utilize heuristics or to guess when determining whether news articles contained legitimate or illegitimate information. The second study sought to replicate and extend the results of the first study in a sample of adults recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. The results of the second study found that the detailed message condition promoted a greater ability to identify misinformation compared to either the brief message or control condition. Similarly, participants in the second study were most likely to use skills related to media literacy when completing the misinformation identification task. The results suggest that brief media literacy messages may be insufficient in enabling participants to successfully identify health-related misinformation online. However, more detailed media literacy education messages show promise for potentially limiting the spread of misinformation online. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. </p> <p>  </p>

Detta är ett examensarbete vid fakulteten Teknik och Samhälle på Malmö högskola. Syftet med uppsatsen är att skapa en ögonblicksbild över hur användandet av sociala medier ser ut i den utvalda respondentgruppen samt att undersöka hur de resonerar när de väljer att lägga tid på sociala medier.Uppsatsens resultat utgörs av intervjuer utförda tillsammans med 10 personer i åldrarna 20 – 30 år. Materialet som samlats in från intervjuerna har sammanställts för att skapa gemensamma svar. Svaren har analyserats och därefter jämförts med statistik från databasen Orvesto, som utgörs av TNS SIFOs undersökningar. Detta har skapat en övergripande bild över hur respondentgruppen använder sociala medier samt resonerar kring ämnet, och resultatet från intervjuerna har satts i jämförelse med vad statistiken säger.Sociala medier används flitigt hos respondentgruppen och det är inte alla som tycker att de använder sociala medier i en lagom mängd. Att använda sociala medier med måtta är bäst, det håller intervjupersonerna med varandra om. Att bryta mönster och göra annorlunda är även en upplevelse deltagarna varit med om. Det var enligt intervjupersonerna en nyttig upplevelse eftersom det ofta krävs att de blir tvingade till att göra annorlunda och ändra på sig för att det faktiskt ska ske. Upplevelsen bekräftade mångas tankar om att sociala medier egentligen inte tar upp en viktig plats i deras liv, och att det egentligen inte behövs i den mängd det används idag. Många insåg även att de använde sociala medier för mycket, men hade ändå svårt att sluta använda det i samma omfattning efter avslutad intervention.I slutet av uppsatsen finns en diskussion där författaren diskuterat och jämfört teori med resultat. Författaren har även diskuterat hur olika delar i arbetet stärker varandra. / This is an essay written at the Faculty of Technology and Society at Malmö University. The purpose of this paper is to create a picture of how the use of social media looks like in the chosen respondent-group and to explore how we think we choose to spend time on social media.This essay consists of the interviews conducted with 10 people aged 20 - 30 years. The material collected from the interviews has been compiled to create common responses. The responses have been analyzed and then compared with data from the database Orvesto constituted by TNS SIFOs surveys. This has created an overall picture of how the respondent-group is using social media and how they think about it. I’ve put the results from the interviews in comparison to what the statistics say. This has strengthened my result.Social medias are used very much in the group of respondents and it’s not everybody that thinks that they use the social medias in a correct amount. To use social medias in just the right amount is the best, that’s a thing the respondents agree with each other about. To break a pattern and do different is an experience the participants have gone through. It was according to the interviewed people a very healthy experience since it often takes a forced action for them to do differently and break their patterns. The experience confirmed a lot of peoples’ thoughts about social media, that it doesn’t take that big of a place in their lives and that they actually don’t need it that much. A lot of people realized that they use social medias too much, but they still had a hard time to stop using it after the intervention.In the end of the essay there is a discussion that compares the theory with the result. I have also discussed how different parts of the work are strengthening each other.