The main aim of this thesis was to examine the ‘Men Going Their Own Way’ (r/MGTOW) community on Reddit. This aim was carried out by exploring (1) the themes perpetuated in the community, (2) how r/MGTOW fits in the contemporary ‘manosphere’, (3) the linguistic identity of its users, (4) the presence of hegemonic and inclusive masculinity, and lastly (5) the role of social media logics on r/MGTOW. The theoretical framework was comprised of theories about the characteristics of the manosphere, linguistic identity, hegemonic masculinity theory and inclusive masculinity theory, discourse, and social media logics.The analysis was comprised of research tools from Thematic Analysis, Content Analysis, and Foucauldian discourse analysis. The Content Analysis was facilitated by qualitative and quantitative software, WordStat. Through the use of these tools it was found that female nature, feminism, masculinity, society, and self-improvement were common themes in the community. Furthermore, masculinity, the dismissal of femininity, and a distinct lingua franca were elements that created a common antifeminist identity among the r/MGTOW users. Alleged scientific theories and beliefs about female nature and feminism were used as means to justify the position of men as victims. And lastly, most of the ideals of hegemonic masculinity, except for stoicism, were accepted.Taking social media logic into account, we see that users on certain platforms can boost certain content. This principle also applies to Reddit, which is the platform that hosts r/MGTOW. Therefore, research should further explore if online platforms can be held accountable for user-generated content. Additionally, further research should look into other methods for conduction the analysis, such as interviews, and should consider cross-fertilization of ideas between different manospherian communities. And ultimately, concepts such as victimization and identity formation online ought to be examined in this setting to acquire a broader understanding of the manosphere. The limitations of this thesis are the short timeframe of study and the lack of data triangulation.

Since the birth of social media, journalism has been challenged through an increasing social media popularity. Newsrooms have consequently established a presence in social media of their own. A number of studies have examined the effect of social media logic on journalism and concluded that it makes the the news more entertaining at the expense of informative purposes. However, sports journalism has thus far been unexplored in this regard. This study explores how the already entertainment focused journalistic genre is affected by a move to social media, specifically TikTok, in a news value perspective. It also investigates what purposes a sports newsroom could have with a TikTok presence. Through a quantitative content analysis partly based on Harcup and O'Neills news values, and in light of social media logic, the study examines and tries to explain the differences in news values between the content on Sportbladet's web and TikTok account. The analyzed material is from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The findings show significant differences between the news values in the two distribution platforms, including a majority of agenda friendly, audiovisual and entertaining posts on TikTok and web articles including conflict, power elite, follow-ups and drama. Thus, a split up of news values is suggested: social and traditional. Additionally, two possible purposes with a TikTok presence are identified: marketing towards a younger audience, and establishment on a future main platform for news distribution. The social effects of both eventualities are discussed.

The aim of this study is to explore how three Swedish media outlets adhere to mass media logic and social media logic in articles on their websites and the corresponding Facebook posts on their Facebook pages. The media outlets are SVT (Sveriges Television), Dagens Nyheter and Expressen. They represent a public service broadcaster, a daily newspaper and a tabloid in a Swedish context. The samples of the study consists of the headlines and leads of the articles and the text in the corresponding Facebook posts. The articles and the corresponding Facebook posts cover the news event of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022. The samples are analysed with the method of critical discourse analysis and the theoretical frameworks of mass media logic and social media logic. The main findings of this study are that the samples adhered to the mass media logic elements of coverage of events, staging experts and media personalities; and the social media logic elements relating to connectivity. The further implications of this study may be that media as an institution is impacted by social media platforms, such as Facebook, and that news distributed on Facebook is adapted to the platform. The findings of this study are an example of how media outlets in Sweden adhere to mass media logic and social media logic, when covering a news event in articles on their websites which they share on their Facebook pages.

This thesis investigates the relationship between contemporary climate protest movements (Extinction Rebellion and Fridays For Future) and governmental bodies in European countries that declared a climate emergency in 2019. The primary contribution of this thesis is to demonstrate how emerging communication practices by these movements compare to the perceived influence of such practices among political decisionmakers in their governing bodies’ votes for a climate emergency declaration. Twitter content (tweets by movement accounts) surrounding protest actions of the climate movements was coded using concepts deduced from theoretical literature of participation, media and communication. Themes induced from this data were also used for coding. A thematic analysis of empirical interview text from semi-structured interviews of nine politicians in eight governmental bodies (six German city councils, that of Innsbruck, Austria and the Swiss cantonal parliament of Vaud) on this subject matter was done similarly. Relational thematic analyses of both datasets influenced the coding of one another. A frame analysis grounded in these data studied the use of social media imagery and text by the two movements. Another look at the interview data reflects the influence these movements had on climate emergency declarations via comparison of politicians’ stated impressions of the movements’ participation/influences with formations of tweeted movement frames. The data support the hypothesis that citizens engage via the connective power of personalized participatory culture on social media, enabling political participation. Today, we see a shift away from a political logic of social movements abiding to strong shared identity and meaning through frames of collective action. Instead, a social media logic, which aims to achieve the same functions, operates in loosely networked movements based on individualized frames of youth identity. This ‘connective identity’ bridges the participatory culture of social media with offline political participation in the streets and halls of power.

Given the novelty of political campaigning on social networking sites in Lithuania and the critique, it has received from social media experts, the object of the master thesis encompasses mediatization of Lithuanian politics on Facebook, when social media logic becomes adapted in political campaigning and integrated into the political agenda. Accordingly, the MA thesis developed its aim to define in what ways mediatization of Lithuanian politics manifests on Facebook and if public-relations oriented Lithuanian political communication culture, characteristic to political communication on mass media, and negativity, as its culture-specific aspect, are transported to the platform. The research was carried out in several stages. Firstly, using secondary data analysis the study aimed at determining social media logic. Accordingly, the requirements for successful exploitation of social media logic in political campaigning on Facebook were identified – popularity building, connectivity, personalization and interactivity. Thirdly, aiming to determine if the politicians complied with social media logic and transported public-relations oriented political communication culture and negativity to the platform, the research used quantitative and qualitative content analyses. It covered a two-weeks period (from April 02 to April 15, 2014) political campaigning on Facebook run by the seven candidates' to Lithuanian President’s Office. Fourthly, using the obtained empirical data the study... [to full text] / Nors Lietuvos politinė komunikacija socialiniuose tinkluose yra gana naujas reiškinys, jis jau sulaukė socialinių medijų ekspertų kritikos. Šio magistro baigiamojo darbo tyrimo objektu pasirinkta Lietuvos politikos mediatizacija socialiniame tinkle Facebook, kuomet politinių kampanijų metu politikai adaptuoja socialinių medijų logiką ir ją integruoja į savo politinę dienotvarkę. Darbe siekta nustatyti, kokiais būdais Lietuvos politikos mediatizacija pasireiškia internetiniame socialiniame tinkle Facebook. Taip pat buvo svarbu išsiaiškinti, ar Lietuvos viešųjų ryšių (ang. Public-relations oriented) politinės komunikacijos kultūra, ugdoma masinėje žiniasklaidoje, ir jai būdingas negatyvumas perkeliami į Facebook platformą. Tyrimas atliktas keliais etapais. Pirmojo etapo metu, naudojant antrinių duomenų analizę, buvo įvardyta socialinių medijų logika. Tokiu pat būdu nustatyti reikalavimai, leidžiantys išnaudoti socialinių medijų logiką politinių kampanijų metu, t. y., populiarumo didinimas, socialinių ryšių išnaudojimas, personalizacija ir interaktyvumas. Trečiojo etapo metu, siekiant atskleisti Lietuvos politikų komunikacijos atitikimą socialinių medijų logikai ir galimą viešųjų ryšių politinės komunikacijos kultūros bei negatyvumo perkėlimą į Facebook platformą, tyrime naudojama kiekybinė ir kokybinė turinio analizė. Ištirtos septynių kandidatų į 2014 metų Lietuvos Prezidento postą dviejų savaičių laikotarpio (balandžio 02–15 dienomis) politinės kampanijos socialiniame... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

With many legacy news media brands struggling to maintain relevance and financial support, they are looking to social networks to connect with new audiences. The video sharing platform TikTok has experienced rapid growth in recent years and has a strong user base of Gen Z users which are a demographic which legacy news media are increasingly attempting to engage with. A number of legacy news media brands have established a presence on TikTok and begun experimenting with different formats. While there have been a few more general analyses of informational content on TikTok, no research to date has focused specifically on how different text elements are used for conveying news. This thesis addresses this gap through investigating how legacy news media (newspapers and TV) are using text, closed captions, and captions on TikTok. Moreover, styles of communication and TikTok editorial tools used by legacy news media are examined in detail. These elements are explored using a quantitative content analysis which analyses 200 videos from eight popular legacy news media brands from the USA, Britain, and Australia. Social media logic and functions specific to TikTok are used as a framework to analyze the problem, with the results showing that most of the legacy news media accounts have somewhat adopted social media logic in their use of text elements on TikTok.

In the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic, a trend of Instagram as a news source emerged in the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020 (Reuters, 2020). Instagram’s visual factor has made accessing news more feasible and convenient through a curated feed. Consequently, news producers are migrating to social media platforms, including Instagram to serve news consumption needs. However, journalism on social media has been criticized for its lack of journalistic legitimacy where media trust is challenged by the sensationalism of news to drive engagement metrics. Moreover, the COVID-19 infodemic (WHO, 2020) has escalated the concern of news credibility due to a circulation of misinformation regarding the pandemic and overwhelming citizens. Hence, the objective of this study is to analyze how a news outlet on Instagram maintains journalistic legitimacy and how Instagram users navigate news through information abundance in finding credible and trustworthy news.  The analysis of this study takes into account an Indonesian news outlet on Instagram called Narasi Newsroom, by interviewing a representative from the news producer, a content analysis of their news content, and interviewing Indonesian Instagram users. The empirical findings illustrate how Narasi Newsroom can revive journalistic legitimacy through an innovative approach without diminishing journalism quality on Instagram. With its principle of educating the audience to understand the news beyond factual statements, Narasi Newsroom’s strategy of riding the wave to serve audience needs upholds journalism values through critical thinking and credible sources. By conducting the study through updating the encoding/decoding model (Hall, 1973; 2009), it was found that the social media logic (Dijck & Poell, 2013) can balance journalism practice on Instagram as well as practices critical thinking for news consumers in finding trustworthy news. In light of the post-truth era, media trust and news credibility may be challenged, however, they are not lost when journalism on social media takes accountability to serve news consumers’ needs. Consequently, it takes both the news producers and consumers to take a critical stance to preserve trust in the news.