The use of online communication media has increased dramatically over recent years, with people from different age groups becoming users of online communication media. Many scholars have become interested in how online communication media influence or even reshape people's social networking practices and social networks. Most existing studies on the impacts of online communication media are based on the observation of online practices of the general population or the younger population, while older adults are rarely taken into consideration. An increasing number of elderly people have become active users of online communication media and they may differ from younger people in many aspects such as networking strategies. Studying the elderly population may therefore enhance our understanding of the utility of online connectivity. Based on 35 in-depth interviews of elderly WeChat users in urban China, which were conducted between December 2017 and March 2019, this study considers two major questions: (1) How do older adults use online communication media to network with their different social relations? (2) How do the online networking practices of older adults influence their social relations? The analysis focuses on two major issues to answer the second question: accessibility and the relational intimacy of social ties. By considering these two questions, this study aims to determine whether older adults become "networked individuals" or just stay "alone together" when they become active users of online communication media. My findings show that how elderly people use online communication media to interact with their social ties is different from younger users and their unique networking strategies have different digital impacts on their social relations. Elderly people often lack opportunities to socialise due to their age-related conditions. Online communication media can reduce their costs of manage social ties and serve an important channel to help many elderly users to (re)connect and develop their social ties, enhancing both the accessibility and relational intimacy of those social ties and help them to become "networked individuals"

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T18:25:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta investigação aborda os usos da internet, especialmente MSN, Skype e chat Uol nas experiências de construção e manutenção de redes sociais de migrantes brasileiros na Espanha. A fundamentação teórica abrange os conceitos de migração transnacional, redes sociais, usos e a internet. A pesquisa orienta-se em uma perspectiva qualitativa, centrada na etnografia (observação e entrevistas), propondo, por um lado, uma experimentação das ferramentas online, principalmente MSN, Skype, e-mail, como estratégia metodológica de abordagem etnográfica das migrações transnacionais e, por outro, uma análise empírica de aspectos das interações online e offline relacionada às redes sociais de migrantes brasileiros na Espanha. Como resultados dessas interações em rede, destacam-se os usos da internet, pelos migrantes brasileiros, na constituição de relações familiares transnacionais, na (re) atualização de contatos com o país de nascimento (Brasil), na vivência com migrantes e não migrantes no país de migração (Espanha), e na / This research approaches the uses of the Internet, especially MSN, Skype and Uol chat in the construction of experiences and maintenance of social networks of Brazilian migrants in Spain. The theoretical base encloses the social concepts of transnational migration, networks, uses and the Internet. The research is oriented in a qualitative perspective, centered in the ethnography (observation and interviews), considering, on the other hand, an experimentation of the online tools, mainly MSN Messenger, Skype, email, as methodological strategy of ethnographical approach of transnational migrations and, for another one, an empirical analysis of aspects of the interactions online and offline related to the social networks of Brazilian migrants in Spain. As results of these net interactions, the uses of the Internet are distinguished, for the Brazilian migrants, in the constitution of transnational familiar relations, in the update of contacts with the country of birth (Brazil), in the experience with not migrants

The diploma thesis focuses on corporate communication through social network Facebook. It deals with the promotion and success of advertising communication on fan pages. The output is recommendations that may significantly contribute to the added value of the company not only in the meaning of increased sales, bud also to increase brand awareness.

The growing interest in relation to a responsible online communication, by companies indicates how this aspect has become a necessity in order to remain competitive and at the same time, ethical with actions which they undertake. The web world is evolving and the use of Internet as a fast and economic communication medium has led companies to use it with increasing frequency. Inserted in this context, this study aims to understand how businesses interact with their publics, using online social networking to publicize their environmental responsibility strategies and effectively can provide a greater awareness of the society on these issues, enhancing the positive image of the organization, promoting its competitive edge.The qualitative study was based on several sources of evidence: (i) the Ethos Institute, which were extracted the companies object of this study, (ii) online social networking, specifically the Facebook, from where the content of the posts was analyzed in companie‟s fun pages, (iii) structured interviews with managers responsible for generating the content of of the companie‟s fun pages. The results of this study indicate that the analyzed companies are familiar with the conceptual principles of CSR, although this is still a concept under construction. Furthermore, it was found that the concern for Environmental Responsibility, although recent, has already taken a proportion that exceeds the legal requirements, but this concern does not necessarily translate into actions or projects related to the theme. The three companies consider Facebook an important channel of communication due to its interactive and comprehensive nature, but only two of them disclose their projects, actions and practices of CSR in fun pages. It was evident, too, that most of the posts refer to social issues, in detriment of the environment issues. Overall, the results suggest that companies consider important to adopt CSR practices in their businesses and, equally, share them, whether on websites, social networks or even other media; What is not clear is whether they have the understanding of how to turn sustainability challenges into strategic opportunities. It is hoped that this work may have contributed in some way to a better understanding of the concepts and the association between environmental responsibility, organizational communication and use of online social networking as a tool for this communication. / O crescente interesse em relação a uma comunicação online responsável, por parte das empresas indica o quanto esse aspecto tornou-se uma necessidade, a fim de se manterem competitivas e, ao mesmo tempo, éticas com as ações com as quais se comprometem. O mundo web vem evoluindo e o uso da Internet como um meio de comunicação rápido e econômico tem levado as empresas a utilizá-lo cada vez com mais frequência. Inserido nesse contexto, este estudo tem por objetivo entender como as empresas interagem com seus públicos, utilizando-se das redes sociais online para divulgar suas estratégias de responsabilidade socioambiental e se, efetivamente, podem proporcionar uma maior conscientização da sociedade sob esses aspectos, potencializando a imagem positiva das organizações, promovendo o seu diferencial competitivo. O estudo de natureza qualitativa baseou-se em diversas fontes de evidência: (i) Instituto Ethos, do qual foram extraídas as empresas objeto deste estudo; (ii) rede social online, mais especificamente o Facebook, cujo conteúdo dos posts foi analisado nas fun pages das empresas; (iii) entrevistas semiestruturadas com os gestores responsáveis pela geração dos conteúdos das fun pages das empresas pesquisadas. Os resultados deste estudo permitem concluir que as empresas analisadas estão familiarizadas com os princípios conceituais da RSE, embora esse seja ainda um conceito em construção. Além disso, verificou-se que, a preocupação com a Responsabilidade Socioambiental, embora recente, já tomou uma proporção que extrapola as exigências legais, porém essa preocupação não se traduz necessariamente em ações ou projetos relacionados ao tema. As três empresas consideram o Facebook um importante canal de comunicação, devido a sua natureza interativa e abrangente, mas apenas duas delas divulgam seus projetos, ações e práticas de RSE nas fun pages. Evidenciou-se, também, que a maior parte das mensagens se referem as questões sociais, em detrimento das ambientais. No geral, os resultados sugerem que as empresas consideram importante a adoção de práticas de RSE em seus negócios e, igualmente, compartilhá-las, seja em sites, redes sociais ou mesmo em outros meios de comunicação, o que não está claro é se elas têm a compreensão de como transformar os desafios da sustentabilidade em oportunidades estratégicas. Espera-se que este trabalho possa ter contribuído de alguma forma para uma melhor compreensão dos conceitos e da associação entre a responsabilidade ambiental, comunicação organizacional e uso de redes sociais online como uma ferramenta para esta comunicação.