Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Joye C. Gordon / As technology advances in social media, crisis management professionals and researchers are charged with revamping or discovering new communication tools to address the dissemination crisis information. Social media provides a platform for open conversations, community, and connectedness among individuals and permits anyone to become the source of information during a time of crisis. Crisis news can be shared and reshared among millions of people without the need of a professional source, such as a journalist. A crisis may disrupt social order to an organization’s reputation and legitimacy, but a crisis also provides an opportunity for growth or renewal. Previous literature has analyzed crisis communication affects on organizational reputation through cases studies; however, there is lack of analysis in using an experimental design. Through an experiment with 207 undergraduate students, this study empirically evaluates the dissemination of crisis communication through Twitter and its effect on organizational communication. Using McLuhan’s (1967) concept of the medium is the message, this study highlights past findings, explicates types of crises, and focuses on the medium as a variable (not content of response) of interest to provide groundwork for an experimental inquiry into how the medium itself (as opposed to message content) impacts the efficacy of organizational crisis responses. A 2x3 experimental design with two research conditions- types of crisis: (1) intentional and (2) unintentional and source types: (1) organization (2) journalist, and (3) friend was used in this study. An online questionnaire was administered through an online survey service to approximately 2,000 undergraduates. Participants were randomized in one of six conditions based on the type of crisis (unintentional and intentional) and the source (organization/journalist/friend) of the message and directed to read an unintentional or intentional press release. Findings indicated that the perception of responsibility is a valid factor to consider during a possible crisis. Overall, as the previous studies have concluded, the organization is perceived as responsible for the crisis.

M.Tech. (Information Technology) / Since the introduction of Web 2.0, there has been an increase in the number of applications that promote the use of user-generated content, support social and collaborative interaction on the Web, and provide engaging user interactions. This together with the continuous increase in internet speed gave rise to the formation of interactive online communication channels, such as Social Media (SM). SM moved from just being a purely social platform to being an integral part of many organisations` business practices. Organisations saw an opportunity through SM to market themselves and interact with customers more efficiently and cost effectively, whist reaching a larger number of potential clients online ...

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This thesis examines German philosopher Martin Heidegger’s concepts of being and time, the role of language in being, and ways of authentic being through the lens of modern media practices in the Information Age. It relates Heidegger’s philosophy to the media ecology theory introduced by Marshall McLuhan in the 1960s by exploring McLuhan’s themes of tribal, typographical and electronic man. In addition, this thesis considers the role of mass media in information dissemination. The goal of this report is to explicate the shaping effects of mass media, especially social media, on individual perceptions and societal culture and identify ways in which such shaping affects authentic ways of being.

Resonemanget kring personlig integritet är inget nytt förekommande, men det är däremot användningen av sociala medier som har blivit en naturlig del av människors vardag. Med det växande engagemanget i sociala medier växer ytterligare en debatt, vilket ansvar har en vårdnadshavare vid publicering av bilder och videoklipp på sitt barn, tillsammans med en text som kan anses kränkande? Enligt 6 kap. 11 § Föräldrabalken (1949:381) (FB) har vårdnadshavaren både en rätt och en skyldighet att fatta beslut som rör barnets personliga angelägenheter. Enligt 6 kap. 1 § FB är vårdnadshavaren också skyldig att tillgodose barnet skydd för dennes person och egenart, paragrafen förbjuder också vårdnadshavaren att utsätta barnet för kroppslig skada och kränkande behandling. Barnets rättigheter finns reglerat på två olika nivåer, både nationellt och internationellt. Varje människa oavsett ålder har rätt till privat- och familjeliv enligt artikel 8 Europakonventionen (EKMR). Artikeln omfattar olika perspektiv och rätten till integritet är en av dem. Enligt artikel 19 i barnkonventionen ska det allmänna förhindra att ett barn far illa i hemmet. En central fråga i debatten om barnets rättigheter är barnets kapacitet. Är barnet själv förmögen att kunna fatta välgrundade beslut och inneha självbestämmanderätt? Är barnet tillräckligt moget, intellektuellt och innehar tillräckligt med erfarenhet för att kunna göra rationella bedömningar? Det unga barnets troliga avsaknad av erfarenheter och mognad gör det svårt för barnet att utöva sina rättigheter och det är kanske på grund av detta som barnets rättigheter borde erkännas. Barnet är ibland inte kapabelt att tala för sig själv eller förstå sammanhanget av vad vårdnadshavaren publicerar. Med hänvisning till detta kan det ibland ifrågasättas om vårdnadshavaren spridning av information på sociala medier verkligen utgår från barnets bästa och barnets rätt till integritet. Uppsatsen syfte är att undersöka den problematik som kan uppstå när en vårdnadshavare lägger ut publikationer på barn i sociala medier som kan uppfattas som kränkande. Hur förhåller sig den svenska lagstiftningen, artiklarna i EKMR och barnkonventionen till detta? Kan barnets personliga integritet och rättigheter komma i konflikt med vårdnadshavarens intresse genom publiceringar på sociala medier? Genom undersökningen som gjorts i uppsatsen kan det konstateras att det finns en möjlighet för vårdnadshavaren att via internetpublikationer kränka barnets rätt till integritet. Det saknas i dagsläget direkta lagrum i svensk rätt för att skydda barnet i ovanstående hänseendet. Ett förtydligande i lagen där barn särskilt omnämns eller en inkorporering av barnkonventionen kan medföra ett starkare skydd för barns rätt till integritet på sociala medier. / The discussion concerning personal integrity is nothing new with regards to the use of social media, which has become a natural part of everyday life. With the growth of social media comes another debate, concerning what responsibility the guardian has when it comes to posting pictures and videos of their children, along with a text that can be considered offensive on social media? According to chapter 6. 11 § in the parental code the guardian has a right and an obligation to make decisions concerning the child's personal matters. According to chapter 6. § 1 in the parental code the guardian is also required to supply children with protection from their own actions. The article also prohibits the guardian to expose the child to bodily injury and offensive treatment. Children's rights are regulated at two different levels, both nationally and internationally. Every person, regardless of age has the right to privacy in family life according to article 8 of the European Convention (ECHR). The article covers different perspectives and the right to privacy is one of them. Article 19 in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires the public to prevent that a child is being abused in the home environment. A central issue in the debate about child rights is the child's capacity. Is the child able to make well-grounded decisions and do they have a right to self-determination? Is the child mature enough, intellectual enough and hold enough experience to be able to make rational judgments? The young child's probable lack of experience and maturity makes it difficult for them to exercise their rights and it is perhaps because of this that childrens rights should be recognised. The child is sometimes not able to speak for himself or understand the context of what the guardian publishes on social media. With reference to this, the guardian’s dissemination of information on social media should be questioned - is it really based with the best interests of the child in mind and their right to privacy. The essay aims to examine the problems that can arise when a guardian publishes pictures of their children on social media that may be perceived as offensive. How does the Swedish legislation, the articles of the ECHR and the Convention deal with this scenario? Can the child's privacy and rights come into conflict with the guardian's interest in making publications on social media? The survey carried out in the essay states that there is a possibility for the guardian to violate the child's right to privacy through internet publications. Swedish law is missing sections of the law to protect the child of the regarding above. A clarification of the law where children are specifically referred to or a incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child can result in greater protection for children's right to personal integrity on social media.

The purpose of this study is to critically diagnose and review the current available knowledge of social media in retail. Particularly, this review concentrates on influences of social media in consumer behaviour within the online retail context. This study aims to identify gaps in the literature, and give recommendations for further research. The review uses a descriptive research method when gathering and summarising the data about social media in online retail. The studies included in this review are very recent; from the years 2009 to 2017. Chosen existing studies are analysed in comparison to traditional literature and linked to Cumberland’s philosophy. Moreover, how traditional literature can still be used to support current phenomena. Conclusions are drawn to emphasize that Cumberland’s theories can be applied to modern society and social media is noted as a tool used by man to pursue ”Universal Benevolence”. Future research should concentrate on further understanding this relationship. The review provides important information about how social media influences consumer purchasing behaviour in online retail, which is of particular interest for marketers and managers of that field.

The food provision system of today has been argued to be unsustainable with large scale production, price-pressure and outbreaks of diseases. Many consumers in the EU and Sweden are reacting to these issues and are becoming increasingly interested in finding local food alternatives that they consider to be safer and of higher quality. However, the small local food producers due to scarce budgets and marketing skills have problems in reaching this target market. Partly due to this, there has been an emergence of Alternative Food Networks (AFN) within which producers come together to get assistance in marketing and sales. Social media has emerged as a phenomenon that is argued by marketing scholars to be a highly useful tool to spread information in a cost-efficient way. Therefore, this study seek to answer the explorative question: “How do Alternative Food Networks use social media in order to help small local food producers reach the market?” The main purpose of the thesis is to explore and develop an understanding of how the emerging AFNs use social media to promote small local agricultural producers and help them in reaching the market. This will be done by investigating AFNs as Small-Medium Enterprise (SME) marketing networks, and how these operate in terms of the theoretical areas external marketing communication, coordination of the SME marketing network, segmentation practices and sales promotion. The theoretical contribution is to see how AFNs work in terms of these areas, and the practical implications will be to give advice on how AFNs should use social media to improve these areas. The study is done in an exploratory manner, and the data collection has been performed in accordance with qualitative research. This has been done through seven semi-structured interviews with respondents from six different AFNs in Sweden that are active on social media. The conclusions of this study shows that AFNs value the use of social media, however they utilize this tool to a varied degree. The AFNs use it to inform and to interact with their customers. Social media does not seem to be very actively incorporated into network communication or monitoring. The AFNs have many ideas about who their customer groups are, and in some cases these have been identified specifically on social media, which has been used to some extent for targeted advertising. The AFNs position themselves as a “good” food alternative. In sales promotion the AFNs mainly promote their events on social media, and have also promoted discounts to some extent. The study provides new theoretical knowledge in the area of marketing through social media by SMEs like AFNs. Practical implications for the AFNs are discussed, which mainly involve increasing the time spent on social media as a mainly free and powerful marketing tool.

The aim of this study was to investigate and describe online interpersonal victimization (OIPV) in terms of gender differences and the association between such victimization and online behavior of active social media users in a Swedish sample. Since social media has become such a big part of our world it is of importance to study OIPV in this forum. Previous research has found that OIPV is a rather common phenomenon, that there are gender differences included and that certain online behaviors are risk factors. OIPV by itself is not a crime but rather an umbrella term including the legal terms illegal threat, slander, insult, harassment, sexual harassment, stalking and crimes against the personal data act or the copyright act. The cyberlifestyle–routine activities theory was used in this study to understand which online behaviors were risk factors in our sample. To answer the aim a survey was made and answered by 338 participants. The answers were tested with chi-square tests (χ²) and Mann-Whitney U tests in order to examine differences in gender regarding victimization and to find differences between the victimized and non-victimized group regarding their online behaviors. The results showed a high prevalence of OIPV and that women were more likely to be victims of OIPV, especially of harassment, sexual harassment, threats of sexual violence and stalking. The online behaviors that were significant risk factors in our sample were the use of a profile picture of themselves and number of hours spent on social media every day. This combined indicated that social media may not be a completely gender equal place and that online behaviors may not indicate the risk of being victimized equally well for both genders. / <p>2016-06-01</p>

The ad blocking hype has brought new challenges for fashion brands to be seen and heard. Therefore new marketing strategies have to be found. Since the usage of mobile devises increased and consumers spend more time on online social networks - influencer marketing had been found as a authentic marketing channel to reach the consumers. Therefore this thesis aims on providing fashion brands a guideline of the components and characteristics of influencer marketing. To accomplish this research objective the qualitative method approach of expert interviews had been chosen and four experts from the fashion influencer marketing were questioned about their daily work with influencers to elaborate their needs and the challenges they are facing. The interviews lead to four core components of influencer marketing: authenticity, long-term relations, co-creation and micro-influencers. Underneath these core components the following sub-components were found: brand fit, exclusivity, visual language, passion, trust, price, creative freedom, and frequent communication. The main conclusion of this study is that working with micro influencers is key a component of influencer marketing. These influencers tend to have high authenticity, are experts in a certain niche and are not motivated by monetary reasons.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / In April 2016 students from South African universities launched the #Endrapeculture movement to protest their universities’ institutional policies towards sexual assault on campus, which was seen as perpetuating a rape culture. Through the use of social media, students from across South Africa were able to provide instrumental information and mobilise support for the protests. This thesis focused on exploring the rape culture discourse that emerged from the online debates following the #Endrapeculture protests, as well as the potential of social media as an accessible and affordable pedagogical tool to address rape culture on campus. An exploratory qualitative design was used and this was framed within a postmodern feminist framework. To address the aims of the study two methods of data collection were utilised. All ethics principles were adhered to for both forms of data collection. Firstly, natural observation of comment threads of Facebook relating to the April 2016 #Endrapeculture protests was conducted. A total of 590 comments from 8 Facebook posts were collected and analysed using qualitative content analysis. The findings indicate that rape culture discourses were prominent within these comment threads with Perpetuating Victim-blaming emerging as the most significant theme followed by Rape or Rape Culture, Patriarchy, Race and Culture, Sexualisation and Bodily Autonomy, Trivialising Rape Culture and Role of Universities and Law Enforcement. The second part of the data collection involved conducting online, asynchronous focus groups using the Facebook secret chat group application. Participants for the SFFG were recruited on Facebook through a process of snowball sampling. A total of three SFFG were conducted with 16 participants. Thematic decomposition analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed three main themes namely; Defining Rape Culture, Learning about Rape Culture and The Role of Social Media. Based on the observations from the comment threads and the findings from the SFFGs, it is argued that social media can be used as a pedagogical tool to address rape culture on campus in two ways. Firstly, it is beneficial on a macro level by using social media platforms to provide instrumental information about rape culture. Secondly, it can be utilised on a micro level by using applications like the SFFG to provide a safe space where students can engage in small-scale interactive discussions.