This diploma thesis focuses on data included in social networking sites. It also evaliuates the possibilities of using such data from small and medium enterprises (SME) point of view. The first part of the thesis describes the context of social networking sites (SNS). Further it explores structures in which SNS data persist and conditions to be met when loading the data. The first part incorporates an overview of basic actions to be peformed when starting using the data. The second part of this thesis is more focused on usage of the data. It offers a detailed overview of cases of use in terms of data on SNS. The third part is subdivided into two separate sections. The first section describes results of an experiment on what data can be found based on name and email address. The second section contains a suggestion on a course of actions needed to be made to establish an SNS strategy in a SME. The course of steps is further demonstrated on a real world small enterprise. The main asset of the thesis is the overview of data available on SNS, steps to load it and it's cases of use. This allows the enterprises in SME sector to orientate themselfs in the world of SNS data and to fast integrate the data in the everyday life. Another asset of this thesis is the demonstration of what data can be found on SNS after entering name and e-mail address. This can help individuals imagine what data they are sharing without knowing it.

Das Populäre und das Archiv sind zwei sich gegenseitig ausschließende Gegenstandsbereiche, wenn man ersteres mit den Kennzeichen Allgemeinverständlichkeit und Allgemeinzugänglichkeit bei gleichzeitiger affektiver Verankerung (Williams 1976) verbindet, und letzteres in erster Linie als Selektionspraxis und normative Wissensformation versteht (Foucault 1969, Derrida 1995). Mit Urs Stäheli (in Pompe, Scholz 2002) lässt sich hier ein Paradox aufzeigen: das allgemein Verständliche zu archivieren hieße, nur das, was schon überall vorhanden ist zu verdoppeln. Das Populäre der Archivordnung zu unterwerfen, hieße jedoch auf der anderen Seite, es zu ‚entpopularisieren’, den Zugang zu selegieren. In der jüngsten Vergangenheit nun werden wir mit fluktuierenden Archivstrukturen konfrontiert, die sich via Internet und Netzwerk-Konfigurationen als dynamisch veränderbares Bilderkonvolut und als selbstreflexive Medienpraxis präsentieren. Wikipedia und YouTube drängen sich heute als dominante Bildarchive auf, die als populäre Medienpraxis die archivarische Arbeit am Bild beständig weitertreiben und umbauen. Es wäre nun zu fragen, ob nicht gerade hier eine Archivpraxis bereitstünde, die das Populäre nicht in statuarischen Ordnungssystemen tot stellt, sondern Selektions- und Ordnungsprozesse als performative Praxis offen hält. Vielleicht wäre es möglich, hier das Bild eines ‚Archiv-Dunkels’ und einer offenen Oberfläche des Populären zu einem hybriden Konzept zu verschränken.

Today the use of the social networking technologies is becoming more common in users daily lives, both their professional and personal lives. Recently the application of social networking technologies’ communication power has begun to be leveraged by enterprises in order to gain competitive advantage in terms of productivity and employees’ efficiency & job performance. However, there exist some gaps in the communication and coordination processes within a company between the different employees and groups involved in their professional activities. Overall, we can see that large enterprise employees lack identity with their companies due to their lack of voice and the small impact that they have within the large number of individuals that compose a large organization. In this thesis we deeply analyze the factors that directly affect communication and collaboration between employees within a company and how we can improve this communication and collaboration using social network technologies. In this work we focus on the state-of- the-art and compare one of the most used social networks (LinkedIn) with the most used corporate network (Yammer) providing a tangible measure with the key performance indicators. Afterwards we measure with Node XL software and its metrics samples of monitored corporate networks, introduce an innovation within the networks and show the improvement of the key performance indicators related to the software  metrics that have changed in order to enhance some social network parameters that are the tangible measure of plenty of social corporate network issues. / Idag blir användningen av sociala nätverk teknik vanligare i användarnas vardag, både deras yrkesliv-och privatliv. Nyligen har börjat tillämpningen av sociala nätverk teknik kommunikation makt utnyttjas av företag för att skaffa sig konkurrensfördelar i form av produktivitet och anställdas effektivitet och arbetsprestation. Men det finns vissa brister i kommunikation och processer samordning inom ett företag mellan olika medarbetare och grupper som deltar i sina yrkesverksamhet. Sammantaget kan vi se att stora företag anställda saknar identitet med sitt företag på grund av deras brist på röst och liten inverkan som de har inom det stora antalet individer som utgör en stor organisation. I denna avhandling analyserar vi djupt vilka faktorer som direkt påverkar kommunikationen och samarbetet mellan de anställda inom ett företag och hur vi kan förbättra den här kommunikationen och samarbetet med sociala nätverk teknik. I detta arbete fokuserar vi på state-of-the-art och jämföra en av de mest använda sociala nätverk (LinkedIn) med det mest använda företagets nätverk (Yammer) ger en konkret med centrala resultatindikatorer. Efteråt mäter vi med nod XL programvara och dess statistik exempel på övervakade företagsnätverk, införa en innovation inom nätverk och visar en förbättring av de centrala resultatindikatorer relaterat till programvaran statistik som har ändrats för att stärka vissa sociala nätverk parametrar som är konkret mått på många sociala företag nätfrågor.

Die Dissertation untersucht, welche individuellen Einflussfaktoren Wissenschaftler zur Wissensteilung mittels Social Software motivieren. Dazu werden universitäre Wissenschaftler, ihre Stakeholder und typische Karrierewege sowie die Bereiche Open Science und Open Educational Resources beleuchtet. Im Anschluss wird die Anwendbarkeit existierender Theorien der Technologieakzeptanz und der Wissensteilung (insbesondere in virtuellen Communities) auf die Wissensteilung von Wissenschaftlern mittels Social Software untersucht. Darauf aufbauend werden potentielle Einflussfaktoren identifiziert und ein spezifisches Erklärungsmodell abgeleitet. Dieses wird mittels Online-Umfragen empirisch überprüft und verfeinert.

This study aims to provide a critical assessment of social networking sites along with the underlying form of rationality propelling such technological innovations. The hypothesis of this study is rooted in the firm conviction that while social networking sites can be regarded as impressive technological achievements, and while there are certainly an array of benefits that can be associated with them, they nevertheless can be perceived as a hegemonic force which surreptitiously undermines the autonomy and freedom of the modern individual. In order to corroborate and augment such an assertion, this study relies primarily on the critical works of Adorno and Horkheimer (1997); Bauman (2003; 2007 & 2013) and Foucault (1977) in order to both investigate and critically evaluate the everyday assumptions typically associated with a technologically enlightened society, techno-scientific rationality and the recent emergence of technological tools such as social networking services. Based upon the findings that have emerged throughout the course of this investigation, it becomes clear to see that there is indeed a dialectical tension inherent to the nature of the various social networking technologies as they currently operate within the 21st century. Such a discovery is primarily based upon the fact that while social networking technologies do inherently possess emancipatory potentialities for the modern individual, they have nevertheless failed to actualise such potentialities due to the following reasons: 1) Social networking technologies have managed to propagate and entrench a powerful sentiment of technological determinism within modern society along with a highly corrosive form of instrumentalized rationality to which all individuals are now required to acquiesce; 2) Such technologies are paradoxically abrogating the possibility of meaningful interpersonal contiguity due to the fact they have managed to commodify the technological culture associated with a digital form of interaction/communication along with the individual making use of such technologies; and 3) In their current format, social networking services are allowing for the objectification, manipulation and exploitation of the online subject to take place in order to pursue and promote an instrumentalized strategy of marketing surveillance and capital accumulation. / MA (Philosophy), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This study aims to provide a critical assessment of social networking sites along with the underlying form of rationality propelling such technological innovations. The hypothesis of this study is rooted in the firm conviction that while social networking sites can be regarded as impressive technological achievements, and while there are certainly an array of benefits that can be associated with them, they nevertheless can be perceived as a hegemonic force which surreptitiously undermines the autonomy and freedom of the modern individual. In order to corroborate and augment such an assertion, this study relies primarily on the critical works of Adorno and Horkheimer (1997); Bauman (2003; 2007 & 2013) and Foucault (1977) in order to both investigate and critically evaluate the everyday assumptions typically associated with a technologically enlightened society, techno-scientific rationality and the recent emergence of technological tools such as social networking services. Based upon the findings that have emerged throughout the course of this investigation, it becomes clear to see that there is indeed a dialectical tension inherent to the nature of the various social networking technologies as they currently operate within the 21st century. Such a discovery is primarily based upon the fact that while social networking technologies do inherently possess emancipatory potentialities for the modern individual, they have nevertheless failed to actualise such potentialities due to the following reasons: 1) Social networking technologies have managed to propagate and entrench a powerful sentiment of technological determinism within modern society along with a highly corrosive form of instrumentalized rationality to which all individuals are now required to acquiesce; 2) Such technologies are paradoxically abrogating the possibility of meaningful interpersonal contiguity due to the fact they have managed to commodify the technological culture associated with a digital form of interaction/communication along with the individual making use of such technologies; and 3) In their current format, social networking services are allowing for the objectification, manipulation and exploitation of the online subject to take place in order to pursue and promote an instrumentalized strategy of marketing surveillance and capital accumulation. / MA (Philosophy), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

In an age characterized by globalization and mobility, societal dynamics across the world have experienced dramatic changes in terms of cultural and linguistic diversity. The increase in the flows of populations, discourses, and materials has been further accelerated by the technological advances. The new, digital ways that we use to communicate, interact, and manage our social relationships have led researchers to think about new ways of approaching texts, resources, and social interactions. Referring to globalization, deep transformations in society, and resulting sociolinguistic impacts, Coupland (2003) and Blommaert (2003) call for a rethinking of the ways sociolinguistics attempt to address globalization. This call has precipitated various theoretical and methodological suggestions, which have appeared in monographs, journal issues, and edited volumes (e.g., Blommaert, 2010; Coupland, 2010; de Fina & Perrino, 2013; Pennycook, 2010; Thurlow & Jaworski, 2010). However, the study of digital practices at the intersection of heterogeneity and mobility in the age of digital diversity has been minimally addressed (See Androutsopoulos & Juffermans, 2014).In an attempt to shed light on digital activities of multilingual individuals in online participatory spaces, the current study investigates the social networking site (SNS) practices of international graduate students (IGSs) who are experiencing transnational mobility. Theoretically informed by sociolinguistics and new media studies, the current interdisciplinary study analyzes multilingual students' new media literacy (NML) practices, use of semiotic resources, and digital practices of sharing transcultural content in connection with the construction and management of various aspects of their identities in contexts of superdiversity. For this purpose, the collected data, which is triangulated with an online survey, semi-structured interviews, and SNS data, is both quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. The findings show that despite having what could be considered' truncated NMLs' (i.e. having different levels of literacies), IGSs successfully interact within participatory spaces. The quantitative and qualitative results indicate that multilingual students frequently engage in linguistic and multimodal practices by mobilizing a great diversity of linguistic and multimodal resources in identity performances. Furthermore, IGSs mediate transcultural content by means of semiotic resources to negotiate their membership in various home country and host country communities. It is concluded that multilingual students form, foster and maintain transnational identities in superdiverse digital contexts by mobilizing their often 'truncated repertoires' (Blommaert, 2010), which may include semiotic tools afforded by SNSs, language resources, and NMLs. This dissertation aims to make a value-added theoretical contribution to the current thinking of online superdiversity; a methodological contribution by employing Social Network Analysis as a data collection and analysis technique; and a pedagogical contribution by proposing that 'SNS Literacies', a set of social practices that are essential for navigation and participation of learners in superdiverse networks, be explicitly addressed within educational contexts.

Social networking sites (SNS) have become a popular way for people to share information about themselves and their lives. However, the type and amount of information shared on SNS can impact an individual's desirability as an employee. This study examined the effects that personal images posted to an individual's SNS and the comments associated with the image have on their evaluation as a job candidate. The study built on prior research conducted in this area by specifically examining SNS images and not an entire SNS profile. The goal of this study was to better understand the impact of the images themselves and how the comments associated with the image impacts how the image is perceived. Additionally, by focusing on the image, the results of this study were generalized across a wider array of SNS. A quasi-experimental study was used to determine the effect that image comments have on the interpretation of those images. In this study, the impact that the image comments have on the interpretation of the image was measured using employee desirability. To conduct the study, 315 research participants were recruited from various organizations throughout the United States. The participants of the study included a number of recruiters and hiring managers from various organizations. A number of employers are using SNS to gather data on current or potential employees; therefore, it is reasonable to expect that the images and/or comments associated with the user's social network profile can have negative or positive consequences on the user's academic and professional lives. The final survey was administered to 315 participants that have experience in hiring and recruiting employees. Overall, the image comments do not have a statistically significant effect on the interpretation of the image with respect to their evaluation as a job candidate. However, an examination of the inter-group results indicated a statistically significant difference between the comments that cast the actions depicted in the image in an unfavorable light and the comments that cast the actions depicted in the image in a favorable light. The comments that cast the actions depicted in the image in a favorable light do not mitigate the negative actions shown in the image. Therefore, the images with an emphasis on drinking alcohol had a negative effect on the employee desirability; whereas, the images with a family orientation had no effect on the employee desirability. The results also found that the majority of recruiters and hiring managers only referenced the context of the photograph as the factor that influenced the decision. The content analysis revealed that the majority of recruiters and hiring managers referenced the context only of the alcohol related image as having influenced the decision. The majority of recruiters and hiring managers referenced neither the comments nor the context of the family oriented image as having influenced the decision. Therefore, negative content such as photographs and comments related to alcohol that are uploaded to SNS have an impact on the recruiters' evaluation of job candidates.

Online Communities of Practices (CoPs) is emerging as a major form for knowledge sharing in this era of information revolution. Due to the advancement of technology and ease of internet access in every part of the world, people began to get more and more involved in online CoPs to share knowledge. The defining characteristic of a Community of Practice is the interaction between members in order to jointly determine and embrace goals, eventually resulting in shared practices. Crucial to the success of a Community of Practice is the engagement between community members. Without engagement, a Community of Practice can not share knowledge and achieve its negotiated goals. To that end, there is a need to examine, why do people engage in an online discussion, what role domain experts play to keep on-line discussion alive and how to develop a ''right intervention'' to maintain and stimulate participants for engagement in on-line community. This thesis studied eight Communities of Practices that are being deliberately formed to facilitate knowledge sharing in the online community and describes an exploratory study of knowledge sharing within Communities of Practices (CoPs) by investigating eight CoPs - Start up Nation, All nurses, Young Enterpener, Teneric, SCM Focus, Systems Dynamics, Mahjoob and Alnj3 CoPs. The CoPs under investigation shared the following characteristics: permanent life span, created by interested members (i.e. bottom-up rather than top-down management creation), have a high level of boundary crossing, have more than 700 members who come from disparate locations and organizations, have voluntary membership enrollment, high membership diversity, high topic's relevance to members, high degree of reliance on technology, and are moderated. Data were gathered on the eight CoPs through online observations and online questionnaire survey. Results show that in each of the case study the most common type of activity performed by members of each CoP was sharing knowledge, followed by socialsing. Regarding the types of knowledge shared, the most common one across all CoPs was practical and general knowledge. The types of practical knowledge, however, varied in each CoP. The study also discovered that storytelling extensively enhances knowledge transfer and participants' interpersonal communications in eight communities under investigation. What were also notable in this study were the stories discussed in a CoP remains in the archive, what are more likely to generate interest and curiosity on the topic among inactive members who ultimately facilitates knowledge transfer. In this study it is also evident that successful topics with successful conclusion (in terms that the original query was answered) will not necessary get high responses and vice versa. An analysis of selected topics in the eight case studies has shown that some successful topics have few replies and vice versa, where many topics ended with open conclusion or they were unsuccessful in terms that the original query was not answered satisfactory. Therefore, it is not necessary that successful topic will get high number of responses as there are some successful topics which have limited number of replies. Overall, it is found that, topic may play a major role in the success of online discussion. It is observed in the study that members normally use short messages rather long messages and usually discusses more than one topic within one thread. Practical implications for knowledge sharing in online communities of practice were discussed, along with some recommendations for future research.

This study examined federal court cases related to the use of social media websites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn) in various employment practices (e.g., selection, promotion, employee monitoring, layoffs). Court cases were identified using various online databases in an attempt to create an exhaustive list of cases to be used to better understand the role that social media has played in organizational settings and the legal implications of its use. The results of this study show that there were a significant number of cases involving termination and Facebook, and organizations prevailed in court significantly more than the defendant did. The results of this study provide organizations, employees, and applicants with a better understanding of how organizational social media use has been perceived in the court of law, thereby allowing people and employers to make better decisions regarding social media use.