Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, welche Motive Konsumenten dazu verleiten, soziale Medien im sogenannten "Web 2.0" aktiv oder passiv zu nutzen. Hierbei liegt das Augenmerk insbesondere auf soziodemographischen und psychologischen Merkmalen der Nutzer. Als zentrales Ergebnis der Arbeit kann herausgestellt werden, dass sich die befragten 188 Personen insgesamt anhand von zwei Dimensionen: Aktivität vs. Passivität und soziale Motivation vs. individuelle Motivation in 5 Gruppen beschreiben lassen. Mithilfe klassischer und neuer Marketing-Instrumente (z.B. Virales Marketing) lassen sich diese Gruppen zielgenau ansprechen.

The research examines and explores the differences and similarities between how the social media platform of Facebook is used in the context of the basketball industry. The research centers on the respective Finnish and Swedish basketball leagues. More precisely, the study scrutinizes nine basketball teams social media representatives – four Finnish and five Swedish – perceptions on how their respective sport clubs act on the medium of Facebook, through the use of relevant marketing theories. “How do Swedish and Finnish basketball clubs manage their brands and fan clubs on Facebook?” In the recent years sport marketing has been researched extensively, however the research on sport marketing has focused solely on more established sport leagues (e.g. National Basketball Association, Premier League among other bigger leagues). The major emphasis in sport marketing has been on bigger leagues; this research focuses on the smaller and less established leagues of Finland and Sweden. There is a limited or no literature to be found of sport marketing, which specifically focuses on smaller national leagues. Additionally, the study adds knowledge to a relatively new and evolved way of marketing. Social media marketing research is at its infantry stage, at least when considering research done in more traditional marketing, thus the research could add knowledge to this young marketing sphere. The study is based on a social constructivist approach, where the social actor creates reality. The teams’ social media representatives had their own unique interpretations of team’s actions on the social media platform of Facebook. Moreover, the primarily reason for the study was to create understanding of the perceptional Facebook practices used by two countries basketball teams. The main research question was divided into three research objectives to get more accurate results. Relevant theories of branding and customer relationship management, where emphasis is on relationship marketing, were used to answer the three more specific research objectives. More specifically the theory of relationship marketing is used to identify the teams’ relationship management practices on the social media platform of Facebook and the theory of brand equity was used to understand how the teams’ build their brand image on the medium. Additionally, appropriate organizational definitions are used to recognize the underlying reasons why the sample teams are motivated to use the platform of Facebook. The results indicated that there were both similarities inside the examined country’s teams’ perceptions of Facebook activities and differences between these perceptional practices. However, the differences were of a lessening degree than similarities. Similarly, the country comparison showed that there were only minor differences between Facebook practices used by two countries’ club practices. The study gives a sound general view of smaller and less established sport league teams, thus the study could give a good foundation for further studies on other smaller and less established countries sport league clubs. Furthermore, it could also be used as a building block for a more extensive study, where perceptions of multiple club key stakeholders could be compared with each other to find similarities and differences between their perceptions gaps.

Uses and gratifications theory posits that media use is an intentional and selective process by individuals in order to satisfy emotional needs. Basis this theory, the author conducted an exploratory study to compare social media engagement with four factors of acculturation among Hispanic Americans. These variables were also compared to the variables of education level and generation in order to test for a relationship. An online questionnaire captured data from a sample of Hispanic American participants (N = 85). Correlation analysis was performed, and results indicated that generation had a significant relationship with social media engagement and three out of four of the factors of acculturation.

Big Bend Coffee Roasters (BBCR) is a small business in Marfa, Texas offering high quality, Fair Trade and organic coffee. Primarily, the business operates as a wholesale roaster catering to small-to-medium size coffee shops across the country, but primarily in the Texas region. While the wholesale business is the core business model of BBCR, the company would like to pursue retail sales online. Currently, there is no marketing plan in place. This report is a one-year marketing plan incorporating the entire 2013 strategy and implementation with the following goals: 1) raise brand awareness in Texas, and 2) increase retail sales of BBCR coffee and products. / text

Christianity has a long history that often became intertwined with the development of modern day media. This paper aims to draw a comparison between the use of Christianity as a marketing device during the Middle Ages and modern times. Using McLuhan’s timeline of media epochs we are able to trace the changes of media through human history. This timeline provides us the means to analyze the ways in which Christianity was used as a marketing device to advance the adoption of new mediums. The Middle Ages’ reliance on Christian networks to spread information enabled Gutenberg to gain widespread adoption of his printing press. The recent transition to the electronic age also shows how new mediums can use this same network to perpetuate messages. In modern times the electronic age has reproduced an environment conducive to the spread of Christian messages. Social media networks like Twitter exhibit increased interaction levels among prominent Christian leaders. The comparison of these two periods in time showcases the strength of the Christian network, even today. Furthermore it provides evidence of the prediction made by McLuhan that the interconnectedness of the electronic age would bring about a new type of oral tribe culture. This global village brought about by the Internet allows ancient communication practices to flourish once more. / text

This video series and report act as an educational tool to help small to mid-sized nonprofits use social media in the most beneficial way for their organization, by offering advice and tactics based on actual stories from nonprofits in Austin, Texas. As the landscape of marketing and media changes, nonprofits must be willing to utilize social media for their development strategies, event planning, volunteer recruitment and engagement, and have an up to date social media policy. Six nonprofit organizations tell their success stories and discuss the importance of integrating social media into their marketing strategies and campaigns. / text

Social media is developing rapidly and China has become the largest market of social media usage. Due to numerous international social media platforms being unavailable in China, Chinese consumers have different usage and attitude of social media from those in other countries. According to previous studies, consumers’ usage and attitude of social media can be different due to their gender. Due to these two factors, it is interesting to study gender differences in attitudes toward social media in a Chinese context. By using questionnaires, data are collected from students in Shanghai, China. By applying SPSS, analysis of the results shows that Chinese online consumers basically have positive attitude toward using social media and positively think social media influence them. Most of Chinese respondents spend more than 1 hour on social media daily. Generally speaking, Chinese consumers use social media in order to communicate with others and search for different events. As to gender difference, Chinese women are more likely to follow a famous person by using social media than men. Both men and women use Wechat and Weibo the most frequently.

I tidigare forskning saknas studier om effekten av Internet på äldres välbefinnande. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur äldres välbefinnande påverkas av vardaglig Internetanvändning inklusive sociala medier. Tio pensionärer i åldern 68-85 år i Mellansverige, varav fem kvinnor, intervjuades i ca 35 minuter var om deras subjektiva upplevelser av Internetanvändning. Intervjuerna meningskoncentrerades och analysen resulterade i fyra gemensamma drag: äldre som använder Internet och sociala medier upplever (1) positiva emotioner, (2) närhet med andra, (3) trygghet och (4) ett rikare liv. Avsaknaden av Internet däremot skulle leda till upplevelsen av tomhet och isolation. Grundat på komponenterna föreslås det att användning av Internet och sociala medier har sammantaget positiv effekt på äldres välbefinnande. Förutom detta identifierades en ny komponent trygghet som inte framkom i tidigare studier om äldres Internetanvändning.

The aim of this study is to investigate if intensive facebook usage can lead to the development depressive symptoms among young adults. The study was conducted quantitatively by distributing 65 questionnaires to students at the University of Gävle. The questionnaires were composed to test the student’s levels of self-esteem, social comparison on facebook and facebook intensity. The data collected was analyzed using IBM SPSS 20 as an analysis tool for frequency descriptions. Using the social rank, social compensation and social comparison theories, theoretical conclusions were made to verify or de-verify the hypotheses.  The study found that facebook usage in itself does not cause depression Symptoms but rather creates a platform were individuals can compare each other thereby developing feelings of envy, social anxiety, jealousy, inadequacy and inferiority. It was also found that it is not easy to tell if facebook intensity lead to low self- Esteem or individuals with low Self-Esteem tend to have high facebook intensity. The study also found that the association between facebook usage and depressive symptoms was a bit different when it came to gender.  Through this study the author hopes to contribute to the knowledge needed by social workers and parents for understanding young adult’s usage of social media and the psychological impact created by intensive use of facebook. This knowledge could be used to help social workers and parents to monitor and encourage healthy usage of social media to avoid potential problems connected to social media such as addiction, depression, anxiety, bullying and unhealthy social comparisons.   Key words: Self-esteem, Depression, Social anxiety, Facebook, subjective happiness, satisfaction with life, Gävle, Social media, Gender.

The current study aims to analyze the nature and duration of the intimate relationship breakup experience for young adult males and females as a function of socially encouraged gender behavior and Facebook use. Seventy male and seventy female (ages 18-25) participants who have endured an intimate relationship breakup within the past year will complete three pencil and paper survey measures in a classroom setting. Participants will be asked a series of questions about their resulting emotionality and Facebook use post-breakup. The researcher anticipates a series of t-tests will reveal that in accordance with socially encouraged gender behaviors, females will report a longer duration of the breakup process, overall higher levels of emotionality, and more time spent monitoring the activity of an ex-partner on Facebook. Male participants will report higher levels of anger as a result of a breakup, and while both males and females will report Facebook interference in the coping process, females will report significantly higher levels of Facebook interference than male participants. The increased understanding of social media use and gender stereotypes in regards to an intimate relationship breakup suggest that both hold significant power in society, and may particularly encourage gender differences in dealing with such a breakup. Furthermore, the two may function in sync to dictate the breakup experience differently for males and females.