Due to the advancement of the Internet, information delivery has been forever changed. Technology rapidly outpaces traditional methods of conveying educational material. As a result, educators must seek non-traditional methods to deliver information. The use of social media outlets such as Facebook is one avenue of information delivery. The purpose of this study was to determine the uses and gratifications of the followers of the Trinity Waters Facebook page. A qualitative research design and purposeful sampling of (n=9) respondents were employed in this study. A semi-structured interview protocol was utilized in order to direct the study‘s research objectives. Respondents‘ desire increased availability of information and greater opportunities to establish networks with contemporaries. In addition, respondents sought practical information that could be applied to their daily pursuits. This study showed that followers of the Trinity Waters Facebook page want a greater amount of educational information disseminated through the page. As a result of this study, Trinity Waters should continue to seek out and distribute information that is significant and specific to the Trinity River basin. Trinity Waters should continue to pursue and disseminate information on current legislative or political actions that are specific to the Trinity River basin and also the state and federal levels. Events, meetings or seminars pertaining to the Trinity River basin and conservation efforts should be actively promoted by Trinity Waters via the Facebook platform. This study should be replicated with other extension programs throughout the state and nation. Further research should also be conducted on the implication of Facebook and social media in extension education settings.

”The modern library in the network society” A study of cultural politicians and librarians opinions about libraries' use of social media Social media is becoming more and more interacted in our daily lives and Carlsson (2013) argues that today's libraries have undergone major challenges in the digital information technology's entry in the library arena. The new technology has led to sum up in one question: how a library should relate to the digital information technology, the issue has applied in particular the social communications media, such as Facebook, Twitter and more. The purpose of this paper is to examine the culture of politicians and librarians 'perceptions of public libraries' use of social media linked to the libraries and their democracy promotion efforts. This is analyzed from Castells theories about the network society and the digital divide. In summary, the study concluded that the majority of the culture politicians and librarians believe that social media is a part of the future of the library. But they have different views on how to get there, cultural politicians describe the ideas for the library and the use of social media more visionary, while the librarians descriptions are more closely with the business. The possibility of dual communication instead of one-way communication took many respondents as an important part of the library's presence on social media. The importance of the library's democracy promotion efforts to reach out to everyone even those as defined by or at risk of falling into the digital divide is also discussed in the study.

Tiggare/tiggeri är fenomen som blivit allt vanligare i vårt svenska samhälle. Samtidigt som företeelsen av tiggare/tiggeri blivit mer synlig har även röster som kräver ett förbud av tiggeri höjts. Märkbart är hur det via social media sprids budskap med starka argument som belyserden problematik många människor upplever med tiggeriet. Via social media skapas uppslutningar med olika mål, som växer och frodas i nätets öppna rum. Syftet med vår studie är att få en förståelse för vad en sammanslutning av människor, i detta fall ett Facebook evenemang, kan generera i form av kommunikativ praktik samt vilken inverkan social media kan ha i frågan om dess förmåga att sprida ett budskap. Vi vill sedermera förstå uppropet och det budskap som förmedlas samt se till hur social media spelat roll fördess utveckling. Med en netnografiskt inspirerad forskningsmetod undersöker vi det socialaliv och samspel som sker online, men inom ett begränsat rum, det vill säga det evenemang vivalt att studera. Vår teoretiska referensram utgår från Canettis teori om massan makt vilken viknyter an till vårt nätverksamhälle och till sociala medier. Vidare utgår vi från begreppetFraming vilket är en kulturell inramning vilken beskriver hur sociala rörelser konstrueras, tolkas och beskriver verkligheten, samt rörelsens egen roll. Ur ett sociologiskt perspektiv vill vi förstå uppropet "Förbjud tiggeriet nu", dess budskap samthur dess mobilisering skedde inom ett offentligt rum som Facebook. Resultatet visar på hur ett budskap växer fram, hur det förmedlas och hur det sprids samt vilken stark förmåga till mobilisering ett offentligt evenemang på social media har.

Syftet med studien är att ta reda på hur och på vilka sätt modeföretag kan marknadsföra sig via digitala medier för att skapa närmare kontakt och påverka kundernas köpbeteende. Undersökningen är baserad på en kvalitativ metod i form av sex intervjuer. Intervjuerna bygger på fyra huvudgrupper i processen av användandet av digitala medier. Respondenterna som medverkat i intervjuerna är alla på något sätt aktiva eller har kunskap inom digitala medier. Studien visar på en problematisering om huruvida utvecklingen av digitala medier påverkar modeföretag eller inte. Samhällets digitalisering innebär både negativa och positiva effekter för modeföretagen. De positiva effekterna inkluderar bland annat möjligheten för modeföretag att ha en snabb kommunikation med kunderna, samt att det går oerhört snabbt att nå ut med budskap till omvärlden. Baksidan av detta är att även negativa budskap sprids lika fort, samt att kunden ställer högre krav på att modeföretag ska vara kontaktbara dygnet runt. Resultatet av studien är att digitala medier är en otrolig tillgång för modeföretag, framförallt gällande kommunikation med kunder och marknadsföring.

Building on Critical Art Ensemble’s initial formulation of the data body, and on Kevin Haggerty and Richard Ericson’s concept of surveillant assemblages, my thesis explores a further articulation of digital subjectivity by examining ‘data body’ as a referent for the various data connections and layers that a neoliberal subject is presumed to gather and generate over the course of a day. The flesh is bound to and by this data, as many examples indicate data’s ability to expand, spread, “go viral” and have a discernible effect on a user’s practical existence. My thesis deals with the ways that disciplinary and security logics are at work in these digital spaces and how they establish a tertiary regime, as outlined by Foucault. By considering the work of Lauren Berlant and Sara Ahmed to support my assertion of bodies as situated and institutionally validated by technology, I discuss the modulation of affects such as fear and threat to establish modes of conduct mediated by the data bodies of their users.

The “connection generation” craves interaction with and connection to vast social networks through the sharing of information, photos, opinions, entertainment and news. This sharing comes in the form of electronic word-of-mouth or eWOM, and provides marketing and communication managers with an unparalleled opportunity to reach a large number of consumers quickly. With the ever increasing growth of the internet and the rise of social media and social network sites, viral marketing has cemented itself in the marketing and corporate agenda. However, while there has been a shift in marketing budgets towards online and social media, little is known about how to successfully leverage viral marketing. Consequently, understanding why some videos go viral and others do not is becoming an increasingly popular focus of academic research. This study aimed to answer the following research question: What are the factors that drive the virality of online content?   In an attempt to answer this exploratory research question, four papers were used to look at its constituent parts. In the first paper, the role of emotion in the sharing of online content was investigated. Rime’s social sharing of emotion theory was used to explain why emotion could drive the spread of content online. We suggested that people’s propensity to share viral content was a function of the intensity, sociality and complexity of the emotion elicited by the viral content.   The following two papers further investigated the role of emotion in viral marketing by looking at the relationship between content and emotion. Paper 2 used interviews in a qualitative research design to propose a decision-tree of the interplay between content and emotion in viral marketing. This paper showed that the relevance of the content has an influence on viewers’ emotional response. Paper 3 took a closer look at the relationship between content and emotion by using a two-stage design: First, content analysis was done on the comments of selected YouTube videos. Second, an experiment was used to test the emotions that these videos elicited in respondents, the valence of those emotions, the intensity with which they were felt, as well as various content-related factors (e.g. the creativity and humor used in the videos). This paper looked specifically at the use of political communication in viral marketing and showed that creativity, valence and the intensity of the emotions elicited by the content are key drivers of viral success.   The final and fourth paper culminates in a model for the sharing of content online. This paper built on the findings from the previous papers, but also made use of interviews, and the analysis of a longitudinal dataset to propose a comprehensive model for the spread of content online. The longitudinal dataset was compiled using the top 10 posts from Reddit.com, a viral aggregator website, over the period of 25 days. The comprehensive model shows that there are external, intrapersonal and interpersonal drivers of viral content. The external drivers of viral content are the viral videos themselves (content) and its popularity. The content construct refers to various aspects related to the content itself, for example how informative, creative, humorous etc. the content is. Its popularity, on the other hand, was driven by both WOM and mainstream media reports. The intrapersonal drivers of viral content refer to the emotions that the content elicited in viewers. Viewers’ emotional response to the content was influenced by its relevance, but also by the valence and intensity of the emotion that they felt. Even though some content elicited intense emotions in viewers, some viewers did not share the content and interpersonal drivers of viral content was introduced to the model. These drivers recognise the social aspect of social media, and that content gets shared with large social networks. The model contends that people share viral content with their social networks as a form of online gift giving, out of altruism, or simply to build their own reputation. Finally, we contend that, in this content à emotion à social sharing chain, people share viral content both online and offline, as many respondents simply told their friends about the content (thus prompting them to go and watch the content themselves) or showed them the content themselves. This online and offline sharing of content increased the popularity of the content and a self-reinforcing chain was created, increasing the exponential growth typically associated with viral content.   As consumers are exposed to an increasing amount of marketing messages, and marketing budgets shrink, marketing managers could greatly benefit from better understanding how to more effectively make social media part of their marketing strategy. Viral marketing allows for a low-cost way of communicating marketing messages with great potential for impacting the market. This study ultimately shows what marketing managers can do to increase their chances of viral success, and ends off with a list of managerial recommendations to leverage the external, intrapersonal and interpersonal factors present in viral campaigns. / <p>QC 20140911</p>

The first part of the thesis gives a systematic overview and conceptual analysis of the literature on studying misinformation and disinformation in social media, with a special focus on research projects using large scale data obtained from Twitter and Facebook. The literature review gives a detailed overview of the scope of data collected by the various research projects; the means of accessing the data, which are rooted in the concrete socio-technical arrangement of the various platforms, and the type of analytical tools they apply. Furthermore, it also maps the various theoretical questions behind the research projects. The author of the thesis also gives his own definition of information manipulation and describes a conceptual model of information manipulation in the context of social media. The second part of the thesis applies some of the insights from the literature review to a large Twitter data set collected during the monitoring of African elections. The analysis follows a qualitative approach and focuses on case studies created from specific incidents during the elections. Each of these incidents illustrates a special aspect of the problem of information manipulation in online social media.

Syftet med denna B-uppsats i informatik är att få en bild av samt få bättre förståelse för vilka faktorer det är som kan påverka vilka kvinnor i åldern 18-25 som offentliggör privat information på sociala medier.  Dock har inte djupintervjuer tillämpats utan enkäter, vilket annars är normalt för ett kvantitativt tillvägagångssätt. Enkäter valdes för att respondenterna skulle kunna svara anonymt eftersom syftet är att undersöka samt analysera vilka kvinnor i ålder 18-25 offentliggör privat information på sociala medier.     Utifrån en enkätundersökning som skickades ut elektroniskt till 25 kvinnor i åldern 18-25 har jag kunnat identifiera olika faktorer som bidrar till varför vissa kvinnor delar med sig av mer privat information på sociala medier.   Några av de slutsatser som dragits utifrån denna studie är att kvinnor som befinner sig i ett offentligt förhållande oftare delar med sig av information på sociala medier samt att de som studerar är mer aktiva på sociala medier.

Problematisation: Credible information on social media affects potential tourists when chosing where they will travel. Thus, the competition for the attention of potential tourists makes the credibility aspect important to explore further. Perceived credibility in social media online could be more questioned than offline sources since user generated Websites usually do not go through a review. Additionally, the understanding of online credibility is still limited, when it comes to UGC. There has not been much research emphasising the perceived credibility on user generated content. Furthermore, there seems to be a disagreement about perceived credibility existing in social media, which makes it an interesting topic. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to investigate which dimensions are positively influencing perceived credibility online and if the information on TripAdvisor was seen as credible. The purpose is also to explore if there is a relationship between perceived credibility and the dimensions user generated content, authority, communication, updates and design. The purpose of this dissertation is also to add knowledge about how potential tourists perceive credibility when they view a Website designed for tourists. Methodology: This study used a paper-based questionnaire, answered by students at Kristianstad University. Limitations: This dissertation has two main limitations. Firstly, it only examines one social media, TripAdvisor. Secondly, participants in the sample were only chosen from Kristianstad University and under certain circumstances, which made the sample limited. Conclusion: The result showed that there was a positive relationship between user-generated content, authority, communication, updates and design and perceived credibility. However, the dimension advertisement was rejected. Thus, five of six hypotheses were not rejected and had a statistical significance (P= &lt; 0.01). Only hypothesis four, advertisements, did not have statistical significance and was rejected. The total perceived credibility for TripAdvisor’s Website, in this dissertation, was that it was seen as fairly credible.

This study seeks to explore whether social media plays an important role in determining a firm’s profits. Using data from 392 Large American firms from the period 2005-2013, obtained primarily from the database, COMPUSTAT, I find that a firm’s adoption of Social Media plays a minor role in determining profits, while higher Lagged Profits, Lagged Productivity, Firm Sizes, and Advertising Expenses lead to higher profits.