Sprachideologien als zugrundeliegende Annahmen über Sprachstrukturen und Sprachgebrauch schlagen sich häufig in metasprachlichen Diskursen und vor allem im laienlinguistischen Austausch über Sprache nieder. Die einschlägige Forschung zu derartigen Metasprachdiskursen hat sich bislang nur vereinzelt dem laienlinguistischen Austausch in den Sozialen Medien gewidmet. Um Einblicke in laienlinguistische Metasprachdiskurse jüngerer Generationen zu geben, untersucht die vorliegende Studie die Beiträge sowie die dazugehörigen Kommentare zweier Instagram-Profile, die regelmäßig sprachliches Wissen vermitteln, hinsichtlich ihrer sprachideologischen Standpunkte. Hierzu wurde das stancetaking der Nutzenden untersucht, d.h. es wurde nachvollzogen, wie sich Sprachteilnehmende lexikalisch, grammatisch, aber auch im Rahmen multimodaler Möglichkeiten der Plattform (z.B. Farben, Emojis, Likes) zu Sprache und zu anderen Sprachteilnehmenden positionieren. Es zeigt sich, dass vor allem sprachrichtigkeitsideologische Einstellungen in den untersuchten Beiträgen vorzufinden sind. Varianten werden hier explizit sprachlich als richtig oder falsch oder auch implizit mittels farblicher Markierungen gekennzeichnet. Standardideologische Annahmen kommen in den Beiträgen häufig in der Orientierung an kodifizierenden Institutionen und in der Abgrenzung zu einer Umgangssprache zum Tragen, wobei die Beiträge von einer Thematisierung des Standardbegriffs absehen. Vereinzelt werden die Sprachrichtigkeits- und die Standardideologie in den Kommentaren durch Nutzende in Frage gestellt; insbesondere, wenn diese sich als linguistisch Sachkundige positionieren. / Language ideologies as underlying assumptions about the structure and use of a language can often be found in meta-linguistic and especially lay linguistic discourse. So far, only few studies have looked at lay linguistic discourse about language on social media. This study aims at giving insights into the lay linguistic discourse of younger generations by looking at two Instagram accounts that frequently publish content containing lay linguistic knowledge and extracting existing language ideologies. The process of stancetaking was considered: It was examined how users position themselves towards language and towards others by means of lexical and grammatical expressions, as well as multimodal ways provided by the online platform (e.g. colors, emojis, likes). The results show that the posts convey beliefs about the correctness of language as they explicitly mark variants as right or wrong or use colors to signify (in)correctness. The ideology of standard language is also present in many posts and comments. This is indicated by users referring to codifying institutions and by users differentiating between a standard and a vernacular use of language, both of which are not further defined by users. Occasionally, language ideologies about correctness and standards are questioned in the comments; especially when users position themselves as linguistic professionals.

The perception of mental illness has often been studied in traditional face-to-face settings, but the research on its perception in an online setting has been growing recently. Social media platforms have allowed for important conversations regarding mental health to gain popularity and led to the formation of communities where users can share their personal experiences. It has also given professionals the opportunity to educate others on various mental health topics and answer specific questions their audience may have. From these posts and forums, users who are concerned with their mental health can be given the guidance to achieve proper assistance from an in-person support group or medical professional. However, there is little to no regulation concerning who can share information on these applications, which can potentially lead to the spread of false information and exaggerated instances of mental illnesses. This can encourage users to incorrectly self-diagnose and reinforce stigma that is already prevalent in both face-to-face and virtual settings. The role that social media plays in mental health perception and self-diagnosis remains uncertain. To better understand this interaction, an online study was conducted where participants were tasked with completing a survey and watching a series of videos that varied depending upon the condition they were assigned to. Participants were then given the same survey to determine whether any particular thoughts or emotions had been evoked from watching the videos. There were no significant differences between the survey responses before and after the videos, and no interaction was found between the type of videos the participant watched and their combined scores on each survey question. The results of this study merit further investigation into how social media platforms influence the perception of mental illness, which indicate there is not a significant impact.

Civil unrest (protests, strikes, and ``occupy'' events) is a common occurrence in both democracies and authoritarian regimes. The study of civil unrest is a key topic for political scientists as it helps capture an important mechanism by which citizenry express themselves. In countries where civil unrest is lawful, qualitative analysis has revealed that more than 75% of the protests are planned, organized, and/or announced in advance; therefore detecting future time mentions in relevant news and social media is a simple way to develop a protest forecasting system. We develop such a system in this thesis, using a combination of key phrase learning to identify what to look for, probabilistic soft logic to reason about location occurrences in extracted results, and time normalization to resolve future tense mentions. We illustrate the application of our system to 10 countries in Latin America, viz. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Results demonstrate our successes in capturing significant societal unrest in these countries with an average lead time of 4.08 days. We also study the selective superiorities of news media versus social media (Twitter, Facebook) to identify relevant tradeoffs. / Master of Science

No / Social media plays an important role in the digital transformation of businesses. This research provides a comprehensive analysis of the use of social media by b2b companies. The current study focuses on a number of aspects of social media such as: the effect of social media; social media tools; social media use; adoption of social media use and its barriers; social media strategies; and measuring the effectiveness of the use of social media. This research provides a valuable synthesis of the relevant literature on social media in the b2b context by analysing and discussing the key findings from existing research on social media. The findings of this study can be used as an informative framework on social media for both academics and practitioners.

Masters of Art / Social media has become a popular tool adopted by libraries and play a major role in marketing library services, facilitating communication between libraries and staff, and assisting libraries in connecting with communities. The use of social media by City of Cape Town Libraries has been recently established, and it has not yet been adequately assessed how Librarians have taken to this new implementation. Literature revealed that there is not enough research done in assessing Librarians’ perceptions on the use of social media for library work purposes, especially as a tool that is used to provide information services to users, and also how users responded to libraries’ adoption of social media in meeting their information needs.

The use of social media in nonprofit professional membership organizations affects how leaders communicate with members, consumers, the community, and other stakeholders. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the social media marketing strategies that leaders in nonprofit professional membership organizations use to keep their organizations sustainable. Data were collected from 5 social media marketing leaders representing 5 nonprofit professional membership organizations in the Chicago region. Data collection occurred through semistructured interviews, review of organizational documents pertaining to social media marketing strategies, and review of the social media sites and websites of the participants' organizations. Rogers's diffusion of innovation theory served as the conceptual framework for this study. A thematic analysis of the data yielded 4 themes: social media platforms and engagement strategies, social media content, social media challenges, and brand awareness. Leaders of nonprofit professional membership organizations who want to gain a competitive edge by using the appropriate social media platforms, creating quality content, overcoming challenges, and increasing brand awareness might choose to align with the strategies identified in this study. The findings of this study could help organizational leaders use social media marketing strategies effectively for engagement and organizational sustainability. The implications for positive social change arising from the use of social media by leaders in nonprofit professional membership organizations include opportunities to connect with and engage the public to build stronger communities through collaboration.

This thesis was motivated by the widespread use of social media by children, and the lack of research on perceptions of their own use. It expands on previous research which, while sometimes including children’s voices, largely focuses on the negative impact that social media has on well-being. Instead, this thesis seeks insight into children’s views on their and their peers use of social media, what motivates their particular use, and how they describe the positive and negative experiences of it. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with children between 12 and 15 years old and thematic analysis was used to consider the data, along with an interpretivist and contextualist epistemological approach. The themes included, firstly; social media as a place for children to connect and to spend time, secondly; positive experiences that included, learning and inspiration, fun and happiness, and perspective taking, thirdly; negative experiences relating to privacy and anonymity, bullying and bad feelings, and a lack of social clues, and lastly; a particular peer culture which included gender differences as part of their experience of using social media. The study concludes that, though research on social media and children has been largely looked at in terms of risk, children see it as a normalized aspect of childhood where they socialize with friends, spend time playing and learning about different things, and hang out with their peers. Social media is described as a neutral tool by the children. With this notion of neutrality, by further understanding children’s experiences and perspectives, there could be more support in ensuring that this tool is shaped and used in a way that works more in their best interest. Social media is inevitably a big part of children’s leisure time today, and ‘moral panic’, being a persistent rhetoric around childhood, may not be helpful for children.

The number of social media platforms (SMP hereinafter) is ever-increasing, and all of these platforms compete for more attention and content. The global social media market is expected to grow to $223.11 billion in 2022 (Social Media Global Market Report, 2022). In an era characterized by the meteoric rise and evolution of Social Media Platforms (SMPs), understanding the interplay between platform features and user behaviors is both critical and complex. In this dissertation, we aim to elucidate the relationship between SMPs and society, with the ultimate objective of fostering a healthier social media ecosystem. This dissertation is comprised of two incisive essays, both of which are underpinned by robust theoretical frameworks. The first essay adopts an expansive purview of the SMP ecosystem. Grounded in Uses and Gratifications Theory and media studies, it establishes a user typology based on the previous typologies and examines the interaction between user motives, SMP scores, and SMP features. Employing the Analytic Hierarchy Process, a sophisticated decision-making tool, the study quantifies utility-driven choices across platforms. A notable revelation is the heterogeneity in user reliance on SMP features, contingent upon their underlying motives. This essay offers critical insights into the multifaceted nature of SMP utilization. The second essay focuses specifically on Reddit's ChangeMyView community, an exemplar of constructive discourse in the SMP environment. It constructs a theoretical model premised on the Elaboration Likelihood Model and the concept of pre-suasion, and utilizes a mixed-methods approach to explore the persuasive strategies using Content Analysis. We also utilize ChatGPT in the Content Analysis to corroborate our inferences. The findings confirm our theorization about the role of the Delta reward system in fostering reflective engagement with content, which leads to informed opinion formation. Collectively, with these essays, we aim to provide extensive insights into the dynamic interplay between SMPs and users. Both essays hold significant implications for research community, SMP decision-makers, organizations that use SMPs, and a broader audience interested in optimizing their social media repertoire. Through a theory-driven and empirical lens, employing several epistemologies, this dissertation provides a holistic depiction of the SMP ecosystem. / Doctor of Philosophy / The landscape of social media is constantly evolving with an ever-growing number of platforms vying for user attention. In this dissertation, we aim to analyze the relationship between social media platforms and their users, seeking ways to foster a healthier and more constructive social media environment. This dissertation is structured into two distinct yet interconnected essays. In the first essay, we look at the broader ecosystem of social media platforms. It categorizes users based on their motivations for using social media, such as seeking information or connecting with others. We examine how different features of social media platforms cater to these diverse motivations. To accomplish this, we employ a method known as the Analytic Hierarchy Process, which is a decision-making tool used to measure and analyze choices. The key insight from this essay is the diversity in how users interact with social media features, and how this interaction is influenced by their underlying motivations. In the second essay, we take a closer look at a specific community on Reddit called ChangeMyView. This community is unique as it encourages users to engage in thoughtful and reasoned debates. In this essay, we develop a theoretical model to understand the mechanisms through which information is processed and opinions are changed within this community with a strong focus on Delta system, a feature that rewards users for successfully changing someone's opinion through challenging their view and pointing the flaws in their thinking. Collectively, the dissertation provides an in-depth understanding of the dynamic relationship between social media platforms and users. It does so through rigorous analysis underpinned by theoretical frameworks. This research is not only academically significant but also has practical implications. It provides valuable insights for decision-makers to improve social media platforms, aids organizations in understanding how best to engage with social media, and informs users on optimizing their social media interactions. In essence, this dissertation serves as a comprehensive analysis that bridges the gap between the ever-evolving features of social media platforms and the multifaceted behaviors of their users.

Social media content strategies have been created and used for years as a way to advertise and influence market decisions in various industries. The reason for their effectiveness should be adequately studied so that we can have a better understanding of which strategies are successful and which ones are not. This study identifies effective social media content strategies, with a focus on brand and customer-centric strategies. After a content analysis of 251 Instagram posts from Huda Beauty and Glossier’s accounts, the hypotheses stating that brand-centric strategies will be more effective and all the strategies will be a useful way to determine the outcome of future Instagram posts are partially supported. This research contributes to best practices in social media marketing in order to understand the effectiveness behind content strategies.

This qualitative study focuses on how social media policies and guidelines are used in practice within nine different Swedish industrial B2B companies. This study identifies their social media policies and guidelines in order to examine its content and investigates how the participating companies use their social media policies and guidelines in their marketing activities according to the interviewees. A qualitative research method with nine semi-structured interviews has been conducted and analyzed with a thematic analysis by using research and theory within the chosen subject.The findings of this study reveals that the companies have social media policies and guidelines in place in order to satisfy different needs, hence, some of the companies use it as a fundamental framework, while other companies incorporate it to a greater extent and use it as a way of handling risks.Through its managerial and social media policies and guidelines implications, this study contributes to the identified research gap regarding how social media policies and guidelines usage in B2B industries by providing insights from practice.