<p> This study applied the uses and gratifications theory to determine how audience motives for using niche social network sites compared with motives for using popular social network sites. An online survey presented a single sample (N=554) with items measuring motives for using the popular social network site Facebook alongside items measuring motives for using the niche social network site Ravelry for comparison.</p><p> The results demonstrate that there is a significant amount of overlap between the motives for Ravelry use and for Facebook use. The motives of relaxing entertainment, expressive information sharing, habitual pass time, social interaction, cool new technology, and professional advancement emerged during separate factor analyses of both the Ravelry and Facebook use motive scales. New friendships emerged only as a motive for Ravelry use. The results also showed the most salient motive for Facebook use was social interaction where the most salient motives for using Ravelry were relaxing entertainment and new friendships. The strongest motive for using Facebook related to relationships maintenance, which supports findings of past research. In contrast, Ravelry use motives show members are seeking new relationships through the niche social network site. Implications of the significant differences between motives for using the niche social network site and the popular social network site are discussed. Additional research is suggested to refine the current conceptual definition of social network site and to classify social network sites.</p>

<p> This dissertation represents an in depth examination of the cultural practices, technological affordances and political economic forces that inform the publics and counterpublics formed on the website reddit. Through interpretivist netnography, textual analysis and document analysis, the research presented here establishes a variety of different events (both historical and contemporary) and discourses that have taken place on the site and shows how these events and discourses are emblematic of contemporary neoliberal ideologies. Drawing on the theoretical tradition of the &ldquo;public sphere&rdquo; established by J&uuml;rgen Habermas, this research concludes that reddit shows the potential for an effective public sphere through digital technology. However, despite this potential, much of the discourse on reddit reinforces traditional neoliberal ideologies; furthermore, actions on behalf of the administration, moderators and users on the sites also indicate that while reddit has afforded individuals the opportunity to change federal political policy, these events do not translate into an inclusive public sphere that escapes the neoliberal trappings of technological fetishism.</p>

<p> The purpose of this quantitative research study was to evaluate and determine if significant associations and linear correlations exist between reader socio-demographics, levels of trust and affinity in online citizen writer news story article content, brand loyalty, and acuity in newspaper organizations transitioning from print to online in a heterogeneous population. Descriptive and inferential statistics for dependent and independent variables were analyzed through <i>t</i> tests, Pearson <i>r</i> correlation coefficients, cross tabulation, Pearson Chi-Square, analysis of variance (ANOVA), multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and factor analysis. Data results showed significant relationships for each of the five hypotheses between variables of readers' socio-demographics and level of trust, socio-demographics and acuity, readers' level of trust and level of desire, readers' news brand loyalty and engagement, and readers' engagement and types of online news article content. A post evaluation of observed multivariate associations was conducted through a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and factor analysis.</p>

<p> This paper examines coverage of the 2012 presidential election by television news organizations on Twitter and their legacy medium. Motivated by the possibility that those who are not interested in politics might pick up relevant political information from the individuals or news organization they follow, this study found that tweets about the election by CBS, CNN, ABC, MSNBC, NBC, and FNN were nearly devoid of substantive political information. This research will be important as news consumption habits continue to evolve and the Twitter audience continues to grow, it is important that we understand the content that is being put forward through these mediums. This will help to evaluate the democratic value of news content in terms of its role in informing the American public.</p>

Submitted by Rosina Valeria Lanzellotti Mattiussi Teixeira (rosina.teixeira@unisantos.br) on 2015-04-15T17:00:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Douglas de Araujo Texeira.pdf: 521831 bytes, checksum: 08668b624cb31a7824fbef5ba1934476 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-15T17:00:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Douglas de Araujo Texeira.pdf: 521831 bytes, checksum: 08668b624cb31a7824fbef5ba1934476 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-12 / Universidade Católica de Santos - Católica de Santos / Journalism have undergone, due to the emergence and popularization of Internet, meaningful changes in its process of production and dissemination of content, higher education courses that prepare professionals for this area - supported by the Ministry of Education Curriculum Guidelines - seek to integrate subjects into their curriculum that aim at producing news content for the internet. In that context, considering the key role of a college education professor in training qualified professionals, this research investigated the educational practice of Journalism professors at a private university in Santos, in order to get familiar with the teaching practice in journalistic production to the internet, as well as the impacts that technology caused to that practice, specifically the use of a platform for content publishing. Based on studies of Bahia (2009), Canavilhas (2001), Ferrari (2010), Mielnickzuc (2003), Moherdaui (2007), Rossi (2007), among others, the study had the purpose of contextualizing the current way of doing journalism; regarding the practice of teaching, it was supported by studies of Corrêa et al. (2011) and Franco (2011), and to discuss the reflective teacher, the work found basis on the work of Pimenta (2006) and Schön (2000). The work of Primo (2010), provided input for the discussion of a scenario of digital journalism teaching in Brazil. The research approach was qualitative and used as a tool to collect data to observe the lessons of professors responsible for the subject of journalistic production for the internet, which also participated in the recordings and interviews. The observation made to the practice of teaching was also carried out with the use of autoscopy technique, which consists of the recording and subsequent analysis of the image by the recorded individual. The results indicated that the use of technology allowed students greater autonomy in the production and publication of materials. For the professor, more appropriate practices were made it possible to their context of work, and the autoscopy sessions awakened in them the need for further changes to the practice. / Tendo o jornalismo sofrido, em função do surgimento e popularização da internet, mudanças significativas em seu processo de produção e disseminação de conteúdo, os cursos superiores que preparam os profissionais para essa área, amparados pelas Diretrizes Curriculares do MEC, buscaram integrar em seus currículos disciplinas voltadas à produção de conteúdo jornalístico para a internet. Neste contexto, considerando-se o papel fundamental do professor do ensino superior na formação de profissionais qualificados, esta pesquisa investigou a prática docente de professores do Curso de Jornalismo de uma universidade particular de Santos, com objetivo de conhecer a prática docente na produção jornalística para a internet, assim como os impactos que as tecnologias causaram nessa prática, especificamente a utilização de uma plataforma de publicação de conteúdo. Com base nos estudos de Bahia (2009) Canavilhas (2001), Ferrari (2010), Mielnickzuc (2003), Moherdaui (2007), Rossi (2007), entre outros, o trabalho buscou contextualizar o fazer jornalístico atual; no tocante à prática docente, amparou-se nos estudos de Corrêa et al. (2011) e Franco (2011); e, para discutir o professor reflexivo, baseou-se nos trabalhos de Pimenta (2006) e Schön (2000). Na obra de Primo (2010), encontrou subsídios para discutir o cenário do ensino do jornalismo digital no Brasil. A pesquisa, de abordagem qualitativa, utilizou como procedimentos metodológicos para a coleta de dados a observação das aulas dos professores responsáveis pela disciplina de produção jornalística para a internet, os quais também participaram das gravações e das entrevistas. A observação da prática docente foi realizada, também, com a utilização da técnica de autoscopia, que consiste na gravação e posterior análise da imagem pelo sujeito. Os resultados indicaram que a utilização de tecnologias possibilitou aos alunos maior autonomia no processo de produção e de publicação das matérias. Aos professores, possibilitou práticas mais adequadas ao seu contexto de atuação, sendo que as sessões de autoscopia despertaram neles a necessidade de novas transformações nesta prática.