Syftet med detta arbete var att få en insikt i hur privata Facebookanvändare uppfattar artisters identitet på Facebook. Intresset väcktes då jag för en tid sedan lade märke till det ökade användandet av Facebook bland såväl företag som kommersiella personer. Facebook har på kort tid kommit att bli en plattform från vilken många personer och företag väljer att visa och marknadsföra sig själva på. I studien undersökte jag begreppet identitet och hur privata Facebookanvändare förknippar detta begrepp med artisters Facebookanvändande. För att uppnå mitt syfte utförde jag en undersökning med en kvalitativ ansats. Den metod som jag använde mig av var fokusgruppintervjuer där ett ramverk av frågor ställdes till intervjudeltagarna som fick behandlas fritt för diskussion inom gruppen. Som analysmetod vid tolkningen av materialet från fokusgruppintervjuerna använde jag mig av en tematisk modell där materialet noggrant lästes upprepade gånger tills olika teman i texten gick att utläsa. Resultaten som framkom visade att det rådde skilda uppfattningar i hur artisters valde att agera på Facebook. Uppfattningarna bland intervjudeltagarna var generellt sätt positiva men på ett antal punkter skilde sig åsikterna. Främst gällde detta i hur den egna identiteten speglades på Facebook samt i hur artisters aktiviteter som till exempel statusuppdateringar uppfattades. Statusuppdateringarna gav utrymme för kritik då de i många sammanhang upplevdes som irriterande. Likaså kunde den som skrev statusuppdateringarna och det språk som då användes påverka artistens identitet och image både positivt och negativt. I resultatet påvisade intervjudeltagarna vikten av en personlig prägel på kommunikationen och identiteten som artisten visade upp på Facebook.

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to identify and describe how B2B salespeople utilize social media when prospecting for new customers based on a sequential sales process.Design/methodology/approach - The study employs an interpretive approach as it attempts to convey a phenomenon through the eyes of the participants. The data is derived from six participants collected through semi-structured interviews. The thematic analysis aids to decipher patterns in the data and display these descriptive and narratively.Findings - The study identified four themes of social media use when prospecting for new customers. Further, the study suggests that salespeople are using social media to identify and qualify the prospects and their competencies in a networking manner and consequently follow the key targets of interest in order to initiate possibilities for offering customized solutions or adapt their approach accordingly.Research limitations/implications - The findings describes prospecting on social media through identified themes and points to new techniques to obtain information regarding prospects. This study opens up for future research in order to strengthen the newly discovered themes and its underlying forces.Managerial implications - The study reveals that prospecting techniques on social media are exercised and fueled by a salesperson's own intuition. This should be considered by the management as the employees’ intuition may depart from a company’s core strategy and values.Originality/value - No studies has examined how prospecting is carried out in practice on social media. The empirical findings in this study provide a new suggestion of how social media is used by salespeople and accordingly contributes to current sales literature by adding four descriptive themes of prospecting on social media.

Detta kandidatarbete fokuserar på ideologisk polarisering som orsak till den stora mängden falsk information som har spridits den senaste tiden. Jag undersöker hur selektiv exponering och filterbubblor har bidragit till att den ideologiska polariseringen har följt med in på webben, och hur nyhetsfeed har agerat som en grogrund för detta. I ett försök till att minska den ideologiska polariseringen i nyhetsfeed skapade jag en webbapplikation i form av ett nyhetsfeed med nyhetsartiklar som med hjälp av algoritmer låter användaren se utanför sin filterbubbla för att balansera nyhetsfeedet mellan flera olika nyhetskällor. / This bachelor thesis focuses on ideological polarization as cause for the vast amount of false information that have been spread lately. I examine how selective exposure and filter bubbles have contributed to the ideological polarization that followed into the web, and how newsfeed have been acting as a breeding ground for this. In an attempt to reduce the ideological polarization in newsfeed I created a web application in the form of a newsfeed with news articles, that with the help of algorithms let the user see beyond its filter bubble to balance the newsfeed between different news sources.

People are increasingly turning to online communities for entertainment, information, and social support, among other uses and gratifications. Online communities include traditional online social networks (OSNs) such as Facebook but also specialized online health communities (OHCs) where people go specifically to seek social support for various health conditions. OHCs have obvious health ramifications but the use of OSNs can also influence people's mental health and health behaviors. The use of online communities has been widely studied but in the health context their exploration has been more limited. Not only are online communities being extensively used for health purposes, but there is also increasing concern that the use of online communities can itself affect health. Therefore, there is a need to better understand how such technologies influence people's health and health behaviors. The research in this dissertation centers on examining how online community use influences health and health behaviors. There are three studies in this dissertation. The first study develops a conceptual model to explain the process whereby the characteristics of a request from an OHC user for social support is answered by a wounded healer, who is a person leveraging their own experiences with health challenges to help others. The second study investigates how algorithmic fairness, accountability, and transparency of an OSN newsfeed algorithm influence the users' attitudes and beliefs about childhood vaccines and ultimately their vaccine hesitancy. The third study examines how OSN social overload, through OSN use, can lead to psychological distress and received social support. The research contributes theoretical and practical insights to the literature on the use of online communities in the health context. / Doctor of Philosophy / People use online communities to socialize and to seek out information and help. Online social networks (OSNs) such as Facebook are large communities on which people segregate into smaller groups to discuss joint interests. Some online communities cater to specific needs, such as online health communities (OHCs), which provide platforms for people to talk about the health challenges they or their loved ones are facing. Online communities do not intentionally seek controversy, but because they welcome all perspectives, they have contributed to phenomena such as vaccine hesitancy. Moreover, social overload from the use of OSNs can have both positive and negative psychological effects on users. This dissertation examines the intersection of online communities and health. The first study explains how the interaction of the characteristics of a request for social support made by an OHC user and the characteristics of the wounded healer drive the provision of social support. The model that is developed shows the paths through which the empathy of the wounded healer and the characteristics of the request lead to motivation to provide help to those in need on an OHC. In the second study, the role of characteristics of a newsfeed algorithm, specifically fairness, accountability, and transparency (FAT), in the development of childhood vaccine hesitancy is examined. The findings show that people's perceptions of the newsfeed algorithm's FAT increase their negative attitudes toward vaccination and their perceived behavioral control over vaccination. The third study examines how different uses of OSNs can influence the relationships between social overload and psychological distress and received social support. The findings show how OSN use can be tailored to decrease negative and increase positive psychological consequences without discontinuing use.