Social networking sites and virtual spaces have flourished in the past few years. The author explores the impact of such social networking services on the local community at a small liberal arts college. The author investigates modern trends in community theory. Defining community has become more difficult in modern society, where community is no longer easily distinguished by geographical boundaries. From the background of modern community theory the author explores the designation of virtual spaces as “virtual communities.” Literature and research about virtual spaces indicates that they can provide many of the values thought be to inherent to community membership. The strong localized community on campus makes students hesitant in calling Facebook a “virtual community,” despite its strong integration with the face-to-face community itself. Facebook is seen as simply a tool. This thesis incorporates research on one specific case study: through mathematical and ethnographic research of Facebook.com, the author evaluates the opinions of students in considering virtual spaces as communities.

I studien studeras hur komplexiteten kring sociala medier kan studeras, samt på vilket sätt sociala nätverk är relaterade till nätverken i sociala medier och hur det påverkar konsumenterna.  Syftet med studien är att undersöka de sociala medierna i förhållande till de sociala nätverken med fokus på konsumentbeteende och därigenom skapa en generell modell som förklarar problematiken.  Studien bygger på en litteraturstudie som i första hand sammanställts av artiklar med fokus på ämnesområdena sociala nätverk, elektroniska sociala nätverk och sociala medier. En enkätundersökning gjordes för att sammanställa konsumenters åsikter om ämnesområdena, i syfte att tillslut utmynna i en analys och diskussion.  Det går att konstatera att sociala medier har vidgat det sociala nätverket för den enskilde konsumenten. Detta resulterar i att den enskilde konsumenten nu kan komma i kontakt med fler aktörer och andra konsumenter som i många fall kan vara okända. Trots att de är okända tenderar konsumenter att lita på den information som erhålls i den utsträckningen att det kan påverka köpbeslutet. / The study examines the complexity of how social media can be studied, and in what way the social networks relate to networks in social media and how it affects the consumers. The purpose with the study is to examine the relation between social media and social networks, with a focus on consumer behavior and thereby create a general model that explains the problem.  The study is based on a literature review that is primarily compiled by articles with focus on issues surrounding social networks, electronic social networks and social media. A survey was done to compile consumers' opinions about the area for the topics, in order to eventually culminate in an analysis and discussion.  It is possible to conclude that social media has expanded the social network for the individual consumer. The result is that individual consumers now can get in touch with more influencing factors and other customers that in many cases may be unknown. Even though they are unknown, consumers tend to rely on the information obtained to the extent that it can affect the purchase decision.

The key objective of Part I is to synthesize 23 years of innovation research findings from economic, strategy, and marketing literatures and extend the current theoretical knowledge base in these domains through meta-analysis. In general, empirical evidence of the nature of the relationship between innovation and its antecedents and consequences is provided, while at the same time providing answers to conflicting conclusions within this field. The conclusions reached provide a more comprehensive understanding of the drivers of innovation as well as the implications associated with the phenomena. In addition, this study seeks to aid in building a strong theoretical foundation relating to the nature of the relationship of innovation with key antecedents and outcomes. It is demonstrated that innovation serves as a partial mediator of the relationships between organizational and environmental antecedents and firm performance. Part II builds upon the innovation foundations set forth in Part I and extends the focus to consider how innovations are commercialized outside traditional organizational boundaries. Drawing upon the Resource-based view of the firm, the impact of two dynamic capabilities (network ties and absorptive capacity) on marketing strategy formulation effectiveness is explored. Utilizing a unique sample of university pre-startup teams, this research is able to track these teams over time (longitudinal research design) and provide an empirical examination of the role of dynamic capabilities in the effective formulation of marketing strategies. There has been very little empirical research on the formation of strategies at the team level and furthermore, even less research examining marketing strategy making for technologies that were developed outside traditional organizational boundaries and without a predefined market application. Overall, this research will not only contribute significantly to the current innovation and marketing strategy literature, but will also open up new avenues of research in marketing entrepreneurship.

This thesis concerns Social Network Analysis as a mechanism for exploring Community Dynamics. To be able to use the Social Network methodologies, relationships existing between the modeling entities are required. In this thesis, we use two different kinds of relationships: e-mails exchanged and co-authorship of papers. The e-mails exchanged, as an indicator of information exchange in an organization, is used to facilitate the emergence of structure within the organization. In this thesis we demonstrate the effectiveness of using e-mail communication patterns for crisis detection in a hierarchically set organization. We compare the performance of a Social Network based Classifier with some of the traditional classifiers from the data mining framework for inferring this hierarchy. A generic framework for studying dynamic group transformations is presented and the co-authorship of papers, as an indicator of collaboration in an academic institution, is used to study the community behavioral patterns evolving over time. Enron e-mail corpus and the IISc Co-authorship Dataset are utilized for illustrative purposes.

Die vorliegende Arbeit analysiert die Möglichkeiten einer Daten- und Kontaktaggregation im Umfeld Sozialer Netzwerke. Zunächst wird eine Kategorisierung der wichtigsten Netzwerke und Frameworks vorgenommen. Die Funktionalitäten von acht Sozialen Netzwerken und fünf Frameworks werden anhand einer zuvor entwickelten Evaluierungsmatrix detailliert untersucht. Dabei stehen insbesondere die Funktionalitäten der APIs im Vordergrund. Aufbauend auf den Ergebnissen der Analyse wird ein Prototyp für eine Daten- und Kontaktaggregation konzipiert, implementiert und evaluiert. Abschließend werden Empfehlungen zu den verwendeten Technologien und für die Konzipierungen von zukünftigen Daten- und Kontaktaggregationen im Umfeld Sozialer Netzwerke gegeben. / This thesis analyses the potential of a data- and contactaggreation in the context of social networks. It provides an overview and categorization of the most important networks and frameworks. The functions of eight social networks and five frameworks are analyzed on the basis of a previously developed matrix of evaluation. Special attention is paid to the features of the APIs. Using the results from the evaluation a prototype is planned, coded and evaluated. Finally, regards for future aggregations between social networks are elaborated.

With this study I aim to understand the role of social networks of migration as very special catalysts of change in the countries of origin of important labor migration streams, particularly in the case of the emergent and second most important system of migration in which Latin Americans participate, i.e. the South European Migration System. I pursue this aim through the means of examining the characteristics and mechanisms of operation of ego – centered social networks of migration that are active within the migration streams from Argentina and Peru to Italy and Spain, therefore: (1) I examine the two different institutional contexts that contribute to the shape of the mentioned social networks of migration in Argentina and Peru; (2) I study the structure of these networks (which comprises characteristics such as size, density, and degree of heterogeneity); their resources and mechanisms of operation ; and (3) I discuss the main possible causal influences that these social networks of migration exert in the countries of origin of the emigration streams I study, namely Argentina and Peru, considering the very specific characteristics these social networks have in each one of the country cases. In order to discuss these causal influences, I examine their impact on children residing in Argentina and Peru who are members of migrant sending households, and I specifically analyze impacts on their living arrangements. I use quantitative and qualitative data on the emigration streams from Argentina and Peru to Italy and Spain which I collected during 2006, 2007 and 2008 , in Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Lima (Peru). Quantitative data was collected using a small household survey targeting relatives of migrants to Spain and Italy, in both cities (Argentina – Italy: n=75, Argentina – Spain: n= 245, Peru – Italy: n= 206, and Peru – Spain: n=398). Qualitative data included expert interviews (n=5 for Peru and n=7 for Argentina); and different types of semi-structured in- depth interviews targeting relatives of migrants to Spain and Italy in different household positions, including children 12 -18 years old (n=11 for Peru, and n=11 for Argentina). / text

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-90). / 114 leaves, bound 29 cm

Social networking sites and virtual spaces have flourished in the past few years. The author explores the impact of such social networking services on the local community at a small liberal arts college. The author investigates modern trends in community theory. Defining community has become more difficult in modern society, where community is no longer easily distinguished by geographical boundaries. From the background of modern community theory the author explores the designation of virtual spaces as “virtual communities.” Literature and research about virtual spaces indicates that they can provide many of the values thought be to inherent to community membership. The strong localized community on campus makes students hesitant in calling Facebook a “virtual community,” despite its strong integration with the face-to-face community itself. Facebook is seen as simply a tool. This thesis incorporates research on one specific case study: through mathematical and ethnographic research of Facebook.com, the author evaluates the opinions of students in considering virtual spaces as communities.

Submitted by Noeme Timbo (noeme.timbo@metodista.br) on 2017-06-30T15:31:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Viviani Garcia.pdf: 1585821 bytes, checksum: 11d243a99cd6678be344644a7d2864a7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-30T15:31:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Viviani Garcia.pdf: 1585821 bytes, checksum: 11d243a99cd6678be344644a7d2864a7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-13 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the main elements that facilitate the formation of the informal social information network within a university and which characteristics of its members are considered to be the most potential disseminators in the informal structure. Faced with the management challenges that are increasingly present in the administration of educational institutions, in order to understand their resources and use them more effectively, it is possible to understand the social dynamics of their employees using the Network Analysis method Social Security (ARS). Personal and professional characteristics attract connections in the network and what influence of the relationship in other external institutions on the relationships within the organization researched. For this purpose, a study of perception of information sharing was applied in 28 teachers of distance learning of a private higher education institution located in the state of São Paulo in order to understand the information-seeking relations and the reasons why the most influential actors are sought. The research was initiated with a questionnaire asking each respondent to point out their co-workers who are most in demand and the reasons that directed them to those determined actors. With this material, it was possible to analyze if the most cited had a relation of "strong ties" with their colleagues mentioned and characteristics of the profile of the most requested professionals. The results showed a medium density network with potential for expansion of relations. The most mentioned item was the search for information through friendship relations, followed by work necessity. More than 65% of the actors do not have external contact with their work colleagues, limiting their interactions only in the professional environment. Interaction bonds were strengthened in the study group, since the measurement of reciprocity of the contacts was over 31% of the total of the relationships, as the respondents state that they have frequent, long term and near intimate contacts. / Este estudo pretende contribuir para a compreensão dos principais elementos que facilitam a formação da rede social informal de informação dentro de uma universidade e quais as características de seus membros que são considerados os disseminadores de maior potencial na estrutura informal. Diante dos desafios de gestão cada vez mais presentes na administração de instituições de ensino, com o objetivo de compreender seus recursos e utilizá-los de maneira mais eficaz, surge a possibilidade de compreender a dinâmica social de seus colaboradores utilizando o método de Análise de Redes Sociais (ARS). Compreendendo quais características pessoais e profissionais atraem conexões na rede e qual a influência do relacionamento em outras instituições externas sobre as relações dentro da organização pesquisada. Com este intuito, foi aplicado um estudo de percepção de compartilhamento de informações em 28 professores do ensino a distância de uma instituição de ensino superior privada, localizada no ABC paulista, para compreender as relações de busca de informações e quais os motivos pelos quais os atores mais influentes são procurados. A pesquisa foi iniciada com um questionário solicitando para cada respondente apontar seus colegas de trabalho que são mais procurados e quais os motivos que os direcionavam para aqueles determinados atores. Com este material, foi possível analisar se os mais citados tinham uma relação de “laços fortes” com seus colegas citados e características do perfil dos profissionais mais requisitados. Os resultados mostraram uma rede com média densidade, com potencial de expansão de relações. O item mais mencionado foi a busca por informações por relações de amizade, seguida por necessidade do trabalho. Mais de 65% dos atores não possuem contato externo com seus colegas de trabalho, limitando suas interações apenas no ambiente profissional. Os laços de interação se demonstraram fortalecidos no grupo estudado, pois a mensuração da reciprocidade dos contatos foi acima de 31% do total das relações, assim como os respondentes declaram ter contatos frequentes, de longo prazo e com grau próximo de intimidade.