本研究分析消費者如何在不同的社群網路間作出選擇，當用戶使用社群網站的同時，產生與朋友互相連結、分享資訊、聯絡感情等正面網路外部性，且此外部性隨著社群網站的功能越強大、隱私設定越開放而大幅增加，使用戶使用越開放的平台產生的效用越高。 但此現象同時帶給使用者相對程度的威脅：越開放的平台越無法對隱私權進行有效控制，換言之，越開放的平台越 「不願意」 對隱私權進行規範。隨著新興社群網站漸趨開放，用戶一方面享受朋友高度連結產生的正面效用，另一方面承受失去個人隱私權帶來的負面效用。且當重大侵犯隱私權事件發生，此正面外部性將如同雙面刃般轉化為傷害用戶的利器，其高度的好友連結度反而用戶間無一倖免產生強烈的效用損失。 傳統社群網路不必然會被開放性的新興社群網路所取代，因此本論文分析了純粹社群均衡、雙重均衡與社群優勢均衡的情形等多種社群網路均衡型態。 / This thesis analyzes social network asoption by consumers. The linkage with friends is nodeled as positive network effect. That is , the higher the amount of friends a user connects on a social network site, the higher the extra benefits she derives other than the direct ututility via usage. On the other hand, as new social network sites demonstrate: openness inproves connecting potential but gives way to privacy cncern.A privacy breaching event will rattle the socialty connected group to a drastic degree. Throung the interaction of both the positive and the negative network effects, we find that many types of social network equilibrium can be sustained.

La présente thèse s’inscrit dans le domaine de l’Apprentissage des Langues Assisté par Ordinateur (ALAO) et plus particulièrement dans la branche Communication médiatisée par ordinateur (CMO) de ce domaine. Cette étude, descriptive à visée compréhensive, interroge les échanges naturels des apprenants libyens pratiquant le français dans un Groupe Facebook. La situation que nous étudions est une situation informelle puisque le Groupe a été créé par les participants eux-mêmes sans aucune intervention de la part des enseignants. En effet, la CMO pédagogique a déjà été bien étudiée dans des contextes formels mais encore très peu abordée dans des contextes informels. Nos données se composent d’un corpus d’échanges en lignequi s’étalent sur cinq mois contenant 947 messages et 3408 commentaires ainsi que de 11 entretiens semi-directifs réalisés avec certains des participants du Groupe observé. La recherche repose sur une analyse écologique visant à étudier les échanges dans un environnement élargi où plusieurs facteurs interagissent (langagier, social, culturel, politique). Ainsi, pour examiner ce qui se passe dans cet espace informel destiné à la pratique du français, nous avons d’abord décrit, de manière très générale les pratiques discursives des apprenants afin d’avoir une idée globale sur leurs activités. Se sont posées au passage les questions des langues utilisées, des fonctions du langage que mettent en oeuvre les messages, de la manière dont les messages et commentaires se répondent (ou ne se répondent pas) les uns aux autres et enfin des caractéristiques sémiolinguistiques des échanges. Nous nous sommes ensuite intéressée à la question suivante : dans quelle mesure ces pratiques contribuent-elles à l’établissement des liens sociaux et une communauté virtuelle en émerge-t-elle ? De même nous nous sommes demandée de quel type de communauté il s’agit. Enfin, nous nous sommes penchée sur les perceptions des participants vis-à-vis de Facebook en général et du Groupe en particulier. / This study focuses on French as a Foreign Language (FFL) and Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). It investigates the natural exchanges of Libyan learners practicing French in a Facebook group. The situation that we are exploring is informal because the group was created by the participants themselves without any intervention neither from teachers nor from ourselves. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) has already been well studied in formal contexts but very little in informal contexts, which is why we think a descriptive study aimed at gaining an understanding of particular experience is suitable. Our data is on-line exchanges corpora covering five months with 947 posts and 3408 comments, as well as 11 interviews conducted with some of the participants in the observed group. The research is based on an ecological analysis to study exchanges in a wider environment where several factors interact (linguistic, social, cultural, political factors). In order to examine what happens in this informal space dedicated to the practice of French, we first provideda broad description of learners’ discursive practices in order to get a general sense of their activities. The languages used, the functions of the language used by the messages, the way in which the messages and comments respond (or do not respond) to each other and finally the semio-linguistic characteristics of the exchanges were examined. We then explored how these practices contribute to the establishment of social ties, whether a virtual community emerges and what kind of community it is. Finally, we looked at the value that participants attach to their exchanges and experience as members of this group.

Social Network Site (SNS) users’ disclosed personal information is beneficial for marketers, as targeted advertising can be provided accordingly. This study identifies the three privacy concepts of concerns, attitudes and intentions, along with culture (i.e. Hofstede’s masculinity) to be key drivers of users’ self-disclosure on SNSs. Hence, this study evaluates these antecedents and their potential effect on self-disclosure, considering Facebook as the SNS of choice. To account for potential cross-cultural differences, data has been gathered via two online questionnaires, resulting in one German and one Norwegian sample of respondents. Multiple regression analyses were carried to evaluate the antecedents of self-disclosure and one-way ANOVA to examine potential differences amongst Germans and Norwegians. Results indicate that privacy intention is the strongest predictor of self-disclosure on SNSs; whereas privacy concerns and attitudes only reveal an indirect effect on self-disclosure. In addition, significant differences have been found for all of the constructs, indicating that there exist fundamental differences between Germans and Norwegians with regards to their cognitive processing behind personal information disclosure on SNSs.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-09-05T20:31:13Z No. of bitstreams: 1 patriciagoncalvesdaconceicaorossini.pdf: 1778528 bytes, checksum: 023dd2c1a7348f3d7c8bf5c04b8de944 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-09-06T14:48:47Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 patriciagoncalvesdaconceicaorossini.pdf: 1778528 bytes, checksum: 023dd2c1a7348f3d7c8bf5c04b8de944 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-09-06T14:48:54Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 patriciagoncalvesdaconceicaorossini.pdf: 1778528 bytes, checksum: 023dd2c1a7348f3d7c8bf5c04b8de944 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-06T14:48:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 patriciagoncalvesdaconceicaorossini.pdf: 1778528 bytes, checksum: 023dd2c1a7348f3d7c8bf5c04b8de944 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-05 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta dissertação investiga de que forma as relações sociais mediadas pelo Facebook podem influenciar a decisão eleitoral de seus usuários, a partir do estudo do caso específico das eleições 2012 em Juiz de Fora. Apresentamos uma abordagem das redes sociais sob a ótica das tecnologias cognitivas, que sugere que tais ferramentas podem ser descritas como nichos cognitivos dotados de artefatos cujo acoplamento provê o cidadão de competências sociais inéditas ou ampliadas. Considerando-se que as relações sociais e o acesso à informação são variáveis que influenciam a decisão do voto, o objetivo é compreender de que maneira a exposição à informação e a interação nesses ambientes podem afetar a escolha eleitoral dos cidadãos juizforanos. A pesquisa permite concluir que o uso de redes sociais digitais afeta substancialmente a maneira como os cidadãos acessam e são expostos à informação política por meio de seus laços sociais, motivo pelo qual acreditamos que o acoplamento cotidiano dessas ferramentas cognitivas – seja para fins de busca de informação política ou não - poderá influenciar processos de tomada de decisão eleitoral. / This thesis seeks to understand how relationships mediated by Facebook can influence the electoral decision-making processes of its users, based on a case study of the 2012’ elections in Juiz de Fora. We present an approach of social network sites as cognitive niches, which implies that they are structured spaces filled with artifacts that provide the citizen with amplified social habilities. Given that social networks and information are influential variables for political decision making, our goal is to understand in which ways the exposure to information and interaction in these digital environments can affect the electoral preference formation of the citizens from Juiz de Fora. This research leads to the conclusion that the use of social network sites dramatically affects the way citizens access and are exposed to political information through their social ties. We conclude that the habit of coupling these tools for everyday cognitive processes – related or not to political information gathering - may influence political decision making.

An increased use of social media has enabled a new arena for HR functions and the work with HR issues. Proponents are critical of this, as it can lead to ethical and legal dilemmas. So far the research on this area is limited. On this basis I found it interesting to study how social media is used in connection with the recruitment process. Those who will benefit from this study are primarily those dealing with recruitment, but also others working with HR issues. Therefore an empirical study was conducted among different organizations in Sweden, with the help of a web survey. The purpose of the survey was to map the use of social media in recruitment process and investigate any directives/guidelines, and to find out what knowledge in the field that is available out there among the organizations. A survey was distributed to 250 HR functions around Sweden, I received 57 responses. The results showed that a large portion of respondents used social media as a tool in the recruitment process. However, the results showed that many HR functions lacks directives and guidelines for the use and that many respondents also felt that they lacked knowledge in the field, both theoretical and practical knowledge. Among the respondents in which social media was not used, it turned out be a hesitancy and uncertainty to these kind of media. The reliability and what social media could really contribute was questioned. Finally, with the help of the previous research and the empirical study two perspectives could be distinguished, one which suggests that there are many advantages of takingthe plunge and try to take advantage of social media in HR work. While others argue tha tHR managers should take a critical approach in working with social media, questioning the reliability and validity of these media and making decisions based on the information available online, and in conclusion proactively address ethical and legal dilemmas that can arise in the use of social media in the recruiting process.

The news are consumed with rising frequency through the social network sites. This activity is going to be grasped with the use of two concepts: opinion leadership and framing because in the social network sites environment the active and influential users (opinion leaders) are attempting to pass certain viewpoints (frames) to other users. It is going to be evaluated to what extent can such framing be effective. An experiment was therefore conducted - it presents the subjects with an artificial news article and a Facebook "introductory" post. The experiment also lays emphasis on moderators that influence the effectiveness of passing the frames. For a realistic setting of the entire study, determining the opinion leaders and an analysis of their language means is going to be conducted. The goal of this study is thus grasping the way in which people are being informed about the public issues and the way they are forming opinions about them in the environment of social network sites. Keywords: opinion leadership, framing, Facebook, social network sites, source cues, credibility, belief importance change

This research study investigates if and how international students in Stockholm, Sweden use Facebook as a tool to make friends and integrate themselves within their new society. To gather information and data for the first part in 2011 a qualitative- and a quantitative approach was used. An online survey was applied to gather numerical data and in-depth interviews were conducted for the qualitative insights. Ten years later, in 2021, follow-up interviews were done with the interviewee subjects of the qualitative data gathering. This to contextualize the findings from 2011, as well as put in perspective with scholarly insights about Facebook and international students presented between the years 2011 and 2021. During the first part of the study, in 2011, Facebook had been available outside the United States for five years and not a significant amount of research had been conducted on the subject. Findings indicated that international students in Stockholm used Facebook to a wider extent when having arrived in a new country. Additional findings showcased that Facebook usage increased in terms of using the site to retrieve information about events and activities. Findings from both 2011 and 2021 showcased that Facebook and other social media applications are mainly used as means to maintain existing relationships, not to search for new friends. Findings also indicated that messenger services have obtained user patterns that originally existed on traditional social networks, such as Facebook. More research must be done on the topic to state whether these findings hold any statistical truthfulness. Suggested topics for further research are included in the conclusions and discussion section of this paper.

Losing a close relative or friend is a traumatic event for anyone, especially for children and adolescents. This article investigates the motives and patterns of children’s and adolescents’ interpersonal online communication on bereavement platforms. A qualitative content analysis of two different youth bereavement platforms (n = 21 threads; 319 postings) illuminates how one common feature is the verbalization and illustration of missing support in the offline world. The substantial usage of social network platforms can be considered an extension of children’s and adolescents’ personal social environment. Furthermore, topics on bereavement platforms ultimately go beyond grief, as children and adolescents also include emotions such as hope, gratitude and cohesiveness. Communication within online bereavement communities thus enables a process known from offline communication as transformation from a lossoriented to restoration-oriented coping (Stroebe and Schut 2010, p. 277).

This thesis applies methodological and micro-sociological insights derived from the pioneering social psychologist Georg Simmel (1858-1918) to the contemporary social media platform, Facebook. In opposition to previously-reported one-sided, polarized analyses (i.e. either/or, pessimistic or optimistic), this study suggests a more nuanced judgment: interaction viewed as social exchange reveals that individuality is often promoted though can occasionally be hindered; while most exchanges are ill-suited for sustaining interpersonal value, they ironically facilitate enhanced trust; and finally, the unique structure of site-based exchange generally facilitates rather than undercuts constructive conflict.

Social network sites (SNSs) have become ubiquitous around the globe and interwoven with all aspects of life. In this article, I will argue that the communicative infrastructure of SNSs, i.e., all SNS-elements that allow users to communicate, is a key element for understanding their impact as it creates environments in which users, their behaviors, and social interactions are embedded. These digital environments facilitate and encourage fundamental mechanisms of implicit learning from feedback as well as observation in an unprecedented way. I will discuss how these technologybased learning environments impact the mental health of their users, e.g., by linking negative online feedback to depression and following influencers to disturbed eating. The article ends with a conclusion that emphasizes the advantages of understanding SNSs as environments in order to reflect the complexity, relevance, and ubiquitousness of the phenomenon.