Social media have altered various aspects of society, including identity management, collective action, and civic engagement. One of the more recent social media to enter the scene is Snapchat, an application that allows users to create snaps (photos or short videos) to share with others. Snapchat has several features that make it unique, yet this research focuses on the Snapchat Map and Snapchat Live Stories feature of the application. These features allow members of a physical offline community to share snaps to the map, generating a content that anyone in the world can view. This research explores this feature of Snapchat, bringing into question the community building potential and identity management strategies of the platform, particularly in instances of civic engagement. This mixed-methods research utilized qualitative textual and visual analyses of Snapchat Live Stories, as well as quantitative content analysis of the data. Additionally, a survey was distributed it 495 active Snapchat users to learn about their experiences with the app. Findings show that Snapchat has the affordances necessary to create a sense of community among individuals, but it seems that most users are not interacting with these application features, bringing into question the usability of the applications. Findings also suggest that the affordances of Snapchat do not easily permit collective action among members of a community or increase perceived political self-efficacy. The application can provide a more wholistic view of a community, giving insider-perspective through camera angles that allow the viewer to feel as if they are present. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2018. / December 13, 2018. / Civic Engagment, Collective Action, Collective Identity, Snapchat, Social Media / Includes bibliographical references. / Ulla Sypher, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Summer Harlow, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Vanessa Dennen, University Representative; Felecia Jordan-Jackson, Committee Member; Stephen McDowell, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_709818 |
| Contributors | Rowlett, Jerrica Ty (author), Sypher, Ulla (Professor Co-Directing Dissertation), Harlow, Summer (Professor Co-Directing Dissertation), Dennen, Vanessa P. (University Representative), Jordan-Jackson, Felecia (Committee Member), McDowell, Stephen D. (Committee Member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Communication and Information (degree granting college), School of Communication (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, doctoral thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (139 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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