Exploring Sarcasm among Netizens on Instagram: A Social Media Phenomenon

Believing in opportunities in a virtual environment and having started an intensive communication in social media, companies increasingly pay more attention to the measuring of brand efficiency in social media as one of the means to build up a competitive advantage for a company and its impact on brand equity. Social media has changed the communication between brands and consumers: consumers, not brands, become the main message recipients as well as senders. Consumers gain more power to influence brand expression, contribute to its creation, dissemination, promotion and representation. A consumer can interpret messages sent by a brand in his or her own way and communicate his or her interpretation to others. It becomes difficult to assess the impact of messages on brand equity spreading among consumers as it can be affected by both positive and negative information spreading as a word-of-mouth. Traditional Internet tools for evaluation of financial and non-financial efficiency of communication in social media and primary research on brand equity can be used in evaluation of the impact of communication in social media on brand equity. Return on investment is calculated when financial efficiency of communication in social media is measured. In evaluation of non-financial (or consumer behavior) results of communication in social media it is recommended to apply quantitative and qualitative methods, which help to measure consumer generated content, the number of brand fans, their positive and negative comments, their statements, the number of subscribers, the number of video views. There are a lot of free and paid Internet ( Google News Search, Google Blogs Seach, Board Reader, Twitter Advanced Search, Social Mention, Addict-o-matic, Veidaknyge.lt and etc), which tools can be helpful in the analysis of reports. So far the efficiency of communication in social media is assessed from a short-term perspective, therefore, it remains unclear what kind of long-term return communication in social media brings. Companies should measure not only the separate efficiency indicators of communication in social media, but also their interplay and impact on brand equity. The existing measuring indicators of communication in social media efficiency and evaluation methodology are rather fragmented and do not show the impact of communication in social media on brand equity yet. Companies striving to evaluate the impact of social media on brand equity should note the following aspects: In achieving the objective results of assessment of brand communication in social media both financial (short-term perspective) and non-financial (long-term perspective) measuring of the efficiency of brand communication in social media should be performed. Companies should measure not only the separate efficiency indicators of brand communication in social media, but also their interplay and impact on brand equity. Research on primary brand equity (awareness, image, perceived quality, consumer loyalty to brand) should be done prior and after the implementation of communication campaign in order to determine the link of efficiency results of brand communication in social media and brand equity. The impact of communication in social media on brand equity should be evaluated from a short-term and a long-term perspective. Companies seeking to get comprehensive indicators for measuring the brand equity in social media have to set measurable brand equity objectives and compare the obtained results with the established objectives. The purpose of the research is to identify indicators for measuring the efficiency of communication in social media allowing to measure the impact of communication in social media on brand equity, by introducing the measurement methods of indicators. The object of the research is the efficiency of communication in social media measurement. Research is formed by a systematic and comparative analysis and summary of scientific literature. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.em.17.2.2198

New technologies penetrate into all spheres of our lives and shifts personal communication as well as traditional communication between customers and organizations; provide all the participants of communication with more possibilities. Economic crisis promotes internet-based communication and stimulates organizations to look for cheaper possibilities, i. e. to integrate social media into relations building, public relations and other activities. Recent theoretical and practical scientific studies emphasize the importance of the development of social media ideas and its integration into organizations’ communication activities, which used in appropriate way, can help to reach the appointed results: to present and to sell services or goods, to build brand value or to maintain two-way relations with target audiences, etc. Social media is changing the traditional marketing paradigm and stimulates new attitudes toward relations between organizations and consumers, where information flows bilateral, direct and effectively, may be diffused in social networks by consumers’ wishes and can help to strengthen organization positions in the market. Therefore scientists recommend organizations to appraise the value of every member of virtual communities and to communicate in correct way: adding value, helping to solve problems, educating and etc. The article concentrates on the attitude which organizations have to have for successful social media, implementation and achievement of organizational goals. Different departments of organization should be involved in more effective use of social media. Business organizations have to consider both positive and negative social media application aspects in order to avoid certain risks. The negative aspect of social media that is mostly appointed by scientists is the lack of control mechanism: message content, timing and frequency. In order to avoid the risks related with communication in social media organizations have to plan social media implementation process. The main objective of this research is to build up the structural model of communication in social media and to test the application perspectives of the model for study promotion in public higher education institutions. The result of theoretical analysis is an original model of communication in social media. The steps of the model implementation are: environment and competitors’ analysis preparation of communication strategy, selection of appropriate channels, communication process, monitoring, assessment and comparison of results. The theoretical model of communication in social media includes not only the process of communication between the organization and consumers, but also the stages of preparation and assessment that are also important in the evaluation of implementation of the overall communication strategy. A case study of Lithuanian state higher education institutions was used to reveal the possible application of the suggested model of communication in social media in the promotion of higher education studies in social media. The communication of higher education institutions in social media is important since active involvement of prospective students in communication in social media can help prospective students to choose the university where he or she would like to study. Social media presents a university as „live“, communicating and caring about current and prospective students. The study on communication in social media by promoting studies at Lithuanian higher education institutions showed that the suggested model of communication in social media of business organizations can be successfully applied to the communication of universities in social media. The popularization of higher education institutions and involvement of prospective students should originate from environment analysis and planning as well as benefit assessment that may be gained by social media.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.23.2.1550

Recently the increasing number of companies uses the social media for creation of positive image. But if the nature of social media communication and the possible risk for company’s image is not assessed appropriately, companies could lose the positive image very quickly and for a long time. Communication in social media is much more complicated than traditional communication, because consumer response and intercommunication limits the possibilities for company to control and manage the content of communication. The success of social media communication for image formation depends on the preparation to communicate in social media. Management of new technologies and communication channels, management of trust and relationship in social media requires new skills.Participation of companies in social media and integration of social media to image formation only recently have got a particular attention in academic and practical field. There is still a lack of empirical evidences. The authors of the article present the study of the company’s image formation within the context of communication in social media, which allows defining concrete requirements for effective communication in social media in developing the image of the company.The authors of the article provide the conceptual model for company’s image formation with communication in social media, reflecting the process of company‘s communication in social media. The model involves the following blocks: 1) company’s identity, 2) strategy formation of communication in social media (that defines the way how the company’s identity should be presented to target audience), 3) interaction between audience and the message content, 4) interaction within audience and 5) evaluation of company’s image. Empirical research of the image formation in social media of banks in Lithuania allowed to make some revisions in the conceptual model, adding the stage of resource allocation to the model block of communication strategy formation, and eliminating the stage of message content format selection.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.em.18.2.4651

This study is a discussion about the role that social media plays in enhancing communication among individuals, highlighting its prospects and related challenges. This research examines the impact of social media on improving communication among individuals and its prospects and challenges. This study had taken an integrated approach of secondary data analysis methodology through an extensive systematic review of the existing literature, along with the Canadian Research Data Collection (CREDC) national web-survey, to collect the attitudinal and behavioral insight of social media users on different platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn considering theoretical frameworks like Social Presence Theory and Media Richness Theory. Further, this conceptual review used PRISMA guidelines to examine how social media improves communication. Eligibility and exclusion criteria ensured peer-reviewed article selection and credibility. Study reveals that social media platforms significantly enhance interpersonal communication by fostering increased interconnectedness, more accessible information, and community formation. Notably, while these digital environments have considerable benefits, such as the facilitation of learning and support networks, they are also fraught with challenges, including misinformation, privacy concerns, and potential adverse effects on mental health. These findings therefore have dual approaches to reaping the benefits of social media in communication: the promotion of user education to reduce misinformation and building up digital literacy, while there is also a need to consider regulations that will protect against violation of privacy and cyberbullying. It is at this point that stakeholders will, arguably, have fewer difficulties in making use of social media to continue developing active citizenship and rich interpersonal relationships. Future research is encouraged to further explore the implications of emerging technologies on social media communication practices.

Social media is a powerful tool in communicating in English as a second language, its utilization affecting students in meaningful ways. The purpose of this study was to ponder issues and nuances in utilizing social media in second-language communication. Data constituted memoirs and introspections, drawn heavily from personal experiences of the author-participant in an online learning course at an open university, highlighting the use of the English language in virtual meetings with classmates, the teacher, and friends, utilizing synchronous and asynchronous modes. Dialectical tensions emanating from the narratives indicate that social media utilization offers learning facilitation in mediated communication. However, technology creates learning difficulties such as chunking sentences into small words and phrases, replacing words with acronyms, giving rise to incorrect spelling and grammar usage, which lead to faulty sentence construction. These are juxtaposed with social media’s capacity to broaden learning opportunities due to the high presence of the English language in social media networks, maximize technological capacity to auto-correct spelling errors, provide suggestions for proper phrasing and sentence construction, and broaden cross-cultural communication because of foreign language appropriation in different communication contexts. The study’s implications centered around personal and cultural nuances of second-language communication bordering on a self-driven desire to improve English communication using creative methods, while bridging cultural divides through decolonization as a democratic process, exemplifying openness and interconnectedness of foreign language in the global front.

This article considers marketing communications in social media as one of the most popular spheres of modern marketing allowing to support constant double-sided connection with consumers. Definitions of social media, their types and particularities are given. Social media users’ core motives, their influence on target audience loyalty and marketing communications effectiveness revelation are provided. The following structural components of marketing communications in social media like brand-platform, entertaining, useful and brand contents, ways of target audience attraction and process of marketing communications management in social media are described. The problems and difficulties of working with social media are revealed and considered: false choice of target audience and social media for communication, obligatory competences in social media sphere, must regularity in working with SMM, raise requirements for content in social media, balance maintenance between entertaining and informative content, possible lack of conversion of followers to consumers and brand ambassadors. Also perspectives of marketing mix creation is social media related to increase of social media popularity among all age groups with maximum reach of young generation, possibility of target audience parameters selection to convey a necessary message, favorableperception of company communication in social media in comparison to traditional media, interactivity, operative feedback receive, possibility of maximum wide and fast content spread which is kept in internet for a long period, ability to rich various marketing goals, possibility to use all types of marketing communications, availability of wide range of methods for marketing communications in social media evaluation are listed.

Social media has a growing presence as a source of communication for the nonprofit arts sector. Many organizations use social media in an attempt to communicate and develop relationships with audiences. However, there is not much research about social media or how an organization should use it as a method to improve social media communication with its audience. During a ten-week summer internship at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, I conducted social media research and develop a social media plan. The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center is an nonprofit arts organization that is devoted to the study, practice and appreciation of photography in Philadelphia. The mission is fulfilled by providing exhibits, educational programs, and affordable access to photography equipment. I worked with the staff to develop social media tactics that would improve PPAC use of social media and communication with its audience. I used this experience as a case study for this thesis to help describe social media communication and social media evaluative metrics. The goal of this thesis is to determine if social media can be used as a source of communication, if there are metrics that a nonprofit arts organization can track and if those metrics can be used to help an organization improve its communication efforts. This case study research found that social media can provide an additional source of communication for organizations and their audiences. It also found that before committing to a social media strategy, an organization conducts research regarding existing social media presence and measurable evaluative metrics that will help improve communication.

The work provides the analysis of specifics of web users’ communication. Special attention is paid to the communication in social media and, in particular, to the problem of detection of abusive content in social media users’ messages. The main distinctive features of communication in social media are defined, and also the analysis of causes that can disimprove the accuracy of automated detection of abusive content is performed. The stages of processing the natural language text data are analysed, in particular the detection of abusive content, concerning the possibility of its modification for considering the peculiarities of communication in social media and other aspects that can influence the final result of text data classification. It is defined, that peculiar features of messages and special aspects of communication in social media such as the existence of symbols and numbers that can lead to confusion in message apprehension, the existence of emoji, context (at a level of social media users’ connections) and context (at a level of social media messages) can be concerned in the process of automated detection of abusive content in social media text messages. Corresponding modifications of text pre-processing stages and the analysis of classification results are defined. Method of automated detection of abusive content in social media text messages is proposed based on the principles of machine learning with modified approach to natural language text data pre-processing. Incoming data format for efficient detection of abusive content in them is proposed.

This study aimed at exploring the weaponisation of social media communication in influencing cultural decay on youth of today in Woodlands Park Gweru. Its objectives were to highlight the social media communication sites being used as a weapon to fight against positive cultural norms on the personal and professional life of the youth of today in Woodlands Park. The fulcrum of the study was to determine the assumption that the young generation’s behavior has been negatively affected social media communication channels resulting in the decay of useful cultural practices, norms and values in Woodlands Park. The study was delimited in the Woodlands Park community only focusing on the younger generation aged 10 to 35 alone. This study was informed by three theories on social media namely modernisation theory, functionalism theory and conflict theory. The study adapted a qualitative approach informed by an interpritivism philosophy. The study focused on a sample size of 42 participants consisting of 7 senior citizens, 5 religious leadership and 30 youths to represent all the young generation in Woodlands Park. The study found out that social media has contributed significantly on acts of deviance behaviour among the majority of youth in Woodlands. The most affected being the females who are using social media for live videos streaming doing what they call “Mjolo’(sexual activities). The behaviour of the youth in woodland Park has gone beyond recovery thereby affecting the cultural norms and, values thereby defeating the Ubuntu philosophy. The study confirms that young men are much interested on using social media for dating and chatting with females exchanging some nude images and videos. The study recommends that the government needs to establish an effective system that regulate what is posted on social media. Parents are supposed to be empowered with skills to restrict their children from browsing unsafe sites while the religion fraternity has to take a lead in communicating good use of social media communication channels.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to develop an analytical comparison between the impact of social media communication (both user-generated and firm-created) and the effects of traditional media communication. In particular, the components of customer-based brand equity and any difference in the effects according to brand origin associations are investigated. The target group consisted of fans and followers of beer brands on social media.Design/methodology/approachIn all, 192 questionnaires were collected a survey link that was posted on beer brand pages that operate in the Italian market. Structural equation modeling was developed to investigate the impact of social and traditional media communication on brand equity and a multi-group analysis to examine the differences according to the brand names’ origin associations.FindingsResults show that fans and followers cannot be considered as a collective unit. Additionally, consumers make a clear distinction between firm-created/user-generated social media and traditional media communication. Specifically, they distinguish how the effects of the two media outlets differ in relation to the brand origin associations. International brands should concentrate on both firm-created and user-generated communication, whereas national (Italian) brands should foster their firm-created communications. In both cases, however, traditional media communication loses its effectiveness on the brand equity components.Originality/valueContrary to existing literature, this project compares the effect of 2.0 and traditional media on various social media platforms, pointing out two different models according to the brands’ origin associations. This study develops interesting insights both for international companies with huge brand portfolios and for national firms in a complex market like those for beer.

This paper intends to examine the role of CSR communication on social media in building consumer company identification (C–C identification) and electronic word of mouth (EWOM) in Indian banking context. Specifically, this study addresses the following three research questions: First, how does consumer perceived CSR orientation of Indian public sector banks in social media (CPBCSRSM) help in spreading positive EWOM and building consumer C–C identification? Second, what are the mediating effects of C–C identification between CPBCSRSM and EWOM? Third, how does user-generated content (UGC) moderate the influence of CPBCSRSM on EWOM? The author analyzed the data obtained from 648 banks’ consumers who evaluated consumers’ perceived CSR initiatives of those Indian public sector banks which have presence on social media, by using CFA and SEM techniques through SPSS and AMOS. The findings indicate that CPBCSRSM and C–C identification have direct effects on EWOM. The findings also indicate the mediating role of C–C identification and moderating role of UGC between CPBCSRSM and EWOM. Our study significantly contributes to marketing and CSR literature, by adding to limited knowledge on banks’ CSR orientation and its communication in social media. The study enriches the extant literature by filling gaps such as improving the generalizability of the findings, providing an integrated framework and using multiple social media platforms in an emerging economy. Our findings will provide a significant forward step to banking professionals regarding the factors influencing EWOM and the role of CSR communication in social media. This study highlights to the policymakers of Indian public sector banks that they need to focus on CSR communication in social media for better consumer engagement, C–C identification, encouraging a favorable UGC and EWOM.

The way social media in aesthetics communication changes the traditional model of marketing revolutionarily. This type of communication generally uses many delicately designed images online to activate consumers’ interests and improve the appeal of products. The success of the novel type of online communication motivates my study. Besides exploring the Kansei factors which affect social media in aesthetics communication, the marketing of net aesthetics is novel and worth exploring additionally. In addition, different culture causes different results of aesthetics communication in social media and needs to be explored. This study aims to explore the successful cases of product marketing through net aesthetics communication on the basis of Kansei Engineering. In the aspect of methodology, the study uses EGM (Evaluation Grid Method) to determine the appeal elements and characteristics of social medial in aesthetics communication. In addition, the study uses Quantification Theory Type I to measures the weights of individual appeal factors and characteristics. Hence, experts’ points of views are obtained through in-depth interviews and consumers’ opinions from different culture are collected through questionnaire survey so all of their preferences to aesthetics communication in social media can be disclosed. This study will determine that the semantic structure of appeal from different culture shows the hierarchy of the relationship among appeal factors, the reasons for users’ preferences, and the specific characteristics of net aesthetics of products. In addition, appeal factors will be affected in varying degrees by particular reasons and characteristics. Then, in the aspects of marketing strategies for media in aesthetics communication, the study drafts the strategies of communication and the winning principles for social media in aesthetics communication on the basis of the literature and results of this study. Then, the study can provide important information for researchers who are interested in net aesthetics communication and marketing, and also contribute to the field of integrating media and product design.

Purpose of the article: The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact of consumer-brand communication in social media on brand equity, providing conceptual model. Methodology/methods: The model was prepared using methods of comparative and systematic analysis of scientific literature. Scientific aim: The scientific aim of the article to propose the perspective of social media communication impact on brand equity conceptualization. The key factors of consumer engagement in company (brand) communication process and amount of consumers created content (non-sponsored content, i.e. content created in interaction with company or brand, and sponsored content, i.e. content created in interaction with company (brand)) was under consideration. Findings: Our findings attempt to provide a comprehensive understanding of company (brand) communication in social media seeking after a positive impact on brand equity dimensions. Theoretical analysis disclosed that it is not enough just to post message in a proper social media channel, it is essential to post appropriate content of the message and to post it in appropriate way in persuasion to engage consumers into communication. The consumer-generated content created in interaction with company and without interaction with company in social media is making impact on brand equity. Conclusions: The study extends the literature by examining communication in social media from company to consumer perspectives in order to disclose changes in marketing communication as source of brand equity in virtual context and to present key factors influencing brand equity in company (brand) communication process. Therefore brand management perspective requires understanding of consumers’ role in social media.

Abstract. Humans as social beings, certainly put through the process of communication in everyday life. The communication process can be done by using the existing role of the media. The development of technology, the development of the media has become increasingly sophisticated. One of them is the existence of social media. Currently, the communication process becomes easier, so we also know mediated communication, which in this study is through social media. In using social media, of course, can not arbitrarily, but there is a communication ethics that need to be considered. Ethics of communication in social media is what will be studied by researchers. In this digital era, social media development had already entered into the lives of women in rural areas, one of which is the PKK in the village Mekarmukti, Kab. West Bandung. As for the focus of this study are: (1) determine the ethics of communication in social media for the PKK in the village Mekarmukti, Kab.Bandung West; (2) determine the type of social media used by the PKK in the village Mekarmukti, Kab.Bandung West. This study used a qualitative approach with descriptive methods. Researchers used data collection techniques include: observation, interview and documentation study. The results of this study indicate that: (1) the ethics of communication in social media for the PKK include communication ethics in the context of time, the contents of the message, and the communicant; (2) the type of social media used is facebook, BBM, and WhatApp.

Understanding the market in which companies operate is important for all business activities. Social media facilitate the customers to comment, create and share their opinions across online networks and exchange information, in addition to the ease of direct access to the companies, marketers, and brands. In marketing, social media plays an important role in achieving the company’s business goals and reputation besides it’s an integral part of our daily life. Social media make it easier for companies and businesses to contact their customers and know more about customers’ needs. Therefore, social media make it easier to attract new customers. In this context, electronic word of mouth or online customer reviews are the favorable or unfavorable statements made by customers regarding product or services quality, price or other variables, made for other people. If customers decide to buy intangible services or products, they rely on online opinions and experienced customers. The people not only share their experiences and information, but they also exchange ideas, attitudes, and suggestions. So, the online community motivates other people to experience traveling after listening to other people’s stories and experiences. Online review communication in social media and customer opinion platforms is a vital e-marketing phenomenon. In this paper, first, we explain the importance of electronic word of mouth for a company’s marketing strategy. Second, we reflect on the motivation of the customers to create online content as regards a product, a service, or a company, presenting some factors that affect the individual intention to offer an online review.