Challenges Of Social Media Research Articles

Combating the challenges of social media hate speech in a polarized society

PurposeHate speech in recent times has become a troubling development. It has different meanings to different people in different cultures. The anonymity and ubiquity of the social media provides a breeding ground for hate speech and makes combating it seems like a lost battle. However, what may constitute a hate speech in a cultural or religious neutral society may not be perceived as such in a polarized multi-cultural and multi-religious society like Nigeria. Defining hate speech, therefore, may be contextual. Hate speech in Nigeria may be perceived along ethnic, religious and political boundaries. The purpose of this paper is to check for the presence of hate speech in social media platforms like Twitter, and to what degree is hate speech permissible, if available? It also intends to find out what monitoring mechanisms the social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have put in place to combat hate speech. Lexalytics is a term coined by the authors from the words lexical analytics for the purpose of opinion mining unstructured texts like tweets.Design/methodology/approachThis research developed a Python software called polarized opinions sentiment analyzer (POSA), adopting an ego social network analytics technique in which an individual’s behavior is mined and described. POSA uses a customized Python N-Gram dictionary of local context-based terms that may be considered as hate terms. It then applied the Twitter API to stream tweets from popular and trending Nigerian Twitter handles in politics, ethnicity, religion, social activism, racism, etc., and filtered the tweets against the custom dictionary using unsupervised classification of the texts as either positive or negative sentiments. The outcome is visualized using tables, pie charts and word clouds. A similar implementation was also carried out using R-Studio codes and both results are compared and a t-test was applied to determine if there was a significant difference in the results. The research methodology can be classified as both qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative in terms of data classification, and quantitative in terms of being able to identify the results as either negative or positive from the computation of text to vector.FindingsThe findings from two sets of experiments on POSA and R are as follows: in the first experiment, the POSA software found that the Twitter handles analyzed contained between 33 and 55 percent hate contents, while the R results show hate contents ranging from 38 to 62 percent. Performing a t-test on both positive and negative scores for both POSA and R-studio, results reveal p-values of 0.389 and 0.289, respectively, on an α value of 0.05, implying that there is no significant difference in the results from POSA and R. During the second experiment performed on 11 local handles with 1,207 tweets, the authors deduce as follows: that the percentage of hate contents classified by POSA is 40 percent, while the percentage of hate contents classified by R is 51 percent. That the accuracy of hate speech classification predicted by POSA is 87 percent, while free speech is 86 percent. And the accuracy of hate speech classification predicted by R is 65 percent, while free speech is 74 percent. This study reveals that neither Twitter nor Facebook has an automated monitoring system for hate speech, and no benchmark is set to decide the level of hate contents allowed in a text. The monitoring is rather done by humans whose assessment is usually subjective and sometimes inconsistent.Research limitations/implicationsThis study establishes the fact that hate speech is on the increase on social media. It also shows that hate mongers can actually be pinned down, with the contents of their messages. The POSA system can be used as a plug-in by Twitter to detect and stop hate speech on its platform. The study was limited to public Twitter handles only. N-grams are effective features for word-sense disambiguation, but when using N-grams, the feature vector could take on enormous proportions and in turn increasing sparsity of the feature vectors.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study show that if urgent measures are not taken to combat hate speech there could be dare consequences, especially in highly polarized societies that are always heated up along religious and ethnic sentiments. On daily basis tempers are flaring in the social media over comments made by participants. This study has also demonstrated that it is possible to implement a technology that can track and terminate hate speech in a micro-blog like Twitter. This can also be extended to other social media platforms.Social implicationsThis study will help to promote a more positive society, ensuring the social media is positively utilized to the benefit of mankind.Originality/valueThe findings can be used by social media companies to monitor user behaviors, and pin hate crimes to specific persons. Governments and law enforcement bodies can also use the POSA application to track down hate peddlers.

Fenomena Dakwah Online dan Offline Ustadz Abdus Somad di Pondok Pesantren Al-Amien Prenduan Sumenep Madura

This research was conducted to find out how the phenomenon of online propaganda that occurred among pesantren and the Madurese community, welcomed the arrival of Ustadz Abdus Somad, in facing the challenges of social media today. By using a qualitative research approach. The results of this study indicate that the views of the santri community and alumni of Al-Amien Prenduan Islamic boarding school on the phenomenon of online propaganda are three, namely: challenge from offline media, challenges from online media, internet as media propaganda. (a) The challenge of Offline Media is the challenge in the form of the order at the venue, such as the sound system, the audience, the presence of the audience, (b) The challenge of online media is that organizers must be able to arrange for online media to be noticed also because this really helps the virtual community to be able to watch when they are unable to attend the place of the event (c) the Internet as a propaganda media, this is one of the advantages of the internet in the realm of da’wah that is able to search for content, videos, and new things.

Arts‐Based Educational Research: The Challenges of Social Media and Video‐Based Research Methods in Communication Design Education

AbstractThis article discusses the practical and ethical challenges and benefits of using social media and video‐based research methods – also known as Photovoice – to investigate contemporary Communication Design education. The two visual research methods discussed include the social media mobile application Snapchat® and participant‐generated GoPro® video filming. The investigation focused on understanding students’ on‐the‐ground, lived experiences of studio learning within two distinctive higher education case study settings in the United Kingdom and Australia. This study employed Participatory Action Research (PAR) as an inquiry process and incorporated a methodological framework involving a combination of narrative inquiry, visual Participatory Design (PD) and visual ethnography. The findings of this study revealed the impact of specialised studio and classroom‐based Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) on student learning and engagement as the participants expressed differing responses to their own learning and community of practice at each site. The choice of arts‐based educational research methods used for this study allowed the relationships between place, lived experience, and community to be explored. Students, in effect, became investigators of their own practice through engagement in a rigorous set of visual methods, which placed the tools directly into their hands.

Translational Medicine in the Era of Social Media: A Survey of Scientific and Clinical Communities.

Background: The integration of new scientific discoveries into clinical practice costs considerable time and resources. With the increased use of social media for scientific communication, new opportunities arise to “bridge the gap” in translational medicine. The present study aimed to investigate how medical professionals access scientific information and understand their view on the role of social media in translational medicine.Methods: A questionnaire regarding (i) the use of social media for scientific updates, (ii) the opportunities and challenges of social media for translational medicine, (iii) social media function Chatbot, and (iv) participant demographics was developed. The survey link was posted online from February, 2018, until April, 2018.Results: A total of 555 professionals responded to the survey. Respondents identified themselves predominantly as researcher/scientists (27%) or medical/biomedical students (15%). The majority of participants was employed at a university or research institute (59%), and most practiced either in Europe (48%) or in Asia (37%). Seventy-eight percent of respondents reported receiving most of scientific news and updates via non-social media options, such as journal websites and newspapers. Fifty-one percent of respondents believed that social media could contribute to closing the gap between scientific discovery and translation to medical application. The most crucial opportunity created by social media was found to be “connecting the right scientist to the right clinician.” Participants rated “the translation of scientific finding to clinical practice is too fast before the safety is properly demonstrated” as the most crucial challenge. Half of the respondents were aware of their institutions policy on the professional use of social media. Only 2% of respondents had previously used Chatbot.Conclusions: Overall, medical professionals were positive about the idea that social media could contribute to the progress of translational medicine. However, it is clear that they are still being cautious about using social media for professional purposes. To fully harness the potential of social media on translational medicine, the medical community needs to be provided with educational programs, guidelines, and support infrastructure within social media.

Beyond big data: Social media challenges and opportunities for understanding social perception of energy

Social perception, i.e., public advocacy and sentiment, on various energy issues deeply affects our energy future. This type of information is traditionally collected through structured energy surveys and statistics, which is often cost-formidable and labor-intensive. As free communication platforms with massive amounts of public opinions, social media can be used as a new lens for examining the dynamics of social perception towards both fossil and renewable energy. Compared with energy surveys, the analytics of social media leverage crowd-sourced public opinions instead of those from a directed and targeted audience. Based on a preliminary pilot study, we compare Twitter-based data mining results with a recent survey in three regions with different historic ties to fossil and renewable energy. We identify the critical issues associated with social advocacy and sentiment over energy development and consumption, and summarize policy implications. Furthermore, we discuss opportunities and challenges of using social media for understanding energy-related public perception. We conclude that more social media research on energy-related perception may lead to an in-depth understanding of polarized social perception, social contexts of energy policies, and possible strategies of bridging the gaps in and expanding the energy market.

The impact of valence framing on response expectancies of side effects and subsequent experiences: a randomised controlled trial

Objective: Pre-treatment side effect expectancies often influence subsequent experiences; however, expectancy-based reduction strategies are lacking. We explored whether framing information about adverse responses (in positive or negative formats) altered expectancies and experiences of a cold pressor task. We further investigated associations between expectancies and experiences, to inform potential interventions.Design: Healthy volunteers (N = 134), randomised to receive positively- or negatively-framed pre-cold pressor task information, self-rated 12 expectancies for cold pressor experiences, emotional state and coping style.Main Outcome Measures: Self-reports of the same 12-experiences (recorded during and after the experiment) were assessed.Results: Framing had minimal impact on expectancies and experiences; however, discomfort threshold (p = .08, d = 0.22) showed a trend in the expected direction. Hierarchical regressions revealed expectancies uniquely, significantly predicted 6–23% of the variance for 11 subsequent experiences. Following a popular charity event (Ice Bucket Challenge), all participants showed higher ‘discomfort thresholds’ (p = .001, d = 0.59), and those in the negative frame reported more overall ‘discomfort’ (p = .01, d = 0.60) than participants in the positive condition.Conclusion: Expectancies uniquely influenced subsequent cold pressor experiences. Framing had minimal impact in this ‘analogue’ medical setting, only influencing ‘discomfort threshold’. ‘Discomfort threshold’ and overall ‘discomfort’ were also impacted by a social media challenge, highlighting a potential area for intervention.

Code of the Tweet: Urban Gang Violence in the Social Media Age

AbstractAcademics, criminal justice professionals, and news outlets have warned that gang-associated youth use social media to taunt rivals and trade insults in ways that cause offline retaliation. But there is surprisingly little empirical research investigating how gang-associated youth deploy social media in gang conflicts. Criminal justice professionals routinely overstate the violent effects of social media challenges, which further exacerbates criminalization, racial stereotyping, and social inequality. Drawing from two years of ethnographic fieldwork on Chicago’s South Side, this study asks how gang-associated black youth use social media to challenge rivals. Bridging traditional theories of urban violence with emerging media scholarship, I argue that social media disrupt the key impression management practices associated with the “code of the street.” Specifically, gang-associated youth exploit social media to publicly invalidate the authenticity of their rivals’ performances of toughness, strength, and street masculinity. Challengers do so through “cross referencing,” “calling bluffs,” and “catching lacking.” Each strategy differs in its likelihood to catalyze physical retaliation, which is a function of the amount and depth of counter-evidence necessary to refute a given challenge. These findings carry important implications for addressing urban violence, gangs, and inequality in the social media age.

Social Media Challenges to Peace-making and What Can Be Done About Them

Social media has changed the way how wars are fought, organised and ended. During peace negotiations, social media can serve as confidence-building platforms but also as a tool used to prolong the conflict by spreading disinformation and propaganda. Therefore, for a conflict to come to its end, it is necessary that the parties to peace negotiations refrain not only from physical hostilities but also from any forms of information warfare. Pursuing the objective of national reconciliation, modern peace agreements should contain rules on the regulation of social media content that may disrupt the peace. Special commissions should be established to review the content on social media and take adequate steps when a specific post, video or image spreads bellicose narrative or hate speech. We can imagine a whole range of measures that can be adopted by such commission ranging from labelling the content on its own social media channels as potentially dangerous to peace up to a removal request addressed to a concerned social media platform. Such mechanisms should be based on full respect for human rights in general and the right to freedom of opinion and expression in particular. Without such regulations, the goal of sustainable peace and successful national reconciliation seems almost unrealistic given the ever-increasing power of social media.

Challenges and Prospects of Social Media Usage for Political Mobilization in Ethiopia

This paper sought to assess the challenges and prospects of social media for political mobilization in Ethiopia. In the study, a survey research method was used. Samples were selected based on a multistage sampling technique. So that stratified and simple random sampling techniques were applied. Data were collected from primary and secondary sources. The tools employed to collect primary data were interview and questionnaire. Primary data was gathered from 156 samples. Secondary data from books, reports, and Social Media Networks was used. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (like percentage and frequency) while the qualitative data collected through interview were used to triangulate the results of quantitative data. Findings from the study have shown that the main sources of political information are social media. It also revealed that Facebook is the most popular social media format followed by YouTube and Twitter. Regarding its role, social media has great importance for political mobilization. Social media users may discover political activities in social media and in this way intensify their political knowledge, increase their political efficacy, and improve their political participation. As the challenges of social media in Ethiopia, there are now quite some fake or sarcastic “news” sites that often post stories that sound authentic. Some fake news sites simply exist to post click bait stories or to troll readers who don’t do their own research. Some other challenges of social media identified by this study are limited connection speed, cost, and its inaccessibility to rural areas.

Ethical Dilemmas on Data Privacy and Security for Social Media’s Users

In the era of digital transformation, social media is the rising revolution in Journalism & Mass Communication Industry. In 21st century, social media like Facebook, You Tube, Twitter and Instagram are the most popular platforms among the people of all generations. While using these applications, security and privacy are the prime concerns that have to be considered. There are so many privacy and security issues or challenges for Social Media’s users. Facebook is not really as private as it claims. In fact, nothing is private on internet. Facebook has some issues for users’ data privacy and security. First issue is that not all photos are private even if you set your profile to be private. Some of your pictures will still appear because individual picture is set to public. Another Issue is that your comments are searchable but many users don’t think that their comments on status and posts can be search but that is wrong because comments are acutely searchable and can appear in Google searches. Profile will appear if you search your name on Google and if you have account on Facebook. Hidden post can still appear even if you hide them from your own timeline. In the recent years, the explosive growth of information technology and internet use to obtain information, goods and services have fueled and there is a debate and controversy about the potential threats to privacy. Personal identifiable information can be used in the numbers of ways that were never imagine or sanctioned by the person who used the social media. 93 % of commercial social media collect at least one of the personal identifications. Less than 10% of social media encompass all five principles: Notice, Choice, Access, Security and Enforcement. One third of sites post no privacy policy. Only a third of surveyed sites guaranteed not to send visitors’ information to third parties. There is no such thing as “delete” anymore –everything lives online forever. The primary business model for most successful online corporations is the mass collection and memorization of your personal data. All the major social networks’ default setting is public. There are many ethical dilemmas arising for the social media’s users like hacking into computersusing pictures without consent and stealing ideas etc. We now have to think about the consequences of our actions in a whole new way. This research paper focuses on ethical challenges or dilemmas for data privacy and security arising with social media.

Investigating Social Media Utilization and Challenges in the Governmental Sector for Crisis Events

The use and utilization of social media applications, tools, and services enables advanced services in daily routines, activities, and work environments. Nowadays, disconnection from social media services is a disadvantage due to their increasing use and functionality. The use of social media applications and services has provided different methods and routines for communications that ranges from posting, reposting, commenting, interacting, and live communication that can reach a mass population with minimum time, effort, and expenses compared with traditional media systems and channels. The current benefits of using social media can assist in providing better services in terms of communication and guidance for civil protection services within governmental sectors, as reported by different research studies. The use of social media has been found to be critically important by governmental agencies in different situations for directing, educating, and engaging people during different events. This study investigates the use of social media services in Saudi Arabia in governmental sectors to outline the opportunities and challenges faced, given the challenging situations faced annually during the Hajj and Ramadan rituals, and sporadic flood crisis events. This research focuses on defining the current stand and challenges of using social media services for providing mass communication and civil engagement during hazardous and challenging events in Saudi Arabia. The results of this study will be used as a roadmap for future investigation in this regard.

The Use of Social Media in Public Relations at Non-Governmental Organisations in South Africa

Social media can be a useful tool in public relations in non-governmental organisations (NGOs), but do NGOs make use of social media in their quest for service delivery in South Africa? Social networking sites, blogging, email, instant messaging, and online journals are some of the technological changes that changed the way interaction between people and how they gather information. Although social media is mainly used for interactive dialogue and social interaction, the private sector soon realised that the web-based technologies (especially Facebook and Twitter) could also be a competitive business tool. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) soon followed suit however at a slower pace than the general communication growth rate of social media in South Africa. This article examines if social networking sites have any impact on public relations practices of NGOs in South Africa – an environment where both customers and employees still struggle to take full advantage of social media. The critical literature findings increase the understanding of the current and future challenges of social media use in public relations at NGOs in South Africa. The study explores the main differences between traditional and social media, how social media is redefining public relations role, and shed some light on defining public relations practices, identify the uses, limitations and benefits of social media by public relations practitioners in NGOs. Recommendations for future communication research are given. Based on the literature, a qualitative research design collected data using semi-structured, individual interviews. The results revealed that social media platforms such as Facebook do have an effect, and even changed the way in which NGOs communicate. The study also revealed that social media certainly has an impact on public relations relationships. This means that it has become crucial that public relations practitioners at NOGs embrace and take advantage of social media, and that they should also invest in proper electronic platforms to reap the benefits of improved communication internally and externally.

The Use of Social Media in Public Relations at Non-Governmental Organisations in South Africa

Social media can be a useful tool in public relations in non-governmental organisations (NGOs), but do NGOs make use of social media in their quest for service delivery in South Africa? Social networking sites, blogging, email, instant messaging, and online journals are some of the technological changes that changed the way interaction between people and how they gather information. Although social media is mainly used for interactive dialogue and social interaction, the private sector soon realised that the web-based technologies (especially Facebook and Twitter) could also be a competitive business tool. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) soon followed suit however at a slower pace than the general communication growth rate of social media in South Africa. This article examines if social networking sites have any impact on public relations practices of NGOs in South Africa – an environment where both customers and employees still struggle to take full advantage of social media. The critical literature findings increase the understanding of the current and future challenges of social media use in public relations at NGOs in South Africa. The study explores the main differences between traditional and social media, how social media is redefining public relations role, and shed some light on defining public relations practices, identify the uses, limitations and benefits of social media by public relations practitioners in NGOs. Recommendations for future communication research are given. Based on the literature, a qualitative research design collected data using semi-structured, individual interviews. The results revealed that social media platforms such as Facebook do have an effect, and even changed the way in which NGOs communicate. The study also revealed that social media certainly has an impact on public relations relationships. This means that it has become crucial that public relations practitioners at NOGs embrace and take advantage of social media, and that they should also invest in proper electronic platforms to reap the benefits of improved communication internally and externally.

The Legal Challenges of Social Media

The Legal Challenges of Social Media

Potential social media campaign challenge towards physical activity in modern era

The phenomenon of social media interactions can influence awareness behavior into multiple layers of firm-initiated, communitiated actions and provides a theoretical understanding of what firms and community accomplish using social media.The aim of this study isto explore community response of “promkes.net” as a program about “melawan mager” (sedentary lifestyle challenge) by social media campaign using hashtag #7hariMelawanMager. This study was a literature review, using supported document and mini-survey about the challenge at social media campaign using Instagram story survey and Facebook polling in 1 days and also challenge’s founder interview.As the result in three weeks after the launching challenge, there were 41 posting in Instagram with 9 people completed the #7harimelawanmager challenge and 33 posting in FB with 13 people completed the challenge via FB. The social media challenge raising physical activity awareness from the society, yet there were 17 people who fulfill the promkes_net Instagram story survey and 5 of 15 people did not know about the campaign via FB’s author polling.At the end of review, there are 98 people and still counting who join the challenges. Online community based were built on Facebook for sharing & motivating each other, starting from social media challenges. Health campaign by social media using hashtag #7harimelawanmager potentially raising physical activity awareness but this campaign should be sustainable and have any improvement in several periods. Furthermore, society can become more aware what happen and participate in this issue.

Using Social Media to Increase Nonprofit Organizational Capacity

ABSTRACTThis study examines social media utilization in nonprofit organizations (NPOs) for increasing organizational capacity. Using data from a survey of human service NPOs in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the study finds that NPOs that post frequently on their social media sites and use dedicated funding are more likely to perceive social media as being effective in increasing their organizational capacity. However, NPOs that use Twitter, videos, and community-building posts are less likely to perceive social media as being effective. The study also reveals that NPOs face major challenges in social media use regarding resources, expertise, leadership and constituency.

State-of-the-art social customer relationship management

ABSTRACTThe rise of social media challenges the traditional notion of customer relationship management (CRM) and has led to the emergence of social CRM. This study collected and content-analyzed recent literature along the intersection between social media and CRM, to present an overview of the social CRM research in tourism and hospitality. Findings indicate that most studies focus on the context of hotel and restaurant. These studies lack a solid theoretical underpinning and tend to adopt qualitative research methods. Five research themes are identified from supply-focused research, while two themes are observed from demand-focused research. Overall, uneven attention has been paid by researchers in the field, with more emphasis on supply than on demand sides. According to the findings of the literature review, a conceptual framework and a research agenda are presented. Theoretical and practical implications to the tourism and hospitality industry are also discussed.

A comprehensive picture of the social media challenge for DMOs

ABSTRACTScholars strongly agree that DMOs are hubs devoted to the production of memorable experiences. In the last few years, several authors have been pointing out that destinations are called to a major “paradigm shift” over the web 2.0 revolution. However, this remains a partially under-explored topic. We want to come to a comprehensive understanding of how, to what extent, and under what critical conditions social media can reshape DMOs’ value processes. We opted for a multiple case study research method with a grounded-theory approach. Our analysis reveals enormous opportunities for social networks to directly and indirectly impact on the destination brand equity. This is a potential that DMOs are barely exploiting, however, mainly due to cultural issues.

Challenges for social media: Misinformation, free speech, civic engagement, and data regulations

ABSTRACTSocial media has arguably brought one of the greatest changes to Internet communication since the invention of the Web but challenges as well. Apart from helping people to have access and to exchange information, social media has also been used to spread misinformation, hate speech, and the user‐generated data is adopted for targeted commercial and political advertising based on personal profiles. Moreover, the most popular applications available are owned by a small number of companies who may have an undue influence on how civic engagement takes place on their platforms. In this panel, four panelists will discuss the following: misinformation and the role of pseudo‐cognitive authorities; hate speech and Germany's Network Enforcement Act (NetzGD); civic engagement and market capture by social media companies; and finally, personal data processing and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We intend to raise interesting questions helping to understand these issues, and to find solutions for the beneficial use of information technologies as well as to scope out all its advantages.

Child welfare services and social media - childhood, being and becoming in a digital society.

In the internet arena, children have more space for action. Accordingly, their use of social media challenges the public services. Children´s navigating social media landscapes is an example of a c ...