Digital Communication Practices Research Articles

Analyzing the Impact of Innovative Features in New Social Networks on User Engagement and Content Sharing Dynamics

This study investigates the effects of novel functionalities on user behavior across emerging social media platforms. Employing a mixed-methods research design, the study integrates quantitative analysis of engagement metrics with qualitative feedback from user interviews and surveys to assess how augmented reality (AR) filters, ephemeral content, and algorithmic curation influence engagement and content sharing. Results indicate these features significantly enhance user interaction, suggesting that innovation is key to user retention and active participation. Additionally, the study examines the double-edged nature of algorithmic curation, balancing user experience personalization against the risks of creating informational echo chambers. The implications of these findings extend to various stakeholders in the digital ecosystem, including content creators, marketers, technology developers, and policymakers, emphasizing the importance of user-centric innovation and ethical considerations in platform development. This research contributes to the broader understanding of social media evolution and its impact on digital communication practices.

Using technology in family relationships lived apart

In the wake of war and displacement, families like Oksana’s and Anna’s have found solace and connection through the use of digital technology. This article explores the experiences of Oksana and Anna, a Ukrainian woman aged 51 and her 23-year-old daughter who currently live in Edinburgh, separated from Oksana’s husband (Anna’s father), extended family and friends due to the war in Ukraine. Through a narrative lens, Oksana shares her reliance on communication tools such as Telegram, WhatsApp, and Facetime to bridge the physical distance between loved ones. The family’s daily rituals, from shared dinners over video calls to collaborative board games, highlight the importance of maintaining familial bonds amidst adversity. Additionally, the article sheds light on the broader societal context, comparing the prevalence of digital communication practices in Ukraine versus Scotland. The narrative also touches upon the profound impact of technology on healthcare management, particularly in supporting Maria, Oksana’s daughter, who battles diabetes. Lastly, Anna reflects on the emotional complexities of maintaining family ties amidst war, emphasizing the significance of technology in preserving connection and providing a lifeline to loved ones in times of distress. Through stories about air raid alerts and family group chats, Anna underscores the resilience and adaptability of Ukrainian families facing adversity.

Emotions Online: Exploring Knowledge Workers’ Emotional Labour in a Digital Context in an Agile IT Company

AbstractDigital technologies and new ways of organising transform the way we experience work. This paper seeks to contribute to our understanding of the role of digital emotional labour (EL) among knowledge workers. We investigate the EL involved in digital communication practices among co-located knowledge workers employed in an agile IT-consultancy firm with a relatively flat hierarchy. Based on rich qualitative data, we analyse how the specific socio-material infrastructures of a democratic communication technology called ‘Flowdock’ give rise to EL (Hochschild inAmerican Journal of Sociology, 85(3), 551–575, 1979, University of California Press, 1983). The study contributes theoretically by developing work on EL in a digital context by engaging with Oudshoorn’s (Sociology of Health & Illness, 31(3), 390–405, 2009) term ‘digital proximity’. This implies opening up EL to a more dynamic and situated approach and contributing to the organisational research scrutinising the EL of backstage professionals. The paper concludes that online communication creates new demands of managing emotions in relation to 4 themes key to agile organising: (1) working as whole persons, (2) creating partnerships, (3) unclear decision-making and lastly (4) informal power dynamics. We discuss implications of the overall finding that knowledge workers face increased demands mixing social and technical skills.

Digitalt medierade kommunikationspraktiker hos finlandssvenskar i schweizisk diaspora

Digitally mediated communication practices of Swedish-speaking Finns in Swiss diaspora Digital communication channels make it possible to communicate and maintain social relationships without necessarily sharing the same time and space. In addition, for many who have moved to another country, digital communication channels offer opportuni­ties to maintain not only their native language and culture but also connections to their former home country. There is little qualitative research on Swedish-speaking Finns living abroad, although they represent a relatively large proportion of the total number of Swedish-speaking Finns. This case study investigates the digital communication practices of two Swedish-speaking Finns in a diaspora, with a focus on contact with the former homeland and the use of the Swedish language. The material consists of six semi-structured interviews with two Swedish-speaking Finns in Switzerland and their media diaries, visualised using mediagrams (Lexander & Androutsopoulos 2021). The study highlights the choices and justifications for the different communication channels and modalities used, drawing on and going beyond the theory of polymedia (Madianou & Miller 2012; 2013). The study discusses eight factors – emotional, social, practical, habitual, cultural, linguistic, pedagogical, and historical – that describe how these two individuals in a diaspora navigate the polymedia environment. The findings suggest that digital communication plays an important role for these individuals in facilitating both personal and professional contacts with Finland and provides crucial tools for maintaining and enabling the use of the Swedish language.

Digital marketing communication of Somethinc brand on instagram @somethincofficial

The advent of the digital era has spurred numerous companies to employ marketing communications strategies. Such endeavours serve as a means to influence and remind consumers about the array of products or services they offer. A particularly prominent approach for companies entails utilising digital marketing communications. In this context, the focus extends beyond mere product promotion; instead, it centres on disseminating valuable, pertinent, and consistent content to captivate and retain consumers. For this study, Instagram has been selected as the platform of interest due to its prevalence as a content distribution channel. The primary objective of this research is to explore the practices of digital marketing communications employed by the Something brand through its Instagram presence. To this end, the Krippendorff content analysis method has been applied to discern the nature of posts related to digital marketing communications on the official Instagram account @somethincofficial. The analysis was conducted on posts from 1 August 2022 to 31 October 2022. The study's findings reveal that Somethinc's digital marketing communication practices on Instagram predominantly revolve around informative and reminding advertising. These strategies are pivotal in engaging the audience and reinforcing brand awareness on the platform.

Conceptualizing Interprofessional Digital Communication and Collaboration in Health Care: Protocol for a Scoping Review.

Effective communication and collaboration among health professionals are essential prerequisites for patient-centered care. However, interprofessional teams require suitable structures and tools to efficiently use their professional competencies in the service of high-quality care appropriate to the patient's life situation. In this context, digital tools potentially enhance interprofessional communication and collaboration and lead to an organizationally, socially, and ecologically sustainable health care system. However, there is a lack of studies systematically assessing the critical factors for successfully implementing tools for digitally supported interprofessional communication and collaboration in the health care setting. Furthermore, an operationalization of this concept is missing. The aim of the proposed scoping review is to (1) identify factors influencing the development, implementation, and adoption processes of digital tools for interprofessional communication in the health care sector and (2) analyze and synthesize the (implicit) definition, dimensions, and concepts of digitally supported communication and collaboration among health care professionals in the health care setting. Studies focusing on digital communication and collaboration practices among health care professionals, including medical doctors and qualified medical assistants, in any health care setting will be included in this review. To address these objectives, an in-depth analysis of heterogeneous studies is needed, which is best achieved through a scoping review. Within this proposed scoping review, which adheres to the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology, 5 databases (SCOPUS, CINAHL, PubMed, Embase, and PsycInfo) will be searched for studies assessing digital communication and collaboration among various health care professionals in different health care settings. Studies focusing on health care providers or patient interaction through digital tools and non-peer-reviewed studies will be excluded. Key characteristics of the studies included will be summarized through descriptive analysis, using diagrams and tables. We will synthesize and map the data and conduct a qualitative in-depth thematic analysis of definitions and dimensions of interprofessional digital communication and collaboration among health care and nursing professionals. Results from this scoping review may help in establishing digitally supported collaborations between various stakeholders in the health care setting and successfully implementing new forms of interprofessional communication and collaboration. This could facilitate the transition to better coordinated care and encourage the development of digital frameworks. PRR1-10.2196/45179.

In media(tization) studies we love metaphors

The long history of mass communication theories is full of metaphors, from Shannon and Weaver’s ‘transmission channel’ to Noelle-Neumann’s ‘spiral of silence’. The objective of the chapter is to give an overview of the use of metaphors and models in mediatized communication studies. Special attention is given to the metaphors that support the representations of digital and interactive communication practices; in this context, the chapter deals with the metaphors of the Internet, the World Wide Web, and new platforms and introduces the main metaphors of media change. The chapter concludes with a series of reflections on the risks and benefits of metaphorical reasoning and includes a call for ‘metaphorical experimentation’.

Bira Beach Tourism Governance Through Digital Marketing Communication Strategies

This research delves into the role and implications of digital marketing communication strategies in the tourism governance of Bira Beach. Bira Beach, renowned for its pristine coastal beauty, has witnessed fluctuating tourism trends over the years. Ensuring sustainable tourism development, which balances economic benefits, environmental protection, and socio-cultural integration, necessitates effective governance mechanisms. Digital marketing communication strategies have emerged as instrumental in shaping this governance. Through a qualitative approach encompassing interviews, surveys, and digital data analytics, this study explores (1) the existing digital communication practices in promoting Bira Beach, (2) stakeholders' perceptions about the effectiveness of these practices, and (3) the influence of these strategies on tourism governance frameworks and decisions. Preliminary findings suggest that well-structured digital communication campaigns can enhance stakeholder participation, foster transparent decision-making, and drive sustainable tourism policies. However, certain challenges like digital literacy, infrastructural constraints, and authenticity concerns have been identified. The research emphasizes the need for a cohesive strategy that integrates technology, local community insights, and environmental considerations for robust tourism governance at Bira Beach. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on the intertwining realms of digital marketing and tourism governance, offering insights for policy-makers, tourism planners, and marketers.

Asserting children's rights through the digital practices of transnational families

AbstractObjectiveThis study investigates how transnational families function as advocates, channels, and iterators of children's rights in the context of digital communication.BackgroundTransnational parents are involved in practices of doing family through digital copresence, in doing rights toward society and coagency among family members, creating a rights context.MethodData were collected in Moldova and Ukraine through 102 semistructured interviews and 10 focus group discussions with adults and children in transnational families and caregivers, and 24 interviews with experts from local and national authorities as well as NGOs.ResultsTransnational parents represent their children by engaging in digital communication practices with institutions and maintain family togetherness through involvement and support of children within transnational family relationships. Communication with institutions is burdened by distrust of and constraints regarding information and communication technologies (ICT) access, the limited availability of adults as interlocutors for daily communication, and deliberate nontransparency of communication at both ends.ConclusionDigital communication offers families the capability to represent children's rights externally, and to create internal family togetherness as a potentially new register of presence, articulated by the limits and specificity of the mode of communication employed.ImplicationsInclusive digital communication capacities of transnational family members necessary for the practice of family togetherness, exercise of parental responsibilities, and support for children's participation should be enhanced on both ends as well as within and without the family.

Prakse onlajn i digitalne komunikacije tokom pandemije virusa korona - slučaj izdavačkih kuća u Makedoniji

The subject of our research is online and digital communication practices during the coronavirus pandemic on the part of publishing houses in Macedonia. Certain aspects of the research subject include changes in communication and interaction between publishing houses and the readership, as well as the use of social networks. The research started from the main research question: "What were the online and digital communication practices of publishing houses in Macedonia during the coronavirus pandemic?" The main goal of the research is: to identify the online and digital communication practices of publishing houses. Qualitative methodological techniques, semi-structured interview and qualitative content analysis, were used. The research is based on the fact that in times of global crisis, communication technologies and culture could be transformed into instruments of social change, for the benefit of the individual and humanity, and as a "helping tool" for dealing with certain consequences, creating new, improved conditions for life, action and creation of new forms of communication and interaction and exchange and creation of cultural content. From the conducted interviews and content analysis, we can conclude that during the pandemic, especially during the period of quarantine and curfew in 2020, most of the communication between publishing houses and the readership was transmitted online. What is key to the change in communication and interaction between them is that activities and events that are usually carried out with physical presence, "live", in the pandemic period were carried out online, so that the whole way of organizing those activities and events changed, and thus habits and the use of certain Internet and digital technologies and tools have also changed.

Strategi Komunikasi Pemasaran melalui Digital Marketing Minyak Kayu Putih pada Kelompok Tani Hutan (KTH) Wonolestari, Desa Wonoharjo Boyolali

Eucalyptus is a type of productive plant in the forestry sector which has a fairly important role in the essential oil industry. Farmers of Wonoharjo Village, Kemusu District, Boyolali Regency cultivate eucalyptus plants and process them into eucalyptus oil products independently. Eucalyptus farmers in Wonoharjo Village are members of the Wonolestari 1 and Wonolestari 2 Forest Farmer Groups (KTH) who are still experiencing problems in carrying out a product marketing system, especially in the utilization of communication technology. Therefore, it is necessary to assist farmers in marketing eucalyptus oil products. The purpose of this community service activity is to provide education, assistance and training as an effort to increase the knowledge and skills of eucalyptus farmers in Wonoharjo Village in processing eucalyptus oil to have a high selling value by implementing online-based integrated marketing communications. The method of implementing service activities is carried out by preparing material handbooks, marketing socialization packaged through workshops, training, digital marketing communication practices with the preparatory and execution stages. The socialization activities carried out are able to increase the knowledge of eucalyptus oil farmers regarding digital marketing through several social media such as Instagram, Youtube and E-Commerce applications namely Shopee. Mentoring activities are expected to be able to increase product marketing by reaching consumers widely so that people's incomes also increase.

COVID-19 Vaccines on TikTok: A Big-Data Analysis of Entangled Discourses.

Focusing on social media affordances and China’s social/political context, the present study analyzed the digital communication practices about COVID-19 vaccines on a popular social media platform—TikTok—which is called DouYin in China. Overall, this study identified five major forces partaking in constructing the discourses, with government agencies and state media being the dominant contributors. Furthermore, video posters demonstrated different patterns of utilizing social media affordances (e.g., hashtags) in disseminating their messages. The top hashtags adopted by state media were more representative of international relations and Taiwan; those by government agencies were of updates on pandemic outbreaks; those by individual accounts were of mainstream values and health education; those by commercial media were of celebrities and health education; those by enterprise accounts were of TikTok built-in marketing hashtags. The posted videos elicited both cognitive and affective feedback from online viewers. Implications of the findings were discussed in the context of health communication and global recovery against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and Chinese culture.

Practices of digital communication in the educational space of higher education

The article analyzes modern communicative practices in the educational space of higher education. The possibilities and limitations of using digital communication with direct, indirect and hybrid options for the interaction of participants in the educational process are considered. Specific technical, social, psychological and pedagogical problems of applying digital communication practices in the educational process are highlighted.

Examining the digital organizational identity through content analysis of missions and vision statements of Malaysian and Singaporean SME company websites

PurposeThis study aims to examine the current state of mission and vision statements on the company websites of fast-growing Malaysian and Singaporean small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and analyze how these attributes are functionally used to build a distinct digital organizational identity.Design/methodology/approachThe content analysis method was used to examine the similarities and differences among 170 Malaysian and Singaporean-selected SMEs based on Aaker’s five brand personality scales.FindingsThe findings demonstrated that there were explicit discrepancies between Malaysian and Singaporean SMEs in the applications of brand personality attributes. The findings also identified an increase in communicating mission and vision statements on the websites of both Malaysian and Singaporean SMEs. This emphasizes the need for Malaysian and Singaporean companies to intensify their efforts to develop a notable digital organizational identity.Research limitations/implicationsThis study endeavors to provide novel insights into the digital communication practices of SMEs in building digital organization identity based on brand personality elements. Therefore, this study theoretically advances Aaker’s brand personality framework by incorporating digital organizational identity as a concept of Aaker’s brand personality from the SME perspective. This study contributes to the organizational identity literature by highlighting the need for these SMEs to integrate brand personality dimensions to compete with leading global companies.Practical implicationsThe findings indicate that managers of SMEs can develop a unique digital organizational identity by communicating their vision and mission statements on their websites as a strategic asset for sustaining corporate reputation.Originality/valueTo date, little is known about the inevitable adaptation and application of communication that occurs when using digital means to develop a digital organizational identity. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to establish how Asian SMEs communicate their unique brand personality through websites to build their digital organizational identity.

Platform ruralism: Digital platforms and the techno-spatial fix

Digital platforms have grown to exert substantial influence on the society, with increasing attention from scholars across a variety of disciplines. Compared with “platform urbanism” or the “platformization” of cities, how digital platforms entangle rural local society has received less scrutiny. In this article, we focus on “platform ruralism” and place the unfolding of digital platforms in rural areas in the neoliberal globalization process. Building on a series of field studies on rural e-commerce since 2016, we analyze how digital platforms sprawl into the rural local as the “techno-spatial” fix, which involves the construction of local “techno-spatial infrastructures.” Techno-spatial infrastructures revolve around local platform complementors who assemble local networks based on social and economic relations, partly driven by the use of social networking sites and mobile phones. In the meanwhile, local platform complementors also complement conventionally algorithm-based platform mechanisms. We also examine the structural implications of the techno-spatial fix of digital platforms. We contend that it results in the techno-spatial reification of digital platform in the local space. With techno-spatial infrastructures, digital platforms secure new markets by userifying local rural residents into platform users and reorganizing local networks. The local areas witness the centralization of local social and economic networks. The formation of these networks is driven by digital platforms, and these centralized networks are affiliated with digital platforms. This article places digital platforms and communication practices at the center of interrogation in rural China studies. It provides a range of cases to reflect on digital platforms and platform capitalism from the intersection of technology and spatiality.

Cyber Incivilities and the Creation of Vulnerabilities at Work

In this article, we fall back to four years of field research to show the links between cyber incivilities in the context of professional relations and the creation of vulnerabilities at work. Our different analyses show that the interactions between the two phenomena can be considered in two ways: on the one hand, uncivil digital communication practices make individuals and groups at work vulnerable, on the other hand, the vulnerability of individuals and groups at work opens the way to the generation of cyber incivilities. These incivilities can then appear as signs of adaptation to new work contexts or of disengagement from the company, the work group or work in general. In the end, we show that uncivil work environments and the process of developing vulnerabilities at work can appear as two phenomena that participate in the same negative work spiral, one leading to the other and vice versa.

What do hashtags afford in digital fashion communication? An exploratory study on Gucci-related hashtags on Twitter and Instagram

Abstract Being enmeshed in a digital environment, we daily produce internet-mediated texts – encompassing several different semiotic codes – accessible on a global scale. Posts on different networks usually contain hashtags, which can be understood as affordances or behavior opportunities. These affordances allow specific actions both from the part of the writer and the reader. They can also be “behavior triggers,” which invite certain behavior online (e.g., to like, share, comment) or offline (e.g., to buy items of a specific brand). Digital fashion communication experts should take into consideration these affordances to pursue their goals in the activities related to marketing, promoting, creating engagement and communicating either about a brand or a brand item. While there is general research on reasons to hashtag and on the functions they perform, there is a gap in what hashtags “mean” and “do” in the fashion domain. The objectives of this paper are threefold: 1) to give an overview of the history of hashtags; 2) to present the affordances of hashtags, while creating a general table of affordances from the addresser’s perspective, based on the literature overview; 3) to perform a qualitative analysis of hashtags on Gucci official Twitter and Instagram accounts during a given time span and on other Gucci-related hashtags posted by common users. The choice of the brand is due to Gucci’s focus on active digital communication practices. Results can be valuable for both researchers and industry professionals involved in digital fashion communication.

Discourse analysis and digital technologies: (TikTok, hashtags, Instagram, YouTube): universal and specific aspects in international practice

Nowadays, digital communication helps people to establish contact quickly and conveniently, to convey their message, ideas, the vision of the world to a wide audience. In this regard, new challenges have emerged for discourse analysis in the field of research on the features of digital communication, digital communication practices, the impact of electronic communication technologies on the formation and conduct of discourse, application, and influence of extralinguistic factors on speech. The article analyzes the problems and features of discourse using digital technologies, current trends, and new data in the field of social networks, hashtag activism, problems of involvement, activity, motivation of participants in online communication, formation of their online identity. The authors used system-functional, hermeneutic methods, linguistic analysis, methods of analysis, and synthesis in the framework of discourse theory. The study found and confirmed that the features of digital communication practices and the formation of discourse on the Internet are the widespread use of social networks, hashtags, social integration activities such as challenges, the use of special vocabulary specific to Internet communication, the ability to express themselves and form their own online user identity. Extralinguistic factors of discourse formation in digital communicative practices are major from the point of view of discourse analysis.

The road retaken: remix for (re)vision in creative writing

ABSTRACT The paper posits that the practice of remix offers students new learning pathways for process-based writing beyond the traditional workshop method and invites students to engage in creative writing practices beyond producing exclusively print-based texts. The paper details a Remix For (Re)vision assignment in an undergraduate Introduction to Creative Writing course. Students revise one of their written works by reinventing it in a new literary genre or remediating it as a multimodal text. The paper draws on interdisciplinary research – composition studies, literacy studies, and creative writing scholarship – alongside classroom praxis to demonstrate how the process of reconstituting an original work facilitates four key teaching and learning benefits: Remix (1) invites participation in a literary tradition (and popular online practice) of authorial borrowing and reinvention of existing works; (2) frames revision as imaginative play for active student engagement, agency, and discovery in the rewriting process; (3) enables the transfer of creative writing strategies and prior knowledge across genres and modes to develop multiliteracies; and (4) acknowledges that creative writing in the twenty-first century is increasingly engaged with digital communication practices and multimodal aesthetics. The paper outlines a sample student’s project and addresses best practices for assignment design and assessment.

Digital communication, health & wellbeing in universities: a double-edged sword

ABSTRACT We explore how digital communication relates to worker health and wellbeing within Australian universities prior to COVID-19. To investigate effects of digital communication we sought perspectives of senior Human Resource and wellbeing personnel for semi-structured interviews. Analyses revealed that digital communication creates both negative and positive aspects of work, leading to differing effects and outcomes of health and wellbeing. Themes that emerged included flexibility, collaboration and access to resources, a sense of continual accessibility and connectivity to work, information overload and interpersonal relationships. Depending on how digital communication is managed, we found each aspect has the capacity to be simultaneously positive (i.e., resourceful) or negative (e.g., demanding). Drawing on organisational theory, we propose new ways to conceptualise workplace digital communication and propose practical management approaches. Future research should continue to unpack the relationship between digital communication and work practices, while considering potential management and policy strategies to protect worker health and safety.