Digital Social Networks Research Articles

What makes it likeable? A study on the reactions to messages in a digital social network: the case of Facebook in Farsi.

BackgroundAfter a piece of information is put into a network, its fate depends on the behaviors of the nodes of the network; nodes that are equipped with the hardware and software of the age of information and are more powerful than any time in the past. This study suggests that a useful research for communication, marketing and advertising would be one that looks for patterns in the reactions of the nodes toward different pieces of information.ResultsThis study has used Facebook to see how people have reacted to different types of messages in terms of liking, sharing and commenting. Rather than looking for universal, generalizable patterns we have tried to examine the practicality of the proposed method. The practical aspect of the study comes after a short theoretical discussion on the issue of flow of information in a digital world. The results revealed dozens of significant relations between the examined variables.ConclusionsThis study, its theoretical discussion and results suggest that it would be practical to study the relations between the characteristics of Facebook messages and the type of reactions (liking, sharing and commenting) that they attract.

Love my selfie: selfies in managing impressions on social networks

This study aims to provide insights on personal branding and impression management practices in the context of selfie production and sharing on online social networking sites (oSNSs). The theoretical framework of the study was constructed according to Goffman’s ‘Dramaturgy Theory’ and Belk’s ‘Digital Extended Self’ theory. Four constructs; de-materialization of photography, co-construction of the self, sharing economy of digital media and online social networks, and distributed memory were included in the study. The results of the literature review were further explained according to the production and consumption of selfies. This study provides detailed information about how selfies can be used as a mediator for purposes of self-extension and personal branding. Even though selfies are seen as an everyday activity and a raw presentation of the subject, they also include extra contextual information about the subject. The results of the study exert that selfies shared online can be used as a tool for impression management in oSNSs.

The Digital Ukumbi: New Terrains in Swahili Identity and Poetic Dialogue

In this essay I address the remediation of the centuries-old East African practice of poetic dialogue in the twenty-first-century digital social network of Facebook. Focusing on an online duel between two young poets from Mombasa, I demonstrate how East Africa's new media are transforming traditional poetic conventions in Swahili. Even sites that endeavor to preserve authentic literary Swahili have become in practice controversial crossroads of language, culture, and identity. By bringing voices of Swahili cultural authority, which draw from the East, into sustained contact with voices of the contemporary urban youth culture, which draws from the West, these new media are ultimately opening new terrains for literary production and debate.

Consumo cultural em tempos de convergência: uma análise dos jovens sergipanos

The research aimed to discuss the cultural consumption practices in the Northeast considering the intervention of media convergence at the reception of the contents. Therefore, we sought to carry out a comparative analysis of responses to a questionnaire applied to young Sergipeans, the capital and the interior. The focus of the focused approach particularities resulting from the scenario in which this audience interacts and the offer of cultural products, in a context in which we see large differences in the human development index (HDI) of municipalities in the capital and the countryside, which can take place in conditions of access to different means. In conclusion, we realize that with the advancement in the use of technological devices and access digital social networks young people, while consuming media content, also serve as producers to share the information with their network. However, while they all have access to digital technologies, the production of content for this audience is still based on local cultural offerings, from the cities of Sergipe. Keywords: cultural consumption, media convergence, media reception, young.

Compreendendo o papel dos sujeitos no ato de linguagem: estudo de caso das manifestações de 15 de março de 2015 no Twitter

Este artigo analisa as hashtags usadas em interações publicadas no Twitter nas manifestações de 15 de março de 2015 e a resposta dada pela presidente Dilma Rousseff e o governo em pronunciamento à imprensa, buscando definir os sujeitos do ato de linguagem, estabelecer seu papel e verificar a efetivação do contrato de comunicação. Esta pesquisa apresenta reflexões de Lévy e Lemos (2010), Santaella e Lemos (2010) e Israel (2010) sobre redes sociais digitais e Twitter; e Charaudeau (2014) sobre contrato de comunicação, ato de linguagem e seus sujeitos. A partir da análise, percebe-se que os eleitores estão exteriores à configuração verbal, assumindo o papel de EUc e deixando para as hashtags o de EUe; a presidente Dilma é o TUd e o governo, o TUi. Também se constata que o contrato de comunicação foi firmado, pois o TUi reconhece as mensagens do EUc.

The social collective and the social and cultural atom in the age of the social network

This article in the Zeitschrift fur Psychodrama und Soziometrie presents the use of the social collective as applied in a current psychotherapeutic practice. The significance and use of the social collective is one that has relevance in any field and is the cornerstone of the modern phenomenon of digital social networking. Dr. Jacob Levy Moreno was the originator of the concept and his ideas have influenced the development of the modern day social network. The earliest and smallest social atom is the mother and baby. While this social unit is the precursor to all others, new life can emerge wherever mutual positive tele flourishes. As the wave and particle in physics do not exist independently, neither does the twin concept of the social and cultural atom. The use of the latter as an evaluation tool in psychotherapy is powerful and along with the concept of the social collective, can be used to analyse patterns in any group or cultural context.

El discurso político mediado por ordenadores: Análisis del discurso en las cuentas del presidente Juan Manuel Santos y del ex presidente Álvaro Uribe Vélez en la red social digital Twitter

<p>Este artículo es un acercamiento a la dinámica y al cambio que se presenta en el discurso político a raíz de la aparición de un nuevo concepto: el discurso mediado por ordenadores, el cual surgió gracias al avance tecnológico y a la aparición de la web 2.0. El presente estudio analiza la construcción semántica y sintáctica de los mensajes publicados en la red social digital twitter del presidente de la república de Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos Calderón y del ex presidente Álvaro Uribe Vélez, quienes se han caracterizado por mostrar una enemistad debido a sus diferencias ideológicas. El proyecto incluye métodos digitalizados de investigación como los análisis de contenido mediados por ordenador y el diseño de representaciones visuales o cartográficas de las dinámicas que se dan en la herramienta de microblogging, las cuales permiten observar las comunidades de discusión en torno a estos dos políticos y el impacto que generan con su estilo discursivo.</p>

Adopción de redes sociales digitales en las pymes de la industria del calzado de la zona metropolitana de Guadalajara, Jalisco, México / Adoption of digital networks in smes footwear industry in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.

Las tecnologías de información y comunicación han logrado un cambio en las empresas, de acuerdo con cifras del Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografía e Informática (INEGI) de las 4 millones 734 unidades empresariales existentes en México 99.8% son micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas. Del total de estos negocios, casi 30 por ciento utiliza alguna tecnología de la información y comunicación, como PC e internet, según cifras de la Secretaría de Economía. Entre las tecnologías de información y comunicación figuran las redes sociales digitales que son una alternativa de ayuda para las pequeñas y medianas empresas (Pymes), con las cuales se puede lograr un gran avance de sus negocios, posiblemente un incremento de ventas, popularidad del productor, lazos entre sus clientes, hasta llegar a tener una mayor presencia en el mercado.El objetivo de esta investigación es conocer el porcentaje de empresas en la Zona metropolitana de Guadalajara, Jalisco que han o están utilizando las redes sociales digitales y los beneficios que esto les ha atribuido, así como afirmar la hipótesis que estas nuevas tecnologías han logrado convertirse en una buena estrategia para el crecimiento de las pymes.

Sexual practices in geolocation between men’s: bodies, pleasures, technologies

Locative media, geolocation applications, as well as homosocialization web spaces are problematized so as to promote some separation from the traps of normalization and pathologization. These unfold themselves into prosthetic pleasures that take their place in the experiencing of bodies and of their multiplicity linked to technologies of (de)territorialization. We question how Psychology can think of concepts/devices towards the new sexes/genders/pleasures of digital social networks and towards the normative traps that pose themselves at the interactions of these spaces.

Redes sociales, acción colectiva y elecciones: los usos de Facebook por el movimiento estudiantil chileno durante la campaña electoral de 2013

Recent studies on digital social networks have analyzed their role as part of collective action and their use during electoral campaigns. Based on a study of the Chilean student movement during the 2013 electoral campaign in that country, the article offers an analysis of how Facebook is used by the three student federations that make up the movement. The results suggest informative and organizational aspects take priority in the use of social networks in that context. This trend is mediated by the peculiarities of the movement – the presence of traditional student organizations – and by and the complexity of the relationship with institutional policy, particularly the defense of autonomy against the risks of cooptation, increased by the passage of former leaders of the movement to the latter. The inclination for these spaces to be used more and more at times of increased social mobilization is confirmed, and the tensions between their use by organized collective action (student federations) and by the individuals participating in that action are shown.DOI: 10.5294/pacla.2016.19.3.6

Mediología, icono, redes sociales digitales.

En el presente trabajo se abordan los temas de la mediología y las redes sociales digitales. Se analizan las categorías de icono digital, de lo virtual, de la interacción en las redes sociales digitales, con el apoyo de la hermenéutica analógica, la deconstrucción, la ética y la sociología desde el enfoque de un realismo crítico. Analizo el tipo de interacción que acontece en las redes sociales digitales y sus efectos en el tejido social, con la intención de invitar a un uso prudente y responsable de las nuevas tecnologías de la información.

Impacto de las redes sociales en el periodismo

Metamedia and value networks are two emerging concepts in the communication area. The first one refers to the computing transformation of media processes and contexts, both in production and use of the media; the second one relates to the system encouraging information flows, knowledge, and communication social relationships. The revolution of metamedia and digital networks is to be seen in the way people use and consume information, as well as organizations and traditional media outlets. They understand the networks –mainly Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube- as the main value providers, as the present study concludes. This work offers the results of the Media management barometer, a survey undertaken at the end of 2015 and administered to 300 Spanish media companies to check their metamedia transformation and the use of digital social networks.

Uso de las redes sociales digitales profesionales y científicas: el caso de las 3 universidades gallegas

A survey conducted among 5,500 professors and researchers from the three Galician universities received 463 answers. The results reveal a rise in popularity of professional and scientific digital social networks, but it also shows a lack of knowledge about them and inefficient use of them. Ninety percent of Galician university professors are present in a professional or academic network, but only 8.64 percent consider themselves experts. LinkedIn and ResearchGate have the largest number of members, although their average use is medium or low. Biomedical, engineering, and natural sciences scholars use more networks than the two previously mentioned; and social sciences and humanities scholars prefer Academia.edu. In total, 32.8 percent of the three universities’ scholars that answered the survey use social networks at least once a month. Social networks are used primarily to disseminate and follow publications, and, secondly, to get citations and improve reputation.

Informal Youth Cultural Practices: Blurring the Distinction Between High and Low

AbstractThis article argues that art educators need to focus on informal youth cultural practices in order to develop art projects that are meaningful to young people and relevant to their contemporary social media and postmodern artistic context. First, this article reports on doctoral research that examines informal youth cultural practices in cyberspace, or those taken up by young people "behind the scenes" of school art education and institutional curricula. Various methodological approaches, including a multiple case study, were used to understand the lesser-known dimensions of teenagers’ cultural capital. The results underscore the importance of image-processing software in fostering the teenagers’ appropriation skills as well as their technical, artistic, and identity exploration. The results also show that the teenagers’ creative processes and visual productions migrated from their art class to digital social networks. Furthermore, the youth participants, whose informal cultural practices drew from different genres (friendship-driven and interest-driven), expressed a vision of cyberculture focused on the blurring of cultural boundaries. Second, this article examines an art project related to the author’s doctoral research. The project mobilized the viral distribution of gossip on a digital social network and addressed informal youth creative practices through the notion of cultural landmarks. Cultural landmarks refer to key pedagogical resources that connect teenagers with their culture in art education. Cultural landmarks emanating from commercial culture and young people’s informal ways of expressing their inventiveness in digital and analog spaces generated art products and practices that blurred distinctions between high and low culture. Such blurring also happens in the broader context of contemporary art, justifying the need for art educators to consider informal youth cultural practices in their classrooms.

Expanding the horizons of digital social networks: Mixing big trace datasets with qualitative approaches

The study of social networks has attracted much interest from the IS community in recent years, driven mainly by the accessibility of trace data that remain as a by-product of interactions conducted through technology-enabled platforms. Despite its rapidly growing influence, we have some concerns about the current trajectory of social network research in the IS field. Our purpose in this commentary piece is to accentuate for the new generation of social network researchers, who are au fait with mathematical techniques for analyzing massive digital datasets, how the combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches can enrich our understanding of networks. First we highlight how the social network perspective has contributed to our understanding of IS phenomena. Next we review mixed methods research in IS social network research. An agenda for future IS social network research is then presented where we suggest how qualitative approaches can best complement trace data in addressing focal social network questions. We conclude by discussing the challenges of conducting mixed method studies of digitally enabled social networks.

Serendipity: Social Mobility Across Social Networks and Networked Digital Technologies

Drawing from mixed-methods research into the Herper community (Maddox, 2015), this paper explores experiences and moments of serendipity to illustrate how the imbrication of networked digital technologies and social networks reconfigure avenues for social mobility. In 1973 Mark Granovetter proposed the timeless hypothesis that forms of social mobility, such as getting a job, were facilitated through ‘the strength of weak ties’. This lateral social process, revealed through a relational understanding of social networks, brought into focus how relationships may lever opportunities across trenchant forms of social stratification such as class relations. Networked digital technologies have transformed how weak-tie acquaintances are formed and maintained and reconfigured notions of social order to resemble ‘small worlds’ rather than the hierarchical organisation of the nation-state. This paper provides examples from the case study community to explore experiences of serendipity as a way to understand how such instances of luck, chance and opportunity are hard-wired into the open social structures of digital community.

Managing relationships and communications in higher education efficiently through digital social networks: The importance of the relational coordination model

Digital social networks have proven to be of great support for organizations that are increasingly using new forms of social communication every day, seeking to improve their productivity and competitiveness. The main objective of this study is to explain how organizations, particularly Institutions of Higher Education, can improve their competitive position through the use of digital social networks from the perspective of relationship management and management of communications, in order to achieve better results in terms of teamwork satisfaction, relationship marketing and educational excellence. For this objective, the application of a relational coordination model, based on the sharing of objectives, optimal knowledge management, mutual respect and efficient communication mechanisms, is suggested.

The role of ICTs in creating the new social public place of the digital era

Nowadays, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have spread extensively in everyday life in an unprecedented way. A great attention is paid to the ICTs while ignoring the social aspect. With the immersive invasion of internet as well as smartphones’ applications and digital social networking, people become more socially connected through virtual spaces instead of meeting in physical public spaces.ICTs are categorized in this paper into four elements which are as follows: Wi-Fi networks, digital interactive media façades, interactive public displays, and smartphones’ applications in public spaces. These elements will play major roles in the public space classified into five domains which are as follows: culture and art, education, planning and design, games and entertainment, and information and communication. Based on this classification various examples and proposals of ICTs interventions in public spaces are presented to encourage good old fashioned social interaction by creating the new social public place of this digital era.Accordingly, this study will help to find design principles that can be adopted in the design of future public spaces to meet the needs of the digital era’s users with the new concepts of social life respecting the rules of place-making.

Social Media Use and Children's Wellbeing

Childhood circumstances and behaviours have been shown to have important persistent effects in later life. One aspect of childhood that has changed dramatically in the past decade, and is causing concern among policy makers and other bodies responsible for safeguarding children, is the advent of social media, or online social networking. This research explores the effect of children’s digital social networking on their subjective wellbeing. We use a large representative sample of 10-15 year olds over the period 2010 to 2014 from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, and estimate the effect of time spent chatting on social websites on a number of outcomes which reflect how these children feel about different aspects of their life, specifically: school work; appearance; family; friends; school attended; and life as a whole. We deal with the potential endogeneity of social networking via an instrumental variables approach using information on broadband speeds and mobile phone signal strength published by Ofcom. Our results suggest that spending more time on social networks reduces the satisfaction that children feel with all aspects of their lives, except for their friendships; and that girls suffer more adverse effects than boys. As well as addressing policy makers’ concerns about the effects of digital technology on children, this work also contributes to wider debates about the socioeconomic consequences of the internet and digital technologies more generally, a debate which to date has largely been based on evidence from outside of the UK.

Public Sphere and Collective Action. the Portuguese Movement of the “15th September”

Considering the social events and collective protests that have emerged in the international and national public sphere and more specifically the movement “To hell with the Troika! We want our lives!” – a social movement that started in June, 2012, against the Troika and the measures of the Portuguese Government, and which was responsible for the organization of the demonstration of the 15th September 2012, in Portugal, as well as in other cities in the country and in Europe, spreading in social digital networks and leading to subsequent public demonstrations, we propose a study concerning the current protest movements and the new forms of public mobilization, once activism has increased in electronic links (net activism) and on the street. Revisiting the conceptions of public sphere as a common space related to the notion of living-together, as publicity and visibility (Arendt), as a form and an event (Quere) and as a space of meeting, accessibility and movement (Joseph), we, thus, intend to discuss the following issues: the public space as a place of collective action (Cefai) and civic mobilization (Rouet); the importance of digital social networks in the new forms of communication – in relation with the modern public space (Habermas) - and the analysis of the movement of the 15th September in the light of Tillly’s perspective on social movements. It is also our aim to understand whether these new forms of organization, mobilization and acting in public are distant, or not, from traditional social movements and if we are facing the emergence of new public spaces. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s5p425