Extent Social Media Research Articles

Stakeholder Engagement With National Governing Bodies Through Social Media: An Insight Into USA Wrestling

This case study examines USA Wrestling’s (USAW) social media use during the 2014 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Wrestling Championships. During the three days of the event, a cross-platform content analysis of USAW’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram accounts formed the foundation of the case analysis. In addition, real-life qualitative interviews were conducted with employees involved with the national governing body’s (NGB) social media implementation plan. Students will be asked to develop social media-based messaging to reach and engage the NGB’s potential stakeholders, based on USAW’s communication strategy outcomes during the NCAA championships. The case provides students with the opportunity to: (a) analyze nonprofit sport organizations, (b) investigate how communication and marketing efforts differ in a not-for-profit environment, and (c) identify to what extent social media sites provide a cost-effective option to entities of similar status. To further support the pivotal role of social media within a sport organization’s overall marketing and communication mix, managerial implications pertaining to stakeholder identification and engagement strategies are included in the analysis.

The role of social media and brand equity during a product recall crisis: A shareholder value perspective

Utilizing an event study methodology of 185 product recall announcements, this study examines to what extent social media hurts a company’s shareholder value in the event of a product recall. In addition, we explore whether a company’s brand equity and engagement in online chatter potentially mitigate the negative effects of social media surrounding the recall. We operationalize four metrics of online word-of-mouth (WOM) that may moderate negative product recall effects: volume, valence, growth rate, and breadth. The findings suggest that product recalls result in significantly negative abnormal returns for firms. Furthermore, the volume, valence and growth rate of online WOM exacerbate this negative effect of a product recall on firm value. Most importantly, we find negative effects of the volume and the valence of online WOM on firm value are lower for brands with strong brand equity. Surprisingly, we find no effect of company involvement in mitigating the potential negative effects of social media during a product recall. Our findings highlight the threats of product recalls and demonstrate that building brand equity may help protect a company in the social media environment.

Social Media and On-Line Political Campaigning in Malaysia

Since controversies surrounding 2008 and 2013 Malaysian general elections due to rising Opposition, social media networks have played a vital role in conveying political messages and debates. In 2014 there were a few state by-elections and they were influenced by Kuala Lumpur Court of Appeal that found Anwar Ibrahim guilty of sodomy and sentenced him to five years jail (Kajang) on 23 March. He was expected to win, opening way for him to become chief minister of Selangor state, country’s main economic hub surrounding Kuala Lumpur. In another event, a well known Malaysian and opposition politician, Karpal Singh, the Tiger of Jelutong died tragically following a motor vehicle accident. This paper analyses influence of Facebook in Kajang by-election and to what extent social media impacted on victory by Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. Using compliance gaining theory, this paper presents strategies used by two major political parties, Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to achieve their electoral goals. Though online political campaigning is not new from a Western perspective it is for Malaysia. To understand how compliance gaining approach works in practice, selected political parties’ Facebook advertisements were examined within two weeks after nomination day and election observers from diverse backgrounds were interviewed. It can be concluded that since 2008 political messages have been heavily debated through blogs. Independent Internet Media, Facebook and Twitter are very popular among Malaysian political candidates and voters.

(Dis)Like Facebook? Dialectical and Critical Perspectives on Social Media

Apart from a few exceptions, there are no studies combining critical theoretical and empirical research in the context of social media. The overall aim of my article is to study the constraints and emancipatory potentials of web 2.0 and to assess to what extent social media can contribute to strengthen the idea of the communication and network commons and a commons-based information society. I follow an emancipatory research interest being based on a critical theory and political economy approach in three sections: I provide some foundational concepts of a critical theory of media, technology and society in section one. The task of section two is to study the users’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards the potentials and risks of social media. This section can be considered as a case study of the critical theory and dialectics of media, technology, and society. In section three, I raise the question if technological and/or social changes are required in order to bring about real social media. Section three furthermore discusses political implications and draws some conclusions.

Social Media Blog Sentiments and Brand Performances: Competitive and Asymmetric Effects

How and to what extent social media can generate desired benefits for firms has been of great interest to both researchers and practitioners. Extant literature has offered mixed perspectives comprising both optimism and skepticism. Furthermore, research has only begun to examine how social media can bring forth sustainable value for firms beyond sales and a simultaneous consideration of their impacts on a firm as well as its rivals in today’s competitive market remains lacking. In this study, we investigate the competitive effects of social media blog sentiments and brand performances of firms operating within the same industry. We assembled a novel, comprehensive dataset that combined the extent of social media blog valence and volume of competing brands in the personal computer industry and individual consumers’ evaluations of the brands collected at a daily level with 7,871 brand-day observations. Our analyses unveil three key insights: 1) a focal brand’s social media blog sentiment enhances its own brand performances and undermines its competitors’ brand performances in the long run; 2) the focal brand’s blog sentiment has a reinforcing carry-over effect on its own subsequent sentiment and a cannibalistic effect on its competitor brands’ social media blog sentiment; and 3) the positive effect of blog sentiment on brand performances is stronger when the focal brand is a non-leading (versus leading) brand, while the reinforcing effect on social media blog sentiment is stronger when the focal brand is a leading (versus non-leading) brand. The findings advance research by offering a more holistic understanding about the competitive and dynamic effects of social media, enabling firms to gauge what they may gain (or lose) from their own (or competitors’) use of social media.

Getting Personal? The Impact of Social Media on Preferential Voting

Ever since the successful presidential campaign of Barack Obama in 2008, attention has been drawn to the political impact of social media. However, it remains to be seen whether the successful Obama campaign is the exception or the rule. Our research focuses specifically on the impact of social media on preference voting. First it seeks to establish whether candidates make use of social media during election campaigns and whether voters in turn follow politicians. Afterwards it examines to what extent social media make a difference and yield a preference vote bonus. Theoretically, two types of effects are outlined, namely a direct effect of the number of followers a candidate has and a statistical interaction effect whereby a higher number of followers only yields more votes when the candidate actively uses the social media. To carry out our analysis, we make use of a unique dataset that combines data on social media usage and data on the candidates themselves (such as position on the list, being wellknown, exposure to the old media, gender, ethnicity and incumbency). The dataset includes information on all 493 candidates of the 10 parties that received at least one seat in the Dutch 2010 election. It turns out that candidates are eager to use social media, but that relatively few people follow candidates. There is a significant interaction effect of social media usage and the number of followers, but that effect appears to be relatively small.

Sosyal Medya ve Güven: Hükümet, Sivil Toplum Örgütleri ve Ticari Kuruluşlara Yönelik Ampirik Bir Araştırma

Özet Sosyal medyanın bireyler, gruplar, kurumlar ve toplumsal yapılar üzerinde giderek artan etkisi ve yaygınlaşma hızı bu araçlara duyulan güven düzeyini ve inanılırlığını tartışmayı gerektirmektedir. Kullanıcılarının çeşitliği, kullanım dilinin ve olanaklarının evrenselliği sosyal medyayı hem daha ulaşılır kılmakta hem de etkinliğini artırmaktadır. Güven kavramı ise tüm ilişki biçimleri içinde önemli bir yer teşkil etmekte, bireyler, gruplar ve kurumlar arasında açıklığı sağlayarak, çatışmalara yönelik çözümler sunmakta, toplumsal dayanışmayı sağlayarak, kurumların fonksiyonlarını sağlıklı bir şekilde yerine getirmesinde önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Sosyal medyanın kullanıcılar tarafından geleneksel kitle iletişim araçlarına kıyasla ne ölçüde inanılır ve güvenilir bulunduğu bir merak ve tartışma konusudur. Buradan hareketle toplumsal yapı üzerinde etkili olduğu düşünülen hükümet, sivil toplum örgütleri ve ticari kuruluşlara yönelik bilgi edinmede sosyal medyanın genç kanaat önderleri tarafından ne ölçüde güvenilir ve inanılır görüldüğü, bu araçları kullanım sıklığı ve geleneksel medya ve diğer araçlarla karşılaştırıldığında sosyal medyanın bir bilgi kaynağı olarak nasıl değerlendirildiği araştırmanın temel sorunsalını oluşturmaktadır.