Media Personalities Research Articles

SHIPPING AND FANSERVICE IN THE BOYS LOVE (BL) SERIES CONSUMPTION EXPERIENCE BY THE BRAZILIAN FANDOM

Just as the idol shipping culture is important in the consumption and celebration of K-pop culture, shipping (practice of pairing fictional characters or media personalities, placing them into sexual or romantic relationships, or supporting already existing pairs) and fanservice (an entertainment practice for fans that consists of the performance of intimacy among celebrity couples created and supported by the fandom) are defining and distinctive elements of the Thai “boys love” (BL) industry and its transnational fandom. I will discuss these phenomena in the consumption experience of BL series by the Brazilian fandom and present their operation among the fans with whom I researched, paying attention to their forms of fanservice consumption and shipping practice. The results presented come from my master's research, in which, based on the digital ethnographic method, I observed and interacted with fans on Twitter and Telegram for nine months. I conclude, among other things, that the practice of shipping and the consumption of fanservice are heterogeneous in fandom and are embroiled in moral disputes. Keywords: BL Series; Brazilian BL Fandom; Fanservice; Shipping.

The role of university project-based learning technology in shaping a holistic media personality

The role of university project-based learning technology in shaping a holistic media personality

Influences of social media in travel decision making

. This paper examines the considerable impact of social media on the decision-making processes related to travel. As social media platforms continue to expand rapidly, individuals gain access to a vast range of user-generated content and peer recommendations that significantly shape their travel choices. The study aims to explore how social media platforms influence perceptions, preferences, and decisions regarding travel. It investigates the ways in which platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and travel-specific review sites are utilized by travelers to gather information, share experiences, and connect with others. Additionally, the study looks into the influence of social media personalities, such as influencers and content creators, in shaping travel aspirations and choices. The interactive nature of social media, with features that allow users to seek real-time advice and engage with travel-related content, adds immediacy and personalization to the decision-making process. This research on the role of social media in travel decision-making is vital for various stakeholders, including travelers, the travel industry, and researchers. Understanding this impact enables travelers to make more informed choices by helping them navigate the extensive range of available travel information, aligning their decisions with personal preferences and interests. Insights from this research can assist travelers in enhancing their planning processes by identifying trustworthy information sources, obtaining real-time recommendations, and effectively engaging with social media content and communities to improve their travel experiences. By applying the "Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS)" method, decision-makers can evaluate options across multiple criteria. This involves assigning weights to each criterion, scoring each option, and calculating the overall results to determine the best choice. According to the results, Destination A ranks highest, while Destination E ranks lowest.

БЛОГИ ПОЛІТИЧНОГО КОМЕНТАТОРА ТА ОГЛЯДАЧА ВІТАЛІЯ ПОРТНІКОВА: ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ФУНКЦІОНУВАННЯ

<p><strong><em>The purpose of the article </em></strong><em>is to identify the features of the blog as a means of professional activity of journalist, political commentator and columnist Vitaliy Portnikov.</em></p><p><strong><em>Research methodology.</em></strong><em> The main methods used in the study are descriptive and comparative, the method of scientific observation, theoretical analysis and synthesis, the method of generalization (study of scientific literature on the issue of blogging), systematic (study of the object in connection with the identification of the features of blogging), a functional (disclosure of the essence of the blog as a means of professional activity of a journalist).</em></p><p><strong><em>Results.</em></strong><em> The blog is a powerful tool of communication in the professional activity of the famous Ukrainian journalist Vitaliy Portnikov. It is only important to use all the opportunities that the blogosphere offers to journalists. In fact, the analysis of Vitaliy Portnikov’s blog activity on social media has shown that the ability to work in this environment on different platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, YouTube, Instagram) requires a lot of effort and resources, but it allows him to make his journalistic work better known among readers and be recognized as an expert media personality. It is important that the journalist goes beyond the social media environment and has a successful blog in online publications. The analysis of these particular blog posts not only reveals certain features of the blogs and strategies of communication with the audience, but also allows us to identify their structure, topics and conceptual component.</em></p><p><strong><em>Novelty.</em></strong><em> The scientific novelty of the study is an attempt to investigate the features of blogs (creation and distribution of content, communication with the audience, structural, thematic and conceptual components) as a form of professional communication of political commentator and columnist Vitaliy Portnikov.</em></p><p><strong><em>Practical significance.</em></strong><em> The practical significance of the results is due to the growing role of Internet media and social networks in society as a means of communication, and in the journalistic environment as a tool for professional skills and image growth, which makes it possible to use the research materials in the process of analyzing specific aspects of journalistic skills in order to identify new aspects of the creative personality of a political commentator and columnist.</em></p><p><strong><em>Key words:</em></strong><em> blog, commentator, columnist, online media, social networks, audience, content.</em></p>

The Economics of Emotion: Unraveling the Idol-Fan Relationship in Digital Culture

This comprehensive study delves into the "idol economy" (IE), a key element in contemporary popular culture marked by intricate socio-economic interactions between media personalities ("idols") and their devoted fanbases. It focuses on the entertainment sector, consumer culture, and digital media, examining the impact of the idol economy on societal norms, values, and consumer behavior globally. Central to this research is "emotional labor," a concept by sociologist Arlie Hochschild, highlighting the management and manipulation of emotions to fulfill a role. In the idol economy, this pertains to idols' efforts to nurture relationships with fans and the emotional and mental investment from the fans' side. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, blending quantitative data (surveys, digital analytics) with qualitative insights (interviews, content analysis). Findings indicate a positive link between idols' emotional labor and economic gains, though with diminishing returns. Fans' emotional labor, like social media engagement, is closely tied to their satisfaction. Yet, aesthetic fatigue and intense fan engagement can adversely affect both fan satisfaction and idol earnings, suggesting a need for balanced emotional labor. Qualitatively, the research sheds light on the psychological and social effects on both idols and fans, including the stress of maintaining public images and the dangers of excessive emotional investment. It critically assesses the role of digital media, noting its facilitation of direct interactions and its contribution to emotional labor challenges. The study enriches academic discussions by integrating economic, sociological, and psychological perspectives, offering a comprehensive view of the idol economy. It recognizes limitations like reliance on self-reported data and proposes future research areas, such as longitudinal studies and examinations of new digital platforms. In summary, the paper presents a multifaceted analysis of the idol economy, emphasizing the complex interplay of emotional labor and its implications for idols, fans, and the industry at large. These insights are vital for understanding the evolving relationships between economic incentives, psychological drives, and digital media in contemporary fan cultures.

Uchenna Okoye: renowned dentist, author, and media personality

Uchenna Okoye: renowned dentist, author, and media personality

“Cunt is beautiful! […] cunt is knowledge”: Germaine Greer’s illustrated magazine articles as sex education for women

ABSTRACT Public intellectual and subversive media personality, feminist and anarchist Germaine Greer wrote multiple innovative texts on feminine issues in the 1960s and 70s, and particularly on women’s sexuality. Among her less researched texts were those published in counterculture magazines Oz and Suck, both characterized by original and trailblazing verbal and visual contents. In those texts, Greer presented her view of feminine sexuality as a revolutionary force in the struggle for equality, and in the process, provided women with essential, silenced knowledge about their bodies and sexualities. This article discusses Greer’s sexual pedagogy for women based on her texts published in both magazines and on the visual images attached to them. These imagetexts are analyzed within the historical context of the sexual revolution and countercultural press of the 1960-70s in Britain and within the theoretical frameworks of critical sexual literacy and critical visual literacy and analysis.

Nie tylko folkowa osobność Berta Janscha

In this text, we attempt, probably for the first time in Poland, at the synthetic presentation of the artistic achievements and not only creative personality of Bert Jansch, sometimes referred to as “British Dylan” and highly appreciated by fellow folk musicians as well as by genuine rock stars, such as Jimmy Page or Neil Young. Jansch’s career as a truly unique folk singer/guitar player/composer/lyric writer shall be dicussed here in a wider analytical perspective, with vital references to the history of the British and American folk movement as well as, first of all, to the career of his transatlantic “counterpart”. Jansch’s inability to comfortably fit into any folk or folk-rock stereotypes with respect to music, lyrics or media personality shall also be stressed, in the same comparative context.

SMM promotion of tourism

Object: The purpose of this work is to identify the features of SMM tools and how to use them to promote tourism services in modern conditions.Methods: This study includes an analysis of the promotion of a number of travel companies through social media tools.Results: The article discusses SMM tools and methods of their application for the promotion of tourist services in modern conditions. In the age of globalization of the information space, when the Internet has covered almost all spheres of activity, tourism has received a new opportunity to promote its product. After all, today the Internet is not only a form of communication, but also an indispensable tool for the delivery and maintenance of information, business development. Social networks play a special role, thanks to which a new market is developing with all the necessary technological and social conditions. The tools utilized by social networks, along with their operational mechanisms, enable a specific tourism company to distinguish itself from the sea of competitors. This results in lowered expenses for online advertising, heightened customer loyalty, and the attraction of fresh clientele. In a global context, social networks can become a tool for creating a positive image of the country, redistributing tourist flows, and forming an information base for tourists.Conclusions: Despite all the positive aspects of social networks, the study identified significant problems that negatively affect the development of tourism. These factors include: fraud, distortion of reality, the authority of the opinion of media personalities, uneven coverage of age groups of tourists. These and possible other problems today require special attention and require a set of measures for advertising and promotion in social media.

Strategies used by youth presenters in local entertainment programmes to create identities in Kenyan media

The study sought to establish how youth presenters on local entertainment programmes in Kenyan media use language to create identities among themselves and their viewers. While media personalities carry on their social interactions, the viewers and listeners are using the media as an active component of the construction of their own interactions and identities. The study set out to establish how the youth presenters on local entertainment programmes use language to create identities among their viewers and listeners and to highlight the type of content the youth presenters present on selected youth programmes. Using observation and recording as the main tools of data collection, a corpus of four programmes (two radio programmes and two TV programmes) were purposively sampled, observed by the researcher, transcribed, coded, and then thematically analysed. Guided by Wodak's Discourse Historical Approach and Myers-Scotton’s Matrix Language Frame theory that provided the framework for analysis, the study adopted a descriptive research design. The research design provided insights into the characteristics of youth language that indicated identity creation in the programmes under study. The findings of this study revealed that some of the features of youth language that are used to create identity are code-mixing, code-switching, Shembeteng, slang, borrowing, Sheng and short forms, which are also the hallmarks of youth language. The findings of the study contribute to new knowledge in terms of language evolution among the youth.

Relationship Between Social Media Use and Personality

In recent years, more and more individuals take a lot of time on social media. There is growing concern over the possible impacts of using social media on an individual's personality. This article examines how social media use and personality are related, as well as the variables that affect this relationship. The Big Five personality model is primarily used to investigate this relationship, with extroverted and open individuals found to use social media more frequently. Additionally, histrionic personality traits and female gender have been positively linked to social media addiction. The type of social media used can also impact personality, with Facebook potentially aiding individuals with low levels of satisfaction and self-esteem to build social capital. Other factors, such as sex, region, and social isolation, are also explored in relation to social media use and personality. Understanding the relationship between the two is crucial for assessing potential effects on individuals and informing interventions. Future research should examine how social media use and personality traits differ among different age groups and different culture. Also, how social media addiction develops over time and how it affects individuals' lives are essential to study.

(Over)Eating with Our Eyes: An Examination of Mukbang Influencer Marketing and Consumer Engagement with Food Brands

With the popularity and success of food-related social media content, food marketers have begun utilizing social media influencers to promote their food brands. In particular, mukbang—video broadcasts of individuals eating copious amounts of food—is a prominent genre of public social media food exhibition that can provide opportunities for food-related social media influencer marketing. The present study examines how parasocial interaction (i.e. nonreciprocal interpersonal relationships formed with media personalities) with a mukbang social media influencer impacts advertising effectiveness and information credibility. A total of 404 U.S. participants completed an online survey. Structural equation modeling found that participants’ parasocial interactions with mukbang social media influencers predicted perceived source trustworthiness, perceived source expertise, and credibility of the information regarding the food content posted. Furthermore, influencer source credibility and information credibility positively impacted consumer brand and video attitudes, as well as behavioral intentions to consume the foods featured in the social media content. Study results provide evidence-based implications for food-related social media influencer marketing strategies and insight into the important role of information credibility on eating behaviors of social media consumers.

Приметы времени и репрезентация актуальных событий в текстах современных пожеланий

Such a speech genre as wishing, which functions both in real communication and in the Internet environment, has considerable flexibility in terms of content, despite the rather stereotypical forms of expression. The content of wishes is traditionally influenced by the personality factor of the addressee, their gender, age, social and professional affiliation, hobbies. In addition, the wish genre actively responds to changes taking place in the social sphere. Themes, vocabulary and intertextuality of wishes reflect various processes that occur in the modern culture. The purpose of this study was to identify markers, or signs of time, that label the text as belonging to a specific historical period. The material of the study was mainly the friendly wishes of young people, recorded in speech and Internet communication, as well as the wishes of older people. The article analyzes the linguistic and content signs of time. Various types of precedent phenomena that are often found in wishes are considered, such as: song lyrics and advertising texts, names of musicians, media personalities, movie characters, names of social networks, popular public places. Precedents, firstly, give wishes an individual creative character, and secondly, serve as features of the 21stcentury. They can be said to be establishing the dates of the texts of wishes. Particular attention is paid to how global extralinguistic events that concern all age groups of people (such as the coronavirus pandemic, a special operation in Ukraine) affect the content plan of wishes, generate new thematic components in their texts, or update and fill traditional desiderata (meaningful wish components) with new connotations. The conclusion is made about the dependence of human values, actualized in the texts of wishes, on the social processes of the given period.

“Stick to Sports” and Critical Sports Media Industry Studies

This research aims at unpacking the discourse of “stick to sports,” which audiences and industry wield to police social and cultural boundaries involving corporate control, race, gender, and politics. The “stick to sports” discourse is increasingly prevalent in sports discourse, but also national political discourse, and is used to dictate who can and cannot speak and what kinds of discussions are appropriate concerning sports and politics. In this article, the sports media franchise ESPN and their “No-Politics” policy, media personality Clay Travis’ PragerU polemic, Dan Le Batard, and Jemele Hill are analyzed as sites for understanding how corporations leverage this discourse to claim neutrality or unity while disciplining employees for veering too far politically. This paper analyzes “stick to sports” through industry practices and textual extensions of the discourse, calling for sports media and communication as a discipline to incorporate a critical sports media industry studies (CSMIS) approach.

The activity of Orthodox bloggers as the factor of the Orthodox religious organizations modernization

The article, based on online observation data, analyzes the activities of Orthodox bloggers in modern Russian society in the conceptual framework of the theories of secularization, post-secular society and the mediatization of religion. The authors identify the main areas of activity of Orthodox bloggers, specify the forms of their interaction with official confessional mass media, assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the information policy of the Russian Orthodox Church. After the COVID-19 pandemic, information policy is being liberalized and restrictions are being lifted from the online activities of proactive Orthodox clergy looking for new approaches to the external and internal mission of Orthodoxy. There are two main directions of Orthodox blogging: catechetical and educational; the formation of public opinion in the circles of the Orthodox clergy and the affirmation of the value of social solidarity. In the first case, the modernization of the social practices of the clergy is expressed in introducing the audience of “new media” to religion and educational influence on it, in addition to the usual examples of bilateral interaction, in the second — in increasing the authority of the clergy-bloggers as media personalities and the opportunity to use near-church sites for informal public control over the activities of the church leadership. As a result of the activity of active blogger priests, a network environment of assistants, volunteers and consultants (IT specialists, psychologists, lawyers, etc.) arises around parishes, hierarchical organizations in their essence.

Modeling User Characteristics Associated with Interdependent Privacy Perceptions on Social Media

“Interdependent” privacy violations occur when users share private photos and information about other people in social media without permission. This research investigated user characteristics associated with interdependent privacy perceptions, by asking social media users to rate photo-based memes depicting strangers on the degree to which they were too private to share. Users also completed questionnaires measuring social media usage and personality. Separate groups rated the memes on shareability, valence, and entertainment value. Users were less likely to share memes that were rated as private, except when the meme was entertaining or when users exhibited dark triad characteristics. Users with dark triad characteristics demonstrated a heightened awareness of interdependent privacy and increased sharing of others’ photos. A model is introduced that highlights user types and characteristics that correspond to different privacy preferences: privacy preservers, ignorers, and violators. We discuss how interventions to support interdependent privacy must effectively influence diverse users.

The results of an empirical study of the dynamics of perception of the international image of foreign countries by Russian youth in 2002–2023

The article presents the results of empirical studies of 2002–2006 and 2020–2023 by the author Olga Petrovna Gorbushina on the conditions for the formation and promotion of the country's image at the international level. Based on the methodological and empirical tools for studying the structure, models and factors of forming the image of countries, developed and defended by the author in a dissertation research in 2002–2005, a similar empirical study was conducted in 2020–2023, the main results of which are presented in this article. To compare and analyze the dynamics of perception of the image of foreign countries by modern Russian youth, the article provides an analysis of the results of both studies. The author identified and described the dynamics of changes in the ideas of Russian youth about the international image of foreign countries. The data obtained by the author are analyzed at the interdisciplinary level: at the intersection of psychology, political science, economics, and pedagogy. The reasons for the changes in the verbal choices of Russian youth on four scales are analyzed in detail. O.P. Gorbushina revealed an increase in the influence of such factors in the formation of the image of countries as the nature and depth of the image-forming information received about the country and emotionally colored assessments promoted on the Internet and the media through the activities of media personalities (media personalities), bloggers, YouTubers, influencers. The author gives and analyzes an example of the successful promotion of a positive international image of the country due to the purposeful actions of the government of the state to create and regulate the activities of these agents of image-forming information about the country. The results of verbal elections by Russian youth, the most attractive country for life and creating a family, are presented. Ator analyzed the reasons that contribute to the active promotion of the state at the international level on the example of strengthening the positive image of South Korea around the world, studied the phenomenon of the South Korean wave «Hallyu». Based on the data obtained and the analyzed results, O.P. Gorbushina proposed a system of psychological competencies (hard skills and soft skills) — skills, abilities, knowledge that modern Russian media personalities (media personalities), bloggers and influencers and their mentors need to have in order to successfully form and promote a positive international image of Russia. The conditions for the effectiveness of the activities of media personalities (media personalities), bloggers, YouTubers, influencers and their mentors to strengthen and promote a positive international image of Russia are outlined. The spheres and areas of practical application of the results and conclusions in the Federal State Educational Standards, state educational organizations and public youth movements are proposed to form a positive image of Russia, both within their own country and at the international level.

On the Issue of Conflict Potential of Socio-Political Discourse in the Russian Blogosphere

This article examines the features of socio-political discourse based on the texts of online blogs of public opinion leaders —I. Varlamov, Yu. Latynina, R. Kadyrov, N. Mikhalkov, S. Mikheev, and M. Simonyan. The purpose of the article is to determine the degree of conflictogenicity of the texts of the Russian blogosphere, specifically the blogs of media personalities, public opinion leaders; the results obtained will provide for predicting and preventing the occurrence of conflict situations by establishing and reducing the conflict index of the text, the main indicator of which is frequency of the corresponding lexical markers. The authors distinguish several subtypes of socio-political discourse and their features. The genre specificity of such new media phenomenon as Internet blog is considered. There is a high degree of conflictogenicity in analytical texts, signaled by specific lexical markers identified with the help of the content analysis method. Foreign policy texts, regardless of their authors’ personal views, appear to have the greatest number of conflict markers, which means that political analytics, the object of consideration of which lies in the plane of international and intercultural communication, has a significant degree of conflict potential. In the Internet, as in journalism in general, the addressees of texts and the addressees of conflicting vocabulary are not the same due to the specificity of discursive space, in which direct recipients of information are blog subscribers, who as a rule have a political orientation close to that of the author. The very same conflicting vocabulary refers to persons who occupy the opposite position. The manifestation of conflictogenicity in blog texts is analyzed at three levels: stylistic, semantic and pragmatic, which makes it possible to identify all the features of conflictogenicity markers in the liberal, patriotic and official subtypes of socio-political discourse. The specificity of such features is revealed in each of the three main subtypes of the Internet discourse: liberal, patriotic and official. In the authors’ blogs under analysis, the highest index of conflict is characteristic of texts belonging to the liberal subtype of socio-political discourse due to the greater frequency of use of the units related to lexical markers of conflict, their stylistically reduced modality—up to obscene words. At the same time, the conflict nature of the patriotic and official subtypes is closer to the traditional journalism style and shows less expressiveness in the use of metaphors, irony, phraseology, words with a seme of direct negative evaluation.

The Impact of Social Media on Intimate Relationships among Chinese College Students

With the high degree of openness of the Internet, the number of young people exposed to social networking sites is increasing. Previous research has shown that there are many ways to influence people's perceptions of intimate relationships, and social media has played a role in recent years. Yet, the exact aspects influencing people's perceptions of relationships still need to be discovered. The current study focused on how social media affected Chinese college students' perceptions of romantic relationships through questionnaires and offered suggestions for improving young people's well-being in relationships. The findings highlighted that social media is associated with relationship dissatisfaction. It influenced college students' perceptions of these aspects of relationships: love permanence and commitment, confidence to enter a relationship, gender dyad, and financial and emotional independence. Such results suggested that social media may have a detrimental effect on young people's impressions of relationships but not on their desire to establish close connections. Besides, this study revealed that these effects are correlated with the individual's media usage, personality, and self-esteem. This study has implications for changing young people's views on relationships and enhancing their sense of well-being in a relationship.

INVESTIGATION OF STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD MATHEMATICS IN MIDDLE SCHOOLS IN SAUDI ARABIA

<p>Many students in Saudi Arabia complain that they achieve poor results in mathematics and appear to have a negative attitude toward the subject. The current study, therefore, investigates students’ attitudes towards mathematics, using a mixed method approach, in 13-16 years old students from the intermediate level of education. The age was important because this period is thought to be crucial to the formation of lasting attitudes and opinions. The first main research question, the study aims to address is therefore, “What are students’ attitudes towards mathematics in Saudi middle schools?” The study also aims to explore gender issues using a second research question, “Is there any significant gender difference in students’ attitudes towards mathematics?” The survey was conducted in two government-run middle schools in Saudi Arabia, one boys’ school and one girls’ school, because Saudi Arabia has an exclusively single-sex education system. 180 participants (90 boys and 90 girls) were asked to complete a questionnaire to show their views about mathematics. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected at the same time, but the analysis of each type of information was conducted separately to enable the full picture to be understood. T-test was used to explore any gender differences. The main findings were that both male and female students in two Saudi middle schools show a positive attitude towards mathematics, with female students being slightly more positive than males. The factors which affect attitudes towards mathematics in both genders include the usefulness of mathematics in everyday and future life and career, the teacher, enjoyment of mathematics and the difficulty of the subjects. Girls’ attitudes towards mathematics were also affected by the influence of social media personalities and internet teachers. </p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0050/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>