Social Media Research Articles

Mentorship of New(er) School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists Beyond the Clinical Fellowship: A Pilot Study

Purpose: The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the perspectives of school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) with varying levels of experience to identify the components of a postclinical fellow (CF) school-based speech-language pathology mentorship program, barriers to implementation, and potential solutions. Method: After seeking feedback from school-based SLPs, a survey was created and distributed via e-mail and national social media sites. Topics included gathering perspectives about experiences with school-based speech-language pathology mentorship, components of a possible post-CF mentorship program, barriers to implementation, and potential solutions. Results: Sixty-five school-based SLPs with varying years of experience responded to the survey. Results suggested that respondents felt a setting-specific post-CF school-based speech-language pathology mentorship program may be valuable. Time, compensation, and filling knowledge gaps were identified as both important components of a mentor program but also potential challenges to implementation. Conclusions: A post-CF school-based speech-language pathology mentorship program has the potential to be beneficial to both parties in tangible and intangible ways. SLPs appear to be interested in mentorship not only as a way to support future generations of SLPs but also for a sense of self-fulfillment and professional development. A formal mentorship program may operationalize support related to decision making, advocacy, paperwork, scheduling, and working through challenging cases.

A Girlfriend Gaze on Romantic Feelings: Coconstructing Postfeminist Selfhood on Douban

This article discusses how postfeminism plays into the exchange of romantic relationship advice between young women on the Chinese social media platform Douban. Employing Fairclough’s approach to critical discourse analysis, we elucidate how the process of giving and receiving romantic relationship advice facilitates the construction of a normative, postfeminist selfhood specific to China’s post-socialist transition. Under postfeminist aspirations for independence, self-empowerment, and personal success, this selfhood is constructed in social-mediated communication to offer an instrumentalist assessment of romantic relationships. In doing so, young Chinese women repudiate each other’s lovesickness, pathologizing romantic desires to achieve a false sense of emotional stability and mental strength. This gives rise to a girlfriend gaze on women’s emotional changes, establishing a self-/peer surveillance mechanism that regulates how members of the Douban community engage each other on the platform. While masked with a veneer of female empowerment and sisterly help, this mode of self-/peer surveillance not only perpetuates the stereotypical association of women with emotionality and irrationality but also marginalizes public discussions on structural gender inequalities, undermining collective efforts to challenge the patriarchal status quo. The research findings shed light on the functioning of neoliberal governance in contemporary China in the context of social-mediated communication.

Social Media Data Mining in Public Relations Research

ABSTRACT Data mining represents a suite of data collection, management, and analysis approaches to elicit novel findings from large behavioral data sets. Prior to collecting data, researchers should define the population and consider whether a sample is sufficient. Especially large data sets may require sophisticated data management approaches such as database architectures. Computational resources likewise facilitate an array of cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. While data mining is not appropriate for every research problem, it constitutes an invaluable set of research techniques that is well-suited to the online domain, making it a vital resource for PR researchers to employ in the future.

Plant intelligence dux: a comprehensive rebuttal of Kingsland and Taiz.

Intelligence is a fundamental property for all life enabling an increased probability of survival and reproduction under wild circumstances. Kingsland and Taiz (2024) think that plants are not intelligent but seem unaware of the extensive literature about intelligence, memory, learning and chromatin topology in plants. Their views are consequently rejected. Their claim of fake quotations is shown to result from faulty reasoning and lack of understanding of practical biology. Their use of social media as scholarly evidence is unacceptable. Darwin's views on intelligence are described, and their pertinence to the adaptive responses of plants is discussed. Justifications for comments I have made concerning McClintock and her "thoughtful" cell, von Sachs writings as indicating purpose (teleonomy) to plant behaviour, Went and Thimann's allusions to plant intelligence and Bose legacy as the father of plant electrophysiologyare described. These scientists were usually first in their field of knowledge, and their understanding was consequently deeper. The article finishes with a brief critical analysis of the 36 scientists who were used to condemn plant neurobiology as of no use. It is concluded that participants signed up to a false prospectus because contrary evidence was omitted.

From Empty Parking Lots to Border Fences: A Visual and Sensory Ethnography of the Finnish–Russian Borderscapes in ‘Times of Stress’

ABSTRACT This article studies everyday bordering processes at the Finnish – Russian border during ‘times of stress’, specifically, following the COVID-19 pandemic and the onset of the war in Ukraine. The research is grounded in ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the summer and autumn of 2022 in four border cities (Imatra and Lappeenranta in Finland, and Svetogorsk and Vyborg in Russia). The study centres on visual and sensory observations made during the fieldwork, as well as discussions taking place in local newspapers and their social media channels. The Finnish – Russian borderland is approached as a ‘borderscape’ – a site where borders are constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed in everyday life by heterogeneous agents. The research illustrates that the political context shaped the Finnish – Russian borderscapes concerning the material border landscape, people’s experiences and imaginations. The study argues that visual and sensory ethnography can add deeper and more nuanced layers to the understanding of borderscapes as well as provide alternative ways of conveying research findings.

Understanding of Health literacy among Healthcare students in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study.

Health literacy is the cognitive and social abilities that influence a person's motivation and capacity to learn, comprehend, and use information to improve and maintain good health. We aimed to investigate Healthcare Students' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding Health Literacy in the Riyadh Province of Saudi Arabia. This study used prevalidated electronic questionnaires among healthcare undergraduates from colleges affiliated with Saudi University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from December to April 2024. Healthcare students were asked to answer a self-designed online questionnaire sent to them through social media platforms. The response rate was 560 out of 600 (93.3%); 293 of the 560 students (52.3%) were aged between 23 and 24 years (mean age was 21.29 SD = 1.852). The mean GPA among the students was 4.31(± 0.682). The average overall score for health literacy among healthcare students was 100.92 ± 11.80. The mean scores for knowledge were 24.17 ± 4.67, attitudes were 38.65 ± 4.20, and practice in health literacy was 38.09 ± 5.09. Among all healthcare students, 50.2% reported good knowledge, 54.1% had good attitudes, and 50.1% exhibited good practices in health literacy. However, students' knowledge (p = 0.019) and training (p = 0.024) in health literacy were significantly associated with smoking cigarettes. Additionally, smoking shisha was significantly associated with students' knowledge (p = 0.022), attitudes (p = 0.001), and practices (p = 0.001) in health literacy. Our study highlights that half of the healthcare students reported limited knowledge, attitude, and practice in health literacy. Age, gender, and course of study did not show significant differences. Rather, students who did not smoke cigarettes or shisha were found to have higher knowledge, attitudes, and practice in health literacy compared to smokers. However, to improve health literacy, additional education and increased awareness are needed. Further investigation is warranted to address the factors related to poor health literacy.

INDIVIDUAL FACTORS, SOCIAL RELATIONS, UTILIZE SOCIAL MEDIA ON BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Globalization and the development of information technology, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector has become the main pillar in driving the local economy. Garut Regency, West Java, has great potential in developing MSMEs which play an important role in job creation, economic growth and income distribution. There are challenges in optimizing the growth and sustainability of MSMEs in this area. This research aims to examine the influence of individual factors, social relationships, and the ability to utilize social media on the development of MSME businesses in Garut Regency. The method used is an explanation survey with a quantitative and qualitative approach (mixed methods). Quantitative data was collected through questionnaires, while qualitative data was obtained from Focus Group Discussions and in-depth interviews. The results of analysis using Structural Equation Modeling show that individual factors have an influence of 32.1%, social relations have an influence of 32.9%, and the ability to utilize social media has an influence of 35.9% on the development of MSME businesses in Garut Regency. Simultaneously, these three factors have an influence of 44% on business development. This research provides a basis for formulating more effective policies and programs to support the growth of MSMEs in Garut Regency.

Social bots spoil activist sentiment without eroding engagement.

Social bots are highly active on social media platforms, significantly affecting online discourse. We analyzed the dynamic nature of bot engagement related to Extinction Rebellion climate change protests in 2019. We found bots to impact human behavior more than the other way around during active discussions. To assess the causal impact of bot encounters, we compared communication histories of those who interacted with bots with matched users who did not. There is a consistent negative impact of bot encounters on subsequent sentiment. The impact on sentiment is conditional on the user's original support level, with a more negative impact on those with a favourable or neutral stance towards climate activism. Political 'astroturfing' bots induce an increase in human communications, while encounters with other bots result in a decrease. Bot encounters do not change activists' engagement levels in climate activism. Despite the seemingly minor impact of individual bot encounters, the cumulative effect is profound due to the large volume of bot communication. Our findings underscore the importance of monitoring the influence of social bots, as with new technological advancements distinguishing between bots and humans becomes ever more challenging.

Communities of secondary science teachers: a systematic review

ABSTRACT Many parts of the western world are struggling with a teacher shortage, which is particularly severe in some teaching areas including science. Part of a potential solution to this shortage is reducing teacher attrition rates, especially among early career teachers. At the same time, a need has been identified to drive larger numbers of students towards studying science. This creates an environment whereby teachers are required to teach science either out of field, or out of science specialisation. The community in which teachers operate has been identified as critical to both increasing teacher satisfaction and driving effective professional development. At the same time, the emergence of social media provides an avenue for teachers to effectively communicate and collaborate. This systematic review, therefore, aims to summarise the research on communities of in-service secondary science teachers since 2010, corresponding to the significant adoption of social media. It shows that whilst significant research has been done across a range of different community structures, there exists a lack of rigorous distinction between these different styles. There is also a research gap surrounding the use of social media, as well as the use of communities to support out of specialisation science teachers.

Beyond Sentiment Exploring the Dynamics of AIGC-Generated Sports Content and User Engagement on Xiaohongshu

This study explores the impact of AIGC-generated sports content on user sentiment and engagement on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media platform.Using MediaCrawler, we collected posts and comments related to sports topics generated by AI. Sentiment analysis was performed using SnowNLP to classify comments as positive or negative, with 57.1% showing positive sentiment and 42.9% negative. Despite the prevalence of positive sentiment, no significant difference in engagement (measured by likes) was observed between positive and negative comments.Temporal analysis revealed that user engagement is event-driven, with spikes in positive sentiment during major sports events. Additionally, word cloud analysis highlighted promotional and spam-like themes, suggesting challenges in content moderation. The interaction patterns showed a skewed distribution, with a small number of highly active users dominating discussions.The findings suggest that timing, relevance, and event alignment are more critical than sentiment polarity in driving engagement.The study provides insights for content creators and platforms on optimizing AIGC strategies through trend alignment and effective user collaboration.

Picturebooks Increase the Frequency and Diversity of Emotion Vocabulary in Children’s Language Environments: Modeling Potential Benefits to Emotional Literacy, with Pedagogical Resources

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This study examines the frequency and diversity of emotion vocabulary in children’s picturebooks, as well as its deviation from typical spoken language environments. We analyzed a corpus of 2146 transcripts of individuals reading picturebooks aloud on social media platforms, using an emotion-specific vocabulary list, and two emotion-related word lists: the Valence Aware Dictionary for Sentiment Reasoning (VADER) List, and the NRC Word-Emotion Lexicon Intensity Lists. Models of daily input assess how regular book reading impacts the diversity and quantity of emotion vocabulary in children’s language environments. The findings reveal that emotion vocabulary in children’s picturebooks is more diverse than found in typical samples of child-directed speech and that regular reading substantially increases exposure to emotion vocabulary in the language environment of children beyond their input from child-directed speech alone. The study underscores the significant role of regular picturebook reading in enriching children’s quantity and quality of emotion vocabulary exposure and the opportunities this may provide for emotional literacy development. Practice or Policy: The findings are supplemented with emotion vocabulary wordlists produced by the study and provided here (https://tinyurl.com/4pvcb8b4). These constitute new resources for supporting children’s emotion vocabulary acquisition during early education and development.

Influence of Social Media Marketing on Destination Choice among European Travelers

Purpose: The aim of the study was to analyze the influence of social media marketing on destination choice among European travelers. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: Social media marketing has a significant influence on destination choice among European travelers, as it shapes their perceptions and decision-making processes. Studies show that platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube serve as key sources of inspiration and information, with user-generated content and influencer recommendations often playing a pivotal role in shaping travel preferences. Travelers are particularly drawn to visually appealing content, which showcases destinations' attractions, culture, and experiences in an engaging manner. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Uses and gratifications theory (UGT), social proof theory & elaboration likelihood Model (ELM) may be used to anchor future studies on the influence of social media marketing on destination choice among European travelers. Travel businesses should invest in creating visually compelling content that showcases their offerings. Destination marketing organizations (DMOs) should adopt policies that prioritize high-quality visual content in their marketing strategies.

From Polarities and Perspectives of Social Media: Instagram, TikTok, and Mental Well-Being in the Post-Pandemic Society

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted global mental health, with social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok playing a crucial role in shaping individuals' experiences and well-being. This mixed-methods study investigates the influence of these platforms on mental health outcomes in the post-pandemic era, combining quantitative surveys ( N = 200) with qualitative interviews ( N = 15) across different age groups. The researchers explored relationships between social media use and mental health indicators, examined age-related differences in experiences, and uncovered themes related to social comparison, body image concerns, and the dual role of social media in providing both support and stress. Findings contribute to the growing body of research on social media's impact on mental health, highlighting the complex nature of social media use and its varied effects on different age groups. This study offers insights for mental health professionals, social media platforms, and policymakers in developing targeted interventions and guidelines for promoting healthy social media use and supporting digital well-being in the post-pandemic context.

Marketing and communication in the wine sector: the Catalan wine DO on social networks

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze the social media strategies of wineries from three quality Denominations of Origin (DOs): Alella, Empordà and Priorat (Spain). It explores how digitalization has become a crucial element in contemporary marketing communication strategies and examines the presence and use of social media by these wineries.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a quantitative methodology to identify the most commonly used social media platforms among the selected DOs. Additionally, a content analysis is conducted to understand the themes these DOs use to engage with their audience. The analysis focuses on the social media presence and content strategies of the wineries within the specified DOs.FindingsThe study reveals that an increased understanding and utilization of new technologies by local citizens could enhance the digital development of these wineries. The research identifies the prevalent social media platforms used by the DOs and examines the content themes that wineries use to connect with their audience.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings emphasize the need to improve digital literacy among local communities to support the digital growth of wineries. The study also highlights the importance of understanding which social media platforms and content themes are most effective for engaging target audiences. Future research could explore the impact of specific digital strategies on business performance and consumer engagement.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the understanding of social media strategies in the wine industry, particularly within Catalan DOs, by providing insights into the use of digital tools and content themes in winery marketing.

Strategi Pengelolaan Instagram @indonesiabaik.id Sebagai Media Informasi Publik oleh Kominfo

Instagram @indonesiabaik.id is a social media managed by the Ministry of Communication and Information, a social media management strategy is needed as a public information medium. This study aims to find out how to implement the strategy used by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics in managing social media Instagram @indonesiabaik.id, this is examined through the theory of four steps of public relations in processing the data obtained to achieve the expected research objectives. The research method used is a qualitative approach and descriptive analysis techniques, data obtained came from in-depth interviews with informants. The results obtained from the data processed in this study show that the Instagram social media management strategy used by @indonesiabaik.id is in accordance with what is contained in the four steps of public relations theory, this can be seen from the processes and activities carried out in managing Instagram @indonesiabaik.id when defining problems, planning and compiling programs, taking action and communicating, and in carrying out program evaluations that are in accordance with the theory used in this study as a reference. Keywords: communication strategy, social media, Instagram, information media, qualitative

Uncovering Key Factors That Drive the Impressions of Online Emerging Technology Narratives

Social media platforms play a significant role in facilitating business decision making, especially in the context of emerging technologies. Such platforms offer a rich source of data from a global audience, which can provide organisations with insights into market trends, consumer behaviour, and attitudes towards specific technologies, as well as monitoring competitor activity. In the context of social media, such insights are conceptualised as immediate and real-time behavioural responses measured by likes, comments, and shares. To monitor such metrics, social media platforms have introduced tools that allow users to analyse and track the performance of their posts and understand their audience. However, the existing tools often overlook the impact of contextual features such as sentiment, URL inclusion, and specific word use. This paper presents a data-driven framework to identify and quantify the influence of such features on the visibility and impact of technology-related tweets. The quantitative analysis from statistical modelling reveals that certain content-based features, like the number of words and pronouns used, positively correlate with the impressions of tweets, with increases of up to 2.8%. Conversely, features such as the excessive use of hashtags, verbs, and complex sentences were found to decrease impressions significantly, with a notable reduction of 8.6% associated with tweets containing numerous trailing characters. Moreover, the study shows that tweets expressing negative sentiments tend to be more impressionable, likely due to a negativity bias that elicits stronger emotional responses and drives higher engagement and virality. Additionally, the sentiment associated with specific technologies also played a crucial role; positive sentiments linked to beneficial technologies like data science or machine learning significantly boosted impressions, while similar sentiments towards negatively viewed technologies like cyber threats reduced them. The inclusion of URLs in tweets also had a mixed impact on impressions—enhancing engagement for general technology topics, but reducing it for sensitive subjects due to potential concerns over link safety. These findings underscore the importance of a strategic approach to social media content creation, emphasising the need for businesses to align their communication strategies, such as responding to shifts in user behaviours, new demands, and emerging uncertainties, with dynamic user engagement patterns.

Social media and amblyopia: evaluating content and intent on Instagram

ABSTRACT Introduction: Social media is a widely-used avenue for the public to find health information. In particular, Instagram is a popular social media platform among adults who may have children within the amblyogenic age range, and it may be used to find amblyopia-related information. The purpose of this study is to assess the quality of the amblyopia information on Instagram. Methods: The top 200 publicly available Instagram posts about amblyopia from October to December 2022 were reviewed and scored using the Currency, Reliability, Authority, and Purpose (CRAP) test. Results: A quarter of posts were from healthcare providers (ophthalmologists, optometrists, opticians), and only 3% of posts were specifically from pediatric ophthalmologists. Most posts, however, were from businesses (51%), which were of lower quality than posts by providers. Discussion: Instagram represents a tremendous opportunity to educate the public. Better utilizing this resource may allow medical professionals to broadly spread accurate, unbiased data.

IMPACT OF MASS MEDIA ON LOCAL BUSINESSES CASE STUDY IN MANGOCHI DISTRICT

Every business one way or the other gets advertised, it can be a poster on one’s door or a commercial advert on the national broadcasting station. The aim of all these efforts is to attract customers, increase awareness, and introduces a new product and many more. Mass media is the only platform that allows entrepreneurs to reach a wide area because of its ability to extend media coverage. Mass media refers to a diversified collection of media technologies that reach a larger audience via mass communication. Mass media is every wide area that cover different media channels form print media, electronic media and social media. All these aspects are part of mass media. Therefore, having noted what mass media is, this study will aim at finding the impacts of mass media on local businesses in Mangochi district. The research will try to find how local entrepreneurs are using mass media in their business, the challenges that local entrepreneurs are facing in relation to mass media, benefits that local entrepreneurs are obtaining with the help of mass media and many more. The aim of this study is to find whether mass media is important to a local business or not. This study will use qualitative method in collecting and analyzing the data. The researcher will collect the data from 40 prominent business entities with Mangochi using a questionnaire and will analyze the data using the thematic data analysis. From, the analysis the research will present the findings in a discussion form and a comparison with the literature review will be conducted. The aim of comparing the two (actual finds and literature review) is to know whether the researcher’s findings are corresponding to what other people have already find out. Finally, the researcher will write a report on his findings and give a recommendation. KEY WORDS: mass media, local businesses, social media, challenges and benefits.

Strategi Komunikasi Lingkungan Ekowisata Taman Mangrove Jung Koneng Bangkalan untuk Rehabilitasi

Examining the environmental communication strategy implemented by the Payung Kuning Tourism Awareness Group as the manager of the Jung Koneng Mangrove Park in Labuhan Village, Ten District, Bangkalan. Starting from damage to the coastal environment due to the behavior of people who do not care about the sustainability of the mangrove ecosystem, as well as uncontrolled piles of rubbish, resulting in a significant decline in environmental quality. Using descriptive qualitative methods, researchers identified strategic steps in environmental communication which were grouped into four main stages, namely situation analysis, planning, media production, and action and reflection. At the situation analysis stage, Pokdarwis identified the environmental problems faced and the actors involved in mangrove rehabilitation. The planning stage involves developing a communication strategy based on local conditions, collaboration with external parties, and the use of traditional and digital media. In the media production stage, various communication channels such as social media, face-to-face discussions, and visual learning media are used to convey educational messages. The final stage, action and reflection, focuses on implementing rehabilitation activities and evaluating the impact of the communication strategies that have been implemented. Community participation not only contributes to the successful rehabilitation of the mangrove ecosystem, but also increases the community's social and economic awareness regarding ecotourism potential. Keywords: environmental communication strategy, mangrove, ecotourism, education, Jung Koneng Mangrove Park

COVID-19 Parental Vaccine Hesitancy: The Role of Trust in Science and Conspiracy Beliefs

Background. Parent vaccine hesitancy is a sensitive topic despite the benefits associated with children’s vaccination. Especially regarding the COVID-19 vaccination, parents displayed concerns about children’s vaccination, questioning their effectiveness and security. Although several studies were conducted on the general population, few studies investigated this relationship on parents’ intentions. Methods. An online survey was advertised from May to December 2022 on social networks, collecting data from 109 participants (90% F; mean age: 41.34 years, SD: ±6.40). The survey assessed sociodemographic characteristics, vaccine hesitancy through the Parents Attitude towards Childhood Vaccine—PAVC, trust in science through the Belief in Science Scale—BISS, and conspiracy beliefs through the Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale—GCBS. Results. In our sample, 29 parents (26.6%) scored more than 50 points to PAVC and, for this reason, were considered hesitant. Moreover, more than half of parents (60.6%) declared that they did not intend to vaccinate their children in the future. The path analysis model showed that parents with low education tended to have higher conspiracy beliefs (β = −0.40). Holding conspiracy beliefs (β = 0.28) and having low trust in science (β = −0.23) was associated with higher parent hesitancy and, in turn, no future intention to vaccinate their children for COVID-19 (OR = 0.83, p < 0.001). Conclusion. The results of the current paper suggest that targeted campaigns should be aimed at parents with lower levels of education, mainly on social media, debunking the most common fake news or myths, independently from the type of vaccine, and highlighting the importance of scientific research for improving people’s living conditions.