Social Media Research Articles

Social Media and Marketing Performance of Micro, Small And Medium Enterprises: The Moderating Role of Entrepreneurial Competencies

Social Media and Marketing Performance of Micro, Small And Medium Enterprises: The Moderating Role of Entrepreneurial Competencies

The Influence of Faith on the Mental Health of Ukrainian Forced Migrants During the Russian–Ukrainian War: An Exploratory Study via Social Media

The Influence of Faith on the Mental Health of Ukrainian Forced Migrants During the Russian–Ukrainian War: An Exploratory Study via Social Media

Adult sibling relationships and media multiplexity theory

Sibling relationships are among the longest-lasting relationships in people’s lives. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), including voice calls, texting, and social media, help adult siblings keep in touch. The present study tests media multiplexity theory (MMT) in the context of adult sibling relationships. In the first study, a quota sample of American adults completed several name listing tasks to identify their most important relationship partners, ranging from 0 to 16 people, and 29% of participants listed at least one sibling. Multilevel modeling (MLM) results found that emotional closeness between siblings was positively associated with the frequency of phone calls and emails and negatively associated with the frequency of person-to-person media sharing. Showing mixed support for MMT, the number of ICTs used was negatively associated with emotional closeness, but the overall frequency of ICT use was positively associated with closeness. In the second study, a quota sample of American adults identified six of their closest friendships, and siblings constituted 2.9% of friends listed. MLM results found that the frequency of phone calls and text messages between siblings was positively associated with emotional closeness. The number of ICTs used was unrelated to emotional closeness, but the overall frequency of ICT use was positively associated with closeness, showing partial support for MMT. Both studies suggested that the frequency of communicating across ICTs was associated with greater life satisfaction, accounting for sibling closeness.

Media Portrayal of EU Commission and Its Leaders: A Content Analysis of Spanish Press (1976–2024)

The role of the media is key in mediating civil society and its political representatives in EU institutions. In this context, this paper aims to describe the representation of the European Commission, one of the EU’s most important institutions, and its leaders by two leading Spanish newspapers. In order to address this objective, an automated content analysis was carried out on 13,340 news items published between 6 June 1976 and 15 February 2024 in El País (social democratic media) and ABC (conservative, monarchist media). The sample was subjected to a sentiment analysis as well as topic modeling. The latter method made it possible to identify five predominant issues on the agenda: Economy, Foreign Affairs, Internal Politics, Spanish Politics, and the Future of the EU. The average sentiment, which is close to neutral, has tended slightly toward the negative over the years, although the current president, Ursula von der Leyen, has the highest rating of all the leaders studied. Both El País and ABC provide more negative coverage of the EU when leaders of their ideological opposition govern, a phenomenon that can weaken the European model and encourage political drifts with consequences that are difficult to predict in the medium term.

Strengthening Online Psychology Students’ Sense of Belonging with Social Annotation: An Experimental Study

Sense of belonging is associated with postsecondary student success outcomes and has largely been studied within face-to-face course contexts. The increasing demand for online courses after the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates identifying ways instructors can foster belonging in their online courses. This study experimentally tested the effect of using social annotation on students’ sense of belonging in asynchronous online courses. Students in two psychology courses ( N = 44) were randomly assigned to complete annotation assignments individually (control) or in groups using a social annotation platform (treatment). Students completed a course-level sense of belonging measure at the end of their courses and indicated their perceptions of social annotation. Sense of belonging was significantly higher in the social annotation condition, particularly for the introductory-level psychology course, and students reported positive perceptions of social annotation. Course performance did not differ between annotation conditions, and sense of belonging was not associated with final grades. These findings document the viability of social annotation as an evidence-based tool for promoting a sense of belonging in online psychology courses.

Exploring the role of TikTok for intersectionality marginalized groups: the case of Muslim female content creators in Germany

IntroductionSocial media has become a central part of everyday life, providing spaces for communication, self-expression, and social mobilization. TikTok, specifically, has emerged as a prominent platform for marginalized groups, providing opportunities for activism and representation. However, research falls short in examining the specific role of TikTok for Muslim women in Germany who face intersecting forms of marginalization. This shortcoming reflects a broader lack of research on the experiences of marginalized groups within TikTok’s logics and affordances, and what functions the platform fulfills for these communities. Against this backdrop, this study examines TikTok’s role as a platform for Muslim female content creators in Germany and its broader implications for marginalized communities. Our research is guided by the following questions: (a) What are the main themes and topics that are being brought forward by Muslim women content creators on TikTok? (b) What technical affordances do they use to communicate their content? (c) What functions does TikTok fulfill for Muslim women as an intersectionally marginalized group?.MethodsWe analyze 320 videos from 32 public TikTok accounts identified through snowball sampling. Data collection includes automated web scraping, manual transcription, and qualitative coding. This allows us to identify main topics, video formats, and content types to answer our research questions.ResultsOur findings show that Muslim women produce diverse content on TikTok, ranging from beauty and lifestyle to religious education and social justice. They shape the platform’s functionalities through creative use, while TikTok’s algorithm and virality logic drive creators to blend entertainment with personal content. The hijab emerges as a unique issue, framed within both political and fashion discourses. Overall, TikTok functions as a “third space” where Muslim women challenge mainstream stereotypes and offer alternative interpretations of their identity. While TikTok provides empowerment and visibility, it also exposes Muslim women to hate speech and harassment. The platform provides tools to counter these issues, but the underlying social hierarchies often limit their visibility, making TikTok both a site of empowerment and vulnerability.DiscussionThis study highlights the need for further research into the role of social media for marginalized groups, particularly across platforms, gender, and religion.

Undergraduate health science students’ knowledge, attitudes, practices, and perceived barriers towards research at Kuwait university: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Introduction Research is the most reliable strategy to advance scientific understanding and enhance multiple healthcare services1. Integrating undergraduate health science students into research at an early stage is an important step towards improving critical thinking and problem-based solving, which in return enhances patient health outcomes2. Aim The aim of this study was to assess undergraduate health science students’ knowledge, attitudes, practices and perceived barriers towards research at Kuwait University. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate health science students from the Colleges of Pharmacy, Medicine, Allied Health, Dentistry, and Public Health at Kuwait University. A self-administered online questionnaire consisting of five sections was used. The first section included questions to assess the demographic characteristics. The second section aimed to assess the knowledge of undergraduate students regarding basic research (score = low ≤3, moderate 4-5, high >5). The third section assessed attitude toward research by a five-point Likert scale (score = negative 31-75, neutral 76-110, positive 111-155). The fourth section of the questionnaire aimed to assess the perception of the barriers toward research practice (score = low 0-50, moderate 51-75, high 76-100). Finally, a section with eight questions on research practices. The questionnaire was distributed through online educational and social media platforms, such as WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams. Students from any academic year and who were enrolled as health science students at the time of the study were eligible to participate. The questionnaire was pilot tested prior to distribution. The recommended sample size was calculated using Raosoft (344 students)3. Ethical approval was received from The Health Sciences Ethical Committee, Kuwait University (reference: VDR/EC-393). Results A total of 364 undergraduate medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, allied health and public health students participated in the study. The participants were from different academic stages, ranging from first-year to seventh-year. The results showed that the students possessed moderate knowledge levels, with a median of 3 out of 8 according to the scoring system of the study. Most students had neutral attitudes (N=253; 69.5%) and moderate levels of perceived barriers (N=200; 54.9%). Medical and pharmacy students had significantly higher knowledge levels compared to the others (p<0.001; Kruskal-Wallis). The majority of students agreed that the lack of time is a barrier towards conducting research (N=237; 65.1%). Almost one half of the study participants took part in research projects (N=175; 48.1%) and a promising number of students had publications or poster presentations (N=67; 18.4%). Discussion/Conclusion The results suggest that undergraduate health science students at Kuwait University possess moderate research knowledge and have neutral attitudes towards research. Time constraints were the most frequently reported barrier to participation. While nearly half of the students participated in research projects, implementing mandatory research projects and providing research methodology workshops could significantly enhance student knowledge, attitudes, and future research engagement. A key limitation in this study is that observed relationships may not reflect long-term shifts in knowledge, attitudes, or practices. The study was also conducted in one university (Kuwait University), therefore the findings and results cannot be generalized to other undergraduate students.

The knowledge gaps in social media marketing for the agriculture industry

Abstract By applying the PZB gap theorem and its extension of knowledge gap model, this study explores the gaps between the knowledge capabilities needed for social media marketing and what agricultural organizations such as cooperatives or family farms have done from the strategic perception aspect, planning aspect to implementation aspect. This study employs a case study approach combined with a structured questionnaire distributed to top agricultural organizations in Taiwan, focusing on social media marketing within the knowledge management framework. The results of empirical analysis exhibit two gaps significantly impact the corporate performance, namely: the gap between the obtained knowledge capabilities after implementing the social media marketing plan and the actually required ones for the enhancement of corporate competitiveness in social media marketing; the gap between the knowledge capabilities for enhancing corporate competitiveness in social media marketing perceived by senior managers and perceived by employees. Based on the findings, this study suggest the agricultural organizations could try to improve by reducing these two gaps of implementation aspect to improve their performance. Finally, the in-depth interviews with two agricultural organizations could establish a practical understanding of the relationship between these empirical findings and business practices.

A Netnographic Study on The Reasons Why People Fail to Learn English

In a global and digital world, learning a language, especially English is essential for people to keep up with the developments in science, business, technology, etc. Despite starting to learn English early, students might not always reach desired proficiency levels. Therefore, the present study aims to find out some of the reasons why people fail to learn English. Employing a netnographic approach, the researchers examined asynchronous comments posted in online communities on a social media platform. Within the scope of this study, 198 comments answering the question of why people fail to learn English were obtained from three online groups of English language teachers on Facebook. The findings show that 154 out of 198 comments aimed to answer the question. They were analyzed through content analysis, which revealed that there are educational, social, personal, and linguistic reasons why people fail to learn English. Educational reasons were among the most mentioned reasons by the members of the communities. In addition, the analysis indicates a balanced representation of linguistic and personal factors, with social factors slightly less prominent in comparison. Considering the existing literature review, several implications are highlighted to overcome the difficulties and challenges of learning English. Finally, this study is limited by its reliance on Facebook posts collected within a specific timeframe; future research could enhance depth and scope by incorporating longitudinal methods, diverse social media platforms, and in-depth interviews.

Estimating Ideal Points of British MPs Through Their Social Media Followership

Abstract Ideal points of MPs in the UK House of Commons (HoC) are characteristically difficult to ascertain due to tight party discipline and strategic voting by opposition members. This research note generates left/right ideal point estimates for 591 British MPs sitting in the HoC as of 22/08/2022, ascertained through their social media followership. Specifically, estimates are derived by conducting correspondence analysis (CA) on MP Twitter (X) follower networks, which are subsequently validated against an expert survey, confirming that these estimates have a high degree of between-party (R2 = 0.93) and within-party (Con: r = 0.84; Lab: r = 0.81) accuracy. The informative value of these estimates is then demonstrated by predicting candidate endorsement in the September 2022 Conservative leadership contest, confirming that an MP's ideal point was a statistically significant predictor of candidate endorsement, with Liz Truss drawing support primarily from the further right of the party.

The physical and virtual presence of the local state and citizens’ life satisfaction in urbanising China

China’s rapid and ongoing urbanisation has led to the expansion of the local state. The state, traditionally exhibited as physical institutions of government, has emerged virtually in recent years based on intricate network infrastructure systems, such as social media platforms. Scholars contend that a strong physical state infrastructure enhances government function and can increase citizens’ life satisfaction; in contrast, the state’s virtual presence is unlikely to exert a substantial independent impact because of its reliance on the state’s physical infrastructure. In this research, we calibrated innovative measures of the state’s physical and virtual presence. Combined with data from the 2018 Urbanisation and Quality of Life Survey conducted in 40 sampling sites undergoing rural–urban transition, we further assessed how the local state’s physical and virtual presence is associated with citizens’ self-reported life satisfaction in the context of China’s national new-type urbanisation. Our results, based on three-level mixed-effects regressions, indicate that the local state’s bricks-and-mortar institutions do not correlate with citizens’ life satisfaction; rather, the establishment of a web-based, cost-effective, transparent, and coordinated virtual presence is associated with a higher level of life satisfaction among citizens. At a time when the Chinese central government emphasises its commitment to ‘people-centred’ urbanisation, the findings offer insight into the strategies that local governments could employ to improve governance quality and enhance citizens’ well-being.

Impact of integrated marketing communication strategies on choice of higher education institutions

In today’s fiercely competitive realm of higher education, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) have emerged as a crucial approach for institutions to effectively connect with prospective students. This study examines the influence of IMC strategies on students’ choices of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Bangalore, India. Using a descriptive research design, data were gathered via a structured questionnaire from a sample of 384 students. The findings reveal notable disparities in perceptions of IMC based on gender, academic discipline preference, and institution type. Interestingly, age does not yield significant differences in IMC perceptions. A positive correlation (0.632) between IMC perceptions and choice of HEIs underscores the importance of customized strategies in attracting and engaging students. IMC strategies such as digital marketing, social media engagement, content marketing, alumni engagement, and student ambassadors significantly influence the choice of HEIs with the variance of 0.315, 0.523, 0.394, 0.619, and 0.298, respectively. Further, IMC strategies such as digital marketing, social media engagement, alumni engagement, partnership with influencers, and student ambassadors significantly influence the selection of disciplines with the variance of 0.298, 0.642, 0.497, 0.421, and 0.234, respectively. In essence, this study emphasizes the pivotal role of effective IMC strategies in higher education choice decision-making and provides actionable insights for institutions seeking to refine their marketing approaches.

Correction to: Social media disclosure and reputational damage

Correction to: Social media disclosure and reputational damage

LLMasMMKG: LLM Assisted Synthetic Multi-Modal Knowledge Graph Creation For Smart City Cognitive Digital Twins

The concept of a Smart City (SC) Cognitive Digital Twin (CDT) presents significant potential for optimizing urban environments through sophisticated simulations, predictions, and informed decision-making. Comprehensive Knowledge Representations (KRs) that effectively integrate the diverse data streams generated by a city are crucial to realizing this potential. This paper addresses this by introducing a novel approach that leverages Large Language Models (LLMs) to automate the construction of synthetic Multi-Modal (MM) Knowledge Graphs (KGs) specifically designed for a SC CDT. Recognizing the challenges in fusing and aligning information from disparate sources, our method harnesses the power of LLMs for natural language understanding, entity recognition, and relationship extraction to seamlessly integrate data from sensor networks, social media feeds, official reports, and other relevant sources. Furthermore, we explore the use of LLM-driven synthetic data generation to address data sparsity issues, leading to more comprehensive and robust KGs. Initial outputs demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in constructing semantically rich and interconnected synthetic KGs, highlighting the significant potential of LLMs for advancing SC CDT technology.

Awareness of Peptic Ulcer Disease among the General Population in Al-Ahsa

Abstract Introduction: Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is a condition characterized by discontinuity in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract’s inner lining, often caused by factors such as Helicobacter pylori infection and NSAID consumption. PUD can lead to various symptoms, but up to 70% of patients may not experience any symptoms. Diagnosing PUD can be challenging due to the unreliability of individual symptoms and signs. PUD can have serious complications if left untreated. Despite its significance, there is a lack of studies measuring the awareness of PUD among the population in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the level of awareness of PUD among the general population in Al-Ahsa. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, from September to December 2023. The study included 399 adult residents of Saudi Arabia who agreed to participate. A convenient nonprobability sampling technique was used to collect data. An online self-administered questionnaire, distributed through social media platforms, was used to gather information on participants’ awareness of PUD. The questionnaire included sociodemographic characteristics and questions related to PUD awareness. Data were analyzed using SPSS, and qualitative data were presented as numbers and percentages. The Chi-square test was used to examine qualitative data between the two groups. Results: Of the 399 participants, 71.4% demonstrated a good level of knowledge regarding PUD, whereas 28.6% had a low level of knowledge. The sample consisted of nearly equal numbers of males and females, with participants aged 18–55+ years. The majority of participants had attained a bachelor’s degree and were employed. The findings suggest a relatively high level of education among the study population. Conclusion: The study highlights the need for increased public awareness of PUD in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. While some participants showed good knowledge of PUD, a significant number had low awareness. Educational initiatives are essential to improve understanding and knowledge of PUD among the community. By enhancing awareness, early detection and appropriate management of PUD can be promoted, resulting in improved health outcomes for individuals in Al-Ahsa.

Teen Talk: The Good, the Bad, and the Neutral of Adolescent Social Media Use

The debate on whether social media has a net positive or negative effect on youth is ongoing. Therefore, we conducted a thematic analysis on 2,061 posts made by 1,038 adolescents aged 15-17 on an online peer-support platform to investigate the ways in which these teens discussed popular social media platforms in their posts and to identify differences in their experiences across platforms. Our findings revealed four main emergent themes for the ways in which social media was discussed: 1) Sharing negative experiences or outcomes of social media use (58%, n = 1,095), 2) Attempts to connect with others (45%, n = 922), 3) Highlighting the positive side of social media use (20%, n = 409), and 4) Seeking information (20%, n = 491). Overall, while sharing about negative experiences was more prominent, teens also discussed balanced perspectives of connection-seeking, positive experiences, and information support on social media that should not be discounted. Moreover, we found statistical significance for how these experiences differed across social media platforms. For instance, teens were most likely to seek romantic relationships on Snapchat and self-promote on YouTube. Meanwhile, Instagram was mentioned most frequently for body shaming, and Facebook was the most commonly discussed platform for privacy violations (mostly from parents). The key takeaway from our study is that the benefits and drawbacks of teens' social media usage can co-exist and net effects (positive or negative) can vary across different teens across various contexts. As such, we advocate for mitigating the negative experiences and outcomes of social media use as voiced by teens, to improve, rather than limit or restrict, their overall social media experience. We do this by taking an affordance perspective that aims to promote the digital well-being and online safety of youth "by design."

Social Media as a Lens into Careers During a Changing World of Work

People share and encounter a range of posts on social media that depict different career experiences, such as one's successes or failures. In a continually shifting world of work, observing others' job experiences can be useful for navigating one's own career journey. The present study applies the possible selves theory to understand how viewing people's career experiences on social media might affect viewers' career-related expectations, hopes, and fears. From semi-structured interviews with 19 social media users with different career experiences, this study found that social media posts may facilitate functions of possible selves by 1) increasing people's awareness of new and diverse career paths and 2) motivating people in planning and preparing for a desired possible self. Across these functions, we found that videos were particularly beneficial for uncovering and learning about life in a career and that observing others' career experiences online often evoked social comparison. Through an affordances lens, findings also indicate that social media affordances of visibility and persistence were particularly relevant in developing and assessing career-related possible selves and sometimes strategically managed through leveraging platform algorithms. This paper brings forth empirical contributions to the possible selves theory in the digital age and highlights the significance of social media mechanisms for possible selves. This paper also provides design implications for social media platforms and recommendations for potential career counseling and mentoring strategies that may be useful for individuals navigating and exploring career possibilities.

PressProtect: Helping Journalists Navigate Social Media in the Face of Online Harassment

Social media has become a critical tool for journalists to disseminate their work, engage with their audience, and connect with sources. Unfortunately, journalists also regularly endure significant online harassment on social media platforms, ranging from personal attacks to doxxing to threats of physical harm. In this paper, we seek to understand how to make social media usable for journalists who face constant digital harassment. To begin, we conduct a set of need-finding interviews with Asian American and Pacific Islander journalists to understand where existing platform tools and newsroom resources fall short in adequately protecting journalists, especially those of marginalized identities. We map journalists' unmet needs to concrete design goals, which we use to build PressProtect, an interface that provides journalists greater agency when engaging with readers on Twitter/X. Through user testing with eight journalists, we evaluate PressProtect and find that participants felt it effectively protected them against harassment and could also generalize to serve other visible and vulnerable groups. We conclude with a discussion of our findings and recommendations for social platforms hoping to build defensive defaults for journalists facing online harassment.

Did the Roll-Out of Community Notes Reduce Engagement With Misinformation on X/Twitter?

Developing interventions that successfully reduce engagement with misinformation on social media is challenging. One intervention that has recently gained great attention is X/Twitter's Community Notes (previously known as "Birdwatch"). Community Notes is a crowdsourced fact-checking approach that allows users to write textual notes to inform others about potentially misleading posts on X/Twitter. Yet, empirical evidence regarding its effectiveness in reducing engagement with misinformation on social media is missing. In this paper, we perform a large-scale empirical study to analyze whether the introduction of the Community Notes feature and its roll-out to users in the U.S. and around the world have reduced engagement with misinformation on X/Twitter in terms of retweet volume and likes. We employ Difference-in-Differences (DiD) models and Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) to analyze a comprehensive dataset consisting of all fact-checking notes and corresponding source tweets since the launch of Community Notes in early 2021. Although we observe a significant increase in the volume of fact-checks carried out via Community Notes, particularly for tweets from verified users with many followers, we find no evidence that the introduction of Community Notes significantly reduced engagement with misleading tweets on X/Twitter. Rather, our findings suggest that Community Notes might be too slow to effectively reduce engagement with misinformation in the early (and most viral) stage of diffusion. Our work emphasizes the importance of evaluating fact-checking interventions in the field and offers important implications to enhance crowdsourced fact-checking strategies on social media.

Young athletes’ mental well-being is associated with smartphone social networking application usage and moderated by performance level and app type

Smartphones and social media have become an integral part of human daily life and they influence mental well-being. These accounts have been researched in the general population, but not in athletes. This is critical given enhanced physical and emotional stressors in athletes versus non-athletes. Therefore, we here studied intra- and interindividual relationships of four social media sites (WhatsApp, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat) with mood, stress, recovery, and sleep using log-based media usage tracking as an objective measure in 53 competitive athletes aged 12–27 years. Multilevel modeling revealed that intraindividual TikTok usage negatively predicted sleep (β = −0.10, p = 0.040) and recovery (β = −0.15, p < 0.002), and positively predicted stress (β = 0.12, p = 0.018). Interindividual Instagram usage predicted feelings of calmness (β = 0.27, p = 0.029) and valence (β = 0.20, p = 0.043). Intriguingly, competition level moderated the usage outcomes of all four apps: Athletes on low performance levels showed lower mental well-being when using social media longer, yet in national and international athletes the strength of these relationships was weaker or even reversed. Our study unravels social media usage associations with mental well-being to vary as a function of performance level and provides findings on intra- and interindividual effects of critical importance to inform future population-tailored and expedient interventions.