Social Networking Capabilities Research Articles

Success factors of network protest movement (analysis of the conflict over St. Isaacs cathedral in 2017–2018)

In the article, the peculiarities of the communication activity of Russian social movements in organizing online and offline actions are explored on the example of the conflict between the authorities and the public concerning the official decision on the transfer of St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg (in the building of which the museum works) to the Russian Orthodox Church. As a theoretical and methodological basis of the study, a modernized theory of social movements is used, taking into account their features associated with their use of new communicative capabilities of social networks. Methods of dynamic network analysis were used for analyzing the collected empirical data on the content of the political communication of the network groups. The structural characteristics of the online communication of the two protest network groups “Let’s protect…” and “Let’s save…” the cathedral museum as well as communication links between them are revealed. The differences in their chosen strategies of fighting against the government’s decision are illustrated. The stages of their development are emphasized: mobilization of the movement’s participants by cultural figures and politicians dissatisfied with the decision (January 2017); organizational institutionalization during meetings and rallies (February — May 2017); attainment of the goal (June 2017) with the subsequent termination of the decision (success of the movement). The dynamics of the volume and structure of communication during the entire period of the conflict are analyzed at each stage. A conclusion is made about the real political power of the e-movement during the conflict. It is proved that the use of social networks does not automatically result in the success of the network protest movement, much depends on the chosen strategy. Network protest mobilization alone does not ensure the success of the movement in Russia.

The democracy in a network society: Problems and prospects of development

This article examines the role of the new media and social networks as a factor in the development of deliberative democracy. In the late 1990s, it was thought that the communication revolution would be a way to overcome the crisis of representative democracy. With the development of the Internet, the transition from a hierarchical model of communications to a network was supposed to bring changes to the sphere of politics. New media and social networks should guarantee ac- cess of civil society to the political public sphere and help narrow the gap between the elite and the people. Requirements are being formulated to increase the transparency and accountability of state institutions, and to strengthen policy control. It was believed that the Internet will become a place where the principles of deliberative democracy will be embodied. But now we should admit that the new media development causes disappointment, and a times anxiety. Instead of the growth of public discussions, we may encounter “echo chambers”, a victim of the essence of information for effect, which as a result, leads to the radicalization of citizens. Governments and IT-corporations exploit the increased capabilities of social networks and Big Data to control and manipulate information, which jeopardizes the possibility of free discussion. The impact on emotions and simple slogans turned out to be more acceptable in the Internet age than a reflec- tive discussion on social issues. The communication revolution has led to changes in the public sphere, but at the same time, it can lead to the erosion of democracy.

Features of the discursive environment as a source for creating meaning in online communication (using the example of social networks)

With the spread of online communication, more and more attempts are being made to study it as a process occurring in different discursive spaces. In the article, using the example of a single message hosted on several social networks, the discursive conditions and the possibilities of various social media to influence the content of the meanings, created within their environment, have been analyzed. The subject of the research was the discursive characteristics of representations of a single message in various social networks. The purpose of the paper is presentation of a theoretical and methodological approach for cross-platform analysis of social media discourse, which, if desired, can be expanded on a larger data file, taking into account the results of the qualitative critical discourse analysis of the case introduced. The method of critical discourse analysis (CDA) has been used, which allows you to identify and analyze social structures in the framework of dialectical relationships. In the course of the study and analysis, it was revealed, that even in the case, when using the variable capabilities of various social networks to create and transmit meanings is not a deliberate strategy of a single institution, its messages were filled with different semantic content, which means, that they have different convincing and legitimizing opportunities. This was due to the inability to avoid certain conditions of production, creation and distribution of content, set by the policy of social networks. Social network, as a communicative space, creates a mode of production, distribution and consumption of content, and in this mode, communication is already carried out. Due to the specific features of each network, one can say, that they create different discursive spaces.

Promoting cardiovascular health and wellness among African-Americans: Community participatory approach to design an innovative mobile-health intervention

BackgroundDespite improvements in mortality rates over the past several decades, cardiovascular (CV) disease remains the leading cause of death for African-Americans (AAs). Innovative approaches through mobile health (mHealth) interventions have the potential to support lifestyle change for CV disease prevention among AAs. We aimed to translate a behavioral theory–informed, evidence-based, face-to-face health education program into an mHealth lifestyle intervention for AAs. We describe the design and development of a culturally relevant, CV health and wellness digital application (app) and pilot testing using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach with AA churches.MethodsThis mixed methods study used a 4-phase iterative development process for intervention design with the AA community. Phase 1 included focus groups with AA community members and church partners (n = 23) to gain insight regarding potential app end user preferences. In Phase 2, the interdisciplinary research team synthesized Phase 1 input for preliminary app design and content development. Phase 3 consisted of a sequential 3-meeting series with church partners (n = 13) for iterative app prototyping (assessment, cultural tailoring, final review). Phase 4, a single group pilot study among AA church congregants (n = 50), assessed app acceptability, usability, and satisfaction.ResultsPhase 1 focus groups indicated general and health-related apps preferences: multifunctional, high-quality graphics/visuals, evidence-based, yet simple health information and social networking capability. Phase 2 integrated these preferences into the preliminary app prototype. Phase 3 feedback was used to refine the app prototype for pilot testing. Phase 4 pilot testing indicated high app acceptability, usability, and satisfaction.ConclusionsThis study illustrates integration of formative and CBPR approaches to design a culturally relevant, mHealth lifestyle intervention to address CV health disparities among AAs. Given the positive app perceptions, our study supports the use of an iterative development process by others interested in implementing an mHealth lifestyle intervention for racial/ethnic minority communities.Trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov NCT03084822.

Agent-Based Modeling of a Self-Organized Food Safety System

“The wisdom of crowds” is often observed in social discourses and activities around us. The manifestations of it are, however, so intrinsically embedded and behaviorally accepted that an elaboration of a social phenomenon evidencing such wisdom is often considered a discovery; or at least an astonishing fact. One such scenario is explored here, namely, the conceptualization and modeling of a food safety system—a system directly related to social cognition. The first contribution of this paper is the re-evaluation of Knowles’s model towards a more conscious understanding of “the wisdom of crowds” effects on inspection and consumption behaviors. The second contribution is augmenting the model with social networking capabilities, which acts as a medium to spread information about stores and help consumers find uncontaminated stores. Simulation results revealed that stores respecting social cognition improve the effectiveness of the food safety system for consumers as well as for the stores. Simulation findings also revealed that active societies have the capability to self-organize effectively, even if they lack regulatory obligations.

3082 Cardiovascular Health Promotion Among African-Americans: Community Participatory Approach to Design an Innovative Mobile-Health Intervention

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: To translate a behavioral theory–informed, evidence-based, face-to-face health education program into an mHealth lifestyle intervention for African-Americans (AAs). METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: This mixed methods study consisted of 4 phases, using an iterative development process to intervention design with the AA community. In Phase 1, we held focus groups with AA community members and church partners (n=23) to gain insight regarding the needs and preferences of potential app end users. In Phase 2, the interdisciplinary research team synthesized input from Phase 1 for preliminary app design and content development. Phase 3 consisted of a sequential 3-meeting series with the church partners (n=13) for iterative app prototyping (assessment, cultural tailoring, final review). Phase 4 was a single group pilot study among AA church congregants (n=50) to assess app acceptability, usability, and satisfaction. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Phase 1 focus groups indicated preferences for general and health related apps: multifunctional; high-quality graphics/visuals; evidence-based, yet simple health information; and social networking capability. Phase 2 integrated these preferences into the preliminary app prototype. Feedback from Phase 3 was used to refine the FAITH! App prototype for pilot testing. Phase 4 pilot testing indicated high acceptability, usability, and satisfaction of the FAITH! App. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: This study illustrates the process of using formative and CBPR approaches to design a culturally relevant, mHealth lifestyle intervention to address CV health disparities within the AA community. Given the positive perceptions of the app, our study supports the use of an iterative development process by others interested in implementing an mHealth lifestyle intervention for racial/ethnic minority communities.

Time-Varying Social-Aware Resource Allocation for Device-to-Device Communication

With the rapid development of wireless mobile communication, local content sharing has become the emerging demand for users who are geographically close. Device-to-device (D2D) communication allows two users to communicate directly with each other. In order to achieve more effective content distribution and content spread by allocating better spectrum resources to users with better social networking and content diffusion capabilities, we propose an optimization scheme for resource allocation of the D2D communication by utilizing the potential social relations that are embedded in the communication devices. The degree of intimacy between users is abstracted from the call records to quantify social-relation strengths. Considering the time-varying property of social relations, the auto-regressive integrated moving average model is applied to map the call records into time sequence to predict users’ social relations. Besides, instead of individual utility or the overall network utility, each user aims to maximize its social-community utility which takes other social related D2D users into consideration. Potential game is utilized to solve the social-community utility maximization problem of resource allocation for the D2D communication due to its outstanding mapping nature and always has the Nash equilibrium. Finally, a social-aware distributed resource allocation algorithm is proposed, and the algorithm achieves convergence and stability. Numerical results show that our proposed scheme increases the overall utility over 30% compared with coalition game scheme, and over 50% compared with random selection scheme without loss of the fairness.

The adoption of virtual reality devices: The technology acceptance model integrating enjoyment, social interaction, and strength of the social ties

Recently, the development of virtual reality technology in the entertainment industry has applied social network capability. This study empirically analyzes how the introduction of social network characteristics as a diffusion strategy for virtual reality devices affects consumers’ intention to use. This survey was conducted with 350 people from South Korea, and TAM was used to analyze the acceptability of virtual reality. User adoption behaviors were analyzed rigorously, adding perceived enjoyment, social interactions, and strength of the social ties to the basic TAM. The results of this study indicate that social interactions and strength of the social ties increase perceived enjoyment, and perceived enjoyment has a more significant effect on intention to use than perceived usefulness, which is the main element of TAM. These results have theoretical implications for consumer adoption behavior and empirical implications for the best marketing strategies for virtual reality devices.

Exploring interaction differences in Microblogging Word of Mouth between entrepreneurial and conventional service providers

In this study, we explore the interaction network properties of Microblogging Word of Mouth (MWOM), and how it is utilized by two different types of service providers, namely entrepreneurial and conventional. We use social network analysis, involving network metrics, sentiment, content and semantic analysis of real time data collected via Twitter, to compare two providers in terms of how they leverage MWOM in their social interactions. Results demonstrate that MWOM is utilized in an inherently different manner by an entrepreneurial provider, compared to a conventional one. Based on the findings, the study identifies distinctions between the entrepreneurial and conventional service providers in how they utilize MWOM on social media. Specifically, the entrepreneurial provider capitalizes on the interactive nature and dialogic capabilities of Twitter; whereas the conventional provider mostly relies on focal information sharing, thus neglecting the network members' content creation and relationship building capability of social media networks. The study has significant implications as it provides key insights and lessons in terms of how companies should respond to emerging digital opportunities in their online social interactions.

How to enhance SMEs customer involvement using social media: The role of Social CRM

Despite increasing attention to the influence of customer involvement and social media in developing innovation in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), few studies have specifically investigated how to improve the effectiveness of social media–based customer involvement. Drawing on the knowledge-based view, social network and capability theories, we address this question by arguing that Social Customer Relation Management (CRM) enhances the effect of social media–based customer involvement upon innovation. Two key capabilities further enhance the moderating effect of Social CRM: social media network and customer information processing capabilities. The results from a longitudinal dataset of 317 SMEs indicate that SME customer involvement, enabled by Social CRM, social media network and customer information processing capabilities increases innovation. These findings have important implications for researchers and managers interested in enhancing the efficacy of SME customer involvement using social media.

The Effect ofa Web-based Physical Activity Promotion Program on Sedentary Behavior

Time spent engaging in sedentary behavior represents a growing public health concern, with many national physical activity guidelines now also including recommendations on reducing sedentary time. Sedentary behavior contributes to a range of poor health outcomes. Web-based interventions are increasingly used in health promotion given their broad reach and ability to engage participants through Web 2.0 technologies. The WALK 2.0 intervention (a Web 2.0-based physical activity intervention) has demonstrated effectiveness in increasing physical activity, yet its impact on sedentary behaviour is unknown. PURPOSE: To investigate the effectiveness of the WALK 2.0 intervention on sedentary behaviour. METHODS: Participants were 504 (328 female and 176 male, mean age 50.8±13.1 years) adults randomised to one of two web-based interventions or a paper-based Logbook group. Those in the Web 1.0 group participated in the existing 10,000 Steps program and those in the Web 2.0 group participated in a Web 2.0-enabled physical activity intervention that included social networking capabilities. Sedentary behaviour was assessed using ActiGraph GT3X activity monitors and was recorded in terms of total minutes of sedentary time per day and number of bouts (> 10 minutes) of sedentary time per day. RESULTS: For total daily minutes of sedentary behaviour, repeated measures analysis showed no significant group x time interactions in either the unadjusted model (p=0.46) or the model adjusted for gender, age at baseline, BMI, education, and accelerometer wear time (p=0.58). No significant group x time interactions were shown for daily bouts of sedentary time in either the unadjusted (p=0.21) or adjusted (p=0.21) models. There were no significant changes in total minutes or number of bouts of sedentary behaviour within groups or across time. CONCLUSIONS: The WALK 2.0 intervention is not effective in reducing sedentary behavior. Specific behavior strategies targeting both sedentary behaviour and physical activity are necessary and their implementation requires careful consideration in the design phase.

Development of a monopoly pricing model for diffusion maximization in fuzzy weighted social networks with negative externalities of heterogeneous nodes using a case study

Today, informational structure is organized in such a way that sellers can easily employ the various capabilities of social networks, such as the analysis of positive and negative tendencies of neighbours, to maximize diffusion in the network. Therefore, in this paper we employ this approach to introduce a novel mathematical product pricing model for a monopoly product in a non-competitive environment and in the presence of heterogeneous customers. In this model, all customers are divided into various groups based on their preferences for the price, quality and need time for the product demand and also the positive and negative influences of neighbours. So, it seems customers utilize a multi-criteria decision-making model for buying a product. When a customer buys a product and additionally, persuades its neighbours to also buy the product they will receive a referral bonus from the seller. Meanwhile, the intensity of relations between neighbours in the network is incorporated into the model qualitatively. Finally, hardness of the problem justifies application of a genetic algorithm for solving the proposed pricing model and real-world dataset is used to conduct a case study that verifies its applicability.

Entrepreneurial alertness and new venture performance: Facilitating roles of networking capability

An ability to act upon an entrepreneurial opportunity is a major driver of new venture success. However, scholarly knowledge is limited on how and when entrepreneur alertness to entrepreneurial opportunities drives new venture success. This article addresses this gap arguing that variations in new venture performance are a function of levels of entrepreneurial alertness and networking capabilities. Using primary data gathered from 203 new ventures operating in a sub-Saharan African economy, Ghana, we find that increases in the levels of entrepreneurial alertness are related to increases in new venture performance. Additionally, we find that, under conditions of increased use of social and business networking capabilities, the potency of entrepreneurial alertness as a driver of new venture success is amplified. Theoretical, managerial and policy implications of these findings are discussed.

How social commerce constructs influence customers' social shopping intention? An empirical study of a social commerce website

Social commerce takes advantage of social networking capabilities and provides features that encourage customers to share personal experiences. Because social commerce has evolved quickly, it has not been studied as extensively as e-commerce and social networking. Extant research on social commerce has revealed only a few of its characteristics. Applying a stimulus–organism–response model, this study investigated the influences of social commerce sites on customers' virtual experiences and on their intentions to purchase products. The findings indicated that social commerce constructs exerted positive and significant effects on social interactions in terms of cognitive states (social presence, informational support, and emotional support) and affective states (familiarity and closeness), but they did not exert significant influences on social shopping intention. Furthermore, social presence and informational support influenced intention to trust in product recommendations. However, neither emotional support nor familiarity exerted significant influence on trust in product recommendations. Moreover, familiarity was significantly affected by informational support and emotional support but not by social presence. Finally, familiarity exerted a positive and significant effect on closeness, which further exerted a positive and significant effect on trust in product recommendations. Trust in product recommendations exerted a significant effect on social shopping intention, whereas informational support did not. These findings explain how customers use social networking sites to aid purchasing decisions and assist online vendors in developing advertising and promotion strategies.

The power of a thumbs-up: Will e-commerce switch to social commerce?

By taking advantage of social networking capabilities, social commerce provides features that encourage customers to share their personal experiences. The popularity of online social networks has driven the purchase decisions of buyers on social commerce sites, but few studies have explored why consumers switch between e-commerce (product-centered) and social (social-centered) commerce sites. In applying the push–pull–mooring model, the objective of this study was to gain an understanding of specifically how push, pull, and mooring factors shape their switching intentions. The findings revealed that push effect, in terms of low transaction efficiency, drives customers away from e-commerce sites, whereas the pull effects, including social presence, social support, social benefit, and self-presentation, attract customers to social commerce sites. Moreover, mooring effects, including conformity and personal experience, strengthened consumers’ behavior in switching between e-commerce and social commerce sites. Besides, conformity was also found to moderate the influences of social presence, social support, social benefit, and efficiency on switching intention, whereas personal experience moderated the effects of social benefit, self-presentation, and efficiency on switching intention. Such an understanding assists online retailers in understanding online shoppers’ switching behaviors, and thus turning social interactions into profits and sales.

Entrepreneurial Education: The Effect of Entrepreneurial Political Skill on Social Network, Tacit Knowledge, and Innovation Capability

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of political skills in entrepreneurship education and the impact of social network, tacit knowledge, and innovation constructs. This study sought to investigate the conceptual relationship between political skills and tacit knowledge, social network and tacit knowledge, as well as innovation and tacit knowledge. The existence of the three construct and their effect on entrepreneur skill has been reviewed and discussed. This has been corroborated across studies that sought to establish the role of social networks, tacit knowledge, and innovation in influencing entrepreneurship. The performance of enterprise has closely being linked on the ability of individuals to take advantage of the social network and the individual as well as collective tacit knowledge to understand the business environment and come up with practical skills to counter the potential entrepreneurship risks. This study also addresses the impact of tacit knowledge on innovation. Tacit knowledge has both negative and positive effects on innovation, emanating from the transferability of innovations across individuals and firms.

Randomized Trial of a Social Networking Intervention for Cancer-Related Distress.

Web and mobile technologies appear to hold promise for delivering evidence-informed and evidence-based intervention to cancer survivors and others living with trauma and other psychological concerns. Health-space.net was developed as a comprehensive online social networking and coping skills training program for cancer survivors living with distress. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a 12-week social networking intervention on distress, depression, anxiety, vigor, and fatigue in cancer survivors reporting high levels of cancer-related distress. We recruited 347 participants from a local cancer registry and internet, and all were randomized to either a 12-week waiting list control group or to immediate access to the intervention. Intervention participants received secure access to the study website, which provided extensive social networking capabilities and coping skills training exercises facilitated by a professional facilitator. Across time, the prevalence of clinically significant depression symptoms declined from 67 to 34% in both conditions. The health-space.net intervention had greater declines in fatigue than the waitlist control group, but the intervention did not improve outcomes for depression, trauma-related anxiety symptoms, or overall mood disturbance. For those with more severe levels of anxiety at baseline, greater engagement with the intervention was associated with higher levels of symptom reduction over time. The intervention resulted in small but significant effects on fatigue but not other primary or secondary outcomes. Results suggest that this social networking intervention may be most effective for those who have distress that is not associated with high levels of anxiety symptoms or very poor overall psychological functioning. The trial was registered with the ClinicalTrials.gov database ( ClinicalTrials.gov #NCT01976949).

Implementing smartphone enabled collaborative travel: Routes to success in the tourism domain

Smartphone technology can help identify current and anticipate future patterns of behaviour and, with its social networking capabilities, allow users to imagine and organise collaborative travel opportunities, such as lift share. This has led to the development of collaborative apps designed to enable activities like lift sharing. Such apps require new norms of behaviour to establish a user base and research has yet to address the socio-cultural barriers to both the use of this technology to organise travel and the sharing of personal space that collaborative travel entails. This paper reports the findings of a study which designed, built and tested a collaborative travel app in the tourism domain. Data derived from exploratory interviews, post-trial interviews and a questionnaire reveal that user age and extent of mobile engagement play a less significant role than expected, while other aspects of the social exchange, notably social tie strength, trust and obligations play a more marked role. A conceptual framework and discussion of strategies to address these barriers provides insight into appropriate contexts and routes for implementation of collaborative travel apps.

182: IRANIAN ACADEMIC'S VIEWPOINT CONCERNING RESEARCH SOCIAL NETWORKS (RSNS)

Background and aims:Research Social Network (RSNs), resulted from the emergence of Web 2, allows researchers to present their works, to communicate with other colleges, to create new discoveries, and to...

Using Web 2.0 applications to promote health-related physical activity: findings from the WALK 2.0 randomised controlled trial

Background/AimWeb 2.0 internet technology has great potential in promoting physical activity. This trial investigated the effectiveness of a Web 2.0-based intervention on physical activity behaviour, and the impact on website...