Use Of Social Networking Platforms Research Articles

Exploring the antecedents of internalization, identification, and compliance social influence for mobile banking adoption

PurposeSocial media users can now create, exchange, modify and consume socially generated experiences which can enhance social influence toward mobile banking (MB). This study aims to provide understanding of how social actor interactions through social networking platforms (SNPs) can create social influence for MB adoption and present a research framework that can help to understand which social actors have higher social influence toward MB adoption in conventional and Islamic banks.Design/methodology/approachSNP users have different levels of perceptions and experiences about the usability and credibility of MB. Therefore, their experiences are subjective realties which can generate socially constructed knowledge. To understand these subjective realties, a social constructivist approach is adopted. Data were collected from interviews with 60 individuals from diverse occupational backgrounds.FindingsIdentification element of social influence explained that the shared reviews and recommendations of opinion leaders, industry experts, celebrities and friends were highly positive for conventional banks; therefore, there is high word-of-mouth for MB of conventional banks. Internalization of social influence highlighted that people are more likely to accept the wisdom of the crowd and close friends, which can generate their engagement and connection with MB. Finally, the compliance factor of social influence explained that people can only adopt MB when they perceive high usability and credibility.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has provided understanding to the marketers of how social actors on SNPs can play a role in the creation, exchange, modification and consumption of socially generated influence that can impact the MB adoption intention for conventional and Islamic banks.Originality/valueAlthough many theories and models have been presented about the marketing strategies and antecedents of MB adoption, the extensive use of SNPs has changed marketing strategies. For example, this study has found that social media users are highly influenced by the social reviews and recommendations they receive from their close friends. Therefore, socially generated influence on SNPs can create an adoption intention toward MB.

Media and information literacy to counter disinformation

Over the past decade there is increasing recognition and acceptance that technological advancement and explosion of media and other information providers, including those on the Internet, have made it urgent for all citizens to acquire media and information competencies. Survival in knowledge societies requires that women, men, children and youth, in general all citizens, have the competencies to purposefully navigate the flood of information, decipher media messages they meet with, and to create and participate in media and interact online despite their race, gender, age, beliefs, ability or location. This rapid growth in technologies and media has opened up new forms of citizen engagement. Women/girls and men/boys’ use of social networking platforms has created a virtual second world. Meanwhile a large number of studies show that citizens do not have the competencies to effectively exploit the opportunities provided by this virtual world and at the same time minimize the potential risks. The risks are connected to the reliability of information, privacy, safety and security issues, and potential abuse of media, the Internet and other information providers. The spread of disinformation and ‘fake news’ poses a serious challenge for people in different countries, especially in the Arab World. This situation is even more serious in our part of the world where our young people in general use the new media with a kind of addiction. Students in particular and indeed all citizens need to develop pertinent competences to navigate these fast-changing environments and in order to be able to be empowered against “fake news”, "rumors" and "hate speech" spread all over the digital media. Education in media literacy can have positive outcomes on students’ knowledge, skills and attitudes in analyzing and critically understanding the media and disinformation/misinformation. Media and information literacy competences are also required in order to enable citizens to actively participate in democratic society; these competences enable citizens in general to access, understand and deal with the media, and encourage them to become participatory agents. Media and Information Literacy empowers citizens, including children and youth, with competencies related to media, information, information and communication technology (ICT) and other aspects of literacy which are needed for 21st century. These competencies include the ability to: access, find, evaluate, use the information they need in ethical and effective ways; understand the role and functions of media and other information providers such as libraries, museums and archives, including those on the Internet, in democratic societies and in the lives of individuals; understand the conditions under which media and information providers can fulfil their functions; critically evaluate information and media content; engage with media and information providers for self-expression, life-long learning, democratic participation, and good governance; and update skills (including ICTs skills) needed to produce content, including user-generated.

Risk perception, social distancing, and distress during COVID-19 pandemic: Exploring the role of online counseling and perceived social support

The study explored the relationship between social distancing and distress along with risk factors of social distancing. Further, online counseling/mental health services and perceived social support were tested as possible moderators between social distancing and distress. Valid and reliable measures were used to collect the data from 300 Indian respondents. Process use of social networking platforms was found to significantly explain social distancing. Online counseling/mental health services and perceived social support moderated the relationship between social distancing and distress. Only 16% of the respondents used online mental health services during the study period. Lack of awareness and acceptance of these services were major barriers.

Radicalization in the Social Media Era: Understanding the Relationship between Self-Radicalization and the Internet.

September 11th was a turning point in the understanding of terrorism and radicalization. The Internet has provided an instrumental change regarding how terrorists communicate and spread their propaganda, proving a cause of concern for counterterrorism units. The increased use of social networking platforms has provided a significant change in the process of self-radicalization, with younger generations at greater risk. The aim of the project was to study the relationship between social media and self-radicalization among college and university students. A sample of 499 participants was recruited throughout Amazon Mechanical Turk and social media platforms. Measures on emotional intelligence, psychological involvement on social media, attitudes toward terrorism, and political violence, and loneliness were gathered. Results showed that individuals holding a university degree-especially young men-were more at risk of endorzing positive attitudes toward political violence and terrorism, and, therefore, more at risk of being radicalized.

Developing the antecedents of social influence for Internet banking adoption through social networking platforms: evidence from conventional and Islamic banks

PurposeThe purpose of this paper develops a conceptual model of social influence for Internet banking adoption (IBA) using social networking platforms (SNPs). It identifies the antecedents of social influence that can positively and negative influence the IBA among a targeted population of conventional and Islamic banks. Moreover, this paper contributes various factors to social influence theory with the purpose of enhancing its implication in the context of Internet banking uptake in developed and developing countries.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a social constructivism approach to understand customer experiences, thoughts, knowledge, awareness and perceptions in relation to IBA. For this study, data were collected from 30 respondents using semi-structured interviews and purposive sampling.FindingsSocial influence comprises customer recommendations, suggestions, ratings, reviews, experiences and thoughts regarding the IBA of Islamic and conventional banks. The findings reveal that social reviews, social experts, social consensus, social responsibility and social perceptions are the key antecedents of social influence that can enhance IBA of SNPs. The research finds that positive social reviews, expert support, consensus, social responsibility and social perceptions are significant in relation to conventional Internet banking. The respondents revealed serious concerns about the privacy of their personal and financial information especially in relation to Islamic banks.Research limitations/implicationsThe effective and well-organized use of SNPs can foster service reviews, word of mouth, higher levels of service awareness, interactive communication, social consensus and social trust to drive the adoption of Internet banking. This study proposes the conceptual model which has positive business implications and provides the banks direction to use the SNPs to their advantage to influxes their customers to adopt the use of Internet banking.Originality/valueMost previous studies have used technology acceptance model, theory of planned behavior and unified theory of acceptance and the use of technology theories in the adoption of technology and IBA. These theories have not fully illuminated the role of social content as a way to enhance or decrease the number of customers in conventional and Islamic banks. This study develops social influence theory by exploring several dimensions (i.e. social reviews, awareness, consensus, cooperation and experts support) in the context of IBA for users of SNPs. Social influence can create more reviews and can lead to more prepurchase information. It can drive customer inquiries and engagement and can inform purchase decisions for IBA. On the other hand, it can motivate existing customers of Islamic banks to use conventional banking services due to effective word of mouth.

Evaluating and Comparing the Usability of Privacy in WhatsApp, Twitter, and Snapchat

With the increased use of social networking platforms, especially with the inclusion of sensitive personal information, it has become important for those platforms to have adequate levels of security and privacy. This research aimed to evaluate the usability of privacy in the WhatsApp, Twitter, and Snapchat applications. The evaluation was conducted based on the structured analysis of privacy (STRAP) framework. Seven expert evaluators performed heuristic evaluations and applied the 11 STRAP heuristics to the privacy policy statements and settings provided in the WhatsApp, Twitter, and Snapchat applications. This study provides useful information for designers and developers of social media applications as well as users of the apps. In particular, the results indicate that Snapchat had the highest severity rating, followed by Twitter and WhatsApp. Moreover, the most notable severity rating for all the apps was regarding the ability to revoke consent, where all of the apps had a very high number of usability problems.

What we do on social media! Social representations of schoolchildren's activities on electronic communication platforms

Researchers might be wondering whether the use of social media by students raises any ethical issues? It is my opinion that with the astronomical increase in the use of social networking websites or platforms by students, ethical issues are progressively important. The astronomical increase in the use of social networking platforms by minors raises ethical questions in school ecologies. This study investigated the ethical issues in social media usage among secondary school students in a developing context. A semi-structured questionnaire that elicited information on the school children's home background, social media operated, and mode of connection to the social media was used to collect data. The questionnaire gave the students the opportunity to write their responses to the interview questions freely. Mixed methods such as constant comparative techniques and descriptive statistical methods were used to analyze data from the one hundred and thirty school children that participated in this research. The results indicated that Facebook is the most operated social networking website by the selected schoolchildren. Most of the schoolchildren operating the popular social networking accounts signed up before the age of thirteen with the help of their biological sisters and brothers. Themes such as cyber pornography, sexting, cyber stalking, cyber bullying, cyber hacking, and abusive language emanated from the individual qualitative interviews. The concluding part of this article answers questions on the impact of new communication technologies on psycho-social adjustment of school children in developing countries.

Características y percepciones sobre el uso de las plataformas de redes sociales y dispositivos tecnológicos por parte de los adolescentes

El crecimiento exponencial del acceso a dispositivos móviles está fomentando un uso ubicuo y más intensivo de ciertos servicios y aplicaciones online. Este artículo aborda las características de los usos que los menores realizan tanto de los dispositivos de acceso a las redes sociales como de las plataformas que las contienen. Mediante una encuesta aplicada a una muestra representativa de adolescentes de la Comunidad de Madrid matriculados en la ESO (N=524), se estudia la edad de propiedad del primer smartphone, la frecuencia de uso de las plataformas de redes sociales y de WhatsApp, las actividades que realizan y su frecuencia, y finalmente sus valoraciones respecto a las redes sociales. Algunos de los hallazgos tienen que ver con la confirmación de la tendencia de las edades para la adquisición del propio smartphone (media de 11 años). Edad que también se muestra como el referente para el acceso a las redes sociales. Junto al acceso multipantalla, también se observa un consumo diario superior de Whatsapp en relación con el de las plataformas de redes sociales. Por otra parte, las necesidades de socialización y la búsqueda de entretenimiento orientan el uso online de la adolescencia. Finalmente, los adolescentes eligen mayoritariamente Instagram para realizar la mayoría de sus actividades en redes sociales; y, a continuación, YouTube, en el caso de contenidos audiovisuales.

An introduction and guide to becoming a social media savvy nephrologist

AbstractThe use of social media has increased over the last several decades, with ∼72% of the US adult population indicating the use of social networking platforms. Expansion of social media use beyond personal reasons now includes professional uses. This growth is especially true in medicine—and specifically nephrology. An enhanced online presence has the potential to make positive contributions to professional development, education and collaborations, potentially opening doors to academic opportunities. With a growing number of online platforms, resources and conversations, it is natural for one to feel overwhelmed and ultimately avoid social media. We discuss the benefits of social media engagement for nephrologists and provide a practical guide on how they can harness social media professionally and effectively. With an understanding of the basics, existing resources and avoidance of potential pitfalls, physicians can learn to use social media and join the global nephrology community.

Lateral orbitofrontal gray matter abnormalities in subjects with problematic smartphone use.

Background and aimsSmartphone use is becoming commonplace and exerting adequate control over smartphone use has become an important mental health issue. Little is known about the neurobiology underlying problematic smartphone use. We hypothesized that structural abnormalities in the fronto-cingulate brain region could be implicated in problematic smartphone use, similar to that has been reported for Internet gaming disorder and Internet addiction. This study investigated fronto-cingulate gray matter abnormalities in problematic smartphone users, particularly those who spend time on social networking platforms.MethodsThe study included 39 problematic smartphone users with excessive use of social networking platforms via smartphone and 49 normal control male and female smartphone users. We conducted voxel-based morphometric analysis with diffeomorphic anatomical registration using an exponentiated Lie algebra algorithm. Region of interest analysis was performed on the fronto-cingulate region to identify whether gray matter volume (GMV) differed between the two groups.ResultsProblematic smartphone users had significantly smaller GMV in the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) than healthy controls, and there were significant negative correlations between GMV in the right lateral OFC and the Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale (SAPS) score, including the SAPS tolerance subscale.ConclusionsThese results suggest that lateral orbitofrontal gray matter abnormalities are implicated in problematic smartphone use, especially in social networking platform overuse. Small GMV in the lateral OFC was correlated with an increasing tendency to be immersed in smartphone use. Our results suggest that orbitofrontal gray matter abnormalities affect regulatory control over previously reinforced behaviors and may underlie problematic smartphone use.

Do social networking platforms promote service quality and purchase intention of customers of service-providing organizations?

Purpose Customers are interested in finding service recommendations, reviews and word of mouth using social networking platforms. These service reviews are useful for enhancing service quality, level of information and engagement, and purchase intention of customers. The purpose of this paper is to uncover which social networking platform is more useful for the exchange of service reviews and how organizations are improving purchase intention as well as service quality in the light of customer’s reviews/experiences. Design/methodology/approach The study is exploratory in nature because it aims to understand the use of social networking platforms for enhancing service quality and the purchase intention of customers using a purposive sampling technique. To meet the objective of this study, non-directive and semi-structured interviews have been conducted with customers and marketing teams in the banking sector and internet service providers. Findings The results show that social networking websites are helpful in fostering responsiveness, awareness, assurance, reliability and empathy. However, respondents revealed serious concerns regarding the privacy of personal and financial information especially in the context of the banking sector. It has been found that official Facebook pages of service-providing organizations, open and closed local community Facebook groups, sponsored ads and promotional advertisements on Facebook, WhatsApp groups and YouTube video comments are more frequently used to exchange service reviews (i.e. influence the process of purchase decision) among friends, friends of friends, family members and the general public. The selected customers and market team respondents revealed that local community Facebook groups (i.e. open groups and closed groups) have gained prime importance for enhancing service quality and purchase decisions. Practical implications The effective and well-organized use of social networking platforms can foster service reviews, word of mouth, level of service awareness, interactive communication, intention to purchase, social influence, social trust and services quality. Furthermore, online social networking platforms require a lower level of advertisement costs and offer huge amounts of information, discussions, enquires, service stories, word of mouth, transactions and interactions of consumers. Originality/value The present study is exploratory in nature because it selects an under-researched issue regarding the use of social networking applications to enhance levels of purchase intention and service quality. There is limited literature which has combined the multiple constructs in a single study (i.e. social media platforms, cross-platform platforms, service quality and purchase intention of consumers). Most of the previous studies are dependent on various dimensions of service quality (i.e. “reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empath and tangibles”). However, the present study extracted that respondents have given more preferences of services awareness and privacy compared to traditional elements of service quality.

SRTM: a supervised relation topic model for multi-classification on large-scale document network

The increasing use of social networking platforms has raised the need to develop automated multi-classifications on document network. In this paper, we propose a supervised relation topic model that leverages the links between documents to learn the latent content of documents and enhance performance of prediction. Our model takes advantage of Bayesian generative model to exploit the relation between word feature and link feature in a document network. We evaluate our model on large-scale data collections that include scientific citation community and medical article network. We demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency on document classification with SLDA model and collective classification approaches.

Survey on Use of Language on Social Media: English versus Turkish in North Cyprus

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is among the many countries which have long embraced the use of social media and social networking sites. The frequent access of and use of social networking platforms have been intensified by the presence of many institutions of learning and the increasing number of foreign students and tourists from across various countries of the world. The Northern Cypriot locals are not left out in the social media activities. The common networking sites frequently used in the setting include but not limited to Facebook, e-mail and twitter. Northern Cyprus is clearly multilingual but three languages seem to be common in communication: Turkish, English and Arabic. However, on the social media, broadcast messages, adverts and bulk sms from service providers are predominant in either English or Turkish. The methodology will be quantitative through survey. The research will compare the use of English and Turkish languages on social media in north Cyprus to determine which is more frequently used and more accessible to social media users. The possible findings would be that English and Turkish are in a competitive situation.

Threats to Security and Privacy of Information Due to Growing Use of Social Media in India

The world is witnessing a rapid rise in the use of Internet by people. With the advancement of technology and increased use of mobile phones/smart phones, people are able to access internet virtually from any part of the globe. Social media is now a very popular means of communication on the internet. The basic idea behind social media concept was to create platform which is user-driven, interactive Web in order to ‘bring people closer’.In this paper, an attempt has been made to provide an overview of dangers posed by social media platforms to the information security and data privacy of the people. Cybercriminals are using social media platforms to carry out their illegal activities. A large number of people are falling easy prey to cybercriminals everyday on social networking sites. This paper explores the different types of threats which may compromise information security and privacy of people especially the youngsters due to their increased use of social networking platforms. As India has one of the fastest growing social media user base in the world, this paper also explores the various security measures that can be undertaken to become less vulnerable to the threats posed by cybercriminals on social media.

Digital Media Platforms and Education: The Uses of Social Networking in the UAE and China

Young people today are growing up in a digitalized environment. What challenges do they face in navigating this content-rich, symbolic environment? In this article, the researcher reviews university students' perceptions of media literacy by examining the use of social networking platforms (SN) in academic settings. The researcher distributed 1200 surveys evenly split between Chinese and UAE students and 998 were returned and analyzed. The findings reveal that while many students believe that media literacy should become a priority in modern curricula, this urgency is not felt by the majority of students. The researcher reviews current views and methodologies in the literature related to media literacy and its status in current pedagogy. The study draws from gravitation theory to place the use of SN tools within a broader background of communication. The Uses and Gratification Theory is also invoked to explain how SN was made attractive to campus activists and protesters in the two countries.

The use of social networking platforms for sexual health promotion: identifying key strategies for successful user engagement.

BackgroundOnline social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have grown rapidly in popularity, with opportunities for interaction enhancing their health promotion potential. Such platforms are being used for sexual health promotion but with varying success in reaching and engaging users. We aimed to identify Facebook and Twitter profiles that were able to engage large numbers of users, and to identify strategies used to successfully attract and engage users in sexual health promotion on these platforms.MethodsWe identified active Facebook (n = 60) and Twitter (n = 40) profiles undertaking sexual health promotion through a previous systematic review, and assessed profile activity over a one-month period. Quantitative measures of numbers of friends and followers (reach) and social media interactions were assessed, and composite scores used to give profiles an ‘engagement success’ ranking. Associations between host activity, reach and interaction metrics were explored. Content of the top ten ranked Facebook and Twitter profiles was analysed using a thematic framework and compared with five poorly performing profiles to identify strategies for successful user engagement.ResultsProfiles that were able to successfully engage large numbers of users were more active and had higher levels of interaction per user than lower-ranked profiles. Strategies used by the top ten ranked profiles included: making regular posts/tweets (median 46 posts or 124 tweets/month for top-ranked profiles versus six posts or six tweets for poorly-performing profiles); individualised interaction with users (85% of top-ranked profiles versus 0% for poorly-performing profiles); and encouraging interaction and conversation by posing questions (100% versus 40%). Uploading multimedia material (80% versus 30%) and highlighting celebrity involvement (70% versus 10%) were also key strategies.ConclusionSuccessful online engagement on social networking platforms can be measured through quantitative (user numbers and interactions) and basic qualitative content analysis. We identified the amount and type of host activity as key strategies for success, and in particular, regular individualised interaction with users, encouraging conversation, uploading multimedia and relevant links, and highlighting celebrity involvement. These findings provide valuable insight for achieving a high level of online engagement through social networking platforms to support successful health promotion initiatives.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1396-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Is Social Networking the future of Project Management?

Communication is the lifeblood of project management, but the increasing geographical dispersion of project teams and stakeholders creates a challenge. Project managers need to exploit a range of tools and methods to communicate effectively with their team, clients and subcontractors. Social networking is ever more widespread, both in the workplace and our personal lives. This paper studies project managers’ use of social networking, in an attempt to determine whether, and if so how, project managers could improve their communications by making effective use of social networking platforms. A literature review identified several potentially useful aspects: user profiles, professional networks, blogs and real time communication. A survey found that 74% (n=150) had already used social networking in the workplace. The most widely used sites were corporate platforms (38%) and LinkedIn (37%). The survey found that the most effective uses for social networking were promoting a project within an organization and for intra-project communication. Interviews suggested that the most useful applications of social networking sites in projects are to improve knowledge management, enable quick communications and to introduce new team members. Face-to-face meetings remain the preferred method of communication where possible. The main limitations are perceived security risks and concerns about time-wasting.