ABSTRACT. New communication technologies afford individuals the ability to not only consume media, but also create and share content with others. The purpose of this study is to investigate the various factors that influence perceptions of credibility and sharing behaviors.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the AfD's social media strategy over the last years on different social media platforms to verify its online effectiveness. We propose a unified multi-platform analysis, and prove the AfD's superior online popularity in comparison to the rest of the German political parties.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to understand the dynamics of polarization and how news outlets influenced political discussions on Twitter during the 2018 Brazilian presidential campaign. We analyze four datasets using social network analysis. Our main finding is the identification of an asymmetric polarization.

ABSTRACT. We develop projection method applicable to complex weighted bipartite social networks and measure the overall ease of communication within these networks. Using simulations and real Facebook data, we show that the introduced measurement is correlated with the political polarization index.

ABSTRACT. To illuminate understanding of how social media can be leveraged to glean insights into public health issues such as e-cigarette use, we use a SMART dashboard to observe Twitter messages and follow the content about e-cigarettes in different cities across the U.S.

ABSTRACT. Through a unique method of using Twitter data gathered from six different hurricanes alongside qualitative interviews conducted in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, we find that there is some level of stability across hurricane-related tweet topics over time.

ABSTRACT. Aiming to understand what influences the success of online persuasion, we explored different dimensions of the language use in an online comment, the order of the comments in an online communication context, and the attributes of the participating users and their relations to the persuasion process.

ABSTRACT. Sentiment analysis lacks construct validity: examination the existing ap­proach indicates hy­pothesized sentiment is confounded with other factors. An alternative statistical approach for analysis of sentiment in text is pro­posed, along with discussion of how it would need to be developed.

ABSTRACT. This study explores how ‘privacy’ is negotiated in the US around the rule-makings of the California Consumer Privacy Act and the federal-level regulation. In Twitter data, it discovered three themes: distrust of corporations, the capitalist US government, and the continuing onus on individuals.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the interaction between factors increasing and decreasing the tendency to self-disclose online. Results emphasize: People that fear to miss out are at risk of privacy intrusions as their level of self-disclosure was increased even if having lower levels of trust in the provider.

ABSTRACT. Social media platforms are ubiquitous in North Americans’ everyday lives. As social media enables personal disclosures and interactions, users generate large data trails that can include text, photos, videos, and reactions to posted content (e.g., upvotes, likes, retweets). Because erosion of trust can reduce participation and thus social and emotional benefits obtained through social media use, this project will characterize trustworthy reuses of these data trails for research. We will identify factors that influence Americans’ perceptions of trustworthy (and untrustworthy) uses of their social media data. To do this, we will employ factorial vignettes, a methodological approach especially useful for unpacking how contextual factors influence human attitudes and behaviors. Using separate surveys, each tailored to users of a specific platform, we will present respondents with 30-40 scenarios, with factors (e.g., content, purpose of data use, research tools) varied through random assignment. Respondents will assess how acceptable and ethical they find specific uses of their data. This method will allow us to conduct both within-subject and between-subjects analyses. Findings will give researchers and companies a better understanding of users’ perceptions of proper use and misuse of their data and will provide clear guidance to platforms on building trust with users and enabling ethical research.

ABSTRACT. This study of influencers’ communicative practices within the ephemeral and static architecture of Instagram. Using ethnographic methods this examines Instagram content from influencers assessing the marketisation of authenticity and trustworthiness across Instagram's communication channels. These techniques and communication frames aligning with a neoliberal concept of self-optimising aesthetic entrepreneurship. 

ABSTRACT. We explore employee brand equity (EBE) on Instagram and seek to operationalize the construct using social media data. Using a qualitative case study of Soulcycle (the indoor cycling and fitness boutique), we examine Instagram posts from influential employees to assess brand alignment.

ABSTRACT. In this project, we focus on online content provided by online resources regarding the professional use of social media in China. It seeks to uncover topics as well as meanings assigned to social media from the online content for organizational newcomers.

ABSTRACT. The paper presents a holistic framework in the form of SAP-LAP (Situation Actor Process – Learning Action Performance) Model. The paper contributes to the existing literature in the field of digital use in education thereby offering a deep review of how social media in teaching is perceived among the “actors” involved, and how the learning can lead to enhanced performance.

ABSTRACT. Youth must develop strategies of visual management as their everyday practices are often conducted through visual media. Findings indicate that youth employ strategies that involve past, present and future oriented temporal practices to manage their visual self-representations in and through time.

ABSTRACT. [NOTE: This talk is cancelled as the speakers are not able to attend the conference. ​​​​​​]

Although there is research on how social media affects self-esteem, many questions remain about the relationships between new media use, using social media for relationship maintenance and self-esteem. In this study, we outline links between new media use and self-esteem, and explicate specific purposes of social media use that affects wellbeing. Individual differences -including contingencies of self-worth and self-objectification- were used to explain self-esteem levels. Interestingly, results show that using social media to maintain existing relationships lowered self-esteem, particularly for individuals that peg their self-esteem to their looks. Results are discussed in terms of social comparison and establishing belongingness. Suggestions for future research are offered. 

ABSTRACT. An avatar is a three-dimensional digital version of an individual. This literature review explores Indigenous cultural identities (referred to as Indigenous avatars) on Social Media; as well as, benefits, challenges and implications of Indigenous cultural identity representation on Social Media.

ABSTRACT. We analyzed the privacy paradox, the effectiveness of privacy education and people's willingness to sell private information in a lab experiment with 300 participants. The privacy paradox received empirical support, privacy education was found to influence people's attitudes and knowledge levels, but not their behavior, and people sold private information for small rewards (66% of the participants sold us their entire Facebook data package for USD 10).

ABSTRACT. This study introduces a new method of bot detection called botscan, analyzing topic-level data. We show efforts to influence deliberative discourse, particularly in conservative conversations, and proposes a novel method for bot analysis in hopes to advance study in this fast-changing field.

ABSTRACT. Automated accounts on social media have become increasingly problematic. We propose a key feature in combination with existing methods to improve machine learning algorithms for bot detection. We successfully improve classification performance through including the proposed feature.

ABSTRACT. Our aim is to check whether two widely used instruments – the Smartphone Addiction Scale for adolescents and the Compulsive Internet Use Scale - measure different concepts. Two scales are highly correlated (r=.98, p≤.001). The proposed alternative -the Compulsory Mobile Internet Usage Scale.

ABSTRACT. We employed an integrative model to examine the importance of changing beliefs (i.e., expected outcomes, normative beliefs, and self-efficacy) on individuals’ sexual image sharing frequency, image-editing behavior and their strategic preference for social media platforms.

ABSTRACT. In this paper, we examine how social media users reflect upon their own developments as users over time. We draw upon two interview studies with the same informants, conducted in 2012 and 2017 and outline the most prominent influencing factors that have had an impact on social media use over time.

ABSTRACT. We study factors associated with the sharing of breaking news by young, college-aged students. Using a unique combination of survey and behavioral data, we identify traits of individuals extracted from responses to surveys that are associated with a propensity to share breaking news on Twitter.

ABSTRACT. We examine the context surrounding the #MeToo movement in China, how hashtags were used to circumvent censorship, and the role that Chinese diasporic communities played in the process. The results demonstrate the practices of the various actors, and their choices to circumvent censorship.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the level of user engagement and the formation of smaller communities in the online network that formed during the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage. The initial findings of this research support PVS’s use of a “virtual canoe” to engage individuals and communities on a global level.

ABSTRACT. Extending the line of research on social media use and organizational socialization, this paper investigates how organizational newcomers use social media to initiate, develop, and maintain workplace relationships.

ABSTRACT. In this work, we examine features that are indicative of an individual’s susceptibility on Reddit’s changemyview. Experiments showed that an individual’s language style can be indicative of one’s susceptibility to change to change the opinion.

ABSTRACT. This paper argues that some underlying assumptions of privacy studies hinder our understanding of youths’ engagements with social media and privacy: It portrays young people as ‘unfinished’, fails to account for youth's exposure to technopanic narratives, and is grounded in a liberal idealization.

ABSTRACT. Sharing personal health information on social media can be rewarding yet risky. Through a survey study (N=553), we find disclosure of health data is related to experiential and contextual factors, such as self-stigma, negative online experiences, privacy attitude and self-protection practices.

ABSTRACT. Social media users ignore terms of service and privacy policies, but limited empirical evidence explains why, especially for older adults. This survey study reveals that privacy literacy and three specific attitudes about policies differentially predict how long these users spend reading them.

ABSTRACT. We develop and validate a multi-item measure for perceived relationship boundary regulation and show how it significantly drives adoption and use of four social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We further show how this perception is tied to one’s communication style.

ABSTRACT. Do the different approaches to sexual and romantic connection claimed by the polyamory and swinging communities show themselves in differences of content and structure by these groups communicating over social media?  To find out, I empirically explore the social media communities formed on Twitter and Reddit for the discussion of these two forms of ethical non-monogamy.  While members of these two communities are distinguished by markedly different membership and by clear differences in the content of discussion, the social network structures of the two communities are more alike than different.  Implications for the domain consistency school of social psychology and for the platform-affordance school of social media studies are considered.

ABSTRACT. Diet is not only a part of our healthy life but also an essential social activity representing our opinions and beliefs. To develop effective dietary intervention programs, it is necessary to have insights on geopolitical information. Traditional survey methods are expensive and fail to sample the populations without landline telephones. The growth of social media has provided a great opportunity to explore public opinions about common health issues. While the current studies have provided valuable insights, the geopolitical factor of diet has not been investigated on social media. To address this gap, this study utilizes a computational approach to characterize health opinions regarding diet based on the political orientation of the US states. We detected and analyzed topics of more than 850,000 diet-related tweets posted in 2016 and 2017. We found a significant difference among diet-related topics discussed in tweets originating from Democratic, Republican, and Swing states. 

ABSTRACT. This poster shares how high school students visually depict both their membership in different social and school-based groups and their social media networks.

ABSTRACT. What compromises and challenges occur when alternative social media rely on corporate platforms with which they have philosophical and material differences? Using GitHub data, I study the development of a tool that bridges alternative social media with Facebook. Recurring challenges and developer responses illuminate power relationships between platforms and third-party developers. This has implications for builders of alternative social media tools and researchers who rely on platform APIs.

ABSTRACT. Computer-mediated introduction (CMI) can be seen as the process in which users with compatible purposes interact with each other through an Internet platform to meet afterwards in the physical world. In this context, trust plays a critical role since CMI may involve risks like data misuse, self-esteem damage, fraud or violence. By evaluating the trustworthiness of the information system, its service provider and the end-user of interest, users decide whether to start or to continue an interaction. Therefore, we aim to support end-users in their trustworthiness assessment by developing software functionalities that address facets of trustworthiness. Since trust concerns differ in the phases "before", "during" and "after" an offline encouter, such software  functionalities need to be designed accordingly. 

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was to examine if Olympians’ and Paralympians’ Instagram posts reflected the values and goals of their respective Games (e.g., inspiration, development, awareness, sponsorship, etc.), using a coding scheme that was developed based on the mission statements and values outlined in the Olympic and Paralympic Movements. The Paralympians demonstrated increased representation of the Movements suggesting that they had a stronger sense of advocacy, which may have developed as a result of their experiences as individuals with a disability. 

ABSTRACT. According to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, 18 to 29 year old adults are the most active social media users (Social Media Fact Sheet, 2016). If we look at this information within the context of higher education, it is obvious that this age category represents the primary age group for most undergraduate students in institutions within the United States. Yet, we know very little about the social media use and participation by undergraduate students. It is possible that by understanding how undergraduate students use and participate in social media, we can gain insights into ways in which to facilitate formal, informal, and collaborative learning opportunities. The aim of this investigation was to survey undergraduate students on their social media use and participation. This investigation focused on participation patterns and outcomes between the students’ most and least used social media. For the remainder of this paper, the most and least used social media are referred to with the following acronyms: MUSM (Most Used Social Media) and LUSM (Least Used Social Media).