The Impact of Boundary-Blurring Social Networking Sites: Self-Presentation, Impression Formation, and Publicness

Individuals have more opportunities than ever before to present themselves in public using social networking sites (SNSs). These sites allow users to make self-presentations by creating online profiles, containing text, photos, or videos, about themselves and their activities. While individual users generate these presentations, millions of individuals can potentially access them over many years. From the perspective of organizations developing these SNSs, the more people, the broader range of people, and the greater interaction among the people that use them, the more sustainable it is. However, individuals tend to live segmented lives and often develop different self-presentations depending on the audience. Maintaining one or multiple presentations is possible offline as long as the audiences are separate and little opportunity for interaction exists. Online, tension can form between boundary-blurring expansion and boundary-preserving development of SNSs. This dissertation seeks to develop better understanding of how boundaries blurred by SNSs affect impressions formed of job candidates. To examine the issue, two studies were conducted, one exploratory qualitative and one experimental. The first study investigates whether, how, and why SNSs are accessed to obtain information about candidates. The second study develops and tests a model of how characteristics of the SNS environment affect impression formation and subsequent hiring decisions. Both studies found that SNSs can have both benefits and detriments for the job candidate by influencing the impression formed by a professional

Foregrounding accessibility for user experience design

textI am interested in creating generative tools and techniques for designing accessible user experiences for end users. As a user experience designer, I am working on embracing the web accessibility standards and guidelines and including them from the beginning of the User Experience (UX) design process. My projects are directed at facilitating design students and professionals to understand two things: that the broad concept of web accessibility is important, and how they can embed web accessibility into the UX design process at a very early stage. To do this, I used different media (website, posters and videos etc.) to create awareness and educate designers in an interesting, simple and engaging way. In this report, I will discuss the definition and role of accessible design, identify limitations in existing tools and methods, and demonstrate how future designers might research, prototype, analyze, and implement their designs for all users.Desig

The effects of native advertising on audience perceptions of legacy and online news publishers

Extending research from Wojdynski and Evans, this experimental study replicates the challenges of effectively disclosing native advertising to readers and demonstrates a promising inoculation method that increases likelihood of recognition. Moreover, this quantitative research indicates that both legacy and online news publishers were evaluated less favorably for displaying native advertising. Attitudes toward the publisher and perceptions of its credibility declined for both, although online publishers suffered greater attitudinal damage than did legacy publishers who may benefit from their established reputation

Online and Social Media Recruitment: Hospitality Employer and Prospective Employee Considerations

Purpose – This paper reflects on issues concerning online and social media recruitment in hospitality organisations. It considers the implications for employers and prospective employees, discussing areas of mutual relevance. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on existing research to examine the subject of online and social media recruitment. Secondary sources are used to provide a framework for the consideration of online and social media recruitment for hospitality organisations. A model for understanding online and social media empowered hospitality recruitment is proposed. Findings – Considerations for employers include website attributes, issues of fairness in the recruitments process and brand reputation. For prospective employees, the considerations centre on public and private online profiles. Considerations common to both include the value of an online presence, the blurring of boundaries in online information and legal implications. Research limitations/implications – This is a discussion paper drawing on evidence from previous research to explore recruitment issues in the hospitality industry. It raises the profile of recruitment issues, mapping the field and providing the basis for further exploration. Practical Implications – The paper provides a basis for understanding the impact of online and social media recruitment trends and issues and considers the implications for hospitality employers and prospective employees. Originality/Value – The papers contribution is its reflection on debates from different disciplines and in offering the dual perspective of employers and potential employees from which to consider emerging themes as they relate to online and social media empowered recruitment