The Role of Technology, Content, and Context for the Success of Social Media

Social media, a new form of electronic media for social engagement and interaction, are becoming important means of communication and valuable assets for both individuals and organizations. Used by millions of online consumers and many leading business practitioners, social media, however, has remained largely unexplored by business researchers. This study, therefore, seeks to broaden our understanding by investigating weblog success in achieving readership popularity. Drawing on the techno-social perspective of media and the cognitive psychology concepts of mindfulness and mindlessness, we conjecture that readership popularity of a social media site is associated with its technology-dependent, content-dependent and context-dependent characteristics. To validate the proposed research model, a set of very popular weblogs will be studied over a period of time. We will adopt a methodology which includes an objective evaluation of the sites and a survey of individual readers

Social network analysis of the video bloggers\u27 community in YouTube

This research studied the structure of the social network of the video blogger community on YouTube. It analyzed the social network structure of friends and subscribers of the 187 video bloggers on YouTube and calculated the social network measures. This thesis compares the results to the structure described by Warmbrodt et al. in 2007 and explains the reasons for the distinctions. The number of video bloggers has increased enormously, and the form of their interactions has changed. As a result, the video blogger social network has evolved from a core/periphery structure to one that is centralized. This indicates that the video blogger community on YouTube presently revolves around few central people in the network--Abstract, page iii

Weblog effects on social capital

Weblog is the newest and clearly one of the most influential computer mediated communication (CMC) tools. Growing body of literature about the weblog effects on education, marketing, journalism, and human resource management is a sign of importance and significant effects of weblogs. This rapidly growing communication tool is expected to have significant impact on the work life of the individual and organization. However, there is little research evidence as to the nature and extent of this impact. Using a sample of 326, this research examines the effects of weblogs on social capital and its components: social connections, trust, and reciprocity. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed

Measuring the Impact of Organizational Social Web Site Usage on Work Performance: A Multilevel Model

This paper describes the development of a multilevel model for investigating the impact of organizational social web site (SWS) usage on individual and team performance. Despite the SWS focus on collective phenomena – such as crowd sourcing and collective intelligence – previous research on SWS usage in general does not investigate it as a multilevel phenomenon. Our paper addresses this gap by drawing on existing guidelines for multilevel theorizing. We thus propose that SWS usage impacts individual and team performance through its improved collaboration capabilities. Organizational learning and social capital theories serve as the theoretical foundation. Ultimately, we present a multilevel model as the foundation for future empirical research on SWS usage’s impact on individual and team performance. Our research’s contribution lies in the theoretical derivation of a multilevel model

Exploring the Role of Gender on Bloggers\u27 Switching Behaviors

Blog has become an increasingly popular form of new information technology (IT) in recent years. Many world famous web sites (e.g., Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Google) are providing blog services on the Internet. Bloggers, therefore, can easily establish and maintain their blogs through such services. However, research on blogs’ adoption and diffusion is rare. In this study, we attempt to study bloggers’ post-adoption behaviors. We examine bloggers’ intention to switch their blog services building upon the marketing and IS literature. Particularly, the role of gender is explored and an online survey is conducted to test the research model. Findings confirm that bloggers’ intention to switch their blog services is strongly associated with three factors: satisfaction, sunk costs, and attractive alternatives. Meanwhile, gender is found to moderate the relationship between satisfaction and intention to switch the blog service. Implications for both researchers and practitioners are provided

Understanding the Influence of Blog on the Development of Social Capital

The rapid use and application of blogs in diverse areas such as education, marketing, journalism, and human resource management in recent years underlines the need for a better understanding of the impact of this new technology on social capital. Social capital reflects the norm of reciprocity and the level of trust among individuals who connect, interact, and benefit from one another. Blog is expected to influence the extent and the scope of this interaction by providing new means of networking among people. This paper examines the relationship between blog use and social capital and reports on the results of an exploratory study that examines this relationship using survey data from 326 blog users. Results suggest a significant and positive impact of blog use on social capital and its components: social connections, reciprocity, and trust. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed

Location-based and contextual mobile learning. A STELLAR Small-Scale Study

This study starts from several inputs that the partners have collected from previous and current running research projects and a workshop organised at the STELLAR Alpine Rendevous 2010. In the study, several steps have been taken, firstly a literature review and analysis of existing systems; secondly, mobile learning experts have been involved in a concept mapping study to identify the main challenges that can be solved via mobile learning; and thirdly, an identification of educational patterns based on these examples has been done. Out of this study the partners aim to develop an educational framework for contextual learning as a unifying approach in the field. Therefore one of our central research questions is: how can we investigate, theorise, model and support contextual learning

Diversity of thought in the blogosphere: implications for influencing and monitoring image

A blog, a shortened form of weblog, is a website where an author shares thoughts in posts or entries. Most blogs permit readers to add comments to posts and thereby be a conversational mechanism. One way that companies have started to use blogs is to monitor their corporate image (in this dissertation, the term image is used in reference to corporate, brand and/or product image). This study focuses on how common socio-psychological processes mediate consumers’ revelation of corporate image in the blogosphere. Centering resonance analysis, a means of measuring similarity between two bodies of text, is used in conjunction with multidimensional scaling to locate text as cognitive objects in a space. Clusters are then detected and measured to quantify diversity in the thoughts expressed. Detected patterns are studied from a social process theory perspective, where complex phenomena are hypothesized to be the result of the interaction of simpler processes. A majority of blog commenters compromise the expression of their thoughts to gain social acceptance. This study identifies the most extreme of such people so companies who monitor blogs can assign less weight to image indications gained from them as they may be merely expressing thoughts that are intended to maintain social acceptance. It was also found that single-theme blogs attract a readership with similarly narrow interests. The boldest and most diverse thinkers among comment writers have the most impact because of their ability to provoke the thinking of others. However, commenters who repeat the same ideas have little effect, suggesting that introducing shills is unlikely to shift the sentiment of a blog’s readership. People participate in blog communities for reasons (e.g., need for community) that may undermine thought diversity. However, there may be value in serving those needs even though no valuable insights are provided into image or directions for product development. Members of homogeneous-thinking communities were observed to more actively participate, with greater longevity. This may increase loyalty to the company hosting the blog

Examining the Under-Representation of Aboriginal Scholars in the Ontario Professoriate: Policy Implications for Faculty Recruitment and Retention

This case study was designed to investigate the under-representation of Aboriginal scholars in the Ontario professoriate, examining: 1) the current lack of Aboriginal scholars in the Ontario professoriate, and 2) the retention of these scholars within the system. To advocate social justice for this community, these issues were examined through an Aboriginal epistemic lens to develop principles with which to inform recruitment and retention policy and practice in the academy. Specifically, this study focused on the following areas: 1) the context of the participants\u27 educational experience as Aboriginal students; 2) participants\u27 perspectives about why Aboriginal scholars stay, or conversely why they leave, the Ontario professoriate; and 3) social justice and equity - implications for recruitment and retention policies in the academy. A transformative policy process is proposed which resulted from the grounded theory flowing from the data collected, and the extant literature. As an organizational tool for transforming the process of policy development and implementation in the academy, the policy process proposed utilizes a circle archetype relevant to many Aboriginal worldviews. The policy circle process is comprised of four integrative stages: the \u27Beginning\u27 stage; the \u27Consultation with Expert Knowledge\u27 stage; the \u27Taking Action\u27 stage; and, the \u27Reflection\u27 stage. Based on the findings of the study, equity principles which inculcate the tenets of respect, honour, truth and wisdom are proposed as guidelines for Aboriginal recruitment and retention policies in the academy. The rationale for proposing this change as a means of promoting social justice and equity, as well as to address the under-representation of Aboriginal scholars in the academy, is based on the perceived necessity of universities to assume their leadership role as socially responsible \u27agents of change.\u27 Finally, the study suggests that there is a continued need to develop and implement strategic educational policy reform in Canada to: support the success of Aboriginal students, to promote and facilitate the participation of Aboriginal educators and Elders in developing curricula and pedagogy which respect and honour Aboriginal epistemologies, and to spur provincial and federal governments\u27 provision of support in terms of investment of time and funding for the development of Aboriginal postsecondary programs

Exploring children's social and moral behaviour in a technology context

The central argument of this thesis is that disclosure of certain information via computer-mediated communication technologies influence specific behaviours in relation to trust, and betrayal for children and young people. The main aim of this thesis is to extend the computer mediated communication literature by investigating young people‘s use of digital communication devices in an effort to explore interactions between methods of computer mediated communication and young people‘s subsequent social and moral behaviour. The thesis begins with qualitative analyses of data gathered via focus groups to raise a broad range of issues important to the young user rather than the issues deemed important by parents and educators. Young people indicate clearly that they are aware of the safety issues that concern parents and academics eager to protect them from predators. Whilst the single most popular reason they identify for engaging with technology is to communicate, they identify three key areas of concern related to technology use; usage preferences, positive aspects of technology use and negative aspects of technology use. The topics relating to the latter two themes combine social and moral behaviours forming a preliminary framework for understanding behaviour within the HCI agenda. Subjective and objective methodology is implemented, typically via questionnaires and content analysis. In depth examination and assessment of those concerns deemed important to the young user is achieved via questionnaire studies developed from the issues raised in the focus groups. Building upon the preliminary framework identified in the first study, the thesis employs a questionnaire study to examine whether technology has an impact on trust by young people and how any betrayal of trust might impact on their subsequent behaviour. The questionnaire studies reveal that for young people dynamics of trust and forgiveness are functions of both type of medium chosen to convey information, as well as the recipient to whom the information is related. Further investigation confirms that similar elements exist for older users communicating via digital communication technologies. Subsequent investigation reveals that as young users of computer mediated communication adopt each new alternative communication medium, they then manipulate that new medium to fit their communication needs by using them in such a way as to enhance the speed and quality of communication