The Economics of Click Fraud

Click fraud is a substantial threat in the cyberworld. Here, the author examines the contexts, mechanisms, and processes associated with the click-fraud industry from an economics viewpoint. The nature of electronic channels, characterized by asymmetric hypermediation, provides a fertile ground for such fraud. Click fraud is arguably the cyberworld's biggest scam. Illegitimate clicks on pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements have rekindled debate about online advertising's effectiveness. Cybercriminals involved in diverse activities are expanding their operations into lucrative businesses in the PPC industry. At the heart of the click-fraud problem is the fact that site owners benefit from clicks made to ads on their sites. Search engine network partners, competitors, and unhappy employees can all generate illegitimate clicks. Here, I examine the contexts, mechanisms, and processes associated with the click-fraud industry from an economics viewpoint

Contextualized Repertoire Maps: Exploring the Role of Social Media in News-related Media Repertoires

In diesem Artikel stelle ich Repertoirekarten als einen qualitativen Ansatz zur Untersuchung der nachrichtenbezogenen Mediennutzung vor. Zur Visualisierung von Mediennutzungsmustern und -logiken werden egozentrischen Netzwerkkarten adaptiert und mit Leitfadeninterviews und Beobachtungsdaten kontextualisiert. Das integrative Vorgehen wird am Beispiel einer Untersuchung zu Routinen und Praktiken des Nachrichtenkonsums in und um Social-Media-Plattformen und andere Informationsintermediären veranschaulicht. Ich zeige auf, wie diese Visualisierungsaufgabe im Interview andere qualitative Methoden ergänzen kann, um die Struktur, Bedeutung und Prozesse der medienübergreifenden Nutzungspraktiken zu erforschen, und diskutiere die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Visualisierung und Analyse von Wechselbeziehungen zwischen sozialen Medien und traditionellen Nachrichtenquellen.In this article, I introduce contextualized repertoire maps as a qualitative approach to the study of news-related media use. With their origins in the sociological analysis of personal networks, egocentric network maps are adapted here to visualize patterns of media use and then contextualized with qualitative interviews and data collected during participant observation. This integrative approach is illustrated by a study of the routines and practices of news consumption within and around social media platforms. I demonstrate how the mapping exercise can complement other qualitative methods to explore the structure, meaning and processes of cross-media user practices and discuss the scope and limits for visualizing and analyzing the interrelatedness between social media platforms and traditional mass media

Online Audiences and Gatekeeping: User Comments and Their Influence on Editorial Processes in Newsrooms in Kenya

In Kenyan newsrooms, there has been a debate about keeping the comment section on news websites in the aftermath of Social Media Networks. This allows the media to still collect user opinions without the risk of unregulated third-party comments. This paper sought to establish the nature and influence user comments have on editorial processes and explain what value media houses that have retained the comment section are receiving. To investigate this, the researchers adopted mixed methods research approach (quantitative and qualitative) and concurrent mixed methods research designs. The targeted population was journalists working in media houses that operate in print, broadcast, and digital news websites in Nairobi County. The targeted media houses were: Nation Media Group (NMG), Standard Group (SG), and Radio Africa Group (RAG). The sample size comprised 252 participants for quantitative data, nine key informants for in-depth interviews, and 84 articles for direct content analysis. Surveys and directed content analysis were used as strategies of inquiry. These strategies were aided by questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and code sheets as data generation tools.   Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM/SPSS) was used to analyse quantitative data. Quantitative data was presented using tables and pie charts. Qualitative data was thematically analysed and presented in the form of themes. Contrary to popular belief, the findings show that discussions in news website comment sections are frequently marred by incivility. Instead, most of the comments were deliberative, with audience members just looking for a forum to express themselves civilly. However, in cases with reported incidences of incivility, the sources quoted were the main trigger. Journalists have been shown to use user input in the comment section to gauge the quality of their content, while media companies use audience knowledge to make strategic decisions. The results shed light on how newsrooms may give the public a platform to discuss and give their input on the news while maintaining deliberative debates

Debunking of fake news in Telegram in 2022: comparative study

The headlines of the leading world media have been changed when the war between Russia and Ukraine started. Debunking of fake news became a key importance in the work of news media as unverified information is leading to the loss of respectability. There are certain procedures of fact-checking that are well-recognized by the international journalist society. Unlike generally accepted rules, Telegram publishing policies differ from many social networks, as in Telegram there is no moderation of published content that gives a great opportunity to produce fake news and as the result of it - quick mass disinformation. Despite the fact that Telegram is one of the fastest growing social networks, there are few studies about debunking fake news in Telegram. Therefore, this research carried out a comparative study between Russian and Ukrainian anti-fake Telegram channels during one week in March 2022, in order to discover the debunking procedures that have been used by the authors of those channels. Along with the researches of content analysis which are introduced by Lasswell and Bardin, the author used, during the investigation, the methodological approaches that gained widespread popularity in the modern era - the era of «post truth». For the purpose of the study, the author sought for the difference in the debunking policies between Russian and Ukrainian channels. In order to understand the intentions of the channels, the author analyzed the emotional, subtextual and allegorical background of the publications. Telegram channels use provocative content in which the researcher found elements of propaganda. This study finds out that there is different content on the Telegram channels of both sides of the conflict. Telegram channels use semantic instruments in order to increase the audience. The findings would be beneficial for the journalist community, as well as for the entire audience, who should take care of verification of information and do better fact-checking.As manchetes dos principais meios de comunicação mundiais foram alteradas quando a guerra entre a Rússia e a Ucrânia começou. O desmascaramento de notícias falsas tornou-se uma importância fundamental no trabalho da mídia de notícias, pois informações não verificadas estão levando à perda de respeitabilidade. Existem certos procedimentos de checagem de fatos que são bem reconhecidos pela sociedade internacional de jornalistas. Ao contrário das regras geralmente aceitas, as políticas de publicação do Telegram diferem de muitas redes sociais, pois no Telegram não há moderação de conteúdo publicado que dá uma grande oportunidade de produzir notícias falsas e como resultado disso - desinformação em massa rápida. Apesar do Telegram ser uma das redes sociais que mais crescem, há poucos estudos sobre desmascarar notícias falsas no Telegram. Portanto, esta pesquisa realizou um estudo comparativo entre os canais anti-falsos do Telegram russo e ucraniano durante uma semana de março de 2022, a fim de descobrir os procedimentos de desmascaramento que foram usados pelos autores desses canais. Juntamente com as pesquisas de análise de conteúdo que são introduzidas por Lasswell e Bardin, o autor utilizou, durante a investigação, as abordagens metodológicas que ganharam grande popularidade na era moderna - a era da «pós-verdade». Para fins do estudo, o autor buscou a diferença nas políticas de desmascaramento entre os canais russos e ucranianos. Para entender as intenções dos canais, o autor analisou o pano de fundo emocional, subtextual e alegórico das publicações. Os canais do Telegram usam conteúdo provocativo em que o pesquisador encontrou elementos de propaganda. Este estudo descobre que há conteúdos diferentes nos canais do Telegram de ambos os lados do conflito. Os canais do Telegram utilizam instrumentos semânticos para aumentar a audiência. As descobertas seriam benéficas para a comunidade jornalística, bem como para todo o público, que deveria cuidar da verificação das informações e fazer uma melhor checagem de fatos

Quality of Experience-Enabled Social Networks

Social Networks (SNs), such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, have become ubiquitous in our daily life. However, as the number of SN users grows, the SN usage grows and there is higher demand for users’ Quality of Experience (QoE). For instance, some users would prefer to filter some posts, e.g. unwanted friendship requests and certain categories of posts, i.e. sports related posts. Users may also prefer to subscribe to a higher Quality of Service (QoS) level with their SN provider to have, for instance, higher priority on posting/retrieving. 3GPP 4G Evolved Packet Core (EPC)-Based systems are all IP network architectures that enable users to connect to mobile networks through their mobile devices and seamlessly change from one access technology to another. EPC systems enable service provisioning with guaranteed and differentiated end-to-end QoS. This thesis proposes a novel architecture that enables differentiated QoS and information filtering in SNs to improve the users QoE. The SN is deployed on top of 3GPP 4G EPC-Based systems, and it uses EPC services to enable guaranteed and differentiated QoS. The components of the proposed architecture interact through RESTful web services. This architecture allows users to filter posts using their own criteria and have priority over other users in posting and/or retrieving; thereby, improving users’ QoE. A proof of concept prototype tool has been implemented to illustrate the viability of the proposed architecture and its performance has been partially evaluated