Student Participation and Public Facebook Communication: Exploring the Demand and Supply of Political Information in the Romanian #rezist Demonstrations

In 2017, the anti-corruption #rezist protests engulfed Romania. In the context of mounting concerns about exposure to and engagement with political information on social media, we examine the use of public Facebook event pages during the #rezist protests. First, we consider the degree to which political information influenced the participation of students, a key protest demographic. Second, we explore whether political information was available on the pages associated with the protests. Third, we investigate the structure of the social network established with those pages to understand its diffusion within that public domain. We find evidence that political information was a prominent component of public albeit localized activist communication on Facebook, with students more likely to partake in demonstrations if they followed a page. These results lend themselves to an evidence-based deliberation about the relation that individual demand and supply of political information on social media have with protest participation

Facebook: Changing the face of communication research

The ubiquitous social networking site, Facebook, registered over one billion active users in 2012 and continues to grow (Facebook, 2018a). Not surprisingly, communication researchers around the world noticed this phenomenal shift in communication practice, a practice aided by a combination of digital communication tools—easy to access communication networks, low cost bandwidth, smartphones, application features, and so on. These developments transformed the understanding of “social networks,” turning them from face-to-face interactions among small groups into world spanning digital connections, from networks of business or professional associations supported by analogue or “old” communication practices (such as letter writing, telephone calls, or conference meetings) into always-on real-time tracking of people’s activities. This review examines 400 articles published between 2006 and 2017 in peer reviewed communication- related journals and listed in the EBSCO Communication Source database. The database returned the initial list of articles to a query using the single search term “Facebook.” Subsequent analysis grouped the articles into a number of themes. As we will see, much of the published research that involves Facebook addresses not Facebook itself but Facebook as a source of material or research data on more particular communication topics. In a way, Facebook appears as another medium for communication. After some introductory comments on the history and prior study of Facebook, this review will present the key themes that appear in the research. These include Facebook in theoretical perspectives, Facebook used in interpersonal communication, Facebook’s relationship to journalism, Facebook in education, Facebook in political communication, corporate and organizational use of Facebook, legal and ethical issues arising with Facebook, and other areas of research

Patterns of digital behaviour on instant messaging platforms. WhatsApp uses among young people from Romania

This paper examines the digital behaviour on one widely used instant messaging (IM) platform, namely WhatsApp, of young people in Romania, with a focus on the reasons for sharing information on the platform and dependency of using it. Within the broad framework of the digital single market, little is known about the motivations and behavioural patterns of young Europeans while using the increasingly popular IM platforms, nor is it clear whether country characteristics are relevant or not when evaluating the impact of such technological platforms on the life of young audiences. Rooted in the uses and gratifications perspective, this study uses media diaries (N = 229), filled in by young people in an ordinary day of the week and self-administered questionnaires in order to assess what might be the main gratifications that lead young and educated people to share information on WhatsApp and what makes them spend more time and be dependent on the platform on a daily basis. Main results show that the most frequent reasons why young Romanians use WhatsApp are social, professional, and instrumental. Moreover, the tendency to share content on the platform is higher for people who use it for instrumental and informative purposes. Dependency on the platform is significantly higher for young people who use it to fulfil affective needs (i.e., to express or receive affection or emotional support and avoid loneliness)

Social media marketing and advertising

Social media has recently gained tremendous fame as a highly impactful channel of communication in these modern times of digitised living. It has been put on a pedestal across varied streams for facilitating participatory interaction amongst businesses, groups, societies, organisations, consumers, communities, forums, and the like. This subject has received increased attention in the literature with many of its practical applications including social media marketing (SMM) being elaborated, analysed, and recorded by many studies. This study is aimed at collating the existing research on SMM to present a review of seventy-one articles that will bring together the many facets of this rapidly blooming media marketing form. The surfacing limitations in the literature on social media have also been identified and potential research directions have been offered

Motivations for Using Social Networking Sites: The Case of Romania

Social networking sites (SNS) have been experiencing a growth boom in latter years, consequently drawing marketers’ attention as an important medium for meaningful interaction with the consumer. But achieving brand effectiveness on SNS begins with understanding users’ motivations for online social networking. This paper sought to explore Romanian users’ motivations, and reports findings from a qualitative study consisting of face-to-face in-depth interviews and participant observation. We determine the main differences in motivations for using four major Romanian social networking sites. Implications in terms of brand communication within the context of SNS are also discussed

The social media overture of the pan-European Stop-ACTA protest: An empirical examination of participatory coordination in connective action

As the latest instalments of protest from the Arab Spring to Occupy and beyond are digested in scholarly work, they point to a scalable, informal structure that develops as an impermanent framework for performing coordinational tasks formerly associated with collective organisations. Whilst a substitution of this nature appears a distinct possibility with social media, the participatory dynamics at the heart of such connective action remain largely uncharted. This paper scrutinizes the scope for the participatory development of motivations and resources to undertake collective action. For the purpose, it reviews an empirical study of public Facebook and Twitter communication associated with the panEuropean protest against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Ensuing results point to a rational, resource-oriented mode of communication figuring prominently on both platforms. Moreover, the time-distribution of motivational and resource-driven talk confound earlier claims about patterns of social media usage in collective action. Finally, despite their smaller number, motivational posts had a higher impact than resource-oriented talk on both platforms – an apparent sign of their particularly positive reception

Personality traits as determinants of political behavior: Ukrainian electoral and voting tendencies

Now there is a sharp increase of interest in politics, especially among young people. Meanwhile, the psychological mechanisms of the person’s political behavior (its manifesting and regulating), as well as interaction of his cognitive, emotional, motivation and value factors with the political system remain insufficiently studied. The aim of this research is to study the influence of personality traits on political behavior in order to find out the connection between person’s individual-psychological characteristics and the degree of his participation in political life within the territory of Ukraine. The Five-Factor NEO-PI-R (NEO Personality Inventory-Revised) model was used for analyzing the respondents’ tendency to politically significant behavior. The survey was conducted in 2017 in Ukraine (n=1247, age: 15-50 years). A positive correlation of the political participation indicators with the personal indicator Conscientiousness and the negative correlation with the Agreeableness parameter were revealed. We have established that emotionally balanced respondents more often show a desire to run for office and rarely participate in voting. High results for Agreeableness and Neuroticism determine the low level of political ambitions. These findings constitute a new step forward in understanding how personality traits form responses in the people’s political engagement while demonstrating the Ukrainian political tendencies

Practices of psychological and pedagogical support of future teachers’ personal and professional development in the conditions of distance learning

The article highlights the intermediate results of the research "Psychological and pedagogical support of future teachers’ personal and professional development in the conditions of new educational standards’ implementation in Ukraine". Various theoretical aspects as well as adapted and original practices are characterized. The experience of the authors regarding the implementation of the components - value-worldview, process-activity, emotional-resource during the motivational-cognitive, constructive-active, reflective-prognostic, value-identification stages is highlighted. Effective author's practices are presented - adaptation trainings, portfolio of personal and professional growth in the context of performance of work functions; formation of end-to-end skills of future teachers by means of digital technologies and tools (GDocs, GMeet, Zoom, Canva, MindMeister, Mentimeter, digital boards); adaptation of active learning technologies in the distance learning format (case-technologies, game, project technologies, SWOT analysis). A complex of technologies (role-playing games, training technologies, art-therapy) is presented, which contribute to the development of the emotional intelligence of future teachers in the context of the formation of professional competencies - psychological, emotional-ethical, reflective, psycho-emotional. The research was carried out in an interdisciplinary scientific field, which requires next stages of the scientific search for correction, generalization of the results of psychological and pedagogical support of future teachers’ personal and professional development

Exposure to the News Networks Through Social Media Sites and Their Reflections on Spreading Rumors among Students – Field Study

The scientific study aimed to identify rumors in the students society in the age of social media sites and confrontation mechanisms. The research community included a sample of experts who use new media. Descriptive and statistical approaches (interviews and questionnaires) are used to analyze and understand rumors through social media sites and how to confront them. The study came up with results, the most important of them are as follows: 62% of the research community believes that students (young people) use of news networks via social media sites affects the spread of rumors, while 63% of the research community considers that the quality of social media sites used by young people helps spread rumors, and 43% of the research community agree that technology users are predominantly young people, which helps spread the rumor. Finally, the study recommended that news sites pay attention to the method of dealing with crises, investigate accuracy and credibility, and increase the effective communication between the leaders and students institutions