Modeling the adoption and use of social media by nonprofit organizations

This study examines what drives organizational adoption and use of social media through a model built around four key factors - strategy, capacity, governance, and environment. Using Twitter, Facebook, and other data on 100 large US nonprofit organizations, the model is employed to examine the determinants of three key facets of social media utilization: 1) adoption, 2) frequency of use, and 3) dialogue. We find that organizational strategies, capacities, governance features, and external pressures all play a part in these social media adoption and utilization outcomes. Through its integrated, multi-disciplinary theoretical perspective, this study thus helps foster understanding of which types of organizations are able and willing to adopt and juggle multiple social media accounts, to use those accounts to communicate more frequently with their external publics, and to build relationships with those publics through the sending of dialogic messages.Comment: Seungahn Nah and Gregory D. Saxton. (in press). Modeling the adoption and use of social media by nonprofit organizations. New Media & Society, forthcomin

Americans, Marketers, and the Internet: 1999-2012

This is a collection of the reports on the Annenberg national surveys that explored Americans\u27 knowledge and opinions about the new digital-marketing world that was becoming part of their lives. So far we’ve released seven reports on the subject, in 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, and 2012. The reports raised or deepened a range of provocative topics that have become part of public, policy, and industry discourse. In addition to these reports, I’ve included three journal articles — from I/S, New Media & Society and the Journal of Consumer Affairs — that synthesize some of the findings and place them into policy frameworks. The journals have kindly allowed reproduction for this purpose

Protagonismo de los medios digitales

Revistes ressenyades: Comunicación y Sociedad, Nueva época, Núm. 11 (julio-diciembre de 2008). Communicare: Revista de Pesquisa, vol. 8, Núm. 2, (segundo semestre de 2008). Revista Brasileira de Ciências da Comunicação, vol. 32, Núm. 1 (2009). Revista Mexicana de Comunicación, año 10, Núm. 116 (mayo de 2009). Sala de Prensa: Web para Profesionales de la Comunicación Iberoamericanos, año 11, vol. 5, Núm. 116 (junio de 2009). Zócalo: Comunicación, Política y Sociedad, año 9, Núm. 112 (junio de 2009). Comunicaçao e Sociedade, vol. 13 (2008).Communication et Langages: Signes, Objets et Pratiques,núm. 158 (diciembre de 2008). Media, Culture & Society,vol. 31, Núm. 3 (mayo de 2009).New Media & Society,vol. 11, No. 4 (junio de 2009).Canadian Journal of Communication, vol. 33, No. 4 (2008).The Communication Review, vol. 12, Núm. 2 (2009). Health Communication, vol. 24, Núm. 1 (2009). Human Communication Research, vol. 35, Núm. 2 (abril de 2009)

Forums for citizen journalists? Adoption of user generated content initiatives by online news media

The mainstream online news media face accusations of being slow to respond to so-called 'grassroots' or 'citizen journalism', which uses the world wide web, and in particular blogs and wikis, to publish and promote independent news-related content. This article argues that the adaptation of established news websites to the increasing demand from readers for space to express their views is driven as much by local organizational and technical conditions as it is by any attachment to traditional editorial practices. The article uses qualitative research interviews with the editors and managing editors of nine major British news websites to reveal the debates journalists are having about their changing roles, the challenges of meeting commercial expectations and legal obligations, and the innovations taking place in online newsrooms. It provides journalism and interactive media scholars with case studies on the changes taking place in journalism's relationship with its consumers

Rethinking the participatory web: A history of HotWired’s “new publishing paradigm,” 1994–1997

This article critically interrogates key assumptions in popular web discourse by revisiting an early example of web ‘participation.’ Against the claim that Web 2.0 technologies ushered in a new paradigm of participatory media, I turn to the history of HotWired, Wired magazine’s ambitious web-only publication launched in 1994. The case shows how debates about the value of amateur participation vis-à-vis editorial control have long been fundamental to the imagination of the web’s difference from existing media. It also demonstrates how participation may be conceptualized and designed in ways that extend (rather than oppose) 'old media' values like branding and a distinctive editorial voice. In this way, HotWired's history challenges the technology-centric change narrative underlying Web 2.0 in two ways: first, by revealing historical continuity in place of rupture, and, second, showing that 'participation' is not a uniform effect of technology, but rather something constructed within specific social, cultural and economic contexts

Can filesharers be triggered by economic incentives? Results of an experiment

Illegal filesharing on the internet leads to considerable financial losses for artists and copyright owners as well as producers and sellers of music. Thus far, measures to contain this phenomenon have been rather restrictive. However, there are still a considerable number of illegal systems, and users are able to decide quite freely between legal and illegal downloads because the latter are still difficult to sanction. Recent economic approaches account for the improved bargaining position of users. They are based on the idea of revenue-splitting between professional sellers and peers. In order to test such an innovative business model, the study reported in this article carried out an experiment with 100 undergraduate students, forming five small peer-to-peer networks.The networks were confronted with different economic conditions.The results indicate that even experienced filesharers hold favourable attitudes towards revenue-splitting.They seem to be willing to adjust their behaviour to different economic conditions

Cloaked Facebook pages: Exploring fake Islamist propaganda in social media

This research analyses cloaked Facebook pages that are created to spread political propaganda by cloaking a user profile and imitating the identity of a political opponent in order to spark hateful and aggressive reactions. This inquiry is pursued through a multi-sited online ethnographic case study of Danish Facebook pages disguised as radical Islamist pages, which provoked racist and anti-Muslim reactions as well as negative sentiments towards refugees and immigrants in Denmark in general. Drawing on Jessie Daniels’ critical insights into cloaked websites, this research furthermore analyses the epistemological, methodological and conceptual challenges of online propaganda. It enhances our understanding of disinformation and propaganda in an increasingly interactive social media environment and contributes to a critical inquiry into social media and subversive politics

Sexting scripts in adolescent relationships : is sexting becoming the norm?

This study offers empirical insight into adolescents’ norms around sexting. Informed by sexual scripting theory, we investigated the extent to which young people perceive sexting as being a likely behavior in the context of a romantic relationship (the “sexting script”). A distinction is made between what adolescents find likely among same-aged peers (the general sexting script) versus what they find likely in their personal situation (the personal sexting script). Data were gathered through questionnaires from adolescents aged 13–18 years ( N = 357, 45% male). The results show that sexting scripts are gendered and that adolescents perceive sexting as being more likely to occur among peers than in their personal situation. The personal sexting script is related to the general sexting script, sexual experiences, and the use of online pornography. The results of the study are useful for the design of sexting education and sensitization messages toward youth. </jats:p

(Il)Legitimisation of the role of the nation state: Understanding of and reactions to Internet censorship in Turkey

This study aims to explore Turkish citizen-consumers' understanding of and reactions to censorship of websites in Turkey by using in-depth interviews and online ethnography. In an environment where sites such as YouTube and others are increasingly being banned, the citizen-consumers' macro-level understanding is that such censorship is part of a wider ideological plan and their micro-level understanding is that their relationship with the wider global network is reduced, in the sense that they have trouble accessing full information on products, services and experiences. The study revealed that citizen-consumers engage in two types of resistance strategies against such domination by the state: using irony as passive resistance, and using the very same technology used by the state to resist its domination