BUILDING A FACEBOOK EMBEDDED PICTURE BOOK DESIGN LEARNING PLATFORM AND UNDERSTANDING ITS USE INTENTIONS

Electronic reading is a process of digitalizing not only the content and reading devices but also the publication and distribution of books. With the development of e-books, more attention has been paid to use of e-books in education. Through online communities and innovative learning models, digital content providers can offer plenty of resources to help learners at all levels and promote the effectiveness of their self-regulated learning. The objective of this study is to build a cloud-based learning platform that integrates designs of electronic picture books and the social functions of Facebook. Students of multimedia design can upload their works to this platform and learn from each other through idea sharing and discussion. This platform is expected to help students create works with better quality and more creativity. Besides, this study also investigates the learning behavior and use intentions of students on this platform based on “Social Interaction Theory” and “Uses and Gratifications Theory”. This study attempts to capture students’ needs and how they are related to their learning outcomes. Results of this study contribute to the development of cloud-based learning and can be a reference for design of learning materials and improvement of teaching models

Trust in Facebook Ads: a Cross-national Prospective

This research paper aims to make a cross-national study about trust in Facebook ads (FB-ads) and Traditional Media ads (TM-ads), according to a sample of audiences from Egypt (EG) and Saudi Arabia (SA). The research based on an e-questionnaire, which was prepared after reviewing a number of literatures and semi-structured interviews. The validity of survey instrument and the reliability of the gathering data were tested. The questionnaire was prepared to explore the opinions of Facebook users from EG & SA. Data were collected through, “Facebook” & “Google Drive”. In total 812 respondents responded to the questionnaire, after canceling unsuitable cases. This total includes 428 Egyptians and 384 Saudis. It provides useful information for advertisers about impacts of Gender, Age and Education on the trust in FB-ads & TM-ads, according to Egyptians & Saudis. The paper offers new areas for future research. Keywords – Advertising, Trust, Facebook, Social Networks, Traditional Media, Egypt, Saudi Arabi

Factors affecting social interaction on Social Network Sites: The Facebook Case

Purpose - Our paper focuses on understanding which factors affect the social interaction in the case of Facebook. Many authors point out the great potential of these networks for social interaction and as conduits of information. However, studies show that the topology of the network is disconnected, consisting of small sub-networks that make Facebook unsuitable for disseminating information. This situation has created the need to introduce exogenous factors, aimed at boosting and providing cohesion to the network structure. In this context, we test the following question: how exogenous and endogenous factors contribute to encouraging social interaction on Facebook. Design/methodology/approach - For the analysis of social interaction on Facebook, a population consisting of all the followers of the walls of 10 corporate social networks was used. From the total 269,424 users analysed, a stratified sample of 132 followers was obtained and networks were built for each of them. We then proceeded to search for each follower's friends and friends of friends to build the social network up to the fourth level, obtaining a total of 132 subnets with 1,628,074 links between them. To determine the impact of both exogenous and endogenous factors in the interaction of the network we performed a causal analysis. Findings - The results obtained from this study provide empirical evidence on the adequacy of companies? dynamization measures used and how exogenous and endogenous factors influence the social interaction on Facebook. Thus, our results show that exogenous factors, such as the activity of the community manager and the digital marketing investment in the network, do not have a significant effect on the interaction. On the other hand, endogenous factors, such as network density and clustering, have a positive effect on the trigger of social interaction between the followers. Therefore, companies must consider the importance of the structural factors that characterize network followers, such as density or clustering coefficient, to be able to interpret and optimize them to obtain higher levels of social interaction. Originality/value - This is one of a few papers that examine interactions in social network sites, particularly in corporate network sites in Facebook. The results expose the importance for organizations to have reliable information on the patterns of interaction to properly manage the resources allocated for this purpose in SNS

A Panel Study on the Effects of Social Media Use and Internet Connectedness on Academic Performance and Social Support

ABSTRAC

Academic methods for usability evaluation of serious games: a systematic review

In the last years, there has been an increasing interest in the design of video games as a tool for education, training, health promotion, socialization, etc. Usability, which is a key factor in any video game, becomes even more important in these so-called Bserious games^, where the users’ special characteristics should be considered, and the game efficacy depends on the users’ adherence and engagement. However, evaluation of the usability of this kind of games requires a redefinition of techniques, methods and even terminology. In this paper, we elicit six research questions and conduct a systematic review of the scientific literature, which resulted in the selection of 187 papers that contained the most relevant responses. The conclusions of this systematic review illustrate the general status of current academic usability evaluations of these games and the main trends in the selection of methodologies and how are they applied. This view may be a very valuable foundation for future researchMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación PROCUR@-IPT-2011-1038-90000

Approaches to Assess Market Power in the Online Networking Market

Facebook, the world’s largest online networking platform, is the subject of multiple antitrust investigations by various state and federal regulators. Yet scholars and practitioners remain divided on how to measure Facebook’s market power. Some argue that conventional approaches for identifying market power are suitable for the online networking market. This Article argues such conventional approaches are inadequate for assessing market power in online networking markets.This Article begins by introducing the traditional approaches that courts have employed to assess market power: the direct effects approach, the Lerner Index approach, and the market share approach. It next describes Facebook’s business model and shows that, because Facebook is a two-sided market, these traditional approaches should not be applied to Facebook.Instead, the Article proposes that the information gaps, switching costs, and entry barriers approaches are better suited for assessing the market power of online networking platforms. The Article thus concludes by proposing a legal framework for assessing market power in online networking platforms which employs such non-traditional approaches. While this Article uses Facebook as the main case study, this paper’s findings are equally applicable to similar online networking platforms

The costs of bonding: negotiating personal information disclosure among Millennials and Boomers on Facebook

Since early 2010, Facebook.com, the world’s most popular social network site (SNS), has come under a storm of media criticism over the commercial use of its users’ personal information. Yet even as more became known about the fact that Facebook sells publicly shared information to companies for advertising purposes, two years later the SNS amassed one billion members in October 2012. Based on in-depth interviews 30 Millennials (18 to 32-year olds) and 10 Boomers (48 to 58-year olds) that are daily users of Facebook, this dissertation provides a qualitative analysis of attitudes toward privacy and personal information disclosure on Facebook. What steps—if any—are being taken by users to regulate their personal information disclosure? How do users feel about the website selling their personal information to advertisers? What are the benefits of using Facebook and do they outweigh the risks of having one’s information used for commercial purposes? Or is it even seen as a risk at all? What are the sociological implications of users’ answers to these questions? I challenge prevailing conclusions that the intensity of Facebook use is associated with higher levels of social capital and that Facebook is especially useful for maintaining and building bridging ties to one’s acquaintances. On the contrary, among Millennials in my study, the website is used for maintaining bonding ties between close friends and family members, not bridging ties between acquaintances; that the maintaining of bridging social capital is by comparison merely a passive benefit. As well, while the Boomers in my study use Facebook to maintain bridging ties, maintaining social capital is not a consideration. In arriving at this conclusion, I thematically broke out the benefits of using Facebook as Facebook is my life online, Facebook is my primary connection to others, and Facebook is a convenient communication and information tool. As well, the perceived risks of using Facebook involve a lack of privacy and, to a lesser extent, issues of control. For the Millennials and Boomers in my study, the practical benefits of using Facebook outweigh the perceived risks, and the perception of control on the user’s part is a key factor in rationalizing their ongoing use of the website. As a practical application of my findings, I propose how the marketing research industry might apply these findings toward learning more about consumers