Uses and Gratifications of digital photo sharing on Facebook

Despite the rapid adoption of Facebook as a means of photo sharing, minimal research has been conducted to understand user gratification behind this activity. In order to address this gap, the current study examines users’ gratifications in sharing photos on Facebook by applying Uses and Gratification (U&G) theory. An online survey completed by 368 respondents identified six different gratifications, namely, affection, attention seeking, disclosure, habit, information sharing, and social influence, behind sharing digital photos on Facebook. Some of the study’s prominent findings were: age was in positive correlation with disclosure and social influence gratifications; gender differences were identified among habit and disclosure gratifications; number of photos shared was negatively correlated with habit and information sharing gratifications. The study’s implications can be utilized to refine existing and develop new features and services bridging digital photos and social networking services.Peer reviewe

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 photo content for Sierra Nevada: a dataset to support the assessment of cultural ecosystem services in protected areas

This dataset provides crowd-sourced and georeferenced information useful for the assessment of cultural ecosystem services in the Sierra Nevada Biosphere Reserve (southern Spain). Data were collected within the European project ECOPOTENTIAL focused on Earth observations of ecosystem services. The dataset comprises 778 records expressing the results of the content analysis of social media photos published in Flickr. Our dataset is illustrated in this data paper with density maps for different types of information.This work has been carried out within the H2020 project “ECOPOTENTIAL: Improving future ecosystem benefits through earth observations” (http://www.ecopotential- project.eu/), which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 641762

Digital conservation in biosphere reserves: Earth observations, social media, and nature’s cultural contributions to people

In the “digital conservation” age, big data from Earth observations and from social media have been increasingly used to tackle conservation challenges. Here, we combined information from those two digital sources in a multimodel inference framework to identify, map, and predict the potential for nature’s cultural contributions to people in two contrasting UNESCO biosphere reserves: Doñana and Sierra Nevada (Spain). The content analysis of Flickr pictures revealed different cultural contributions, according to the natural and cultural values of the two reserves. Those contributions relied upon landscape variables computed from Earth observation data: the variety of colors and vegetation functioning that characterize Doñana landscapes, and the leisure facilities, accessibility features, and heterogeneous landscapes that shape Sierra Nevada. Our findings suggest that social media and Earth observations can aid in the cost-efficient monitoring of nature’s contributions to people, which underlie many Sustainable Development Goals and conservation targets in protected areas worldwide.European Union’sHorizon 2020 research and innovation programme,Grant/Award Number: 641762; Program for Excellent Units of the Plan Propio de Investigación of the University of Granada; European Union; University of Granada, Spain; Portuguese Science Foundation, Grant/Award Numbers: DL57/2016/ICETA/EEC2018/13, CEECIND/02331/201

PENGGUNAAN LAYANAN ONLINE STREAMING PADA MASA PANDEMI COVID-19 DI INDONESIA

Pandemi COVID-19 turut mengakselerasi adopsi layanan online streaming di seluruh dunia, termasuk layanan online streaming yang saat ini mulai banyak digunakan di Indonesia dan seluruh dunia yaitu Netflix. Penelitian ini mengasumsikan bahwa konsumen mencari kepuasan emosional dan instrumental dengan menonton video atau siaran langsung melalui perangkat digital mereka. Oleh karena itu, penelitian“ini didasarkan pada“Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) dan Uses Gratification Theory (UGT) untuk menyelidiki kemudahan penggunaan dan kegunaan teknologi ini oleh pengguna. Juga menambahkan persepsi risiko yang diterima oleh pengguna. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengeksplorasi persepsi konsumen mengenai layanan online streaming dan menjelaskan motivasi konsumen untuk menggunakannya. Tujuan yang ingin dicapai untuk“menganalisis pengaruh“kemudahan penggunaan, “manfaat“yang dirasakan, penggunaan ritual, penggunaan instrumental, dan risiko yang dirasakan terhadap niat konsumen untuk menggunakan layanan online streaming Netflix dan menganalisis pengaruh mediasi dari manfaat yang“dirasakan terhadap“kemudahan penggunaan dan“niat untuk“menggunakan layanan online streaming Netflix. Penelitian ini“menggunakan Partial“Least Square- Structural“Equation“Model (PLS-SEM) “dengan jumlah“sampel“203 responden“yang“merupakan“pelanggan Netflix“berusia 17-40 tahun. Hasil penelitian ini“menunjukkan bahwa“kemudahan penggunaan“memiliki pengaruh“positif dan signifikan“terhadap manfaat“yang dirasakan manfaat“yang“dirasakan, “penggunaan“ritual dan penggunaan instrumental juga memiliki pengaruh yang positif dan signifikan terhadap niat pengguna untuk menggunakan layanan online streaming Netflix. Namun, penelitian ini tidak berhasil membuktikan“pengaruh positif“dan signifikan dari“kemudahan penggunaan, dan risiko“yang dirasakan terhadap“niat menggunakan. Selain itu manfaat yang dirasakan terbukti memediasi hubungan antara kemudahan penggunaan dengan niat menggunakan

Depression among users of social networking sites (SNSs): the role of SNS addiction and increased usage

Background: Previous literature suggests that increased usage of social networking sites (SNSs) can have a detrimental effect on mental wellbeing [1,2]. Furthermore, increased SNS usage has been found to result in the development of a new behavioral addiction: SNS addiction [3]. This new form of addiction to social networking is shown to predict depression in users of SNSs [4,5]. Objective: As the rates of people who use SNSs are rising, the current study aimed to identify relationships between SNS usage, SNS addiction and depression, with a focus on SNSs used today that have not been researched before, namely Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. Methods: A cross-sectional online study was conducted on a sample of 103 young adults. Each participant filled out a questionnaire consisting of the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies of Depression Scale Revised (CESD-R), Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT), along with general questions relating to SNS use. Results: The results of the current study suggest that Instagram use (β = .24, p ≤ .05) and SNS addiction (β = .32, p = .001) were significant predictors of depression. The results also showed that Instagram use predicted SNS addiction (β = .22, p < .05). No such relationship existed between Facebook, Twitter or Snapchat and SNS addiction or depression. Conclusion: The results indicated that both Instagram use and SNS addiction were related to depression, and that Instagram use was related to SNS addiction. Results are explained from a uses and gratifications perspective. Further research using longitudinal designs is needed to establish the direction of this relationship

Online Streaming Services Uses During The COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerates the adoption of online streaming service around the world, including online streaming services, which is now starting to be used in Indonesia, like Netflix. This study assumes that consumers search for emotional and instrumental satisfaction when they start to watch any video or live streaming on their digital devices. Therefore, this study is based on two theories about technology adoption: the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Uses Gratification Theory (UGT), to explore perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness from users' perceptions. By adding perceived risk perception related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to explore users' perceptions of online streaming services and describe their motivation to use the services. This study uses Smart PLS-SEM as analyze tool. There are 203 respondents used in this study. The research result shows that perceived ease of use positively and significantly affects perceived usefulness. Perceived usefulness, ritualized use, and instrumental use positively and significantly affect the intention to use Netflix. However, this study can't prove the effect of perceived ease of use and perceived risk perception on intention to use Netflix. Furthermore, perceived usefulness positively and significantly mediates the effect between perceived ease of use to intention to use Netflix

UGA or TAM: Which Approach Explains Digital Voice Assistant Acceptance Better?

Digital voice assistants (DVAs) have the potential to radically change the communication between companies and their customers in the near future. However, despite enormous cost and convenience reduction advantages for both sides, their acceptance is still limited and even tools for measuring their acceptance are missing. Consequently, in this paper, we investigate whether the Uses and Gratifications Approach (UGA) and/or the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is/are better suited for this purpose. We have a closer look on a popular DVA – Google Assistant – and investigate DVA acceptance in a navigation and sightseeing context using a field experiment and a follow-up questionnaire (n=173 participants). The results are promising: Both approaches (UGA and TAM) are valid tools. Pastime, expediency, and enjoyment demonstrate to be important drivers for using DVAs