Social Media and the Effect on Social Comparison, Recovery, and Motivation Measures in High-Intensity Functional Fitness Athletes (HIFT)

The use of social media in high-intensity functional fitness (HIFT) athletes facilitated social comparisons that affected recovery and motivation. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use social comparison theory to investigate the impact that short workout videos had on heart rate (HR), heart rate recovery (HRR), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), perceived recovery status (PRS) and time to completion. Methods:Thirty-three individuals who identified as HIFT athletes participated in this study (age: 30.45 years ± 6.59, height: 169.41cm ± 8.69, weight: 73.07 kg ± 13.65). The participants were made up of 57.6% (n=19) female and 42.4% (n=14). Participants were randomized and put through three conditions of a control, elite athlete video and recreational athlete videos which were shown before completing a HIFT workout of: 3 rounds of 10 pull-ups, 15 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, and 25 air-squat. The following data was collected between each round: HR, HRR, RPE, PRS, and time. Athletes were asked to fill out the Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Scale to assess social comparison during the treatment conditions. Descriptive statistics were run to determine means and standard deviations for all data. The data was checked for normality. Questionnaires were analyzed for reliability and scores were compared using dependent samples t-test. A repeated measures ANOVA was run between total averages using an alpha level of .05 and between rounds with Bonferroni correction using an alpha level of .002. Results: Significant differences in social comparison were found in the elite video condition (3.68 ± .62, p= .046) while RPE showed significant differences in the elite video condition (14.41 ± 1.84, p=.023). Time to completion showed significant differences in both conditions of recreational (11.25 mins ± 1.22, p \u3c .001) and elite (11.15 mins ±1.28, p = .011) as well as in between round comparisons (p \u3c .001) with participants finishing 8.4 seconds faster in the recreational video condition. Conclusion: Social comparison during exercise is used as a motivator to push athletes. Social comparison during exercise is possible and further investigation should be completed to understand the effects on physiological and psychological measurements in high-intensity exercise

Muligheter og utfordringer i fremtidens rubrikkmarked på internett

Denne masterutredningen tar for seg muligheter og utfordringer i det internettbaserte rubrikkmarkedet. Den ser på teknologiutvikling på internett og utvikling av teknologiske plattformer samt konsumenter sin tilbøyelighet til å ta i bruk nye teknologier og software av ulik karakter. Det argumenteres for at bransjen befinner seg i en moden fase der nye innovasjoner forholdsvis lett kan utkonkurrere de eksisterende tradisjonelle rubrikksidene. Utredningen ser på hvilke faktorer som vil være viktige for disse nye løsningene og hvordan aktørene kan tilpasse seg for at konsumentene vil ønske å ta i bruk den nye teknologien, og på den måten skape en enda mer effektiv og tiltrekkende markedsplass på internett. Ved hjelp av empiri kommer det fram at situasjonen slik den er i dag med all sannsynlighet vil forandre seg betraktelig og at aggregatortjenester som søker opp og presenterer alt relevant rubrikkinnhold vil være en del av framtidens rubrikkmarked. Voksende teknologier som GPS baserte mobilløsninger vil sammen med tracking og logging av internettbrukere åpne opp for muligheter i form av skreddersydde tilpasninger opp mot den enkelte bruker. Leverandører og annonsører vil få enda mer kunnskap om forbrukerne, og hvis dette brukes riktig kan det føre til betraktelig mer effektiv bruk av rubrikktjenester på internett både for bransje og konsumenter. English summary This master’s thesis looks at opportunities and challenges in the internet based classified ads market. It is particularly concerned with the development of internet technologies and technological platforms, and also the consumers’ inclination to utilise new and different technologies and software. It is argued that the business is now in a mature phase, where new innovations can quite easily outcompete existing traditional classified ad sites. The analysis discusses what factors would be important for these innovations, and how businesses may adjust in order for the consumers to wish to utilise the new technology, thus creating a more efficient and attractive market place on the internet. Empirical study shows that the current situation in all likelihood will change significantly, and that aggregator services that search and present all relevant ad content will be part of the classified ad market in the future. Growing technologies, such as GPS based mobile solutions, will, in combination with the tracking and logging of internet users, present new opportunities in the form of tailored adaptations for individual users. Suppliers and advertisers will have even more information about consumers. Used correctly, this may lead to a significantly more efficient use of classified ad services on the internet, both for the industry and the consumers

Culture and Social Media

博士(文学)神戸市外国語大

Presentation of digital self in everyday life: towards a theory of digital identity

This study of Digital Identity investigates how particular groups of adults over the age of 30 use Facebook and Twitter to share personal information online. The research explores whether individuals construct their identity in the same way in a digital context as they do in the ‘real world’. The study examines voluntary sharing of information rather than information collected and collated by third parties, approaching the research from an individual’s point of view to create, not just a footprint, but a Digital Identity. This study explores the notion of Identity, and establishes the common characteristics and differences between the concepts of Identity Theory (Burke & Stets 2009), Social Identity Theory (Tajfel 1959, 1963, 1969) and Impression Management (Goffman 1956); and how they relate to the digital self. There are overlapping elements of identity formation that influence the way individuals create themselves through Role, the self, Audience, and Symbols. The importance of role, emphasized in all theories of identity, is used as the context for this study. The participants came from three different groups: Academics, Stay-at-home Parents and Business Executives. The phenomenon of identity is personal and needs to be conducted at a close and subjective level. Interpretivism is crucial to understand our individual differences as social actors and to allow us to interpret the everyday social roles in accordance with the meaning given to those roles (Saunders et al. 2009). The strategy of the study is ethnographic, taking the researcher close to the ‘reality’ of people’s lives (Becker and Greer 1960) using interviews and observations. By investigating people’s use of Facebook and Twitter the research interprets how individuals formed their Digital Identity. The analysis framework for this investigation is guided by the work of Klein and Myers (1999, p. 72) with their principles of the hermeneutic circle; contextualization; interaction between the researchers and the subjects; abstraction and generalization; dialogical reasoning; multiple interpretations and suspicion steering the analysis. The three groups, Academics, Stay-at-home Parents and Business Executives, have very different ways of approaching how they presented themselves online. The findings of this research illustrate that individuals form a Digital Identity in a similar way to Identity Theory with the self, Audience, Role and Symbols all being important. Individuals claim that they are presenting their ‘real’ selves online although they create specific social rules. The audience is no longer definable and mediated but is one block of known and unknown people. Individuals create their identity in the same way as they do in the real world but there are external factors that influence their presentation of self. The fundamental difference in the way that Digital Identity is formed is the interaction with the technology. This difference forms the basis of the beginnings of a Theory of Digital Identity which states that while the elements of role, self, symbols and audience are all used to create Digital Identity they do so in the context of smart technology that interacts and distorts Identity. So while individuals create their identity in the same way as they do in the ‘real world’ they have the addition of external factors that influence their presentation of self.