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

Patterns of social influence in social networking sites – a design perspective

Social networking sites (SNSs) are quickly becoming the main venues for social interaction of Internet users. As the competition between these online services is growing ever stronger, the success of SNSs derives from persuasive core application designs that influence users in taking specific actions, such as joining the community or recruiting new users. Therefore there is a need to identify relevant, value-adding features that facilitate social interaction and that are integrated in the group’s socialization rituals. The present study employed Cialdini’s framework in the analysis of SNSs design characteristics that facilitate social influence leading to the fulfillment of site marketing objectives, such as member acquisition, member retention and user loyalty. We examined social application features of the three major Romanian SNSs, i.e. Facebook, Hi5 and Neogen on six dimensions corresponding to Cialdini’s social influence principles: reciprocation, consistency, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity. We thereby extract core application commonalities and differences and identify design gaps from a social influence perspective that are to be explored and exploited as a source of competitive advantage. Marketing implications of the results are discussed

Mapping over 80 years of wetland sensitivity to human intervention. The spatial dynamics of the lakes and wetlands of the Jijia-Iași Wetlands Ramsar Site in 1935–2018

Wetlands are at the top of the list in terms of valuable ecosystem services, at the same time being one of the most sensitive ecosystems that are subject to human-induced changes. The delicate balance between their ever-changing waterlogged and dry areas, together with the associated rich flora and fauna, are easily disturbed by human drivers, which are also responsible for long-term land use conversions. This paper aims to 1) document the spatial dynamics of the wetland areas and lakes in the Jijia-Iași Wetlands Ramsar Site, using historical cartographic materials and modern land use data, and 2) pinpoint the anthropic drivers that shaped these dynamics, via a literature review. This Ramsar Site constitutes an eloquent example of a wetland landscape that was mainly shaped by human intervention. A timeline is used to put into perspective the resulting maps and synthesised findings, and several inferences regarding the past, present, and future sensitivity of the wetlands in the study area are formulated. In 1935–2018, the two analysed elements followed opposite trends: while the wetland areas decreased from 10.61% of the study area to 4.79%, the lake features increased in size, from 0.68% of the Jijia-Iași Wetlands to 10.84%. In order to explain these changes, anthropogenic interventions were divided into three types of management (detrimental high human pressure, beneficial high human pressure, and beneficial low human pressure). In the long term scientific works, the unbalanced dynamics proved to be beneficial to the environment, as the construction of water collections determined a biodiversity boost and the designation of the study area as a Ramsar Site. This paper complements the scientific work focusing on “the Delta of Moldavia”, highlighting the practical implications of the management strategies applied during the reference period

Assortativity in the reply network according to the expression of anger.

<p>The color of each node depends on the proportion of words expressing anger in the comments written by the corresponding editor, from blue (low) to red (high). Two editors are connected if they exchanged at least 10 replies in article talk pages. Node size is proportional to the number of connections.</p

Description of LIWC measures (as per http://www.liwc.net).

<p>Description of LIWC measures (as per <a href="http://www.liwc.net" target="_blank">http://www.liwc.net</a>).</p

Dialogue, Status and Gender: Male admins are the least relationship-oriented, female regular editors are the most relationship-focused.

<p>Numbers under the editor class names correspond to the average values over all editors in a given class (sample size 2 613 men: 1 087 regular editors and 1 526 administrators; and 165 women: 68 regular editors and 97 administrators). When the difference is statistically significant (p-value in bold) the larger absolute value is underlined.</p

Emotions and Status: Administrators promote a generally neutral tone on article talk pages.

<p>Regular editors express more negative emotion, and are more emotional.</p><p>Numbers under the editor class names correspond to the average values over all editors in a given class (sample size 12 231: 8 005 regular editors, 4 226 administrators). When the difference is statistically significant (p-value in bold) the larger absolute value is underlined.</p

Emotions, Gender and Status: Wikipedia female administrators express more positive emotion than male administrators in article talk pages, but are similar in the expression of negative emotion.

<p>Numbers under the editor class names correspond to the average values over all editors in a given class (sample size 1 623 administrators: 1 526 men, 97 women). When the difference is statistically significant (p-value in bold) the larger absolute value is underlined. Cases where the averages are not informative are marked with an asterisk * and include the mean ranks Mann-Whitney U-test next to the averages in parentheses.</p

Emotions and Gender: Female editors express more positive emotion than males, while the expression of negative emotion is generally similar for men and women.

<p>Numbers under the editor class names correspond to the average values over all editors in a given class. When the difference is statistically significant (p-value in bold) the larger absolute value is underlined. Cases where the averages are not informative are marked with an asterisk * and include the mean ranks Mann-Whitney U-test below the averages in parentheses.</p