Social media and community volunteering

This seed project aimed to explore to what extent the transformative potentials of digital technologies, in particular social media, are being realised in relation to community volunteering. The project was funded by the Communities and Culture Network+ and Canterbury and Herne Bay Volunteer Centre was a project partner. The research explored how small non-profit organisations in the case study area of Canterbury district used social media for volunteering as well as how they have adopted the tools in general. The project also examined how audiences interpreted social media content about community volunteering. The following findings emerged from the study: • Resources, knowledge and perceived limitations are key factors that influence how and to what extent small non-profit organisations adopt social media; • Volunteering is not a key reason for using social media in small non-profit organisations, and if it is used for that purpose it is mainly seen as a recruitment tool; • Small non-profit organisations value social media for certain opportunities but they also see it as a source of additional pressure; • Audiences frame social media content about volunteering as advertisements. The research contributes to debates on the transformative potentials of social media especially in the context of community engagement and the non-profit sector. It also raises questions about how austerity measures and funding cuts in the third sector shape the adoption of social media in small NPOs

Local and community media in Europe. A comparative analysis of the media pluralism monitor data between 2020 and 2023

Local and community media have essential roles in a functioning democracy and in fostering inclusive communities. Over the past two decades, however, these sectors have encountered significant challenges due to digital transformation and economic downturns that have hindered their capacity to fulfil their political and social functions. This report offers a comparative analysis of key issues in local and community media across 27 EU member states and five candidate countries (Albania, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey) based on data gathered as part of the Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM) project by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) at the European University Institute between 2020 and 2023

Social media and journalism study 2013 - Sweden

This report is part of the wider 2013 social journalism study and reports specifically on Sweden. It suggests that journalists in Sweden are a moderately high user of social media, using it regularly for their work particularly for sourcing stories. Using cluster analysis the largest group is the Architects suggesting that journalism in Sweden is dominated by active social media users

Social media and journalism study 2013 - Finland

The 3rd annual Social Journalism Study, conducted by Cision and Canterbury Christ Church University, is charting the changes of how journalists and media professionals use social media for their work and in their communication with PR professionals. Since 2012 respondents show an increasing use of social media but in 2013 it is more evenly spread across all tools and the professional tasks journalists undertake in their work. Generally, views about social media are more positive and the perceived barriers are less. Unique to our research is the identification of ‘the Social Suspects’, a typology which groups journalists into five categories: Architects, Hunters, Observers, Promoters and Sceptics. These distinctive groups share certain behaviours and attitudes towards social media. In this report, we explore how Finnish journalists use social media, what factors influence their use, the knowledge they feel they have of the tools, and their attitudes about the impacts of social media on their working practices and their profession. This year’s study also looks at the role of social media in how PR practitioners and journalists communicate

Social Journalism Study 2013 - United Kingdom

The 3rd annual Social Journalism Study, conducted by Cision and Canterbury Christ Church University, is the latest instalment in our efforts to understand how journalists use social media for work and in their communication with PR professionals. Similar to previous years, the findings of this year’s study show that journalists are using a greater variety of social media tools and are increasingly reliant on social media for a variety of different tasks. Generally, views about the impacts of social media are positive, but journalists remain unsure whether these tools have made them more productive. Unique to our study is the identification of a typology which groups journalists into five categories according to particular patterns of social media practices and attitudes

Social journalism study 2015: United Kingdom

This report aim to explore and chart the changes in how journalists and media professionals use social media for their work and in their communication with PR professionals. This year’s results show that social is part of the journalists’ toolkit in their everyday work for a range of different tasks, dominated by sourcing and publishing content. Whilst there is a unanimous view that journalists could not carry out their work without social media and that it helps productivity, this year reflects a level of saturation in social media with its use remaining stagnant and in some cases, even declining for journalists

Social Journalism Study 2014 - Finland

The fourth annual Social Journalism Study, conducted by Cision Germany and Canterbury Christ Church University, is charting the changes of how journalists and media professionals use social media for their work and in their communication with PR professionals. It shows that social is part of the journalists toolkit in their everyday work for a range of different tasks. However the results show a concentration of time and focus on social media so rather than using a large range of tools for a large amount of time journalists are choosing to focus on specific tools, namely Facebook and Twitter whilst experimenting on a much smaller scale with more bespoke tools for particular activities. Whilst many believe they could not carry out their work without social media, Finnish journalists feel it has helped their productivity but this hasn’t in turn decreased their workload so essentially it helps them produce more content. The relationship with PR professionals is satisfactory but there are areas to improve around the quality of their contribution to journalists work and the reliability of information. Email remains the main communication channels for PR professionals but there is evidence from a small number of journalists that they would like to see social media used more widely for sharing PR content with journalists

Places and spaces without news: The contested phenomenon of news deserts

News deserts have gained prominence both in academic literature and policy discussions about local news in recent years. Although there is no agreed definition of the term, it usually refers to the lack of or diminishing availability, access, or use of local news or media in a community. It is seen as a significant phenomenon that highlights inequalities in local news provisions, challenges of local media operations in the digital environment, and issues around the quality of local journalism and the critical information needs of communities. This thematic issue aims to contribute to the field by bringing together different approaches to the topic, considering varied empirical studies and methodological designs, and providing perspectives from countries around the world with different media systems and cultures. The articles in the thematic issue address three broad issues: approaches to studying news deserts, local news production and news deserts, and the impact of news deserts on communities. Overall, the contributions reveal that the presence of a news desert is not a simple question of a locality having or not having a local media outlet. The concept is better understood as processes affecting access and quality of local news involving places, news media outlets and production, communities, and audiences. We end the editorial highlighting areas for further research, including the need for more holistic, conceptual, and comparative work on the topic