Reexamining the relationship between social media and happiness: The effects of various social media platforms on reconceptualized happiness

The current study reexamined the relationship between social media use and happiness by broadening the scope of social media and rethinking the conceptualization of happiness. Specifically, this study included platforms other than Facebook and tested differential effects of each platform. Because happiness is not entirely relative, it was hypothesized that social comparison would influence only relative happiness, which is only one part of overall happiness. A two-wave longitudinal survey among Korean females revealed that the use of blogs, Instagram, and LinkedIn is positively associated with social comparison at Wave 1 (W1), whereas Twitter is negatively associated. LinkedIn use was most strongly associated with social comparison. In turn, social comparison at W1 negatively predicted relative happiness at W2 (“I am happier than my friends”) but did not predict overall happiness at W2. Social media may lead us to believe that other people’s lives are better through social comparison. However, such comparison influences only part of overall happiness or life satisfaction. Without social comparison, social media have the potential to make us happier.     

User-orientated perspective of social media used by campaigns

Campaigns have increasingly resorted to Facebook because it has the highest number of users among social media platforms. The question as to whether Facebook is a more favorable choice of social media than a blog for political purposes must be addressed. In this comparative study, cross-sectional data collected in the 2009 and 2014 Taiwan local elections were used for exploring the differences among voter motivations, perceived credibility, and dependency between the use of political blogs and Facebook. In addition, the impact factors regarding the relationship between blogs and Facebook dependency were analyzed. The findings indicate that voter motivations, perceived credibility, and dependency were higher for political blogs than they were for Facebook, suggesting that in a political context, people prefer blogs to Facebook. The results of regression analyses indicate that the motivation for debating political topics was a significant predictor of the dependency on blogs, whereas motivations for general information and entertainment were related to Facebook use. The perceived credibility was not related to blog use; however, accuracy and information depth were significant factors for the use of Facebook. The reasons for the differences between peoples’ use of political blogs and Facebook are discussed in this paper. This study advances our understanding on the variations in people’s use of different social media platforms in a political context, and few studies have investigated this topic from a user-oriented perspective.     

Saving lives using social media: Analysis of the role of twitter for personal blood donation requests and dissemination

Social media has an impact on many aspects of human life ranging from sharing personal information to revolutionizing political systems of entire countries. One not so well studied aspect of social media is analyzing its usage and efficacy in healthcare, particularly in developing countries which lack state-of-the-art healthcare systems and processes. In such countries, social media may be used to facilitate patient-centric healthcare by involving the patient for fulfilling personal healthcare needs. This article provides an in-depth analysis of one such need, that is, how people use social media to request for blood donations. We study the request and dissemination behavior of people using social media to fulfill blood donation requests. We focus on twitter, and blood donation accounts in India. Our study reveals that each of the seven twitter accounts we studied have a large followership of more than 35,000 users on an average and receive a substantial number (more than 900) of donation requests in a day on an average. We analyze the requests in various ways to present an outlook for healthcare providers to make their systems more patient-centric through a better understanding of the needs of people requesting for blood donations. Our study also identifies areas where future social media enabled automated healthcare systems can focus on the needs of individual patients. These systems can provide support for saving more lives by reducing the gap between blood donors and the people in need.     

Reflections of entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized enterprises concerning the adoption of social media and its impact on performance outcomes: Evidence from the UAE

There have been numerous studies on the adoption of social media among individuals as well as organizations. Nevertheless, most of these studies were conducted in developed economies and focused on large organizations. This study, therefore, fills the gap by looking at the adoption of social media among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Middle East region; specifically, in the UAE. In addition, this study analyzes the adoption phenomena through word of mouth, viral marketing and social presence theory using in-depth semi-structured personal interviews with entrepreneurs of SMEs. Another significant contribution rendered by this study is its examination of social media adoption in terms of the business performance of firms.     

The future of online social networks (OSN): A measurement analysis using social media tools and application

The explosion of online social networks (OSN) has created an interactive and communicative global phenomenon that has enabled billions of users to connect to other individuals on Facebook and Twitter but also with media sharing platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest. This study examines the current use of social media platforms and explores the factors that help define the long term implications of social media. The study employed a nationwide survey collected from 2012 to 2013 and is available from the PEW Internet research center of more than 2000 American citizens’ behaviour towards OSNs. The results revealed strong predictors of OSN that form the connections among users; and the core significant predictors: age, gender and access to mobile Internet that foster the adoption and usage of OSN in the future. Furthermore, online activities such as posting video content on social networks also highlighted the online usage patterns and trends of using social media to actively engage with other users more willingly than text. This is due to the viral nature of online media sharing on social media and as part of the video viewing and creating experience. An outline of practical implications of the findings and areas for future research is also discussed.     

Analysis of the psychological traits,Facebook usage,and Facebook addiction model of Taiwanese university students

The purposes of this study are to (1) identify the role of the psychological traits of university students in Facebook addiction and Facebook usage; and (2) explore the correlation between Facebook usage and Facebook addiction. This study treated 241 university students in Taiwan as the research subjects, and adopted the Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale, Lai’s personality test, a Facebook usage scale, and a Facebook addiction scale (FAS). The structured equation modeling (SEM) was used for data analysis. The results showed that: (1) self-inferiority can significantly predict Facebook usage; and (2) having a depressive character and Facebook usage can significantly predict Facebook addiction. Finally, discussion was conducted on the findings, and relevant suggestions were proposed for schools, students, and future studies.     

Social media,social integration and subjective well-being among new urban migrants in China

The current generation of migrants in Chinese cities, named “new urban migrants,” is closely related with social changes in today’s China. As these urban migrants are increasingly dependent on new media, particularly social media for news, entertainment, and social interaction, it is important to know how social media use contributes to their social integration and subjective well-being. Based on an online survey, this study identified positive relationship between new urban migrants’ social media use and their subjective well-being, as well as the possible indirect relationship through social integration. The overall positive socio-psychological effects of social media use within Chinese urban migrants were found. Specifically, this study revealed that social media use can contribute to their social integration, including their building of social identity and social network as well as real-world social participation. New urban migrants’ social integration, particularly their level of social identity, is significantly associated with their subjective well-being.     

Influences of media on social movements: Problematizing hyperbolic inferences about impacts

Pronouncements about the value of information and communication technology (ICT) (hereafter traditional, new, and social media) to social movements – hyperbolic in popular media references to new and social media (e.g., Facebook revolution, Twitter revolution, etc.) – invite scholarly inquiries that critically assess the implications of these assumptions for African countries. Sensing the tendency toward technological determinism, a position which Castells warns is fraught with failure to recognize complex interactions between society and technology; authors examined popular press vis-à-vis scholarly assumptions about the value of media during social movements. Questions that critically analyze the roles and power of old versus new media in social movements should be posed particularly about 21st century iterations with citizens increasingly doubling as creators and disseminators of news and information. For example: to what extent do various media comparatively facilitate or constrain activists in social movements? How have new ICTs assisted citizen activists in circumventing the power and reach of traditional media? How have the roles of traditional versus new media in social movements been framed in the popular press and academic journals? What contextual factors (e.g., communal networks; third-party- and foreign-interventions, digital divide, etc.) may be accountable for the take-off and successes of social movements? In a continent fraught with cultural, political, and socio-economic divisions of historic proportions, authors critically assessed cases across Africa of variegated employment of old (i.e., radio, newspaper, television) and new media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, mobile telephone text messaging) by four social movements spanning 35 years. Assessments underscore citizen empowerment and multiplier capabilities of new media but affirm the value of contextual factors that minimize hyperbolic assumptions about the contribution of new media to the formation and progression of social movements.     

Instagram versus Snapchat: Self-expression and privacy concern on social media

With the increasing popularity of image-based social networking applications (apps), such as Snapchat and Instagram, social media users express multifaceted aspects of their self-concept online, while remaining concerned about privacy issues. This study investigates the determinants behind the choice to use a social networking site (SNS) platform and predicts that the type of self an individual wants to express through the platform and their level of privacy concerns will play an important role in this choice. A total of 547 SNS users completed an online survey. Expression of multiple aspects of the self – true, actual, and ideal self – and online privacy concerns were empirically tested as the key determinants of SNS platform choice. The findings show that the expression of true and actual self are significant determinants for using Snapchat as a primary SNS, whereas the expression of ideal self and greater privacy concerns are associated with active Instagram use. The authors discuss the implications of these findings and recommend future research.     

Measuring consumer perception of social media marketing activities in e-commerce industry: Scale development & validation

The internet has changed the nature of shopping in the past two decades, which has supported the proliferation of e-commerce sites and thus shopping has shifted to e-shopping. Also, customers use social media to gain information on preferred products with the best price options, as social media provides shoppers a voice, and facilitate them to interact and share their opinion worldwide. Moreover, social media is extensively adopted platform for e-commerce. Although, social media marketing has achieved wide acceptance in business, especially in e-commerce, there is no scale in the extant literature to measure perceived social media marketing activities (SMMA) in an e-commerce context. Therefore, this study develops and validates a 15-item, five-dimensional scale for measuring perceived SMMA of e-commerce based on extant literature on e-commerce and social media marketing and five different studies conducted in this research. The scale revealed comprehensive psychometric characteristics as per the results from the diverse reliability and validity checks. It was revealed that perceived SMMA positively influenced purchase intention and brand equity; which endorses the nomological validity of the developed scale. The new scale provides both theoretical as well as managerial implications along with the avenues for forthcoming research.     

Turkish diasporic responses to the Taksim Square protests: Legacy media and social media uses in Belgium,the Netherlands and Germany

Based on an offline and online survey of 967 people of Turkish origin living in these countries, we test how legacy and social media have influenced the participation of the members of the Turkish diaspora in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands in the mid-2013 protests in Turkey’s social movement referred to as Gezi Park. This study also investigates how living in Europe can influence the behavior and attitudes of the sampled individuals from the Turkish Diaspora of Germany, Belgium and Netherlands during the period when the Gezi Park demonstration took place. Our results make it clear that social media were used by those who supported the protest movement, while those who opposed the protest movement primarily used or followed traditional sources of media, including Turkish and European television. Furthermore, supporters amongst the diaspora for the Gezi-protests were primarily active in accruing social capital through bonding and social networking among those who belong to the Turkish diaspora under the guise of the Gezi Park protests. Finally, a significant number of the supporters of the protests in the three countries took part in several different means of supporting the movement, including: disseminating awareness about the Gezi protests through social media, engaging in meetings, and in some cases, even severing contact with friends and acquaintances who did not share their support for the protest movement.     

Characteristics and social impact of the use of social media by Chinese Dama

Against the backdrop of broader social changes, social media has developed rapidly in China, which has pushed the transition of the media environment from a traditional authority-dominated one to a modern media society. In particular, the use of social media by Chinese Dama can be perceived as an exemplar of media-driven social change. ‘Chinese Dama’ is a buzzword coined in tandem with the development of social media since 2013. This term represents a particular group of middle-aged Chinese women who reflect a distinctive social phenomenon in China. It is noteworthy that a growing number of Chinese Dama are learning to use social media and have established thousands of social media communities, exerting significant influence on the wider media and social environment. This study focuses on the major changes undergone by Dama, transitioning from being passively covered by media to becoming active users of social media, and this research analyzes the motivations and hallmarks of their social media activity. Although the use of social media by Chinese Dama, the traditional nucleus of Chinese society, has contributed to narrowing the digital divide and resulted in the Dama’s gaining more discourse power and ushered in new diverse lifestyles, we argue that the Dama also exert a far-reaching positive and negative influence on society, pushing for the modernization transformation of the Chinese society.     

媒体服务器的体系结构与性能分析

分析了几种流行的媒体服务器体系结构，在此基础上详细分析了衡量媒体服务器的I／O性能，存储性能、可靠性、可扩展性，可用性，安全性等因素，对于多媒体通信系统中媒体服务器的选型具有重要的指导性意义。     

Thumbs up: A thematic analysis of image-based posting and liking behaviour on social media

This study aimed to investigate the thoughts that social media users have prior to posting or ‘liking’ images on social media; particularly exploring the presence of egoistic, self-presentation considerations. Responses to two open-ended questions regarding considerations prior to posting (n?=?203) and ‘liking’ (n?=?195) images on social media were analysed using thematic analysis. Egoistic motivations influenced both posting and ‘liking’ an image on social media; suggesting an awareness that self-presentation can be affected (and therefore manipulated) through image posting and ‘liking’. Users also considered who would see their content or behaviour, and the effect this might have on others. Finally, ‘liking’ actually represents liking, with enjoyment and image value considered prior to providing public, online appreciation.     

Value systems and intentions to interact in social media: The digital natives

Current research on social media focus on perceptions, behavioural intention, usage, and seldom take value systems into account. Values are expected to impact behaviour directly or indirectly via intervening constructs, for example, attitude. This paper explores, starting from the Theory of Trying, how value systems impact the digital natives’ interactive behaviour with social media. An empirical research is executed to test a model based on global and domain-specific values, and attitudes towards trying in explaining usage. Based on 116 valid responses from a sample of digital natives, several alternative models were tested. The proposed model based on the theory of trying shows that domain-specific values positively influence behaviour and usage of social media. Attitude towards trying positively mediates the effect of domain-specific values and global values on interactive behaviour with social media. Global values do not influence domain-specific values, nor has a direct impact on behaviour.     

Exploring the effect of compulsive social app usage on technostress and academic performance: Perspectives from personality traits

With the rapid development of mobile communications technologies, social apps (e.g., Line, WeChat) have emerged as important communication tools. Although social apps provide people with additional convenience, overuse of such applications may have negative life effects, such as technostress and distraction. Past research has indicated that personality attributes contribute to compulsive usage. This study explores the relationships between personality attributes and compulsive usage of social apps, and examines the impact of technostress on academic performance. A total of 136 valid questionnaires were collected from university students through an online survey. Fourteen proposed hypotheses were examined using SmartPLS software. The results indicate that extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism have significant effects on compulsive usage of mobile social applications. Compulsive usage had a significant positive impact on technostress but did not negatively affect academic self-perception and course grades. In addition, conscientiousness significantly influenced academic self-perception. Unexpectedly, gender and number of friends had little influence on technostress or compulsive usage. The implications of these findings are discussed and directions for future research are offered.     

Formation and fragmentation within a networked public sphere: Social media debates on Traditional Chinese Medicine

By analyzing the social media posts published by the scientific community and conventional media organizations, the study explored the recent social media debates on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). A combination of textual analysis and content analysis revealed two main findings. First, different networks of expertise on Weibo generated conflicting discourses about TCM: while the scientific community contributed the overwhelming majority of posts that criticized TCM, conventional media outlets were much more likely to promote TCM without skepticism. Implications of the finding is discussed. Second, the social media debate did not appear to facilitate problem solving, evidenced by the fact that only a small portion of the posts included rational comments about the controversy. In addition, users typically communicated only with users who shared their viewpoints, resulting in few communications between groups. The trend illustrates the fragmentation of China’s networked public sphere on Weibo.     

School performance,social networking effects,and learning of school children: Evidence of reciprocal relationships in Abu Dhabi

This study uses structural equations modeling to test a hypothetical social network model with applications to a sample of 34,896 school children in Abu Dhabi. The main independent constructs in the model are related to children’s attitude with regard to social networking, reasons for using social networks, things done on social networks, and topics used. The dependent constructs cover perceived school performance and social effects of social networking. The study will describe the relations among the various constructs. The effect of other variables, such as parental knowhow, is also investigated. Our work has improved our insight in the social networking model. Results support the idea of reciprocal relations among perceived performance, learning from social networking, and the effect of social networking. Evidence for a model that includes opposite pathways implies that the problem of social networking constructs, its antecedents, and possible consequences should be examined with caution.     

Social media and expressive citizenship: Understanding the relationships between social and entertainment expression on Facebook and political participation

Substantial research has explored the political significance of social media use in the context of collective actions. Yet much remains unknown about whether common, day-to-day, nonpolitically oriented activities on social media relate to political engagement. Focusing on Facebook, the primary social media platform for most Americans, this study investigates whether and how social and entertainment expression on the site are associated with political participation among a diverse online sample of American adults. Results show that social and entertainment expressive Facebook use are indirectly associated with political participation through political communication in the form of interactive political expression on the site. In addition, findings demonstrate that social expressive use is also conducive to political participation via offline political talk, but entertainment expressive use is not significantly related to political talk in offline settings. Further analysis shows that the interactions between political interest and each of the expressive uses are largely insignificantly related to political communication and participation. Overall, the study’s findings help to clarify the distinctions between the two types of nonpolitical Facebook use and the underlying process by which these uses contribute to political participation.