"In einer zunehmend digitalisierten Welt prägen soziale Medien wie Facebook unseren Alltag - aber ermöglichen sie auch echte Resonanzerfahrungen? Basierend auf der Resonanztheorie von Hartmut Rosa untersucht Lisa Waldenburger, ob und unter welchen Bedingungen Nutzer*innen in den sozialen Medien Re
...
sonanz erleben oder ob das Medium eher zur Entfremdung beiträgt. Anhand qualitativer Interviews und der Entwicklung von fünf Idealtypen zeigt sie: Resonanz ist möglich, aber voraussetzungsvoll und immer mit dem Potenzial der Entfremdung verbunden. Die Analyse bietet neue Einblicke in digitale Weltbeziehungen und regt zum Nachdenken über die Bedingungen eines resonanzstiftenden Miteinanders im digitalen Zeitalter an." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
more
"This sociolinguistic study examines the Facebook page of a Catholic parish in the Philippines as a figured world. The figured world framework is a way of viewing a particular locus of interaction as a product of social and cultural construction. This lens, which has been widely used to examine educ
...
ation contexts, is applied in this study to the novel context of online religious community interactions. By using the figured world approach to discourse analysis, this research extends the view of social media for religious purposes beyond its usual attractions of entertainment, selfdocumentation, and self-expression. This paper argues that Facebook, as a platform for the digital staging of Catholic parish life, is an important space for the discursive (re)construction of church purpose, participation, interaction, and identity, with potentially important implications to the Catholic Church’s missiological trajectory." (Abstract)
more
"This paper aims to shed light on the threats that young people living in refugee camps face in their use of Facebook. While social media enable a participatory process of communication (Russo et al., 2008), which is based on the agency of the communicator and defined by their own cultural and moral
...
goals (Lee et al., 2023), these platforms can at times be inappropriately pursued if the communicator lacks relevant skills. The outcome of such a pursuit can also inadvertently damage social cohesion in the camp and lead to conflict.
Design/methodology/approach: A total of 17 semi-structured interviews were carried out in 2023 with young people between the ages of 20 and 29 living in Kakuma refugee camp. The young refugees were asked questions related to their own behaviour and practices on Facebook and to those of their peers. The focus was specifically on the context of the interactions with other youth in Kakuma and on the camp’s Facebook groups or pages.
Findings: Findings reveal that limited knowledge, understanding and awareness of the functioning and affordances of social media platforms such as Facebook are leading young refugees towards multiple risks involved in public online interactions. This has significant negative impacts not only on the lives of the youth who are active on social media in the camp but also on the relationships with their peers and overall community harmony.
Originality/value: A number of studies have identified some of the dangers arising for refugees operating in online spaces, and particularly on social media platforms (see, for example, Tech Transparency Project, 2022; Dekker et al., 2018). Yet, there is a lack of research on the outcomes that young refugees face in their immediate virtual and physical environment as a result of their online behaviour. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to bring to light the nature of the interactions and the dynamics that young, encamped refugees engage in on Facebook and to offer useful reflections that can inform digital literacy efforts carried out by development agencies." (Abstract)
more
"More than three years after the coup, a significant majority of the 40 senior media executives interviewed for this report say they are still dependent, partially or fully, on grants to run their operations. While they cannot control the external factors impacting on their work, be that the conflic
...
t or the unpredictability of digital platform policies, they recognise that if they want to survive and attract funding and revenue, they need to build strong, professional operations and to prove their resilience. That includes doing independent, ethical journalism, developing strong financial management and inclusive HR policies, engaging with their audiences, experimenting with diverse revenue streams, planning for the future, and preparing for the unexpected." (Looking ahead)
more
"Soziale Medien haben die Verbreitung von Antisemitismus revolutioniert. Algorithmisch verstärkt verbreitet sich Antisemitismus auf den Plattformen in Sekundenschnelle, kostenlos und global. Die daraus resultierende Gefahr für Jüdinnen*Juden ist eine große gesellschaftliche Herausforderung. Das
...
Buch gibt Einblicke in Fallstudien auf verschiedenen Plattformen und zeigt, wie soziale Medien durch die Verbreitung antisemitischer Inhalte von politischem Akteur*innen instrumentalisiert werden. Es werden innovative Methoden und Tools (CrowdTangle oder Voyant Tools) und neue Konzepte (Social Media Literacy, tertiärer Antisemitismus, antisemitische Eskalation) vorgestellt und Strategien, um Antisemitismus auf den Plattformen zu bekämpfen, kritisch evaluiert. Dieses Buch bietet eine umfassende Einführung für alle, die sich mit der Problematik Antisemitismus in den sozialen Medien auseinandersetzen wollen." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
more
"This multi-disciplinary study aims to explore the diverse effects of social media on Afghan youth, focusing on usage patterns, mental health implications, entertainment-driven time allocation, financial expenditures, exposure to explicit content, and academic performance. Methods: A cross-sectional
...
online survey was conducted between September and December 2023, gathering responses from 1556 participants (67% males, 33% females) through various social media platforms. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 26.0, employing statistical tests such as ANOVA and Chi-Square to examine relationships between social media usage and its impacts. Results: The study reveals significant links between social media usage and demographic, behavioral, and mental health factors. Key findings include Facebook as the most used platform (83.6%), with the majority of participants spending 1–3 hours daily on social media. Age differences in time spent were significant (F=15.64, p<0.001). Entertainment was the primary use (45.5%), with gender differences in engagement levels. High anxiety (78.5%) and moderate depression (38.3%) were reported. Significant associations between social media use and mental health were found (eg, x2=591.87, p<0.001 for nervousness). Excessive use negatively impacted study habits, with 25.7% feeling it hindered their academic performance. Conclusion: This study highlights the multifaceted impacts of social media on Afghan youth, including both positive aspects like enhanced communication and empowerment and negative aspects such as mental health issues and academic challenges. The significant relationships between social media usage and various life aspects underscore the need for targeted interventions to promote healthy digital habits and mitigate adverse effects. Further research is recommended to explore long-term impacts and effective strategies for managing social media use among Afghan youth." (Abstract)
more
"With the advent of social media, traditional analogue radio has converged to audio-visual with print formats. Using the case of community radio in Zimbabwe, this article explores how radio broadcasters have taken advantage of media convergence to disseminate text as implant on radio. A qualitative
...
content analysis of community radio platforms on Facebook reveals that some multilingual community radio stations still maintain their local languages in written text as captions or print, although there is a tendency towards English and major indigenous language dominance. Using language revitalisation theory, we argue that merging written text with radio on social media should always maintain the distinctness of radio and text as implant that reflect the local languages of community radio stations to revitalise or strengthen indigenous languages. We find the affordances of digital connection through Facebook useful to revitalise languages which are no longer used in the everyday communication of a digital audience." (Abstract)
more
"Facebook is home to a plethora of spiritual healers who use the social media platform for giving advice, selling products, and offering their services. In this ethnographic study, we examine the Facebook endeavors of Estonian spiritual healers. The study discusses the different forms of commodified
...
spirituality, the affective and aspirational labor of healers put into creating those commodities, and the role social media affordances play in shaping these practices online." (Abstract)
more
"This article investigates harmful political content in public WhatsApp and Facebook groups of the radical Right in Brazil. Considering harmful political content as that which generates direct damage to the quality, reasonableness, and plurality of public discussion, we investigate the enunciative a
...
spects of four specific types of discursive action (uncivil, conspiratorial, hateful, and dangerous) and the non-enunciative aspects used for harmful types of communication and interaction. The database consists of 3,503,540 messages propagated in 1,676 public groups during the electoral process. Through a quantitative approach to a sample of 2,201 unique messages, we found, among other things, that (1) harmful content was more present on Facebook than on WhatsApp; (2) messages about the elections were associated with uncivil speech; (3) uncivil speech was usually associated with dangerous speech and opposed to conspiratorial speech. The results allow for more nuanced reflections on the actions and strategy of the Far Right in the digital public debate." (Abstract)
more
"Este artigo apresenta os resultados de uma investigação sobre os rumores e as narrativas conspiratórias que circularam em 2020 sobre a pandemia em duas páginas do Facebook pertencentes a dois grupos religiosos: um evangélico e outro católico. Nos afastamos da visão que desqualifica os rumore
...
s e as narrativas conspiratórias, e partimos da ideia de que se essas histórias circulam é porque são verossímeis para o setor que as faz circular. O primeiro grupo religioso nos colocou em contato com uma pregação profética em que o rumor que circulou narra que o vírus está ligado ao diabo, sendo um castigo divino que já foi anunciado na Bíblia. O segundo é um grupo católico no qual foram identificados diferentes rumores que narram que há uma “plandemia satânica”, um plano para controlar e aniquilar a população mundial, algo que ilustra uma fusão entre um regime de verossimilhança religioso e outro conspiratório. Com o material coletado, foi realizada uma análise socio-discursiva, que levou em conta tanto o contexto social em que são emitidos os comentários e rumores no Facebook, como os discursos que os tornam verossímeis." (Resumo)
more
"Informed by two case studies of de-platforming interventions performed by Facebook against two high profile conspiracy theorists who had been messaging about Covid-19, this article investigates how de-platforming functions as an instrument of social control, illuminating the intended and unintended
...
effects it induces. To help interpret the patterns in the data, two novel conceptual innovations are introduced. The concept of ‘minion accounts’ captures how following a de-platforming intervention, a series of secondary accounts are set up to continue the mission. Such accounts are part of a wider retinue of ‘re-platforming’ behaviours. Overall, the empirical evidence reviewed suggests that whilst de-platforming can constrain transmission of conspiratorial disinformation, it does not eradicate it." (Abstract)
more
"This paper delves into the paramount significance of social media in contemporary warfare, shedding light on the critical need for effective measures to counter online radical narratives and prevent the spread of violent extremism. It explores how autocratic and repressive groups like the Taliban e
...
xploit social media platforms to their advantage and how these platforms have become a fertile ground for violent extremist groups to establish a novel front in warfare by allowing them to directly engage with civilians and the public, thus effectively closing civic space. This direct engagement enables violent extremist organisations to disseminate their ideologies and propaganda, radicalise, brainwash, manipulate, recruit, mobilise support, and communicate with the international community and the world. The research design incorporated a comprehensive analysis, combining first-hand experiences of locals, documentation, and reporting of content on Facebook, with an examination of the Taliban's social media posts, tweets, and engagement on platforms like Twitter and Facebook. The primary data was further complemented with relevant secondary data and reports. The findings highlight the Taliban's effective weaponisation of violent content on social media, strategically employed to shape public opinion and behaviours, demoralise the military, and discourage resistance against them. This role in facilitating their military takeover of the country and later in establishing and advocating for the legitimacy of their autocratic rule. This paper argues for heightened vigilance and proactive measures to counter misinformation, glorification of violence, and radicalisation online, ultimately safeguarding the integrity of information dissemination and societal well-being." (Abstract)
more
"The issue of African narratives has attracted significant attention in traditional media studies. On social media in general, and on Facebook in particular, little is known about these narratives. This study addresses the public’s concerns about African narratives on social media by meeting the d
...
emand for empirical data on African narratives from an alternative media perspective in Africa. The study follows these debates on Facebook, which are frequently used to raise public awareness and sway public opinion on important issues. The study used thematic content analysis to determine the most prevalent themes covered in the selected posts as well as the sentiments expressed in the comments. To make sense of the data, the study applied critical alternative media theory. The study revealed that topical issues about politics and international affairs, domestic conflict and death, sports and health dominated the media, and sentiments in the comments viewed Africans as a solution to Africa’s problems. Furthermore, the study established that negative stories elicited negative responses, and Africans regarded other African countries as crucial to the continent’s growth. As a result, the study shows that Facebook has evolved into an essential platform for media to share alternative African narratives." (Abstract)
more
"In a cross-platform analysis of Google Web Search, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, 4chan and TikTok, we found that hyperpartisan web operators, alternative influencers and ambivalent commentators are in ascendency. The book can be read as a form of platform criticism. It puts on disp
...
lay the current state of information online, noting how social media platforms have taken on the mantle of accidental authorities, privileging their own on-platform performers and at the same time adjudicating between claims of what is considered acceptable discourse." (Publisher description)
more
"Risk and crisis communication (RCC) is a complex constellation of multiple actors, platforms, and voices. It involves institutional actors but also laypeople. Participation by social media users can both facilitate and obstruct effective RCC. The present study draws on in-depth interviews with Swed
...
ish Facebook users, and explores motivational factors for lay participation in RCC in the context of vaccination utilizing Peter Dahlgren’s (2011) model. The contributions of this study are threefold. First, it identifies three dominant clusters of participation motivations: personal interest, information brokerage, and persuasion. Second, the results show that Facebook sociality is characterized by asynchronous communication, loops, and widespread hostility. Third, degrees of content visibility set up “zones of peace” (backstage, safe communication spaces) and “zones of fight” (frontstage, open sub-arenas where various views on vaccination are debated). Moreover, the study finds that these forms of sociality and levels of visibility can both strengthen and undermine user motivations." (Abstract)
more
"Patterns of news consumption are changing drastically. Citizens increasingly rely on social media such as Facebook to read and share political news. With the power of these platforms to expose citizens to political information, the implications for democracy are profound, making understanding what
...
is shared duringelections a priority on the research agenda. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, no study has yet explicitly explored how elections transform news sharing behaviour on Facebook. This study begins to remedy this by (a) investigating changes in news coverage and news sharing behaviour on Facebook by comparing election and routine periods, and by (b) addressing the ‘news gap’ between preferences of journalists and news consumers on social media. Employing a novel data set of news articles (N = 83,054) in Mexico, findings show that during periods of heightened political activity, both the publication and dissemination of political news increases, the gap between the news choices of journalists and consumers narrows, and that news sharing resembles a zero-sum game, with increased political news sharing leading to a decrease in the sharing of other news." (Abstract)
more