Matching Items (3)
Description
In 2012, Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy's "came out" about his anti-same sex marriage views, launching an enormous negative backlash across social media networks. To counteract this, former governor Mike Huckabee called on his Facebook fans to support the company on "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day," both on Facebook and in person. The project examines both the backlash and Appreciation Day on social media networks. Posts on the Appreciation Day Facebook event page and similar posts on Twitter were first broken down in the framework of supportive and oppositional posts and then analyzed in further contexts. Comments on official Chick-fil-A Facebook statuses were then examined in a similar fashion. The research concludes that a strong support system both online and offline were necessary for Chick-fil-A to recover from its backlash. The controversy that ensued is ultimately a case study in the growing influence of Facebook as a tool for small-scale activism.
ContributorsKuiland, Zachary Rico (Author) / Cheong, Pauline (Thesis director) / Szeli, Eva (Committee member) / Lim, Merlyna (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
In this paper I examined whether the media, for example news outlets and social media sites, had any effect on how the public viewed police officers. I wanted to see if the police and citizen incidents that were dominating the airwaves actually happened as frequently as it seemed, whether the media and social media outlets had anything to do with the increase of these types of incidents, and if these incidents and reporting styles had any effect, negative or positive, on how citizens watching viewed police officers. I think it is important to see if the media can influence the way citizens think especially in regards to law enforcement officers because their role in society is crucial to keeping everyone safe and peaceful. I also believe it is important to see how these citizens are being influenced. Ultimately, I wanted to see if I could prove that the media and social media have an effect on how citizens view police officers through the way they report on certain issues. In order to do this I conducted research looking into the various news reports that have been going on, I also looked into the different issues going on and looked at research going into both the sides of police officers and media outlets. I also conducted my own research by interviewing four police officers three retired and one active, as well as distributing a survey asking specific questions relating to my thesis to college students ages 18 and over. At the end of all this research I found that media does in fact have an effect on the opinions of citizens because they seem to report on only negative incidents or those dealing with different races. Social media also plays a big part by allowing everyone to see clips of incidents without any information allowing people to form uneducated biased opinions and running with it. Which in turn influences citizens to think a certain way and believe in "facts" that are not true.
ContributorsMoreno, Christiana J. (Author) / Johnston, Coy (Thesis director) / Cerven, James (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / School of Social Work (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
In recent years, social media has become more prevalent as a platform for political discussion and organization, especially among younger voters. This study sought to determine the relationship between social media use and the formation and evolution of political identity among undergraduate college students. The three research questions created for study are as follows: how does peer discussion impact political participation, how do news outlets impact political ideology, and what is the perceived effectiveness of online activism. Results revealed that peer discussion does not significantly impact political participation, that news outlets most often reinforce the user's original position, and that online activism is most commonly seen as an effective medium for awareness. Overall, it appears that social media use does have a mild impact on a user's political identity formation and evolution.
ContributorsWhile, Grace (Co-author) / Curry, Laura (Co-author) / Cheong, Pauline (Thesis director) / Kwon, Kyounghee (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12