Category: Social Media

The Frame Builders in Each Example and the Constructed Frame

The first frame builder was the news media. Notably, the media tried to frame the NUS demonstration event in many ways, which included the human interest frame, conflict frame, and attribution of responsibility (An & Gower 2009). First, the media portrayed the human interest frame by creating an emotional angle to the problem that the students were facing. Notably, the media echoed the impact of the governments behavior on increasing students tuition fees, citing that it would limit the students ability to pay the debts amidst the prevailing economic problems. Airing the news created an emotional impact on the audience that would listen to the students plight, making the audience sympathize with the story. Thus, the audience would be inclined to think negatively about the governments behavior on the same.

The second frame was the conflict frame. The media applied this framework to show that the government and students were not in agreement; the two parties conflicted. One way that the media did this was by stating that the government had increased student fees. In response, the student body had called for a demonstration.

The last frame that the media applied was the attribution frame. The framework was used to show that both the government and the student body were to blame for the situation that had ensued. First, the government was blamed for poor diligence in matters of apportioning students school fees, despite the hard economic times that caused an uproar. Secondly, the students were blamed for their misbehaving during the demonstrations, which were termed as chaotic and violent. Notably, both the pro and anti-NUS factions were not able to cooperate towards the cause, leading to an unsuccessful event.

The second frame builder is the NUS student body. The NUS student body applies the economic frame to gain emotional support for its cause. Notably, the students argue that an increase in tuition fees affects the less advantaged students (NUS survey reveals parents fears 2012). The student body further says that an increase in these costs means that the students will be plunged into more debts, with no possible payment alternative due to the current unemployment situation.

The Intention behind Each Constructed Frame

The three frames, as applied by the media, fulfilled different intentions. First, the human interest frame was meant to create a sense of responsibility in the government so that the government could take the blame for the crisis. Secondly, the conflict frame was applied to show disagreement between the two parties involved in the students fees issue, while the attribution framework was meant to distribute the responsibility of blame to the individuals involved in causing the situation.

The Frame Devices and Mechanisms Used to Build the Frame

Two key mechanisms that were applied in enforcing the actions of the demonstration were news sources and news values. Some news sources were used in explaining the build-up to the event. Extensive use of these news sources showed the degree of prominence that the media sources accorded to the demonstration to gain the desired attention of its audience. The media included YouTube videos, press releases, tweets, and news coverage. On the 27th of June, Liam Burns used YouTube to announce the potential date for the student demonstration following UKs legislation to increase fees and reduce students grants. The NUS also gave a press release on the issue with the same agenda. Later, on the 16th of November, tweets started circulating concerning the dissatisfaction of the students with grants issues. This raised so much noise that the news was published by the Guardian and the Daily Mail on the 18th and 19th of November 2012.

The publicity that the demonstration had attained made it become a tweeter issue for the day. The Guardian continued to focus on this news even on Tuesday. On the same day, a blog post purporting that the NUS vice president was encouraging students to use certain chants during the demonstration was released. Several other blogs citing the negativity of the march started to come up. Meanwhile, the subject continued to trend on Twitter. On Wednesday 21st, which was also the same day scheduled for the demonstrations, the Guardian offered an analysis of the event; from when it began to when it was concluded. Also, one blog by Londonist.com took to explain the events of the day. Meanwhile, the subject was also on Twitter, with several people writing about the demonstration. On the next day, 22nd November, the Telegraph and the Guardian newspapers published the events of the protest, with both newspapers citing that the demonstrations ended with chaos. Overall, these news sources acted as platforms through which people would be informed about the event, create a build-up to the event, and analyze whether the event was successful.

An analysis of the above frames shows that they all had the intention of shaping their audiences inferences about the intended message. In effect, these frames were a reflection of the judgments created by frame builders (Chong & Druckman 2007). One essential mechanism that was applied in building these frames was balancing. Valence framing refers to the construction of information in either a positive or negative format to gain a particular solicited reaction from the audience (Chong & Druckman 2007). Notably, the human frame, conflict frame, attribution frame, and economic frame are all meant to reflect the negative aspect of the issue in context.

Agenda Setting

What agenda is being set? By whom? What are we being invited to understand is important? By whom?

Agenda setting is the process through which the media influences public opinion about an issue through repeated news coverage of the issue and creating awareness on the importance of the issue (Scheufele & Tewksbury 2007). The first agenda that the media set was that of high school fees, increasing debt, and prevalent employment among the youth. This was a core agenda of the NUS rally, as the media also highlighted. The media aimed to show that the high costs of living due to the prolonged effects of the 2008 crisis had negatively impacted the economic development of the youth (NUS survey reveals parents fears 2012). Thus, the youth were disgruntled with the governments present idea to increase the school fees, despite the massive debts they were incurred to pay their tuition. Moreover, the students would still be unable to pay the debts after they cleared school for lack of jobs. In this case, the media was trying to make the audience understand the long-term effects of the 2008 economic crisis and the prevailing effects the crisis had on government legislation.

The other agenda that the media used was that of chaos and violence. One of the ways through which the media constructed the events of the NUS demonstration was that the protests that took place in the South of London were chaotic (Demo 2012: student rally disrupted 2012). Primarily, citing that the march was conducted amidst tensions between the pro and the anti-NUS groups meant that it was not going to be a peaceful event. Here, the media was trying to enforce the dangers of conflict and the need for parties to collaborate.

The Likely Consequences of Each Agenda for the Audiences and How the Audiences May Be Primed

The possible result of reporting that the event was chaotic and violent was to show that the demonstration was hardly a success. Citing that the event was marred by violence and the two different groups did not agree with each other implied that there was little cooperation and collaboration to foster success (Demo 2012: student rally disrupted 2012). In this case, the intended audience, who were the students facing the crisis and their well-wishers, were negatively influenced to lose their confidence in the NUS. Thus, the media was negatively affecting their perception of the NUS.

The second consequence, as a possible result of the first agenda, was that more students, even those oblivious of what was taking place, would be more informed of the present occurrence. It is possible that some students would not react to the governments actions of increasing fees. However, through the news media airing this story, those who had not reacted to the news would possibly get agitated when they learned that the fee increase was an issue of concern for other students as well. The intended audience, in this case, was the student population and the general taxpayers (NUS survey reveals parents fears 2012). In effect, this agenda sought to inform the target audience of the current legislation and its possible effects on economic development. In return, the general students body would realize the need to come together to oppose the governments action.

How Priming and Agenda setting is Done and Through Which Frames?

One of the ways through which priming was done is transmitting negative news about the demonstration. For instance, the news media continued to frame the rally using violent and chaotic themes. Thus, the media had an impact on the success of the demonstration by showing that the NUS had limited powers in putting forth its motive.

The second way that the media was setting its agenda was by using the injustice framework. The injustice frame targeted the government by stating that the government was acting unfairly by increasing students tuition fees, despite the prolonged effects of the economic crisis. For the students, this meant that they would be plunged into debt for the inability to pay their arrears due to unemployment after their graduation (Demo 2012: student rally disrupted 2012). The agenda was targeted at all taxpayers and citizens of the country. The kind of reaction that the media was soliciting, in this case, was the creation of a bias on government legislations, purporting to show that the policies are not beneficial to the ordinary and struggling citizens.

Organizations Involved in Framing the Story and In What Way?

The two organizations that were involved in framing the story were the media and the student bodies. The media played a critical role in relaying information to the audience. First, the media framed the governments behavior as unjust. Secondly, the media framed the students actions to this behavior as violent and chaotic (Demo 2012: student rally disrupted 2012). This was evident through the media reports of the unjust need to raise fees, despite the hard-lining economic times. The media also reported how the event was unsuccessful as it was marred by violence and chaos due to the two conflicting factions.

The second organization was the NUS student body, which first applied the injustice framework to show that the government was not acting reasonably by passing legislation that was hitting hard on students. One way the student body tried to create this frame was through stating that it was imperative to put pressure against the government for removing funding for the disadvantaged students while increasing fees amidst high unemployment (Demo 2012: student rally disrupted 2012). Using the line of an extremely privileged government and an impoverished student body, the NUS implied that the government was treating the students unfairly.

Also, the NUS attempted to win the chaotic, violent construct by reframing its position. One of the ways that the NUS was able to win over the chaotic framework constructed against it by the media was by using an emotional response. The NUS student leader, Liam Burns, stated that people should start drumming up support for the NUS as a political organization that was out to defend, promote, and assert the rights of the students. He further stated that it would be the governments pre-occupation to react to the plight of students in the new year.

Frame Devices and Mechanisms Identified and who is Behind These?

One frame mechanism identified was valence framing. This mechanism of framing involves the construction of information in either positive or negative contexts (Weaver 2007). Ideally, valence framing was applied by both the news media and the NUS student body responsible for the demonstration. Both parties negatively constructed a given context to suit their needs.

The second mechanism applied was priming. Priming is the process through which the use of the media affects the persons interpretation and judgment of the content they get from the media (Weaver 2007). Both the student body and the news media applied the context of priming to elicit a reaction from their intended audiences.

Reference List

An, SK, & Gower, KK 2009, How do the news media frame crises? A content analysis of crisis news coverage, Public Relations Review, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 107-112.

Chong, D, & Druckman, JN 2007, Framing theory, Annual Review of Political Science, vol. 10, pp. 103-126.

Demo 2012: student rally disrupted by hecklers 2012, The Guardian, Web.

NUS survey reveals parents fears for young people 2012, The Guardian, Web.

Scheufele, DA, & Tewksbury, D 2007, Framing, agenda setting, and priming: The evolution of three media effects models, Journal of Communication, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 9-20.

Weaver, DH 2007, Thoughts on agenda setting, framing, and priming, Journal of Communication, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 142-147.

Technology has made peoples lives easier and has brought numerous opportunities. Social media have become one of the most amazing innovations of the beginning of the 21^st century. It has been estimated that 84% of those aged 18-29 use social networks (Anderson & Rainie par. 6). Young people have developed certain digital community where they are always linked to their peers. Social media users share information and learn a lot of useful things. At the same time, social networks are also associated with certain hazards. For instance, Fr. Adolfo Nicolas claims that social networks prevent young people from reflection, which is crucial for those who should exercise imagination and contemplate. However, social media are not as harmful as many people think since they help individuals broaden their horizons.

Many educators argue that there is little time for reflection as young people are always distracted. Some claim that humans are too absorbed by the digital world, and they rely too much on technology (Fuchs et al. 114). It has been acknowledged that people feel the need to be linked, and they long for instant gratification they get from checking e-mails, their accounts, and so on (Alsop par. 1). The researcher states that humans have become quite dependent on technology that takes a lot of their time. Social networks users often share irrelevant information and become too concerned with superfluous things. Unfortunately, this is quite true. Many young people spend hours sharing photos and different files or simply chatting about trivial things. That time could be spent more wisely.

Clearly, people need some space for themselves. They have to stop and contemplate. They should have time for reflection, which brings a deeper understanding of the world and selves. Fruitful reflection turns into beautiful works of art that embody the development of human thought. Apart from that, reflection enables people to understand who they really are and what they really want, which is essential for their success in life. Of course, they need time to think, put, and answer their questions. It is especially important for teenagers and young adults who become members of the society. They have to make numerous choices, and they need some time to make thoughtful and beneficial decisions. Admittedly, it is hardly possible to understand which path to choose when a person is distracted by constant messaging and discussing the latest trends in the world of purse fashion.

However, it is necessary to note that social media are not as harmful as some may think. Television used to be seen as one of the major hazards posed, and teenagers were thought to be completely absorbed by that innovation of the 20^th century. Nonetheless, millions of individuals stopped being dependent on TV, and humanity did not stop its development. On the contrary, thousands of dreamers found a way to make their dreams come true (there are space tourists, expeditions to other planets and to the most distant parts of the ocean, advances in genetics, and so on).

Likewise, social media will not turn humanity into digital slaves feeding machines. More so, social media can broaden young peoples horizons, as they are able to communicate with those coming from different cultural backgrounds. Young adults can learn a lot about life in other countries, about other cultures about different views and values. It is possible to state that social media can give young adults the necessary background for reflection.

Clearly, individuals should understand that they have to balance communication and reflection. Educators can help young people in developing proper patterns when it comes to social media and reflection. College students should understand that they can spend a certain time in the digital world. However, they should also spend most of their time in the real world as well as in the world of their reflection and contemplation.

It is necessary to add that increasing the popularity of social media is not the only hazardous trend, as some young people think that dreaming and exercising imagination is useless and should be diminished since they have to focus on their studies. Therefore, educators (ideally, parents as well) should encourage children, teenagers, and young adults to stop and think, exercise imagination. Students should understand that the development of technology, art, medicine, science is the result of peoples effective contemplation. Telling stories about great dreamers (renowned scientists, writers, and leaders) can be the necessary tool to make college students stop and think.

Works Cited

Alsop, Ronald J. Gotta Have It Now, Right Now. Notre Dame Magazine 2011-12. Web.

Anderson, Janna and Lee Rainie. Main Findings: Teens, Technology, and Human Potential in 2020. Pew Research 2012. Web.

Fuchs, Christian, Kees Boersma, Anders Albrechtslund and Marisol Sandoval. Internet and Surveillance: The Challenges of Web 2.0 and Social Media. New York, NY: Routledge, 2013. Print.

Widespread prevalence and use of social media have had a significant impact on the way people approach crisis situations. Gaining significant userbase and surpassing the traditional media outlets in recent years, multi-media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others have become a steady tool in addressing emergencies. Through using social media, relevant information can be quickly sent and distributed, foregoing the formalities of standard television.

There are several advantages and downsides to using this approach and determining if the use of modern media in extreme circumstances can be difficult. The main advantage social media provides is that the affected people and victims can use it to make providing support and understanding the details of a situation easier (How to Use Social Media to Communicate in an Emergency 2018).

Stakeholders in natural disasters and cataclysms can provide the rescue efforts with their location info, and the authorities can use social media to organize a centralized help system. Overall, the use of social media can severely improve communication speeds and overcome barriers that cannot be managed by standard means of contact. On the other hand, this approach also has significant downsides. Misinformation can easily spread, increasing civil unrest, and potentially doing harm to many people (Munis, 2020).

Because of the large number of people involved, the authorities have to put significant emphasis on spreading the correct narrative and keeping the situation under control. Although it is a significant problem that hampers the effectiveness of crisis response, the communication possibilities, and the speed of social media outweighs the negative consequences. With the joined effort of the authorities and the community, it is possible to effectively utilize the modern platform to aid more people.

Works Cited

How to Use Social Media to Communicate in an Emergency. ePACT. (2018). Web.

Munis, T. (2020). Advantages and disadvantages of social media in crisis communications. Web.

Introduction

In the contemporary technology-driven digital world, the Internet has become the most frequently used platform for communications. The rapid advancement of social media websites and mobile applications, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others, has triggered new human interpersonal communication patterns and self-identification. The opportunities to share multiple photos, videos, comments, opinions, and life attitudes encourage social media users to disclose themselves to the public more. At the same time, they express a heightened level of concern about the respect of their private data by the institutions that launch websites.

Such a paradoxical relationship between social media attitudes toward privacy issues and their disclosing behavior is called a privacy paradox. The planned research focuses on identifying whether functioning in the social media environment is bound to self-disclosure and private information sharing. It will be argued that since there exists a high level of ambiguity concerning the definition of online social media as either private or public space, users tend to confuse privacy for functionality.

The omnipresence of online communication validates the relevance of the topic concerning privacy on social media. Millions of people of all ages and cultural backgrounds use social media daily, sharing information through self-disclosing content posted online (Gruzd & Hernandez-Garcia, 2018).

The risks of the adverse social and psychological consequences of the privacy paradox imply necessitate an in-depth investigation of the problem to understand the mechanisms behind the paradox better and design functional solutions for privacy protection. Online space is causing a shift in human perception of what is private and public, causing a complex restructuring of behavioral norms. Therefore, the studys importance is justified by the relevance of the issue to the general public for enhancing the privacy risks awareness, as well as to institutional decision-makers whose attention should be drawn to the issue for searching for effective solutions.

The present research proposal paper is designed to overview the privacy paradox in social media to collect theoretical data and empirical implications in the existing scholarly literature. An issues history, societal impact, and influential factors are provided for context; an extensive literature review is presented to examine the theories and evidence pertaining to the investigation of the problem. Finally, the application of the examined literature review findings to the planned research study is discussed.

The proposed research scope will include the psychologically and socially driven reasons for online social media users increased level of self-disclosure despite privacy violation risks. For the literature review, academic journals, and books published within the past five years are located and examined. Theoretical explanation and empirical evidence supporting the theories are used as a foundation for informed decision-making concerning the planned research studys design and scope.

Issue: The Privacy Paradox in the Social Media Context

History Behind the Issue

With the advancement of the Internet and technologies that promote online activity, privacy protection concerns have elevated. The emergence of the Internet-of-things and the related principles of interaction between consumers, businesses, and the general public functioning online introduced new perspectives on protecting private information and the level of acceptable self-disclosure (Williams et al., 2016).

In the early 2000-s, research studies have been initiated to investigate the scope of influence of personal information disclosure in association with online shopping (Kokolakis, 2017). Initially, the privacy paradox concept has been (and continues to be) researched within a general context of the Internet as a whole. However, much attention is being paid to the particularities of social media platforms pertaining to self-disclosure and online security.

Within the context of social media, the information about the activity of users online can be stored, processed, and used for advertising or other purposes. According to Barth and De Jong (2017), the information being transformed between electronic devices equates to a form of unwitting user observation (p. 1039). Since the storage of information is a widespread concern, people express disturbance related to their personal data. However, even when users report a high level of concern about online privacy, they still do not take & measures to protect their privacy online (Xie et al., 2019, p. 742). Such a phenomenon has been labeled the privacy paradox and has been significantly researched by scholars in online technologies, psychology, sociology, cybersecurity, and other spheres.

Impact on Society

Although online privacy has been well addressed and acknowledged by the general public, little is being done to mitigate the risks of self-disclosure through social media platforms. Indeed, as researchers report, multiple consequences account for risks associated with the lack of personal data security. These consequences include identity theft, stalking, online harassment, excessive exposure to e-commerce, subjecting to third party intrusion, and other threats (Chen, 2018; Kokolakis, 2017; Xie et al., 2019, p. 742). Therefore, there is a significant impact of the issue on society through the endangering of citizens privacy protection and threatening their well-being and autonomy. It is essential to deepen the research efforts in the field of the privacy paradox investigation to examine the underlying principles, contributing factors, and possible solution options.

Critical Factors Impacting the Privacy Paradox Issue

The dichotomy of the issues related to privacy is due to contextual overlapping and risk management decision-making. Since social media platforms are designed according to particular patterns that imply increased personal information sharing stored and processed online, the likelihood of users to breach privacy is externally influenced. Moreover, the needs for impression management and relationship maintenance compel users to reveal extensive amounts of personal data and account for the discrepancy between privacy concern and actual privacy protection behaviors (Pentina et al., 2016, p. 409). Indeed, people agree to trade-offs related to privacy to enhance their functionality within the context of the rules applicable to social media interactions.

There are several approaches to discussing critical factors that contribute to the emergence of the privacy paradox. The opportunities for organizations to obtain private data from users are influenced by four factors collection, unauthorized secondary use, improper access, and errors in personal information (Gruzd & Hernandez-Garcia, 2018, p. 419). Similarly, five groups of factors apply to the issue, each relating to a particular domain of behaviors and decision-making patterns of the involved parties. They include education and experience, usability and design, privacy risk salience, social norms, and policies and configurations (Williams et al., 2016, p. 645). Thus, the problems complexity is derived from the heterogeneity of the factors that comprise the privacy paradox as a phenomenon.

Possible Solutions to be Explored

Given the scope of the problems impact on society and the broad spectrum of factors, there are several potential solutions to the problem. Firstly, socio-technical measures might be initiated to increase the level of private information protection; technological initiatives and policies for privacy values respect are proposed (Williams et al., 2016). However, since the scope of the proposed research is limited to social and psychological behavioral patterns, it might be of more significance to examine the opportunities for raising awareness about the privacy paradox and initiating promoting campaigns for cultivating a qualitatively new approach toward social media use. In addition, the factors of website and application user design are of particular influence on the likelihood of users disclosing sensitive information (Kokolakis, 2017; Williams et al., 2016). Therefore, solutions within the framework of redesigning and customizing designs of the interface according to users preferences might be relevant.

Literature Review

Theories, Constructs, and Concepts

In the scholarly literature on the topic of online privacy, the phenomenon of the privacy paradox has been approached using various theories and conceptual frameworks. Indeed, Barth and De Long (2017) conducted a systematic review and located 35 theories that explored the discrepancy between the expressed concern and the actual behavior of users (p. 1038). The theories that have been used to investigate the issues related to the privacy paradox range from those based on the rationality of decision-making to unconscious privacy sharing and cognitive and behavioral implications of self-disclosure.

Hoffmann et al. (2016), Kim and Kim (2020), Pentina et al. (2016), and Wu (2019) explore the reasons for the paradox by applying the privacy calculus theory. This theory justifies the rational decision-making behind risking the disclosure of private information in exchange for the benefits of using social media. Indeed, as stated by Wu (2017), people decide to disclose sensitive information about themselves by weighing the anticipated benefits of the decision against its perceived privacy consequences (p. 211). Thus, rational thinking and informed decision-making are perceived as default features when explaining the privacy paradox using the privacy calculus theory.

There are other theories that refer to rational thinking and risk awareness concerning online security. Xie et al. (2019) explain the issue with the help of the rational fatalism theory, which is based on similar assumptions as the privacy calculus theory. Indeed, according to the rational fatalism theory, rational people may take more risks when the danger inherent in those risks becomes unavoidable (Xie et al., 2019, p. 742).

Indeed, several studies claim that people are more likely to express concern about privacy issues in institutional privacy violation (Kikilakis, 2017; Williams et al., 2016). Another theory applied to explaining the paradox is the social exchange theory which asserts that personal information is an object of exchange between the parties involved in social interaction (Wu, 2017). This assumption is inherently present in the social representation theory, which claims that social representations are values, ideas or practices that enable individuals to orient and master the social world (Barth & De Long. 2017, p. 1055). In such a manner, private information exchange substitutes the perceived functionality in online communication through social media.

The concepts or theoretical constructs were defined with great precision and a thorough explanation of their application to the issue. The relevance of the privacy calculus theory is justified by the scholarly attention to the rationality of decision-making related to online behaviors. However, the social exchange and social representation theories validate the societal interaction element that is pivotal in online communication investigation. Thus, the reviewed theories and concepts are relevant to the issue under investigation.

Empirical Literature

Numerous empirical studies, both quantitative and qualitative, have been conducted to investigate the reasons, mechanics, and possible solutions to the privacy paradox. For example, heterogeneous focus groups were initiated by Hoffmann et al. (2016). The study found that privacy cynicism as a manifestation of the privacy paradox has been primarily associated with the themes of insecurity and uncertainty, powerlessness to control data use, mistrust toward institutions, and resignation (Hoffmann et al., 2016). Online surveys have been conducted by Gruzd and Hernandez-Garcia (2018), Kim and Kim (2020), Pentina et al. (2016), and Wu (2017).

These studies investigated the manifestations and reasons for the occurrence of the privacy paradox in populations of different ages and compared them with culturally different contexts for pattern identification. Also, secondary data retrieved from previously conducted national surveys were used for empirical studies (Xie et al., 2018). Thus, the methodology that is primarily used involves participant observation and interrogation. This is validated by the social constructs applicable to the topic at hand.

The theoretical frameworks used by the researchers in the presented studies were justified. The concept of rational fatalism was found to be relevant to self-disclosure decision-making (Xie et al., 2018). Moreover, demographic characteristics, personal beliefs concerning the value of privacy, and the boundaries of the private space have been particularly illustrative concerning the level of self-disclosure online (Gruzd & Hernandez-Garcia, 2018; Wu, 2017). The studies common limitations were related to the selection of only one country for the investigation and the subjectivity of the perception of privacy as a concept.

Implications for the Proposed Research Study

Based on the reviewed literature on the topic of privacy paradox, the proposed research study will address the socio-psychological issue of inter-personal communication, which has not been sufficiently addressed. Little has been detected concerning the perception of acceptable functionality within the context of social media as a technological representation of society. Therefore, the proposed study will concentrate on the investigation of the necessity of personal information exchange as an immediate attribute of successful participation in online communication.

Since the social exchange theory has been widely used and explored in-depth, it is important to apply a different theory to meet the goals of the proposed study. Therefore, the social exchange theory is particularly relevant to the investigation of the issue of the privacy paradox since it integrates both psychological and social implications of communication via social media platforms (Barth & De Long, 2017; Wu, 2017). Thus, this theoretical approach allows for investigating human behavior within the contextual private space vs. public space dichotomy and investigating the functionality issue.

The method that best suits the goals of the study is a combination of an online survey and participant observation through the perspective of their social media accounts. Survey questions will be designed to identify participants attitudes toward online privacy, their practices for reinforcing privacy, and their perception of functional participation in online communication using social media. In parallel, participants accounts on several social media platforms will be observed and analyzed for the presence of self-disclosing content. The observation findings will be compared with the results of the survey to detect consistency.

Conclusion

The privacy paradox is a discrepancy between peoples privacy concerns and self-disclosure expressed online. From a social and psychological perspective, the privacy paradox impacts people by imposing ambiguity on behavioral patterns as social. The popularity and frequency of social media usage expand gradually, with people spending more time communicating through such platforms as Instagram, Facebook, and others.

Decision-making behind the privacy paradox has been vastly investigated; however, the implications of functionality within the digital society utilizing private information sharing have been under-investigated. Therefore, the proposed research study is aimed to research how social media users perceive and express online self-disclosure as an immediate attribute of successful communication.

References

Barth, S., & De Jong, M. D. (2017). The privacy paradox  investigating discrepancies between expressed privacy concerns and actual online behavior  a systematic literature review. Telematics and Informatics, 34(7), 1038-1058.

Chen, H. T. (2018). Revisiting the privacy paradox on social media with an extended privacy calculus model: The effect of privacy concerns, privacy self-efficacy, and social capital on privacy management. American Behavioral Scientist, 62(10), 1392-1412.

Gruzd, A., & Hernandez-Garcia, A. (2018). Privacy concerns and self-disclosure in private and public uses of social media. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 21(7), 418-428.

Hoffmann, C. P., Lutz, C., & Ranzini, G. (2016). Privacy cynicism: A new approach to the privacy paradox. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 10(4), 1-18.

Kim, B., & Kim, D. (2020). Understanding the key antecedents of users disclosing behaviors on social networking sites: The privacy paradox. Sustainability, 12(12), 1-16.

Kokolakis, S. (2017). Privacy attitudes and privacy behavior: A review of current research on the privacy paradox phenomenon. Computers & Security, 64, 122-134.

Pentina, I., Zhang, L., Bata, H., & Chen, Y. (2016). Exploring privacy paradox in information-sensitive mobile app adoption: A cross-cultural comparison. Computers in Human Behavior, 65, 409-419.

Williams, M., Nurse, J. R., & Creese, S. (2016). The perfect storm: The privacy paradox and the Internet-of-Things. In 2016 11th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES) (pp. 644-652). IEEE.

Wu, P. F. (2019). The privacy paradox in the context of online social networking: A selfidentity perspective. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 70(3), 207-217.

Xie, W., Fowler-Dawson, A., & Tvauri, A. (2019). Revealing the relationship between rational fatalism and the online privacy paradox. Behaviour & Information Technology, 38(7), 742-759.

Social media is a big part of peoples lives. On the one hand, social media has changed and revolutionised the way that people communicate. Thus, it helps individuals to build communication with each other, look for helpful and interesting information, work through the social media platforms, and entertain a certain audience by recording videos and writing blogs and posts. On the other hand, through social media, people are able to form and influence public opinion if they have an influence on society or power of persuasion. Individuals are still trying numerous tactics of persuasion. In fact, if the person is popular, they might use their popularity to achieve a particular objective. In most cases, people use their popularity in order to earn money, especially if they have been working on this goal for a long time; however, popularity has become a powerful instrument to shape public opinion. With a good understanding of public relations, it is possible to form, control, and impact the way that people think. The worldwide spread of mass media has given celebrities a powerful status. Currently, people that became known for their achievements in sport, music, cinematography, theatre, etc. gain their fan base through the Internet, especially social media platforms. People develop psychological bonds with celebrities and try to imitate their lives in order to appear to be more attractive, trendy and popular. In this case, celebrities become role models, whose behaviour, beliefs and values are adopted by other people. To define this process, scholars use the term identification (Fraser & Brown 2002). They believe that identification is a basic process of social change in which public opinion and values transform under the influence of celebrities. Fraser and Brown (2002) suggest that the main reason why people identify themselves with personae is the need to enhance their self-esteem. As a result, people not only imitate the celebrities behaviour and such manners of expression as clothing and makeup style but also seek to visit the same places and shop in the same stores. Their willingness to emulate lifestyle and share the beliefs of celebrities is widely used in shaping the public opinion on various matters: politics, economy, art, morals, etc. The main purpose of this literature review is to analyse the existing scholarship and data that is going to be collected for the investigation in order to figure out how public opinion can be formed by a certain person via social media. Assuming that the combination of social media platforms with celebrated personalities is an effective instrument of influence and persuasion, we seek to study previous related research and theories, sort out the existing mechanisms and algorithms by which societal values and attitudes change, observe regular occurrences and analyse the consequences of social change as result of media saturation.

Following the ideas of Blumer, Glynn et al. (2016, p. 13) make a clear distinction between a mass that has no interaction and a public that is self-aware and interactive. There are several approaches in which scholars define public opinion, stressing the idea that this concept is not homogeneous in itself and has various perspectives, such as aggregation, majority opinion, clash of groups, media/elite opinion and public opinion as fiction (Glynn et al. 2016). In the present study, we choose to consider public opinion as a reflection of the mainstream societys values. Many scholars believe that public opinion can be seen as a projection of influential elites thoughts and beliefs on society (Fraser & Brown 2002; Glynn et al. 2016). In other words, the majority of people tend to adopt the thoughts and ideas that they hear on the radio, television, and learn through the Internet. In this context, famous politicians, journalists, public figures, actors, writers, performers, or, if simply put, celebrated personalities, become if not the role models but apparent opinion makers.

The literature that was reviewed for the present study may be divided into two groups. The first group of studies examines various factors, methods and techniques that serve as an instrument of influence on public opinion through the social media in particular. The studies of the second group aim to explain why people allow social media affect their values and beliefs. The core concept of the majority of studies that aim to examine the change of public opinion is persuasion (Bernays 1923; Ciadini 2014; Fraser & Brown 2002; Glynn et al. 2016, Perloff 2010). Persuasion plays an important role in contemporary life. It could be argued that the Internet and all social media platforms are a persuaders paradise due to the fact that it is possible to promote millions of products and services with the help of websites. Perloff (2010, p. 8) defines persuasion as a process in which communicators try to convince other people to change their attitudes or behaviour regarding an issue through the transmission of a message. Communicators do not and cannot change peoples minds; people are free to decide whether to change their attitudes or to resist persuasion. However, there are two instruments that cannot be used for influencing public opinion. Perloff (2010) states that the terms propaganda and manipulation are bandied about when social influence and persuasion are discussed and claims that these terms cause negative associations because they are usually used in negative contexts. Public opinion may be shaped only when people are given the freedom of choice. Communicators may apply the instrument of persuasion but must avoid such tools of influence as manipulation and propaganda (Perloff 2010; Thaler & Sunstein 2008).

The main objective of persuasion is to motivate individuals or groups to take a specific action, for instance, buying a certain brand of toothpaste or automobile, voting for a specific candidate, supporting one side or the other of a political issue, or signing up with one cable provider over another. The motivation includes a persuasive message, which can directly impact public opinion. A persuasive message might be verbal or nonverbal. Also, it could be relayed interpersonally, through mass media or via social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. It might be reasonable or unreasonable, factual or emotional. In most cases, the message consists of arguments or simple cues, such as music or food in an advertisement, which can cause pleasant memories to come to mind (Perloff 2010). Thus, persuasive messages are capable of impacting or changing public opinion and can be considered as one of the instruments of influence. Thaler and Sunstein (2008) employ a concept of libertarian paternalism as one more instrument that helps to affect societal attitudes and values, stating that libertarian paternalists urge that people should be free to choose. According to Thaler and Sunstein (2008, p. 5), the main idea of libertarian paternalists is to make it easy for people to go their own way: they do not want to burden those who want to exercise their freedom. Sometimes, in order to attract a certain audience by leaving a freedom of choice, experts come up with the solution to use nudge. Thaler and Sunstein (2008, p. 6) define nudge as the aspect of choice that changes peoples behaviour in a predictable way without restricting any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. Thus, in some cases, celebrities or public figures invoke people to make a certain decision by using the theory of nudge. Furthermore, Perloff (2010) as well as Simons and Jones (2011) examine the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), which can tell when people should be particularly likely to elaborate, or not elaborate, on persuasive messages. Basically, the ELM determines that there are two ways in which people process communication. The model refers to the two routes to persuasion as the central and peripheral routes or processes. The first way is a central route. It occurs when humans concentrate in depth on the central features of the issue, person, or message. In other words, when people process information globally, they carefully evaluate message arguments and ideas and relate information to their own knowledge and values. The second route is peripheral and is completely different. The peripheral route of thinking means that people examine the message quickly, not focusing on the core details. When processing peripherally, individuals usually rely on simple decision-making rules. Therefore, public opinion can be simply formed if individuals do not process the information globally and depend on the elementary decision-making process. Thus, the ELM helps to impact public opinion by helping to distinguish between the categories of people who are simple information processors or deep, detailed thinkers.

A series of studies seek to find an explanation of publics exposure to social media (Ciadini 2014; Fraser & Brown 2002; OMahony & Meenaghan 1997). Fraser and Brown (2002) compare celebrities to heroes and stresses that people have always been identifying themselves with someone who is better and should be followed, role modelled and emulated. Before the age of ubiquitous social media, it was heroes who served as examples to public; however, with the appearance of radio, television and Internet it became possible to learn more about personal lives of celebrated personalities. While identifying themselves with celebrities, people develop strong emotional, psychological bonds with them and attempt to copy their lifestyle and adopt their values and beliefs, because words celebrity and success became synonymous (Fraser & Brown 2002). There are several reasons for identification. Some scholars consider that this process occurs when a person shares or believes that they share certain features and beliefs with another person (Ciadini 2014; Fraser & Brown 2002). The result of identification with celebrities is the social change, that is, the change of values among mass audiences. Little research has examined the role of celebrated personalities in promoting values among people because it is difficult to ascertain the relationship between the result of actual value promotion and the audience members values. However, it is established that people adopt celebrities values by identifying themselves with them in order to compensate for personal failures and enhance the self-esteem. One more concept to be considered in the research of how celebrities influence public opinion is the process of impersonation, in which people adopt celebrities values and lifestyles because they develop the so-called perceived relationships with them (Fraser & Brown 2002). As a result, corporations seek to get celebrities involved in their advertising campaigns in order to draw the attention of public to the products and promote image values of these products (OMahony & Meenaghan, 1997).

By realising how public opinion can be formed, several models and theories may be distinguished and seen as tools that basically help to build public opinion, especially via social media platforms. A wide range of studies is devoted to the concept of persuasion as opposed to manipulation and propaganda in shaping public opinion (Bernays 1923; Ciadini 2014; Fraser & Brown 2002; Glynn et al. 2016, Perloff 2010). Among the most common instruments of influence are persuasive messages, nudges and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Perloff 2010; Simons & Jones 2011; Thaler & Sunstein 2008). The principle of social proof explains why people are easily subjected to the influence of social media and celebrities in particular (Simons & Jones 2011). Identification and impersonation are the key concepts in the study of how celebrated personalities influence the opinion of public (Fraser & Brown 2002). Although it is accepted that celebrities play an important role in shaping public opinion and transformation of societal values, little research examines these phenomena in great detail, which is why the present study is timely and relevant since it investigates the process of the public opinion shaping on the example of social media platform Instagram.

Reference List

Bernays, EL 1923, Crystallizing public opinion, Liveright, New York, New York.

Ciadini, RB 2014, Influence: Science and practice, 5th edn, Pearson, Harlow, United Kingdom.

Fraser, BP & Brown, WJ 2002, Media, celebrities, and social influence: Identification with Elvis Presley, Mass Communication & Society, vol. 5, no. 2, pp.183-206.

Glynn, CJ, Herbst, S, Lindeman, M, OKeefe, GJ & Shapiro, RY 2016, Public opinion, 3rd edn, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.

OMahony, S & Meenaghan, T 1997, The impact of celebrity endorsements on consumers, Irish Marketing Review, vol. 10, no. 2, pp.15-24.

Perloff, RM 2010, The dynamics of persuasion: Communication and attitudes in the twenty-first century, Routledge, Abingdon, United Kingdom.

Simons, HW & Jones, JG 2011, Persuasion in society, 2nd edn, Routledge, Abingdon, United Kingdom.

Thaler, RH & Sunstein, CR 2008, Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness, Penguin, London, United Kingdom.

Social media has revolutionized the manner in which people share their ideas and adverts (Aaker & Smith, 2010). WATERisLIFE in a NGO that works hard to ensure every needy person gets clean water. The NGO uses powerful campaigns in order to improve the living conditions of many people in the world. The organization has produced a powerful awareness program called WATERisLIFE Campaign. The purpose of this campaign is to inform more people about the real challenges affecting many people in the world. This approach has encouraged more people to support the campaign.

Analyzing the Campaign Using the Dragonfly Effect Model

The WATERisLIFE Campaign has been successful because the NGO has received numerous donations. Such donations have made it easier for the NGO to provide clean water to different underprivileged populations. The Dragonfly Effect Model can highlight the major factors that have made the WATERisLIFE Campaign successful. The Dragonfly Effect model focuses on four wings in order to achieve the best outcomes (Aaker & Smith, 2010, p. 2). The four wings include: Focus, Grab Attention, Engage Others, and Take Action (Aaker & Smith, 2010, p. 3). To begin with, the NPO identified the best audience for the campaign.

WATERisLIFE identified a clear focus for its social media campaign. The main idea was to end a popular hash-tag called #firstworldproblems (Friedman, 2013, p. 1). This hash-tag on Twitter made it easier for many people to voice various complaints that were common in the developing world. For instance, many people were unhappy when their leather seats were not heated (Friedman, 2013, p. 1). Some individuals were unhappy because their phone chargers were short (Friedman, 2013, p. 1). The organization presented a documentary highlighting the major challenges encountered by many Haitians. The documentary explored major challenges such as strife and poverty (Friedman, 2013, p. 2). These challenges were not similar to those encountered in the developed world. The campaign explained why most of the problems encountered in the developed world were not worth mentioning (Friedman, 2013, p. 2).

The organization also used a powerful strategy to grab the attention of many social media users. The new hash-tag attracted individuals from every country. The third wing encourages campaigners to engage others (Friedman, 2013, p. 1). WATERisLIFE also presented real-life experiences in the targeted documentary. The campaign engaged more people from different backgrounds. This approach made it easier for the individuals to acknowledge the real problems affecting the developing world. The new hash-tag attracted a large number of followers thus making the campaign successful. The campaign made it easier for the NPO to acquire more donations from different sponsors.

Recommendations

The above analysis explains how the organization managed to produce a powerful social media campaign. The NPO decided to use Twitter.com in order to inform more people about the real challenges affecting many people in the underdeveloped world. The campaign succeeded within a short period. However, the organization should have used other social media networks such as Facebook.com in order to achieve the best outcomes. These social media websites would have attracted more viewers thus making the campaign successful. The NGO should have used powerful messages to support the campaign (Friedman, 2013). The practice would have encouraged more people to support its actions and objectives. This approach can encourage more people to support the NGOs objectives. This practice can also ensure the NGO delivers clean water to more people in the globe. The campaign can also produce new social practices that can support more people in the world.

Reference List

Aaker, J., & Smith, A. (2010). The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways to Use Social Media to Drive Social Change. Web.

Friedman, L. (2013). The best social media campaigns of 2013 (so far). Web.

Modern media has changed the landscape of information transfer to the extent where the very existence of a traditional idea of a newspaper may be questioned. In his article, McChesney makes a rather disturbing statement concerning journalism losing its meaning in the 21^st century and practically dying (McChesney 173). Although there is a grain of truth in the authors reasoning, it still seems that considering media powerless simply because it has taken a new form that allows it to exist in the realm of the digital media.

It would be wrong to claim that media has not changed at all, though; a closer look at media today and modern media in particular will show that the modern media has evolved into something that stands out on its own (Page One: Inside the New York Times 00:10:27). Because of the availability of information and the speed of its transfer, media is developing now from locating a specific manner of rendering a certain issue to a race of delivering the news first and appearing at the top of Google Search engines.

Speaking of which, the link between media and SEO (search engine optimization) must be mentioned at this point. Because of the need to facilitate a fast and consistent access to a certain online newspaper, its owners are no longer concerned with the manner of delivering the message solely for the purpose of getting the audiences attention  the article must contain certain elements located and used in a proper manner (i.e., the so-called keywords). Therefore, the threat of turning the search for a unique way of rendering a certain piece of news transforming into a mechanical attempts at conjuring a text that will get the proper rating in the World Wide Web.

Another way of looking at the idea of the death of the newspaper as a media is acknowledging the fact that a lot of people, who made the existence of newspaper articles as a genre, are no longer alive. Weber and Southall (para. 1) make a huge tribute to David Carr, one of the most famous people, who brought the genre of newspaper articles to life.

However, as sad as a farewell to the person that great and talented is, the statement concerning the deterioration of an entire genre simply due to the fact that no one has been assigned with carrying the legacy on seems quite presumptuous. True, the fact that a renowned columnist now rests in peace is a rather sad news, yet this does not mean that media is going to stop evolving; quite on the contrary, the introduction of new ideas will serve as a major booster for the newspaper industry to bloom (Allan 53). Therefore, claiming that the 21^st century witnesses the death of newspaper writing as a genre will be quite a stretch.

Even though the newspaper media realm has suffered major changes in the 21^st century, it will be wrong to assume that the newspaper as a genre has come to an end and that an entirely new concept has replaced it. Instead, the alterations that the specified field is currently undergoing should be viewed as a step forward in the development of the genre and the search for new opportunities in an otherwise well trodden path. Although some of the traditional approaches have to be abandoned due to the invention of new tools and strategies, the concept of a newspaper as a means of transferring new data fast and efficiently persists in the contemporary world.

Works Cited

Allan, Stuart. Making news: Truth. Ideology and Newswork. News Culture. New York, NY: Two Penn Plaza, 2004. 4776. Print.

McChesney, Robert W. Journalism Is Dead! Long Live Journalism?. Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism Is Turning The Internet Against Democracy. New York, NY: The New Press, 2013. 172215. Print.

Page One: Inside the New York Times. Ex. Prod. Rossi, Andrew, Josh Braun, and Kate Novack. Dallas, TX: Magnolia Pictures, 2011.DVD.

Weber, Bruce and Ashley Southall. David Carr, Times Critic and Champion of Media, Dies at 58. New York Times. 2015. Web.

Introduction to the problem

• Technologies are affecting multiple areas in peoples lives;
• Parenting has changed as children access technologies more and more;
• Social media and gaming are the most challenging;
• Personality and behavior changes result from excessive technology use;
• Parental guides to prevent problematic content are needed.

The current project is a social media campaign report targeted at addressing the increased use of social media and gaming among the growing generation. The need for parental guidance and awareness is the central issue in the current campaign as many of them underestimate the problem.

Social media statistics

• Facebook and YouTube are the most popular platforms (Smith & Anderson, 2018);
• Younger audiences embrace a variety of platforms;
• The number of social media platforms is growing;
• Video and image sharing platforms share steady growth.

The slide presents some general statistics on social media use among the general population. The majority of users prefer YouTube and Facebook as their main sources of entertainment and information sharing. Instagram is third in the ranking, followed by Pinterest and Snapchat.

Child technology use statistics

The use of technologies among children aged 3-17 depends on several factors. The increased use of computers and social media presence is predetermined by the income level of their parents, race and ethnicity, as well as parents educational levels. Thus, the highest rates of home computer access and home Internet use is attributed to Asians and Pacific Islanders as well as children whose parents have a Bachelors degree or more.

Video Games Statistics

• 2 million players worldwide;
• 27% of game players are under 18 years old;
• Boys play more video games than girls;
• The US and China account for the largest portion of all revenue;
• Mobile gaming is on the rise;
• Increased video game hardware sales (reach $6.9 billion).

In regards to video games, 27% of global players are under 18 years old, which points to significant parental guidance challenges. With mobile gaming increases, there is a need to regulate the way in which children access games and how much time they spend on them. Importantly, the video game market reached $99.6 billion in revenue in 2016.

Objectives

1. Raising awareness among UK and US parents about the adverse influence of social media use on parenting, childrens development, and parent-child relationships. Taking action to introduce effective strategies to eliminate the negative influence.
2. Empowering parents to be proactive in the management of childrens dependence on social media and games as well as become positive role models in making healthy lifestyle choices.

The first objective of the current social media campaign project is taking action to introduce effective strategies to eliminate the negative influence of social media and gaming through raising awareness of parents. The second objective is giving parents resources and knowledge for them to increase their proactiveness in reducing childrens dependence on technologies.

Target audiences

• Parents with children younger than 18;
• Young parents from the millennial generation (22-36 years old);
• Parents aged 36 and older;
• Parents that do not have enough knowledge of technology and social media use.
• Policy makers in the sphere of education and social media use;
• Teachers, school managers;
• Students.

The project will capture a large target audience, including young and mature parents, those who are not familiar with the most recent technologies, policy makers, teachers, and students.

Strategy

• Offer an overview of major issues associated with children and parents social media use;
• Conduct an analysis of the most pressing issues and address their solutions;
• Disseminate the project across social media platforms for educational purposes;
• Use such platforms as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook to disseminate findings.
• Key strategy: acknowledging the challenges of addiction to social media and letting the target audience know how they can address them on their own.

The focal point of the project is to acknowledge the challenges pertinent to social media and gaming addiction among children and provide a framework for proactive actions in the elimination of the issue.

Social media zones and vehicles

• Social Community:
  • YouTube;
  • Facebook;
  • Instagram;
  • Twitter;
  • Snapchat;
• Social Publishing:
  • BlogSpot;
  • YouTube;
  • Pinterest;
  • Tumblr;
• Social Commerce:
  • Facebook;
  • Instagram;
  • TripAdvisor;
  • Booking;
  • Groupon;
• Social Entertainment:
  • YouTube;
  • UGame;
  • Come2Play;
  • Second Life.

To ensure the projects success, social media zones and strategies were identified. In order to disseminate the results of the research and provide recommendations to parents, social publishing and social community zones will be used. The most likely platforms that will be used in the project include YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, BlogSpot, and Twitter.

Children and social media

• Children under 9 spend more than 2 hours on mobile screens;
• Less opportunities for parents to monitor what children do (Howard, 2017);
• Every household has an electronic screen that children can use (Nikken & Schols, 2015);
• States fail to safeguard childrens social media use;
• Cyberbullying and oversharing and dominant issues.

Time spent by children on social media is concerning, with children aged 9 and younger spending at least two hours per day looking in their mobile devices. As technologies advance, parents find it more and more challenging to monitor everything their children do while policymakers fail to enforce effective management legislation to address the challenge.

Children and social media: Cyberbullying

• 35% 11-to 17-year olds have experienced cyberbullying in 2014 (compared to 16% in 2013). 4 in 10 children said that they saw others being cyberbullied.
• In 2018, the number of cyberbullied children reached 43%.
• 1 in 10 children will report cyberbullying;
• Victims of cyberbullying are 2-9 times more likely to commit suicide.

Cyberbullying is a significant problem associated with the excessive use of social media by children. 43% of children have experienced bullying online, and only 1% of them will report such an experience. Girls are about 50% more likely to be bullied compared to boys, which also points to the gender characteristics of the problem.

Children and social media: Snapchat & Tinder

• Concerns arise regarding childrens exposure to adult audience;
• Risks of grooming and abuse;
• 37% of children use Snapchat up to 10 hours every day;
• Explicit images of children on Snapchat increase risks of exposure.

There are areas of childrens social media use of which parents are not aware, and most of them are associated with using dating platforms and applications. 46% children aged 15 and younger use Tinder (online dating app) every day, which is a concerning fact that requires careful monitoring. Importantly, the use of such platforms results in increased crime rates associated with harassment, kidnapping, and rape of underaged children.

Children and social media: influencers

• Influencers market products/services to their target audiences;
• Young children are also becoming influencers (Pollack, 2019);
• Children review games, toys, and stream themselves playing video games;
• Brands start reaching children to advertise games and toys to other kids (Pollack, 2019).

The trend of social media influencers continues to grow (Pollack, 2019). Importantly, younger children, aged below 10 are now becoming influencers with the help of their parents.

Viewing the content made by such children triggers desires of video games, toys, and technologies advertised on social media. This points to the increased need to increase the management of childrens Internet use.

Parents and social media

• Increased trend of oversharing information about children (Dawson, n.d.);
• Continuous posting of childrens photographs on social media;
• 74% think that parents overshare;
• 35% of parents think that posting photos of children in their underwear is acceptable;
• Fame craving and boasting blur the lines between acceptable and inacceptable.

This slide contains some important information about how parents use social media at the detriment of their children.

Children are sometimes used as subjects of fame craving and boasting as well as oversharing. Children become adept to posing for their parents, 56% of post embarrassing information about their children and 51% of whom share identity and location data.

Parents and social media: Sharenting

Oversharing on social media by parents is referred to as sharenting (University of Michigan Health System, 2015). While social media is used to share advice or ask for it, parents fail to protect their childrens privacy and share too much.

When children are older, they may see what parents shared online and become embarrassed. Young children do not have much control over what their parents share online.

Sharenting is a trend that has been receiving increased attention from the public as parents share more and more photos of their children online.

The risks of this trend are linked to children potentially being embarrassed of their online presence when they get older.

Action plan

1. Develop a short, informative parental guide to disseminate across media;
2. Use the most popular platforms (YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram) to communicate main findings and solutions;
3. Develop a short survey to question parents on whether the parental guide was effective;
4. Analyze survey findings and address gaps identified by parents;
5. Provide an improved and enhanced guide based on analysis findings.

The overview of relevant information on social media and gaming use resulted in the formulation of an action plan.

With the use of social media platforms, a guide on how to address childrens technology addiction will be developed.

After the dissemination of the guide, a sample of parents will be surveyed on the plans effectiveness to introduce improvements based on their experiences.

Children and gaming: Parental guide

• Risks:
  • Inappropriate content: sexual or violent images;
  • Multi-player gaming: abuse and harassment from other players;
  • Inappropriate language and unwanted contacts;
  • Accidental running up of bills for in-game purchases.
• Recommendations:
  • Checking games ratings for age appropriateness;
  • Advising not to share personal information on gaming profiles;
  • Using family safety settings;
  • Installing up-to-date anti-virus software;
  • Educating children on how to block other users for harassment.
  • Need for psychoeducational parental guides to prevent problematic video gaming in children (Krossbakken et al., 2018);
  • Guides should be accessible to a significant number of parents;
  • Children should be allowed to play games that are appropriate for their age;
  • The wide range of available games offers a large choice for parents;
  • Possible to introduce children to old games that their parents used to play (Gibson, 2017);
  • Finding balance between screen time and other activities is essential;
  • Agreeing on a time limit for gameplay will prevent potential conflicts.

In the slide, risks of childrens excessive gaming are presented. They range between in-game purchases to images of sexual or violent character.

Addressing the problem of inappropriate language is also imperative since children learn it quickly.

The recommendations are based on developing a set of positive behaviors that parents can implement in order to reduce the adverse impact of gaming.

According to the study by Krossbakken et al. (2018), a parental guide for addressing problematic video game behaviors among children must address several important issues.

These issues range from sleep problems to screen time, and their management implies catering to the needs of each child separately.

The key plan behind the guide is linked to being accessible to a large target audience, and social media should be a tool to fulfill this aim.

The list of recommendations above is focused on offering parents some helpful strategies to overcome childrens continuous social media use. With the help of traditional games that are not as explicit and violent compared to current ones. In addition, parents are advised to establish an environment with a balance between screen time and other activities.

Examples of posts online

• PARENTS DO NOT REALIZE: their children may play video games and access social media with explicit information.
• 43% of children have been cyberbullied.
• Sharenting is harmful to childrens privacy.

Struggling With Childrens Social Media Addiction? Too Much Time Spent Gaming?

• Be proactive: study results show that underage children share private images online, increasing risks of abuse and bullying.
• Educate yourself (Link to Parental Guide).
• Be a positive role model: do not overshare, spend more time playing, teaching, and communicating.
• Contribute to the community: report instances of inappropriate treatment of minors, explicit imagery, and bullying.

The examples of social media posts om the slide will take form leaflets containing the most important information on the program. The benefit of these designs is associated with the fact that it is easy to disseminate as well as print and hand out.

Evalution of effectiveness

The project has reached the expected levels in effectiveness in the categories of increased awareness of general problems, improved management of gaming and social media use, improved communication, parents shared knowledge, and knowledge of cyberbullying. It is expected that the sharenting trend will require further improvement.

References

Ante-Contreras, D. (2016). Distracted parenting: How social media affects parent-child attachment. Web.

Dawson, M. (n.d.). Parenting in a Fakebook world: How social media is affecting your parenting. Web.

Howard, J. (2017). Kids under 9 spend more than 2 hours a day on screens, report shows. Web.

Krossbakken, E., Torsheim, T., Mentzoni, R. A., King, D. L., Bjorvatn, B., Lorvik, I. M., & Pallesen, S. (2018). The effectiveness of a parental guide for prevention of problematic video gaming in children: A public health randomized controlled intervention study. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 7(1), 52-61.

Nikken, P., & Schols, M. (2015). How and why parents guide the media use of young children. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24(11), 3-14.

Smith, A., & Anderson, M. (2018). Social media use in 2018. Web.

University of Michigan Health System. (2015). Sharenting trends: Do parents share too much about kids on social media? Web.

Methods selected for the study

The research is going to apply a qualitative technique to obtain data on the effects of social media. College students will be included as the study population. Moreover, the research design will concentrate on Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) among the students selected to participate in the study. The focus group discussions will be undertaken to obtain in-depth information on the phenomenon under study.

Additionally, the researcher will develop an interview guide that will assist in determining the issues that will be discussed. All the students will be expected to give their perspective on the research topic. The study will employ inductive reasoning to generate specific answers about the effect of social media. Furthermore, the incorporation of inductive arguments will provide information on the patterns of social media use among the participants.

Construction of the research and operationalization of the concepts

The focus group discussions will be undertaken in a secluded room after school hours. The researcher will send e-mails to the participants regarding the time that the discussions will commence. Additionally, they will be informed that the discussions will last for two hours to enable them prepare adequately. During the FGDs session, all the information discussed will be copied word-for-word, and tape-recorded.

The moderator will ensure that all the questions on the interview guide are discussed. After the FGDs, the researcher will transcribe the data by typing the recordings in a Microsoft Word document. In an effort to ensure that all the information is captured, data on the hard copies will be compared to the tape-recorded information. The concepts will be operationalized by the development of themes. The themes will represent the variables to be investigated, and they will include; antisocial behavior, psychological well-being, academic performance, internet addiction, self-esteem, and bullying.

Sampling, data analysis, and data presentation

A random sampling technique will be applied to identify the students to participate in the FGDs. Additionally, the researcher will develop a sampling frame that will include all the students in the class, and use a computerized random calculator to select 12 students who will participate in the FGDs. This sampling technique will eliminate any potential bias, as all the students will have equal chances of being selected. After the data is cleaned and arranged into themes, it will be analyzed using NVivo software. The data will be presented in the form of proportions, and direct quotes will be incorporated in the final report.

Effect of the qualitative research design on the research questions and results

The qualitative design will be effective in answering the research questions, as it will ensure that comprehensive information is gathered from the participants. Furthermore, the FGDs will enable the participants to debate on contentious issues related to the topic, and hence promote saturation of information. The qualitative design is fit for the research questions, as it will allow the researcher to obtain as much information as possible about the effect of social media on the students. It will also guarantee the development of research hypotheses that can be tested through quantitative research studies.

Social media has become a pervasive communication tool in modern society. However, the reliance on these digital tools has compromised interaction competence in various ways. Professor Bhamare observes that young people use slang language to network with peers and family, which has had negative implications on proper grammar and syntax. Therefore, we must learn such rules as politeness, speaker roles, taking turns, greetings, and strategies to achieve socialization competence and participate in conversations.

The rules are different on various digital platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. Facebook and Twitter guidelines encourage polite language, and users who do not conform to these regulations face a ban. The instructions are slightly different in Snapchat because it does not involve extensive use of text for communication. However, each tool is guided by stringent directions on how the users should share information and connect with each other.

The media environment plays a critical role in shaping culture. Broadcasters serve as the link between history, present, and the future. Therefore, younger generations learn about their history from the media, and such information shapes their culture. However, users must remain wary of the amount of data they consume and utilize as part of the values. Professor Bhamare, in his article, Effects of Social Media on Communication Skills, asserts that at this juncture, the negative impact of these platforms outweighs the benefits. Some material in the media is misleading and detrimental to the existence of certain heritages.

I cannot entirely agree with his claim because social media has played a significant role in facilitating interactions, especially during the covid-19 period. Tools like Facebook and Instagram also include business features that enable people to sell their products online effectively, geographical distance notwithstanding. However, there is a need for more regulation to enhance communicative competence when using social media.