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Social media influencer marketing has grown substantially in the last decade and is a major advertising channel for many brands. Social media influencers weave sponsored posts with organic content into their feeds, which raises concerns among regulators and consumer advocates that users may not be able to clearly distinguish between sponsored and organic influencer content. Thus, regulators often mandate the explicit disclosure of sponsored content. However, there is little empirical evidence based on field data about the effects of explicit sponsorship disclosure. Therefore, we empirically investigate the effects of explicitly disclosing sponsorship in influencers' content on users' engagement using a large-scale field dataset collected from Facebook and Instagram. Our empirical results suggest that explicit sponsorship disclosure increases user awareness of the advertising nature and earns users' favorability by enhancing transparency about the sponsored content. We further designed two online experiments to corroborate our empirical results and directly test the underlying mechanisms. Our findings have novel and important implications for marketers, influencers, social media platforms, and regulators in the influencer marketing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The academic literature reports mixed evidence on how social media platform and message impact consumer engagement. We investigated the effects of three platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) and three message themes (sales, informational, and relationship building) on six consumer engagement actions (comment, like, search, share, talk about, and purchase) in a lab experiment. College students responded to social media posts featuring their National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I women's basketball team. Results for platform show that participants were more likely to comment on Facebook and Twitter (vs. Instagram) and more likely to purchase on Twitter (vs. Instagram). Results for message theme show that participants were more likely to comment, like, and share informational and relationship building posts and more likely to purchase after sales posts. Results for message theme vary by gender for search and talk about (with others). These results can help sport marketers develop social media content that drives specific engagement actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the effect of Facebook and Instagram access on political beliefs, attitudes, and behavior by randomizing a subset of 19,857 Facebook users and 15,585 Instagram users to deactivate their accounts for 6 wk before the 2020 U.S. election. We report four key findings. First, both Facebook and Instagram deactivation reduced an index of political participation (driven mainly by reduced participation online). Second, Facebook deactivation had no significant effect on an index of knowledge, but secondary analyses suggest that it reduced knowledge of general news while possibly also decreasing belief in misinformation circulating online. Third, Facebook deactivation may have reduced self-reported net votes for Trump, though this effect does not meet our preregistered significance threshold. Finally, the effects of both Facebook and Instagram deactivation on affective and issue polarization, perceived legitimacy of the election, candidate favorability, and voter turnout were all precisely estimated and close to zero.

BACKGROUND: Amyloidosis, a rare multisystem condition, often requires complex, multidisciplinary care. Its low prevalence underscores the importance of efforts to ensure the availability of high-quality patient education materials for better outcomes. ChatGPT (OpenAI) is a large language model powered by artificial intelligence that offers a potential avenue for disseminating accurate, reliable, and accessible educational resources for both patients and providers. Its user-friendly interface, engaging conversational responses, and the capability for users to ask follow-up questions make it a promising future tool in delivering accurate and tailored information to patients. OBJECTIVE: We performed a multidisciplinary assessment of the accuracy, reproducibility, and readability of ChatGPT in answering questions related to amyloidosis. METHODS: In total, 98 amyloidosis questions related to cardiology, gastroenterology, and neurology were curated from medical societies, institutions, and amyloidosis Facebook support groups and inputted into ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4. Cardiology- and gastroenterology-related responses were independently graded by a board-certified cardiologist and gastroenterologist, respectively, who specialize in amyloidosis. These 2 reviewers (RG and DCK) also graded general questions for which disagreements were resolved with discussion. Neurology-related responses were graded by a board-certified neurologist (AAH) who specializes in amyloidosis. Reviewers used the following grading scale: (1) comprehensive, (2) correct but inadequate, (3) some correct and some incorrect, and (4) completely incorrect. Questions were stratified by categories for further analysis. Reproducibility was assessed by inputting each question twice into each model. The readability of ChatGPT-4 responses was also evaluated using the Textstat library in Python (Python Software Foundation) and the Textstat readability package in R software (R Foundation for Statistical Computing). RESULTS: ChatGPT-4 (n=98) provided 93 (95%) responses with accurate information, and 82 (84%) were comprehensive. ChatGPT-3.5 (n=83) provided 74 (89%) responses with accurate information, and 66 (79%) were comprehensive. When examined by question category, ChatGTP-4 and ChatGPT-3.5 provided 53 (95%) and 48 (86%) comprehensive responses, respectively, to general questions (n=56). When examined by subject, ChatGPT-4 and ChatGPT-3.5 performed best in response to cardiology questions (n=12) with both models producing 10 (83%) comprehensive responses. For gastroenterology (n=15), ChatGPT-4 received comprehensive grades for 9 (60%) responses, and ChatGPT-3.5 provided 8 (53%) responses. Overall, 96 of 98 (98%) responses for ChatGPT-4 and 73 of 83 (88%) for ChatGPT-3.5 were reproducible. The readability of ChatGPT-4s responses ranged from 10th to beyond graduate US grade levels with an average of 15.5 (SD 1.9). CONCLUSIONS: Large language models are a promising tool for accurate and reliable health information for patients living with amyloidosis. However, ChatGPTs responses exceeded the American Medical Associations recommended fifth- to sixth-grade reading level. Future studies focusing on improving response accuracy and readability are warranted. Prior to widespread implementation, the technologys limitations and ethical implications must be further explored to ensure patient safety and equitable implementation.

The paper will investigate the complexities involved in moderating casteist content on major social media platforms. Focusing on the challenges of categorizing hate speech targeting India's marginalized caste-oppressed minorities, the research aims to delve into the mechanisms utilized by platforms for content moderation. It will critically analyze existing categorization systems, exploring the efficacy and limitations in identifying and addressing casteist comments. By leveraging information sciences concepts like grounded coding and taxonomies, the study will elucidate the complexities of classifying caste-related hate speech within these systems. Moreover, it will highlight the implications of inadequate categorization on content visibility and community impact.

Using a German online panel, we investigate respondents’ propensity to consent to the linkage of publicly available Facebook data to their survey data and to enable linkage. We analyse the effects of three experimental variations on consent and linkage among Facebook users: (1) the consent question wording, (2) the position of the Facebook consent question in a series of consent questions, and (3) the incentive offered. To describe potential selection bias, we consider respondents’ attitudes and sociodemographic characteristics. We found effects of consent question placement on consent and linkage and effects of higher incentives on linkage, but we found no effects of question wording. Our analysis also showed that linkage was dependent on privacy and data security concerns, trust in the data-collecting actor, respondents’ attitudes toward surveys, and several sociodemographic characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aim: Continuing Medical Education (CME) is crucial for physicians to stay current in the rapidly advancing field of medicine. A WhatsApp (WA) based community of physicians was initiated in 2016 'WhatsApp CME India Group' to facilitate learning, knowledge sharing, and discussion among physicians. Due to participant size constraints of the technology, it evolved into seven distinct WA groups, overseen by a central administrator. A survey undertaken in the group's 7th year aimed to evaluate its effectiveness in achieving its goals, measure participant engagement, and uncover the primary factors driving its usage. Methods: The survey questionnaire was distributed to 3500 members across the 07 WhatsApp CME groups for voluntary participation. Data collected was analysed using SPSS version 24.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and reported using descriptive statistics. Results: Among the 581 survey respondents, the study found 43% of physicians use the WhatsApp academic groups for CME content, with 32% accessing their group over four times daily. The primary motivation for 77% was to discuss challenging cases and to gain knowledge updates from fellow physician (70%). Medical websites (57%), referral books (49%), and Google (43%) were other significant resources. Every participant (100%) found the WhatsApp CME India group the most beneficial resource for daily medical science updates. A significant portion (57%) of the respondents found the group valuable for real-time information exchange. Over 78% stated it kept them current with knowledge and guidelines. Notably, 94% viewed WhatsApp CME as complementary to physical conferences, not a replacement. The post-conference/webinar summaries were appreciated by 81% participants. Case discussions (31%) and update posts from fellow physicians sharing their insights and learnings (24%) were noted as activities of great academic interest. Conclusion: This study underscores the potential of digital platforms like WhatsApp in supplementing CME in India and potentially other comparable settings. The blend of digital and traditional resources suggests a balanced learning approach. While real-time engagement is a strength, challenges like information overload and privacy concerns require careful management. Striking a balance is crucial for ensuring content quality, structured discussions and privacy. As the digital age advances, professionals must critically assess shared information on these platforms to guarantee evidence-based and reliable knowledge dissemination. Trial registration: ARK 001. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: There is growing concern over the lack of regulation of alcohol advertisements on social media platforms frequented by youths. This study aims to build upon existing literature by assessing the frequency with which young Australians (17–25) are shown advertisements promoting alcohol use and the themes utilised in these advertisements. Methods: A total of 125 Australian youths (mean age 18.74 years; 74.40% female) were recruited in exchange for course credit to participate in an online study. Participants scrolled through Facebook or Instagram for a period of 30 min and screenshotted any alcohol advertisements encountered. Participants then identified the advertisement qualities (or 'themes') present in the advertisements, based on pre‐identified categories. Demographic, social media usage and historical personal, peer or familial substance use behaviour data was also collected. Results: Seventy‐one university students were exposed to 796 alcohol advertisements across both platforms, and they encountered an advertisement every 2 min and 43 s on average. Most advertisements included call to action features on both Facebook (78.80%) and Instagram (71.17%). Advertisements relating to ease of access (promoting subscription/home delivery; 41.72% and 42.56%) and sales incentives (special offers, promotions, samples or bonuses with purchase; 43.70% and 46.84%) were most common across both platforms. Discussion and Conclusions: Alcohol advertisements are highly prevalent online, particularly among Australian youth social media users. Future research should endeavour to identify whether temporal use of alcohol is a predictor of subsequent exposure to alcohol advertising on social media, and whether this exposure is likely to increase successive alcohol use behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of calls for greater platform transparency, this exploratory article investigates Meta's 'Why Am I Seeing This Ad' (WAIST) feature, which is positioned as a consumer-level explanation of Meta's advertising model. Drawing on our own walkthroughs of Facebook and Instagram and data from the Australian Ad Observatory, we find the feature falls short in two ways. First, the explanations do not always align with how the system and its audience-building tools are sold to and used by advertisers. Second, the feature is focused narrowly on single ads and individual users, doing nothing to generate understanding of the patterns and sequences of targeted advertising in relation to other users or over time. We propose both platform practices and independent research strategies that could help to fill this gap between individual explanations, population-level patterns of targeted online advertising and the societal issues associated with it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how the Rohingya diaspora employs social media platforms to reclaim their identity narratives through visibility and resistance in the context of genocide and subsequent prolonged displacement. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 15 displaced Rohingya members and activists in Brisbane, Australia, this article demonstrates how transnational digital engagements foreground the construction of the Rohingya diaspora, and subsequently how the transnational identities are negotiated and mediated online. The findings show that the social media platforms facilitated the Rohingya diaspora development and identity construction through building an 'imagined community' of resistance, transnational advocacy networks and diasporic media production. At the same time, this article explores how online activism evolved and marginal voices emerged in cyberspace longing for home(land), justice and citizenship rights. This study brings unique insights to understand voices from the margins and shows how new media allow ethnic minorities and marginalised groups to construct diasporic identity through online mediation in transnational spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People can present a systematic bias in sharing fake news on social media based on their political orientation: they tend to share fake news that support their political view more than they share fake news with different political leanings, even though both types of news are equally fake. Here, we explain this systematic bias (termed polarized sharing) by considering social identification theory aspects together with theories on gender differences in social conformity and response to threats. Findings based on a study of 250 Facebook users in the US revealed that partisan identification is a double edge-sword. It increased polarized sharing of fake news directly, but decreased it indirectly, by increasing social network heterophily, which in turn, demotivated polarized sharing of fake news. Importantly, these processes differed by gender. Men were more influenced directly by partisan identification, and women, were more influenced indirectly, through limited social network heterophily. Implications for research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools and school districts use social media for a variety of reasons, but alongside the benefits of schools' social media use come potential risks to students' privacy. Using a novel dataset of around 18 million Facebook posts by schools and districts in the United States, we explore the extent to which personally identifiable information of students may be revealed. We find that around 4.9 million posts depict one or more students' faces, and approximately 726,000 posts also identify the full name of one or more students. We also examine which Facebook page characteristics and structural factors might be associated with posts that depict or identify students. We find that districts with a higher student poverty rate and districts that share a greater number of posts were more likely to depict students. We discuss these findings and recommendations for educational leaders and researchers through the lens of data ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the use of social media, particularly Facebook, for public engagement purposes by nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in the United Arab Emirates. It draws on an interpretation of engagement as a multidimensional process with cognitive and affective characteristics where power relations between an organization and its public should be addressed. This paper combines content analysis with social semiotics to examine the multimodal production and enactment of engagement as a relational process at the level of the verbal, visual, and paratext modes. The study reveals that the use of Facebook by NPOs is marked by a strong control over discourse and low affective involvement, where fundraising becomes the primary function of the platforms. This demonstrates that the philanthropic identity and mission of most NPOs obscure the relationship management objective of these organizations and undermine their ability to effectively engage stakeholders on social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cahiers d'Études Africaines is the property of Editions EHESS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Social media use is an integral part of people's daily routine nowadays. Obviously, individuals with visual impairment are not excluded and use social media as well, even though they still face accessibility issues. The purpose of this review was to provide an overview of the existing literature on social media used by individuals with visual impairment and of the ways social media have been conceptualized throughout it. A literature search took place in the databases EBSCOhost, ERIC, Scopus and ResearchGate as well as the search engine Google Scholar. A total of 13 studies, published from 2011 to 2022 met our criteria and were included in this scoping review. According to our results, Facebook is the most used social media website by individuals with visual impairment as it was referenced in almost every single one of the studies reviewed and was recognized as the most used by individuals with visual impairment in the majority of them. Twitter is the second most popular social media website among individuals with visual impairment, followed by YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Skype. Consequently, the statement that Facebook is the most popular social media website based on the number of its users is also confirmed with regard to users with visual impairment. However, the fact that an instant messaging service, such as WhatsApp, is recognized among researchers as a social medium when various social media definitions in the existing literature exclude this type of services showcases the confusion prevailing among researchers in this field. Thus, the literature would greatly benefit if researchers proposed a more thorough and robust definition for the widely, often inaccurately, used term social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the polarization of news content shared on Facebook compared with email using data from the New York Times' Most Emailed and Most Shared lists over 2.5 years. Employing latent Dirichlet allocation and large language models (LLMs), we find that highly polarized articles are more likely to be shared on Facebook (versus email), even after accounting for factors like topics, emotion, and article age. Additionally, distinct topic preferences emerge, with social issues dominating Facebook shares and lifestyle topics prevalent in emails. Contrary to expectations, political polarization of articles shared on Facebook did not escalate post-2020 election. We introduce a novel approach to measuring polarization of text content that leverages generative artificial intelligence models, like ChatGPT, and it is both scalable and cost effective. This research contributes to the evolving intersection of LLMs, social media, and polarization studies, shedding light on descriptive patterns of content dissemination across different digital channels. This paper was accepted by Duncan Simester, marketing. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.04134. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the complex emotions and level of user engagement associated with mentions of Russia by Lithuanian socio-political influencers on publicly available Facebook posts between 2015 and 2020. Using the CrowdTangle API and a mixed methods approach to data, we examined four potentially sensitive periods – around elections, a political corruption scandal, and during the first COVID-19-related national lockdowns, annotated for emotion and topic content and analyzed with quantitative modeling of emotion data coupled with qualitative analysis of posts in order to contextualize results. Curiously, we found no heightened negativity expressed toward Russia around election time. We identified, however, considerable anger and contempt beneath the overall veneer of happiness in our sampled posts, with posts mentioning Russia generally containing more negative emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent have social media discussions of health racialized during the COVID-19 pandemic? How has the spread of racialized social media health content influenced attitudes about race and COVID-19? To answer these questions, we collected data on public US Facebook posts from 2019–2020 related to health and health care (n ≃ 9,659,000) and document a rise in race-related and racist language in online discussions directly-related to health during the pandemic. We show a substantive increase in Facebook posts connecting health to race and racism beginning around the announcement of the first declared case of COVID-19 in March 2020. Text analyses reveal that posts with explicitly racist language surrounding blame for COVID-19, discussions of unemployment rates and benefits, as well as immigration were shared more on average than the typical post about health generally. We connect the spread of this language on Facebook to survey responses (n ≃ 231,000) from Nationscape. We show that weekly increases in racist and race-related health language on Facebook are related to declines in concern for COVID-19 and heightened anti-Asian attitudes, especially for racially resentful white Facebook users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining the interaction between agents in a well-mixed population has been a prevalent area of research. Previous studies have emphasized the evolution of the impact of network architecture and payoff differences on agents' behavior in various games. There has been a recent surge in interest in incorporating popularity among researchers in this field. In this study, we employ a game theoretic approach to gain insight into the strategic behavior and decision-making processes of individuals in a network and how these decisions impact the diffusion of information when an individual's popularity is considered. The Fermi function is used to model the probability of information diffusion and the spread of influence within the network. We introduce a simulation module that models the dynamic process of evolutionary game theory in both synthetic and real-world networks, leveraging the Fermi update rule as a critical component. Furthermore, the implementation is modified to analyze the influence of each individual by incorporating metrics that account for individual popularity and its effect on the overall network dynamics. This modification allows for a more granular understanding of how individual agents contribute to the propagation of information and the development of cooperative behaviors. The simulation results provide valuable insight into the evolution of cooperative behavior in complex networks and hold potential for further exploration into various aspects of evolutionary game theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilized Facebook and Instagram as communication channels for disseminating evidence-based food and nutrition information to low-income adults. From February 2021 to October 2022, 442 identical posts were shared across both platforms for audience reach and engagement. Posts were categorized in two ways: hedonic and three levels of utilitarian (informative, convenience, utility), based on widely applied social media uses and effects theory (Uses and Gratifications Perspective); and food/nutrition topics (dietary guidance, mealtime behaviors, recipes, food resource management, health behaviors, and community building). From predominantly image-based posts (82.6%), reach and engagement for Instagram (136,621 versus 6096, respectively) outperformed Facebook (83,275 versus 1276, respectively). Analysis of covariance of rank-order reach and engagement metrics (likes, replies, shares) showed Facebook engagement was consistent across hedonic and utilitarian categories while Instagram showed highest reach and engagement for utilitarian posts, especially those emphasizing food affordability. Facebook and Instagram differed in which food/nutrition topics achieved maximal reach and engagement. Fifteen posts were randomly selected for qualitative analysis to identify features reflecting engagement levels. Low-engagement posts featured low-color-contrast or less-appealing images, especially on Instagram. This study offers insights for practitioners and researchers aiming to use social media to promote healthy food and nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expanding use of community science platforms has led to an exponential increase in biodiversity data in global repositories. Yet, understanding of species distributions remains patchy. Biodiversity data from social media can potentially reduce the global biodiversity knowledge gap. However, practical guidelines and standardized methods for harvesting such data are nonexistent. Following data privacy and protection safeguards, we devised a standardized method for extracting species distribution records from Facebook groups that allow access to their data. It involves 3 steps: group selection, data extraction, and georeferencing the record location. We present how to structure keywords, search for species photographs, and georeference localities for such records. We further highlight some challenges users might face when extracting species distribution data from Facebook and suggest solutions. Following our proposed framework, we present a case study on Bangladesh's biodiversity—a tropical megadiverse South Asian country. We scraped nearly 45,000 unique georeferenced records across 967 species and found a median of 27 records per species. About 12% of the distribution data were for threatened species, representing 27% of all species. We also obtained data for 56 DataDeficient species for Bangladesh. If carefully harvested, social media data can significantly reduce global biodiversity knowledge gaps. Consequently, developing an automated tool to extract and interpret social media biodiversity data is a research priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much scholarship across the humanities and social sciences seek to shed light on the intersection of far-right politics and social media platforms. Yet, scholars tend to focus on racist actors and the ideological underpinnings of platform policies while the contingencies that shape the experiences of content reviewers who make decisions about racist content remain underexamined. This article fills this gap by exploring such contingencies from a linguistic anthropological perspective. Drawing on Facebook moderators' stories, I illustrate the factors adjacent to, and beyond, ideology that animate the adjudication of racist hate speech. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial computing – that is, a form of human–computer interaction that retains or manipulates referents of real object and spaces – is an increasingly intense focus for Meta. In 2018, Meta launched 'Reality Labs' (RL), a research and development division to oversee the company's production of spatial computing technologies. Drawing on a media historiographical approach from platform studies, this article charts the development of the company's spatial computing ambitions through RL from 2018 to 2022. In so doing, we find that Meta attempts to consolidate complementors through acquisitions, capture policymakers and academics, convene third-party businesses and developers, and expand its ecosystem through enhancing platform programmability. We argue that RL's efforts to grow the platform from within, and through drawing in third-parties, signals an ambition to grow their spatial computing offerings such that they take on a central, infrastructural role in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative campaigning has long concerned scholars because of the potential effects on the electorate and on democracy. Most scholarship has focused on single-election studies in the United States, whereas less is known about how campaigns go on the attack in the UK, and few compare two elections. Drawing from a dataset of Facebook posts by parties and leaders in Great Britain during the five weeks of campaigning in the 2017 and 2019 General Elections (N = 3560), we use supervised machine learning to categorise posts as negative campaigning and distinguish between attacks focused on issues and attacks on candidates' images. Our findings show that the 2019 election was more negative than in 2017, and that larger parties were more inclined to adopt attacks as a campaign strategy. Moreover, we found that party accounts posted more attack messages than leader accounts and were more focused on attacking based on issues, rather than personal character or image. Finally, we found that attack messages elicit stronger engagement from audiences, with attack messages receiving more attention, particularly attacks on image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jozi Bee Hotel Project recruited Johannesburg residents to help gather data on solitary bee abundance. They were motivated and guided by a strategic communications campaign. This study explores social media's impact on the citizen scientists' project involvement, particularly their interaction with visual elements of the communications campaign. Analysis of engagement metrics reveals that social media played a crucial role in sustaining volunteer participation. This demonstrates that a well-executed, ongoing social media campaign has the power to maintain participant engagement throughout the duration of a research project. It suggests that a consistent, long-term social media strategy can drive citizen science participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary reports on gambling advertisements served to Australians on Facebook in 2021-2022 that we discovered through a research project that uses novel data donation infrastructure to improve the observability of platform-based advertising. Preliminary findings show that advertisements for online casinos appear on social media and are served to people tagged as located in Australia despite laws that prohibit both the operation and advertising of these gambling services in Australia, and in apparent contravention of company policies that require gambling advertisers to follow applicable law. We outline the harms of normalizing gambling on digital media and argue that the limited accountability of digital platforms for online advertising can contribute to these harms. We suggest ways in which the law and its enforcement and platform responsibility can be reformed to prevent harmful gambling advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, Facebook's news feed algorithm began weighting emoji reactions (e.g., love and angry) as five times more valuable than the like button. Such a change is theoretically intriguing because existing research largely suggests that women tend to use emojis more than men on social media. Within the context of political campaigns, prior work has revealed a host of other "gender gaps," from documenting men's and women's differing tolerance for negative campaigns, to examining variations in online political participation and—more broadly—charting gendered imbalances in party demographic support. To date, however, no study has looked to investigate this potential gender emoji gap within the online political environment. This paper explores just such a gap, combining data across three US election cycles (2016–2020), over thirty million individual observations, and thousands of (federal and state) candidates. The data shows that women exhibited a greater preference for emoji reactions than men in response to posts from the 2016 presidential election candidates. Party, and candidate negativity, also appeared to moderate this effect. Likely due to this (moderated) gender gap, Democratic candidates continued to see a much higher proportion of emoji reactions to their posts, than Republicans in 2018, and 2020. In turn, the results offer clear evidence of a persistent emoji gender gap in US political campaigns on Facebook. Such findings strengthen our theoretical understanding of political communication and behavior online, and prompt important questions going forward for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As suicide rates increase worldwide, the mental health industry has reached an impasse in attempts to assess patients, predict risk, and prevent suicide. Traditional assessment tools are no more accurate than chance, prompting the need to explore new avenues in artificial intelligence (AI). Early studies into these tools show potential with higher accuracy rates than previous methods alone. Medical researchers, computer scientists, and social media companies are exploring these avenues. While Facebook leads the pack, its efforts stem from scrutiny following suicides and suicide attempts broadcasted on Facebook Live. The company continues to face scrutiny for ethical, privacy, and safety concerns associated with the quick rollout of proprietary AI technology that seems more focused on the optics of the company than the protection of its billions of users. This paper explores some of these issues, including a lack of transparency, questionable data practices, escalation to law enforcement, little to no regulation, potential for bias, increased viewership of troubling content, and worsening thoughts of suicide among vulnerable Facebook users. Despite AI tools showing promise in improving the accuracy of suicide risk predictions over traditional methods, without regulation, external review, and increased protection of users and data, these tools have the potential to cause more harm than good in the hands of powerful companies like Facebook. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased use of social media and classified advertisement websites has made wildlife trade more accessible, and the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, during which people were advised or mandated to stay at home, may have exacerbated this trend. The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of wildlife trade in a data-deficient region, where social media platforms are popular ways of exchanging different goods and products. Focussing on Algeria, for one year (January to December 2020), we tracked the parrot trade in 12 Facebook groups specialising in the pet bird trade. There were 1143 advertisements offering a minimum of 7000 specimens across 29 parrot species. Six of these species were listed on CITES Appendix I, precluding all commercial international trade, while another 19 were listed on CITES Appendix II, regulating all international trade. Our findings indicate that notably, close to 1460 specimens of the African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus and P. timneh) have been traded during this period, underscoring the critical need for regulatory attention and conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about which features of Facebook's interface appeal to users of far-right extremist groups, how such features may influence a user's interpretation of far-right extremist themes and narratives, and how this is being experienced across various nations. This paper looks at why certain 'Reactions' appealed to users in Australian and Canadian far-right groups on Facebook, and how these 'Reactions' may have characterized user decisions during their interaction with far-right extremist themes and narratives. A mixed methods approach has been used to conduct a cross-national comparative analysis of three years of 'Reaction' use across 59 Australian and Canadian far-right extremist groups on Facebook (2016–2019). The level of user engagement with administrator posts was assessed using 'Reactions' and identified themes and narratives that generated the most user engagement specific to six 'Reactions' ('Love', 'Haha', 'Wow', 'Sad', 'Angry' and 'Thankful'). This was paired with an in-depth qualitative analysis of the themes and narratives that attracted the most user engagement specific to two popular 'Reactions' used over time ('Angry' and 'Love'). Results highlight 'Angry' and 'Love' as the two most popular 'Reactions' assigned to in-group-out-group themes and narratives, with ' algorithms having propelled their partnership in these groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores the elements that have historically contributed to a climate in which policy makers feel compelled to regulate media in the United States. It then examines which of these elements are currently in place as lawmakers consider social media and AI regulation. We argue, based on observations of children's media policy over the past 30 years, that legislative action in the US is almost inevitable. The remainder of the essay lays out the legislative "corrections" that have been proposed and what they suggest about concerns about children's social media use. We conclude with the challenging road ahead to creating meaningful policy, holding media companies accountable for implementation, and assessing whether and how new regulations make a difference for young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This content analysis examined posts and user comments on four of the most followed Egyptian newspaper Facebook pages: Al-Masry Al-Youm, Al-Youm Al-Saba', Al-Shorouk and Al-Ahram. The purpose of the analysis was to assess the extent to which Egyptians are able to navigate ongoing government authoritarianism to self-express online. Contrary to expectations, the results indicate that Facebook page size appears to be a much more important factor in dictating the conditions of Egyptian news spheres than editorial policies and ownership structures. Overall, this suggests that current authoritarian conditions in Egypt have rendered editorial lines relatively unimportant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facebook groups and pages exist that expose the locations of roadside drug testing, potentially undermining police enforcement and enabling punishment avoidance. This study aimed to understand how and why these sites are used, with a focus on Queensland motorists who reported using illicit drugs and/or medical cannabis and used Facebook police location communities. Interviews with 30 participants were conducted. A thematic analysis revealed that participants used police location communities to avoid receiving a charge for driving under the influence of drugs. Upon observation of a relevant roadside drug-testing location on police location communities, participants reported (a) delaying their driving and/or (b) circumventing the operation. Avoidance of roadside drug-testing locations appeared driven by the perception that laws for driving under the influence of drugs were unfair and that a charge for driving under the influence of drugs would negatively impact their life. The findings provide important knowledge regarding police location communities and have implications for how roadside drug testing could be most effectively operated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine Jordanian males’ comments on females’ physical appearance on Facebook to identify the impoliteness strategies that Jordanian males utilize in online communication. The socio-cultural factors affecting the selection of impoliteness behavior in males’ comments are also investigated. As for the corpus of the study, a total of 470 comments and replies were chosen from 32 females’ picture posts posted on two different Jordanian groups on Facebook. This study draws on Culpeper’s (1996) impoliteness framework. All Culpeper’s (1996) impoliteness strategies except withholding impoliteness (i.e., bald-on-record, sarcasm/mock, negative, positive) were employed. It was also found that making a clear boundary between different impoliteness strategies is not easy; more than one impoliteness strategy can be realized by the same expression. Furthermore, males were found to use other additional impoliteness strategies not mentioned in Culpeper’s (1996) impoliteness framework, namely, third-party implicit impoliteness, supplications, and negative interjections. The data analysis also revealed that some comments were subsumed under new categories not mentioned in previous (im)politeness frameworks: ambiguous (im)politeness and adversative (im)politeness. The use of such various strategies can be ascribed to the effect of socio-cultural and religious background on males’ behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The case of the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar has increasingly come to illustrate the maximum evil of Facebook and its parent company, Meta. Yet most analyses of this case share a distinctive feature that radically narrows the scope of the problem: the focus is only on content that negatively characterizes the Rohingya, whether through hate speech, misinformation, or other efforts to construct them in ways that may be used to justify genocide. Such content is an important matter of concern. It warrants action, independent of causal effect. But the question of what conduct and content on Facebook may help cause violence must include analysis of a broader potential range that extends beyond characterizations of the victims. To specify some of this range, the article turns to scholarship from the field of genocide studies. In particular, it looks to the process of “in-group policing,” which involves constructing not just victims of genocide but also those who are supposed to support it. The bulk of the article then analyzes in-group policing in Myanmar and on Facebook, by offering new interpretations of publicly available evidence and drawing on observations from work in Myanmar during the five years before large-scale military attacks on the Rohingya in 2016–17. The article concludes by discussing the implications of its findings for ongoing efforts to pursue restitution and accountability for the Rohingya genocide, and proposing concrete questions with broad relevance for scholars and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As people seek to manicure their online presence within the current "technomeritocracy," there is a need to understand what sacrifices people will make to curate social media worthy travel experiences. Hence, the Social Media Sacrifice Scale was developed from the literature on identity theory and compensatory purchasing behavior to conceptualize and measure these sacrifices. The scale was purified using EFA (n = 252) and validated using CFA (n = 251). Results demonstrate validity across four sacrifice dimensions (spending money, sacrifices at home, discomfort, and rule breaking) providing managers with marketing strategies to attract markets with the right mix of sacrificial expectations for the destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European LGBTQIA* organizations have often been perceived as isolated from other organizations. While investigations have suggested that social media platforms foster inter-organizational ties, their role in promoting or dampening within- and cross-field interactions is understudied. This article aims to fill this gap by examining the factors shaping within- and cross-field digital interactions established by LGBTQIA* organizations located in Milan and Madrid. It analyzes the networks resulting from LGBTQIA* organizations mentioning, sharing, and promoting events on Facebook between 2011 and 2020. Results show that Madrid- and Milan-based LGBTQIA* organizations increasingly engage in cross-field interactions on social media, becoming crucial bridging actors with organizations from other fields. They also suggest that political threats moderate the relationship between organizational identities and cross-field ties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many high-income countries are grappling with severe labour shortages in the healthcare sector. Refugees and recent migrants present a potential pool for staff recruitment due to their higher unemployment rates, younger age, and lower average educational attainment compared to the host society's labour force. Despite this, refugees and recent migrants, often possessing limited language skills in the destination country, are frequently excluded from traditional recruitment campaigns conducted solely in the host country's language. Even those with intermediate language skills may feel excluded, as destination-country language advertisements are perceived as targeting only native speakers. This study experimentally assesses the effectiveness of a recruitment campaign for nursing positions in a German care facility, specifically targeting Arabic and Ukrainian speakers through Facebook advertisements. Methods: We employ an experimental design (AB test) approximating a randomized controlled trial, utilizing Facebook as the delivery platform. We compare job advertisements for nursing positions in the native languages of Arabic and Ukrainian speakers (treatment) with the same advertisements displayed in German (control) for the same target group in the context of a real recruitment campaign for nursing jobs in Berlin, Germany. Our evaluation includes comparing link click rates, visits to the recruitment website, initiated applications, and completed applications, along with the unit cost of these indicators. We assess statistical significance in group differences using the Chi-squared test. Results: We find that recruitment efforts in the origin language were 5.6 times (Arabic speakers) and 1.9 times (Ukrainian speakers) more effective in initiating nursing job applications compared to the standard model of German-only advertisements among recent migrants and refugees. Overall, targeting refugees and recent migrants was 2.4 (Ukrainians) and 10.8 (Arabic) times cheaper than targeting the reference group of German speakers indicating higher interest among these groups. Conclusions: The results underscore the substantial benefits for employers in utilizing targeted recruitment via social media aimed at foreign-language communities within the country. This strategy, which is low-cost and low effort compared to recruiting abroad or investing in digitalization, has the potential for broad applicability in numerous high-income countries with sizable migrant communities. Increased employment rates among underemployed refugee and migrant communities, in turn, contribute to reducing poverty, social exclusion, public expenditure, and foster greater acceptance of newcomers within the receiving society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Snakebite envenomation (SBE) and scorpion sting envenomation (SSE) are significant neglected tropical diseases that primarily affect impoverished communities in rural areas of developing nations. A lack of understanding about snake and scorpion species and their distribution exacerbates the disabilities and fatalities caused by SBE and SSE. In Sudan, particularly in regions affected by ongoing conflicts where healthcare resources are scarce, social media platforms offer a cost-effective approach to addressing public health challenges. Our aim in this study is to highlight the benefits of using social media for data collection and health promotion in such environments. Methods: We present a cost-effective communication and data collection strategy implemented at the Toxic Organisms Research Centre (TORC) of the University of Khartoum, focusing on a Facebook group, "Scorpions and Snakes of Sudan", as our primary social media platform. Additionally, we discuss the lessons learned and the initial impact of this strategy on enhancing population health literacy. Results: The group community is composed of ~ 5000 members from 14 countries. During the period from January 2023 to January 2024, we received 417 enquiries about snakes and scorpions belonging to 11 families and composed of 55 species. In addition, 53 other enquiries covered a range of organisms and their tracks (e.g., spiders, skinks, chameleons, foxes, sun spiders, centipedes, lizards, moth larvae, and insect tracks). The first photographic evidence of Malpolon monspessulanus in Sudan was via the group activities. The rare species Telescopus gezirae, the Blue Nile cat snake, is also documented via the group member's queries. Recognizing the evolving nature of social media use in public health, we also address the current limitations and evidence gaps that need to be addressed to effectively translate best practices into policy. Conclusion: In conclusion, utilizing Facebook as an institutional platform to share scientific information in simple Arabic language underscores the proactive roles that citizens, scientists, and public health stakeholders can play in leveraging social media for eHealth, eAwareness, and public health initiatives. This approach highlights the potential for collaborative efforts, particularly during crises, to maximize the benefits of social media in advancing public health. Author Summary: Snakebite envenomation (SBE) and scorpion sting envenomation (SSE) are significant public health issues worldwide, particularly affecting vulnerable populations such as children and agricultural workers. SBE alone affects millions of people annually, resulting in thousands of deaths and permanent disabilities. SSE is also a serious concern, with thousands of deaths reported annually but with a dangerous lack of information and in registered incidences, especially in countries such as Sudan. In Sudan, both SBE and SSE are prevalent, with specific regions experiencing higher incidences. To address these challenges, the Toxic Organisms Research Centre (TORC) at the University of Khartoum established a Facebook group, "Scorpions and Snakes of Sudan", to raise community awareness and collect data on venomous and nonvenomous organisms. The group has attracted nearly 5000 participants, mostly from Sudan, and has received enquiries from nine countries. The data collected through this platform provides valuable insights into the distribution and diversity of snakes and scorpions, aiding in public health interventions and education efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With Facebook frequently dismissed by scholars as being insufficient for facilitating trans identity-work, this study set out to uncover the overlooked ways in which young transgender men subvert the platform's enforcement of identity singularity to create a private space segregated from their main following to safely navigate the early stages of their gender transition. Ditchfield's (2020) work on the "rehearsal stage" explores the pre-post realm of digital messaging platforms as a space of in-between public and private where users can construct their presentation of self before publicising it to an audience. Drawing on Ditchfield's theorisation, and using empirical data from a virtual ethnographyand qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted with 11 transgender men, I conceptualise private Facebook groups for transgender men as a type of rehearsal stage, and explore the ways this space has been utilized as a tool for trans men to mould, draft and rehearse (trans)masculinity prior to adopting a male role full-time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As technology chief executive officers have become public figures, their personae operate as loci for journalistic discourse about the intersection of moral responsibilities, regulation, and political-economic power of the tech industry. They possess a power often construed as beyond the reach of politics or civil society to address. This study considers how the ubiquity of tech power has become a kind of common sense in journalistic discourse, specifically looking at news, commentary, and analysis that has circulated around Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg since 2016, arguing that even as critiques of Zuckerberg's moral fitness and leadership capacity proliferate, they construct the epistemic bounds within which tech industry power over American public life is understood as legitimate, even as journalists and commentators question certain executives' ability to wield the tech industry's infrastructural and cultural power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to popular narratives, it is not clear whether using social media for news increases belief in political misinformation. Several of the most methodologically sound studies find small to nonexistent effects. However, extant research is limited by focusing on few platforms (usually Facebook, Twitter or YouTube) and is heavily U.S. centered. This leaves open the possibility that other platforms, such as those that rely on visual communication (e.g., Instagram) or are tailored to strong-tie network communication (e.g., WhatsApp), are more influential. Furthermore, the few studies conducted in other countries suggest that social media use increases political misperceptions. Still, these works use cross-sectional designs, which are ill suited to dealing with omitted variable bias and temporal ordering of processes. Using a two-wave survey fielded in Mexico during the 2021 midterm elections (N = 596), we estimate the relationship between frequency of news exposure on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp, and belief in political misinformation, while controlling for both time-invariant and time-dependent individual differences. In contrast to political discussion, information literacy and digital skills, none of the social platforms analyzed exhibits a significant association with misinformed beliefs. We also tested for possible indirect, moderated, and reciprocal relationships, but none of these analyses yielded a statistically significant result. We conclude that the study is consistent with the "minimal media effects" paradigm, which suggests that efforts to address misinformation need to go beyond social platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]