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– This study aims to determine how Tumblr is being used by libraries and special collections/archives in the USA through quantitative analysis.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to determine how Tumblr is being used by libraries and special collections/archives in the USA through quantitative analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
Data on library Tumblr blogs were collected at three points during a one-year period and included library type, start date, number of posts, average posts per day, type of post and other descriptive information.
Findings
There is a growing library presence on the social media site Tumblr. The results shows adoption of the social media platform by multiple library types: academic, public, special collections/digital libraries, library organizations and other library/archives.
Research limitations/implications
A major challenge is in the identification and discovery of all libraries on Tumblr, especially as the number of Tumblr blogs created by libraries of all types continues to grow.
Practical implications
Results of this analysis should prove useful for both libraries and special collections already using Tumblr as well as those interested in starting a presence on Tumblr. The results will assist librarians in determining if this is a social media tool that is useful and valuable, as well as providing observations on best practices.
Originality/value
Literature specific to Tumblr is limited. This research paper provides a starting point for more research and analysis on the presence of libraries on Tumblr.
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Keywords
Since its launch in 2007, research has been carried out on the popular social networking website Tumblr. The purpose of this paper is to identify published Tumblr-based research…
Abstract
Purpose
Since its launch in 2007, research has been carried out on the popular social networking website Tumblr. The purpose of this paper is to identify published Tumblr-based research, classify it to understand approaches and methods, and provide methodological recommendations for others.
Design/methodology/approach
Research regarding Tumblr was identified. Following a review of the literature, a classification scheme was adapted and applied, to understand research focus. Papers were quantitatively classified using open coded content analysis of method, subject, approach, and topic.
Findings
The majority of published work relating to Tumblr concentrates on conceptual issues, followed by aspects of the messages sent. This has evolved over time. Perceived benefits are the platform’s long-form text posts, ability to track tags, and the multimodal nature of the platform. Severe research limitations are caused by the lack of demographic, geo-spatial, and temporal metadata attached to individual posts, the limited Advanced Programming Interface, restricted access to data, and the large amounts of ephemeral posts on the site.
Research limitations/implications
This study focusses on Tumblr: the applicability of the approach to other media is not considered. The authors focus on published research and conference papers: there will be book content which was not found using the method. Tumblr as a platform has falling user numbers which may be of concern to researchers.
Practical implications
The authors identify practical barriers to research on the Tumblr platform including lack of metadata and access to big data, explaining why Tumblr is not as popular as Twitter in academic studies.
Social implications
This paper highlights the breadth of topics covered by social media researchers, which allows us to understand popular online platforms.
Originality/value
There has not yet been an overarching study to look at the methods and purpose of those who study Tumblr. The authors identify Tumblr-related research papers from the first appearing in 2011 July until 2015 July. The classification derived here provides a framework that can be used to analyse social media research, and in which to position Tumblr-related work, with recommendations on benefits and limitations of the platform for researchers.
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This article describes the third part of a three-stage study investigating the information behaviour of fans and fan communities, the first stage of which is described in the…
Abstract
Purpose
This article describes the third part of a three-stage study investigating the information behaviour of fans and fan communities, the first stage of which is described in the study by Price and Robinson (2017).
Design/methodology/approach
Using tag analysis as a method, a comparative case study was undertaken to explore three aspects of fan information behaviour: information gatekeeping; classifying and tagging and entrepreneurship and economic activity. The case studies took place on three sites used by fans–Tumblr, Archive of Our Own (AO3) and Etsy. Supplementary semi-structured interviews with site users were used to augment the findings with qualitative data.
Findings
These showed that fans used tags in a variety of ways quite apart from classification purposes. These included tags being used on Tumblr as meta-commentary and a means of dialogue between users, as well as expressors of emotion and affect towards posts. On AO3 in particular, fans had developed a practice called “tag wrangling” to mitigate the inherent “messiness” of tagging. Evidence was also found of a “hybrid market economy” on Etsy fan stores. From the study findings, a taxonomy of fan-related tags was developed.
Research limitations/implications
Findings are limited to the tagging practices on only three sites used by fans during Spring 2016, and further research on other similar sites are recommended. Longitudinal studies of these sites would be beneficial in understanding how or whether tagging practices change over time. Testing of the fan-tag taxonomy developed in this paper is also recommended.
Originality/value
This research develops a method for using tag analysis to describe information behaviour. It also develops a fan-tag taxonomy, which may be used in future research on the tagging practices of fans, which heretofore have been a little-studied section of serious leisure information users.
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Karis Jones, Scott Storm and Alex Corbitt
This study aims to explore the implications of a recent case in spring 2022 where the novel Dracula went “viral” as tens of thousands of Tumblr users participated in a serialized…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the implications of a recent case in spring 2022 where the novel Dracula went “viral” as tens of thousands of Tumblr users participated in a serialized re-reading and discussion of the text through the hashtags #dracula and #dracula daily.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design approach (quant: topic modeling; qual: multimodal content analysis) to examine how users describe their own practices as well as top posts (more than 25,000 likes, comments and reblogs) in the first month of the collective reading of the novel.
Findings
The authors found that the serialization of Dracula made space for “wandering reading practices” (Chavez, 2010) relevant to this interpretive community on Tumblr. The quantitative methods determined specific affective, intertextual and serialized aspects of textual play that were salient to readers. In top posts themselves, the authors saw readers creating metaleptic content imagining characters like the protagonist Jonathan in other novels or contexts, as well as processing and playing with their collective emotional responses toward characters. Additionally, readers used irony or satire through multimodal compositions to create literary arguments.
Originality/value
Playfully analyzing literature together through intertextual connections and multimodal memes has the potential to be both emotionally resonant, culturally relevant and supportive of literary interpretive practices. Based on these findings, the authors provide suggestions for teachers working to embrace interpretive play in formal learning spaces.
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– This article explores social networks and apps.
Abstract
Purpose
This article explores social networks and apps.
Design/methodology/approach
This article provides a survey of the current trends.
Findings
Platforms that are part of the visual Web use images, rather than text, as the primary content of a post. Text may appear, but it is secondary to the image, essentially the opposite of a long blog post where the primary content is text with optional pictures placed for emphasis or enhancement.
Originality/value
Three social networks in particular – Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram – each gained more than 10 million visitors over the course of the year in part by catering to a desire for more visually appealing content.
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Keywords
Partha Mukherjee and Bernard J. Jansen
It is important to measure the interaction between conversing in social media and searching on the web in order to understand the impact on electronic word-of-mouth marketing. The…
Abstract
Purpose
It is important to measure the interaction between conversing in social media and searching on the web in order to understand the impact on electronic word-of-mouth marketing. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors research the relationship between social media conversing and web searching concerning brands on three major social soundtrack platforms (Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr) and on a major web search engine (Google). The authors examine the effects of changes in both volume and attitude of conversing and volume of searching for two phases (Pre and Post) concerning brands in commercials aired during Super Bowl XLIX. The authors perform Granger causality testing and panel data regression analysis to determine the causal relationship between social media conversing and web searching.
Findings
Results show that volume and attitude of social media conversing has a significant causality relationship to the volume of web searching. Each unit increase of volume on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr significantly increases Google search volume for the same brands by 4.7 times, 11.9 times, and 8.7 times, respectively. Each unit increase of attitude score on Twitter significantly increases web search volume 3.96 times, while for Tumblr, search volume significantly increases 0.95 times with each unit. Interestingly, search volume also has a significant causality relationship on the volume of social media postings.
Originality/value
This research seeks to understand the commercial impacts of the interaction among broadcast advertising, social media conversing, and web searching for which there is limited prior work, especially in the context of a major media event.
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Christopher Sibona, Jeff Cummings and Judy Scott
Social networking sites (SNSs) continue to grow in popularity with competition in the market growing as well. The purpose of this paper is to examine three research questions to…
Abstract
Purpose
Social networking sites (SNSs) continue to grow in popularity with competition in the market growing as well. The purpose of this paper is to examine three research questions to determine how competition within the SNS area may affect the continuance intention on the incumbent SNS, Facebook. The first question examines the relationship between having an account on one of the four different SNSs and the impact on continuance intention. The second question examines attitudes toward specific alternatives and continuance intention on the incumbent SNS. The third question takes a broader examination of general attitudes about alternative attractiveness and attitude toward switching to predict continuance intention. A post hoc analysis was conducted to further understand the impact of specific SNS alternative attitudes on general attitudes.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a survey of 918 users, this research examines the three questions using various methods including ANCOVA to examine question 1 and multiple structural equation models to examine questions 2, 3 and the post hoc analysis.
Findings
The analysis of the models suggests that both alternative attractiveness and attitude toward switching have the greatest impact on the continuance intention of the incumbent site. Specific sites were found to be complements or substitutes for the incumbent. The viewing of the specific alternative site as an alternative to Facebook had a negative impact on continuance intention. The general model of alternative attractiveness and attitude toward switching explained a moderate to substantial amount of continuance intention.
Originality/value
Although use and abandonment of SNSs have been examined extensively, minimal attention has been given to the impact that alternative SNSs have on continuance intentions of a user’s primary SNS.
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The purpose of this paper is to report on a qualitative study that examined how pre-service teachers (PSTs) used mobile technology and experiential learning to critically examine…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on a qualitative study that examined how pre-service teachers (PSTs) used mobile technology and experiential learning to critically examine the processes that shape places over time. During Summer course work that occurred prior to beginning their field experience and student teaching, participants explored neighborhoods and public spaces, and researched the history as well as contemporary issues relevant to the places in which their future students live, play, work, shop, and go to school. The use of social media as a forum for sharing and reflecting upon their experiences provided opportunity to critique neoliberal and race-based public policies, as well as support reflection on the relationships between geography and teaching about social (in)justice in the social studies. Findings inform the work of teacher educators who seek to help teacher candidates think more deeply about how spatial contexts inform culturally sustaining and critically minded pedagogy in the social studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study included pre- and post-surveys and two one-on-one interviews between research participants and the researcher. Data were also gathered through the use of posts made by participants to a shared social media account. Interested in the interactive process of subjects and their surroundings, symbolic interactionism provided the methodological framework for this study.
Findings
Involvement in the study provided PSTs with new ways of thinking about how places are shaped over time and the importance of incorporating local intersections of geography and injustice in the classroom. Through experiential learning, PSTs developed a critical understanding of how place relates to who they teach, moved away from deficit thinking about people and places, and, as evidenced in the examples shared, approached lesson planning as place-relevant and culturally sustaining social studies educators.
Originality/value
The majority of students enrolled in teacher education courses in the USA remains white and it is well documented that most possess few cultural and geographic ties to the schools and students they work with as PSTs. Interested in the intersection of race, place, and teacher education, this paper discusses research conducted with 12 pre-service secondary social studies teachers (PSTs) who were enrolled in an eight-week Summer seminar course that preceded their Fall field experience and Spring student teaching placements to learn how they interpret their movement through spaces and their understanding of how geography, race, and agency intersect and impact students.
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Lisa Lamont and Jordan Nielsen
– The purpose of this paper is to discuss a social media campaign used to promote a digital library of archival resources.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss a social media campaign used to promote a digital library of archival resources.
Design/methodology/approach
Librarians planned and executed a social media campaign using Tumblr and Pinterest and consulted Google Analytics and database reports to determine the impact.
Findings
The campaign resulted in few conversions back to the digital library and little return on investment.
Research limitations/implications
The campaign has been in effect for only five months, a longer testing period may be needed. Also, additional social media platforms will be added to the test.
Originality/value
This is one of few examples of return on investment applied to social media and digital library promotion.
Details
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Louisa Ha, Claire Youngnyo Joa, Itay Gabay and Kisun Kim
The purpose of this paper is to examine how college students’ social media use affects their school e-mail avoidance and campus involvement.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how college students’ social media use affects their school e-mail avoidance and campus involvement.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employed face-to-face interviews and self-administered survey/quantitative data.
Findings
Communication and business students are more involved on campus and likely to use social media as the primary communication medium than other majors. Social media and text messages are not the culprits of school e-mail avoidance. University departments, student organizations, and faculty advisors’ e-mails are most likely to be avoided. Social media users can be categorized as either “instant communicators” or “online content curators.” Facebook is the only social media brand conducive to campus involvement.
Research limitations/implications
This study only used one university’s students as sample. In examining school e-mail avoidance, it only focused on the source of e-mail. The study is limited by its sole reliance on quantitative behavioral data.
Practical implications
University administrators and academic advisors need to reconsider the e-mail communication to students, target at the instant communicator social media users, and use Facebook to create a strong sense of community and campus involvement for their students. Marketers can utilize the two social media user groups in selecting social media in targeting to students.
Originality/value
The study offered empirical evidence to explain how social media affect students’ school e-mail avoidance and the role of campus media and specific social media outlet on campus involvement. It advances the knowledge of media choice of students and the social media user groups.
Details