October 25, 2018

San Jose State University: Personality, Motivation, and the War Between Facebook and Twitter

A thesis from San Jose State University: Personality, Motivation, and the War Between Facebook and Twitter. “Social networking sites (SNSs) have recently become integrated in modern lives as entertainment, communication, and even careers have become more reliant on them. The current study explored the relationship between Facebook and Twitter attachment and demographic, motivation, and personality traits. Differing psychological relationships may explain why people become more attached to specific SNSs as well as explain their continuance of use. Using online self-report measures, this study measured motivations to use Facebook and Twitter, the Big Five personality traits, and Facebook/Twitter attachment of 109 participants who have been users of both Facebook and Twitter.”

Research & Opinion 0
July 21, 2018

Iowa State University Thesis: Using Google Cardboard to perform a visual field screening test

A thesis from Iowa State University: Using Google Cardboard to perform a visual field screening test . “The visual field test is used to detect areas on the retina where there is a loss of vision. The equipment used to conduct the test is bulky and can cost a significant amount to patients to take the test. Google Cardboard is an inexpensive headset which is paired with a mobile phone to run virtual reality applications. In this work, a visual field screening test is developed to enable people to do an eye exam with a low-cost and portable device such as a Google Cardboard and a smart phone. The Google Cardboard application helps reduce the cost of performing a visual field test by enabling a patient to do a self-administered visual field test before going into a clinic or hospital to do a more detailed eye exam. The patient can […]

Research & Opinion 0
June 21, 2018

Trending in the Right Direction: Using Google Trends Data as a Measure of Public Opinion During a Presidential Election (Virginia Tech Master’s Thesis)

A Virginia Tech Master’s Thesis: Trending in the Right Direction: Using Google Trends Data as a Measure of Public Opinion During a Presidential Election. “During the 2016 presidential election, public opinion polls consistently showed a lead in the popular vote and Electoral College for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Following Trump’s surprise victory, the political pundits and public at large began to question the accuracy of modern public opinion polling. Fielding a representative sample, convoluted and opaque methodologies, the sheer amount of polls, and both the media’s and general public’s inability to interpret poll results are among the flaws of the polling industry. An alternative or supplement to traditional polling practices is necessary. This thesis seeks to investigate whether Google Trends can be effectively used as a measure of public opinion during presidential elections. This study gathers polling data from the 2016 presidential election from states that were considered swing […]

Research & Opinion 0
June 21, 2018

Making the #Personal #Political: Twitter as a Rhetorical Tool for Activist Campaigning (URI Thesis)

A thesis from the University of Rhode Island Digital Commons: Making the #Personal #Political: Twitter as a Rhetorical Tool for Activist Campaigning. “This thesis analyzes a compilation of tweets from a specific digital social movement, #YesAllWomen. This campaign was an instance of hashtag activism and digital feminism that appeared on Twitter following the misogyny-fueled Isla Vista shootings as a means of illuminating the persistent issues of harassment and violence against women. The campaign focused largely on personal experience, and a cluster analysis of a published collection of tweets reveals how the use of the #YesAllWomen hashtag and the communication of personal narrative transformed participants into political rhetors. Thus, I ultimately argue the significance of Twitter as a rhetorical tool for activist communication.”

Research & Opinion 0
December 29, 2017

George Mason University: The Spatial Distribution Of Health Narratives In Twitter And The Relationship To Corresponding Cancer Rates Across The United States: A Case Study Of Cancer-related Communications

A thesis from George Mason University: The Spatial Distribution Of Health Narratives In Twitter And The Relationship To Corresponding Cancer Rates Across The United States: A Case Study Of Cancer-related Communications. “National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) and Movember health campaigns in Twitter from the years 2015 and 2016 were studied to understand how tweets formed around these campaigns relate to cancer incidence ground truth data. Geolocated tweets were collected to characterize the spatial distribution at the state level of breast and prostate cancer related tweets, and comparisons were made between tweets and cancer incidence data to assess the relationship between tweet rate and state cancer incidence rates in the United States. It was hypothesized that states which participate the most in these cancer campaigns would exhibit higher cancer incidence rates; contrariwise, there was no correlation found between tweet rate and state cancer incidence rate for all four campaigns studied, […]

Research & Opinion 0
July 14, 2017

University of Barcelona: Unemployment? Google it! Analyzing the usability of Google queries in order to predict unemployment

University of Barcelona: Unemployment? Google it! Analyzing the usability of Google queries in order to predict unemployment . “During the last years the accessibility of big data has risen exponentially mainly due to the increase of internet usage. The biggest internet search engine Google Sites made statistics about the search queries public in real-time. In this paper these search queries are exploited in order to analyze whether this new type of data have the capability to improve the traditional econometric forecasting models. More precisely, this paper analysis the usability of Google search terms in order to forecast the unemployment rate in the Netherlands. This is done by creating a variable based on the volume of search terms submitted on Google (Google Indicator). The predictive capacity of the Google Indicator is measured by comparing the accuracy of a benchmark model versus an augmented model where the Google Indicator is added. The […]

Research & Opinion 0
July 11, 2017

University of Texas at Austin: Comparison of algorithms for Twitter sentiment analysis (Thesis)

University of Texas at Austin: Comparison of algorithms for Twitter sentiment analysis. “Sentiment Analysis has gained attention in recent years owing to the massive increase in personal statements made at the individual level, spread across vast geographic and demographic ranges. That data has become vastly more accessible as micro-blog sites such as Twitter and Facebook have released public, free interfaces. This research seeks to understand the processes behind Sentiment Analysis and to compare statistical methodologies for classifying Twitter sentiments.” This is a Master’s thesis.

Research & Opinion 0
June 11, 2017

Portland State Thesis: Increasing Engagement on Nonprofit Facebook Pages through Photos

From Portland State University, a thesis: Increasing Engagement on Nonprofit Facebook Pages through Photos. “Developing effective strategies that maximize social media post engagement is beneficial in aiding organizations to achieve their marketing goals. This study focuses specifically on Facebook photo posts due to the platform’s widespread use and the high potential of visual media to provoke audience engagement, and aims to identify effective strategies for combining various text functions and types of photo content in order to maximize engagement from followers.” The author does note that the same size for the study was fairly small, but it’s an interesting (and fairly brief for a thesis) read.

Research & Opinion 0
May 7, 2017

Thesis From Kansas State: Twitter, Crisis Communication, and Brand Reputation

A thesis from Kansas State University: Understanding the effects of Twitter-based crisis communications strategies on brand reputation. “The Situational Crisis Communications Theory (SCCT) states that what organizations say to various publics during a crisis should influence the extent of the reputational and financial damage a crisis can inflict on the organization’s image. Past research has focused on distinguishing types of crises and what crisis-communication strategies should be used with traditional media. Research exists, but looks at social media and its effects on brand reputation during a crisis via case studies or is an experimental design focused on the information source. There is a lack of controlled experimental studies that investigate the role of social media in crisis-communications strategies.” You can download the thesis (11MB PDF) from this page.

Research & Opinion 0
March 21, 2017

Information Research: ‘Just Google it’ – the scope of freely available information sources for doctoral thesis writing

From Information Research: ‘Just Google it’ – the scope of freely available information sources for doctoral thesis writing. “Recent developments in the field of scientific information resource provision lead us to the key research question, namely,what is the coverage of freely available information sources when writing doctoral theses, and whether the academic library can assume the leading role as a direct intermediator for information users…. The research team was tasked with identifying whether certain resources could be found in the eCatalogue of an academic library, its subscribed databases, freely available online (through Google or Google Scholar), or whether the resources from the library`s subscribed databases are identical to those which are freely available. The data gathering process included such resource categories as journal papers, printed and electronic books or book chapters, and other documents (legal reports, conference papers, newspaper articles, Websites, theses, etc.).”

Research & Opinion 0
January 13, 2017

UCF Thesis – The Weight of Words: Collecting and Visualizing Data from Twitter

An interesting thesis from the University of Central Florida: The Weight of Words: Collecting and Visualizing Data from Twitter. “This thesis includes a discussion regarding design considerations, application architecture, and data mining, as well as an examination of data visualization, social media, and human behavior. Through the construction of these visualizations I aim to provide a unique opportunity to discover patterns and trends from the popular topics of that current day. By providing viewers of this work with a unique perspective, I hope to encourage reflection and discussion of the current state of our culture’s behavior and values.”

Research & Opinion 0
November 26, 2016

Thesis: Examining twitter engagement in newspaper sports beat reporters’ live-game coverage

What a cool thesis: Examining twitter engagement in newspaper sports beat reporters’ live-game coverage. “Using retweets and likes as measures of engagement, this study found that sports information consumers are more responsive to newspaper sports beat reporters’ Twitter content during live-game coverage when it includes analysis, opinion, entertainment, and visual content. This study suggests that newspaper sports beat reporters should capitalize on their exclusivity and insider access to create Twitter content beyond mere play-by-play results that are typically available to those following the game through more traditional means such as television, radio, or in person. These strategies could distinguish newspaper sports beat reporters in an increasingly crowded sports media landscape.” Click on the “Research” link on the left side to read the full thesis.

Research & Opinion 0

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