Faculty of Arts and Design

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Lurking as a mode of listening in social media : motivations-based typologies
(Emerald, 2023-02-02) Adjin-Tettey, Theodora Dame; Garman, Anthea
In this study, the authors aim to probe the relationship between listening and lurking and discuss types of lurking that occur on social media sites based on the motivations driving them. Although listening is a significant practice of online attention, intimacy, connection, obligation and participation as much as voice is, it is yet to receive the kind of attention voice is given in the context of social media. In the rather limited studies on online attention, the concept that has gained consideration is “lurking”, and this practice has often been treated as a derogatory non-activity or as passivity. The interest to study lurking is based on the premise that lurking is a significant ground on which listening occurs in social media and through which voice can be given attention.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a phenomenological approach to understand motivations for lurking in online spaces. Phenomenological research involves data gathering through inductive, qualitative methods with the aim of explaining specific phenomena from the perspective of research participants. In this research, the lived experience studied was lurking and what drives lurking. A total of 12 members of the Licence to Talk project, a research project based at the School of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes University, South Africa, took part in the study. They shared their personal experiences of online lurking through a critical reflective writing. Based on the experiences shared, the authors identified and categorised the various types of lurking based on the varied motivations driving them.FindingsThrough the phenomenological approach, the study has theorised a more useful understanding of lurking as a form of online listening by identifying and categorising seven lurking behaviours that are nested within the lurking activity. This study, thus, provides a tentative framework for studying online lurking by bringing to bear listening theory and by reasoning that lurking is a needs-based activity that has purpose imbedded within it.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors recognise that this study is limited by its small number of participants. Nevertheless, as researchers with a strong grounding in listening theory, the authors thought it valuable to interrogate their own practices on social media and to develop a more useful understanding of what lurking might entail and, on the lurking-listening relationship. A larger study would provide stronger evidence to test the hypothesis about lurking as a very interesting form of listening with a relationship to complex behaviours and needs.Originality/valueIt is expected that by conceptualising the various forms of lurking based on the motivations that drive online lurking (listening), it will provide an empirical and theoretical/conceptual basis for further investigations into this pervasive mode of online attention.
The effect of social media brand engagement on South African consumers’ purchase intentions
(Durban University of Technology, 2023) Ntobaki, Paballo; Buthelezi, Makhosazane
Social media has perennially transformed consumers’ purchasing cycles. Today, consumers can effortlessly conduct online information searches about brands based on their interest in brands' social media pages or read brand reviews made by other consumers on social media networks. Social media is undisputedly characterised by ratings, comments, reviews, and other features found on websites that indicate what users think of the content being discussed. Taking note of what users say on social media and engaging in discussions is a great way for brands to influence these discussions and condition consumers’ purchase decisions and intentions. To achieve the objectives of this research, this study adopts a quantitative research method in which convenience and purposive sampling were utilised to recruit research participants. Self-administered, structured questionnaires are used to collect primary data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics are utilised in this study. Data is analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24.0. The outcomes of this research advocate that social media is an immensely powerful communication tool that can be used to shape consumers’ purchase intentions.
Analysing Instagram pages of South African fashion models with Vitiligo using multimodal communication for a practice-based study
(2023-03-01) Sarupdeo, Emilia; Mchunu, Khaya Jean; Rapeane-Mathonsi, Maleshoane
An increase in fashion models with vitiligo are observed from the sharing of representations of themselves and the skin condition on multimodal forms of communication on social media platforms, notably Instagram. The study is located in fashion and focuses on vitiligo that has been widely discussed in the medical field. Vitiligo is a skin condition where the deterioration of melanocyte cells lead to white patches that present in various areas of the body (Vallerand et.al 2019: 1371). The significance of this study is to understand the representations led by fashion models with vitiligo and to join them by using my profession as a fashion designer with vitiligo to shift the beauty narrative through inclusivity and raising awareness about the skin condition. The study is framed by a multimodal discourse analysis and specifically a four-step analytical process of modal transfer (Kress 2000 and 2010). This frame is used to focus on how fashion models with vitiligo use multimodal communication in the form of photographs, captions, and hashtags to communicate themselves, as people with vitiligo through their public Instagram pages. This form of communication is argued to be their practice of challenging and expanding accepted notions of beauty. An analysis is followed by a practical component framed by Sullivan’s (2010) and Skains (2018: 86) creative practice as research. The study results show how the models have represented themselves and their skin condition. Some posts touch on themes that seek to shift the narrative and expand notions of beauty. They share perspectives on inclusivity and diversity, self-love, self-affirmation, body-positivity, perceptions of the gaze, and what should not be regarded as fashion trends. Optimism expressed by such themes resulted as psychological healing and promotes good mental health towards the incurable skin condition. I designed a body of fashion artefacts for this practice-based study as my contribution to using fashion as communication to shed light on vitiligo and body positivity. A new Instagram page has been created to display the practical collection through my own use of multimodal communication. This process has resulted in 6 fashion artefacts that use hashtags as titles to speak about vitiligo. The fashion artefact collection celebrates inclusivity and diversity, depicts the types of formation which vitiligo presents in, and concludes by perceiving all as beauties, expressed in both in practice and theory.
Perceptions of dark-skinned beauty on social media using social identity theory : the case of #melaninmagic on Instagram
(2022-09) Naidoo, Alicia; Usadolo, Sam Erevbenagie; Soobben, Deseni
The saying, “If you’re white, you’re alright, if you’re brown, stick around, but if you’re black, get back” has been around for generations and has racial connotations linked to colourism, a social issue that ranks light skin as the epitome of beauty. While most people of colour have fallen victim to colourism, Indians idolise light skin so much that dark-skinned people are villainised and discriminated against, and skin-lightening businesses thrive on Indian people’s desire to be of a lighter skin tone. Millennials and Gen Z are fighting the stigma of colourism through hashtag activism. The hashtag #MelaninMagic has influenced many dark- and medium-skinned individuals to embrace and celebrate their skin tone despite the discrimination faced in previous generations. In this study, the hashtag #MelaninMagic is investigated, using social identity theory and how #MelaninMagic shapes the perceptions of dark-skinned beauty on Instagram and influences users to embrace the social category into which their skin colour falls is explored. The reasons Instagrammers use filters and the likelihood they will compare their selfies to others before posting was also explored. The research approach is a qualitative paradigm within the interpretivist paradigm. Sixteen (16) Indian South Africans between the ages of 23‒30 were purposively selected for oneon-one, semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that #MelaninMagic is used as a tool of empowerment for darkand medium-skinned Instagrammers to express pride about their skin tone, and social media is being used as a tool for change such that the representation of dark-skinned beauty is more evident on Instagram than in traditional media. The aim of Millennials and Gen Z is to end the toxic cycles passed down from generation to generation through having open minds. The phenomenon of skin lightening was also investigated and filters emerged as a modern-day skin lightener. The reasons filters are used to lighten skin in selfies was explored and narrowed down to the influence of family on social categorisation and the caste system. It is also worthy to note that medium-skin tone individuals identitifed as dark-skinned because of the way others made them feel about their skin colour. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that a mixed-method approach and more participants across different cities in South Africa can be considered in future studies.
Social media as a strategy for protest movements : a study of #EndSARS in Nigeria
(Center for Strategic Studies in Business and Finance SSBFNET, 2022) Adedokun, Theophilus Adedayo
The 2020 #EndSARS protests in Nigeria gained global attention. The protests drawn thousands of youths to the streets in a wave of rolling fury that built into one of the largest demonstrations for years in the country. Unlike previous protests in the country, the 2020 year's protests played out across social networks in a buildup of videos, images, and stories on Twitter Facebook, and other platforms displaying pictures and footage from the streets. This study employed the Social Network Theory in identifying the influence of social media as a strategy for protest movements and for the diffusion of information about #EndSARS and the sustenance of this movement over a long period, despite forces that have tried to silence it. This study argued that the sustenance of protests such as #EndSARS over a long period was dependent on factors such as: (i) that some individuals were more resistant to being influenced than others; (ii) that some individuals tended to be more responsive than others; and (iii) that some individuals seemed to be more affected than others (and were, therefore, more likely to pass the information on to others). The findings revealed that protesters used emotional dynamics, collective identities, symbolic artifacts, and mutual values to sustain protests if their demands were not met on time.
An advanced ensemble approach for detecting fake news
(2021-12-12) Hansrajh, Arvin
The explosive growth in fake news has evolved into a major threat to society, public trust, democracy and justice. The easy dissemination and sharing of information online provide the unabated momentum. As such, it has become crucial to combat the menace of fake news and to mitigate its consequences. Detecting fake news is an intricate problem since it can appear in a multitude of forms, thus making it both automatically and manually very challenging to successfully recognise. Furthermore, fake news is intentionally created to mislead and is often interspersed with real news. Studies have shown that human beings are somewhat unsuccessful in identifying deception. The majority of people accept that information they are presented with in virtually any form is reliable or veracious. The relevant literature reveals that a considerable number of people who read fake news stories report that they find them more believable than the news that is disseminated via mainstream media. Furthermore, there are predictions that by 2022, the greater population within mature economies are likely to consume more false than true information. The importance of combatting fake news has been starkly demonstrated during the current Covid19 crisis. Social media networks are significantly increasing their efforts to develop fake news detection mechanisms, as well as to enlighten subscribers on how to recognise fake news, however most people are naturally predisposed to spreading sensationalist news without any fact-checking process in place. It is therefore evident that the creation of automated solutions is vital and urgent for the detection of untruthful news and as such, the goal of this study is to aid in the detection of fake news. Prior studies have included many machine learning models with varying degrees of success but many non-conventional machine learning models have not yet been exploited despite evidence to suggest that they are the best in several text classification scenarios. Consequently, an ensemble learning approach is suggested to assist in resolving the gap that has been identified. Contemporary studies are validating the efficiency of ensemble learning methods and have provided encouraging outcomes. This study investigates how machine learning and natural language processing methods are pooled together in a blended ensemble in order to build a model that will utilise data from past news articles, to forecast whether a current news article is likely to be false or true. A variety of performance metrics such as roc, roc auc, recall, precision, f1-score and accuracy are used in comparing the proposed model to other machine learning models. The measurements are applied in evaluating and gauging the efficiency of the proposed model. The results obtained show that the proposed model’s performance is better than several other learning models, which is very encouraging.
Exploring audience inclusion in Facebook and Twitter reporting among young university students in South Africa: The case of #FeesMustFall
(2021-04) Olagunju, Anu Christianah; Frankish, Tarryn
Studies have shown how social media, including Facebook and Twitter are reshaping communication, news and Journalism. With the growing popularity of Social media for news sharing, there is a need to explore the audience-inclusion of these social media tools in news reporting. The audience approach expands our theorisation of social media especially for campaigns. In particular, it is important to explore the role social media plays in student protest, campaign or uprising in other to determine to what extent social media allows participation and audience inclusion in political (#FeesMustFall) and other contemporary discussions among students. This study considered the hashtag (#) FeeMustFall campaign that sprang up in the year 2015 (there are still elements of the campaign as of 2020) as a case for this study. The South African university students used this hashtag on different social media platforms to campaign against corporate education and largely payment of fees in institutions of higher learning across South Africa. This study also looks at the media-audience relationship and explore how audience inclusion in Facebook and Twitter are increasingly changing the ‘News’ habits of young South Africans students. The approach used for this study was a qualitative exploratory study with an interpretive approach. Thirteen (13) students were interviewed one-on-one and audio-recorded using a semi-structured interview guide. These students were selected through purposive and convenience sampling and the interviews were transcribed verbatim. This study identifies the relevance and relationship social media posed for students in including them in public participation. Findings indicate that students find recourse in social media as an avenue for inclusion and participation on social issues surrounding youth especially during the peak of #FeesMustFall. There is also a change in news reporting as a result of the audience inclusion provided by social networks. The outcome of this study can be relevant to communication researchers studying news and social media especially among young people and most importantly students.
Divergent masculinities : a visual rhetoric study of masculinity on Tumblr
(2018-06) Nair, Yoshen; Kethro, Philippa; Van Der Merwe, Ernest
This study is motivated by the need for visual communication designers or graphic designers to research changes in social identity that emerge on social media. Visual communication designers must deal with transforming and proliferating social identities in order to communicate effectively with their audiences. Social media are regarded in the study as highly influential on social identity changes. This study deals with divergent masculinities as an exemplar of these social identity changes, on the social media site Tumblr. To examine divergent masculinities, the study adopts a visual rhetoric perspective on Tumblr as one social media site of masculinity diversification. The literature review draws together social media perspectives with theoretical themes of reflexive social identity, gender, and fashion as the visual representation of masculinity. The resulting theoretical integration yields two guiding visual rhetoric concepts that inform inquiry into masculinity diversification on Tumblr: performativity and reflexivity. A Tumblr research setting is then demarcated by observing how the Social Network Site facilitates rhetor performativity of 'fashioned' masculine image posts, and audience reflexivity to these image posts. The roles of rhetor and audience are found to switch in the transaction of visual rhetoric, where image posts are audienced and further shared from one Tumblr user wall display to another. Meta-data on Tumblr makes extensive user activity around particular images evident, so that significant indications of diverging masculinities can be discerned. An analytical sampling strategy is then created by combining quantitative Tumblr meta-data with the theoretical themes of fashioned masculine performativity and reflexivity. This leveraged functional/theoretical analytical sampling strategy allows diversifying masculinities to be systematically identified. Five diverging masculinities are illustrated. These are regarded as exemplars of an ongoing process of masculinity diversification. It is suggested that the research design and methodology of the study can be used to investigate other forms of changing social identity besides masculinity. This is important for visual communication designers, who need to monitor changing social identity mores and their visual expression on social media.
The hidden sell : subversive advertising of fashion products in social media
(2018) Smith, Helen; Cavanagh, Michaella; Pratt, Deirdre Denise
With the exorbitant growth in technological presence and the introduction of social media, a whole new realm of advertising and marketing possibilities has been opened to businesses. This study investigated people’s perceptions of the use of social media for advertising fashion products under the guise of social media interaction. In other words, online marketing is seen as “subversive” as it is a deceptive form of advertising using celebrity allure to attract prospective clients. The target population comprised females between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine as this population was found to represent the majority of social media users. The purpose of the study was to establish whether the social media users canvassed were aware of this subversive type of advertising, whether they responded by buying the products, and how effective they found this type of marketing overall. The research was carried out within a social constructivist framework, using a nested/embedded strategy in a mixed-methods approach. Users of social networking in South Africa were recruited by means of an Instagram post which introduced the idea of the “subversive sell” and gave them the option of participating in an online survey on the topic. Respondents were also offered the option of participating in two focus groups in the Durban area in order to obtain more in-depth feedback on this marketing strategy. Results showed that participants were aware of the fact that they were being targeted, and that they saw it as an inevitable outcome of using social media. However, it irritated them when realising that social media were saturated with advertisements, and that they should be importuned incessantly with such. They also reported that they would not necessarily purchase fashion products advertised in this way and would rather rely on word-of-mouth recommendations on social media from people using these products. Respondents did, however, comment on the immediacy and novelty of this form of advertising. It was concluded that subversive advertising via social media was not that different from the celebrity endorsements found in traditional media, and that people were responding to this strategy in similar ways.

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