Search results for " Social media"
showing 10 items of 77 documents
Predictors of enhancing human physical attractiveness: Data from 93 countries
2022
People across the world and throughout history have gone to great lengths to enhance their physical appearance. Evolutionary psychologists and ethologists have largely attempted to explain this phenomenon via mating preferences and strategies. Here, we test one of the most popular evolutionary hypotheses for beauty-enhancing behaviors, drawn from mating market and parasite stress perspectives, in a large cross-cultural sample. We also test hypotheses drawn from other influential and non-mutually exclusive theoretical frameworks, from biosocial role theory to a cultural media perspective. Survey data from 93,158 human participants across 93 countries provide evidence that behaviors such as a…
Online Hate Speech in the European Union : A Discourse-Analytic Perspective
2017
This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license and reports on research carried out as part of the European Union co-funded C.O.N.T.A.C.T. project which targeted hate speech and hate crime across a number of EU member states. It showcases the bearing that discourse analytic research can have on our understanding of this phenomenon that is a growing global cause for concern. Although ‘hate speech’ is often incorporated in legal and policy documents, there is no universally accepted definition, which in itself warrants research into how hatred is both expressed and perceived. The research project synthesises discourse analytic and corpus linguistics techniques, and presents its key finding…
From the blogosphere into the parliament: The role of digital technologies in organizing social movements
2019
Abstract In this paper, we present a process model exploring the roles played by digital technologies (DTs) in the organization of collective action (CA) of social movements (SMs) at different points in their lifecycles. The process model, which is based on an exploratory case study of the Italian Five Star Movement, relates the environmental conditions to the working logic, structure and use of DTs at three different stages of the SMs. We explain how these choices are adopted at each stage to address internal and environmental challenges and how they create further challenges to be addressed to pass to the next stage. We further explore the dynamics between the logic of connective and coll…
Rotavirus and the web: analysis of online conversations in Italy during 2020
2021
Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhea among children worldwide. In 2017, Italy included rotavirus vaccination in its National Immunization Program. The use of social media monitoring, an efficient tool to understand vaccine hesitancy, has increased in recent years; however, only a few examples of such monitoring are available for Italy. Present study analyzed content on online sources, including social media, to identify factors contributing to Italian parents' decisions to vaccinate or not their children against rotavirus. Blogmeter Suite was used to search and analyze conversations related to rotavirus in Italian on online sources during 2020. These data were compared with…
Bufale, complotti, imbecillità e fatti
2016
Riflessioni a margine della "post-verità" e della stupidità su Internet
A three-wave panel study on longitudinal relations between problematic social media use and psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic
2022
Background: It still remains unclear whether problematic social media use (PSMU) is a cause or a consequence of psychological distress. The present study aimed to investigate the temporal relationships between PSMU and psychological distress through a three-wave panel study (between April and July 2020, with an interval of 1 month between each period of time). Methods: 3,912 adult Italian participants were surveyed during the COVID-19 pandemic for psychological distress (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale) and PSMU (Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale). Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models were applied to disaggregate between-person from within-person associations as regards PSMU an…
From Emotional (Dys)Regulation to Internet Addiction: A Mediation Model of Problematic Social Media Use among Italian Young Adults
2021
Internet addiction (IA) has mostly been investigated with the fear of missing out and difficulties in emotional regulation. The present study examined the link between IA and variables related to problematic social media use (i.e., fear of missing out, social media addiction), together with emotional (dys)regulation and personality traits, providing new insights and an integrated assessment of IA. In total, 397 participants, aged 18–35 years (M = 22.00; SD = 3.83), were administered a set of questionnaires pertaining to IA, problematic social media use, emotional (dys)regulation, and personality traits. Pearson’s correlations showed significant associations between IA and the investigated v…
Second-Generation Muslim Youth Between Perception and Change: A Case Study on the Prevention of Radicalization
2020
The following article presents the results of a research-action and an online communication campaign on the prevention of radicalization of second-generation young Italian Muslims as a part of a project called “Oltre” (the Italian acronym means “Beyond”) financed by European Union. After a short presentation of the four steps of the prevention communication model PKIC, a deepening on the radicalization factors, and a focus on the research-action methodology, the results of the research on some fundamental issues like the relationship with family and the relation with media and social media of the young interviewees, are shown. Finally, in the last part of the article, the interventions carr…
Social mondiali
2014
In facebook we trust? Social media and political engagement, between Italian and Tunisian youth
2020
The article shows the results of a qualitative research on the use of social media by Tunisian and Italian youth, which is part of a broader project on Mediterranean digital culture. More precisely, this work is based on a series of focus groups, and aims at analyzing political participation, engagement and citizen journalism, by focusing on two countries deeply affected by digital propaganda – in Italy, with the growing popularity of Five Star Movement among young people, and in Tunisia with all aftermaths of the Arab Spring. Twelve focus groups were realized, with a total of 96 interviewed. As a result, we will consider two main findings: a critical use of social media, on the one hand, a…