3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Exploring young adults’ views of the #AmINext movement in South Africa(2023) Smith, NicoleGender-based violence (GBV) is a pervasive problem in South Africa and has significant impacts on a person’s physical, psychological, and sexual health. Moreover, as technology advances in the world, social media becomes increasingly available and ‘hashtag activism’ has become an increasingly important tool in challenging social injustices such as GBV. A notable example of online movements is the #AmINext movement. Thus, this study aimed to develop an understanding of how young adults in South Africa experienced the #AmINext movement and how it served to conscientise and shape their ideas about GBV. Semistructured interviews were conducted with five male and five female participants and thematic analysis was used to analyse the interview material. The findings of the study revealed a unified understanding of the #AmINext movement to exist as a result of the murder and rape of Uyinene Mrwetyana. The movement was understood to raise consciousness on GBV, encourage action against GBV, challenge rape culture and create a sense of community among victims and those engaging in the movement. The movement was experienced not only as unifying but the online space was also experienced as negative and exclusionary and where harmful narratives were perpetuated. The movement resulted in a deeper understanding of GBV and an increased willingness to engage against GBV further highlighting how the movement shaped ideas around GBV. Therefore, the #AmINext movement reflected many of the advantages and disadvantages of hashtag activism but was perceived to result in conscientisation around GBV.Item The use of twitter as a service delivery communication tool: a case study of the Johannesburg roads agency(2019) Conradie, AnlerieMany local governments around the world have adopted Twitter as a tool to enable two-way communication with its citizens. Academics in the fields of Developmental Communication, Public Administration and Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) have theorised that social media platforms have the ability to enhance the delivery of services by local governments (Guillamón, et al: 2016; Kavanaugh et al: 2012; Perlman: 2012). Based on this theory, the aim of this study is to determine how the Johannesburg Road Agency, a local government entity of the City of Johannesburg in South Africa, used its Twitter account as a tool to communicate with its citizens about service delivery relevant to the entity’s scope of services. For the purpose of this study the researcher used a traditional case study research approach to illustrate how the JRA uses its Twitter account to engage in two-way participatory communication with its citizens about the services it must provide. The data for the case study was collected through content analysis of policy documents, and interviews. The study’s participants, namely the staff from the JRA’s Customer Relations Management (CRM) department, were requested to provide information through these interviews and policy documents. The study found that the JRA uses strategies, policies, protocols and plans to manage its Twitter account with staff that is trained in customer relations management. The researcher argues clientelism is practised at the JRA as the entity’s policy documents and staff members identify its citizens as mere customers paying for a service and not citizens of a democracy with definitive rights. The study further explored whether the citizens of Johannesburg, that use this method of communication with the JRA, find it useful. The majority of participating citizens have expressed that they perceive this method of communication with the JRA to be useful, however, the researcher argues that this method cannot be seen as an appropriate method due to the internet access constraints that the citizens in the City of Johannesburg experience, which prevents the majority of citizens from having access to Twitter as a communication tool. The interviewed staff argued that communicating with citizens on Twitter, a public platform, makes them feel more accountable and makes the process more transparent, while admitting that in some instances they have to lie to citizens when there are problems experienced. Therefore, the researcher concludes that the JRA has not fully utilised the opportunities that Twitter has to offer to realise participatory communication between the public service providers and citizens.Item The use of social media business tools by SMEs in Gauteng, South Africa(2019) Maphathe, Tlalane LeahSocial media platforms have business tools that businesses can use to maximise their interaction with new and potential customers. In addition, these business tools to make it easier to market products and services exponentially if adopted well. Therefore, social media marketing has become extremely important for any business trying to grow and adapt to the digital world. Through social media business tools, brands are able to trace what is working for their business as well as co-create products with customers in order to best serve them. This emphasises Mark Granovetter’s philosophy on the strength of weak ties. Currently most SMEs in South Africa fail within two to three years of operating. Some of the reasons to this failure rate include lack of access to market, lack of funding as well as poor marketing of the business. Using social media business tools allows companies to access great numbers of people that are active on social media platforms world-wide. This makes social media a conducive place for businesses to use in order to access those active, existing and new customers. Customers are every company’s most imperative asset and acquiring more customers improves the performance of a company, which in turn contributes to the growth of the SME. Therefore, SMEs need to understand how to use social media business tools effectively in order to be able to increase their customer acquisition. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the use of social media business tools on SME performance specifically focusing on increased customer acquisition. The study adopted a quantitative and positivist manner. A survey was distributed through an online survey link, emails as well as physical hand-outs. The study showed a positive perspective of SMEs in terms of using social media business tools to increase their customer-base. The findings of this paper contribute to the knowledge of SME growth and social media.Item Investigating whether Twitter plays any role in SABC’s television news production and if so how(2018) Trengove, IzabelThe internet and social media have changed news production. Consumer are now also potential producers of information that is available mostly free, anytime, anywhere, and everywhere. This has had a dramatic effect on traditional media who now compete with their former audience to produce news. It has weakened traditional media’s power to determine the public agenda. The social media platform Twitter enables its users instantly to create and disseminate news as it happens to many consumers. This has inspired ongoing research studies that examine Twitter’s role in news creation. This study focuses on SABC, South Africa’s only public broadcaster. It examines whether Twitter, despite SABC News not yet having adopted an official social media policy, nonetheless influences SABC News production and, if so, how. It applies key tenets of sociology of news and agenda-setting theory to answer these two key research questions. The findings conclude that Twitter has impacted on news production at the SABC. Twitter is regarded as an important tool in SABC’s news production and has affected journalistic routines and practices, and content decision making.Item Usin social media for learning in the FET phase(2019) Seedat, SafiyyaThe use of information and communication technology (ICTs) has been increasing in the educational domain since the early 2000s. This study aimed to explore how an app, such as WhatsApp, which was not designed for teaching and learning is influencing the educational domain. Purposeful sampling was used in which 9 grade 11 educators and 70 grade 11 learners from a small private school in Johannesburg were selected to complete questionnaires regarding their use of social networking for teaching and learning. Axial coding was used to analyse their responses of how they are utilising social networking in an educational domain. The study found that learners and educators are using social networking groups more for the sharing of subject related information, rather than for engaging in meaningful discussions about the content which fosters a constructivist approach to learning. However, these social networking groups have the potential to create communities of practices amongst educators and learners which can be beneficial for learning as well as for the social well-being of learners as it creates a sense of community and belonging. This study recommended that further research needs to be conducted in terms of learners’ attainment and the use of social networking groups for teaching and learning, as well as learners social wellbeing and the use social networking groups for learning and teachingItem Effective ways South African brands can market on instagram to influence purchase intentions: a user's perspective(2018) Rambarun, Simone NicoletteBackground - Although Instagram is one of the fastest growing social network sites, research dedicated to this platform has been limited. Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate how South African brands could optimally utilise Instagram as a marketing channel that positively influences consumer buying behaviour. Research Methodology/Approach – A quantitative approach was used for this study. Research data was collected using an online survey, with a total of two hundred and seventeen South African Instagram users who made up the final sample. Findings – The outcomes confirmed that all hypothesised statements were significant and thus, accepted. The main findings further revealed that user perspectives played a valuable role in the co-creation process and reiterated that types of content (on Instagram) positively affected the study’s constructs; customer engagement, brand awareness and electronic-word-of-mouth. In addition, these constructs proved to positively impact consumer purchase intentions. Research limitations – The present study focuses on a niche sample which consists of South African Instagram users only. It is recommended that future researchers incorporate a global user perspective from Instagram users across the world, to determine other key factors that might positively impact consumer purchasing behaviour. Managerial implications – Marketing practitioners spend a significant amount of time in determining the driving forces that boost sales. The verified relationships between types of content, brand awareness, customer engagement and electronic-word-of-mouth reiterates the need for all stakeholders to incorporate Instagram as a powerful channel of marketing in their social media strategies.Item The virtualization of the church: new media representations of Neo-Pentecostal performance(s) in South Africa(2016) Khanyile, Sphesihle BlessingThe advent of new media, more specifically social media, has galvanized and radically revolutionized how religion is experienced, lived and expressed in (South) Africa. Social media has transmogrified the orthodox and normative modes of religious engagement and interaction. Day-to-day religious practices have become highly reliant on the (new) media. It is only logical therefore to foreground and locate the (new) media within the deeper inquiries relating to social phenomenon and social life. Social media has become the benchmark for understanding the transitions with regards to conceptualizing social phenomenon like Neo-Pentecostalism, which in recent times has taken the African continent by storm. This study explores how church performances and practices of controversial South African Neo-Pentecostal church End Time Disciples Ministries, led by notoriously shady and delinquent Prophet Penuel are represented on Facebook. The study is interested in analysing the online representations of church performance of this particular church. Moreover, the study committed at understanding how audiences (those who engage and interact on Facebook page) decode and interpret the messages and representational exhibitions disseminated through the church’s Facebook page. Through the employment of a rigorous Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA), both visual and lexical semiotic choices on the Facebook page were analysed in order to demystify discursive, ideological and investments of power. It must be lamented that the intersections between religion and new/social media have been marginally ignored within qualitative epistemic inquiries. This study provides a breath of fresh air in that regard. The current status quo enlightens us that social relations have become vehemently digitized. It is therefore relevant and expedient for digital platforms to be taken seriously within sociological intellectual inquests. Church performances are receiving great impetus and potency on new/social media domains but minimal scholastic investment has been channelled in that direction. The End Time Disciple Ministries Facebook page is a platform where the most salient and non-salient representational projects of violence, power, exploitation, manipulation, hegemony, patriarchy are exhibited for public broadcast and consumption.Item The relationship between passion for the cause and sense of virtual community in a Facebook-based cause-related virtual community(2016) Conradie, BruceOur understanding of the psychological construct of sense of community has been developing steadily, particularly since the publication of the seminal work by McMillan and Chavis (1986). Pertinent to this study, the sense of community construct has been applied to the virtual world, leading to the concept of sense of virtual community (SoVC), that is, a sense of community felt by members of a virtual community. This study synthesises the findings of the extant literature to build a multi-dimensional model of sense of community. Moving to a specific context, this study examines SoVC among members of cause-related virtual communities. Examples of such communities can be found in the Facebook communities that have developed around the various branches of the Red Cross and of World Vision. Among members of such communities, some level of support for the mediating cause organisation can be presumed to exist. This is referred to in this dissertation as Passion for the Cause (PFC). Empirical and theoretical work on the interaction between SoVC and PFC is lacking. This study investigates the extent to which SoVC and PFC are associated and seeks to bring clarity to the nature of the association. The research instrument was an online self-completion survey. The Facebook pages of South African cause organisations were used to invite community members to complete the survey. Respondents were participants in the Facebook-based communities of South African cause organisations (n = 67). The research instrument included a scale for SoVC (12 items) and a scale for PFC (6 items). An exploratory factor analysis was done to identify the latent factors of SoVC in this context. Adequate support was found for the conceptualisation of three factors of SoVC, namely, General Benefit, Friendship, and Helping. This was followed by a series of multiple regression analyses aimed at testing the relationships between PFC and SoVC and its factors. SoVC and PFC were found to be highly correlated. Furthermore, PFC was found to significantly predict SoVC. It was also found to predict the SoVC factor conceptualised as General Benefit. Finally, SoVC was found to predict PFC. Notably, PFC was found to be less able to predict SoVC than was SoVC able to predict PFC. Implications for the moderators of cause-related virtual communities are discussed.