Exploring socialities on Black Twitter: an ethnographic study of everyday concerns of South African users in 2018 and 2019
- Authors: Adebayo, Binwe
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Twitter (Firm) , Social media South Africa , Social media and society South Africa , Black people and mass media South Africa , Language and the Internet South Africa , Mass media and culture South Africa , Race in mass media , Ethnicity in mass media , Mass media and minorities South Africa , Mass media Social aspects South Africa , Sex differences in mass media , Social media Political aspects South Africa , South Africa Social conditions , Finance In mass media , Intersectionality (Sociology) South Africa , Black Twitter
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140575 , vital:37900
- Description: In this thesis, I examine the phenomenon of Black Twitter, as it exists in South Africa. Drawing on its socio-cultural and linguistic elements, I analyse the kinds of socialities which are constituted on the platform. In the study, I do this by focusing on the key issues which drive the space by evaluating the key everyday concerns as expressed by its users. As such, the overarching lens focuses on three elements: Firstly, the idea of socialities and the way in which they manifest in online spaces; a focus on the everyday as an important site for social inquiry; and lastly the issue of ‘blackness’, in terms of the way it is used and understood in the South African Black Twitter context. Historically, the Black Twitter space has been linked almost exclusively to its broad base of African American users, who are significant both in terms of their numbers, and their impact on online social culture. However, in this study I engage with the ways in which Black Twitter has been adopted, co-opted and used by young South Africans. As a bona fide ‘member’ of South African Black Twitter, my approach to the study was cyberethnographic. Drawing on my access to the space, my knowledge of many of its members and dynamics, I engaged in participant observation as my primary methodology. My discussion focuses on three areas of everyday concerns, namely: gender and sexuality; race and politics; finances and the economy. These three areas emerge both as prominent sites of discussion, but also give the best insight into the ways in which young South Africans are grappling with these issues. My analysis focuses on how everyday concerns are handled on the platform, and I focus on the deployment of solidarity, formal language, platform-based language and the invocation of blackness. I argue in my conclusion that while the structure of the broad Black Twitter space reflects a leaning towards a digital public sphere, that the process and construction of Black Twitter’s ideas and content are approached via an incomplete, fluid convivial approach.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Students’ perceptions towards the influences of social media on students’ academic engagement at a tertiary institution: a case study on the use of Facebook and Twitter at Rhodes University
- Authors: Moongela, Harry
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Facebook (Firm) , Twitter (Firm) , Social media in education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Motivation in education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Education, Higher -- Effect of technological innovations on -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Rhodes University
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60730 , vital:27823
- Description: The use of social media has become an integral part of student’s academic lives and has had an impact on students’ academic engagement in tertiary institutions. Subsequently, researchers have shown an interest in investigating the impact of social media on students’ academic engagement. Despite the fact that researcher have shown interest, there still remains a limited number of studies that have discussed the effects of social media on students’ academic engagement, particularly within a South African context. Also, studies that have been carried have revealed limited and mixed findings. This study then aims to further investigate whether the exposure of students to social media has an effect on their academic engagement and how tertiary institutions together with students can use social media to improve students’ academic engagement. A qualitative research method using an interpretive (inductive) approach is carried out to find out students’ perceptions towards the use of social media and its influence on students’ academic engagement. The study then reveals recommendations from students’ perceptions on the effective ways of using social media to benefit students’ academic engagement in tertiary institutions.
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- Date Issued: 2018