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Computerization, digitalization and datafication are by far no neutral or self-dependent occurrences. They are, to a large degree, co-determined by heterogeneous actors who reflect about, construct, configure, manipulate or even control media. The contributors to this issue put the spotlight on these actors and investigate how they influence, shape and (re)configure broader social constellations. Instead of exploring what people do with media, the articles focus on the many ways individuals, civil society initiatives, corporations and social movements act on media. The notion of acting on media denotes the efforts of a wide range of actors to take an active part in the molding of media organizations, infrastructures and technologies that are part of the fabric of everyday life. Therefore, by conceptualizing acting on media as a form of political action, the issue aims to contribute to ongoing discussions on the media practice paradigm.

This article presents a qualitative study of ICT use among Finnish young people attending training programmes for youth outside employment and education. The data come from six focus group interviews and three individual interviews, as well as a single focus group interview with involved supervisors. The data was analyzed using McQuail’s (1983) theory regarding the motives for individual media use. The results show that the young people use ICT primarily for entertainment, but their use is diverse. Young people choose the tools and dimensions for interaction that best fulfill their needs, blending together ingredients from both online and offline sources. Unlike previous research, young people in this study stated that they prefer talking to someone face-to-face about severe (health-related or emotional) problems. If social and youth services want to meet young people on their own terms, both online and offline services are needed.

The advent of social media can be seen both as a risk and an opportunity by armed forces. Previous research has primarily examined whether or not the use of social media endangers or strengthens armed forces’ strategic narrative. We examine armed forces’ perceptions of risks and opportunities on a broad basis, with a particular focus on areas of deployment. The article is based on a survey of perceptions of social media amongst the armed forces of EU member states, thus adding to previous research through its comparative perspective. Whereas previous research has mainly focused on larger powers, such as the US and the UK, this article includes the views of the armed forces of 26 EU states, including several smaller nations. In analyzing the results we asked whether or not risk and opportunity perceptions were related to national ICT maturity and the existence of a social media strategy. The analysis shows that perceptions of opportunities outweigh perceptions of risks, with marketing and two-way communication as the two most prominent opportunities offered by the use of social media. Also, armed forces in countries with a moderate to high ICT maturity emphasize social media as a good way for marketing purposes. (author's abstract)

The article is devoted to the influence of media and communication technologies on society. Main dates and researches are described. Several social risks of using virtual communication networks are mentioned.

The aim of this study is to examine new media competencies of the members of the Serbian academic community in relation to their digital participation (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, forums and message boards). The questionnaire has a high representativeness coefficient of KMO=.90, while the questionnaire as a whole has a high reliability of .91. The results indicate that there is a significant correlation between the respondents’ digital participation and almost all NML components. The greatest contribution of this study is in overcoming the empirical and theoretical dilemmas about the relationship and interactions between the modern man and social networks within the digital environment. Our research shows that there is a positive correlation between the respondents’ participation in digital social networks and new media literacy.

Objective During a disease outbreak, media serve as primary transmitters of information from public health agencies to the public, and have been shown to influence both behavior and perception of risk. Differences in news frequency, framing and information source can impact the public's interpretation of risk messages and subsequent attitudes and behaviors about a particular threat. The media's framing of an outbreak is important, as it may affect both perception of risk and the ability to process important health information. Methods To understand how risk communication by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the 2014 Ebola outbreak was framed and delivered and to what extent primetime broadcast news media mirrored CDC's framing and authoritative voice, 209 CDC communications and primetime broadcast transcripts issued between July 24 and December 29, 2014 were analyzed and coded by thematic frame and authoritative voice. Dominant frame and voice were determined for each month and for overall period of analysis. Results Medical frame was dominant in CDC (60%), Anderson Cooper 360 (49%), The Rachel Maddow Show (47%) and All In with Chris Hayes (47%). The human interest frame was dominant in The Kelly File (45%), while The O'Reilly Factor coverage was equally split between sociopolitical and medical frames (28%, respectively). Primetime news media also changed dominant frames over time. Dominant authoritative voice in CDC communications was that of CDC officials, while primetime news dominantly featured local and federal (non-CDC) government officials and academic/medical experts. Conclusion Differences in framing and delivery could have led the public to interpret risk in a different way than intended by CDC. Overall, public health agencies should consider adapting risk communication strategies to account for a dynamic news environment and the media's agenda. Options include adapting communications to short-form styles and embracing the concept of storytelling., Highlights • Analyzes frames in CDC's primetime news risk communications during Ebola outbreak. • CDC consistently used medical frames and “CDC official” voices. • Primetime news predominantly used human interest, sociopolitical, and medical frames. • Primetime news dominantly used local/federal officials, academic/medical experts. • Framing differences could impact risk perception, attitudes, and subsequent behaviors.

Can political communication specialists benefit from developments in social media intelligence in the business sphere? The corporate world and management studies academics have focused a significant amount of attention on translating online data into actionable intelligence about consumer behavior. At the same time, political scientists are increasingly using online data to test and refine a range of theories, particularly relating to public opinion and voting behavior. This paper, which reports on a joint management/political communication seed grant project from the ADVANCE program at the University of Maryland, explores the extent to which each field can usefully inform the other. We used the early primary campaigns for the U.S. 2016 presidential elections as a case study, finding that Republicans did not establish brand elements of their campaigns on their own websites. We used a broader study of the media ecosystem and brands in election campaigns, finding that traditional media outlets continue to play a large role in amplifying and spreading particular political ‘brand’ elements (e.g. Trump’s immigration stance) in ways that overwhelmed attempts by both seasoned and novice presidential campaigns to attract voter attention in a crowded race. Social media then amplified this brand. Thus, social media intelligence and branding can be a useful part of understanding political brands, but only when this intelligence is deployed within a broader analysis of media ecosystems. We suggest a campaign message flow model for measuring and analyzing how ideas packaged as ‘brands’ can be tracked in a media ecosystem. We also consider the relationship between extremism and media, suggesting that British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s conviction that the mass media gave credence to extremism through the “oxygen of publicity” may be the most relevant model for understanding the role of the media in the 2016 U.S presidential elections. Ultimately, our cross-disciplinary approach to social media intelligence holds promise in analyzing how candidate brands/messages are remediated through the legacy media and how these brands/messages resonate among voters.

The term “Native Advertising” in the marketing sense has been characterised as an “advertising evolution”, and it is usually considered to belong to the group of new marketing tools. However, due to the subtle way in which it presents “editorial” content in the media, PR practitioners are increasingly describing native advertising as one of the most desirable PR tools. Guided by this situation, in this paper, the authors compare theoretical knowledge on advertising with Native Advertising as a new and innovative form of advertising, and connect it with application in the field of public relations. The obtained results of the comparison are contrasted with the opinions of six experts who have been working in the media, marketing agencies and PR agencies. By means of in-depth interviews, they present diverse takes on Native Advertising as a new advertising form, that is, a new PR tool. By comparing their opinions, the authors prove that Native Advertising is primarily a marketing tool that, due to its secondary (promotional) function, serves as support to PR activities, and not vice versa.

Purpose Social media usage is becoming ubiquitous across the world and communicators, either corporate, independent or activist are increasingly adopting the new medium. This chapter focuses on the uses of social media for marketing communications, in particular for public relations and corporate social responsibility (CSR) by Pfizer’s European offices. In doing so it evaluates the relationship between public relations and CSR as well as reviews some of the uses of social media for healthcare communications and CSR. Methodology/approach Using a deductive approach and a methodology that combines qualitative content analysis aimed at identifying communication themes and social media audits on brand integration and communication coherence, this chapter aims to identify how Pfizer’s European offices use social media to communicate online. To establish the corporate line and branding general guidelines for Pfizer, we have recorded from the company’s official website (www.pfizer.com) its corporate overview and corporate responsibility information, embedded into the ‘About us’ section of the website. From the home page, social media links were then sought. To ensure all links were recorded the researchers used two gateways, one using the social media links on the website and one through each country’s website and their social media links on their home page. The Pfizer official accounts were excluded from this analysis, the interest being on the country uses of social media and not Pfizer’s official general channels. General traffic and engagement data automatically reported by each social media platforms such as number of tweets, followers, fans, and number of views were recorded manually. For more insight into Twitter activity FollerMe was then used to capture and record each account’s most recent activity as it enabled the discovery of each account’s creation date and the most frequently used words and hashtags in its tweets. It also helped assess the levels of performance of each country on Twitter by looking at the reported ratios of replies, mentions, tweets with links, hashtags or media to the last 100 tweets sent from the each account. For Facebook and YouTube data, only the publicly reported data was recorded. The text in the Twitter bios and about sections was also recorded and compared with the company’s corporate and CSR descriptions included on the main website. Findings Out of the 20 countries that do have a Pfizer country office, only 10 of them have a social media presence. Turkey and Spain have four social media channels each and Belgium has three. All the other countries are present on only one social media platform. They show an overall integration and coordination of messages with themes mirrored from one platform to another. The channels also show an overall compliance and consistency with the brand, most of them displaying bespoke backgrounds, bios and links to the country website. When it comes to social media integration, the accounts are poorly integrated and interlinked. Moreover, although social media provides a platform for dialogue, two out of the three platforms analysed have very little user interaction. This high concern for message control can be indicative of a variety of elements: a lack of certainty/security in handling social media, a risk-averse attitude towards social media, a lack of training of staff about how to handle social media or perhaps a lack of resources. The platforms used have all different functions and address different target audiences. YouTube proves to excel as a public information/CSR medium for the general public, the most popular content fitting into those categories. Twitter is a corporate communications environment by excellence, a true mouth-piece of the organization. Finally, Facebook is Pfizer’s user engagement environment but within Pfizer’s own comfort and rules, the presence of a policy document making the boundaries of communication very clear. Research limitations/implications Although looking only at one company and its social media communication practices and although it uses only publicly reported data, this chapter raises a variety of questions about the use of social media by big, multinational corporations, the resources they allocate and the amount to which they perceive these channels as anything more than just another company mouth-piece. It also raises questions about how companies choose to portray themselves on social media in comparison to joining conversations, commenting on current trends and celebrating their partners and employees. Perhaps future research could explore these aspects in more depth. Practical implications and originality/value Pfizer who declares itself the ‘world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company’ is currently among the most influential companies in the world, occupying currently the 148th position in the Global Fortune 500 list. Due to its position within the industry, Pfizer has been the subject of previous research materials including marketing and health communications; however, no study yet has analysed Pfizer’s uses of social media. By analysing the social media communications of Pfizer in Europe and by pointing to the inconsistencies between country accounts, this chapter raises further questions about social media strategy and its implementation by corporations.

Normatively, media functions as a means of conveying information, education, andentertainment as well as controlling and relating the society. On the basis of its function,media has a chance to build a direct communication with the society so that it has a strategicposition that may give benefits not only to the social aspect, but also to economic and politicalaspects.One way to develop communication with the public is through soap opera program.This TV program is chosen since it can highly attract public interest. In the point of view ofmedia industry, public or audience are considered as customers who have to be served by theproducer. The more the customers are satisfied, the more the producer gets benefit. One themeof soap operas that can highly attract public interest is religion-related theme.It reflects the normative society understanding of religion. As a result, the religiousmessage contained in the soap operas is very formal. Moreover, since it can highly attractpublic attention, it can be utilized by media industry to get as much profit as they can and itdoes not function to give education and wholesome entertainment.

On April 5, 2013, under the Plan for Children and Adolescents 2013-2016, the adoption of new Self-regulatory codes on audiovisual content on the part of the media was announced. On January 14, 2013 the first Co-regulation Agreement applicable to broadcast advertising was signed by radio service providers. Proper assessment of instituting these codes requires previous analysis of more than one issue, one being the reason for applying these instruments to the audiovisual market, and another being an analysis and evaluation regarding the characteristics of the digital audiovisual market. This study delves deep into said aspects for the purpose of evaluating the future application of self-regulation and of co-regulation to the media sector within Spain.