https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1354856520930905   New articles



                                       Social Media Research

                                Spring 2021 Friday 8:00 AM MS Teams


Lecturer: Tae-Sik Kim, PhD

Office Hour: Wed 1:30 – 4:00 PM & Fri 10:30 – 12:00 PM

Contact Information: beinkid@mail.muni.cz Office. 5. 50

Ø Course Objectives

This course examines the sociocultural impacts of social media, the most advanced form of human
communicative technology. Grounded in the understanding of the relationship between technology and
society, this course looks closely at technological features of social media as well as the
cultural consequences of mediated interactions among people. The course then turns to particular
issues in relation to the uses of social media. By reading a variety of research articles assigned
in the course and participating in class discussions, students learn to develop their own research
projects focusing on social media and its sociocultural impacts.

§  Comprehend the relationship between technology and society.

§  Understand various social impacts of social media.

§  Review and analyze a variety of research articles on social media.

§  Find important themes and methods of social media research

§  Lead insightful discussions.

§  Develop a research project by applying sociocultural experiences.


Ø Syllabus

Week 1. Course introduction

Week 2. Technology and culture

Week 3. What is Social Media?

Week 4. Qualitative Research Online (First Response Paper Due: Midnight 26. March)


Week 5. Journalism & Politics in the age of Social Media

Week 6. Social (media) Activism

Week 7. Social Media and Cultural Capitalism

Week 8. Topic Presentation: My Research Plan (Second Response Paper Due: Midnight 23. April)

Week 9.  Social Media Platform Capitalism

Week 10. Social Media and Visual Communication

Week 11. Social Media for the Old and the Young

Week 12. Research Preparation (Third Response Paper Due: Midnight 21. May)

Week 13. Class Conference.

Ø Teaching Methods

The format of the course is a combination of brief lectures and controlled discussions of various
assigned readings.

All students are expected to read all articles assigned and to develop appropriate discussion
questions. Each student is a discussion leader for an assigned week.

Students submit a research paper (topic of student’s choice in consultation with instructor;
minimum 20 pages including references, figures, and tables).

Ø Assessment Methods

·         Attendance: 3 unexcused absences during a semester shall be denied academic credit

v  Essay (150 x 3 = 450)

ü  Essay on related topics with 2 discussion questions.

ü Due dates are indicated above

ü No Late Paper Accepted

·         One Discussion Leader (50)

·         A Topic Presentation (100): Research Plan and Outline

·         Research Paper (400): Due- Midnight, Monday 28. June. 2021 (Late Paper – Subtract 5% for
each day after the due date)

Total: 1000

A: 900-1000  B: 800-899  C: 700-799  D: 600-699  E: 500-599  F:       -499

Ø Study Materials

Week 2. Technology and culture

·         McLuhan, M. “Understanding Media” Introduction, Chapter 1, and 2

·         Mumford, L. “Technics and Civilization” Introduction and Chapter 1


Week 3. What is Social Media

·         Boyd, D. (2014). It's complicated: The social lives of networked teens. Yale University
Press. Introduction, CHAPTER 1 & 2  (- p 76)

·         Burkell, J., Fortier, A., Wong, L. L. Y. C., & Simpson, J. L. (2014). Facebook: Public
space, or private space?. Information, Communication & Society, 17(8), 974-985


Week 4. Qualitative Research Online

·         Gerber, H. R., et. al. (2017). Conducting Qualitative Research of Learning in Online
Space. Chapter 1 & 6


Week 5. Journalism & Politics in the age of Social Media

·         Sunstein, C. R. (2018). # Republic: Divided democracy in the age of social media.
Princeton University Press. CHAPTER 3 & 4


·         Mele, N., Lazer, D., Baum, M., Grinberg, N., Friedland, L., Joseph, K., ... & Mattsson,
C. (2017). Combating Fake News: An Agenda for Research and Action.


Week 6. Social (media) Activism

·         Marcks, H., & Pawelz, J. (2020). From Myths of Victimhood to Fantasies of Violence: How
Far-Right Narratives of Imperilment Work. Terrorism and Political Violence, 1-18.

·         Agur, C., & Frisch, N. (2019). Digital disobedience and the limits of persuasion: Social
media activism in Hong Kong’s 2014 Umbrella Movement. Social Media+ Society, 5(1),
2056305119827002.


Week 7. Social Media and Cultural Capitalism

·         Polson, E, (2016). Privileged Mobilities. Peter Lang. P1-52

Week 9. Social Media Platform Capitalism

·         Srnicek, N. (2017). Platform Capitalism. Verso.  Pp 1-92.


Week 10. Social Media and Visual Communication

·         Baulch, E., & Pramiyanti, A. (2018). Hijabers on Instagram: Using visual social media to
construct the ideal Muslim woman. Social Media+ Society, 4(4), 2056305118800308.

·         Kim, T-S. (2015) Defining the Occupy Movement: Visual Analysis of Facebook Profile Images
Posted by Local Occupy Movement Group, Visual Communication Quarterly, 22(3), 174-186

Week  11. Social Media for the Old and the Young (Choose 3 articles to read)

·         Rosales, A., & Fernández-Ardèvol, M. (2020). Ageism in the era of digital
platforms. Convergence, 26(5-6), 1074-1087

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