This thesis was written by order of Rud Pedersen Public Affairs Company, a PR- consultancy firm located in Gothenburg. The assignment was to investigate social media in Pr- activities. The thesis is formed by three main categories: _ What is social media? _ Who are using social media? _ How can you use social media in public relations? The information which is being presented in this thesis is based on academic reports, interviews and research on social media blogs and lectures. It is a qualitative approach since the purpose is to get a deeper understanding for the subject in question. Since the principal is especially focusing on political Pr, there are several parts of this thesis which analyses social media in politics. However, most of the analyses are focused on marketing because there is a larger amount of information concerning social media in marketing PR. All through the thesis there is a comparison between Sweden and the United States since social media is well-developed both within American politics and Pr- activities. Summary of findings Social media is the collective name of a number of conversation -focused services on the web such as blogs, social networks and communities. When it comes to field of application, most users use social media for personal reasons but professional networking through social media is becoming more common, especially among men in the ages of 25-40 during the peak of their careers. Women do more frequently visit and use blogs and social networks for personal reasons, and is the dominating group of bloggers in Sweden. When using social media for both political and marketing purposes, one has to be aware of the transparency of social media as well as understanding that social media is not yet another channel for commercials. What social media is all about is basically: _ Dialogue between producer and consumer _ Personal in tone _ The producer is no longer in complete control of his/her published information Companies who have succeeded in their social media marketing have understood the importance of having a personal and honest conversation with their customers. Social media is a long-term relationship building and companies with highly engaged customers are most likely to succeed with social media. Keywords: social media, marketing, politics, PR

Title The media image of homelessness in Gothenburg’s daily press Author Ingrid Karlsson Semester Spring 2010 Tutor Monika Djerf-Pierre Number of pages 73 (14 appendix) Aim The aim is to study the media image of homelessness in Gothenburg’s daily press. Method Qualitative and quantitative method. Material Six interviews with people working for the municipal social administration, three interviews with people working at nongovernmental organizations that work with homeless people, and three interviews with journalists that cover the homelessness issue. 267 articles from the daily press; Göteborgs-Posten and GT. Main result The media image of homelessness is characterized by articles that contain a political discussion. The newspapers tend to attribute causal and treatment responsibility to the society. The study reveals however some deficiencies concerning how to explain the causes of homelessness and also the way of describing the homeless individuals. The journalists take in consideration the problems concerning ethics and the use of sources, and are aware that homelessness is a more interesting topic when something has happened. The organization representatives accept the journalistic assignment but think that the coverage could highlight more concrete descriptions of their work.

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Title: The democratic ideals among the Palestinian journalists Number of pages: 72+4 (appendix) Author: Mats Tiborn Tutor: Jenny Wiik Course: Master essay, Media and Communication Period: Spring 2011 University: Dept. of Journalism, Media and Communication, University of Gothenburg Purpose/ Aim: This essay studies the democracy-supportive journalistic ideals among the Palestinian journalists and compare them with earlier studies on journalistic ideals. The essay also studies what shapes these ideals and what holds them back in the journalist’s work. Material/ Method: The essay is based upon semi-structured deep-interviews with twelve Palestinian journalists that work for different kinds of media, with different background and in different ages. The interviews are based on theories about journalistic ideals and the relationship between democracy and journalism. Main results: The journalists have great knowledge about the democratic functions within journalism. They are driven by idealism and they work for change in the society. The Palestinian cause weighs the most when the ideal of objectivity is put to the test. A well spread self-censorship is inhibiting the democracy-supportive journalistic ideals from fully work. Though the journalists show an impressive strength to keep up the work in a very dangerous situation.

Title: Communicating in unfamiliar territories – A qualitative study of developing a sustainable online communication strategy for UD Trucks in Asia Author: Andreas Rosén 840301-5558 Semester: Spring 2011 Tutor: Annika Bergström Number of pages: 77 (six appendixes) Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create a sustainable online communication strategy Methodology: The methodology used in this thesis is qualitative and quantitative. Key words: Integrated market communication (IMC), B2B communication in Asia, social network sites (SNS) Key findings: In this thesis I have presented a suggestion how a Japanese truck brand should work online. My research indicates that there are some areas that need more attention than others. One of my key findings indicates that UD Trucks has working accordingly to a crisis communication theory from 1963. In order to change this I have suggested numerous steps that I believe are necessary to take and as a result, integrated market communication (IMC), should be utilized and acknowledged for all online marketing activities.

This thesis examines the articulation of marketized philanthropy within the discourse of nonprofit fundraising. The objective is to find out how fundraising works as a discursive practice – how is the world constructed, who and whom are participants in this world, and why should the presumed donor get involved? It does so from a critical approach, connecting the business of fundraising to theories of subpolitics, individualization, consumer power, and the argument that market logics serves a depoliticizing function within this context. The research is done by analyzing the fundraising communication of six major nonprofit organizations in Sweden, working both with national as well as international efforts, through their respective official website. This is done through a discourse analytic approach, initially concentrating on the texts of the websites as communicative events and analyzing them from a predestined set of analytical questions. The analysis is then developed further, on the level of the order of discourse, in four separate but intertwining themes derived from the initial result. The research shows that market logics and language is prominent in the organizational communication, both as discourse of efficiency and individual responsibility, as well as as technique for fundraising. Fundraising efforts and messages are mainly configured around international aid and recipients, as opposed to the national social services that some of the organizations provide. In this context, lack of resources is defined as the root of the problem, but this lack is often referred to in a circle-reasoning fashion where one lack is both the cause and the result of another. The act of giving, or donating, is predominantly constructed as a form of transaction, where the donor buys a commodified version of the idea or efforts of the organization. In this way, the donation becomes a form of political consumerism that situates the donor in a role as a consumer rather than citizen. Freedom of choice and simplicity are traits that are highlighted and promoted in this context. The thesis argues that this development, even though it entails positive re-thinking about agency and power of ‘those in need’, contains problematic aspects when it comes to the way political power relations are constructed. Where individualization serves as a detaching force between participants, and political participation is constructed in such a way that it takes the form of shopping for change, it is hard to find room for perspectives and voices that question the structural problems of capitalist society.

Title You play, we’ll watch – a study about e-sport consumption and community Author Simon Karlsson Semester Spring 2012 Tutor Malin Sveningsson Number of pages 67 (1 appendix) Aim The study aims to explore the motivations and needs behind e-sport consumption and the possible identity construction it entails. Method Qualitative methods: interviews and participant observations. Material Ten interviews with individuals from the barcraft community in Gothenburg, Sweden. Ethnography studies from four locations in total for the e-sport tournament GBG E-sport Open: three from qualifiers and one from the finals. Main results E-sport consumption proved to fill a variety of needs. Affective: To be entertained and experience emotional satisfaction. Social integrative: to connect with friends and other viewers. This proved also to enhance the affective need. Cognitive: better understanding of the game, which then later can be used while playing to enhance ones rank within the ladder. Tension release: to relax from a stressful day. E-sport consumption is preferably done with friends. This consumption with others also leads to a sense of belonging and identity. Outsiders might have a negative opinion about e-sports which also binds the consumers closer together and forms a subculture.

Title (swedish): Läsarkommentarer: Tillgänglighet och nyttjande i lokal dagspress på nätet Title (english): User comments: Availability and Utilization in Online News Affiliated with Local Daily Press Author: Susanne Almgren Supervisor: Mats Ekström Constituent: Dagspresskollegiet (Annika Bergström/Ingela Wadbring) Course: Term Paper in Media and Communication Studies Term: Spring Term 2012 Pages/word count: 91 pages / 38 334 words Objective: To examine the users availability to the user comment feature and how the users utilizes the user comment feature in the context of an online news site affiliated with local daily press. Method: Mixed methods approach, content analysis and discourse analysis Main result: In this context, three out of four news stories (76.5 percent) has been allocated with the user comments feature. The highest availability to the user comment feature was found in news themes covering sports and entertainment, followed by financial news. News stories lacking the user comment feature were mainly found in news themes concerning crimes and accidents. The user comment frequencies are not normally distributed along news stories. On the contrary, 62 percent of the news stories did not get any user comments at all. The other news stories received user comments varying between one and 135. The user comments were highly oriented towards news stories covering the close proximity physical space, both its ordinary changing processes and issues of insecurity. Another news theme that received a high degree of user comments was connected to news stories covering politics in general. After that, the most commented news themes covered issues of health care and education. The news stories selected for the discourse analysis were chosen out of the most commented news stories. They shared the following characteristics: the voices heard in the news stories represented organizational or institutional voices, for example politicians, national union representatives, regional sport association spokesmen and the police. The users added an array of new discourses not represented by the news, by expanding the meaning of the news events in several ways.

Title: Non-conscious Attitudes – a study of young people’s attitudes towards product placement Author: Sissel Hedqvist Course: Term Paper in Media- and Communications Studies Term: Spring Term 2012 Supervisor: Marie Grusell Word count: 23 334 Objective: to find out young people in Sweden’s attitudes towards product placement in film and television series Method: Qualitative in-depth interviews Main result: The research shows that product placement is not a subject that is in the forefront of the respondents’ mind. They are aware of its existence but do not give it much thought, nor is it a subject that they discuss at length with anybody. However, they do see product placement as a necessary tool for the promotion of brands and products. They believe that it is a preferable method compared to traditional advertising, in particular television advertising in some instances. This is mainly the case for products or brands that the respondents have a personal relationship with. The brands that they have a relationship with are also the ones that are most frequently noticed by the respondents. Having said that, the product placement needs to be well integrated into the storyline in order for it to be seen as a positive way of promotion. It will have the opposite effect if the product placement is too noticeable.