Browsing by Subject "social media"
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(2021)Several studies have stated that social media has the potential to promote sustainable lifestyles. The purpose of this master’s thesis was to study the contents made by “eco-influencers” who make video blogs about sustainable lifestyles on YouTube. This thesis investigated what topics eco-influencers' videos deal with and what kind of means of argumentation are used. The theoretical background included research on sustainable lifestyles and consumption as well as the potential role of social media in promoting sustainable lifestyles. The study was conducted as a qualitative study and the video material was collected from YouTube according to criteria defined by the researcher. The channels of 20 influencers were selected for the final data. From each channel 1-2 videos were selected. At the end, a total of 39 videos were selected. The material was selectively transcribed, and that text served as the basis for the data-driven content analysis. The results show that the contents of the videos emphasize sustainable consumption and responsibility, especially individual responsibility. However, the videos had only a little content about the three most important aspects of a sustainable lifestyle: housing, mobility, and food. According to eco-influencers, sustainable lifestyles are closely linked to the concept of well-being. Sustainable consumption was considered a very important aspect of sustainable living. Eco-influencers mainly use their own experience, opinions, and comparison as a means of argumentation in their videos. Often the arguments were not substantiated with many scientific references. The results suggest that eco-influencers perceive complex sustainability themes as important but want to communicate them in a way that even laypeople understand. This will also make it easier for more non-experts to approach the matter and change their lifestyles. Justifying arguments with opinions and personal experiences can be based on the personal, even entertaining, format of the video blog, or on the fact that experiential knowledge or expertise is valued in social media. Based on the contents of the videos examined in this study, it seems unlikely that they would contribute to great lifestyle changes.
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(2022)Continuous development of urban areas poses challenges for sustainable use of resources and the management of complex waste streams. Recycling is seen as a solution for promoting sustainability, especially at the individual-level where waste sorting creates preconditions for successful material recovery operations. Behavior change strategies aim to encourage individuals to implement recycling practices in their daily lives. The effectiveness of behavior change strategies is achieved by broadly influencing capability, opportunity, and motivation to recycle, however, studies claim that many existing strategies are unable to do so. This study aims to gain an understanding in how extensively a municipal recycling service provider’s online communication on social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube) enhances capability, opportunity, and motivation to recycle by communicating about means to overcome recycling barriers. Specifically, the study is interested in examining what types of recycling barriers are addressed in online communication and through which means it aims to deliver assistance for overcoming these barriers. Lastly, this study aims to explore the role of social media platform-based online communication as a channel to promote individual recycling behavior. This study focuses on social media materials published by a municipal service provider in the European Green Capital of 2021. The empirical material builds on a set of data collected from public and locatable online sources. The analysis includes 96 different types (pictural, textual, video) of recycling-themed online content. The data was analyzed by conducting qualitative content analysis. The results indicated that online communication addresses a broad range of recycling barriers. The most common means to overcome these was information provision through which the company aimed to increase knowledge and understanding of recycling practices. Although information provision alone is claimed to be insufficient to profoundly change behavior, results showed that it could serve as a means to generate a broad influence on areas behind behavior formation. The result of this study suggests that social media platforms as channels for online communication have the potential to create preconditions for overcoming recycling barriers especially through the means of information provision. The development of more profound recycling behavior, however, needs to include a broader range of collaborative information, motivation, and engagement elements that could engage and encourage people to implement more profound recycling behavior. This calls for future research that discovers means to stimulate behavior formation widely to support overcoming recycling barriers and the implementation of profound recycling behavior in everyday lives.
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(2020)Meat consumption in the world is increasing, which has significant negative effects on the ongoing climate change. There is a need to make people change their diets towards more plant-based. One of the problems is that there is a negative atmosphere around veganism and vegans that prevents the change. In order to get people more plant-based, that negative atmosphere around veganism and vegans should be reduced. The aim of this study is to find out what kind of arguments are used against veganism and vegans, and what rhetorical strategies are used in these arguments. Previous studies have shown that there is still a strong belief that meat is a necessary part of the diet to keep one healthy. Studies also show, that the reason people do not change their diets can be attitudinal, for example that people think they are meant to eat meat, or practical, for example that there is not enough information available. The material for this study is from the Finnish online discussion forum Suomi24 and consists of messages that are against veganism and vegans. The Suomi24 data was retrieved from the KORP interface, where it was possible to search messages related to veganism. There is no information about the people behind the messages, because they are anonymous on the forum. The material was analysed with content analysis and strengthened with rhetorical analysis. Categorization was part of the analysis and categories were coded to the material in the Atlas.ti program. As a result, there were seven main categories and 28 sub-categories under two parent categories. The most common arguments against veganism and vegans were related to health, vegans as individuals and how vegans act. The most commonly used rhetorical strategies were factual argumentation, categorization, extreme expression and taking distance from one’s own interests. As a conclusion, to be able to increase plant-based food in people’s diets, more available information is needed, and positive encouragement without incrimination to build up an attractive atmosphere around veganism and vegans.
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