American Life And Communication From The Telephone To Twitter

Today people are more connected than ever, with mobile technologies allowing people from all over the world to connect within seconds through a wide array of social applications. Trace the history of communication from the start of the Internet age to the birth of the smartphone.

Today people are more connected than ever, with mobile technologies allowing people from all over the world to connect within seconds through a wide array of social applications. Trace the history of communication from the start of the Internet age to the birth of the smartphone.

Twitter has become a household name, discussed both for its role in prominent national elections, natural disasters, and political movements, as well as for what some malign as narcissistic “chatter.” This book takes a critical step back from popular discourse and media coverage of Twitter, to present the first balanced, scholarly engagement of this popular medium. In this timely and comprehensive introduction, Murthy not only discusses Twitter’s role in our political, economic, and social lives, but also draws a historical line between the telegraph and Twitter to reflect on changes in social communication over time. The book thoughtfully examines Twitter as an emergent global communications medium and provides a theoretical framework for students, scholars, and tweeters to reflect critically on the impact of Twitter and the contemporary media environment. The book uses case studies including citizen journalism, health, and national disasters to provide empirically rich insights and to help decipher some of the ways in which Twitter and social media more broadly may be shaping contemporary life.

Xie and Chao present a collection of research on mobile communication in Asian communities and countries such as Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, and South Korea. With chapters written by scholars from diverse cultural and institutional backgrounds, this book provides both localized and comparative perspectives on mobile communication research. Exploring the way mobile apps are used in daily life in Asian countries, Xie, Chao, and their contributors analyze how mobile apps improve lives, help people build relationships, sustain communities, and change society for the better. They look at areas including the role of mobile apps in public service delivery and access, family communication, cultural norms and identities, organizational communication, and intercultural communication. The investigation of these topics elevates the understanding of the cultural, familial, interpersonal, organizational, and intercultural consequences of mobile communication in a global context. Through examining mobile apps use in regard to scale, scope, depth, complexity, and distinctiveness within the Asian context, this book furthers the research agenda of mobile communication and enriches our understanding of current practice and future direction of mobile communication. This book serves as a useful reference for scholars and students interested to learn more of the development and application of mobile communication from a global and comparative perspective.

Politics and the Twitter Revolution: How Tweets Influence the Relationship between Political Leaders and the Public by John H. Parmelee and Shannon L. Bichard is the first comprehensive examination of how Twitter is used politically. Surveys and in-depth interviews with political Twitter users answer several important questions, including: Who follows the political leaders on Twitter, and why? How persuasive are political tweets? Is political Twitter use good for democracy? These and other questions are answered from theoretical perspectives, such as uses and gratifications, word-of-mouth communication, selective exposure, innovation characteristics, and the continuity-discontinuity framework. In addition, content analysis and frame analysis illustrate how political leaders' tweets frame their policies and personalities. The findings in Politics and the Twitter Revolution show Twitter to be surprisingly influential on political discourse. Twitter has caused major changes in how people engage politically. Followers regularly take actions that are requested in leaders' tweets, and, in many cases, leaders' tweets shape followers' political views more than friends and family. Other findings raise concerns. For some, Twitter use contributes to political polarization, and there is frequently a disconnect between what followers expect from leaders on Twitter and what those leaders are giving them.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR 'A dystopian odyssey through the dark authoritarian landscape of the modern world' The Times To be born American in the late twentieth century was to take the fact of a particular kind of American exceptionalism as granted – a state of nature arrived at after all else had failed. In the span of just thirty years, this assumption would come crashing down. After the fall, we must determine what it means to be American again. In 2017, as Ben Rhodes was helping Barack Obama begin his next chapter, the legacy they worked to build for eight years was being taken apart. To understand what was happening in America, Rhodes decided to look outwards. Over the next three years, he travelled to dozens of countries, meeting with politicians, activists, and dissidents confronting the same nationalism and authoritarianism that was tearing America apart. Along the way, a Russian opposition leader he spends time with is poisoned, the Hong Kong protesters he comes to know see their movement snuffed out, and America itself reaches the precipice of losing democracy before giving itself a second chance. After the Fall is a hugely ambitious and essential work of discovery. Throughout, Rhodes comes to realize how much America's fingerprints are on a world it helped to shape: through the excesses of the post-Cold War embrace of unbridled capitalism, post-9/11 nationalism and militarism, mania for technology and social media, and the racism that shaped the backlash to the Obama presidency. At the same time, he learns from a diverse set of characters – from Obama to rebels to a rising generation of leaders – how looking squarely at where America has gone wrong only makes it more essential to fight for what America is supposed to be – for itself, and for the entire world.

Terrorism. Why does this word grab our attention so? Propaganda machines have adopted modern technology as a means to always have their content available. Regardless of the hour or time zone, information is being shared by somebody, somewhere. Social media is a game changer influencing the way in which terror groups are changing their tactics and also how their acts of terror are perceived by the members of the public they intend to influence. This book explores how social media adoption by terrorists interacts with privacy law, freedom of expression, data protection and surveillance legislation through an exploration of the fascinating primary resources themselves, covering everything from the Snowden Leaks, the rise of ISIS to Charlie Hebdo. The book also covers lesser worn paths such as the travel guide that proudly boasts that you can get Bounty and Twix bars mid-conflict, and the best local hair salons for jihadi brides. These vignettes, amongst the many others explored in this volume bring to life the legal, policy and ethical debates considered in this volume, representing an important part in the development of understanding terrorist narratives on social media, by framing the legislative debate. This book represents an invaluable guide for lawyers, government bodies, the defence services, academics, students and businesses.

Written in clear, non-technical language, this book explains how employees and employers can maximize internal and external organizational communication—for both personal benefit and to the entity as a whole. Workplace Communication for the 21st Century: Tools and Strategies That Impact the Bottom Line explains and simplifies what organizational communication scholars have learned, presenting this knowledge so that it can be easily applied to generate tangible benefits to employees and employers as they face everyday challenges in the real world. This two-volume work discusses internal organizational and external organizational communication separately, first explaining how communication functions within the confines of a modern organization, then addressing how organizations interact with various stakeholders, such as customers, clients, and regulatory agencies. The expert contributors provide a thorough and insightful view on organizational communication and supply a range of strategies that will be useful to practitioners and academics alike.