Mostly satirising top-of-mind brands, user-generated parody accounts are a phenomenon mostlyassociated with Twitter. As an emerging trend in South Africa, parody accounts using cleverlywrittensatire attract a large and loyal following as social media communities enjoy the sharedpleasure of sharing funny content and the intense positive emotions felt when making fun ofbrands that they care about. Of particular concern is when audiences find parody accounts morehonest, entertaining and authentic compared to the official social media brand account. Moreover,user-generated parody accounts often misappropriate brand identities, thereby not only confusingunsuspecting social media communities but also satirising brand meanings. Correspondingly,social media management teams are faced with a reputational risk or paracrisis, since theemotional resonance of brand reputations are being hijacked. Too often, official responses toparody accounts are knee-jerk responses to take back control, such as aggressive threats andlitigation, easily escalating into angry viral social media backlashes. The purpose of the study wasto establish suitable paracrisis response strategies for parodied brands to maintain emotionallyresonant reputations. Using a synergistic approach to mixed methods in a triangulation design,this study collected and analysed data from a purposive and snowball sample of 207 social mediaexperts. Findings suggested that humorous, tongue-in-cheek banter with user-generated parodyaccounts intended for harmless fun optimise emotionally resonant brand reputations in the ageof parody.
Literature on the use of information and communication technologies(leTs) for developmental purposes at community centres refers to thesecentres in various ways, e.g. as telecentres, telecottages, communityteleservice centres, telecommuting centres, and community technologycentres. This article starts by examining this range of centres, and bydescribing the activities that typically occur at such centres throughoutthe world. An attempt is made to develop a typology of such centres.Of particular interest are community telecentres where leTs are used topromote development in rural areas. This is followed by a list of lessonslearned regarding using leTs effectively for development purposes atrural telecentres. These lessons are illustrated through specific SouthAfrican case studies involving leT usage at rural telecentres.
While social media have offered opportunities for information sharing, creating an interaction among people and organisations including the legal profession, an understanding of how the legal profession intend to use social media to carry out their daily activities is not known. The purpose of this study was to test a model which measured the proposed predictors of intentions to use social media in the legal profession. Hypotheses were formulated and data were collected from 350 respondents employed in the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, National Prosecution Authority, Legal Aid South Africa, Legal Resource Centre and South African Human Rights Commission. Research scales for the study were adapted from previous research and were modified to fit this study's research context. The results indicate that perceived ease of use, perceived reachability and job relevance predict legal profession intentions to use social media. Implications and the implications of the study were discussed.
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