Cyberspace Studies

This paper focuses on the role of influencers as an element of modern governance. As the fields of media, entertainment industry, and politics become increasingly interconnected, the phenomenon of influencer potentially affects many aspects of political life, such as campaigning and voting, policymaking, and international affairs. Using the network analysis method and applying a triple typification of influencers consists of media influencers, influencer politicians in power, and influencer opposition politicians out of power, and selecting 245 nodes on Instagram accounts, the article focuses on how do influencers interact within communication networks? Based on the triple typification, the article tries to find the pattern of networked political communications between influencers in the social network. The results prove that all three types of influencers are more interested in intra-group communication. However, both influencer politicians in power and influencer opposition politicians out of power have relatively similar tendencies to associate with media influencers.

The outbreak of Coronavirus disease, 2019 (COVID-19), started in late 2019 and developed into a pandemic by March 2020 and has become a global problem. Following the global outbreak and coronavirus spreading around the world, the WHO reported a statement on January 11, 2020, announcing the new Coronavirus outbreak as the sixth significant public health emergency in the world. In the stressful situation caused by the coronavirus epidemic, many jokes and Humor about this disease were distributed on social networks. In these circumstances, the question arises: Why do some people continue to make jokes about it, despite the mass perception of the coronavirus epidemic? The present research method was qualitative and Strauss and Corbin's version of the grounded theory was used. Participants were included the Telegram Social Network Comic Channel “https://t.me/s/jokcom” Members, which had more than 2879 members and those on Instagram and Twitter members who liked the corona content to the jokes about the covid-19 pandemic inside Iran. Based on the result, we found the effects and consequences of corona jokes. There was several factors involved in shaping the phenomenon of covids jokes. Joke and Humor are like a double-edged sword; in some situation, can be both harmful and helpful.

Unprecedented growth in technology usage has led to the proliferation of e-commerce sites and their adoption globally. However, there are factors hindering the adoption and full exploitation of e-commerce sites in Nigeria. In view of this, this study examined users' perception of selected e-commerce sites in Nigeria, using students of the University of Ilorin as a case study. The population of the study comprised mainly of 5500 students from four faculties selected from the University of Ilorin using a simple random sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used as the main instrument for data collection using descriptive statistics to analyze field data. A Purposive sampling technique was adopted in the selection of students for this study. The sample size comprised of 300 students selected purposively from the four Faculties. Findings revealed that the majority of users patronized e-commerce sites such as Jumia, Konga, OLX, and Jiji. However, users of e-commerce sites raised issues of privacy concerns, low-security awareness, and lack of user education. In conclusion, recommendations were made towards improving the adoption and use of e-commerce sites in Nigeria.

The article presents the results of an aesthetic study of content and visual forms on Instagram, a relatively new social media platform. The study focuses on how the products of digital technology, understood as new artifacts within the postmodern aesthetic framework, have been taken up within the digital culture. The results of the research help us to understand the characteristics of this new social media platform, indicating that Instagram has been highly successful in changing aesthetic criteria and standards and creating new aesthetic forms and content.

Review of “Digital Activism, Community Media, and Sustainable Communication in Latin America”. edited by Cheryl Martens, Cristina Venegas & Franklin Salvio Sharupi Tapuy. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. 358 pp., €85.59 (p/b), ISBN 978-3-030-45393-0