Tweet, tweet, tweet: A content analysis of nonprofit organizations’ Twitter updates

Many of the relationship cultivation strategies and the dialogic principles assume symmetrical communication is taking place. However, significant amounts of information are shared in a one-way manner. Although they have fallen out of favor with many academics, the four models of public relations can provide significant insights into how organizations communicate. Using the models as the guiding framework, this brief study examines how nonprofit organizations from the Philanthropy 200 communicate on Twitter. The findings reveal that the organizations are more likely to use one-way models despite the potential for dialogue and community building on the social networking site.     

Gender Differences and Communication Technology Use Among Emerging Adults in the Initiation of Dating Relationships

For many emerging adults, initiating and developing a romantic relationship is likely to be very different from the experiences of previous generations. Many studies address the abundant use of technology among young adults in virtually every aspect of their lives. Few studies, however, have investigated the use of communication technology and its impact on how relationships are discovered, initiated, and maintained among this group. Researchers collected data from 1,003 young adults (ages 18–25 years) through an online survey about communication technology use and dating behaviors. Results were analyzed using chi-square tests to assess for differences between groups. Findings suggest significant differences between men and women and their use of communication technology during the initiation of dating relationships. Additionally, young adults believe that “talking,” “hanging out,” and “sharing intimate details” are more important when compared with using communication technologies to establish a relationship. The information yields valuable understanding about the role communication technology plays in the intimate relationship development of emerging adults.     

Business-centered versus socially responsible corporate diversity communication. An assessment of stakeholder (dis)agreement on Twitter

This study assessed the business-centered and CSR-centered diversity communication of five American corporations along with the ensuing responses on the microblogging platform Twitter, the present analysis contributes to the literature on online diversity communication and public relations. The results revealed that companies that had long-term consistency in approaching diversity as CSR received more agreeable responses than those that made swift changes in the aftermath of increased pressure from activist groups. In addition, companies that communicated to a greater degree about the impact of diversity on the bottom line engendered higher user agreement than those who discussed diversity primarily from a CSR perspective.The results shed light on the importance of message consistency throughout longer periods of time.     

Early Women,Late Men: Timing Attitudes and Gender Differences in Marriage

Around the world, women marry earlier than men, but it is not well understood why this gender gap exists. Using panel data collected in Nepal, the authors investigate whether attitudes about marital timing held by unmarried youth and their parents account for women marrying earlier than men. They also examine whether the influence of timing attitudes differs by gender. On average, unmarried youth and their parents viewed 20 to 25 as acceptable ages for women to marry, whereas ages 23 to 30 were appropriate for men. In turn, women entering the acceptable marriage age range earlier than men accounted for a third of the gender gap in marital timing. The influence of youth and parents' timing attitudes did differ by gender, but only at the extreme. When they were much too young for marriage, both genders were less likely to marry, but this dampening effect was substantially larger for women.     

Style and Language Use among Youth of the New Immigration: Formations of Race,Ethnicity, Gender,and Class in Everyday Practice

In this article I consider “style” as a linguistic and cultural concept that can demonstrate how identities performed through language use are linked to topics of central concern in studies of immigrant youth, including racial and ethnic formation, generational cohorts, acculturation, assimilation, and gender. I draw on anthropological and sociolinguistic approaches to style not generally considered in migration studies and present ethnographic data of two cliques of Desi (South Asian American) teens in a Northern California high school. I argue that analyses of youth style can substantially complicate assimilation frameworks by highlighting the ways in which young peoples' linguistic practices may not fit neatly into commonly used analytical categories of “immigrant” and “American.” Focusing on how political economy and local histories inform power and difference that shape migration experiences for youth, the article moves beyond routinely examined areas of heritage language retention and loss to analyze the significance of youth performances of heritage languages as well as English.