Media and Metamedia Management

The present chapter analyses the three emerging trends in the new organizational forms: deconstruction and fragmentation of value chains, positive and negative polarization based on the competitive advantages of economies of scale; and alter native models for exploiting the digital commons. It therefore analyses the link between metamedia and ecosystems to characterize some new forms of organization and valuation of communication networks and industries.

McLuhan (2009) Comprender los medios de comunicación: las extensiones del ser humano. Barcelona: Paidós, stated that new media were changing our thoughts and senses and, in consequence, our view of the world. The present chapter makes a comprehensive exploration of research on emotions and their effects on the media arena, and reflects on the link between culture, technology, and democracy.

Immediacy has become the dominant future of the networked society. In this new digital universe‚ everything is “installed” in present time; past and future are blurred to build a constant present. Everything takes place in a constant transition around a Moebius strip‚ the temporal space. A space where the timelessness of a “suspended life” is also built‚ and where the “right to oneself” no longer exists. In the digital world‚ people do not belong to themselves‚ they simply “are”. “To be”‚ though‚ does not mean a control over individuality‚ as in every part the whole is reflected‚ and this whole is made up of those parts included in the idea of instant.

Journalism is facing great challenges due to a major restructuring caused, to a large extent, by the emergence of communication and information technologies. While the number of players has been increased, and hence the competitiveness within an increasingly complex scenario, journalism preserves its essence while trying to meet the demands of the digital arena.

The text proposes to review the changes that are taking place in the paradigm of communication (broadcast, production, distribution, storage) and its possible impact on the construction of new models of public service media in the digital era.

The concept of content curation and its application in journalism are introduced. Then, the use of content curation in digital media is analysed using 15 examples of articles that were produced with this technique. The examples are classified according to whether the information in them is retrospective, recent, current or real-time.

Social media are introducing changes into the relationship between the mainstream media and online political activism. In a new context characterized by citizen empowerment, social movements are promoting new models for interacting with journalists. This chapter aims to analyze this phenomenon. To that end, a qualitative methodology has been used, based on in-depth interviews with online political activists and journalists affiliated with the 15M Movement in Spain. The results illustrate the emergence of a new strategy grounded in the overturn of mediatization.

Terrorism is designed to attract attention to the terrorist’s cause and to spread fear and anxiety among wide circles of the targeted population. This paper provides information about the ways terrorists are using the Internet. The threat of terrorism is real and significant. As the Internet became a major arena for modern terrorists, we need to understand how modern terrorism operates and devise appropriate methods to forestall such activities.

The nature of collective mobilisation has profoundly changed with the rise of Web 2.0 and collaborative platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Specifically, Twitter—a public microblogging service—is clearly helping to inform, discuss, announce, and disseminate many types of political, social, or cultural protest or collective mobilisation. The recent decline of bipartisanship in Spain has captured significant attention through the recent sociopolitical debates and messages circulating on Twitter. This chapter is based on an extraction of tweets before, during and after the recent electoral process in Spain. We mined tweets published from 23 November 2015 to 8 February 2016 (the elections took place on 20 December 2015). For the mining process, we used the string ‘20D’ as a search criterion through which tweets about the electoral process in Spain were identified. The dataset for this chapter consists of a sample of 28,261 tweets containing ‘20D’. They were extracted with the help of NodeXL. Our objective through this work is to identify the microdiscourses that appear with ‘20D’, analyse the co-hashtags relationships, and attempt to identify patterns about the types of messages that are mainly disseminated through Twitter. We also detected different communities of hashtags and visualised them through Gephi, which helps us understand how political and social discourses are articulated through visual and textual narratives.

Video games have become one of the most important and profitable mediums of the modern era. They are even considered the most influential form of popular expression and entertainment in today’s broader culture (Jones in The meaning of video games: gaming and textual strategies. Routledge, New York, 2008). Video games have been studied from different points of view (narratological, ludological, sociological, etc.) but not from a “screenological” one, that is, focused on the screen. Following the idea of “screenology” (de Kerckhove in The architecture of intelligence. Birkhäuser, Basel, 2001; de Kerckhove in Inaugural lecture of the UOC 2005–2006 academic year, 2005; Huhtamo in Elements of screenology: toward an archeology of the screen, 2004), this paper aims to provide a first look at how changes in size, design and location of video game screens have transformed the videoludic experience.

The ECHR considers that the interpretation of national courts on the legality of the disciplinary action taken by the employer that justifies the surveillance of Internet communications of the employee in the workplace is in compliance with law. This judgement includes a separate dissenting opinion.

The present paper offers an analysis of the visual coverage of the deaths of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Spanish police inspector Jesus Garcia given by three Spanish newspapers: ABC, El Mundo and La Vanguardia. The study will be the starting point from which additional ideas will be provided to infer conclusions regarding the respect for the victims and their legal protection, as well as to how a predominantly visual culture driven by the expansion and consolidation of the Internet is fostering the increase in violations of the right to privacy by the press.

In the current metamedia context, there is a need of reflection on journalistic thoughts that display content and discourses for social change. In this regard, Prevention Journalism (PJ) is a trend that, in a pioneering way, has the leading role in a Spanish research on the risk management from the communication field. This study introduces a theoretical basis of this journalistic model and quantifies its presence in the daily press and its main magnitudes. Methodologically, this research—in which were reviewed more than 30.000 informative units extracted from 406 copies of a ample of 12 newspapers—employs a mixed methodology: the content analysis and the HJ Biplot multivariate analysis. Among the key conclusions, we can confirm that the risks linked to new technologies, internet and social media are not still part of the Prevention Journalism discourse.

This research is focused on checking the theory about how the application of virtual reality techniques in the audiovisual pieces alters the spectator level of implication with regard to information. To demonstrate, the author revises the academic theory and analyses several audiovisual pieces made with virtual reality. According to the study, journalism trends point to the audiovisual landscape, and they do it with the new technologies on the market. Innovation laboratories of the main European public televisions want to apply virtual reality techniques to their own audiovisual pieces, in order to make information closer to the spectator. Therefore, these new products allow the viewers being an actor of the information or recreated reality thanks to the high immersion level.

The social and economic reality of recent years has led to a series of changes in the media, evolving into new organizational, productive and distributive models. In this new reality, the presence of online media is growing in relation to traditional media, prompting its emergence as an increasingly important site of communicative influence and citizen participation. In Galicia, where the first digital newspaper appeared two decades ago, it is not difficult to perceive a continuous growth of web-native media. Such media has been born as a space that seeks greater diversity and freedom of information, whether in terms of geographical space, editorial models, specialization or language. Moreover, it is in this type of online media where citizen journalism is most present, offering spaces for participation and allowing citizens to be the drivers of many digital web-natives. The objective of this paper is to study this media reality, the trends of its development and its particular characteristics. The research is based on an exploratory study involving the identification and location of web-native media. The relevance of such media throughout the Galician media ecosystem is analyzed by applying both quantitative and qualitative techniques, so as to identify the representative characteristics of web-natives.

Main media are seeking new ways of storytelling with important bets on interactive features, an interpretive in-depth genre, with audiovisual content, interactivity and participation. Within the field of interactive non-fiction digital narratives, we have carried out a research through journalistic main media and informative innovation awards to develop a list of significant features from 2014 and 2015. In a global analysis, we identified a heterogeneous production where features made from a template coexist with more innovative and tailor-made features. In these cases, there is a greater transfer of control to the user and a more sophisticated and surrounding design, which provides more immersive and personalized experiences.

Much academic research is focused on the current situation of Ecuador with regard to journalism and media management after the application of the Communications Law. The media lynching and the subsequent liability, censorship, and policies to the professional practice, are the main topics of discussion. Grievances, complaints and the closure of media have been the trends over the past two years. In addition to this situation, in December 2015, the Telecommunications Law was reformed, including the possibility for Internet users and social networks to be punished. The research analyzes the criteria of the promoters of media companies according to national, regional, and local study cases, compared to the regulatory processes running on Ecuador, which are altering the journalistic routines in traditional and digital editions.

We pretend to find out if printed and digital media—particularly, El País and El Mundo newspapers and their counterparts on the Internet, Elpais.com and Elmundo.es—are able to modify their readers’ attitudes towards the calls for a general strike. We focused our research on the last three general strikes performed in the country—september 29th 2010, march 29th 2012 and november 14th 2012–. Our approach involves political communication—given that the unions comply with the characteristics of a single-issue movement—, social psychology—with the theory of reasoned action as our main orientation—and emotional communication—assuming Scherer’s propositions. Thanks to the hypertextuality and interactivity of the 2.0 Web, readers are able to answer to the information published by online media, therefore influencing at the same time the attitudes of other readers. We organized focus groups to identify the readers’ discourses, at the same time that we interviewed experts in laboral topics—journalists, academics and politicians. The results differ from one newspaper to the other, but show how the power of written press over their readers’ attitudes is very limited and can not compare to the potential of online media. Trade unions would do better if they focused on other channels or in their own ones.

The aim of this research is to show the evolution of public service media (PSM) on social networks -especially Facebook and Twitter-, as a response to the challenges imposed by the new media market. Constant technological changes and the audience fragmentation have put PSM at the crossroads, so they should design long-term strategies and change management models in order to justify their existence, funding, indispensability and value. Within the frame of governance on the Internet, and characterized by horizontal relationships and dialogue, it seems that PSM have faced the challenge, opening up the path to more active publics. Results obtained show, however, that PSM in Europe have a strong presence on Facebook and Twitter, although less than 10 % of them are supported by social media guidelines. The number of followers is constantly increasing, but it does not result in an improvement of users’ engagement.

This study analyses the structure of television in Ecuador by reviewing 50 limited companies, 25 of which are microenterprises, 14 small enterprises, 9 medium-size enterprises an 2 large enterprises. Microenterprises are in a dominant position, and stock companies (35) prevail over limited liability companies (15). The data from every microenterprise was gathered, tabulated and fixed to stablish like-for-like comparisons of the financial situation of each category and a broad picture for the years 2012–13. The results point out that the financial situation of television companies in Ecuador is uneven and weak.

The Spanish multimedia groups that have survived or emerged from the economic, media and advertising crisis of 2007–2014 are quite different from those that thrived before its onset, which had either been forged through horizontal integration processes and had accumulated large press holdings (Unidad Editorial, Godo, Vocento and Zeta) or after convoluted processes of vertical integration had achieved a presence throughout the communications value chain but maintained a significant stake in the television sector (Prisa Mediapro, Atresmedia or Telecinco). The protracted crisis has wrought a number of significant changes within the Spanish communications sector. A prime example is the Prisa group, Spain’s “national champion”, whose total annual revenues in the wake of a long string of divestments have shrunk to levels similar to those the company reported in the early nineties. Within the “mutating oligopoly” that has always dominated the sphere of Spanish communications, the Telefónica group has re-entered the media landscape as a television broadcasting company and the void left by the retrenchment of Prisa has been filled by Planeta and Mediapro. The research presented here was undertaken to provide an analytical overview of the current status of Spain’s major communications groups, the significant changes the communications sector has undergone in recent years and the threats it faces going forward.

The present article problematizes the scientific structure of the relatively recent sub-field scientifically coined as “media management”. Concretely, the manuscript is displayed around the critical reflection of what I conceptualize as F.A.T.I., that is, four structural interrelated dimensions that configure the “spiritus” of its form: (1) Field, (2) Autonomy, (3) technepractical domination and (4) Identity. The F.A.T.I, which is normally portrayed as template for good scholarship, is configured in this essay as a comfort academic zone in which a series of dispositions, practices and socialized habitus by the media management consortia obstruct and jeopardize alternative intellectual dispositions and modus of scientific discovery and verification. I propose the concept of transcendence-breaking as strategy of individual and disciplinarian emancipation of the structural ideological statu quo. I suggest three versions: theoretical-breaking, functional-breaking and, more ambitiously, epistemological-breaking.

If there is one thing that characterises transmedia storytelling, it is without any shadow of doubt, making way to great creative potential. Essentially, it opens a door to all the possibilities connected with the part the spectator-user plays within the narrative. Fiction television series have not overlooked this new way of telling a story, and there are several examples which can be found both in national and foreign TV channels. The series ‘El Ministerio del Tiempo’ (Spanish for ‘the Ministry of Time’) which is broadcast in Spanish national TV (RTVE), is a clear example of the creation of a transmedia TV series. It offers innovative storytelling elements within a TV fiction series. This article, using the methodological structure of a case study, aims to analyse the narrative structure of this production, where the followers have become the new main characters of this elaborate fictional universe.

The present work studies the presence of 50 companies in main audiovisual social media. These companies hold the top positions of the 2014 Merco (Corporative Reputation Business Monitor) ranking according to corporative reputation. The objective of the study is to determine how Spanish companies are using second generation social media (González Macías in Pinterest. La red social visual y creativa. Editorial UOC, Barcelona, 2014) depending on their proactivity level and the content flow. In addition, the suggestion and validation of an index that allows measuring the aforementioned proactivity establishes an interesting methodological proposal that may be useful for subsequent works.

Autonomous public televisions in Spain are confronting with a major crisis that is challenging the viability of regional public broadcasting services. The maintenance of public audiovisual services is being questioned because of the heavy politicisation and the financial crisis with its respective cutbacks. One of the most discussed measures has been the adoption of the Act 6/2012, which legalises an outsourcing model—and the possibility of indirect management—that had been previously applied by autonomous public broadcasters. Against such a background, the aim of this paper is to analyse the practical effects of changes in the Spanish regional situation.

The feasibility of cybermedia and the business models that underpin them are now a classic theme of academic and professional literature within broadcast journalism. We believe it is important to examine revenue strategies aimed at the consumer of Spanish cybermedia in a context of maturity at digital journalism that contrasts with the sharp economic crisis this country is currently going through. The insights of our study highlight the coexistence of two diametrically opposed business models between the most popular and reference cybermedia in Spain and the establishment of ‘value-added’ strategies in those cybermedia that have established pay per view systems.

At present, companies face the challenge of addressing the new forms of communication by positioning their brands. This in turn results in the emergence of new professional profiles, such as the Community Manager. The present research analyses quantitative information from experts in the digital area of Ecuadorian, Mexican, Argentinian, Colombian, Venezuelan, and Uruguayan organizations. The study is focused on the study of the role of Community Managers in strategic communication. Inputs of particular interest for this research include: (a) the importance attached to the training and tools handling to address strategic issues; (b) the role of the manager of virtual communities related to companies, in order to know and control communication flows and consolidate a brand or business; (c) the participation, interaction, creation of engaging content, positioning and online reputation. This paper is aimed at contributing to research on the subject. In the region, figures providing evidence in this field are scarce and of little relevance.

The advertising channel through the social media shows a lack of efficiency due to the so called “saturation effect”, which stimulates audiences attention and protects them from advertising impacts. Therefore, advertisers have turned to new ways of communication, such as the action communication because of the importance and application it has. Action communication comprises two complementary tools such as patronage and sponsorship. Action communication has emerged as a major strategic tool in corporate and commercial communication for the management of Corporate Social Responsibility and the relationship with stakeholders through accountability shown in their websites. While in the United States and Europe this strategic and operational approach of communication has been an important development in the past twenty years, in Latin America it is at an early stage, and in the case of Ecuador, it is still in a hatching stage. To determine the current state in Ecuador, an exploratory research was carried out by analyzing the contents of the websites of the twenty five first companies which have mostly turned over as well as their presence in social media and the perception from their audiences.

In the last decade of the 20th Century, communications departments opted to create an active online presence in order to deliver information to their audiences. After a phase of relatively homogeneous strategies and parallel paths, those companies with online communications departments have chosen innovation and unique tactics adapted to their specific situation as a strategic element. As this real-world evolution was taking place, academic literature tracked its progress and analyzed this transformation of online communications departments featuring, until the present day, a panorama of relative creativity tending towards multimedia content and hypertextuality but with smaller steps being taken towards interactivity with the end user (Dader et al. 2014; Sánchez Duarte and Rodríguez Esperanza 2013). This paper aims to describe this progress and the current status of online organization communication, in addition to painting a picture of the most recent tendencies and innovation proposed by the most innovative tech companies in Spain.

The growing trend toward Americanisation of election campaigns has led to the adoption of characteristic features of personalisation in politics with a double focus of attention: from the political party towards the politician and, within it, to their most personal lines. This work will reflect on the causes and consequences of personalisation in politics, presenting the results of our research, in which 400 YouTube videos from 23 Galician politicians have been analysed. This study will study the features of customization in formal aspects, such as video titles, recordings descriptions, and the accounts from which videos are uploaded. Then, we will contrast the results obtained from the aggregate sample of videos with that videos including personal stories, with the aim of seeing if a higher degree of contents personalisation also means greater customisation in these components.

Negative events test the resilience and leadership of a company in order to amend mistakes and adapt to changes required by crisis and disasters. Effective crisis management and communication help reduce damages and uncertainty and contribute to a quick recovery. This paper analyses the early reactions regarding the Germanwings air crash in March 2015. We motorised and analysed online information to check whether the communication management is performed effectively.

The University as an educational institution and substantial element of society requires a constant revision in its ways of interaction and communication with the surrounding environment. This work aims to influence the new forms of communication that are being implemented in Higher Education due to overcoming traditional models, hence striving to strengthen the communicative ties and participatory involvement of public citizens. To do this, we will insist on various communication strategies that the university incorporates; and we will pay special attention to the case of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). So, we will reflect on its field and possibilities for improvement. In this scenario we consider it important to highlight the contribution of the Service-Learning proposal. We are referring to a pedagogical approach that integrates the development of skills in college students with community service. We will emphasize the opportunity that this proposal gives us in order to integrate Teaching, Research and Extension, assignments of the University in relation to the Society; and new challenges and opportunities for communication that can be derived from this practice.

This chapter seeks to clarify the way in which media companies can create value in a digital context and maintain the competitive advantage that the strength of their brand gives them. Based on a literature review, we have identified some of the possible strategies and tools to manage the brand value of media companies. These strategies and tools are those that have to do with the management of corporate communication through the Internet. Furthermore, the La Vanguardia case study shows us how one of the main news brands in Spain manages its value. The chapter suggests that future research analyze the effectiveness that the implementation of a communication system based on corporate social responsibility (CSR) could have to generate credibility and brand value. Specifically, it proposes an analysis of the utility that digital platforms in which news brands are already present could have in that communication.

The benefits and the increasing importance of sports events in our society, have been converted into a powerful communication tool for institutions and companies. Concerning to this the desired audiences should be ensured and reached through it. Moreover, sports events are going beyond the experience, and represent a profitable element in economic and social terms. In addition, we are living in a digital world nowadays. Concerning to this it has to be highlighted that the Internet rules most of our lives, and therefore it is used by almost all institutions and organizations to establish contact with their audiences. In this context the present current study should analyse the communication of the organizers of the European universities championship (EUC) of handball in Poland, 2013. The goals of this study are the presentation of how the online communication is used within sport events, which are the common messages, how can “online” contacts between the organizers of events and their followers of sports events be established and how are their reactions. All this information should help us to understand and know how the new media affect this sector and show the common practises on it.

The advent of the social web has changed corporate communication through new tools, strategies and, above all, a new sensitivity to connect with audiences and users. One of the major consequences is the real need that has arisen in companies to hire professionals suitable and dedicated to the management of their online reputation, the adaptation of their brand and messages to the digital environment and thinking. However, employers are often incapable of defining what they need, and there is no consensus about the terms that should be used to designate the various tasks associated with online communication. Nonetheless, without a doubt, there is a term that has become the king of the digital jobs: the community manager. The question is: what is a community manager? This article presents the results of a content analysis of advertisements of community manager job vacancies, which aims to find out how employers/companies conceptualise this profession.

This paper forms part of a research project which aims to frame and plan a corporate communication tool to systematise the information flows of different businesses, in a communication environment characterised by hypermedia convergence. The traditional channel of communication between corporate and institutional sources of information and journalists has come to be identified with Press Offices which, with the appearance of the internet, have evolved into Virtual Press Offices. However, on many occasions, the information they offer is incoherent, unconnected and excessive. The project proposes the design of what we have denominated an Open Communication Room (OCR). It is intended to organise the work of communication departments to disseminate information, catering to the productive routine and social function of the media.

The aim of this investigation is to design and to implement a media alert management and distribution service, called Menextra. Its goal is to establish a more effective communication between the media and corporate communication departments, organising information around three main axes: time, interests and content. As part of this platform’s design process we have consulted previous studies of the use of the internet as a distribution tool for corporate information and an analysis of the services currently on offer. The interface and platform have been designed and implemented, and their performance observed, with the information gathered in mind. Menextra is not just a theoretical study. It is a real and operative service that is intended to serve as a test to investigate the extent to which it satisfies the information needs of the media and communication departments. This first version of Menextra will be tested with real users (journalists and communication officers) who can identify its benefits and drawbacks in their daily work, and a second version can then be developed better adjusted to their needs.

This paper proposes a methodology for the process of graphic design in which public participation in decision-making through social networks is contemplated. And it takes advantage of a particular case study to show the proposal in detail. The proposal is novel in two ways: a creative technique and public participation are used in the selection of the final design. Graphic design is, above all, a communication tool that works with visual signs. And these signs must convey meanings evenly decodable by receivers. Hence, the theory of communication is a fundamental discipline for graphics. In addition, the design is also a semiotic process. In this sense, brand’s graphic design is a symbolic exercise of identification and differentiation, as brands are symbolic translations of the organizations they represent. And within the universe of semiotics, rhetoric is of particular relevance, since the creative technique proposed is based on the development of visual metaphors. The public participation in the selection of the final design is carried out through social media, showing followers some sketches and asking them to votes, according to “open innovation” and co-creation theories. Through the case study allows doing a meta-communication work, while the proposed methodology is applied for the design of the head of an academic journal of communication.

The pilgrimage of the Virgin of El Cisne and the Trade Fair of Loja are the two most significant events in Southern Ecuador. This study makes a documentary analysis on the online activity and reputation of Facebook pages from the bodies responsible for the pilgrimage of the Virgin of El Cisne and the Trade Fair in Loja. The assessment tool employed for analysing Facebook is Fanpage Karma, since it simplifies the retrieval of data. The research is further reinforced by the information available from Google Trends in relation to the recent surveys on these events. Finally, it is done a contrast work by analysing the influence of social media in the decision-making process in relation to the participation in these events. The measurement is carried out through an online survey using Google Docs-Drive, which was shared on social networks.

Digital social media have an essential role in the promotion of tourist destinations representing image and reputation where the visitant assumes an active role, as a prescriber. Destinations must be included in the social media as part of the strategy by well defining their communication strategies mostly for reaching efficiency. The management of promotion, through communication, is relevant for emerging destinations with a weak positioning but with a great potential, as it is the case of the destinations in the South of Ecuador. The tourism development is a priority for the Ecuadorian Government for economic and social policies, gathered within the PLANDETUR2020 and the National Plan for Good Living. This research project analyses the potential of tourist destinations from several towns located in the South Region (Part of the Region 7) of the country: Loja, Vilcabamba, Malacatos, Saraguro and Catamayo, as well as the Natural Park Podocarpus as a dynamic element. Official Facebook accounts were studied to define the projection of their identity in order to create a brand of image—place and the user interaction with the digital social media.

Methods, techniques and tools in neuroscience offer new perspectives of analysis in social sciences, marketing and advertising when studying perception and attention. Eye tracking, which emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is one of these tools. At present, it has many applications in communication, including the experiential contrast to improve usability and web design. From the theoretical review and description of the historical evolution of eye tracking, this exploratory work presents a methodology for the analysis and contrast of the websites from the University of Vigo (UVigo) and Santiago de Compostela (USC). The sample is composed by a group of students from the faculties of communication, aiming at checking whether the result of students´ viewing are in line with the recommendations of experts in composition, content, images perception and web texts.

In the southern region of Ecuador, the framework for developing event tourism is quite good. According to data from the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (Ecuador), in 2012 there were 123 national and international events attended by 26 thousand people. That generated an annual income of almost $3 million. The present research aims at identifying what is the positioning of the southern region of Ecuador—through the city Loja—in events organizations and their impact on social networks.

In Spain, Galicia is considered one of the best-rated regions in reference to Thermal Tourism. This is because of its medicinal and mineral waters and the quality of its thermal places. In this regard, the ICT have contributed positively to improve the online presence of spas. The research tries to bring together two elements: four Galician spas—one for each region—, and social media—Facebook—, in order to determine how those could improve their online visibility. LikeAlyzer is the online tool used to make the present analysis, since it allows assessing a series of interesting values. Also, it can analyse the effectiveness of websites, detect problems, and provide solutions for covering gaps.

Gastronomy is one of the distinguishing marks of greater strength to build the image of a destination, since it creates new motivations for travellers: culinary tourism. This is raising the interest of tourist managers for stressing the culinary singularities of regions, countries, and specific areas. In Ecuador, the Government has launched a specific action to give value to traditional and innovative dishes. It promotes gastronomy through competitions among local chefs and around four specific dishes: the encebollado; the hornado; the colada morada and the fanesca, since they are the most representative and consumed of Ecuador. This research aims to identify the positioning in social media of Ecuadorian gastronomy and the above-mentioned dishes. In such a way, it has been studied the positioning of these dishes in the main search engine—Google—and analysed the presence on Facebook and YouTube.

Analysis metrics of social media are multiplying in order to reflect the performance that companies can get from the Internet activity. It is an essential formula for the information professional as embodying the efforts made in communication. After analyzing different metrics to be used depending on the type of target to be attained with them, the article deals with the analysis of feeling. From the classification of Lovett’s performance, we compared VuelingPeople! and EasyJet. We observe alternate domain in the various parameters.

Pontevedra is a capital of a province in Spain with more than 80,000 habitants that is looking for a different position in the Galician ambience for tourism. In this city, sport have always been important, like soccer (the team of the city has climbed this year to 2ªB), and other sports that obtain less visibility in media, for example handball, basketball, indoor soccer, judo. In this way, the city has thought about how to be reinvented across town-planning, cultural and social actions, and even with sports, what it has been allowed to place the city itself in a place privileged in activities of this type, celebrated throughout the whole year in very different disciplines but that leads to the city receiving national and international participants in events of a very big importance, like tests qualifying rounds for world and European in triatlon, championship of the world of duatlon, concentrations of judo, championship of Spain of rhythmic gym. It has meant a big change and an important implication of the city, not only of its institutions but also of its inhabitants, who accompany all these activities on its presence and support.

Mainstream press reaches the greatest number of people throughout the consumer decision-making process despite the fact of being less credible than specialized tourist press. However, tourism is a transversal sector and news related to tourism is susceptible of appearing in any one of the media sections. Thus it may gain presence or make a greater impact on the public who will subsequently share or disseminate this information through social media. The mass media may either enhance or attenuate stereotype images associated to Brazil, even throughout seasons like Carnival. This paper aims to analyse the information about Brazil provided by mainstream media and assess its impact and diffusion throughout internet and social networks. It conducts a context and content analysis of the digital editions of the main Spanish newspapers by measuring the interaction of these editions with Facebook. Our results show the presence of certain stereotypes associated to the image of Brazil as well as a certain emphasis on the negative aspects of events that are either directly or indirectly related to Carnival. However, social media seem to make no elevated diffusion of these events.

In the last few years the technological revolution has substantially changed the manner in which tourist destinations are advertised. Due to the fact that the internet has become the preferred guide for tourists, designing an appealing website is indispensable. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the city councils in the province of Badajoz are effectively providing tourist information. We will evaluate the homepages of every city hall’s tourism website, focusing on how the information is presented, and what resources are employed. Our research includes interviews with the personnel responsible for managing the content displayed in the region’s corporate websites. Some of the conclusions reached in this study reveal the ways in which the city council websites in the province of Badajoz are flawed: (1) They are geared towards the region’s residents, and not tourists; (2) The information provided is unappealing to travelers; (3) The staff in charge is unqualified.

To understand the usefulness of neuromarketing in business terms, one needs to understand how consumers behave during the purchasing process. Thanks to brain imaging, one can better understand what determines this behaviour, and the opinions and preferences of consumers (Lindstrom in Buyology: verdades y mentiras de por qué compramos. Gestión, Barcelona, 2010). However, according to Zaltman (Cómo piensan los consumidores: lo que nuestros clientes no pueden decirnos y nuestros competidores no saben. Empresa Activa, Madrid, 2003), the ethical and moral implications underlying this activity require a judicious and socially responsible use of the information obtained. The method used is based on semi-structured interviews with seven Spanish neuromarketing firms. Thus, in order to respond to the current situation and to predict the future scenario in the short term, they were asked about the knowledge of both the population and Spanish firms, about the situation of the discipline versus traditional market research, and about the lack of specific regulations, among other things. The results demonstrate the incipient state of the discipline, although extensive growth is expected in the coming years. With greater current application in multinationals than in SMEs, the discipline is complemented with traditional methods, which in no case should be replaced.

The emergence of fashion blogs and bloggers has become a communication phenomenon that has originated new forms of consumption in the textile industry, with brands using them as a showcase to ensure that products reach the consumer more effectively. This study aims to be an approach to Galician bloggers communication. Particularly, it focuses on those considered as the most international: Lovely Pepa (Alexandra Pereira), Amlul (Gala González) and Bartabac (Silvia García). For this purpose, it is carried out a quantitative analysis of their activity, i.e. their interactions, messages and daily posts. This research highlights changes performed in communication strategies in order to reach users in a more effective, interactive and participative way. This has led to an increase in designers’ and brands´ positioning as well as to a strong impact in society in terms of communication.

Digital communication and social networks have become crucial elements in socialization. The deprivation of freedom for people in prison, is characterized not only by physical isolation, but also by a digital isolation. A sense of orphan hood or deprivation of communication appears, especially significant for “digital natives”, who are also the youngest part of the prison population. Through the collection of opinions of inmates of all prisons in the region of Galicia (northwest Spain), it has been found that in addition to digital isolation, the possibilities of staying up-to-date in terms of finding a job are reduced due to the loss of “digital skills”.

The advent of social networks and the Web 2.0 has led to a revolution for journalists and researchers. However, its recent emergence implies a lack in methodologies, theories and analysis for supporting their work and avoiding ambiguity in results. The research explores the main methodologies—qualitative and quantitative—in the analysis of social networks within the information and communication field. For this purpose, it was collected a sample of academic papers published in the last five years on the analysis of the two most popular networks (Twitter and Facebook). The aim is to study the tools used in those studies, in order to assess and interpret the data provided by these digital networks. The modus operandi and trends of research on social networks is analysed to verify their degree of usefulness as research tools that report scientifically valuable conclusions.

Academic social networks emerge as an opportunity for researchers to improve their work and to potentially increase both the dissemination of their research and their collaboration with other scholars. However, there are still many gaps, uncertainties and reluctance surrounding academic social networks. This is not surprising, as they are a new phenomenon and are still not en a par with traditional media in terms of prestige and recognition. Considering such platforms as objects of study may contribute to their consolidation as valid tools for academic research. This study analyzes the presence of communication scholars and researchers from Universities in the North of Portugal in the two major academic social networks, Academia.edu and ResearchGate. Our work is in line with recent incipient studies in other geographical areas, such as Galicia, Spain. This article not only offers and overview, but also detailed insights into the presence or absence of researchers on these platforms, number of documents uploaded, followers, visits; analysed by gender, university or department.

This study analyses the impact and visibility of financial institutions that promote the microcredit product through digital social media such as Facebook and Twitter in Ecuador. It analyses 70 Ecuadorian financial institutions that according to data from the Ecuadorian Superintendence of Banking and Insurance and the Ecuadorian Superintendence of Popular and Solidary Economy, until July of 2015, they offer the microcredit within their portfolio of products. The registered information in Facebook and Twitter was gathered by using: Netvizz, Followerwonk, Klear, Twitalyzer and Twopcharts; from which, it analyses the number of publications, type of publications, among other elements. It concludes that digital social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have a great amount of users within the Ecuadorian financial system; however, the activity generated by the financial institutions is very limited. The visibility of micro-credits in these digital social media is very low. The existing information as well as the use of multimedia elements is minimum.

While Web 2.0 meant the raising of social media, the semantic dimension of Web 3.0 targets artificial intelligence, operating a method based on ontology to classify webpages, which allows users to find and understand information. Search engines and computers control the process, collecting knowledge from profiles and interactivity of users.

Free press and social networks have become two important phenomena in the last two decades in the media landscape. Since 1995, when Metro started to be distributed, the public has the possibility of receiving a free information product entirely financed by advertising. With the rise of social networks and their incorporation to media, communication flows become fully bidirectional. Taking 20 Minutos as a case study—the one survivor of the free press in Spain—it is analyzed how to influence citizens’ contributions in the configuration of news. For this, we explored the paper and the web, and the presence and use in 2015 of social networks. Apart from providing a snapshot of the presence of the mark on social media, we summarized the effects that this new media landscape poses to media and audiences.

Online social networking users reflect opinions and attitudes towards the topic discussed. This study aims to analyze Spanish social audiences’ habits and their perceptions and attitudes towards national TV series in Twitter. The results show the influence of American and British audiovisual products in social audiences’ speech. Evidence suggest that national audiovisual products are compared to foreign standards due to their good reputation and acceptance. In this context, traditional Spanish TV fiction is criticised by some parts of the social audience because of its distance from international fictional productions’ standards and some narrative practices considered negatively. In contrast, another part of the social audience reflects their acceptance of a new wave of producing national TV series.

The development of interactive digital tools has prompted a raft of changes in the traditional model of communication, replacing vertical and unidirectional discourse for a shared content construction on the Internet. Nowadays, networks and social media related to the web 2.0 promote closeness between all parties involved in the communication process. Local administrations are also affected by the new interactive channels, having to adapt themselves to the demands of citizen-users. The present research mainly aims to compare, using an approximate analysis, the use of Twitter by the City Halls of two emblematic cities: São Paulo (Brazil) and Madrid (Spain). A web content analysis on a sample of tweets posted on the official Twitter account of the two City Halls has been conducted. The study reveals an under-use of communication and interactive resources at this microblogging platform, with accounts transformed in mere shop windows especially destined to generate traffic to the websites in each municipality.

The new narratives that have emerged from the social media profiles have shown that public demand closeness of those institutions to which they belong one way or another. The case of universities is not alien to this phenomenon and they have adapted the form and substance of communications through social networks with the various stakeholders with which they interact. From this initial premise, we must seek successful cases that serve as the basis for a good analysis of the content of such profiles. The typology of content and frequency of publication should be two conducting axes of our research as they provide the tone one wants to give to this type of communication. We also believe that, unlike other types of descriptive research that base their depth on the long run, we must limit our observational period to a short range that also delimits our analysis process. This way, we can reach specific conclusions that are relevant, innovative and effective.

The evolution of the networked society is defining journalistic practices and trends. While the elements of journalism remain, there is no doubt that the possibilities offered by existing tools feed experiencing renewed dimensions, from which there arise formats and pieces that help professionals to develop more quality information, according to the characteristics of the present communication environment. As this new ecosystem is formed, journalism is defining its elements in the age of metamedia. The work explores some of the ongoing news practices of recent years, such as data journalism, immersive journalism, slow journalism, real-time journalism and drone journalism. It also includes results on new media trends, contributions on metamedia and news added value.

This communication aims to present and study the trends in mobile video-journalism in the production of news and television/internet programs, as well as its possible repercussions in the industry, the improvements in the quality of information and the reduction of production times. The latest technical improvements in mobile devices (smartphones and tablets), together with the proliferation of apps and gadgets adapted to these systems open up a new spectrum of possibilities for journalists, being already possible to film and edit audiovisual pieces simultaneously with broadcast quality and a much lower budget than what a standard television equipment needs. This turns the journalist into an active agent in the edition of the news and puts him in full control of the story. This communication will also study the cases of newschannels using mobile devices for program and news-making. Since the 29th of June 2015, local genoese channel Léman Bleu produces its newscast using strictly iPhones, BBC produced earlier this year its show Click in the Mobile World Congress of Barcelona exclusively with smartphones and tablets, Al Jazeera also has a section dedicated exclusively to video-journalism, and corporations such as CNN, Channel News Asia or Singapore NewsMedia are investing in formative courses for their reporters.

This chapter contains two objectives: (1) To identify general factors that are distinctive of digital consumption in the current media ecosystem and (2) to describe the connotations that said consumption has on human beings’ emotional dimension. It further attempts to present key elements of this consumption, namely (a) the overabundance of information available to the user, (b) the acceleration of time as it is experienced, (c) the emergence of attention as currency, (d) the multiplicity of screens and devices, and (e) the socialization of consumption. The chapter finally concludes that the development of a critical and conscious media consumption, which is associated with emotional management, is one of the main issues in the analysis of digital technology and its everyday use.

In the current ubiquitous society mobile devices have a predominant role. Over time they have permeated the global culture and have become the main authors of a journalistic change which affects numerous levels: emission, transmission and reception of information. While it is true that, in its conception, the information designed to the “fourth screen” had to meet the patterns of brevity, clarity, concision and accuracy, mobile editorial platforms such as The Atavist or The Atlantic have demonstrated that the “new journalism” have also a place in handheld devices. This communication meddles in the presence of the journalistic report in the web and mobile app versions. The aim is to determine whether the contents addressed in depth have also a place in the new platforms and to discover whether we are faced with the appearance of a new genre with particular characteristics. To that effect, the mobile apps of the four most read digital media of Spain, according Comscore (2015) to are taken as a reference. The method is based on an analysis of content which deals with issues related to the quantification of this genre, its structure, design and the presence of the multimedia language, interactive and hypertextual. The study is complementary with a reflection about the features which should be followed in order to produce specific contents from mobile phones. The results show that the report has a secondary role in the mobile apps of the analysed newspapers, besides lacking self-identity.

In a context of continuous technological development, the culture sector has undergone many transformations thorough its history. However, in the last years a significant change has been produced. Apart from the digital revolution and the media convergence, there have been other destabilizing factors in the industry, such as new forms of consumption and the economic downturn. This process of change has caused a new ecosystem in which new tendencies constantly arise, based on the Internet and directly associated with the changes in the behavior of the final consumer of the cultural product. One of the most remarkable trends is the emergence of collaborative funding systems (crowdfunding). With this strategy, the creator opens the production phase to users by raising funds. Crowdfunding has become an alternative for the Spanish cultural industry, particularly since 2010 when the first websites specialized in crowdfunding were created. These platforms include categories addressed to all the cultural sectors and offer additional services such as distribution through direct selling or the possibility of taking part in the product as a creator.

Communicate technical data to a non-specialized audience in areas such as architecture is something practically non-existent in the current reality, although the electronic media have facilitated the arrival of certain concepts to a non-specialist public. In the information age, mass media are decisive in disseminating rigorous information in the architecture sector, and nowadays, society dominates key concepts in other fields such as automotive and informatics, getting to know elements such as cylinder capacity, power or operating system. Why is not the same reality in the field of architecture? Data relating to thermal and acoustic coefficients and energy ratings are key for people to obtain the maximum performance of the place where they aspire to build their home and working place. The poor dissemination of technical data is analyzed so that the architecture communication is not rooted in a simple design for discussing the beauty of the sketches made by the architect.

The main function of a Scientific Social Network (SSN) is to provide researchers and academics with a channel through which to promote their work and make their findings available to others. However, as of today, the majority of studies published on SSN sites (which have been assumed to be used almost exclusively by university teaching staff) provide only a partial picture of the overall SSN user community. Research reported in this article was conducted to test the hypothesis that although the majority of SSN profiles belong to university teaching staff, an ever-growing number of undergraduate, masters and doctoral students are actively using these platforms. An analysis of tallies of ResearchGate and Academia.edu profiles attributable to two distinct groups (university teaching staff on the one hand and undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students on the other) within five different Spanish academic communities indicates that university students at all levels now account for a significant percentage of the total ResearchGate and Academia.edu profiles created and maintained in Spain.