本文是留学生coursework作业范例，题目是“Millennial Use of Social Media and Awareness of Social Issues（千禧一代对社会媒体的使用和对社会问题的认识）”，这个顶点项目关注的是千禧一代和后千禧一代使用社交媒体之间的关系，以及这与他们对美国性贩运的意识之间的联系。
该研究采用了社会科学的方法，通过对路易斯安那州泽维尔大学的千禧一代和后千禧一代学生进行调查。千禧一代是指1977 - 1995年出生的人，后千禧一代是指1996 - 2010年出生的人(Williams)。这项研究衡量了受访者对性交易问题的意识、知识和关注。国土安全部2010年蓝色宣传页将人口贩运定义为“现代形式的奴隶制，涉及为剥削或商业利益而进行的非法人口交易。”据国际劳工组织统计，全世界有2090万人口贩卖受害者。2015年，联合国毒品和犯罪办公室表示，性剥削是比强迫劳动更常见的贩运问题。根据国家人口贩运资源中心2015年的调查结果，美国有4000多起性贩运案件。根据国家人口贩卖资源中心的数据，全球范围内的人口贩卖是一个每年利润高达1500亿美元的产业。(Alvarez)
Introduction 介绍
This capstone project focuses on the correlation between millennials’ and post millennials’ usage of social media and how that connects to their awareness of sex trafficking in the United States. The study takes a social scientific approach by utilizing a survey targeting millennial and post-millennial students at Xavier University of Louisiana. Millennials are those who were born between 1977 to 1995, while post-millennials are those born 1996 to 2010 ( Williams). The study measures the respondents’ awareness, knowledge, and concern about the issue of sex trafficking. The Department of Homeland Security blue campaign page (2010) defines human trafficking as a “modern-day form of slavery involving the illegal trade of people for exploitation or commercial gain.” There are 20.9 million human trafficking victims worldwide according to the International Labor Organization. In 2015, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes state that sexual exploitation is the common trafficking issue even more than forced labor. In the United States, there are more than 4,000 cases of sex trafficking according to findings by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center in 2015. According to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center human trafficking on a global scale is a lucrative 150-billion-dollar annual industry. (Alvarez)
Millennials and post-millennials use social media to stay informed on social justice issues. Zeynep Tufekci (2013) found that with the spread of the Internet in the last two decades, social movements have become increasingly reliant on new digital technologies for networking and information sharing. Social media platforms make it easy to spread a message across the world or spark conversations or discussions about social justice topics. The availability of social media is present on gaming consoles, smart phones, tablets, and laptops. From November 2006 to September 2009 93% of American youths between ages 12-17 have been using social media, a percentage than remain constant. (Lenhart, Percell, Smith, & Zickuhr 2010). When compared to Young adults, age 18-29 usages of social media is the same as youths. (Lenhart, Percell, Smith, & Zickuhr 2010)
千禧一代和后千禧一代使用社交媒体来了解社会公正问题。Zeynep Tufekci(2013)发现，随着过去20年互联网的普及，社会运动越来越依赖新的数字技术来建立网络和分享信息。社交媒体平台可以很容易地在世界各地传播信息，或引发有关社会正义话题的对话或讨论。社交媒体在游戏机、智能手机、平板电脑和笔记本电脑上随处可见。从2006年11月到2009年9月，美国12-17岁的年轻人中有93%的人使用社交媒体，这个比例保持不变。(Lenhart, Percell, Smith， & Zickuhr 2010)。与年轻人相比，18-29岁的年轻人使用社交媒体的情况与年轻人一样。(Lenhart, Percell, Smith， & Zickuhr 2010)
According to PEW Research Center who conducted a national survey of 1,520 adults March 7-April 4, 2016:
“Facebook continues to be America’s most popular social networking platform by a substantial margin: Nearly eight-in-ten online Americans1 (79%) now use Facebook, more than double the share that uses Twitter (24%), Pinterest (31%), Instagram (32%) or LinkedIn (29%). On a total population basis (accounting for Americans who do not use the internet at all), that means that 68% of all U.S. adults are Facebook users, while 28% use Instagram, 26% use Pinterest, 25% use LinkedIn and 21% use Twitter.” (quoted from Greenwood, Perrin and Duggan)
Based on the information available on social media use in terms of viewing videos, text, images and blogs, the individual’s awareness of social issues such as sex trafficking may shift. In fact, sex trafficking content is becoming more and more seen through social media outlets. One recent example was the video on February 15th, 2017 of Ashton Kutcher speaking to Congress on behalf of his company that combats sex trafficking. This was shared on social media platforms over two million times in a span of two days (CBS News, 2017, February 15).
This study thus uses framing theory to look at how social media users process the information they see on social issues. The agenda of sex trafficking awareness in social media focuses on targeting people with pictures and videos regarding how it happens, where it happens, how to help prevent it, warning signs, and other general information for the individual to know. This study will help us understand social media as a platform that allows content producers to raise awareness of social issues such as sex trafficking.
Review of Literature 回顾文献
Sex Trafficking 性交易
Sex Trafficking is a global issue that affects men, women, and children. It does not discriminate based on race, gender, or religion; anyone can be trafficked. The trafficking of young women and children for prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation is one of the most significant human rights abuses in contemporary society (Curtol, Decarli, Di Nicola, & Savona, 2004). Those who are trafficked internationally almost 50% of them are children and 70% to 80% are female. (U.S. Department of State, 2004). Of those numbers over 70% are trafficked for sexual exploitation. (U.S. Department of State, 2004). Even though sex trafficking is the largest portion of human trafficking it has grown to new heights in the last 10 years. (Flowers, 2001; Kelly, 2004; Monzini, 2004; Struhsaker, Schatz & Furman, 2002; Hodge, D. R. 2008). (“Sexual Trafficking in The United States: A Domestic Problem with Transnational Dimensions.”)
性贩卖是一个影响到男人、女人和儿童的全球性问题。它不因种族、性别或宗教而歧视;任何人都可能被贩卖。贩运年轻妇女和儿童从事卖淫和其他形式的性剥削是当代社会最严重的侵犯人权行为之一(Curtol, Decarli, Di Nicola， & Savona, 2004年)。在国际上被贩卖的人口中，几乎50%是儿童，70%到80%是女性。(美国国务院，2004)。其中超过70%的人被贩卖为性剥削。(美国国务院，2004)。尽管性贩运是人口贩运中最大的一部分，但在过去10年里，它的增长达到了新的高度。
The United States Department of State in the TIP (2011) defines sex trafficking as an act in which an “adult is coerced, forced, or deceived into prostitution or maintained in prostitution through coercion.” If the person is “induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age”, then he or she is considered to have been trafficked no matter whether consent was given or not (The United States Department of State in the TIP, 2011 pg. 1). If a minor was coerced in any way to perform a sexual act, he or she is considered to be a victim of sex trafficking.
Social Media
Social media is used by millennials and post-millennials for many things, which range from keeping in touch with old friends to sharing information. This study considers how social media affects college students’ awareness of social issues. Does it enhance their awareness? Does it make them blind to social issues that are happening in the world? The use of social networking sites, Facebook in particular, have become a major avenue of communication (Giraldi, 2016). This allows people to be able to post videos or pictures, allowing others to comment which sparks a discussion. In addition, Facebook shows other content that is related to a posted video that is then “liked” by users. Facebook has become a platform where people can discuss any topic of their choice to include social issues. While some argue, Facebook is only a disseminator of information, others argue that it is also a motivator of social activism (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Social media and networking technologies help people connect with one another based on shared interests, political views, or activities. Some social media and networking Web sites are broad and offer practices to diverse audiences, while others focus specifically on certain hobbies and interests. Sites also vary in the communication tools they offer to users, including mobile connectivity, blogging, and photo/video sharing (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Facebook profiles include one’s social ties, both strong and weak, and has the potential to expose users to different information daily.
Tufecki (2013) stated, “Social sharing networks such as Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, YouTube, and other outlets provide ways to reach social movement members with mobilizing messages on a similar scale as radio and television but without using traditional broadcast channels” (p. 3). Social media allows individuals to stay in tune and grab information for whatever issue they are looking. It can provide a window to the past and present, as well as future actions that may be taken in regards to combating sexual trafficking. When speaking on the impact of social media, Lica & Tuta (2011) stated, “Improvements in computers, mobile technologies and integrated technologies have played an essential role in bringing the world together, and adding ease to the way people communicate with each other” (p. 13). Technology has advanced through time, and the world is seen as smaller due to the ability of being able to communicate with anybody, anywhere, at any time. In addition, this adds to the amount of information that is available for individuals to be able to access.
Tufecki(2013)指出，“社交共享网络，如Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, YouTube，和其他渠道提供了与广播和电视类似规模的动员信息联系社会运动成员的方式，但不使用传统的广播渠道”(第3页)。社会媒体允许个人保持一致，并获取他们所关注的任何问题的信息。它可以提供一个窗口，让人们了解过去和现在，以及在打击性贩运方面可能采取的未来行动。在谈到社交媒体的影响时，Lica和Tuta(2011)指出，“计算机、移动技术和集成技术的改进在将世界连接在一起，并为人们彼此交流的方式增加便利方面发挥了至关重要的作用”(第13页)。随着时间的推移，技术不断进步，由于能够与任何人、任何地点、任何时间交流，世界被视为更小了。此外，这增加了个人可以访问的信息量。
In recent years, we have been paying attention to incredibly violent acts by law enforcement and prejudice through Facebook. The last few years we have been prevue to fatal situations between African-American males and Caucasian police officers. Some of these losses range from teens to adults 12-year-old Tamir Rice, 18-year-old Michael Brown, and 43-year-old Eric Garner. These 3 African American males are just some of the victims to lose their lives since 2012 due to fatal encounters with white officers and Facebook has been used as a platform to inform us of these tragic incidents. (Giraldi, N. A., 2016 pg. 2)
In response to these tragic events, a social movement started which later turned into an organization called Black Lives Matter (Giraldi, N. A., 2016). The use of social media as a tool of awareness is very relevant because this is how millennials and post-millennials communicate and receive information.
The utilization of social media is common among college students. Having been raised in a digital world, a vast majority of young adults are more proficient with using technology than older individuals (Jones, Ramanau, Cross & Healing, 2010). Social media as a platform for social change is a growing trend. Change.org and Go Fund Me are popular sites, as are the hashtags #alllivesmatter and #blacklivesmatter on Facebook. Social media are primarily Internet and mobile-based tools for sharing information, interacting, and building relationships among individuals. Social media encompasses interactions that take place between individuals who incorporate the use of different technologies, telecommunication, and social relations. According to Brogan (2010), people are necessary to make conversations happen, which is the overall purpose of social media, to “empower and enable conversations digitally” (p. 1). Forms of social media include blogging, podcasting, video blogging, and all other various social networks. Each of these is designed to give society a way to reach out and connect with others. People like to engage in social media to feel like they are being heard and that their thoughts and feelings are respected (Brogan, 2010).
Cultivation Theory培养理论
Cultivation theory, in its most basic form, suggests that media is responsible for shaping or “cultivating” viewers’ conceptions of social reality. The combined effect of mass media exposure by viewers over time subtly shapes the perception of social reality for individuals and, ultimately, for our culture as a whole (Gerbner, 1998). One of the key principles behind cultivation theory is repeated exposure. It is suggested that the more time an individual spends in the television world, then the more likely that individual is going to report having social realities that are congruent with the social realities seen on television (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, & Signorielli, 1980). Cultivation theory is significant in mass communication. It states if a heavy viewer is exposed to more violence content eventually effected by the Mean World
培养理论最基本的形式是，媒体负责塑造或“培养”观众对社会现实的观念。随着时间的推移，观众对大众媒体的曝光所产生的综合影响微妙地塑造了个人对社会现实的感知，并最终影响了我们整个文化(Gerbner, 1998)。培养理论背后的一个关键原则是反复接触。有人认为，一个人在电视世界中花费的时间越多，那么他就越有可能报告自己拥有与电视上看到的社会现实相一致的社会现实(Gerbner, Gross, Morgan， & Signorielli, 1980)。培养理论在大众传播中具有重要意义。它指出，如果一个重度观众接触到更多的暴力内容，最终会受到《Mean World》的影响.
Syndrome, an idea that the world is worse than it actually is. That the viewer will tend to act on what they perceive is a threat and are more willing to take violent action to protect oneself. (Gerbner and Gross, 1976). It showed that prolonged exposure to television will affect the concept of social realities of the viewer. According to Shrum “In general, the relation between viewing and various types of judgments are modest but reliable (Shrum et al. 2011 pg. 37).”
The emergence of the Internet has changed peoples’ media usage. As the Internet can also perform the function of television, it is possible for it to have cultivation effects and is worth being discussed in this study. According to North, Gerbner has a theory called “Mainstreaming”. According to north it is an idea that our views are shaped from long consistent exposure to social media (Gerbner, 1998). It states that the longer we are exposed to certain views and ideologies it can influence other factors (Gerbner, 1998). Repeated exposure is very important for cultivation to happen. Only from repeated exposure can patterns by stable enough affect your views and ideologies. (Gerbner, 1998). The more exposure that happens through constant messages, people will begin to share views that are in line with what they have been exposed to and that it “Mainstreaming” (Gerbner, 1998) (North, 2011, pg1).
If we take a look at how social justice issues are presented on social media either by video or pictures they show you something that tugs at your heart strings or something that makes you feel sorry. According to Huang et al. (2012), “It is found that the perceptions of the quality of the content and empathy affect three benefit expectations of control, inclusion, and affection, and these three benefit expectations affected the forwarding intention of the users. Huang’s study attempted to show what factors influence us when we share videos and our reasoning behind sharing them. Huang study also showed that people shared videos in order to influence your opinion on certain topics.
如果我们看看社会公正问题是如何通过视频或图片在社交媒体上呈现的，它们会向你展示一些牵动你的心弦的东西，或让你感到遗憾的东西。Huang et al.(2012)“发现内容质量感知和共情感知影响控制、包容和情感三种利益期望，这三种利益期望影响用户的转发意愿。黄的研究试图表明，当我们分享视频时，是什么因素影响了我们，以及我们分享视频背后的原因。黄教授的研究还表明，人们分享视频是为了影响你对某些话题的看法。
“Some analysts have investigated that the heavy viewers of a particular program tend to visit the respective program’s official website more than the light viewers, who building a better website loyalty. This loyalty leads to an increase in the use of Interactive Online Product Placement, which has a positive influence on the viewer’s attitude toward the sponsor, and their purchase intentions “(Lin and Cho 2010).
This study used cultivation theory as a way to look at viewer’s consumption of a particular brand and how it uses social media and television media to attract customers to look for and buy that particular product.
The following research question and hypothesis guide the study:
RQ1: How does social media affect generational knowledge of sex trafficking through the lens of social media?
H1: I predict that social media usage has a positive correlation with millennials’ and post-millennials’ knowledge of sex trafficking.
Methods
Participants:
The participants for this project were 100 students from Xavier University of Louisiana. An exploratory, descriptive, quantitative instrument was used to gauge students’ awareness, knowledge, and concern of sex trafficking in relation to their use of social media. According to my data nearly three Quarters (76%) of my participants were Black /African American, (9%) were Asian, (4%) were Native American, (3%) were Caucasian, (3%) were Latino, (2%) were Native Hawaiian, while (3%) were Other. My participants were relatively young (M= 2.31, SD=.53). Those below the age of 18 were (1%), while those ages 18-19 were (69%), those from age 20-23 were (28%), while those ages 24-27 were (2%). For gender the (M= 1.71, SD=.46), females made up (71%) of participants, while males made up (29%) of participants. For my participant’s classification (M=1.59, SD=.83). Freshman made up (59%) of participants, Sophomores made up (27%) of participants, Juniors made up (10%) of participants, while Seniors made up (4%) of participants.
Materials:材料:
The survey was 20-item Likert-scale and multiple choice questionnaire. The questions were broken into four categories: social media usage (e.g. Why do you use an online social network?), awareness of sex trafficking (e.g. When/if you use social media, do you ever come across political campaigns and/or activists?), knowledge of sex trafficking (e.g. According to the Department of Homeland security which state has the most sex trafficked victims?), and the relationship between social media and sex trafficking (e.g. How do you hear of breaking news in regards to social media?). Demographic data was also collected, including the race, age, gender, and classification in school of participants.
该调查采用20项李克特量表和多项选择问卷。这些问题被分成四类:社交媒体的使用(例如你为什么使用一个在线社交网络?),意识性交易(例如当/如果你使用社交媒体时,你有没有遇到政治运动和/或活动家?),性交易的知识(例如:根据美国国土安全部,哪个州的大部分性贩卖受害者?),以及社交媒体和性交易的关系(例如，你是如何听到关于社交媒体的突发新闻的?)人口统计数据也被收集，包括种族，年龄，性别，和在学校的分类参与者。
Procedure:
The surveys were administered in six lower-level Communication Studies classes, including Health Communication, Public Speaking, and Intercultural Communication. They are all core curriculum classes for the oral communication component requirement, and there were a wide range of students from different majors in this core classes. The surveys were carried out over a two-week period. Using a prepared script, I introduced myself, my major, and explained the survey and research project (see Appendix A). Then, I distributed the survey to participating students.
Findings发现
Because of the demographics and types of questions that were asked in this survey it became necessary to run several T-tests and Bivariate Correlations to analyze my results. A t-test is used to show the difference between two means, while a bivariate correlation is used to see how one variable has influence over another variable. In my case does social usage have a positive or negative correlation when it comes to awareness and knowledge of sex trafficking. For my T-tests I looked at age, race, gender, and classification. I ran a total of twenty T-test, one for each question. A paired-samples t-test was conducted to compare social media frequency to social media raising awareness of sex trafficking. There was a significant difference in the scores social media frequency (M=1.22, SD=.70) and awareness (M=1.55, SD=.66); t (99) =-3.87, p = 0.003. These results show that social media has an influence on awareness of sex trafficking
由于在这个调查中所问的人口统计和问题类型，有必要运行几个t检验和双变量相关性来分析我的结果。t检验用于显示两个平均值之间的差异，而双变量相关性用于查看一个变量如何影响另一个变量。在我的案例中，当涉及到性交易的意识和知识时，社会使用是正相关还是负相关。在t测试中，我考察了年龄、种族、性别和分类。我总共进行了20次t测试，每个问题一个。通过配对样本t检验，将社交媒体使用频率与提高性贩运意识的社交媒体进行了比较。社交媒体频率(M=1.22, SD=.70)和意识(M=1.55, SD=.66)得分有显著性差异;T (99) =-3.87, p = 0.003。这些结果表明，社交媒体对性贩运的意识有影响
The questions about social media usage section showed me that over seventy-five percent of my survey participants first became aware of sex trafficking or social justice issues through the lens of social media and that most of them are from the post-millennial group. While millennials who made up the remaining twenty-five percent of my data showed fifty percent of them first became aware of social media through the lens of social media, while the remaining twenty-five percent first became aware through college course here at Xavier University. I ran a bivariate correlation on social media frequency and social media raising awareness of sex trafficking my results were that “There was a positive correlation between the social media frequency and social media raising awareness of sex trafficking, r = .88, n =100, p = .3.”
关于社交媒体使用部分的问题告诉我，我的调查参与者中，超过75%的人是通过社交媒体的镜头第一次意识到性交易或社会公正问题的，而且他们中的大多数人是后千禧一代。我的数据中剩下的25%来自千禧一代，其中50%的人是通过社交媒体的镜头第一次意识到社交媒体的，而剩下的25%的人是通过泽维尔大学的大学课程第一次意识到社交媒体的。我对社交媒体频率和社交媒体提高性贩运意识进行了双变量相关性分析，结果是“社交媒体频率和社交媒体提高性贩运意识之间存在正相关关系，r = .88, n =100, p = .3。”
The actual knowledge questions from the survey showed that social media usage had a slight positive correlation to knowledge of social media Two particular questions from the survey needed actual knowledge of sex trafficking in order for participants to answer it correctly. The first question was: “To the best of your knowledge, which three cities in California are hot beds for trafficking?”The second question was: “To the best of your knowledge what is the average age of trafficked youth in America?” My results showed that sixty percent of participants answered both of them correct. I ran a correlation test on both of these questions along with social media frequency. The first was frequency and California r=.62, n=100, p=.2. The second was frequency and age r=.55, n=100, p=.2. This shows that social media has a slight positive correlation to knowledge of sex trafficking, and it can be used as a tool for educating these media heavy generations about the dangers of sex trafficking. The data also showed that Facebook (24%) and twitter (33%) were the two most used forms of social media among participants.
Discussions:
H1: I predict that social media usage has a positive correlation with millennials’ and post-millennials’ knowledge of sex trafficking.
The results of my T-test and Bivariate correlations show that my hypothesis is correct. This shows that social media affects knowledge of sex trafficking, and that it has a positive correlation to millennials and post-millennials knowledge of sex trafficking. The 16 questions that dealt with social media usage and sex trafficking knowledge show a slight positive correlation between social media usage and millennials and post-millennials knowledge of sex trafficking. It is still significant because now we see how to target this generation and future generations and educate them on trafficking. Because of this, I believe that more data on this subject need to be collected in order to really see how social media affects these two generations’ knowledge of social justice issues. If the same findings can be found again in future case studies, then we can make the claim that social media is significant as a communication tool. With my case study, I do see many limitations. The first one is that female participants greatly outnumbered the male participants. The second was the fact that post-millennials outnumber millennials in this survey. The third was not being able to administer my survey to a much larger student population at Xavier University. My suggestion for future research is that Communication Studies and other communication disciplines can use my case study as a stepping stone to not only to educate but to raise awareness of social justice issues amongst our generations and future generations. We can no longer leave our fate in the hands of those older than we are. This is not their future problem; it is ours. Overall, I think that this topic of social media will remain very relevant for communications majors. Social media has allowed us to communicate faster than ever before. It has slowly evolved from a minor form of communicating to the communication of choice for two generations and it will continue to grow with us.
Appendix A
Letter of Informed Consent
Social Media and Sex Trafficking Survey
You are invited to participate in a research study investigating millennials and post-millennials and their awareness of sex trafficking through the use of social media. You were selected as a possible participant in this research because you are a member of the general public. Please read this form before you agree to be in the study.
Procedures 程序
If you decide to participate, you will be asked to complete a survey, which will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. The survey will include questions asking how much you agree or disagree with specific statements and a brief section with general demographic questions. Approximately 100 participants will be surveyed.
如果您决定参与，您将被要求完成一项调查，这将花费大约10-15分钟来完成。该调查将包括问题，问你在多大程度上同意或不同意特定的陈述和一个简短的部分与一般人口统计问题。大约100名参与者将接受调查。
Risks and Benefits of Being in the Study
There are no known risks in this research. The benefit of participation in this research is up to the discretion of your professor.
Confidentiality
The data from this survey is completely anonymous. The surveys will not contain or ask for any identifying information. Only the researcher named in this form will have access to the surveys.
Voluntary Nature of the Study 本研究的自愿性质
Participation in this research study is voluntary. If you decide to participate in this research study, you are free to stop at any time. You may also skip any questions that you do not want not to answer. If you do not wish to participate in this study, please exit the survey now. Completing and submitting the survey implies your consent to participate in this research. Once you have submitted your survey, there is no way to exclude your data from the project as surveys and data are anonymous.
本研究的参与是自愿的。如果您决定参加本次研究，您可以随时停止。你也可以跳过任何你不想回答的问题。如果您不希望参与本次调查，请立即退出调查。完成并提交该调查意味着您同意参与本次研究。一旦您提交了您的调查，就无法将您的数据从项目中排除，因为调查和数据是匿名的。
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