Streaming, Woke Culture, and Political Efficacy in Youth

Millennials and centennials are two generations highly involved with social issues at a political and technological level. This interest has been raised in many of these individuals, some members of «woke» communities, a search for politically correct language both in networks and contemporary audiovisual fiction usually consumed on streaming platforms. This study aimed to analyze the psychosocial feeling of political efficacy millennials and centennials have as streaming platform users in Spain and Mexico to determine their predisposition and justification to prioritize their points of view in the face of content censorship and cancellation. The results reveal that centennials have a greater sense of efficacy than millennials, the latter being the most concerned about censorship and freedom of expression when receiving a story.

Streaming, Cruelty, and Truth: Youth Perspectives

The current audiovisual landscape via streaming is characterized by images loaded with aesthetics and violence. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to decipher the audience’s feelings about the violent and dystopian plots that saturate the current panorama of audiovisual entertainment through a survey aimed at millennials and centennials in Spain and Mexico, who are the viewers who consume the most streaming platforms of the two countries. The results show that viewers do not feel that these series, contrary to what it might seem, cause them sadness or low spirits, and, likewise, these viewers consume these products without having a specific idea of whether the audiovisual should show cruelty, historical accuracy or the vicissitudes of the world. In conclusion, this research provides a current map of the feelings of the OTT audience about the shocking, bloody, and visceral images that are so present in the routine of young audiences.

Teaching Load vs. Research Output in Mexican Universities

Researchers primarily dedicate their time to teaching in Latin American universities. For this reason, it is essential to determine how teaching time affects (or contributes to) the scientific productivity of researchers working under these conditions. We analyzed the incidence of gender, groups taught at undergraduate and graduate levels, the researcher proficiency level, and the number of thesis students advised, among others, for the impact on the scientific productivity (annual publications) of a group of professors. We analyzed the data using both statistical and regression methods. Contrary to our initial hypothesis, the number of groups taught does not significantly influence research productivity; it is affected by other factors such as belonging to the Mexican Researcher System (SNI) or having a researcher or administrative position at the institution. Our results can help guide the formulation of academic and research policies that contribute to the scientific productivity of Latin American universities.

UGC vs. Owned Media on Instagram: Who Wins?

In the current era of the attention economy, users find themselves in social networks over-saturated with advertising that tends not to catch the public’s attention or have great credibility. In this sense, brands are trying to get closer to their audiences by using non-invasive, user-generated storytelling strategies with a more natural and experience-focused message. This research aims to compare which narrative elements used by the official accounts of 5 Ibero-American nation brands on Instagram and by the users (UGC) of hashtags promoted from those official accounts generate greater organic interaction on that social network (likes and comments). With a correlational view, we seek to compare whether the promotion of countries generates greater interaction between those generated by owned media and by users (UGC). For this purpose, two analysis sheets were designed and validated to perform quantitative, descriptive, and correlational content analysis and were applied, on the one hand, to 5 official profiles of Ibero-American countries (Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela) and on the other hand, using the hashtags promoted from these official accounts, the 100 posts of user-generated content (UGC) with greater relevance according to the platform were chosen. The main results show that Reels reach almost five times higher than any other type of posts in UGC accounts, while on the contrary, in corporate accounts, they are the types of content with the least interactions. Unlike what one might think, contests (giveaways) on official accounts generated fewer likes and social responsibility content, and posts featuring influencers and celebrities also failed to achieve significant interactions. Overall, official accounts generate the same amount of likes as UGC but significantly fewer comments. Brands only outperform UGC in likes in individual Photographs or Photo Rolls, while UCG outperforms brands in Reels for both metrics.

Journalism and Migration: Guidelines to Avoid Xenophobia

Wars, insurgent groups, dictatorships, and economic crises are the main reasons for forced migration. Displaced persons, asylum seekers, and refugees often face public stigmatization, as they are treated by the media as a social problem and, in many cases, seen as economic and social threats. This article presents the results of in-depth interviews with expert journalists and researchers from different Latin American countries on the phenomenon of forced migration and its journalistic coverage. Their recommendations are complemented by Qualitative Document Analysis (QDA) of international guides on migration journalism. The findings highlight the need for training and awareness-raising in critical skills and social analysis for journalists to understand the complexity of human mobility and approach it from a human rights perspective, as well as to project the positive contributions of migrants to the host society. Findings suggest the need to avoid disseminating and magnifying hate speech, which may be used to justify discrimination and violence against migrants. This highlights the fact that migration issues must be dealt with under slow journalism schemes, with an emphasis on research, thus avoiding falling into xenophobic discourse due to the very immediacy that the digital ecosystem demands.

Millennials, Centennials, and Media Effects in Streaming

Viewers are increasingly used to the link between entertainment and technology in the current media ecosystem. The success of consuming streaming platforms when watching movies and series shows how the audience is more involved in new forms of viewing, at any time, at any moment, and with any content. This research aimed to examine the perception of millennial and centennial audiences in Spain and Mexico, the two Spanish-speaking countries with the highest streaming consumption, about audiovisual content producers for entertainment. Three theories on public perception (spiral of silence, bandwagon effect, and third-person effect) were used as the basis of the research questions to unravel the extent to which younger audiences in these countries consider that production companies are, or are not, ethical in the representation of what may be labeled as "sensitive topics". The results show that centennials are more confident in their critical perceptions of controversial issues in movies and series, while, on the other hand, millennials approach their perceptions with more cautiousness and confusion.

Pharma Logos in Spain: Visual Identity Analysis

This study presents a taxonomy to analyze the Corporate Visual Identity (CVI) through the theoretical construction of iconographic variables. The instrument was validated by an expert panel and a pilot test that examined the CVI of the 50 leading pharmaceutical companies in Spain. The instrument was organized by graphic elements: iconographic sign, linguistic sign, and plastic sign, and helped to catalog the symbolic components of CVI. In the Spanish case, due to its cultural and social context, pharmaceutical brands prefer typographies with no strokes, simple lines, capital letters, and round and medium strokes.

Girl YouTubers During Lockdown: Emotions and Engagement

The COVID-19 pandemic forced absolute confinement in Spain from March 15 to July 21, 2020. On the other side of the screen, YouTubers girls and boys, creators of specific content for their peers, took the opportunity to increase their productions. This research examines 73 creations made during the confinement period by six Spanish girls YouTubers categorized as influencers by the number of reproductions and followers of their channel sthrough content analysis to evaluate the interactions, the content generated, and subjective aspects of projection of the emotional state of these minors. The results show increased interactors, positioning the female sector as the most prevalent gender. The contents have been related to the COVID-19 theme, while, in the emotional aspect, the influencers were not affected by the great sadness that hit Spain with the death of thousands of people.

Visual Identity in Spanish Banks: Digital Design Trends

This research examines the visual identity of the 72 leading financial institutions operating in Spain through an ad hoc analysis model of iconographic-symbolic content. For this purpose, an analysis sheet is designed and validated, with theoretical variables where each sample object responds to categories grouped by similarity and under formal criteria obtained from the study of all the literature related to the fundamental graphic elements –iconic, linguistic, and plastic sign– and their application to the virtual world. The results show that legibility and modernity are priorities in the majority of the sample corpus, with a typographic style without finials, simple strokes, capital, round and medium-thickness characters. In addition, the entities prefer other values apart from professionalism and stability, such as closeness or trust, making use in the compositions of a quality range of 2-3 color combinations in which the balance between cold and warm colors is appreciable. For the sake of responsive web design, financial institutions are inclined to stay on the sidelines and not do without any elements in their visual identities, leading the way in the use of logotypes

UGC and Influencers in Marketing: What We Know

This study examines the research that has been conducted on user-generated advertising content in the social marketing strategies of commercial brands to understand the phenomenon, explore academic interest in the topic and identify areas of limited thematic coverage. A systematic review of existing scientific literature in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus was carried out using the PRISMA protocol. A co-occurrence matrix was used to review emerging topics on user-generated content (UGC) and influencer marketing, allowing the identification of articles (n = 59) related to the objective of this research. Most research has analyzed UGC in images or text, but only very few have addressed videos and other digital formats (such as reels, image carousels or podcasts), although there is sufficient work focused on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. There was no evidence of work exploring the effects, repercussions and possible dangers of uncontrolled brand exposure through Unofficial Brand Ambassadors. The literature review has allowed finding important areas of future research that the scientific community has not sufficiently addressed. Likewise, this work shows structurally several classifications of UGC, which will facilitate future research to deepen and broaden these categories.