Acta Universitatis Danubius. Communicatio, Vol 10, No 1 (2016)

Abstract

Media communication systems have experienced a radical change in their functional mechanisms, at the same time with the development of the online social networks, where the online public has become an important factor for decentralization and influencing the message in its social groups (strong ties). The aims of this research are to analyse how the online message travels from transmitter to the weak links of the transmitter, by involving the strong links and also to anlyse the degree to which the message of the transmitter is discussed in social groups of the strong links compared with the messages debated on the Facebook source-page. Following the analysis, we can clearly observe that the message published by the transmitter on the source-page reach the weak links, due to the involving of the strong ties. Also, we noticed that the Facebook page of the "Save a Heart" Association is used by strong ties (fans) to a greater extent as a source to disseminate the message to their social groups and less as a space for debating the message of the transmitter