Clemson University TigerPrints All Dissertations Dissertations December 2019 Systems Engineering Approaches to Minimize the Viral Spread of Social Media Challenges Amro Khasawneh Clemson University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations Recommended Citation Khasawneh, Amro, "Systems Engineering Approaches to Minimize the Viral Spread of Social Media Challenges" (2019). All Dissertations. 2526. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/2526 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. SYSTEMS ENGINEERING APPROACHES TO MINIMIZE THE VIRAL SPREAD OF SOCIAL MEDIA CHALLENGES A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Industrial Engineering by Amro Khasawneh December 2019 Accepted by: Dr. Kapil Chalil Madathil, Committee Chair Dr. Anand Gramopadhye Dr. Patrick Rosopa Dr. Kevin Taaffe Dr. Heidi Zinzow ABSTRACT Recently, adolescents’ and young adults’ use of social media has significantly increased. While this new landscape of cyberspace offers young internet users many benefits, it also exposes them to numerous risks. One such phenomenon receiving limited research attention is the advent and propagation of viral social media challenges. Several of these challenges entail self-harming behavior, which combined with their viral nature, poses physical and psychological risks for the participants and the viewers. One example of these viral social media challenges that could potentially be propagated through social media is the Blue Whale Challenge (BWC).