Communication Technology 2019 Abstracts
Faculty Paper Competition
Examining the Role of Individual Differences & Motivation in Predicting Social TV Viewing Behaviors among Young Adults in the U.S. • Alexandra Merceron; David Atkin • Social TV is the modern media multitasking behavior in which audiences engage in simultaneous social media use while watching linear or streaming television. An online survey (N = 276) tested uses and gratifications and social cognitive theory as a framework for examining motivations closely associated with television consumption and social media use. Results suggest that Personal Innovativeness, Internet Self-Efficacy and the Need for Control over media positively influence the likelihood of using Social TV.
Is video news better in virtual reality? An experimental examination of news processing outcomes between 2D and 360-degree formats on mobile platforms • Aaron Atkins, Graduate Student Interest Group; JAtin Srivastava, Ohio University; Eric Williams; John Bowditch; Benjamin Carpenter; Daniel Ryan • Considering 360-degree videos as a part of the news media fundamentally influences the way we think about the building blocks of journalistic practice, such as defining a story or defining the role of the journalist as a content creator. It also raises concerns about the audience’s ability to process the content effectively, which is vital to developing a critical understanding of that content. Unlike entertainment-based contexts, processing in 360-degree news environments involve assessment of the quality of the information and the source, among others, to make decisions about validity of the information being presented; immersive environments may hamper this evaluative process, which involves counter-argumentation and a deeper level of scrutiny. To address this, an experimental study was conducted to compare the nature of information processing between two-dimensional (2D) video news delivered through a mobile handset, 360-degree video news delivered through a mobile handset, and 360-degree video news delivered via head-mounted display. Findings indicated that across modes of delivery, 360-degree video news elicited a stronger experience of presence from its audience than the 2D format, which was expected. However, the 2D video format was associated with deeper processing of the messages than the 360-degree news. Implications of these findings for future research as well as professional journalism practice are discussed.
Countering Othering Through Digital Technology: How Online Semi-Structured Micro-Interventions across Difference Influence Belonging and Curiosity • Gina Baleria • This exploratory qualitative study sought to discover how a single, relational intervention in a digital space focused on civil, respectful conversation across difference might increase marginalized college students’ sense of belonging and privileged students’ level of curiosity. Findings involved how the digital intervention influenced student feelings of belonging, curiosity, and connection in other parts of their lives, including a desire and openness to foster rapport and build relationships where before they may have avoided engagement.
Hashtag Justice: Implications of Social Media Engagement on Social Movement Perceptions • Nadine Barnett Cosby, Iona College • In recent years social media platforms have emerged as integral and operative elements of activism social justice movements. Prior studies have focused primarily on quantifying the use of social media in political and social campaigns. The overall purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the quality and types of engagement that occur on social media platforms related to social justice movements. The study used mixed qualitative methodologies to investigate how the use of social media to communicate and/or engage with protest movements – specifically Black Lives Matter and Take a Knee — impacts awareness and perceptions of the movement. The mixed-methods research design incorporated content analysis of approximately 1400 Facebook and Twitter posts that utilized prevalent hashtags for the movements, in-depth interviews with a select sample of 5 participants, and analysis of the social media discourse on the topic among the interview subjects’ social media timelines. Findings indicate that discourse via social media affords movements and activists the opportunity for organization, mobilization and free expression of a movement’s people, purpose and plans. As a result, social media has become a preferred medium giving voice to the marginalized. However, one of the pitfalls of social media used in this way is the potential to effectively drown out or subvert the narrative of a movement by those presenting counter-narratives, which presents a major issue of concern for many activists and movements.
Media Participation When Nothing and Everything Is at Stake: Creative, Consumptive Influences on Political Engagement • Erik Bucy, Texas Tech University; Jacob Groshek, Boston University; Li Zhang, Boston University • This study builds upon previous inquiries into the media participation hypothesis, originally advanced by Author (2005) and recently buttressed with longitudinal data (Author, 2018). In this analysis, we examine the extent to which previous theorizing based largely on the presidential campaign context holds when considering midterm elections in the United States. A series of hierarchical regression analyses using nationally representative data from 2014 and 2018 were modelled and compared across dimensions of campaign participation, crossover political talk, and political system efficacy. On the whole, support is found for increased use of creative media activity in comparison to more passive consumption of traditional media in positively predicting political engagement. One instance where this did not hold, however, was in augmenting political system efficacy. Findings are discussed in the context of midterm versus presidential elections as well as changes in the perceived consequence of the highly disparate midterm elections of 2014 and 2018. This study thereby introduces additional nuance to the media participation hypothesis while contextualizing the evolving nature of the uses made of increasingly interactive and participatory media.
Virtual Diffusion: Psychometric Predictors of Consumer-Level VR Device Adoption and Usage • James Cummings, Boston University; Tiernan Cahill, Boston University; Blake Wertz, Boston University; Qiankun Zhong, UC Davis • In recent years virtual reality (VR) technology has been mainstreamed for everyday media audiences, with various consumer-facing devices released by media firms such as Facebook, Google, Samsung, and HTC. In order to better understand who is most likely to adopt mainstream commercial VR technology for personal use, the current study seeks to produce a psychographic profile of VR users. The present research investigates the role of various psychological factors in predicting VR adoption rates and patterns of sustained use over time, examining psychographics relevant to the unique immersive affordances of the technology (e.g., immersion, mental absorption, sensory richness, and escape from external reality), as well as trait levels of individual innovativeness and user demographics. Separate analyses were conducted for fixed versus mobile VR platforms, in light of distinct technological affordances. In general, models accounting for psychometric factors – specifically, individual differences in immersive tendencies, openness to absorption, sensation-seeking, need for cognition, and social well-being – offered additional predictive insight into VR technology adoption, initial usage, and change in usage over time. The findings yielded here not only expand upon the limited work previously investigating theoretically-relevant individual differences predicting VR adoption, but also mark the promise of psychometrics for understanding the diffusion of consumer-facing VR devices. Areas for future study – including explanation of distinct predictors of adoption versus usage, as well as testing of additional psychological variables of possible relevance – are discussed.
Social Media Engagement Tactics in Community Policing: Potential Privacy and Security Concerns • Alexander Carter, University of Tennessee; Mariea Hoy; Betsy DeSimone, University of Tennessee • Despite law enforcement’s best efforts to use social media as a means of community policing, some engagement tactics may lead citizens to disclose personally identifiable information (PII). Through Salesforce Marketing CloudRadian6 software, researchers coded 100 tweets with the popular #9PMRoutine that tagged @PascoSheriff for participant PII. Implications for law enforcement to protect their communities are discussed as well as opportunities to continue to cultivate their online relationships in a more secure forum.
Technology Power Usage and Health Portal Acceptance among Chinese Cancer Patients and Their Families • Chan Chen; Yujun Nam; Hang Guo • The advancement of mobile technology provided a unique opportunity for health communication research in China. Internet-based healthcare portals allowed users to remotely make appointments, consult with doctors and keep updated on current health news. Results showed that individual difference in technology power usage is associated with intention to adopt health portal to enhance health communication independently and via its prior influence on perceived control of health portal. Implications to healthcare practices are discussed.
Determinants of Technology Acceptance: Two Model-Based Meta-Analytic Reviews • Charles Feng, Shenzhen University; Xianglin Su, Shenzhen University; Zhiliang Lin, Jinan University; Yiru He, Shenzhen University; Nan Luo, Shenzhen University; Yuting Zhang, Jinan University • The technology acceptance model (TAM) and its variants and extensions are the most popular theoretical framework in examining the adoption of technologies. Two model-based meta-analytical approaches, i.e., the meta-meta-analysis and the conventional meta-analysis, were used to pool the correlations and to test the path relationships among the variables of the TAM. It was found that the extended TAM which we term the TAM Plus, prevails in the model fit testing and that the results of the pooled correlations and path coefficients estimated using the meta-meta-analysis and meta-analysis were generally consistent.
The effects of internet use, bystander experiences, and moral disengagement on children’s online privacy violation. • Yi-Hsing Han, Fu Jen Catholic University; Shih-Hsien Hsu, National Taiwan University • Based on national survey data, this study proposes new advances by examining the relationship among problematic internet use, online observation of cyberbullying, moral disengagement, and online privacy invasion among three age groups. Results show that the social cognitive development of self-efficacy, use of euphemistic labeling, and moral disengagement vary between children and adolescents. Children’s age, problematic internet use, and bystander experiences all predict their moral disengagement, causing their sharing and liking others’ privacy violation incidents.
Mobile Users and Power Users: Digital newspaper readers’ device preference, familiarity with technology, and engagement • Jackie Incollingo, Rider University • Mixed-methods research examines uses and gratifications sought by a newspaper’s mobile users, and correlations with technological familiarity and engagement. Survey results (n=1,252) demonstrate mobile-first participants had statistically significant higher levels of engagement. Participants most at ease with technology preferred mobile devices, and reported higher engagement. In semistructured interviews (n=25), convenience and affinity for mobile devices was salient. Correlations between mobile news preference and ease with technology suggest a process gratification derived from using mobile devices.
Interdependent Self-Construal and System-Generated Cues: Causal Attribution in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Campaigns • Jinho Joo; Yoon-Joo Lee, Washington State University; Hye Jin Yoon, Southern Methodist University • This article examined the interactions between interdependent self-construal and system-generated cues in evaluating casual attribution in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns. Under a high number of Twitter followers on a CSR campaign page, individuals with a high level of interdependent self-construal tend to perceive a CSR campaign more genuine and therefore have higher purchase intentions. However, under a low number of Twitter followers, the conditional indirect effect was not found.
Walk Me Through my Social World: The Uses and Gratifications of News Values on Social Media • Jack Karlis, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire • This study examined the uses and gratifications of news values on social media by 18-29 year-olds, the largest demographic of social media users through an electronic survey (N=613). Using Bednarek’s (2016) news values on social media and Sundar and Limperos’ (2013) gratifications of social media, a new gratification, Aided Exploration, and it was also found to be a predictor of news value consumption on social media.
Cognitive and Affective Processing of Interactive Infographics on the web • Narae Kim; Adam Pitluk; Glenn Leshner, University of Oklahoma • Effects of interactive infographics along with multiple modalities on online websites users’ cognitive and affective information processing outcomes were tested. A 2 (low/high interactive infographics) × 2 (low/high modalities) between-subjects factorial experiment was conducted in an online setting. Significant main effects and interaction effects were found on participants’ information comprehension, recall, recognition, and disorientation. Such outcomes were addressed in the context of theoretical frameworks guided this study. Implications and limitations were also discussed.
Facebook Birthday Fundraising as an impression management tool: The mediating role of altruistic motive on prosocial behavior • Hyosun Kim • An online experiment was conducted to understand how Facebook Birthday Fundraising helps enhance donation intent. Results revealed that social distance (proximal vs. distant) with friends does not directly affect willingness to donate to the Facebook Birthday Fundraising; however, the relationship between social distance and donation intent is mediated by altruistic motive and issue involvement. That is, individuals attribute the fundraising to altruistic motives when the fundraising is run by a socially close friend. Perceived altruistic motives then increase issue involvement to positively affect donation intent.
Understanding Public Engagement with #Refugee on Twitter: A Digital Movement of Opinion Framework • Ammina Kothari, Rochester Institute of Technology; Emily Ehmer • This study applies the digital movement of opinion framework to analyze how the Twitter hashtag #refugees was used to foster digital citizen participation. While the peak of the refugee crisis has plateaued, there is still political engagement around the issue of the refugees on social media which in turn shapes public opinion. Using a combination of computational and interpretive methods we examine public tweets in English (n=7,908) posted between October 2016 and March 2019. Results indicate that the digital movement of opinions around the refugees was driven by a combination of private citizens and officials accounts of NGOs which was then amplified by individual users.
How Age-Morphed Images Make Me Feel: The Role of Emotional Responses in Building Support for the Elderly Among Millennials and Generation Xers • Ah-Ram Lee, University of Florida; Eunice Kim, Ehwa Women’s University; Linda Hon, University of Florida; Yoo Jin Chung • This study explores the potential of age-morphing technology as a communication tool for promoting public engagement in elderly-related issues. Drawing on the perspective-taking theory, this research examines emotional responses as an underlying mechanism. Two experiments (laboratory and online) were executed to test the effects of subjects of images and temporal status manipulated by age-morphing technology on individuals’ attitudes toward the elderly and behavioral intentions to support elderly-related issues on the samples of different generations.
Parents, Peers, And Pot: Adolescents’ Social Media Sharing of Marijuana-Related Content • Jessica Willoughby; Stacey Hust; Jiayu Li; Leticia Couto; Soojung Kang; Shawn Domgaard • Adolescents often post content related to risk behaviors online, but it is unclear what types of content related to marijuana are being posted on social media and what may influence such sharing. We conducted an online survey in Washington state (n=350) to examine adolescents’ social media sharing of marijuana-related content. Peer marijuana use and perceived approval of marijuana were positively associated with the likelihood of posting marijuana-related content, and parental monitoring was negatively associated.
The Interplay of Self-Awareness and Self-Esteem Influencing Selective Exposure to Downward and Upward Social Comparisons on Social Media • Wenbo Li, The Ohio State University; Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick • The study investigates the effects of self-awareness and self-esteem on selective exposure to online blog posts that portrayed upward and downward social comparison targets. A novel self- awareness induction was developed and shown to be effective in inducing private and public self-awareness. State self-esteem, on the other hand, was captured as a moderator. Participants then browsed the blog posts for five minutes. Their selective exposure to upward and downward social comparisons (portrayals of successful vs. unsuccessful others) was unobtrusively recorded. The results show that, for people with low state self-esteem, public self-awareness made them spend more time on upward social comparisons whereas private self-awareness made them spent more time on downward social comparisons. High state self-esteem individuals, on the other hand, preferred upward comparisons in the private self-awareness condition.
Effects of Bandwagon Cues and Automated Journalism on Reading, Commenting and Sharing of Real vs. False Information Online • Maria Molina, The Pennsylvania State University; Jinping Wang, Pennsylvania State University; Thai Le; Carlina DiRusso; S. Shyam Sundar • Do social media users read, comment and share false news more than real news? Does their engagement with news depend on whether the source of the story is a staff writer or a bot, and whether the story is endorsed by many or only a few others in the network? We conducted a 2 (real vs. false news story) x 2 (staff writer vs. bot) x 2 (high vs. low bandwagon) experiment to find out.
Nudge Effect of Fact-Check Alerts: Conditional Moderation Analysis of News Source and Media Skepticism • Elmie Nekmat • This study investigates the effectiveness of fact-check alerts to deter news sharing on social media, moderated by news source, and whether this moderation is conditional upon users’ skepticism of mainstream media. Experiment results (N = 929) revealed significant main and interaction effects from fact-check alerts and news source. The decrease in news sharing was, however, greater for mainstream news when nudged. No moderated moderation was found. Instead, media skepticism amplified nudge effect only for mainstream news.
#BeTheMatch: Assessing How Testimonial Narratives on Reddit Promote the Importance of Donating Bone Marrow • Nicole O’Donnell, Virginia Commonwealth University; Jeanine Guidry, Virginia Commonwealth University • This study explores how testimonials on Reddit encourage bone marrow donation. The integrative model of behavior prediction guided a content analysis of 1,024 Reddit comments about donation. Comments addressed more positive than negative outcome and efficacy beliefs related to donation. Additionally, exposure to testimonials successfully encouraged individuals to sign-up for national and international bone marrow registries. This research reveals how organic conversations on Reddit can positively lead to health information seeking and advocacy behavior adoption.
Effects of Cultural, Social, and Technological Influences on Snapchat Usage: A Cross-Cultural Study Comparing United States, Germany, and South Korea • Haseon Park; Joonghwa Lee, University of North Dakota; Soojung Kim, University of North Dakota • This study addressed unbalanced popularity of Snapchat worldwide and explored cultural, social, and technological influences associated with Snapchat usage by comparing United States, Germany, and Korea. The results from an online survey showed that separateness self-schema, personal-level norms, and perceived usefulness and ease of use had significant positive effects on attitudes toward Snapchat and behavioral intention to use Snapchat. National differences among United States, Germany, and Korea were discussed. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Tweeting the Screen: Investigating Types of Second Screeners and Their Social Media Behaviors • Ke Jiang; Ruobing Li; Lance Porter; Rui Wang • This paper extends the previous research on second screening as a hybrid media practice by taking a broad look at second screening activities. Matching survey data on second screening with a year’s worth of Twitter data from survey respondents, we identified four types of second screeners, and found different Twitter behaviors among them. Twitter users who second screen at high levels are more active content producers and users are consequently more influential.
Mobile Phones and a Capability Approach to Those Experiencing Homelessness in Southern California • Nathian Rodriguez, San Diego State University; Peggy Peattie, San Diego State University • The study examines how individuals experiencing homelessness in San Diego County in Southern California use mobile phones in their daily routines to enable their capabilities – a concept of what a good and valued life is for themselves; what individuals are actually able to do and be, rather than what society says individuals should do and be. Employing the capability approach, the study found mobile phones contributed to nine out of the ten capabilities on the Central Human Capabilities List. It also found that capabilities are not mutually exclusive, but rather overlap in particular circumstances.
Social Bots as Threat for Digital Democracy? How News Coverage Can Empower Media Users • Desiree Schmuck, University of Vienna; Christian von Sikorski • We conducted two experimental studies to investigate how exposure to news coverage about social bots influences perceived threats from bots. Across both studies, we found that individuals perceived higher threats for their online political information behavior when the news media report about social bots in election campaigns without conveying literacy about bots. In contrast, when the news media include literacy, these threats were reduced, which could be explained by an increase of perceived behavioral control.
Community Social Media and Civic Life: Exploring Relationships among Social Media, Trust, and Participation in U.S. Local Communities • K. Hazel Kwon, Arizona State University; Chun Shao, Arizona State University; Seungahn Nah • Drawing upon social capital theory and a communication mediation model, this study investigates relationships among community social media use, trust, and civic participation across the US communities. Findings suggest that interpersonal trust is predicted by the uses of community social media. However, organizational and institutional trust played a more important role as mediators between community social media use and participatory behaviors. Theoretical and practical implications for civic technology and civic community building are also discussed.
Predicting Parasocial Relationships, Binge Watching and Social Media Engagement from Favorite TV Character Perceived Personality Attributes • Heather Shoenberger, Penn State University; Freya Sukalla; Ryan Tan, Penn State University • Contemporary television viewing exists in stark contrast to the days when people tuned in to their favorite show once a week. People have a plethora of choices in the entertainment content they consume and how they consume it. Television show creators encourage their audiences to interact with the episodes they are watching via social media to capture some of the attention diverted to multiscreen viewing (e.g., watching TV while also on a cell phone, tablet or laptop device). Some entertainment programs are marketed as “binge worthy,” a suggestion that several episodes of the program can be painlessly watched in one sitting. Media executives seek to engage consumers across all mediums or devices; enticing eyeballs from their programs on the television screen, the laptop or on the smartphone. This paper examines whether underlying character attributes may predict parasocial relationships with favorite characters, increased engagement with the program on social media as well as the proclivity of a television show to be binged.
Social media literacy: A hierarchy of competencies • Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University Singapore; Jeremy Ong, Nanyang Technological University Singapore; Ysa Marie Cayabyab, Nanyang Technological University Singapore; Duan Xu, Nanyang Technological University Singapore; Han Zheng, Nanyang Technological University Singapore; Matthew Chew, Nanyang Technological University Singapore; Janelle Ng, Nanyang Technological University Singapore; Cui Min Lim, Nanyang Technological University Singapore; Lydia Rui Jun Cheng • This study sought to understand the problems that social media users encounter on social media and the competencies they think they need to address these problems. Guided by the social theory of literacy, this study refers to these as literacy events and literacy practices respectively. Through a focus group discussion involving 62 social media users in Singapore, this study finds correspondence between literacy events and practices: technical, privacy-related, social, and informational. Based on the results, which are grounded in social media users’ actual experiences, this study conceptualizes social media literacy as a hierarchy of competencies.
Fewer Ads or More Technology? Advertising Avoidance, Technology Acceptance, and Motivations for Cable Cord-Cutting • Alec Tefertiller, Kansas State University • Cable cord-cutting occurs when users cancel their cable subscriptions to adopt web-streaming as their primary means of watching television. This study sought to better understand the influence of advertising avoidance alongside perceived technological advantages on television users’ cord-cutting intentions. Using a survey (N = 599) analyzed via structural equation modeling, it was determined that advertising avoidance does not influence cord-cutting intentions. However, the perceived technological advantages of streaming are an important predictor of cable cord-cutting.
Digital Inclusion and the Third-level Digital Divide: A Social Cognitive Perspective • Hsin-yi Sandy Tsai • Bridging the digital divides has been an important issue. This study examines factors affecting how Internet users take use of the Internet and develops a theory of digital inclusion by using a mixed-method approach. An online survey and 17 in-depth interviews were conducted by applying social cognitive theory for Internet adoption. The results show that social cognitive factors (expected outcomes, observational learning, enactive learning, and self-efficacy) are important for shortening the third-level digital divide and facilitate digital inclusion.
Social TV and Audience Engagement • Hsin-yi Sandy Tsai; Mina Tsay-Vogel; Hui-Fei Lin, National Chiao Tung University • This study examined how social media engagement relates to the performance of entertainment TV programs. Investigating social TV engagement in the context of a popular reality talent program, The Voice, this case study considers how messages on the Facebook fan page of the program relate to program ratings. Specifically, three seasons (82 episodes) of social TV usage data were collected. Findings revealed a positive relationship between social TV use and TV ratings.
User Experience (UX) Matters: What are the Most Desired Skills in the UX Designer and UX Researcher Job Ads? • Ruoxu Wang; Jin Yang; Louis Asser, University of Memphis • A content analysis study (N = 200) was conducted to examine the most desired skills in UX designer and UX researcher job ads. Results showed the visual interface design skill is the most needed design skill for UX designers. Behavioral mixed and behavioral qualitative are the two most needed research skills for UX researchers. Information Technology & Service and Computer & Network Security are industries that have the highest need in UX designers and researchers.
Regulating Mood and Arousal: The Benefits of Interactivity as Information Control • Taylor Jing Wen, University of South Carolina; Linwan Wu, University of South Carolina; Sela Sar • The present study explores the relationship between mood, arousal, and interactivity. The results demonstrated that when individuals are in positive moods and moderate arousal or negative moods and high arousal, they displayed more positive attitude toward the website and more favorable brand attitude to the high-interactivity website than the low-interactivity website. In contrast, the level of interactivity doesn’t seem matter much for people in positive moods and high arousal or negative moods and moderate arousal.
American and Chinese Subjects’ Explicit and Implicit Perceptions of AI-Generated Content: A Mixed-Methods Approach • Yi Mou; Yuheng Wu; Zhipeng Li; Kun Xu • Prior literature has accumulated mixed findings regarding subjects’ perceptions of content generated by algorithm. To resolve this inconsistency, an online experiment and follow-up content analysis have been conducted to investigate the explicit and implicit perceptions of AI-generated poetry and painting on two samples from the U.S. and China. The American subjects were more critical of the AI- than the human-generated content, both explicitly and implicitly; yet the Chinese subjects represented explicit approval but implicit underappreciation.
Will Location Privacy Concerns Influence Mobile Users’ Communication Privacy Management Strategies? • KENNETH C. C. YANG, The University of Texas at El Paso; Yowei Kang, National Taiwan Ocean University • Mobile services and apps rely heavily on users’ location information to deliver highly-targeted and -personalized contents. An important, but less studied, question is how consumer location privacy concerns may influence their privacy management strategies in the age of pervasive computing. A survey was used to collect data from conveniently recruited 391 participants from the United States. Empirical results from four hierarchical regression models found that mobile users’ location privacy concerns motivate them to employ different communication privacy management strategies to protect their own location information. After taking into consideration users’ previous experience with location-sensitive services/apps and demographics, location privacy concerns continue to be a powerful predictor of privacy management strategies. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.
Student Paper Competition
Problematic Instagram Use: Are Certain Affordances and Gratifications Responsible for Addictive Behavior? • Cheng Chen, The Pennsylvania State University; Olivia Cohen, Pennsylvania State University; S. Shyam Sundar • This study examined risk factors of problematic Instagram use from a uses and gratifications perspective. Data were collected from 493 Instagram users. Findings showed that 25.1% of the participants had PIU. The level of PIU was positively related to the lurking, broadcasting, and community-building affordances, as well as modality- and interactivity-based gratifications, but it was negatively related to navigability-based gratifications. Additionally, the mediating role of gratifications was examined in the relationship between affordances and PIU.
I am a Doctoral Student: A Content Analysis of Doctoral Students’ Online Self-Disclosure and Support-Seeking on Weibo • Haoyang Chen, Hong Kong Baptist University; Qiushi Jia; Jiawei Du, Hong Kong Baptist University • Various factors are influencing doctoral students’ well-being and their doctoral education experience. This study offers one of the first to examine Chinese doctoral students’ use of Weibo for in-group communication, through a content analysis of 930 anonymous posts in a Weibo super-hashtag page. The results elucidate the emotional states in the posts, nine topics of contents of the posts and the prevalence of supportive communication among doctoral students online.
Alexa, Netflix and Siri: User Perceptions of AI-Driven Technologies • Cheng Chen, The Pennsylvania State University; Carlina DiRusso; Hyun Yang; Ruosi Shao; Michael Krieger; S. Shyam Sundar • With the arrival and diffusion of artificial intelligence (AI) in media platforms, it is important to understand user perceptions of AI-driven technologies. Two focus groups identified five gratifications (i.e., efficiency, outsourcing, being served, information accuracy, and communicating without social pressure), two disappointments (i.e., lack of human warmth and intimacy and fears of malfunctioning), and two expectations (i.e., need for transparency and error-free performance). The findings provide significant implications for uses and gratifications of AI-based media.
Retailers in an Age of E-commerce: How Instagram User-Generated Content Frames the Target In-Store Experience • Teresa Daniel, University of Memphis • While consumers increasingly fill shopping carts online, this study employs a social listening tool to conduct a content analysis of Instagram posts containing the physical Target shopping cart. Findings show that through their user-generated content (UGC), customers frame Target as an experience, one in which adults can act like children and no shopping list is required. Target also encourages these frames through their re-posts of UGC on Instagram, a tool they use for digital communication.
The Relationship Between Influencers’ Self-Presentation Strategies and User Engagement on Instagram • Andrea Gudmundsdottir • This study investigated what self-presentation strategies of influencers affect user engagement. Influencers’ commercial viability is largely dependent on self-branding, where they capitalize on number of followers and user engagements for commercial gains. Thus, self-branding involves appealing to followers through self-presentation. This study employed content analysis of top influencers on Instagram based on three overarching self-presentation strategies: Authentic, real person; opinion leader; and micro-celebrity. The results show that micro-celebrity strategies are the main driver of engagement.
Real-world relationships matter: Attachment theory as a framework for explaining loneliness on social media • Yu-Jin Heo, University of South Carolina • This study employed attachment theory to explore how social media users’ attachment styles influence related psychological outcomes. Unlike other attachment theory studies, this study focused on real-world friends online. Findings show high-anxiety individuals tend to be sensitive to their real-world friends’ feedback on their activity on social media. Feedback sensitivity, in turn, increased loneliness. These findings imply real-world friends may be the key factor to explain psychological outcomes of social media use.
Chinese Automated Journalism: A Comparison Between Prior Expectations and Actual Perceptions • Chenyan Jia, The University of Texas at Austin • Chinese automated journalism started relatively late but developed rapidly due to the large market. This work adopts expectation-confirmation theory. Two experimental studies (Study 1: n = 125; Study 2: n = 308) were conducted to investigate the difference between the prior expectations and actual perceptions of Chinese automated news and human-written news. Participants in study 1 were randomly assigned to read either human-written or automated news. Participants in study 2 were asked to read both human-written and automated news. Results show that readers’ actual perceptions of human-written news do not meet up their expectations while readers’ actual perceptions of automated news are higher than expectations. When participants read both human-written and automated news, actual perceptions of human-written news are significantly higher for readability and expertise. When participants read either human-written or automated news, significant differences only exist for expertise.
The Untapped Potential of Big Data to Assess Organization-Stakeholder Relationship Type on Social Media • Devin Knighton, Purdue University • Big data has the potential to change the way public relations identifies and assesses the quality of its relationship with its stakeholders. Computational approaches, including text mining and semantic network analysis, represent untapped potential for public relations go beyond traditional social media analytics that measures audience reactions to stakeholder relationships. The study explores themes from analyzing more than 80,000 tweets from two major technology conferences – Adobe Creative Max and Salesforce.com’s Dreamforce. The results show map stakeholder-stakeholder communication to relationship type and demonstrate the power of CEO Communication at live events.
Motivations, Interaction, Knowledge, and Participation: An O-S-R-O-R Model of Second Screening’s Political Effects in China • Yiben Liu, University of Alabama; Shuhua Zhou, University of Missouri; Hongzhong Zhang • Second screening refers to a bundle of media practices in which individuals simultaneously use an additional media device while watching TV to further engage with the television content. Applying an O-S-R-O-R model, this study demonstrates a integrated procedure of second screening’s political effects among Chinese citizens — from motivations to second screening practices to mediating activity (online interaction) and psychological post-orientation (political interest), and finally to the cognitive and behavioral outcomes (political knowledge and participation).
Support Seekers on Instagram: Discrepancy between Given and Received Attention and Psychological Well-Being • Lihong Quan, Sungkyunkwan University • This study examines the relationship among the discrepancy between given and received attention on Instagram, support seeking behavior, perceived social support and loneliness. The results of the online survey (N = 300) showed that support seeking behavior increased perceived social support. However, it widened the discrepancy between given and received attention, which further undermined perceived social support. In addition, we found that support seeking behavior on Instagram intensifies loneliness.
Majority or Success: How Other’s Online Behaviors Shape Perceptions of Descriptive Incivility Norms • David Silva • Perceptions of descriptive norms are used to determine appropriate behaviors in online discussions. These norms can be formed by observing the majority’s actions, but online forums also provide additional social information through social endorsements. An experiment compared the effects of majority influence and social endorsements on perceptions of descriptive incivility norms. Findings show the effect of social endorsements on group norms is sometimes stronger than majority influence, but only when viewing a person’s ingroup.
Snap at me! Self-disclosure, Maintenance Expectations, Entrapment and Relationship Satisfaction on Snapchat: Experience Sampling Method • Preeti Srinivasan, University of Connecticut • This study applies the mobile maintenance expectations paradigm to the context of Snapchat, and looks at how self-disclosure, expectations, entrapment impact relationship satisfaction, and whether entrapment and satisfaction change over eight days. N=68 college students completed the study. Results indicate that maintenance behaviors positively predicted relationship satisfaction. Entrapment negatively affected relationship satisfaction, albeit contemporaneously. Entrapment decreased over a period of eight days. Practical implications for Snapchat’s design and theoretical implications for interpersonal relationships are provided.
Conspicuous Donation and Strategic Self-Presentation on Social Media: Prosocial Fitness App as a Double-Edged Sword • Lewen Wei, Pennsylvania State University; Wanying Zhao, Indiana University Bloomington • We conducted two studies to explore prosocial fitness apps users’ conspicuous donation behaviors on social media, and how networked audiences might respond to those users’ strategic self-presentation. Study 1 examined context collapse among users and found they tended to engage in positive self-presentation on Twitter. Study 2 indicated employing both self-oriented and other-oriented frames in posting donation messages would increase audiences’ self-presentation-related attributions to the message sender, which led to undesirable interpersonal and motivational outcomes.
Predicting Intentions to Use Mobile Fitness Apps: The Integration of TPB and TNSB • Ryna Yeoh; Yujun, Amanda Lin; Alvin Daniel Ho; Kai Feng Ho • This study integrates the theory of planned behaviour and the theory of normative social behaviour to study mobile fitness app use intentions. By comparing users and non-users, this study explores group difference by adoption phases. A sample of 277 university students participated in an online survey. Results highlighted the need to strengthen measurement of social influence in behavioural models, and revealed the effect of perceived behavioural control as the key difference between users and non-users.
Excitation Transfer Effect in Journalism Consumption in Mixed Immersive Environments • Li Zhang, Boston University; Xinyue Liu, Boston University; Di Mu; Bochao Sun; James Cummings, Boston University • With the mainstreaming of virtual reality and 360° video, media consumption will increasingly include engaging highly immersive messages alongside more traditional media formats. That means users will need to potentially switch back and forth between highly immersive and relatively non-immersive media messages. However, little is yet known about how transitioning between drastically different immersion levels may impact the cognitive and emotional processing of those messages. This paper presents the first study to examine the impact of immersion on excitation transfer during such transitions and the corresponding impact on message recall. We find strong support for the existence of excitation transfer of arousal elicited by an initial immersive message (T1 stimulus) to arousal response to subsequent non-immersive media experiences (T2 stimulus). Curiously, we also find that physiological arousal at T2 does not linearly increase with higher levels of message immersion at T1. However, in contrast to recent empirical work, higher subsequent arousal levels were not associated with greater memory of high-priority media content (e.g. messages that are more goal-related). Additionally, the non-specificity of valence in excitation transfer, a key feature of the original theory, was also confirmed. Theoretical implications and future research directions related to the psychological processing of sequences of messages of varied immersion level are then discussed.
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