Entertainment Studies Interest Group

* Extended Abstract * Audience Expectations for Film Genre and Television Formats • Leo Jeffres; David Atkin; Kimberly Neuendorf • This paper reports findings from an online survey capturing viewers’ perceptions of film genre and television formats and their mass communication behaviors as audiences cope with the “media of abundance.” Relationships among those variables are examined in an attempt to develop content theory for audience selection and processing of contemporary “moving image” content. Centrally, audience definitions of 31 film genre and 11 television formats are compared qualitatively and quantitatively with those of scholars and critics.

13 Reasons Why Children and Adolescents Believe They are Not Influenced by Depictions of Bullying and Violence on Television • John Chapin, Penn State; Alexey Stern • Using third-person perception (TPP) as a framework, the purpose of the study was to explore children and adolescent perceptions of violent television shows. A survey of middle school and high school students (N = 1,138) was paired with a content analysis of the two shows most frequently identified by participants as being their most watched: 13 Reasons Why and SpongeBob. Results of the content analysis reveal that middle school students who watched SpongeBob were exposed to more incidents of violence than high school students who watched 13 Reasons Why. Although the middle school students reported experiencing less violence than their counterparts in high school, results of the survey found about half said they were physically abused over the past year, and 17% experienced cyber-bullying. Despite experiencing a range of abusive behaviors, few quit using social media apps and only one-third told a parent or teacher. Those who exhibited TPP took fewer precautions. Perceived media reality and experience with victimization emerged as the strongest predictors of TPP, with experience being the only predictor to decrease the perceptual bias.

G-Men Heroes and Deep-State Thugs: Analysis of Hollywood’s Historical Representation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. • Dean Cummings, Georgia Southern University; Jeffrey Riley, Georgia Southern University • This study uses cultivation theory to textually analyze the Hollywood depiction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and its agents throughout history. The study examines how the early relationship between the FBI’s Director J. Edgar Hoover and Hollywood led to the creation of the depiction in popular media of the FBI agent as a celebrated hero and patriot, the defender of law and justice. Agents were frequently used as main or supportive characters that solved crimes and dedicated their careers to seeking justice. However, Hoover’s death in 1972 is a dividing line, beyond which Hollywood depictions of the FBI begin to shift. The depiction of the post-Hoover FBI in popular film and TV loses its do-gooder polish. The FBI agent partially becomes symbol of oppressive, invasive government rather than protector of the people against ne’er-do-wells. The findings of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of knowledge in regards to the interactions between popular media and the society in which said media is produced.

* Extended Abstract * Small Town, Big Representation? A Representational Analysis of the Scientists in Eureka • Deborah J. Danuser, University of Pittsburgh • Eureka (2006-2012) entertained audiences with stories about Eureka, a small Northwestern town with a big secret. It is where the U.S. government keeps the best scientific minds and secretly funds their cutting-edge research to create futurist technologies. Eureka provides scholars with a unique opportunity to examine Western culture’s preconceptions about who qualifies as a scientist in a small town full of scientists. I analyze the demographics of the scientific characters appearing in Eureka via a customized coding scheme inspired by Mead and Métraux’s (1957) research and the “Draw A Scientist Test” studies (Chambers, 1983; Finson, 2002; Finson, Beaver, & Cramond, 1995). The resulting data looks the trends and patterns observed in the show, as well as supports an investigation into the issues of representation typically present in primetime television dramas. Preliminary results indicate that the demographics of Eureka’s scientific characters are more diverse than many of its television peers, i.e., The Big Bang Theory. Eureka may in fact reflect the demographics of America’s real science and engineer (S&E) labor force from the mid-2000s. However, the S&E labor forces of both Eureka and the U.S.A. underrepresent women and people of color when compared to the overall demographics of America’s population. As cultivation theory (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, & Signorielli, 1994) argues television fosters shared conceptions of reality among otherwise diverse publics, diversifying the representations of scientists on television could complement real-life efforts to diversify the STEM fields and combat stereotypes.

New framing of sexual health issues in Netflix’s Sex Education • Diane Ezeh Aruah • Television drama series can use sexual scripts to create awareness about sexual health problems and solutions. Relying on social cognitive theory and framing analysis, this study explored a Netflix teen TV show, Sex Education, to understand its framing of common sexual health concerns like the use of contraceptives, homosexuality, STDs, sexual violence, puberty, virginity loss, and masturbation. Findings indicate that contraceptive use was depicted in the context of teaching sexual responsibility and de-stigmatization of people seeking to prevent pregnancy. Homosexuality was framed as natural and as acceptable to God. The show portrayed STDs as non-shameful diseases and as a health issue that begs for deeper understanding by the younger generation. Sex Education portrayed the negative consequences of sexual violence and encouraged openness and help-seeking for people affected. Generally, the TV show appeared to offer a new framing of sexual health issues compared to those explored by previous researchers. However, this study recommends representation of realistic views about masturbation and not as an act that could be carried out anywhere. Future researchers could explore the show quantitatively to provide more detailed information about which issues were prominently covered and to identify issues the show has not addressed adequately.

“It’s one billionth our size and it’s beating us”: Crisis Narratives in the Epidemic Movies Contagion and Outbreak • Katie Foss, Middle TN State University • The fictional epidemic films Outbreak (1995) and Contagion (2011) surged in popularity during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. This research used a narrative analysis to examine the movies’ messages about epidemics. Findings indicate similarities in the stages of crisis and the common themes of public panic, conspiracy, and heroes/antiheroes. Media presence was surprisingly minimal. Such themes were used to shed light on why audiences are drawn to the epidemic genre in a real-life epidemiological crisis.

Help or Hindrance: Examining Disability Media Exposure, Stigmatization, and Support • Jasmine Gray, UNC Chapel Hill; Meredith Collins • Previous research argues that entertainment narratives can substantially influence the extent to which those with disabilities are stigmatized. However, findings are mixed. This study examines the extent to which exposure to entertainment narratives featuring main characters with disabilities impacts the support of those with disabilities. This study has implications for empowerment and resilience for people with disabilities in terms of media exposure, stigmatization, (mis) representation, and media participation.

Keeping up with Politics?: The Kardashians and the Armenian Genocide • Tamar Gregorian • The Kardashians are known for “being famous for being famous,” but aside from documenting their luxurious lives, they have also lent their name and fame to the fight for Armenian Genocide recognition. Using Hall’s (1973) theory of encoding/decoding, the researcher conducted a textual analysis of their two-part episode in Armenia. The researcher determined that their visit created unprecedented awareness of the Armenian Genocide, making it part of the popular culture conversation.

* Extended Abstract * Bring Back Dads: A qualitative content analysis of the role of Black fathers on television • Keisa Gunby, University of South Carolina • This study uses a convenience sampling of nine television episodes, employing qualitative content analysis to examine the portrayal of Black fathers in former and current broadcast television comedies and a drama in order to investigate how these depictions maintain negative stereotypes of Black males. Using social learning theory, this study uncovers Black fathers are more likely to be depicted are protectors, providers and partners while stereotypes of buffoon, Black brute, lech are reinforced.

Psychological Factors of Fandoms Engagement in the East Asian Pop Idol Group Culture • Yanru Jiang, University of Southern California • The “pop idol group” is a cultural phenomenon and popular business model in the 21st century. Teenagers who wish to become idols drop out of high school and are intensively trained in a set of skills that are essential for them to become idols. Entertainment companies fully cover the training and accommodation expenses of trainees with the expectation of branding them in groups for their performance to generate revenues. The existence of fandoms comes from the need of self-identity construction and social capital acquisition. The fandom psychology of pop idol groups can be explained by the engagement, belongingness, companionship, familiarity, and controllability fans perceived in the idolization. This research attempted to identify psychological factors that determine pop idol groups’ likability and popularity. The study conducted content analysis to analyze the audience’s engagement, the familiarity and controllability perceived by fans on social media platforms.

Sexual Objectification and Gender Display in Arabic Music Videos • Claudia Kozman, Lebanese American University; Amr Selim; Sally Farhat, LAU • A content analysis of the most popular Arabic music videos on YouTube found females are sexually objectified compared to males. Female artists acted in stereotypical manners, displaying both subordinate and sexual behavior. They posed and danced sexually, used facial expressions to seduce, and exposed their skin. The sexual tones that characterize women in Arabic music videos reinforce the existing notions of women as sexual objects to be gazed at for male pleasures.

* Extended Abstract * With Friends Like These…: The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Parsocial Relationships • Carmen Landy, University of South Carolina – Columbia • This study is a qualitative look how the parasocial relationships between viewers and the characters of the show, the Real Housewives of Atlanta, impacts their perspective on in-person friendships

Click it, Binge it, Get Hooked: Netflix and the Growing U.S. Audience for Foreign Content • Brad Limov, University of Texas at Austin • Analysis of survey results from U.S. residents (n = 288) watching foreign content on Netflix found that respondents watch foreign content more frequently than they did before and hold favorable attitudes toward foreign countries and subtitles. The data suggests a cyclical relationship between viewing frequency and use of the recommendations system for foreign content discovery. Results are discussed in terms of global media flows, the affordances of the platform, and indirect soft power accumulation.

From Parasocial Interaction to Multisocial Interaction: Examining Fan Labor Behavior and Its Antecedents • Fangcao Lu; Yanqing Sun; Stella Chia • Fan labor in support of celebrities is an increasing popular phenomenon in entertainment industries. This study initially investigate what sort of labor fans are willing to provide and what factors drive them to provide such free labor. We surveyed 307 young female fans. The findings revealed that parasocial interaction with celebrities and identification with fan communities are directly or indirectly associated with fan labor behaviors. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The nature of FoMO: Trait and state fear-of-missing-out and their relationships to entertainment television consumption • Lindsey Maxwell, Southern Mississippi; Alec Tefertiller, Baylor University; David Morris • This study set out to establish if FoMO can be a state that varies within an individual based on situational factors, and to adapt a scale which can be used to measure state FoMO. Within the context of the Game of Thrones finale, results demonstrated that trait and state FoMO are two different factors and identified some related concepts that both factors predict. A state FoMO scale for use in future research is proposed.

The Movement in the Message: Bob Dylan, Ideology and the Lived Experiences of African Americans During the Civil Rights Movement • Christina Myers • This study investigates how a white artist, Bob Dylan, can accurately convey the realities of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement through his music. To explore these dynamics through the Ideology theory, a qualitative content analysis of Dylan’s song lyrics released during the 1960s were analyzed to determine the themes that arise from his music that reveal the lived experiences of African Americans. Results reveal themes of spirituality, unity and disdain for society.

Gaming disorder: News framing of video game addiction as a mental illness • Scott Parrott, The University of Alabama; Ryan Rogers; Nathan Towery, The University of Alabama; Samuel Hakim • In May 2019, the World Health Organization decided to identify “gaming disorder” as a mental illness in its diagnostic manual. The decision followed debate in which the video game industry, gamers, parents, and mental health professionals disagreed over whether sufficient research evidence existed to identify gaming disorder as a mental illness. Informed by framing theory, the present study employed a quantitative content analysis to examine news coverage of the decision in the year leading to and immediately following the controversial classification. The study sought to determine how journalists framed gaming disorder in terms of (a) defining the problem, (b) identifying causes, (c) advancing treatment recommendations, and (d) extending moral evaluations. More often than not, journalists focused on the health consequences of gaming disorder, arguably legitimizing the illness. Less apparent was conflict, or stories that highlighted debate among the gaming industry, mental health professionals, and others. Practical implications are discussed in light of framing theory and health communication.

The Social Identity of ‘Loot box’ Gamers: A Case Study of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius • Gregory Perreault; Emory Daniel; Samuel Tham • The present study seeks to understand the ‘loot box’ gamer–gamers who play games in which real money is spent in order to gamble for the chance at digital game content. This is conducted through a case study of players of the loot box game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius through a survey of participants on the game’s subreddit (n=592), and in-depth interviews with attendees at the game’s international convention (n=21).

(In)congruities between Political Messages and Popular Music: An Analysis of U.S. Presidential Campaign Songs • Lottie Peterson; Scott Church, Brigham Young University; Quint Randle, BYU • Music is not as prominent a feature in political campaigns as it was in the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, songs in modern campaigns still hold value by creating an additional layer of representation for political candidates. Using an adaptation of Sellnow and Sellnow’s “Illusion of Life” rhetorical perspective, this study analyzed the lyrics of the predominant campaign songs for both Republican and Democratic candidates for the 1972-2016 elections. This analysis sought to convey how the very process of selecting a campaign song is a profound rhetorical act, and that songs chosen even in modern elections have a specific meaning and purpose tied to the political contexts in which they are embedded. The primary findings of this research indicated that both Republican and Democratic candidates have largely made use of congruity in their campaign songs, with that congruity only increasing over time — a surprising result considering congruity can often diminish listener appeal. The analysis also indicated that in general, Republican candidates tend to utilize songs that are positive and patriotic in nature, while their Democratic opponents incorporate songs that offer a critique of the nation.

“They Can’t Stop All of Us”: A discussion about the internet’s reaction to the raid on Area 51 • Mariah Reneau • Through narrative analysis, this paper seeks to study themes seen in a series of Raid Area 51 memes and analyze how visual rhetoric was used to prompt the memes’ audiences to participate in a raid on Area 51. The research showed that the collection of memes illustrated a variety of plotlines that prompted action by tying in both an appeal to emotion and logic while also bringing in pop culture icons to craft a clear narrative that the raid on Area 51 was inherent.

A Whole ‘Nother Domain: Understanding Future’s Performance of the Authentic Black Male Identity In Hip-Hop • Jordan Sallis; Josephine Lukito, University of Wisconsin, Madison • Themes within hip-hop facilitate the adoption of worldviews. The hood, as tied to hip-hop culture, provides a space for subscribers to explore and adopt value systems that accentuate their authenticity. Our qualitative analysis of ten songs featuring Future, highlights his identity performance as “the boss” and lays out how Future’s lyrics operate as a playbook for other Black men to successfully operationalize criminal networks, violence and misogyny to be “a boss” in the hood.

* Extended Abstract * How ‘healthy’ are the children’s entertainment programs? An analysis of the health-related content in popular TV shows targeted at preschool-aged children • Neelam Sharma; Gayathri Sivakumar; Marilee Long, Colorado State University • SUMMARY: This paper analyzes the content of 11 popular TV shows (123 episodes) targeted at the preschool-aged children (3-5 years old) to examine the frequency and nature of health-related messages contained in children’s programs. Data analysis reveals that while only 37% of these episodes contained any health-related content, a majority of these health messages were positive messages on healthy eating and over 90% used modeling behavior strategy of compliance to promote health eating among children.

* Extended Abstract * Reconsidering Quality: Cosmopolitan Audiences as Markers of Quality for Transnational Internet-Distributed Television • Ryan Stoldt • American television industries have historically defined “quality” programs through the lens of advertisers. Quality programs reached advertisers’ most desired customers. Yet, Internet-distributed television services like Netflix are not funded by advertisers. Thus, the industry’s understanding of quality television has changed alongside these economics shifts. I argue that quality shows are still understood through audiences by these services, but their desired audiences are now those whose cultural tastes match the cosmopolitan programming of internet-distributed television services.

The dynamics of problematic gaming in FIFA 20 • Samuel Tham; Kimberly Kelling; Ellison Kelling • The association between loot box gaming and gambling has led to increased interest in problematic gaming research. One such loot box game that has garnered worldwide recognition is EA Sport’s FIFA franchise. The present study surveyed FIFA gamers to parse out the roles of gamers and explain the dynamic relationship between gamer roles and gaming addiction. In addition, attitudes, sunk cost, and flow were explored as mediators in this study. Findings of the online survey (n=200) of FIFA gamers were in line with past research that demonstrates the importance of attitudes and flow in predicting gaming addiction. Sunk cost was also found to be highly associated with gaming addiction. Importantly, two emergent gaming tendencies were explained and discussed in this study. These tendencies that gamers adopt in the game are defined by gamer motivations and also represent important implications for gaming addiction.

* Extended Abstract * Quibi’s quick bites: Technology acceptance and adoption • Casey Yetter, University of Oklahoma; Alex Eschbach • This research looks at the technology acceptance model and adoption of Quibi, a new mobile-only streaming service launched on April 6, 2020. For this purpose, a survey of 152 undergraduate students was conducted. This research found moderate correlations between content quality, convenience, and ease of use with perceived usefulness. Some conclusions are included with the intent that more analysis will be done on the data in the future.

<2020 Abstracts

Electronic News Division

Learning Without Seeking: Incidental Exposure to Science News on Social Media May Fill Knowledge Gaps • Joshua Anderson, University of Wisconsin at Madison; Emily Howell; Michael Xenos; Dietram Scheufele, University of Wisconsin at Madison; Dominique Brossard • Using a U.S. nationally representative survey, we find that incidental exposure to science-related news interacts with interpersonal discussion and network heterogeneity. Results indicate that the relationship between incidental exposure to news and knowledge is strongest among those who discuss the least. This suggests that incidental exposure could alleviate knowledge gaps between Facebook users who are the most and least involved in interpersonal discussions about science. Incidental exposure, then is potentially valuable feature of social media platforms for science news, discussion, and knowledge.

The Impact of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender on Perceived Objectivity of Broadcasters on Twitter • Kelli Boling, University of South Carolina; Denetra Walker • Using an online survey (N = 528), this study examines the impact of race/ethnicity and gender on perceived objectivity of broadcasters. Findings show that when the broadcaster is a woman of color, engagement on Twitter does not necessarily equal perceived objectivity. Most respondents following broadcasters on Twitter agreed (52.6%) that broadcast women of color were more biased than other broadcasters they follow on Twitter, with men and conservatives being more likely to agree than others.

A Matter of Tone and Sources: Toward A Black Men on TV News Analysis • George Daniels, The University of Alabama; Keonte Coleman; Danielle Deavours, University of Alabama; Gheni Platenburg • Much of the research on Blacks in television news has focused on criminal portrayals to demonstrate the over-representation of this minority group. Using data from a content analysis of newscasts in two Southern markets, the Black Men on TV News Analysis, accounts for topic, tone and sourcing in stories. Among the 1163 items analyzed, White males appeared more frequently in crime stories, but black males were most often associated with negative toned stories.

What to watch? Text-image relationship strategies and their use on framing the 2019 Hong Kong protests on YouTube • Brenna Davidson; Jeffry OKTAVIANUS • This study investigates YouTube thumbnails to understand how different content creators have utilized framing and text-image relationship strategies to shape and disseminate meaning online during the 2019 Hong Kong protest. Around 498 video titles and their corresponding thumbnails were examined. The results indicate that media organizations mostly employed frames focusing on protest violence and reinforced this frame through the illustration strategy for the title and thumbnail. Factors impacting the videos’ popularity metrics are also discussed.

Mastering Metrics: Analyzing the Effectiveness of Broadcast Journalists’ Self-Presentation Strategies on Social Media • Stefanie Davis Kempton, Penn State Altoona; Colleen Connolly-Ahern, Penn State University • Access to social media has given journalists more opportunities than ever to connect with audiences and disseminate important information. Broadcast journalists are using social media as a self-branding tool to gather an audience following and audience trust. However, the popularity of social media has also prompted unique challenges for traditional journalism norms.  Through a mixed-method approach of qualitative interviews and social media discourse analysis, this paper investigates how broadcast journalists are negotiating through these new evolving media structures. The goal of this paper is to provide practical insight into the social media strategies top broadcast journalists are using and to analyze their effectiveness with audiences.

Readable Expressions – Nonverbal Neutrality in Crisis Coverage: A Content Analysis of the Parkland School Shooting • Danielle Deavours, University of Alabama • “Journalists go to great lengths to keep their reports neutral and unbiased. Entire classes in journalism school are taught on this very subject, and yet very few, if any, journalists are trained in a critical aspect of communication – nonverbal expression. Despite making up nearly 90% of all communication, broadcasters very rarely consider their nonverbal communication patterns in reporting practices, even when it comes to adhering to professional norms like neutrality. This study examines this issue in the context of crises coverage. Because crisis reports show broadcasters unedited and reacting in real time, they serve as an observational field that can help scholars better understand newsmaking practices. This focus on nonverbal communication adds to previous research in neutrality, expanding the various ways broadcasters can communicate partiality or bias in their reports. This study looks specifically at school shootings, utilizing a content analysis method to study nonverbal expressions of network broadcasters during the Parkland school shooting coverage.”

Visual Framing Effects of Nonverbal Communication in Crisis • Danielle Deavours, University of Alabama • During a national crisis, journalists have tremendous influence over audiences. Viewers who turn to the news for the latest breaking news during a disaster are particularly vulnerable to the influence of the media (Graber, 1990). While journalists strive to remain neutral in their verbal presentations of news and are extensively trained to do so (Coleman & Wu, 2006), most journalists do not consider the potential impact of their nonverbal communication (e.g., hand gestures, facial expressions) on crisis coverage. In addition, journalists do not receive the same training to control and conceal nonverbal communication patterns as they receive in their written or verbal communication (Coleman & Wu, 2006). Recent studies on broadcaster nonverbal neutrality during a crisis show that broadcasters communicate significantly more nonneutral nonverbal expressions than neutral nonverbal expressions in their coverage (Coleman & Wu, 2006; [author], 2018; [author], 2019a; [author], 2019b). Yet, little to no research has been done to understand the implications of these nonneutral nonverbal expressions on audiences’ impression of the communicator and message being communication. This study seeks to understand the potential effects of nonneutral nonverbal expressions of broadcasters on audiences during crisis coverage events. Specifically, it explores how exposure to a broadcaster’s nonverbal communication during a news segment on a mass shooting affects audience beliefs about the broadcaster’s credibility, their support for gun control and mental health regulation, their belief that the government can prevent mass shootings, and their perception of risk to be involved in a mass shooting.

Like, Comment, or Share? Exploring the Effects of Local Television News Facebook Posts on User Engagement • Miao Guo, Ball State University; Fu-Shing Sun • This study examines the effects of local television news Facebook posts on user engagement. By scraping 4,151 Facebook posts from a local television station’s Facebook page, this investigation performs a content analysis on different features of Facebook news posts, including news topics, message vividness and interactivity, post time, and length of post. This study further examines how different news post features to affect three levels of user engagement behaviors indicated by reactions, comments, and shares.

Second Level Agenda Setting in CNN News Coverage of the Columbine and Parkland Mass Shootings • Hannah Hume • Through discourse analysis, this article seeks to compare the cable news coverage of the Columbine High School school shooting and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School school shooting using second-level agenda setting theory, with CNN broadcast transcripts as the unit of analysis. The research showed that the shooter was the dominant shaping force in the creation of the agenda for cable news coverage in both school shooting events.

TV News and the Military: Exploring Media Frames of an American Institution • Alex Luchsinger, Elon University; Jane O’Boyle, Elon University • This exploratory study analyzes television news transcripts (N = 300) to examine how broadcast news networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) and cable news networks (CNN, Fox, MSNBC) cover military veterans and service members in news programming. Findings show that broadcast news networks’ stories and sources focused on veterans and service members themselves or their families, while cable news networks relied on legislative issues, politicians and other elite sources. Other findings and recommendations are discussed.

Widening News-Seeking Gap? Moderating Roles of Perceived News Importance and News Efficacy in the Effects of News Aggregator Use on News Seeking • Chang Sup Park, University at Albany, SUNY; Qian Liu, Jinan University • This study examines how using news aggregators influences news consumption, based on an online survey of 1,340 adults of South Korea. The analysis shows that news aggregator use is positively associated with news seeking from both offline and online news media. Further, individual-level characteristics such as perceived news importance and news efficacy moderate the relationship between news aggregator use and news seeking. This result suggests that news aggregator use may widen news seeking gap between those who are highly interested in news and those who are not.

What is Digital Journalism? Defining the Practice and Role of the Digital Journalist • Gregory Perreault; Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado-Boulder; Anna Dollar, Appalachian State University • Through the lens of theories of field and normalization process, this research seeks to understand technology’s current role in how self-identifying digital journalists define the field. Built on long-form interviews with 68 self-identifying digital journalists, this manuscript will argue that the digital turn in the industry has emboldened new entrants to the field and required traditional, dominantly-placed journalists to reconsider their definition of journalism as well as their practices

Media Credibility in the Fake News Era: Assessing the Influence of Sourcing and Political Affiliation • Sean R Sadri, University of Alabama; John P Kelsey, University of Alabama • Misinformation and “fake news” remain ubiquitous throughout online platforms, and perceptions of news credibility have declined as a result. Using a sample population of U.S. adults (N = 324), the present study sought to analyze news consumption habits nationwide and examine variables that influence media credibility and online share likelihood. An experiment determined that political affiliation, among other factors, can significantly influence perceived credibility and the likelihood of an article being shared on social media.

All The News That’s Fit to Watch: How The New York Times Uses Video on Facebook • Jeremy Saks, Old Dominion University; Pamela Walck • The New York Times has a long history as the purveyor of all the news that’s fit to print. In a multi-layered journalistic world, this study examined how the Times utilized Facebook video and found the Gray Lady highlighted its strong news values, while expanding into videos. The legacy newspaper used Facebook to drive traffic to its website through hyperlinks while abiding by algorithms that controlled what information rises into users’ consciousness.

Beyond Social Media News Use Algorithms: How Political Discussion and Heterogeneity Networks Clarify INE • Rebecca Scheffauer; Manuel Goyanes, Carlos III University; Homero Gil de Zúñiga • In recent years, the popularization of social media platforms has enabled new opportunities for citizens to be incidentally informed. Relying on UK and USA survey data, the paper shows how socio-political conversation attributes (i.e., political discussion and discussion network heterogeneity) may explain incidental exposure to information. Heterogeneous networks and sheer level of political discussion are positively related to incidental news exposure. The paper also highlights the positive role of social media news use as moderator.

The Voice of America and Ethiopia: Examining the Contours of Public Diplomacy and Journalistic Autonomy • Tewodros Workneh, Kent State University • Established in 1982, the Voice of America (VOA) Amharic Service became one of the most popular news outlets for Ethiopians in Ethiopia and Ethiopian diaspora communities across the world. Angered by the Service’s coverage of human rights abuses, bad governance, and other issues of public interest, Ethiopia’s ruling party made the discontinuation of the Service one of the top priorities of its diplomatic ties with the United States. This study examines the major pressure points of the Service’s newsroom autonomy permeating from Ethio-American shared public diplomacy interests through the optics of newsroom staff. Findings from document analysis and interviews reveal VOA Amharic journalists experience primary pressure sources (host political factors and homeland political factors) and secondary pressure sources (personal/relational factors, diasporic political factors, and audience factors) challenging their journalistic autonomy. Despite these pressures, journalists highlight the significance of the organization’s legislative “firewall” and evidence-based external review process in upholding the newsroom’s autonomy.

Fake News or Alternative Facts? Veracity Assessment of the Content and Comments of Unfamiliar News • Huai-Kuan Zeng, National Chiao Tung University; Tai-Yee Wu, National Chiao Tung University; David Atkin • Given growing concerns regarding the spread of medical misinformation, the current research set out to assess the message effects of social media news on reader veracity assessments. Results from an experiment indicate that news balance is more predictive of perceived credibility, news sharing, and fact-checking tendencies than is comment incivility. These findings indicate that when readers encounter an unfamiliar news issue, central-route processing plays a more important role in veracity assessment than peripheral-route processing.

Examining the influence of Facebook comments on news stories: Can anonymous comments induce spiral of silence? • Sherice Gearhart; Bingbing Zhang, Pennsylvania State University • Previous research has demonstrated that the spiral of silence theory is applicable to behaviors among social media users, especially Facebook users who interact among their peers. However, existent work has limitedly tested whether the theory remains applicable to social media contexts during a non-peer interaction. Using a 2 x 2 between subjects factorial design (N = 744) of adult Facebook users across the United States, participants were asked about their opinions on two controversial issues (i.e., either abortion or the potential ban of assault-style rifles). After exposure to comments on a news story advertisement posted by a reputable news outlet that either agreed or disagreed with their opinion, users were asked how they would respond to the circumstance. Results generally support the spiral of silence theory in a non-peer environment. Further, evidence shows that selective exposure on social media may influence the perception of opinion environments.

<2020 Abstracts

Cultural and Critical Studies Division

Mental Health as a Burden: Journalistic Representations of Mental Illness on Family, Society, and the Individual • Elise Assaf, California State University, Fullerton • This research study explores representations of mental illness in three mainstream, national, online publications. Individuals with disabilities make up the largest minority group in the U.S., and the language used to construct representations of these individuals have the ability to perpetuate or diminish stereotypes about these individuals. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was used to analyze 197 articles. Of the six themes that emerged, mental illness as a burden will be the focus of this paper.

* Extended Abstract * Journalistic Power: Constructing the ‘Truth’ and the Economics of Objectivity • Gino Canella, Emerson College • Through 30 in-depth interviews with journalists, this article explores how journalists construct ‘the truth.’ Relying on theories of journalistic cultures, media power, and objectivity, I examine how some journalists seek to uphold long-standing professional norms, while others eschew these norms and position their work as adversarial. This article has implications for defining the journalistic field, understanding how grassroots media-makers challenge journalistic practices, and why a power-structure analysis is essential at all stages of news production.

Capital and legitimacy: Trans* communicators as cultural intermediaries • Erica Ciszek; Richard Mocarski, University of Nebraska at Kearney; Elaine Almeida • Through in-depth interviews with trans* communication communicators, this paper represents a turning point in communication toward a more intentional and reflexive orientation to gender identity and transgender lives. Findings demonstrate trans* communicators construct and disseminate discourses designed to counter the historical narratives surrounding gender minorities to reshape these stories for themselves (as part of their own identity work), for trans* communities, and for mainstream audiences. This article employs the Bourdieuian concept of cultural intermediation to explicate the lived experiences of trans* individuals working in fields of communication. Drawing on Bourdieu’s notions of habitus, capital, and fields, this manuscript sheds light on strategic communication to understand how trans* individuals leverage cultural and social capital to construct legitimacy. This study contributes to a broader sociological understanding of strategic communication and opens new avenues for research in considering how publicity might translate into broader socio-political impacts. It specifically asks how trans* communicators create and maintain cultural intelligibility and negotiate social meaning of transgender representations, considering transgender communicators as cultural intermediaries at the center of the struggle for symbolic and material power.

A “Gentlemen’s Agreement:” How news discourse helps to perpetuate segregation • Lourdes Mirian Cueva Chacón, University of Texas at Austin • The media are a place where influential ideas about race and its hierarchies are presented. This study focused on the analysis of news coverage of an alleged agreement that limited minority representation in Austin’s city council seeking to answer the question of how journalistic discourse reproduces inequality. CDA suggests that the agreement was a racial project perpetuated in the journalistic discourse through the use of linguistic constructions of narratives and relationships with race and power structures.

* Extended Abstract * Promotional prosumers: Advertorial labor process on mommy social media • Wan-Wen Day, National Chung-Cheng University • An Apple consumer shares his authentic experience of using the new iPhone with his friends on Facebook. Some of them do purchase the same product he promotes later on. Does it mean that the digital labor of this consumer is exploited due to creating exchange value for Apple? Now, millions of micro-influencers partner with advertisers to sell branded products to their followers by demonstrating products’ use-values. This marketing phenomenon indicates the new mode of labor exploitation in prosumer capitalism. This study unveils how mom-influencers promote parenting commodities to their followers and analyzes the political economy of the advertising industry under the new realities of social media. In his 2015 article, George Ritzer predicts the rise of a new class, prosumers. He further argues that unpaid prosumers have a higher chance of replacing paid workers partially. This study presents the stories of the mommy prosumers and their followers to address the issue of prosumer capitalism. This study investigated the triangle relation among the MCNs, the brands, and micro-influencers through the advertorial campaigns. Fifteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted from September 2019 to March 2020. Each interview lasted more than an hour. The interviewees included six micro-influencers of the online mommy communities, four brand managers, and five executives from the MCNs.

Mexicanidad on the screen: perceptions about the national identity portrayed in contemporary Mexican cinema • Gabriel Dominguez Partida, Texas Tech University • Defining the individual’s identity in times of globalization requires acknowledging the contextual factors that surround them. One of the many positionalities that converge to build that identity is the national one. Although borders are fading away in the current global context, in the case of the Mexican one, people continue relying on specific traits that help them to define Mexicanidad. Cinema plays a vital role as the audience tends to select and support particular representations over others. This study focuses on the analysis of how the audience perceives the traits that define Mexicanidad and their relationship with contemporary Mexican cinema. Participants of various focus groups relate particular reminiscences of the Golden Age period, as traditions and history, but also recognize that Mexican characters from that period serve as stereotypes that currently are not true. Finally, participants do not identify with current Mexican narratives because these films do not appeal to their real-life problems. Hence, even with the increase in Mexican cinema consumption, there is a lack of representation of what Mexicans identify as ordinary people.

EULAs as Unbalanced Contractual Power Between an Organization and its (Unannounced and Underage) Users: A Mobile Game Textual Analysis • Jeffrey Duncan; Taylor Voges, University of Georgia • This study explores how End-User License Agreements found in mobile game applications (e.g., Apple) put the player or user at a contractual power disadvantage. A thematic textual analysis was conducted of the top five film studio organizations’ mobile game applications: Disney; Warner Brothers; Universal; Sony; and Paramount. Three themes were found: producer domination, producer ownership, and the parental consent loophole. The implications of each theme as related to legal and ethical principles are discussed.

* Extended Abstract * Extended abstract: Diverging data in a Canadian media bailout • Marc Edge, University of Malta • Sharply contrasting portrayals of news media fortunes in Canada preceded a Cdn$595 million (US$450 million) government bailout announced in late 2018. Critical scholars claimed reform was required to reduce levels of ownership concentration and foreign ownership. Data offered by others, however, portrayed media as unprofitable and near collapse, with hundreds of newspapers closed and thousands of journalism jobs lost. This paper examines secondary sources of data to test the latter contentions and finds them unsupported.

Women on Fire: YouTuber Burnout and Renegotiation with the Platform • Alyssa Fisher, Miami University • This project uses a critical cultural methodology and qualitative visual analysis to examine two creators who took a hiatus from the YouTube platform in the fall of 2018. Included in the analysis are videos announcing their hiatus, chronicling previously queued videos that uploaded during the hiatus, and videos announcing their return and eventual changes to their channels’ content. Findings include themes of reflexivity, creative fulfillment, and the pressure to appeal to the mysterious YouTube algorithm.

* Extended Abstract * Assessing the Critical Political Economic Implications of Environmental NGO Funding on Meat Reduction Messaging • Christopher Garcia, Florida State University • This study expands on prior research conducted on food-based suggestions and meat reduction messages on environmental NGO websites. Utilizing a critical political economic lens, two in- depth case studies of the meat-related dietary messaging and policy suggestions of The Nature Conservancy and Greenpeace International are featured as illustrative examples of organizational contrasts – one which finds itself heavily indebted to corporate stakeholders and the other rooted in civil society as opposed to business.

“Female Empowerment Sells” or Does It? Always’ #LIKEAGIRL Campaigns’ Contribution to Feminism and “Culture-change” • Tamar Gregorian • When did doing something “like a girl” become an insult? That’s the question that Always, a Proctor & Gamble company, one of the largest makers of feminine care products, in partnership with its advertising agency Leo Burnett proposed and answered in their 360-degree take on feminine hygiene advertising spots “Like A Girl,” “Unstoppable” and “Emojis.” This textual analysis of the three campaigns “Like A Girl,” “Unstoppable” and “Emojis” was conducted to determine the value the campaigns provide in adding to the conversation about the misrepresentation of females in society, not just advertising. The three campaigns were analyzed using Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model and the commercials were evaluated based on their preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings (Hall, 1980). To aid in the analysis of the campaigns, an interview was conducted with Shaina Holtz, an account executive at Leo Burnett who worked on the Always team during two of the three campaigns. On the preferred level or the denotative level, Always’ goal was to break down the barriers young girls faced in society. The spots featured questions and copy that suggested that these stereotypes existed among young girls and boys, as well as adult men and, most surprisingly, women. Ultimately, the textual analysis concluded that Always was able to position itself as a company that cares about more than “hawking” its products, and more about contributing to the conversation about the misrepresentation of females in society and even taking it a step further – offering a solution.

The Sacking of Kaeplanta: Who’s Voice is Valued in the Built Environment • Adrianne Grubic, The University of Texas at Austin • As former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick dominated the headlines before Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta, a mural bearing his image was demolished near Morehouse College. The artist who painted it soon became a story but how the local media covered it also told a story about who is given a voice in a community. Using a multimodal discourse analysis, this qualitative study analyzed how the news media online reported on the demolition of the mural.

Ethical Consumption as Fetishism • Nah Ray Han, University of Georgia • Although consumers live in an era of consumer sovereignty, people often consume without being aware of how products are produced and sold. This paper criticized that emphasizing consumer sovereignty and morality, ethical consumption fetishizes the act of consuming by falsely suggesting that individual consumers can solve the environmental problems of the earth. The current papers concluded that the ethical consumption movement needs to become more self-aware so that it can truly help society develop.

Documentary Maker as Worker: Precarity in the Chinese Television Documentary Industry • Jiachun Hong • Documentary filmmakers have been considered artists, authors, or intellectuals, but rarely laborers. This study investigates the changing nature of documentary work in the expanding area of TV documentary in China, in the midst of China’s shift towards a market-based economy. Based on data gathered through the interviews with 40 practitioners from January 2014 to August 2017, this paper outlines the particularity and complexity of the creative work in China. It finds that short-time contracts, moonlighting, low payments and long working hours, freelancing, internship, and obligatory networking have become normal working conditions for Chinese TV documentary workers. Without copyright over their intellectual creations, the cultural workers are constrained to make a living as waged labor and compelled to sell their physical and mental labor in hours or in pieces. The Chinese television documentary workers struggled to resist the pressures of neoliberalism to survive in increasingly competitive local and global markets.

* Extended Abstract * Virtual Reality and Celebrity Humanitarianism • Bimbisar Irom, WSU, Pullman • The paper analyzes the interactions between the emergent technology of virtual reality (VR) and celebrity humanitarianism. Marketed as “the ultimate empathy machine”, VR has been enthusiastically appropriated by humanitarian communicators. Through the textual analysis of a VR experience featuring Rashida Jones, the project seeks to understand VR’s role in the production of celebrity performances of authenticity. How does VR balance the demands of stardom, highlighting distant suffering, and endorsing the work of humanitarian agencies?

Globalization, social media and cultural change: Instagram and family traditions in Russia • Regina Marchi, Rutgers University; Maria Zhigalina, Rutgers University • This paper examines how Russian traditions around marriage and pregnancy are being transformed by Instagram. Through a visual semiotic analysis of representations of US-style wedding ceremonies and gender reveal parties on Russian Instagram accounts, it notes that these rituals, formerly not part of Russian marriage or pregnancy traditions, are fast becoming the norm. Economic and social implications of the adoption of these practices, related to spending and debt, social class and gender ideologies are discussed.

Dangerous Professors: How Public Scholars Pioneer Practices that Reconcile Intellect with Journalism • Michael McDevitt, University of Colorado • The academic-media nexus can seem like a kaleidoscopic space for public intellectuals. Rules of engagement are, at best, implicit and contingent. Interviews with faculty targeted by vigilante watchlists probe how they pioneer practices that allow them to navigate uncertainty and populist blowback. A multiplicity of epistemic communities interacting with journalism implies a faint centrifugal coherence, but the disorientation of a hybrid field induces a productive reflexivity in efforts to reconcile intellect with journalism.

“Barbie is Not Muslim”: Consumer Racism in Hijab Wearing Barbie Doll on Twitter • Suman Mishra; Amal Bakry • This paper explores consumer reaction on Twitter surrounding the launch of the first hijab wearing Barbie doll of Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammed in the United States. Using the theoretical framework of consumer racism and qualitative content analysis, the study reveals four major aspects of consumer racism: 1) Antipathy towards the ethnic group’s culture and religion, which in this case is Muslims and Islam 2) (Negative) product evaluation, 3) Skepticism towards the dominant corporation producing multiethnic goods, and 4) Consumer (un)willingness to buy the product. The study highlights that multicultural products produced by a dominant corporation associated with ethnic majority can be subject to similar consumer racism as products produced and sold by ethnic minorities. Theoretical and other implications with regards to consumer racism are discussed.

Public (Re)construction of War Memory in Japan: Examining Audience Reception of the Documentary Film Shusenjo • Junki Nakahara, American University • This paper explores how general publics participate in war memory construction through their consumption of a documentary film. Documentary film Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of The Comfort Women Issue (2019), created by Japanese-American producer Miki Dezaki, deals with one of the most contentious historical controversies in Japan—wartime sexual exploitation of women in Asian countries under the control of the Empire of Japan. In recent decades, Japan’s effort to whitewash the memory about war crimes has often caused frequent diplomatic conflicts with its neighboring countries such as South Korea. The film juxtaposes conflicting historical views to show the process of domestic and international campaigns led by right-wing/conservative leaders and various counter-arguments against their campaigns. Diverse audience comments on the documentary film can be found on online film review websites. Those comments indicate that the audience actively interpreted the film text and discussed their thoughts online. By applying the approach of critical discourse analysis, this research examines if audience evaluation of the film reflects their political opinions regarding its subject and what prospective views of Japanese national identity shape the retrospective war memory about the “comfort women.” The film offers a space for the Japanese audience to reconstruct their prospective and retrospective idea concerning the war memory of their country by questioning the widely accepted consensus.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of The Washington Post’s DACA Coverage: An American Dream Mythology • Daleana Phillips • The Trump Administration’s rhetoric on immigration reflects a shift toward nationalistic and xenophobic political discourses, which has negative consequences for legal and illegal immigrants. News coverage on illegal immigration and undocumented immigrants has overwhelmingly been portrayed using threat narratives and metaphors. This study employs a Critical Discourse Analysis using Barthes Mythology to analyze fifty-two articles from the newspaper, The Washington Post, on the Trump Administration’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) Program. The findings reveal that the American Dream ideology prevails in the U.S. national imaginary. Journalists covered DACA participants much differently than traditional threat frames used for covering undocumented immigrants in the media. Journalists portrayed Dreamers as industrious adherents to the American Dream and productive members of society brought into the country illegally as children, through no fault of their own. While this narrative supports DACA participants, it reinforces white middle-class assimilation and contrasts them against undocumented immigrants who are “to blame” for being in the U.S. illegally. The consequences of this rhetoric are important because it leaves white privilege unchallenged and justifies racialized “law and order” discourses that criminalize people who appear “foreign” or carry a “figurative border” with them.

Decoding Versus Discovering: The Social Roots of Two Visions of Journalistic Excellence • Matthew Powers, University of Washington • Drawing on Bourdieu, this paper explores how one’s social position—i.e., their social origins and trajectories—shapes definitions of journalistic excellence. Through interviews, it shows that journalists from lower positions (e.g., working class families, less education) generally articulate a “decoding” view of excellence, while those from higher positions (e.g., professional families, prestigious education) describe a “discovery” view. These two socially-rooted visions differ in their assumptions of a power struggle between journalists and other power holders.

We’ll never let the past die: Five years of Disney Star Wars and the struggle to sustain a creative franchise in the digital era • Abigail Reed • This article examines and critiques the five Disney-produced Star Wars films from a critical political economic perspective. There are three primary themes that help untangle the story of the production of the first five Disney Star Wars films: diversity, production disturbances, and audience feedback. Disney’s intrinsic profit motive and the diversity it claims to value have conflicted with each other, resulting in troubled productions, upset audiences, and confusing film narratives.

This Was America: The Limitations of an Enduring Vision of American Photography • Alex Scott, University of Texas at Austin • This study explores the political implications of a reliance on the approved canon of American photographers by examining the 2018 photo exhibition, “A New Vision: American Photography After the War.” Employing a historiographic examination, the study illuminates how institutions and market obfuscate the historical reality of images. A process of de-politicization is then explicated using a multi-modal analysis of the exhibition images. The images contribute to an American myth drawn upon by contemporary political practices.

Critical Embellishment: Rolling Stone and Pitchfork Pans as Journalistic Signaling • John Vilanova • This research explores the idea of criticism—and specifically the negative review—as a useful and important means of signaling journalistic impartiality for fledgling journalistic enterprises. It historicizes negativity in criticism in relation to the foundations of journalistic practice and analyzes reviews written in the early years of two music publications, Rolling Stone magazine and the website Pitchfork. It theorizes their negativity as performances of what it calls critical expertise and critical authority.

Modern Mourning: The Violence and Potentialities of Public Grief Online • Alyvia Walters, Rutgers University • After nineteen-year-old Mollie Tibbetts was allegedly murdered by an undocumented immigrant in her Iowan hometown in July 2018, her family faced two violent mourning processes: not only were they processing their undue loss, but they were also compelled to enter the public spotlight in order to counter hostile ideologies concerning her undocumented alleged murderer. As this study shows, from the moment his citizenship status was released, the story of importance was no longer that of the loss of Mollie, it was rather the “illegality” of her alleged killer. This article thus investigates the unique mechanisms of modern media which both provide and force space for public expressions of grief: outlets which can both damage and heal. In a mixed methods approach, I performed a Twitter-based events-sequence analysis paired with content and ideological analyses to identify how the local, tragic story of Mollie became a national story of immigration policy—one with such force that the President of the United States commented on it—which led to the Tibbetts’ difficult positionality in the media spotlight. Though social media and its rapid information sharing had caused their daughter’s erasure, the Tibbetts family was also able to use social media to re-center Mollie’s life and values: a violent necessity with empowering ends.

Food, exoticism, and spectacle: Commodifying African otherness in Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern • Tewodros Workneh, Kent State University • The marked reluctance to incorporate African agency in African image-making in the West quite predictably brought about flat and simplistic caricatures of the continent and its peoples. With the aim of interrogating continuity and change in the representation of Africa, this paper explores African exoticism in Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. Framed within a critical cultural/postcolonial perspective that anchors discourses of exoticism in Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, the study identifies the spectacular representational modes of the “crude” native, poverty, and primitivism as evidences of African otherness. Key findings of the study indicate that food in many African destinations is portrayed as mere materiality, and that African foodways are unsophisticated and lack any perceptible aesthetics or influence. Furthermore, the show stubbornly insists on Africa’s “primitiveness” as a binary condition to be contrasted with Western modernity, which, like the spectacle of poverty, marks the salience of African alterity.

“So F***ing Glad We Got Osuna!”: Feminist world building in sports journalism • Kate Yanchulis, University of Maryland • Sports Illustrated reporter Stephanie Apstein turned a Houston Astros executive’s “offensive and frightening” outburst toward women reporters from a closed-door act of aggression into a public discussion of Major League Baseball’s dismissive attitude toward women. This paper takes coverage of that same incident as an opportunity to consider sports journalism as a potential space for feminist world building, drawing particularly on the work of black feminists.

Post-feminism in China: a discourse analytic examination of the sell of successful intimated relationships advice in Ayawawa’s book • hanlei YANG, Chongqing University • The intimate relationship advice industry in modern China reveals insights about neoliberalism, self-surveillance, emphasis on choice and empowerment, individualism, market-oriented principles, the science of successful sex and relationship, and the revitalization of Confucian conservatism and patriarchy. But it has long been neglected by previous scholars conducting studies on reconceptualization and reconstruction of emotional experiences and subjectivities in China context. Ayawawa is regarded as one of the renowned writers of bestsellers in mainland China for the intimate relationship advice industry. This paper will use her anthology “The cultivation of Love” as the research object by adopting Fairclough’s Critical discourse analysis method and regard postfeminism as a sensibility or a critical subject instead of as an analytic viewpoint. Specifically, this research aims to answer: (1) how she mobilized rhetorical devices and cultural resources to present a seemingly scientific method of managing intimate relationships; (2) what kind of intimate relationship and sexual subjectivity are established. By way of conclusion, females could take advantage of their sexy bodies, seeking financial and emotional support from others in an intimate relationship. successful intimacy is embodied in dramatically increasing the intensity of self-surveillance as a form of regulation for women. The extensiveness of surveillance over an entirely new life and intimacies includes the focus on psychology, and the requirements to transform oneself and reshape one’s deeper inner life. Women are constantly monitoring their looks and reproduction capability when they encounter unequal treatment in the intimate relationship, they first think of monitoring themselves and self-adjustment, instead of paying attention to the fact that men and women are unequal in the intimate relationship.

<2020 Abstracts

Community Journalism Interest Group

Virtual or tangible?: An experimental investigation into motivation and memory in place-based, community-oriented virtual reality news • Aaron Atkins • Parts of this research appear in a dissertation. 360-degree virtual reality video content is beginning to spread beyond niche international and national news organizations and into community-oriented news publications. One of the unique aspects inherent to the medium is the relinquishing of journalist control over the perspective, framing, and attention allocation of its audience, which this experiment addresses. This research investigates via controlled lab experiment the motivational effects of experiencing and processing via LC4MP a community-oriented 360VR news story shot in a prominent community location known to the research population sample. The experiment uses the presence or absence of an on-screen reporter to serve as a guide through the news story and measures motivation via sense of community, attention allocation and memory processing via post-treatment assessment. Findings shed light on one of the prominent ongoing discussions among journalists about how best to utilize the medium for nonfiction narrative news purposes, and makes recommendations for best practice based on its findings.

Community public safety information seeking and the news • Chris Etheridge, University of Arkansas at Little Rock • One by-product of the digital age has been the expansion how individuals get information, yet the news has remained both a primary source for information and one that individuals increasingly view as untrustworthy. This study examines the information needs related to crime and public safety as well as how and why they seek this information through the news. These findings are discussed in terms of the theoretical framework of community information-seeking. This study then provides three recommendations for possible ways for news organizations to serve a greater community information role.

Calm During the Storm: Hype-Averse and Thematic Framing of Hurricane Harvey on a Local Independent Weather Blog • Marcus Funk, Sam Houston State University • Abstract: During Hurricane Harvey, a local weather blog heavily emphasized risk and meteorological data without defaulting to disaster or human interest frames common in mainstream news coverage of severe weather. Journalists routinely articulated uncertainty, delineating what was likely and what was possible, while cultivating internal and external community through personal expression and recognition of common experience. Audience members demonstrated clear parasocial interaction and parasocial relationships with authors despite the lack of human interest and disaster frames.

Community through dialogue and its impact on support for NPR member stations • Joseph Kasko • This research examines the role of community in generating support for public radio stations. Building on previous research, which concluded NPR stations were engaged in continuous, two-way dialogue with their listeners, this present study surveyed listeners to gauge how those community building efforts may be influencing support. The results indicate there is a positive, but small, relationship between dialogic communication and levels of support. As a result, this work provides evidence that station efforts to build community, through the use of dialogic communication, are effective in increasing levels of support.

The Role of Community Caretaker: How Weekly Newspapers Defended Their Communities While Reporting on the Mississippi ICE Raids • Nick Mathews • This research presents how weekly newspapers came to the defense of their communities in a time of need. This role, which goes beyond the normative newspaper functions, is identified as “community caretaker.” A qualitative textual analysis examines the coverage of the historic 2019 Mississippi ICE raids. The findings demonstrate that, most notably, the weekly newspapers attempted to heal any reputational damage to the communities by criticizing the national media that painted a grim post-raid future.

* Extended Abstract * Journalism Beyond the Command Post • Mildred Perreault, East Tennessee State University • On Memorial Day weekend 2015, journalists flocked to Wimberley to report the destruction, but only a few local journalists remained to tell the story of the town’s struggle for recovery. Using case study methods and narrative theory this study evaluated how local journalists contribute to long-term recovery and resilience. Through the development of the journalist as citizen model, this study addressed how local journalists are strategic in the narratives they adopted.

Reinforcing Islamophobic Rhetoric through the use of Facebook comments: A study of imagined community • Burton Speakman, Kennesaw State University; Caitlyn Blanchard; Anisah Bagasra, Kennesaw State University • Social media sites such as Facebook allow for the easy creation of imagined community within the online space. This study seeks to examine the role of imagined community and framing in portrayals of Islam and Muslims within the comments of public media pages on Facebook. A comparative analysis of comments on news articles from conservative, mainstream, and liberal media sources was conducted to understand the quantity and content of Islamophobic comments on these pages. Additionally, comments on eight of the most popular conservative Facebook pages were analyzed. Both the qualitative and quantitative data suggest imagined community exists within commenters on conservative media Facebook pages, reinforcing the use of Islamophobic rhetoric.

<2020 Abstracts

Communication Theory and Methodology Division

Uses and Gratifications of Mobile Gaming: When Is Playing No Longer Just Fun and Games? • Karin Haberlin; David Atkin • The present study explores problematic ritualized uses of mobile videogames—available through smartphones and tablets — using Uses and Gratifications (U&G) theory as a guide. Online survey results uncover a positive relationship between materialism and Internet addiction and a negative relationship between social support and Internet addiction. Social support mediated the relationship between materialism and Internet addiction. Fantasy, coping, and escape motivations were moderately correlated with Internet Addiction Test scores.

The evolution of research in Journalism and Communication: An analysis of scholarly CIOS-indexed journals from 1915-present • David Atkin; Carolyn Lagoe; Tim Stephen; Archana Krishnan • Assessments of programmatic research remain important in the current higher education landscape, as the field of Journalism/Mass Communication (JMC) enters its 2nd century. This study profiles scholarly productivity across the larger discipline’s first century, focusing on scholarly output for institutions in referred journals indexed by the CIOS database since 1915. All but four of the 30 most prolific units grant doctoral degrees. The 30 most prolific scholars all have at least a decade of experience and typically publish with a coauthor. Implications of converging research areas wrought by emerging digital media—and their erasure of the field’s sub-domains–are discussed.

Leveraging intermedia agenda setting for forecasting coverage: A case study of the Mueller investigation • Matthew Brockman, University of Arizona • While a lot of progress has been made in modeling factors influencing news production, there is a dearth of research for providing ways to compare the accuracy and persistence of models used in current journalism research. This quantitative study provides evidence that news coverage can be forecast with better-than-chance accuracy when evaluating models mean absolute scaled error by modeling news coverage of the case of a government investigation and presidential tweeting concerning collusion or interference in the aftermath of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Furthermore, the study examines how the estimated relative influence of different factors changes depending on the time frame to which the computational models were fit. The author theorizes that further including additional theory in models and re-evaluating the resulting change in error can provide insight to how much predictive value those theoretical contributions account for media production.

Mediation analysis and warranted inferences in media and communication research. Examining research design in the field’s prominent journals • Michael Chan, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Macau K. F. Mak, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Panfeng Hu • The number of communication studies employing mediation analysis has increased exponentially in in the past two decades. Focusing on the aspect of research design, this study examines 333 articles published in the Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, Communication Research, and Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly between 1996-2007. Findings show that while the majority of studies report statistically significant indirect effects, they are inadequate to make causal inferences about the mediating mechanisms. Authors also often infer that the significant mediators they uncovered are the ‘true’ mediators while plausible alternative models and mediators are rarely acknowledged or discussed. Future studies should pay more attention to the role of research design and its implications for making causal inferences. More rigorous research designs for strengthening causal claims in communication research are suggested.

The COVID-19 pandemic and heightened hostility toward China: Expanding the theoretical underpinning and scope of the third-person perception • Kuang-Kuo Chang, Shih Hsin University; Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Macau • This timely study examined the widely documented third-person perception in the context of the raging COVID-19 pandemic. It included a new variable, information transparency, normatively treated as a given in past research. Constructs of social distance, news exposure, news attentiveness, and self-efficacy were included for testing. Additionally, this study is among the first in media effects literature to treat TPP as a moderation variable. The implications, contributions, and limitations of this study are discussed in detail.

The Broadcast Journalism Credibility Scale: A Robust Measure for Examining Ethos, Logos, and Pathos • Danielle Deavours, University of Alabama; Chris Roberts, University of Alabama • Credibility is an ancient, well-studied, and complicated construct. Most credibility measurements consider either messenger (ethos), message (logos), or both. Aristotle’s definition also included pathos—the speaker’s emotion, which now comes into play with broadcast journalists. This study analyzed 45 variables representing ethos, logos, and pathos, characteristics; results showed high correlations among Aristotle’s three concepts. Factor analysis yielded a new three-pronged credibility measure for broadcasters, with 21 variables that distinguish among the three concepts.

Still a man’s world? Framing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election • Eliana DuBosar, Univeristy of Florida • This study compared coverage of Clinton and Trump in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal during the 2016 presidential election. Specifically, it looked at quantity of coverage as well as personal, issue, and strategic game framed coverage. For the difference between quantity of coverage for the two candidates and attribution of feminine issues to Clinton were significant. However, personal and strategic game framed coverage differences between Clinton and Trump were not statistically significant.

* Extended Abstract * The geolocation gap: The effect of being a political minority in communities on news media trust • Megan Duncan, Virginia Tech; David Coppini, University of Denver • Whether exposure to political disagreement will increase participation in democracy and media trust is up for debate. This study uses U.S. survey data to compare the effects that holding political opinions in the minority or majority within discussion networks and place-based communities have on political engagement and trust in news media. This study finds supportive discussion networks increase participation in democracy, but dissimilarity with community opinions decrease trust in news media.

Dismantling the hierarchy: An organization-centric model of influence for media sociology research • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado-Boulder; Timothy Kuhn, U of Colorado-Boulder • This theoretical paper proposes a new model for understanding influence on journalistic practice. Studying influence in the 21st century requires a model that does not include a hierarchy and therefore does not implicitly validate a universal journalism culture. The paper first explains the hierarchy of influences model, argues for its extinction and then resituates that model’s levels of analysis into a new model that more appropriately accounts for the growing agency of individual organizations. Finally, the paper envisions avenues for future research utilizing the new model.

Response Quality Comparison Between Computers and Smartphones in Different Web Survey Modes and Question Formats • Louisa Ha, Bowling Green State University; Chenjie Zhang, Jiangsu Normal University; Weiwei Jiang • Low response rates in Web surveys and the use of different devices in entering Web survey responses are the two main challenges to response quality of Web surveys. This study compared the effects of using interviewers to recruit participants in computer-assisted self-administered interviews (CASI) vs. computer assisted personal interviews (CAPI) and smartphones vs. computers on participation rate and Web survey response quality. Two field experiments using two similar media use studies on U.S. college students were conducted to compare response quality in different survey modes and response devices. Response quality of computer entry was better than smartphone entry in both studies in open-ended and closed-ended question format only. But device effect was only significant on overall completion rate when interviewers were present.

Thinking, feeling, and reporting: An exploration into emotionality in U.S. political journalism • Kimberly Kelling • Many Western cultures privilege rationality in the workplace and perceive emotionality as reason’s lesser counterpart. Within the U.S. journalism landscape, the perpetuation of this dichotomy is prevalent, yet it is a relatively under-explored area in social scientific research. Although journalism in the U.S. has a strong tradition of objectivity, the realities of journalistic work expose journalists to emotional situations almost daily. Therefore, this study uses a mixed methods approach to understand how often political journalists employ emotional labor at work and to describe the emotion regulation strategies of those journalists. Findings suggest journalists practice both proactive and reactive emotion regulation strategies, yet still prioritize rationality in their work.

Defining media environment: An introduction to a communication infrastructure-structure-action (CISA) model • Yong-Chan Kim, Yonsei University • The purpose of this work is twofold: (1) to review how empirical media research has addressed the issue of context; and (2) to propose theoretical definitions of media environment as part of communication environment. In defining media (and communication) environment, this study introduces a communication infrastructure-structure-action (CISA) framework as a way to understand and explain how media (and communication) environments work for communicative action. The CISA framework is proposed as a theoretical framework upon which to develop empirical research on media and communication environments. With such goals in mind, I discuss some potential variables of media (and communication) environment and communicative action as well.

Seeing Oneself in Online Sources: Self-Esteem and Self-Construal Impact Information Exposure in the Filter Bubble • Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick; Axel Westerwick • An experiment mimicked the filter bubble: Participants browsed all attitude-aligned political content. It varied source cues, with two out of eight bylines displaying individual participants’ name initials as author initials. Selective exposure spent on messages from same-initials authors was logged in seconds to capture egotism (based on name-letter effect). Pre-exposure state self-esteem influenced this egotism indicator, contingent on personal-self and social-self importance. Perceived source similarity affected state self-esteem change, contingent on same moderators.

Does watching animals in real life and on the screen have the same effects on stress reduction? • Anastasia Kononova, Michigan State University; Saleem Alhabash, Michigan State University; Patricia Huddleston, Michigan State University; Tao Deng, DePaul University; Duygu Kanver, Michigan State University; Narae Park, Michigan State University; Luis Graciano Velazquez, Michigan State University; Alan Smith, Michigan State University; Noah Hirsch, Michigan State University; Anish Nimmagadda, Michigan State University; Yao Dong, Michigan State University; Kristen Lynch, Michigan State University • A set of two studies provided empirical evidence that visiting a zoo and watching online videos of zoo animals reduces stress. In order to showcase the stress-reduction effects, we designed a procedure that was implemented at a local zoo and at a U.S. Midwestern university’s psychophysiological laboratory, where we experimentally induced stress using a widely-accepted psychological task and then provided participants with the experience of proximally physical or mediated exposure to zoo animals. In addition to measuring stress levels using self-report measures, we recorded participants’ psychophysiological responses, such as heart rate, pulse, and skin conductance. We detected changes in stress levels and attitude toward zoo animals as a function of exposure to zoo animals and observed field study participants’ (N = 8) psychophysiological responses that indicate parasympathetic activation of the central nervous system. Our lab study results (N = 87) showed that the stress-reducing effects of watching zoo animals in a video were more evident among Generation Z participants (those between the ages of 18 and 24 years old). We also found that watching the video of zoo animals elicited moderately arousing and the least unpleasant emotional responses from participants when compared with other types of videos.

Perceived message desirability is not good enough to explain first-person effect: Testing multiple moderating variables of first-person effect • Sangki Lee, Arkansas Tech University; Virginia Jones, Arkansas Tech University • This study attempted to explain inconsistent research findings of previous first-person effect studies by testing its moderating variables. A 2 X 2 X 2 mixed design was employed with a between-subject variable of message relevance and within-subject variables of reference group and message dimension (knowledge and attitude). Significant main and interaction effects of message attributions were found. Locus of control was not a significant moderator. A measurement issue of first-person effect was discussed.

* Extended Abstract * Database discrepancies: News stories and child separation at the border • Carol Liebler, Syracuse University; Noah Buntain, Syracuse University; Kyle Webster • The purpose of the current study is to compare and contrast four news databases to explore how exhaustive each appears to be, and to further examine the degree of convergence among them. Using a month’s worth of news on child separation at the border, we examine search results from Google News, Newsbank, NexisUni and Proquest. Our data reveal considerable differences across all of the dimensions studied: number of stories, geographic reach and media outlets.

From Theory to Profession: Mapping Global Knowledge Networks in Communication Studies • Yi-Hui Huang, City University of Hong Kong; Hai Liang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Yuanhang LU, Hong Kong Baptist University • “This study collects and analyzes the titles and descriptions of 200 top communication programs worldwide. Results indicate that the field is moving towards divergence rather than convergence. Communication programs tend to highlight their own unique features (i.e., social sciences, humanities/culture, practical application, media studies) and programs examined within different continents (i.e., Europe, North American, Asia, Australia, Africa) of the world also demonstrate similar patterns.

‘Instagram versus Reality’: Psychological Effects of Viewing Realistic and Thin-Idealized Body Presentations on Instagram • Alice Binder; Joerg Matthes, U of Vienna • Two experimental studies examined the effects of presenting ‘ideal vs. reality’ body pictures on Instagram on women and men. Whereas in Study 1, young women in the ‘ideal vs. reality’ condition showed a more realistic perception of an ideal body, Study 2 revealed that adult women in the ‘ideal vs. reality’ condition showed a thinner ideal self compared to the thin-idealized condition. This effect was most prominent in adult women with a higher BMI. No effects on men were observed.

Modeling attitude reinforcement within the elaboration likelihood model • Nikki McClaran, Michigan State University; Nancy Rhodes • The present study examines the importance of reinforcing favorable attitudes to strengthen the attitude-behavior relationship. In accordance with the elaboration likelihood model, this study attempted to determine how the way in which pro-attitudinal messages are processed influences behavioral intention via attitude reinforcement. More so, message features of argument strength and emotional tone were examined for their role in impacting this relationship. Participants (N = 315) were randomly exposed to a PSA video regarding donating to animal shelters. Results found that while the impact on attitude reinforcement was conditional on the message’s emotional tone, the influence of processing type on behavioral intention was contingent on message strength. However, no relationship was found between attitude reinforcement and behavioral intention. These findings reiterate the need for more research on pro-attitudinal processing and point to the potential role of peripheral cues in encouraging attitude-behavior consistency.

* Extended Abstract * Deliberating Alone: Immigration and “Rational” Arguments against Political Talk • Bryan McLaughlin, Texas Tech University; Kenton Wilkinson, Texas Tech Univ.; Hector Rendon, Texas Tech University; TJ Martinez, Texas Tech University • While interviewing people about the topic of immigration, one constant theme kept coming up—participants wanted to talk politics, but they believed it was not possible because other people were too irrational. Using a symbolic interactionism framework, we explore the reflexive process through which deliberation is considered, then ultimately decided against. We argue that these are normative performances used to demonstrate a commitment to the value of rationality, allowing individuals to reaffirm an ideal self.

Uses-and-gratification for parasocial grief and grief policing in the 21st century • Ajia Meux, University of Oklahoma • The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between parasocial grief and parasocial grief policing from a uses-and-gratifications framework. Uses-and-gratification theory suggests that people use media to meet a number of different needs. Celebrities use social media to create authentic and credible online personalities to cultivate niche audiences looking for connectedness and identification. Rapid advancements in social media technologies facilitate communications that allow for feelings of “being there.” This enables new ways to engage and develop parasocial relations, friend-like relationships with mediated personae and audiences. When these mediated personae die, fans experience parasocial grief and use social media to both grieve and participate in others’ grieving acts. This grief is met with policing efforts from individuals who perceive parasocial relationships as an illegitimate loss of the person grieving. Broader cultural implications (i.e., family, ethnicity, gender, culture, social media) are present when considering the importation of norms to online spaces which create a conflict between those who believe it be a space for grieving behavior and those who do not.

How theoretical are media social science theories? It’s difficult to tell. • Serena Miller; Stephen Lacy; Jen Lovejoy • Theories discipline our thinking by holding it to intellectual standards, yet standards are not standards if minimal agreement exists regarding what constitutes social science theory. During a pilot test of a content analysis aimed at assessing media scholars’ use of formal social science theory, we could not meaningfully record how theory guided scholars. This essay discusses previous such efforts, what the pilot test taught us about the use of formal social science theory in media journals, and what can be done to improve theory building in media scholarship.

A World of Two Agendas: Agenda Setting Sampling • Milad Minooie, Kennesaw State University • This article studies the efficiency of different samples for content analysis of news in media effects studies by comparing the agenda-setting effect of a sample drawn by the researcher with the effect of a sample drawn based on audiences’ self-reported media habits. Contrary to the belief that exposure to sampled media content is necessary for observation of media effects, samples drawn based on overall readership/viewership of the media are more efficient than samples based on audience’s actual consumption habits. A traditional media sample yields a stronger agenda-setting effect compared to a sample drawn based on self-reported media habits. But correlations between the two media samples are also strong. The findings suggest that a broad intermedia agenda-setting process makes it possible for researchers to draw a traditional sample that is representative of the issues salient to audiences regardless of their level of exposure to the sampled media. In other words, even in a demassified media environment, traditional samples are still the best option for media effects researchers.

* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: How global is the World Wide Web? Identifying user-defined geographies from websites, YouTube and Twitter Trends in over 100 countries • Yee Man Margaret Ng, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Harsh Taneja, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign • Do web users really transcend national boundaries? This study examines the extent of similarities between countries’ web use patterns simultaneously accounting for different modes of online consumption: country’s most popular websites and trends from YouTube and Twitter. Utilizing platforms’ API and scraping, we collected two months of usage data and analyzed usage pattern similarities between a hundred countries. Unlike prior studies, we find social media usage to be even more heterogeneous than global website usage.

* Extended Abstract * Explaining the Process: How Journalistic Transparency and Perceptions of Importance Can Promote Credibility and Engagement • Jason Peifer, Indiana University – Bloomington • Faced with declining public trust in news media, numerous proposals have been presented to combat the problems of journalistic credibility. Increased transparency is one commonly identified approach as a key for addressing these challenges—aspects of which could include disclosing how and why a story was selected, how it was reported, and how it was funded. This research employs an experimental design to investigate the efficacy of such transparency for fostering newspaper credibility and engagement.

Media Agenda-Setting versus Political Agenda-Setting: Towards a Needed Convergence of Research across Two Related Literatures • Alexander Rochefort, Boston University • Despite longstanding agenda-setting research within the communication and political science literatures, few scholars have attempted to synthesize these fields in a comprehensive and systematic way. This research fills this gap by explicating the interaction between the media agenda and the political agenda for a salient public issue—the oversight of social media platforms. Examining editorials in the New York Times, this project finds that editorial pages play a key role in linking these agendas together.

* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: Methodological Implications of Between-Coder Variance in Content Analysis • Iago S. Muraro, Michigan State University • This short paper investigates a topic that has been ignored in the content analysis literature: the effect of non-zero correlations within coders on critical statistical assumptions. By employing a data simulation approach, we generated three distinct content analysis scenarios to examine the relationship between non-perfect intercoder reliability and between-coder variance. Our findings demonstrate that non-perfect reliability indices may indicate that content analysis data can be clustered around coders. Statistical, methodological, and practical implications are discussed.

Media Effects on Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories • Christian Schemer; Marc Ziegele; Tanjev Schultz; Oliver Quiring; Nikolaus Jackob; Ilka Jakobs • The present research examines how exposure to various news sources affects beliefs in conspiracy theories in Germany. Three surveys demonstrate that frequency of exposure to news on alternative news sites, video-sharing platforms, commercial television, and in tabloids increase beliefs in conspiracies. Conversely, frequent exposure to quality newspapers, public broadcasting television news, news aggregators, and legacy news sites reduce beliefs in conspiracy theories. Reading news on social media or user comments is unrelated to conspiratorial beliefs.

Delineating the Transnational Network Agenda Setting of Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Movement: A Machine Learning Approach • Yan Su; Danielle Ka Lai Lee, Washington State University • Grounded in the network agenda setting (NAS) model, this study applied both supervised and unsupervised machine-learning approaches to analyze the newspaper coverage in Hong Kong, Mainland China, the U.S. and the U.K. (N = 2,118), and discussions in Twitter (N = 152,509), about the Hong Kong protest. Network analyses indicated that all media used distinct approaches in setting and bundling issue and attribute agendas. Time-series analyses revealed a reciprocal while asymmetrical relationship in which Twitter exhibited a stronger power in transferring bundled issues and attributes to the media. Contributions and implications are discussed.

* Extended Abstract * Developing a Perceived Social Media Literacy Scale • Edson Tandoc; Andrew Yee, Singapore University of Technology and Design • This paper seeks to contribute to the growing discussion about the need for social media literacy by developing and testing a perceived social media literacy (PSML) scale. It draws from data and analyses involving three national surveys. A pilot study developed 32 items that described different forms of literacies associated with social media. Four domains of literacies emerged from the qualitative analysis: technological, social, informational, and privacy related. Items were developed within each of these domains. Following the qualitative study, three separate nationally representative surveys were conducted to (1) explore the factor structure of those items, (2) confirm the factor structure found in (1), and (3) examine the validity of the PSML scale. At least 3,146 participants took part in the entire process from item pool development to examining scale validity.

Critical Reflection in Narrative Persuasion: Thinking beyond Transportation • RAN TAO, UW-Madison • Because of its effectiveness in communication, narrative-based persuasion is deemed as a potent tool to reduce health disparities and promote better health outcomes, especially for people from disadvantaged groups and people with high resistance. However, the mechanism of this communication strategy is still under debate. The dominant explanation suggests transportation results in receptivity to persuasion. Another line of research incorporates the transportation experience with the message-receivers’ cognitive needs to interpret and extrapolating from narrative. Following the logic of cognition-based narrative processing, this theoretical paper adds critical reflection to the model of narrative persuasion. This paper argues, after returning from narrative world to the real world, narrative receivers use logic and reasoning to reflect upon their experience and make assessments on the narrative’s soundness and value. And this meta-level assessments is important to understand the narrative persuasion outcomes. Acknowledging the strengths of narrative persuasion, this paper also makes a case that narrative strategy should be promoted with caution, in that the effectiveness of narratives could be utilized for wrong causes. Some individual-level factors are proposed to identify people who are more receptive to narrative persuasion, and more vulnerable to the pitfalls of narrative-based strategies.

The Journalism-Public Relations Role Continuum • Leigh Anne Tiffany, Michigan State University • In the current new media era, journalists and public relations practitioners are taking on new responsibilities in their respective professions. In meeting these new demands, the demarcated barrier between these distinct vocations has faded. This blurring of lines has led to definitional uncertainty for these roles. This paper proposes three models to provide clarity for the boundaries—or lack thereof—for these role holders. Two of the models—the Archetypal Model and the Continuum Model—provide the historical and foundational context for the third model. The Role Snapshot Model is presented as the best representation for roles in the constantly changing media realm. Additionally, this model provides a scholarly channel for increased interdisciplinarity between journalism and public relations.

A two-study qualitative exploration of ecological momentary assessment as a tool for media, behavior measurement • Jessica Willoughby, Washington State University; Stephanie Gibbons; Shuang Liu • Ecological momentary assessment, a method of collecting data in real-time on mobile devices, may offer certain benefits for communication research. We were interested in participants’ experiences with EMA for addressing communication-based research questions. We conducted two EMA studies on different topics in 2017 and 2018 and followed them up with in-depth interviews (N=19 and N=16). Participants described potential changes in behavior associated with the EMA, which could contribute to changes in data collected.

<2020 Abstracts

Communication Technology Division

Faculty Paper Competition
Motivations to Use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok Predicting Problematic Use and Continuance Intentions • Anvita Suneja, Michigan State University; Anish Nimmagadda, Michigan State University; Saleem Alhabash, Michigan State University • While much of the studies within the Uses and Gratifications (U&G) tradition were set to predict facets of media use, the current examines how use motivations, nature of platform use, and privacy-related perceptions predict users’ use continuance intentions for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok and their problematic use of that platform (i.e., addition), simultaneously. The study uses a cross-sectional survey of undergraduate students at a large Midwestern university (N = 373), where participants answered questions related to their motivations to use each of the four platforms (depending on their active use of the platform), platform affinity and other usage factors, their intentions to continue using the platform and their problematic of the platform. Findings showed superiority of Instagram in terms of U&G. Regression models highlighted differences in the four platforms’ problematic use and continuance intentions. Findings are discussed within the framework of reconceptualizing U&G outcomes within the evolving environment of social media use.

Assessing Routes to the Proteus Effect: Testing Self-Perception and Priming Hypotheses • Jose Aviles, Albright College • This study examines the Proteus effect and the potential mechanisms to its success. The Proteus effect suggests that user’s avatars influence individual behavior. However, mechanisms of the Proteus effect remain unclear. Research on the Proteus effect has put forth evidence that self-perception and priming both function as routes to the Proteus effect. This study tests each route in a desktop game experience. The study indicates no support for either route to the Proteus effect in the conditions that it was tested. Implications of testing environment and stimuli are discussed, indicating that specific thresholds may be needed to activate the Proteus effect.

“I probably just skipped over it:” Using eye tracking to examine political Facebook advertising effectiveness –and avoidance • Matthew Binford, University of Georgia; Bartosz Wojdynski, University of Georgia • Social media political advertising has, in recent years, been the target of a lot of interest and scrutiny from the public, scholars, and even the social media platforms themselves. While there is still some debate as to the overall effectiveness of social media political advertising there is compelling evidence to show that a number of social media users seek to avoid content that is political in nature. Those users tend to simply skip over the content once they have identified it as being political in nature (Bode, Vraga & Troller-Renfree, 2017). However it is less clear whether the same pattern holds for political candidate advertising which is typically easily identifiable as political, but designed to catch attention with images and text. The present study sought to shed light on the understanding of how consumers actually view or avoid political advertising on social media by using eye-tracking equipment to map users eye scanpaths as they viewed a constructed social media news feed. It was found that users with high levels of political interest fundamentally view political advertising differently with different scanpaths than those who have low political interest levels.

I’d Rather Hear it from a Robot: How Audio Voice Drives Preferences in AI-Powered Audio Messages • Jackson Carter, University of South Carolina; Linwan Wu, University of South Carolina • AI-powered audio has become increasingly popular and increasingly lifelike. However, is there a problem with being too lifelike? This paper examines the effectiveness of AI-powered audio through the framework of HAII (human-AI interaction) by exploring how the type of audio voice affects user preferences in AI-powered audio messages. Theoretical and practical applications are discussed, as results offer connections between areas of social science literature while providing insights for strategically using voice in programming.

The reviews of human-computer interaction and online relationship in new media: the evidences from live video streaming services • Po-Chien Chang, Shih Hsin University; Cheng-Yu Lin, Shih Hsin University • Comparing to live broadcasting in mass media, live video streaming is relying on broadband and digitalized content distribution over the Internet. Audiences are no longer constrained by linear schedule and empowered by social presence and co-experience of viewing. This study develops an empirical model by expanding the motivational factors in Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) and associated with various user engagement and media consumption behaviors. The implications are discussed.

The Warranting Value of Information from Machines and Humans Different Information Types • Mo Chen; Yu-Hao Lee • It is increasingly common for students to acquire information online using intelligent virtual assistants (IVAs) such as Amazon’s Alexa or Google Assistant, but few studies have examined how students assess the quality and credibility of information provided by an IVA. Informed by the warranting theory, a 2 (source: human vs. IVAs) × 3 (information type: fact, aggregated opinion, individual opinion) experiment was conducted with 192 participants. Results revealed that the type of information affected the warranting value of the information. Aggregated opinions were perceived to be most warranted, credible, and of higher quality, followed by facts, and then individual opinions. Machine heuristic was a significant moderator between the information source and credibility judgments. The current study extends the warranting theory to examine AI-generated information and also suggests that different information types are associated with higher or lower warranting values.

An Experiment on the Sequential Mediation Effects of PDAs on Subjective Well-being • Ye Chen, University of Connecticut; Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch, University of Connecticut • “Likes” seem indispensable on social media platforms today, and research across communication domains has investigated their meanings, functions, and potential impacts. Yet a causal relationship between PDAs (paralinguistic digital affordances, such as “likes”) and subjective well-being is unclear. This study utilized an experimental method and demonstrated the causal link between PDAs and subjective well-being. Potential mediating and moderating mechanisms were further explored. Our experiment also found that psychological factors such as self-esteem, pleasure, anxiety and depression were significant indicators of perceived life satisfaction, through sequential mediating processes. Moreover, satisfaction with the expected “likes” did not play a moderated mediating role in these processes. Instead, it also mediated the link between PDAs and life happiness. The findings add evidence to the ongoing debate about the good or bad of social media “likes” and contribute to unpacking the myth of social media impacts.

Do Opinions Change from Information or Experience? Attitudes toward Algorithmic Systems Depend on Transparency of Design and Power Usage • Chan Chen, Washington State University; David Silva, Kent State University; Ying Zhu • Algorithmic decision-making systems are ubiquitous in digital media, but the public holds largely negative attitudes towards them. This study investigates two approaches of improving opinions towards algorithms. The first approach provided information about how algorithms work. The second approach used respondent’s Instagram profile data to show algorithmic categorization in action, that is experiencing algorithms in action. Both methods increased positive opinions, but attitude change was also dependent on the individual-level trait of power usage.

The situated influence of individual cultural orientation on online political expression through self-presentational concern • Xi Cui, College of Charleston; Jian Rui; Yu Liu, Florida International University • This study examines political expressions on social network sites (SNSs) from a self-presentation perspective. Through an online experiment (N = 360), we found that users’ cultural orientations toward power and social inequality influenced political self-presentation through self-presentation concern. Furthermore, a three-way interaction between social inequality, audience, and issue controversialness was found on self-presentational concern. This study suggests that political expressions via SNSs can be a function of cultural orientation, SNS audience, and issue through self-presentation.

* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: The Effects of Victim Response to Direct and Indirect Digital Aggression • Yao Dong, Michigan State University; Saleem Alhabash, Michigan State University • The frequent use of digital media increased the rate of cyberbullying victimization, and the sociotechnical affordances of social media have made them hotbeds for digital aggression. In this study, we examined the effects of victim response to direct and indirect (subtweeting) aggression, and found the effects of victim response and its interaction with message directness on participations’ perceptions of aggressive messages, their sympathy toward the aggression victims, as well as their intervention likelihood.

Playable News Technologies: Journalism and the Rise of Mobile Gaming • David Dowling • The stratospheric rise of mobile games to the top of the global games industry is attributable to synergies between mobile devices and social media platforms, particularly through the increasing use of Facebook on the iPhone and other smartphones. Phones and tablets are now where the majority of people play games and consume news. This shared digital space has given rise to mobile newsgames, a hybridization of gameplay and journalistic content allowing users to play the news, shattering the divide between entertainment and civic engagement. Among adult players, the smartphone is the most common device used for playing video games, followed by PC and consoles. Through smartphone apps, games now reach users in some of the most popular spaces in the digital ecosystem and on devices that have become ubiquitous in twenty-first century networked culture. News organizations and commercial game developers alike have responded to the simultaneous rise in mobile news consumption and skyrocketing popularity of mobile games by producing games that engage current events and issues of political and social significance. The journalistic consequences of the technological convergence of news and gaming industries constitutes the focus of this study. Critical analysis treats five case studies of the most influential mobile newsgames since 2016 by commercial game developers and legacy media. Can mobile newsgames provide civic engagement and a journalistic check on power? By directing data flows on social media, mobile games occupy a powerful role in the digital ecosystem.

SoundCloud Rap: An Investigation of Community and Consumption Models of Internet Practices • Ian Dunham • Andrew Feenberg states that “the social role and significance of the internet is in suspense today” (Feenberg, 2019), suggesting that its technosocial impacts are the result of a dynamic exchange in which multiple agents compete, cooperate, and coexist for a variety of reasons that stem from just as many motivations. On SoundCloud, a popular music-based social networking platform, the suspense Feenberg references is in full tilt–a few short years ago, it was on the brink of shutdown because of cash shortages, forcing mass layoffs and the closure of San Francisco and London offices (Satariano, 2017), only to become the site of a burgeoning hip hop community in 2017 and 2018. What has been labeled “SoundCloud Rap” represents a unique social phenomenon that is simultaneously a community, a particular approach to governance, and a network that relies on the symmetrical interplay of humans and machines. Using Feenberg’s recent discussion of the diversity of the internet’s formulations, this paper analyzes SoundCloud Rap, concluding that artists and listeners operate under both a community model and a consumption model. An empirical study of data collected from SoundCloud supports this discussion. Lastly, I consider the wave of SoundCloud Rap artists and the novel place within the industry they currently occupy, and whether the subgenre can leave any lasting marks on musical technoculture.

From passive to purposeful: Can Apple’s Screen Time realign users’ relationships with their devices? • Ebubechukwu Ubochi, Florida Institute of Technology; Heidi Hatfield Edwards, Florida Institute of Technology • This qualitative phenomenological study investigated smartphone users’ relationships with their devices and digital wellness software. It involved following the activities of eight iPhone users who were encouraged to use and pay attention to Screen Time over the course of a week. They were interviewed at the start of the process to learn about how they use their phones as well as what knowledge they had about Screen Time, and then at the end of the process to measure any changes that might have emerged. Each participant’s Screen Time data was also recorded with screenshots and used in the analysis. The findings showed overall that focused attention to Screen Time is capable of affecting smartphone usage patterns and helping iPhone users take control of the way and extent to which they use their devices.

Assumption of consensus: A path model predicting political participation among instant messaging app users • HyungJin Gill, University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication; Hernando Rojas, University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication • This study uses a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults to test a path model that examines potential influence of instant messenger (IM) apps on cognitive bias and political participation among users. The findings provide insights into how “false consensus,” or egocentric assumption in public opinion perception, that may stem from mobile echo chamber can contribute to a user’s participatory behaviors, which further highlights IM as a private, closed mode of political communication.

How much immersion is enough? Exploring the use of 360 video on social networks to influence user reflections on important issues • Michael Horning, Virginia Tech; Emily McCaul, Virginia Tech • 360-degree video is an emerging video technology that is popular on social networks and is used to immerse users in a virtual reality experience. Some argue that this technology enables individuals to process visual, verbal and spatial information together in one space in order to engage users more deeply with the information than standardized video. In this study, we create a news story using 360 video to test this assumption and to explore users’ experience with 360 news content delivered on three different displays: desktop computer, mobile tablet and head-mounted display. Our results show that individuals who engage with 360 narratives using head-mounted displays are more likely to reflect on the issues in the narrative than other mediums. Our findings also suggest that using iPads to experience 360 narratives can be more engaging but also decrease reflection on the main themes in a 360 story. Implications for use of 360 on social media are discussed.

Exploring Multiple-level Predictors Contributed to the Credibility of Smartphone Information • Bing Hu, South China University of Technology; Bu Zhong, Pennsylvania State University; Tao Sun, University of Vermont • This study proposes a hierarchical model to explore information processing on the smartphone, in which need for cognition is the independent variable and perceived credibility of smartphone information the dependent variable, with smartphone power use and information verification as the mediators, while controlling for such demographic characteristics as age, gender, education and area of residence. Our findings suggested a significant indirect path from the need for cognition to smartphone use and smartphone information credibility.

Misinformation Corrective Action when Exposed to Fake News: The Role of Media Locus of Control, Need for Cognition and Fake News Literacy • Brigitte Huber; Porismita Borah; Homero Gil de Zúñiga • Fake news is increasingly becoming a problem for democracy and questions arise on how to combat misinformation. This study investigates whether news media literacy helps taking corrective action when encountering misinformation. By relying on survey data from the U.S. (N = 1337), we show that news media literacy in terms of media locus of control and need for cognition is not sufficient to take corrective actions; people rather need to develop specific fake news literacy.

Neither by design nor intention: The creative uses of a gay dating app by HIV-positive clients • Robert Huesca, Trinity University • The geosocial networking mobile application Grindr has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention in the past decade because of its diverse uses and widespread adoption. Yet no study has identified Grindr as a platform whereby HIV-positive users have sought and provided emotional support and medical guidance regarding their diagnoses. Findings from 21 in-depth interviews shed light on this potentially important use of Grindr to contribute to the well-being of people living with HIV. The findings of this study hold valuable contributions to communication theory, public health practice, and mobile phone app development.

Hello, I am a Humanized Robot Reporter: Anthropomorphism in Robot Journalism • Wonseok (Eric) Jang, Sungkyunkwan University; Soojin Kim, Louisiana State University; Jung Won Chun, Sejong University; Young Woo Kang, Sungkyunkwan University • This study examines the effects of humanized robot reporters and the role played by humanized- and non-humanized robot reporters with human reporters in writing the story to determine the persuasiveness of news. Participants displayed greater emotional involvement and evaluated the news more positively when humanized robot reporters write the story compared to non-humanized robot reporters. Such positive effect was magnified when humanized robot reporters formed a partner-to-friend-relationship with human reporters rather than a servant-to-master-relationship.

Capturing Injustice: Using the Screenshot as a Tool for Sousveillance • Bryan Jenkins, Howard University; Emily Cramer, Howard University • “The purpose of this study is to ascertain the role of screenshots in online social justice movements, specifically as it relates to the concept of sousveillance. Screenshots primarily allow for users to call attention to injustices in online spaces. They also allow users to emphasize portions of racist comments, incorporate information used to support a user’s argument, and occasionally bring levity to those engaged in online activism.

Dislike and warn: Different levels of corrective actions on social media • Liefu Jiang, Chicago State University • Through a survey with 193 participants, this paper investigates individuals’ frequencies of taking corrective actions when exposed to unfavorable information on social media. Examining through four perspectives, including cognitive effort, expected influence, creativity, and engagement levels, 11 forms of corrective actions were ranked in three ordered levels. This paper contributes to corrective action studies by providing a new approach to investigate corrective actions, which helps researchers measure corrective actions more accurately.

Ways to Relieve Anxiety: Chinese Consumers’ Perceptions of Paid Digital Knowledge Products • Jie Jin, University of Florida; Huan Chen, University of Florida • This study interviewed 19 Chinese paid digital knowledge products consumers to explore what’s the essence of Chinese consumers’ experience with paid digital knowledge products in the first- and second-tier cities. Findings revealed Chinese consumers use these products to relieve stress and anxiety from real-life competition and the insecurity of falling behind. Although consumers realize the limited assistance that paid knowledge products can offer, their acceptance and expectation of paid digital knowledge products are positive.

Measuring Consumer-Perceived Humanness of Organizational Agents in CMC • Lincoln Lu, University of Florida; Casey McDonald, University of Florida; Tom Kelleher, University of Florida; Susanna Lee; Yoo Jin Chung, University of Florida; Sophia Mueller, University of Florida; Marc Vielledent; April Yue • A broad sample (N=172) of participants interacted with either virtual or human agents representing organizations online and completed a survey including items derived from constructs of conversational human voice, anthropomorphism, and social presence. An exploratory factor analysis yielded a central factor indicating consumer-perceived humanness. The new measure was found to be reliable and valid—working as predicted to assess both virtual and human agents and explain significant variance in perceived relational investment and trust.

The Mere Exposure Effect of Tweets on Vote Choice • Hyunjung Kim • This study investigates the effects of exposure to political candidates’ tweets on vote choice in the context of the 2018 local election in South Korea. A field experiment was conducted among Twitter users in two constituencies. Participants in the experimental group were guided on Twitter to follow a leading candidate in their electoral district, whereas those in the control group were not guided to follow the candidate. The results of the experiment indicate that following a candidate on Twitter was positively linked to voting for the candidate through candidate likability particularly when the candidate’s tweets were personalized. On the other hand, following a candidate on Twitter was negatively linked to voting for the candidate when voters had a low level of involvement with the election and the candidate’s tweets were not personalized. Implications of the findings and limitations of the study are discussed.

Predicting the adoption of AI-based healthcare technology: Theory of planned behavior, self-efficacy and controllability • Joon Kyoung Kim; Mo Jones-Jang, Boston college; Yong Jin Park, Howard University • Artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly prevalent in various industries. Despite increasing attention to AI, little is known about what motivates individuals to adopt AI use in health care. Using the theory of planned behavior as a theoretical framework, this study investigated the determinants of individuals’ intentions to use AI for health monitoring and diagnosis. The results of a survey (N = 1,162) indicated that attitude and perceived behavioral control predicted intention, but not subjective norms.

The Effect of Advanced Technology on Jobs: Attention, Income, Worry, and Support for a Basic Income • Alex W. Kirkpatrick, Washington State University; Jay Hmielowski, University of Florida • Understanding how media use influences public perceptions of advanced technologies is important, particularly in light of recent advances in Artificial Intelligence and robotics. In this paper, we examine whether awareness of computers and robots changing the nature of US jobs is associated with worry over the issue. We then assess whether worry is associated with support for a universal basic income policy, and if worry mediates the relationship between attention and policy support. Lastly, we assess whether this indirect relationship varies by household income. Findings suggest that lower income workers who have thought about the issue of workplace technology are more worried about the issue than higher paid workers. This increased worry is associated with support for a federal policy guaranteeing a living wage for Americans. Results are discussed under the lens of Agenda-Setting Theory. Avenues of future research are suggested.

* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: Are You Engaging the Game? Effect of the Challenge and the Interaction toward Game Engagement in Mobile FPS Game • Heejae Lee; Se Jung Kim, Syracuse University; Shengjie Yao; Yoon (Seo Yoon) Lee; Makana Chock • “Drawing on the relationship between social presence and related works on mobile game engagement, this study investigates the effects of the perceived risk of player-death on player communication, which elicited by the challenges of the game. Specifically, the current study examines whether 1) the higher level of challenge will induce a feeling of the perceived risk of player-death; 2) the level of challenge will serve as a trigger for communication; 3) the degree to which player-death perceivers experience a feeling of interaction; 4) the perceived risk of player-death will positively influence social presence and engagement; 5) the amount of communication will positively affect social presence and engagement.

Information Inequality: The Information Demand and Supply Factors that Shape the Digital Engagements of Low-income and High-income Individuals in the United States • Jihye Lee, Stanford University; James Hamilton; Nilam Ram, Pennsylvania State University; Thomas Robinson; Byron Reeves • This study explores how individuals of different income levels navigate digital spaces by observing more than 13 million screenshots collected from the smartphones of low-income (N = 33) and high-income (N = 35) individuals in U.S. major metropolitan areas. Our findings suggest that income is significantly associated with various aspects of individuals’ digital engagements, including temporal patterns of their smartphone engagements, level of news consumption, and types of information supply factors.

Self-disclosure on Facebook: “Self” and “Others” from social penetration perspective • Danielle Ka Lai Lee, Washington State University; Xizhu Xiao; Porismita Borah • “The study examined the influences of “self” and “others” in self-disclosure on Facebook. Based on social penetration theory, we conducted an experiment and 241 young adults participated. Results suggest that highly relevant information triggered thought elaborations in deciding self-disclosure. Surprisingly, influence from audience was revealed to be minimal. The study underscored the self-serving purpose of disclosure, such that users would chiefly think about themselves instead of audience. Future directions are discussed.

Alexa as a Shopping Assistant: The Effects of Message Interactivity and the Mediating Role of Social Presence • Sangwook Lee, University of Texas at Austin; Jeeyun Oh; Won-Ki Moon, The University of Texas at Austin • This study explores the key factors that influence consumer intention to use virtual assistants for online shopping. It examines (a) whether existing concepts in communication technology literature (particularly message interactivity and social presence) are applicable to understanding consumer responses to virtual assistants and (b) the mediating role of social presence which influences intention to use virtual assistant technology for online shopping. Result from a lab experiment showed that individuals who had more back-and-forth conversations with Alexa reported higher perceptions of message interactivity and greater feelings of social presence. Feelings of social presence mediated the effect of message interactivity on intention to use. The current study provides theoretical and practical implications to communication technology and consumer research and leaves suggestions for future study of artificial intelligence.

Connect or Contrast: Public Self-Awareness and Social Cues Impacts on Selective Exposure to Political Content • Wenbo Li, The Ohio State University; Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick • The study investigates the impacts of public self-awareness on selective exposure to political messages with social recommendation cues. A 2 (high vs. low public self-awareness) × 2 (likes vs. comments) between-subject selective exposure experiment was conducted, while partisan stance and social-cues level served as two within-subject message factors. Participants’ selective exposure was unobtrusively recorded. The results show that public self-awareness interacted with the level of social cues in affecting selective exposure. Specifically, participants high in public self-awareness spent more time reading messages with low social cues while those low in public self-awareness spent more time reading messages with high social cues. Partisanship impacted the interaction between public self-awareness and social cues. Republican’s selective exposure to pro- and counter-attitudinal messages varied between cue types (comments versus views).

Silence mobile phone notifications can be more Distracting than receiving notifications with Sounds and Vibrations • Mengqi Liao, Penn State University; S. Shyam Sundar, Penn State University • Smartphone users often turn off notifications on their smartphones to avoid distractions, but our analysis of behavioral data from the Screen Time tool of 138 iPhone users suggests that users tend to pick up their phones and check for messages more often when it is in silent mode than when it is on audio-alert or vibrate modes. This is especially true for individuals who have high Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and Need to Belong.

Understanding the Interplay of Personality Traits and Social Comparison in Selfie Editing and Posting Behavior • Yu Liu, Florida International University; Weirui Wang, Florida International University • Selfies have been an omnipresent phenomenon across the world. By conducting a survey (N=528), this study examines how personality traits interact with social comparison process (i.e., downward identification, downward contrast, upward identification, and upward contrast) to influence photo editing and selfie posting behavior. The findings suggest being subject to different types of social comparison process, individuals with low self-esteem, high public self-consciousness, and high narcissism more frequently engage in photo editing and selfie posting.

Mimicry Decreases Resistance Towards a VR Interaction Partner – A Pilot Study. • Barbara Müller, Radboud University Nijmegen; Weronika Trzmielewska; Wolf-Gero Lange; Tibor Bosse • Interacting with virtual reality agents (VR agents) becomes more and more common in the future. The present study investigated whether non-verbal mimicry leads to less resistance, and a more positive evaluation of the VR agent. Before evaluation of the VR agent, participants interacted with a VR agent which either mimicked or anti-mimicked their non-verbal behavior. Results showed that a mimicking VR agent was perceived as more convincing, and elicited less resistance. Possible explanations are discussed.

The Target of Incivility: Examining the Uncivil Discourse on Social Media Platforms • Mustafa Oz, The University of Tennessee Knoxville; Bahtiyar Nurumov, Suleyman Demiral University • This study focused on the uncivil discourse on social media platforms. The main purpose of this study was to understand whether uncivil comments target discussion participants and specific groups on Facebook and on Twitter. Also, this study was an attempt to see if there are any differences between Facebook and Twitter in terms of uncivil discussions. Systematic content analysis was conducted and 1485 Facebook comments and Tweets were analyzed. The results suggested that there were more frequent uncivil comments on Twitter versus Facebook. Also, the results indicated that users were more likely to target discussion participants on Twitter than on Facebook.

* Extended Abstract * Yelp!ful or not? A Heuristic-Systematic Model Approach to Online Reviews on Yelp! • Bhakti Sharma; T. Franklin Waddell • Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) has become a primary source for users to seek recommendations and gather information to make purchase decisions. Applying the Hueristic Systematic Model (Chaiken, 1980), this study tested the impact of online reviews presented in the form of both heuristic cues (star ratings) and systematic information (written reviews) on restaurant appeal and behavioral intentions. Results reveal the importance of heuristic cues in new light and add to the existing eWOM literature

Can Social Media Engender Resilience in a Crisis? A Semantic Network Analysis • Staci Smith, Brigham Young University; Brian Smith, Brigham Young University • Social media engagement following a crisis raises the question about the influence of social media on crisis coping and resilience. This study examined Twitter responses to terror attacks in Paris (2015) and Barcelona (2017). Semantic network analysis of 24,728 #Paris tweets and 27,338 #Barcelona tweets showed that social media are for more than just information curation—they may facilitate crisis coping and resilience, including expressing emotion, building community, and creating new normalcy following a crisis.

“We think you may like”: An investigation of e-commerce personalization for privacy-conscious consumers • Yong Whi Greg Song, The University of Texas at Austin; Hayoung Sally Lim, the University of Texas at Austin; Jeeyun Oh • This study examines and proposes an electronic commerce (e-commerce) personalization technology acceptance model. A 2 (Privacy concerns priming vs. Control condition) × 2 (Personalization vs. Non-personalization) factorial, between-subjects experiment was conducted (N = 205). The findings indicate consumers’ perceived usefulness of personalization technology is positively related to their behavioral intentions to use an e-commerce mobile app, supporting Davis (1989)’s Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Data further demonstrate that consumers’ privacy concerns moderate the personalization–behavioral intention relationship.

Fighting Over Smartphones? Parents’ Excessive Smartphone Use, Lack of Control Over Children’s Use, and Conflict • Jörg Matthes; Marina Thomas; Anja Stevic; Desirée Schmuck • Parental regulation of children’s smartphone use is typically associated with conflict. To explain conflict, this paper focused on parents’ own smartphone use. A panel survey among parent-child pairs (NT2=384) revealed that parents’ excessive smartphone use increased lack of control over children’s smartphone use, which, in turn, increased conflict about the smartphone from children’s and parents’ perspectives. The relations with conflict were independent of whether parents thought that smartphones have negative effects on children.

Seeing is Believing: Is Video Modality More Powerful in Spreading Fake News via Online Messaging Apps? • S. Shyam Sundar, Penn State University; Maria D. Molina; Eugene Cho • Doctored videos sent over private messaging platforms like WhatsApp have elicited visceral responses, resulting in the wrongful death of innocent people. Would the responses have been so strong if such fake news was circulated in the form of text or audio? We explored this question by experimentally comparing reactions to three false news stories (N=180) in India. Our findings reveal that users process video more superficially, readily believing its content and sharing it with others.

“Chameleons” Make us More Other-Oriented – a Virtual Reality Study. • Weronika Trzmielewska, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities; Barbara Müller, Radboud University Nijmegen; Wojciech Kulesza, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities; Wolf-Gero Lange • Mimicry is often labelled a ‘social glue’ between people. In this study, we explored if this notion is also true in human/non-human interactions. We tested if mimicry by a virtual agent leads to more concern about others, and changes concern about the self. Participants performed a photograph description task and were either mimicked or not. The results showed that being mimicked increased participants’ orientation toward others but did not change their orientation toward self.

* Extended Abstract * Vicarious Learning of Social Media Political Expression: The Role of Expected Outcomes and Appropriate Communication Competence • Alcides Velasquez, University of Kansas; Dam Hee Kim; Andrea Quenette • Based on Social Learning and Social Cognitive Theories, this study examines how observing others successfully use social media for political expression increases one’s social media political expression. Results support a parallel mediation model where social media political expression observational learning simultaneously leads to social media political expression expected outcomes, and to appropriate social media communication competence. Expected outcomes increase social media political expression whereas appropriate social media communication competence decreases individual’s social media political expression.

* Extended Abstract * Media Use and Attitudes Toward Social Media Bots • Ming Wang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • Using the O-S-O-R framework, this study examines whether orientational variables mediate the impact of various media use on attitudes toward social media bots. Analysis of a nationally representative survey reveals that the effects of social media use on bot attitudes were partially mediated through bot detection self-efficacy and perceived influence on others. Interestingly, some paths were opposite to what hypotheses predicted. This study enhances our understanding of individual antecedents to social media bots attitudes.

Understanding AI Advertising from the Consumer Perspective: What Factors Determine Consumers’ Appreciation of AI-created Advertisements? • Linwan Wu, University of South Carolina; Taylor Wen, University of South Carolina • This study tested a conceptual model that examined some influential factors of consumers’ overall appreciation of AI-created advertisements. The findings indicated that consumers’ perceived objectivity of the process of advertising creation positively influenced machine heuristics which benefited their appreciation of AI-created advertisements, but negatively influenced perceived eeriness which jeopardized that appreciation. Consumers’ feelings of uneasiness with robots were found to positively influence both machine heuristic and perceived eeriness of AI advertising.

Multiple Selves and Multitasking: A Dynamic Longitudinal Study • Shan Xu, Texas Tech University • This study integrates the theory of multiple selves within the theoretical framework of dynamic motivation activation (DMA) to identify the dynamic patterns of multiple self-concepts (i.e., the potential self, the actual self) in multitasking (e.g., primary activities, secondary activities) in daily life. Experience sampling data over three weeks showed that the potential self was more dominant in primary activities, whereas the actual self was more dominant in secondary activities. Dynamic panel modeling results confirmed that these self-concepts reinforced themselves in primary and secondary activities. They also shifted from one to another to achieve a balance in primary activities. Interestingly, secondary activities were not driven by the alternative self-concept in primary activities, but instead by the emotional experiences of primary activities. Furthermore, multitasking to fulfill the actual self did not motivate people to re-prioritize their potential self later.

Adoption of AI-powered news: Integration of technology acceptance and perceived contingency • Jun Zhang, Newhouse School of Syracuse University; Joon Soo Lim, Syracuse University • In the AI era, news audiences’ interaction with news systems brings highly personalized news experience. This study integrates the TAM and perceived contingency model to investigate the adoption of AI-powered news. With a representative survey of 1,369 respondents, the study finds that perceived contingency becomes a critical supplement to perceived usefulness and ease of use to yield favorable attitude and engagement with AI-powered news, thereby lead to the actual use of AI-powered news.

Impact of Interactivity on Satisfaction in Digital Social Reading − Social Presence as a Mediator • Wu Li; Yuanyi Mao; LIUNING ZHOU, University of Southern California • Digital social reading is characterized by interactivity and social presence. We conducted empirical research to better understand the effect of interactivity on users’ reading satisfaction through the mediating effect of social presence. Research findings show that human-to-human interactivity was affected by human-to-text interactivity, and both types of interactivity significantly predicted social presence. Social presence fully mediated human-to-human interactivity and satisfaction, while partially mediating human-to-text interactivity and satisfaction.

Student Paper Competition
“Should I Use Emoticon and GIF?”: The Effect of Emoticon and GIF in Human-Chatbot Interaction • Jin Kang, The Pennsylvania State University; Lewen Wei, Pennsylvania State University • Would human users react favorably after seeing chatbots that use emoticons and GIFs? To address this question, we conducted a 2 (Source: Human vs. Chatbot) x 3 (Cues: GIF vs. Emoticon vs. Text) between-subjects online experiment. We found the important role of machine heuristic, such that those with greater belief in machine heuristic showed favorable outcomes, regardless of a source. Theoretical and design Implications are discussed.

Unpacking the Effects of Social Media Comments on Young Adults’ Body Image Perception • Hye Min Kim, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California • Studies have highlighted the influence of social media comments on users’ perceptual consequences, but if this holds true in body image context is still largely unknown. To investigate the effect of social media comments on young adults’ ideal body perceptions and one’s own body satisfaction, participants (N = 330) were randomly exposed to Instagram body posting with favorable- vs. unfavorable- (to the depicted body) vs. no-comments. Results indicated that social media comments guided the viewers’ perceptions of what is considered as ‘ideal’ body. Viewers of favorable comments to body posting reported greater idealization of the body imagery (i.e., ideal-enhancing effects) whereas viewers of unfavorable comments showed a lower level of idealization (i.e., ideal-derogating effects). Interestingly, the more ideal the body imagery was perceived, the greater the body satisfaction was reported among participants with little self-discrepancy (i.e., perceptual gap between one’s actual- and ideal- selves).

Internet as a context: Exploring its impacts on scientific optimism in China • Chen Luo, Tsinghua University; Yuchun Zhu; Jia Shang • Internet brings new opportunities and challenges to scientific development and science communication, but how the Internet affects public scientific attitudes remains underexplored. Conceptualizing the Internet as a context, this paper examines the Internet’s impacts on the scientific optimism of Chinese people. By combining China’s survey data (n = 2,300) from the sixth round of the World Values Survey and provincial data (24 provinces), multilevel analysis suggests that: 1) Internet as a context weakens scientific optimism of the Chinese public, at the same time, the Internet as a medium has no significant effect. 2) As a quantitative indicator of Internet development, Internet penetration at the provincial level promotes the positive relationship between individual traditional media exposure and scientific optimism. In contrast, the qualitative indicator has no evident moderating effect. This research reveals unique characteristics of Chinese society, provides a piece of empirical evidence on Internet technology’s shaping effects on scientific attitudes in the non-western environment. Explanations of the findings and implications are further discussed.

Exploring Twitter Conversations around Four Brand Categories: A Computational Approach to Identify Dominant Topics and Content Characteristics • Haseon Park, University of Alabama • Extant research on social media advertising suggests that reaching consumers via social media enhances engagement, leading to positive outcomes. In line with previous research, this study identifies dominant topics discussed in different brand networks as well as content characteristics within the theoretical background of Elaboration Likelihood Model and FCB grid model. By incorporating a computational approach, this study contributes to revisiting the application of ELM and FCB grid model in the context of social media advertising.

Flow = Optimal? How Flow Diverts Media Users’ Performance, Enjoyment, and Evaluation in Multiple-Goal Pursuit • Giang V. Pham, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Minh V. Pham • This study conceptualized and tested the diversion effects of flow experiences in media use. Results from an experiment (N = 84) showed that when people have multiple goals, the flow state experienced during video gaming significantly lowered their performance on the subsequent goal and decreased their game enjoyment and evaluation. These findings suggest that in multiple-goal pursuit, media flow could divert people’s resources away from their tasks, causing goal disruption and reduced media enjoyment.

Alexa, What Do You Know: An Investigation of Smart Speakers and Privacy Perceptions • Nicholas Sarafolean, University of Tennessee; Courtney Carpenter Childers • The modern smart home is increasingly connected, and at the center of most smart homes is the smart speaker. These devices produce a rich flood of new data points, offering advertisers an opportunity to gather more detailed data about consumers than ever before. However, with Big Data collection, there are challenges associated with the constant “listening” of smart speakers and privacy threats to children. Smart speakers’ “listening” of young children raises red flags around the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), as COPPA allows for data collection but it does not allow the use of such data for advertising purposes. This exploratory study used the qualitative paradigmatic perspective to address experiences with and perceptions of smart speakers in the household with 10 mothers with children under 12 years (n=10). Results highlight that mothers are often struggling with how to best manage household smart speaker use with their kids, privacy and listening concerns are “real,” and smart speaker technologies for kids, such as the Amazon Echo Kids Edition, are blurring the lines between big tech and targeted advertising efforts. Implications for advertisers are discussed.

“There’s a Camera Everywhere”: How Citizen Journalists, Cell Phones, and Technology Shape News Coverage of Police Shootings • Denetra Walker • This study examines how an evolving technological landscape influences how television news journalists cover the issue of deadly, highly-publicized police shootings in the United States. Through 10 in-depth interviews, the author analyzes how social media, cell phones, as well as citizen journalists shape this narrative. Themes include a change in speed and accessibility, accuracy, and a multi-layered challenge to police authority. Practical and theoretical implications on the future digital landscape covering this topic is discussed.

* Extended Abstract * Friendly mistakes: Investigating the relationship between AI error, social cues, and trust in gameplay • Ryan Tan, Penn State University; Mengqi Liao, Penn State University; Ryan Wang, Penn State University • People often interact with technological agents as though they are social actors despite relying on them being free from ‘human error’. Would an artificial intelligence agent that reinforces these expectations by exhibiting social cues then be more/less likely to lose user trust? This study utilizes Structural Equation Modelling to analyze the results of an online game-based experiment to investigate the process by which heuristics potentially mediates the effects interactions of social cues and error.

All About Words: Linguistic Profile of Twitter Users Who Tweet and Retweet About Face-swapping Posts • Lewen Wei, Pennsylvania State University; Jin Kang, The Pennsylvania State University • Through a social network formulated over three months, we examined the relationship between key characteristics of Twitter users and their primary versus secondary self-presentation via face-swapping activities. We found that users who valued friends, showed female preferences, actively engaged with cognitive reappraisals, or were more honest with their self tended to post their own face-swap rather than sharing others’ face-swap on Twitter. Implications for self-identity and self-presentation are discussed.

The Picture of Health on Instagram: Congruent vs. Incongruent Emotion in Predicting the Sentiment of Comments • Jiaxi Wu; Traci Hong • This study aims to explore the effects of congruent and incongruent emotions in Instagram images and captions on the sentiment of comments. A content analysis of Instagram posts (N=7,078) with the hashtag “#mentalhealth” on World Mental Health Day found emotionally congruent posts received more positive comments than incongruent ones. Posts with both positive captions and images attracted the most positive comments compared with other posts. While emotions in captions significantly predicted the sentiment in comments, emotions in images had no effects on the outcome variables. This study also found images containing faces attracted more likes, comments, and positive comments. Images with intimate gaze also led to more positive feedback from users. Theoretical implications of emotional contagion as elicited from images are discussed.

<2020 Abstracts

Communicating Science, Health, Environment, and Risk Division

Comfort, Compliance, and Concern: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Health Research Communication • Robyn Adams, Michigan State University • There is increasing interest in the communication between researchers and research participants, particularly health communication. Research suggests that participants and researchers perform ideological roles. Yet, little research is examining these roles or their influence on their interactions. This study critically examined communication between research staff and participants within a more extensive health study. Findings revealed how researchers’ and participants’ unique and intersecting racial, social, and geographic backgrounds influence the health communication process and power dynamics.

Social media use during the flood: Formation of global warming risk perceptions during extreme weather events • Ashley Anderson, Colorado State University • This study examines how social media habits during a major flooding event in Colorado shape global warming risk perceptions. A statewide survey (n = 808) shows those who share news about the extreme weather event over social media are more likely to hold perceptions that global warming will have an impact on future local weather events. Social media information consumption about the flood boosts risk perceptions for those who hold low global warming belief certainty.

Threat Appraisals and Emotions in Crisis:  Examining Information Seeking and Sharing in Hurricane Florence • Lucinda Austin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Adam Saffer; Seoyeon Kim, University of Alabama • This study examined the relationship between the perceived threat of disasters (including disaster severity and involvement recognition), negative emotions (including anxiety, fear, sadness, and anger), and information seeking and forwarding/sharing. Through a survey of over 600 U.S. adults in a hurricane-affected region in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, findings showed that negative emotions mediated the relationship between threat appraisals and the outcomes of information seeking and sharing.

* Extended Abstract * Structures of engagement: How institutional structures at U.S. land-grant universities impact science faculty’s public scholarship • Luye Bao, Univerity of Wisconsin – Madison; MIKHAILA CALICE, University of Wisconsin-Madison Dept. of Life Sciences Communication; Kathleen Rose, Dartmouth College; Dominique Brossard • As science communication is increasingly expected of science faculty, research into factors that effectively develop these skills, like institutional structure and culture, are growing. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we analyze 2018 survey data of science faculty from U.S. land-grant universities to explore how institutional structures within these universities affect the science faculty engagement with the public. Our findings show weak influence of institutional factors and reiterate previous findings regarding the effectiveness of training and experience.

Are productive scientists more willing to participate in public engagement? • Luye Bao, Univerity of Wisconsin – Madison; MIKHAILA CALICE, University of Wisconsin-Madison Dept. of Life Sciences Communication; Dietram Scheufele, University of Wisconsin at Madison • Expanding upon public engagement research that explores the relationship between science and society, we examine what factors influence scientists’ willingness to engage with the public. Using survey data of scientists from U.S. land-grant universities, we find that academic productive scientists are more willing to participate in public scholarship. Insights from social sciences research, science communication training, institutional incentives, and self-efficacy are associated with greater willingness to participate in public scholarship and informal science education.

Discerning Discourse: The Language of Media in Reporting on Global Warming and Climate Change • Bruno F Battistoli, Fairleigh Dickinson University • This study examines media discourse in the communication of scientific information on Climate Change and Global Warming in articles on extreme weather events over a one-year period in The New York Times and The Washington Post (N = 7,252). Frequencies of primary climate terms (Global Warming, Climate Change) and secondary extreme weather event terms (tropical storm, hurricane, flood, drought, heat wave, forest fire) are reported. Qualitative content analysis revealed four thematic discourse categories.

Narratives vs. Standard of Care: Testing Messages Effectiveness for Adolescents’ Type 1 Diabetes Management • Trevor Bell, California State University, Long Beach; Seth Noar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Allison Lazard, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic illness requiring constant self-management. For adolescents, however, self-management is a daunting task. This study conducted an online experiment involving adolescents with T1D (N = 191) who were randomized to view sets of narratives or standard of care messages to evaluate the impact on message evaluation and psychosocial outcomes. Narratives were based on true stories from college students with T1D who described challenges to management and steps to overcome barriers, and standard of care messages were adapted from a high-ranking pediatric endocrinology clinic. Results showed no significant differences on any outcomes between conditions; however, mean scores were high for both, suggesting that different types of messages offer useful advice and guidance for adolescents with T1D. Discussion focuses on how narratives could work well in conjunction with standard of care messages to target different motivational and informational aspects of T1D management.

“From Cover-Up to Catastrophe:” How the Anti-Vaccine Propaganda Documentary “Vaxxed” Impacted College Students’ Perceptions About Vaccinations • Amanda Bradshaw, University of Florida; Debbie Treise, University of Florida; Alexis Bajalia, University of Florida; Easton Wollney; Summer Shelton; Kendra Auguste; Montserrat Carrerra Seoane • Through the lens of the Health Belief Model, this study sought to understand how viewing the anti-vaccine propaganda documentary Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe impacted individuals’ perceptions of the measles mumps rubella (MMR) vaccine and their subsequent expressed intentions to vaccinate prospective children. Qualitative pre/post video interviews were conducted along with think aloud methodology; thematic analysis revealed four themes: viewing vaccination from a Western lens; underlying distrust; skepticism or shaken beliefs, and Aristotle’s three proofs.

A Sea Change For Climate Refugees In The South Pacific: How Social Media—Not Journalism—Tells Their Real Story • Elizabeth Burch, California State Univeristy Sonoma • This study examines how Pacific Islanders use social media to fight global warming. In-depth interviews with journalists and activists in Fiji and Tuvalu explore how socially-mediated communication provides a novel forum for counter-hegemonic resistance. Social media has become the last Mayday of the so-called climate change refugee. As long as journalism misses their real story, Pacific Islanders will continue to call for help through Posts, Tweets and (Dis)likes.

* Extended Abstract * Examining the influence of gene editing knowledge on science attitudes among four major stakeholder groups • Christopher Calabrese, University of California, Davis; Jieyu Ding Featherstone; Matthew Robbins; George A. Barnett • In the context of gene editing, this study examines the role of factual knowledge on science attitudes among four major stakeholder groups: farmers, scientists, policymakers, and the general public. Findings indicate gene editing knowledge predicted science attitudes for all four groups. These results suggest the deficit model may hold for certain conditions; knowledge surrounding emerging technologies may influence general science attitudes. Understanding key factors among stakeholder groups will aid in guiding future message strategies.

The Third-Person Effect of COVID-19 Misinformation: Examining A Mediation Model for Predicating Corrective Actions • Liang Chen; Lunrui Fu • Based on the third-person effect as the theoretical framework, the current study aims to explore how the third-person perception of COVID-19 misinformation affects public intention to engage in corrective action. A total of 1,063 participants in mainland China were recruited to complete the online survey. Our findings provided partial support for the hypotheses that make up the extended third-person effect model. Results indicate that the third-person perception indirectly shaped public intentions to engage in corrective actions through attitude and perceived behavioral control, providing empirical support for a new dimension of the behavioral outcome of the third-person effect.

* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: The Impact of Uncertainty on Prevention Behavior Intention – Applying Theory of Planned Behavior to Uncertain Health Threat Situation • Junhan Chen, University of Maryland, College Park; Kang Namkoong, University of Maryland • Novel infectious disease outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic often induce feeling of uncertainty. How uncertainty affects individuals’ intention to take prevention actions is not fully understood. Through an experiment with two conditions (known vs. unknown disease), this study investigates 1) whether individuals perceive higher uncertainty in face of an unknown infectious disease, and 2) how perceived uncertainty affects attitude, self-efficacy, and perceived norms, and in turn affects intention to take prevention behaviors.

Megaphoning Effects of Skepticism, Cynicism, and Situational Motivation on an Environmental CSR Activity • Myounggi Chon; Young Kim • The purpose of this study was to examine how individuals’ skepticism and cynicism about an environmental CSR activity influence their positive and negative communication behaviors toward a corporation (megaphoning effects). The findings demonstrated the important mediating role of situational motivation in problem solving on a given environment issue between skepticism/cynicism and megaphoning effects. Using a nationwide survey of 504 participants living in the United States, this study found that skepticism and cynicism increased negative megaphoning effect and decreased positive megaphoning behaviors. Furthermore, skepticism/cynicism and megaphoning behaviors were partially mediated by situation motivation of problem solving. In particular, skeptics who were motivated to solve an environmental issue were less likely to take and forward negative information about a corporation in an environmental CSR activity. This study provides new theoretical and practical insights into CSR strategies that understand skepticism and cynicism and the communicative behaviors of publics.

* Extended Abstract * Construing Climate Change: Psychological distance, individual difference and construal level of climate change • Haoran Chu, Texas Tech University • This study examines the influences of distance cues and individual characteristics (trait empathy, time orientation, age, and gender) on climate change construe. Content analysis was utilized to investigate American adults’ mental construe of climate change after exposure to messages illustrating its impacts in close or distant locations and time. This study complements extant literature on psychological distance of climate change by pinpointing construal level’s role in shaping people’s response to climate change communication messages.

Adaptive Framing: Uncovering the Mediators and Extending the Strategy to Other Controversial Issues – Climate Change Skepticism and Vaccine Hesitancy • Renita Coleman, University of Texas Austin; Esther Thorson; Cinthia Jiminez; Kami Vinton, University of Texas Austin • This study tests a new frame that journalists can use for issues where people dispute scientific claims by instead focusing on solutions to adapt to impacts and by avoiding trigger words that cue ideological attitudes, causing people to shut down and refuse to even discuss these issues. An experiment shows this “adaptive frame,” which does not cue people’s deeply held beliefs, is significantly better at encouraging people to take action, engage with the news, and agree with the story’s perspective. These are mediated by increased perceived behavioral control, and reduced persuasion knowledge. Extensions to framing theory and practical advice for journalists are discussed.

Subverting Stereotypes: Visual Rhetoric in the #SheCanSTEM Campaign • Deborah J. Danuser, University of Pittsburgh • The Ad Council’s “She Can STEM” campaign works to promote science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to girls by subverting the culturally-dominant stereotype that they are masculine endeavors. I examine select campaign images to see how they avoid the most common STEM visual stereotypes. However, the campaign’s strong avoidance of all STEM tropes ends up creating a campaign deficiency by stripping its role models of all visual cues that they are in STEM.

Twitter Networks during the Global COVID-19 Pandemic: Online Networking at the Time of Physical “Social Distancing” • Shugofa Dastgeer; Rashmi Thapaliya • This study examined Twitter networks during the global COVID-19 pandemic. It was a combination of social network analysis and content analysis on how people in different parts of the world engaged in health discourse on Twitter. The findings showed that people tended to talk more about politics than medical issues related to the pandemic and engaged in blaming others for the crisis. The main sources of information among users were news, self, and government officials.

A Comparison of Pro- and Anti-Vaping Groups’ Use of the Dialogic Communication Potential of Social Media • Nicholas Eng, Penn State University; Rachel Peng, Penn State University • Amidst the controversies surrounding e-cigarette use, a number of pro and anti-vaping organizations have surfaced over the years. Although these organizations have polar opposite views on vaping, they still share the same goal of gaining support from the public for their cause. This study examines how well five organizations representing two differing points of view create dialogic spaces on social media for their users. Through a content analysis, we found that both pro and anti-vaping organizations were not fully embracing recommendations on creating a dialogic space online. Pro-vaping organizations were found to be significantly more aggressive in encouraging advocacy action than anti-vaping organizations, but no significant differences were found in initiating dialogue or responding to users’ questions. Additionally, there was a significantly larger portion of comments by users that expressed distrust in health information on anti-vaping organizations’ posts than pro-vaping organizations’ posts. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Testing the Efficacy of Carbon Footprint Calculator Messaging on Climate Action: An Emotion-as-Frames Approach • Nicholas Eng, Penn State University; JIN CHEN; Jason Freeman, Pennsylvania State University; Carlina DiRusso, Pennsylvania State University • Due to the urgency of climate change, tools like carbon footprint calculators aim to encourage individuals to improve their environmental behaviors. To enhance pro-environmental information communicated through such tools, this experiment (N = 388) examined the role of individuals’ carbon footprint calculator performance and gain-loss framed efficacy messages on emotional responses, attitudes, and intentions toward climate action. Using the emotions-as-frames model and the theory of planned behavior, we found support that a low carbon footprint score evokes feelings of hope, which in turn influences attitudes, norms, perceived behavioral control, and ultimately pro-environmental behavioral intentions. High carbon footprint scores evoke anger, which directly increases behavioral intentions. We did not find support for gain-loss frames shaping emotional, attitudes, or intention-related outcomes. The findings suggest that emotions, like hope and anger, are persuasive mediators for increasing intentions. However, some emotions may be more effective than others for changing attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The Impact of Media Exposure on HPV Vaccine Risk Perception and Parental Support: The Moderating Effect of Consideration of Future Consequences • Yulei Feng, Shanghai Jiao Tong University • The development of HPV vaccine has made cervical cancer the only one cancer that can be prevented medically to some extent. Given that more and more information related to HPV vaccines has appeared on media platforms, whether media exposure will affect parents’ perception of HPV vaccine risks and further influence their decisions becomes a topic of concern. This paper proposes a consideration of future consequences moderating effect model on media exposure, risk perception and parental support based on theoretical analysis, and validates the data collected through questionnaire surveys. Studies have found that media exposure can reduce the risk perception of HPV vaccine and promote parental supportive decision. At the same time, low-risk perceptions have a positive correlation with parental decisions, and consideration of future consequences has a moderating role between media exposure and risk perception. This study provides preliminary evidence for the interrelationships between media use, personality traits, and healthy behavioral decisions.

Stay socially distant and wash your hands: determining intent for COVID-19 preventive behaviors • Jeanine Guidry, Virginia Commonwealth University; Nicole O’Donnell, Virginia Commonwealth University; Lucinda Austin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Ioana Coman, Texas Tech University • COVID-19 has spread quickly across the globe, and since there are currently no vaccines or treatments available, understanding the beliefs and perceptions about COVID-19 preventive behaviors is of utmost importance. This study surveyed 500 U.S. individuals in March 2020 and asked about their perceptions and beliefs about COVID-19 and the recommended preventive actions for this disease. Findings indicate a different in adherence intent by gender, as well as by Health Belief Model constructs.

* Extended Abstract * (Extended Abstract) Mother Earth, Memes, and Multi-Modality: Expressive Depictions of Climate Change on TikTok • Samantha Hautea, Michigan State University; Perry Parks, Michigan State University; Bruno Takahashi, Michigan State University; JING ZENG • The microvideo-sharing platform TikTok has emerged as a popular hub for self-expression, particularly for youth. This paper offers an inductive multimodal analysis of climate change-tagged TikTok videos to examine how creators are engaging with broader social issues through their content. We find TikToks are complex creative communicative expressions that display patterns of repetition and variation, message ambiguity, and depict climate change as a cultural zeitgeist.

When a Story Contradicts: Correcting Misinformation on Social Media Through Different Message Formats and Mechanisms • Yan Huang, University of Houston; Weirui Wang, Florida International University • The study tests the effects of message format (story vs. nonstory) and correction mechanisms (social vs. algorithmic correction) in correcting e-cigarette related misinformation on social media. Two experiments were conducted in which correction messages were delivered with either explicit or implicit endorsement through correction mechanisms. Findings suggest that narrative correction may have merit when it is prompted by the algorithm with explicit endorsement; nonnarrative correction is more effective when suggested by social contacts.

Transforming science information via person-to-person communication: Insights from experimental transmission chains and eye movements • Austin Hubner; Jason Coronel; Jared Ott; Matthew Sweitzer, Ohio State University; Samuel Lerner • Person-to-person communication plays an important role in explaining how people learn about science in their everyday lives. In study 1, we examine how science messages are transformed via the serial reproduction paradigm. Specifically exploring whether individuals are able to distinguish between information associated with an expert compared to a nonexpert. Study 2 uses eye monitoring to examine whether our findings from study 1 are evidence of credibility effect or a primacy effect.

Extending the mood management theory: How entertainment and informational television viewing moderates the effects of anxiety on smoking behavior • Juwon Hwang; Porismita Borah • “According to statistics from CDC, smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. Multiple studies have linked mental health issues such as anxiety with smoking. Moreover, there is plenty of research that has studied the impact of television genres on moods. But to the best of our knowledge no study has examined the impact of the relationship between anxiety and television viewing on risky behaviors such as smoking. We set out to examine the relationship between anxiety, television viewing, and smoking behavior. To do so, we use national U.S. survey data and concepts from mood management theory. Our main contributions are to 1) extend the mood management theory to test the impact on actual behavior 2) as well as to examine the nuances of television genres by dividing entertainment television into excitement-valanced and ambiguously-valanced entertainment programs, along with information programs. The primary findings show that individuals with anxiety are more likely to smoke and this association is significantly attenuated when they watched cartoon, sports, and health information programs but the positive association between anxiety and the extent of smoking intensified when they watched drama, music, sci-fi and TV news. Implications are discussed.

Social Media Use for Health, Cultural Values, and Demographics: A Survey of Pakistani Millennials • Muhammad Ittefaq, University of Kansas; Hyunjin Seo, University of Kansas; Mauryne Abwao, University of Knasas; Annalise Baines, University of Kansas • Over the last 10 years, an extensive body of literature has been produced to investigate the role of social media in health communication. However, little is known about the impact of cultural characteristics (e.g., masculinity, collectivism, & uncertainty avoidance) on social media use regarding health related information, especially in developing countries such as Pakistan. The present study employed Hofstede’s cultural characteristics and uses and gratification theory to examine how Pakistani millennials’ demographic characteristics and cultural values are associated with their social media use for health-related information. Our survey with 722 Pakistani adults ages between 18 to 35 living in Pakistan showed that cultural values—masculinity, collectivism, and uncertainty avoidance—are strongly related with their perceptions of social media importance, usefulness, and perceived ease of access for health-related information even when controlling for demographic characteristics. Age and gender are also significantly associated with their perspectives on social media for health. In addition, results show that communicating and sharing information is the most important motivation for them to use social media in the area of health with WhatsApp and YouTube being most preferred social media sites for health-related issues. The scholarly and practical implications of the study are discussed.

Understanding the lay audiences’ science decision-making: The role of moral foundations • Jiyoun Kim, University of Maryland; John Leach, University of Maryland; Yuan Wang, The University of Maryland; Saymin Lee • While not inherently an issue of politics, science is often judged by the public through political ideology or party. With the application of moral foundations theory, this study sought to how moral foundations can affect science decision-making. Our survey data (n = 384) reveal the functional part of the moral foundation (individualizing and binding-morality) in public judgment and decision-making about scientific issues. Theoretical implications on morality and practical applications regarding scientific acceptance are discussed.

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Patient-Provider Communication and the Role of E-Health Use • Hyang-Sook Kim, Towson University; Hee Jun Kim, Towson University • Although the healthcare industry has strived to address racial/ethnic disparities in health communication, the gaps persist. Previous findings suggest that communication technology might help narrow the gaps; however, they do not how or why. According to data from a recent national survey (N = 3,504), Asians and Hispanics reported lower levels of perceived quality of communication with health care providers. While the adoption of communication technology is relatively high across minority groups, its use might play different roles (i.e., complementing or replacing traditional patient-provider communication) in different racial/ethnic populations.

An eye tracking approach to understanding misinformation and correction strategies on social media: The mediating role of attention and credibility to reduce HPV vaccine misperceptions • Sojung Kim, George Mason University; Emily Vraga; John Cook • This study uses an unobtrusive eye tracking approach to examine understudied psychological mechanisms—message attention and credibility—when people are exposed to misinformation and correction on social media.  We contrast humor versus non-humor correction strategies that point out the rhetorical flaws in misinformation regarding the HPV vaccine, which was selected for its relevance and impact on public health.  We randomly assigned participants to one of two experimental conditions: rhetorical humor correction versus rhetorical non-humor correction.  Our analyses revealed that the humor correction increased attention to the image portion of the correction tweet, and this attention indirectly lowered HPV misperceptions by reducing the credibility of the misinformation tweet.  The study also found that the non-humor correction outperformed the humor correction in reducing misperceptions via its higher credibility ratings.  Practical implications for correcting misinformation on social media are discussed.

The psychology of social media communication in influencing prevention intentions during the 2019 U.S. measles outbreak • Sojung Kim, George Mason University; Katherine Hawkins, George Mason University • This study investigates beneficial effects of social media communication on encouraging positive health prevention behaviors among U. S. parents. The ongoing 2019 U. S. measles outbreak was the topical focus due to its urgency, highly contagious nature, societal impact, and high relevance to public health. Applying the Extended Parallel Process Model as a theoretical framework, social media expression and reception effects on different prevention intentions were examined along with self-efficacy, perceived susceptibility, and perceived severity as potential mediators. The study found that both social media expression and reception were effective in encouraging preventive hygiene intention, but only through improved self-efficacy and perceived severity. For information seeking intention, both social media expression and reception were effective directly and indirectly through increased susceptibility and severity perceptions of measles infection on their child. Practical implications and study contributions are further discussed.

* Extended Abstract * Media trust, risk, and social capital during hurricane: Media dependency approach • Hyehyun Julia Kim, University of Florida; Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, University of Florida • This paper explores media trust and perceived risk using Media Dependency Theory (MSD) to better understand the relationship between people and media during hurricanes. Relationship between social capital and demographic variables are also examined, as social capital acts as important resource in low-income communities. With data collected from 2,015 participants, study findings identify statistically significant relationships between different media outlets and media trust, as well as between demographic variables and social capital in hurricane context.

The urban-rural divide and Americans’ trust in scientists • Nicole Krause, University of Wisconsin – Madison • Poll data suggest that Americans’ trust in scientists follows an “urban-rural divide,” but it is unclear if the divide is simply a reflection of correlating factors such as religiosity and conservativism. Using attitudinal measures from the 2016 American National Election Studies combined with ruralness scores from United States Department of Agriculture, this paper finds a unique, negative effect of ruralness on warmth toward scientists, even with controls for political views, religion, conspiracism, and media attention.

* Extended Abstract * Twitter Conversation Around COVID-19 During Pre-Pandemic Period: Stigma and Information Format Cues • Sushma Kumble, Towson University; Hyang-Sook Kim, Towson University; Pratiti Diddi, Lamar University • As of March 11, 2020, WHO has declared COVID-19, which also goes by a general name Coronavirus, as a global pandemic (World Health Organization, 2020). This study explored the role of twitter in disseminating stigma messages around the disease and the country wherein the virus originated. In particular, the study explored four stigma related cues and information related cues in content. Preliminary results indicate that in the data-subset, 41.2% of the messages had stigma cues present, 45.78% of the messages had information cues. Additional analysis including social network analysis will be included in the subsequent full paper.

This Could Be Us: The Effects of Narratives and Disclosure Timings on Reducing Stigma and Implicit Bias against People Suffering from Mental Illness • Sushma Kumble, Towson University; Fuyuan Shen • One in five Americans is living with some form of diagnosable mental illness. The stigma surrounding mental illness can prevent patients from seeking necessary help. Narrative communication can engross an audience in a story, thereby reducing the tendency to argue with the message. While scholars have examined how narratives encourage empathy for and favorable attitude toward the stigmatized, little is known about building characters and timing the narrative reveal of a stigmatized condition to facilitate de-stigmatization. In order to test these effects, we conducted a between-subjects online experiment (N = 290) using narratives and disclosure timing in the context of mental illness. Results indicate that overall, narratives aided in de-stigmatization of the individual or group on an explicit level but did not significantly reduce implicit bias.

Beneath our feet: Risk, dread, and the future in coverage of enhanced geothermal energy • Catherine Lambert, Cornell University • Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) are a renewable energy technology that can generate both low-emissions power and heating. As an emerging technology that also has the potential to cause induced earthquakes, EGS represents a major public acceptance challenge, but little research has considered the risk messages emerging around EGS, including media depictions of risks, benefits, and other narratives. This study analyzes news media coverage of EGS in major world publications from 2006–2019 and finds that while news articles typically devoted limited attention to risks in favor of technological and environmental benefits, they consistently acknowledge financial and technological uncertainties involved. News coverage contained few elements of dread, but a consistent association with extractive processes such as mining and hydraulic fracturing. Rather than depictions of a remote underground, coverage framed geothermal energy as close and accessible, “right beneath our feet.” EGS was depicted as a component of three energy imaginaries: as part of a general vision of renewable energy transitions, as part of visions of world leadership in energy innovation, and as a pathway to national energy security. A lack of dread connotations and an association with minimal visual impact suggests that EGS may be less susceptible to processes of risk amplification, but an overall lack of risk information, particularly regarding induced earthquakes, indicates the need for further research on the gap between media coverage and public concerns.

The Effects of Interface Modality on Persuasive Outcomes in Food Safety Communication • Dingyu Hu; Roselyn Lee-Won, The Ohio State University; Sung Gwan Park, Seoul National University • The present research examined the effects of interface modality on persuasive outcomes in food safety communication by comparing mouse-based and touchscreen-based interaction. A laboratory experiment showed that participants who used touchscreen interface, compared to those who used mouse interface, reported greater fear after viewing food safety messages. Furthermore, fear significantly mediated the effects of interface modality on behavioral intentions. Implications for understanding the persuasive potential of interface modalities in health and risk communication are discussed.

* Extended Abstract * Polarization of Public Trust in Scientists: Insights from a Cross-Decade Comparison Using Machine Learning, 1978-2018 • Yachao Qian; Nan Li, Texas Tech University • Americans’ trust in scientists has been divided along ideological lines and polarized in the past decades. However, empirical evidences characterizing the polarization trend are mixed. This study seeks to elucidate the phenomenon with insights gained from a secondary analysis of General Social Survey data using machine learning. Results show that while conservatives initiated the polarization trend by moving asymmetrically to the extreme since 1990s, liberals played a more critical role in exacerbating it post 2008.

* Extended Abstract * Interactive Data Visualizations as Persuasive Devices for Climate Change Communication • Nan Li, Texas Tech University • Interactive data visualizations (IDVs) have been increasingly used to convey evidences regarding the risks associated with climate change. However, little is known regarding how such interfaces can help non-experts overcome their defensive responses to identity threatening messages and update opinions. Following the Elaboration Likelihood Model, this study proposed a model explaining the potential effects of IDVs on message elaboration and acceptance. Results of a pilot study were discussed to propose directions for future research.

Social media use and Chinese young people’s exercise behavior:  An extension of the theory of planned behavior • Ruoheng Liu; Nainan Wen • This study employed the theory of planned behavior to explain the relationship between use of exercise-related social media and intention and behavior of exercise among Chinese young people. Results of a survey using a stratified quota sample in a Chinese university showed that the TBP was able to explain the effect of social media use on intention to exercise and exercise behavior, while the model needed revisions to better predict the behavioral outcomes and better fit with the data. Particularly, informational and social use of exercise-related social media directly and indirectly predicted exercise behavior. The indirect paths were mediated by subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. Implications of these findings were also discussed.

Information seeking and sharing during the coronavirus outbreak: An application of the Risk Information Seeking and Processing model • Zhuling Liu; Janet Yang; Jody Chin Sing Wong; Zhiying Yue; David Lee • “This study applies the risk information seeking and processing model (RISP) to examine the US public’s information seeking and information sharing during the early stage of the coronavirus outbreak. Further, we investigate how these communication behaviors affect Americans’ willingness to provide aid to China before community spread became prevalent in the US. Consistent with previous research, results show that information subjective norms are a significant predictor of both information seeking and information sharing. In addition, sympathy and information sharing are positively related to willingness to aid. An important discovery is that perceived information gathering capacity moderates the relationship between people’s attitude towards information on social media and information sharing. The RISP model posits this relationship, but it has rarely been tested in empirical studies. In terms of practical implication, this study shows that perceived credibility influences people’s motivation to share information, especially for those who have higher perceived ability to gather information on a risk topic.

Seeking information about an emerging technology: Fairness, uncertainty, systematic processing, and information engagement intentions • Hang Lu, University of Michigan; Hwanseok Song, Purdue University; Katherine McComas, Cornell University • Skeptical about emerging technologies, the public is often motivated to perform information engagement behaviors. We conducted an experiment in which participants (N=1,042) received information varying in degrees of uncertainty and fairness about an emerging technology. Subsequently, participants performed an information seeking task. We found that predictors, such as affect, norm, and information need, explained information engagement intentions, which further predicted actual seeking behaviors. Moreover, systematic processing of the initial information also predicted seeking behaviors.

Cultural Differences in Cancer Information Acquisition: Testing Perceived Cancer Risks and Cancer Fatalistic Beliefs as Predictors of Information Seeking and Avoidance in the U.S. and China • Linqi Lu, Zhejiang University; Cornell University; Jiawei Liu, Cornell University; Connie Yuan, Cornell University • This study investigates the associations between cancer beliefs/perceptions and cancer information seeking in China and the United States. Results showed that perceived cancer risks were negatively related to cancer information avoidance in the U.S. but positively related to information avoidance in China. Whereas cancer fatalistic beliefs were positively associated with cancer information seeking in the U.S., they were not associated with information seeking in China. Implications for cancer communication in different cultures are discussed.

The effects of patient-provider communication on cancer patients’ depression and anxiety: The uncertainty reduction and expectancy violations approaches • Fangcao Lu; Jeffry OKTAVIANUS; Yanqing Sun • Cancer patients’ depression and anxiety have raised considerable concern. Therefore, this research examines the associations among cancer patients’ communication with health professionals, self-efficacy, information expectancy, depression, and anxiety to help cancer patients cope with adverse mood disorders. A cross-sectional survey of 593 cancer patients was administered. Findings indicate that patients’ information expectancy moderates the indirect effect of patient-centered communication on depression and anxiety, through the mediator of self-efficacy. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: Gender Inclusion in Science Podcasts: A Case Study Content Analysis of StarTalk Radio • Robert Lull, California State University, Fresno • Proliferation of new media has created opportunities to increase diversity and inclusion in science communication. Yet recent work suggests that gender gaps that have long characterized science media persist in new media (Amarasekara & Grant, 2019; Mitchell & McKinnon, 2019). This study analyzes the science podcast StarTalk Radio to determine 1) whether representation of female scientists has increased in the five most recent seasons and, 2) unpack how female scientists are treated on the program.

From divergence to convergence: A longitudinal network agenda-setting study of online GMO discussions in China • Chen Luo, Tsinghua University; Anfan Chen; Yi Kai Aaron Ng • Using the framework of Network Agenda Setting (NAS), we investigated how the three groups, including official institutions, influencers, and ordinary netizens, portray and discuss the genetically modified organisms (GMO) issue on Chinese social media. By examining relevant posts on Weibo platform (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter) under the guidance of NAS, the evolution of topic homogeneity on the GMO issue across a period of ten years was investigated. Results of social network analysis suggest that each group differ from the others in their ranking of different attributes surrounding the GMO issue. However, shifts in ordinary netizens’ and influencers’ attribute agendas were generally closely related across time. In particular, two major events clearly shaped agenda relationships among the three groups, with influencers strongly setting the agendas after the first event while official institutions mainly set the agendas of the other two groups after the second event. Even though the attribute agendas were markedly different among the three groups at the start, the two major events resulted in the occurrence of attribute network setting, causing the initial state of attribute agenda divergence to later convergence gradually, thus increasing the homogeneity of GMO related discussions on Chinese social media.

The Need for Social Media “Influectuals” in Science Communication • Stephanie Madden, Penn State University; Nahyun Kim, Pennsylvania State University; Jason Freeman, Pennsylvania State University; Christen Buckley • This paper explores how social media influence can potentially be harnessed for science communication issues. This study focuses on the issue of climate change and qualitatively analyzed 212 public Twitter profiles and selected tweets of climate scientists. This paper proposes a unique model of social media influencers relevant to science communication based on level of expertise and influence and introduces the concept of a social media “influectual.”

ADHD is for Kids: An Outdated Medical News Frame Supported by Medical Genre News Outlets • Daisy Milman, Texas Tech University • A content analysis of headlines, pictures and teasers was performed on a Google news query to determine the extent to which frames of ADHD patients being children continued after adults were included into the DSM-V. Results indicated that the updated frame was present, but the outdated frame held significantly greater frequency. The news genre (major, local, medical, blogs, other interests, press releases, business, or peer reviewed) with the greatest relative frequency was medical.

* Extended Abstract * Communicating Benefits and Risks about Carbon, Capture and Storage (CCS) • Rachel Esther Lim; Lucy Atkinson, The University of Texas at Austin; Won-Ki Moon, The University of Texas at Austin; Lee Ann Kahlor; Hilary Olson; Emily Moskal • The current research explores stakeholder perspectives regarding the benefits and risks of CCS technology in Southeast Texas, an area where oil-and-gas industries are key economic players. The study conducted 27 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders of a CCS project in the Gulf of Mexico. The findings show stakeholder perspectives on the benefits and risks related to CCS technology unique to this area. These findings offer important insights into best practices for communication messaging regarding CCS.

When the Public Avoids Risk Information During an Election: The Roles of Emotion and Attention Appraisal • Won-Ki Moon, The University of Texas at Austin; Lee Ann Kahlor; Hayoung Sally Lim, the University of Texas at Austin • An election cycle is full of uncertainty as voters consider their nation’s and their own future. As a result, the voter decision-making process offers an interesting context for studying risk-related information behaviors. In an election context, it is likely that individuals seek some types of risk information, but avoid other types of risk information, depending on their situation. The risk information literature to date has dedicated a great deal of attention to information-seeking behaviors, but comparably less attention to information avoidance. To shed light on information avoidance in an election context specifically, we propose and test a structural equation model based on the protective action decision model. The specific context is information behaviors during 2016 U.S. presidential election. We base our analysis on survey data from 512 U.S. adults collected one month prior to the election. The results are consistent with prior research, suggesting that issue involvement, knowledge about risks, attention appraisal, and risk perception influence risk information avoidance through the emotions felt towards the risks. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

“I just saw on Twitter that Tom Hanks has coronavirus”:  A mixed method examination of a theoretical model of celebrity illness disclosure effects • Jessica Myrick, Penn State University; Jessica Willoughby, Washington State University • On March 11, Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks announced via his social media platforms that he had been diagnosed with COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. An online survey (N = 682) was launched the next day to test a conceptual model of how such an announcement can shape individual COVID-19 prevention behaviors as well as information seeking and perceptions of society’s role in combating the spread of infectious disease.

Virtual Reality Intervention for Safety Education: Unveiling the immersive media effects on agricultural injury prevention behaviors • Kang Namkoong, University of Maryland; Junhan Chen, University of Maryland, College Park; John Leach, University of Maryland; Stacy Vincent; Yongwook Song; Brett Wasden • This study examines the effect of a VR intervention on behavioral intentions for safety, as identifying psychological mechanism that shows how the immersive technology works. To that end, we developed and tested a VR intervention for safe tractor operation with 291 high school students. Findings show the mediating roles of experience of immersion and perceived threat in the VR intervention effect process. Findings shed light on the potential of a VR intervention in safety education.

* Extended Abstract * Six months of media and COVID-19: A national longitudinal study tracking risk perceptions and trust in government since first U.S. death • Ronald Yaros, University of Maryland-College Park; Hoa Nguyen • Seven national online experiments, each with 750 participants, began after the first U.S. COVID-19 death on February 29th and continuing through August 2020. The Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model or RISP (Dunwoody & Griffin, 2015) measure if media use, risk perceptions, and trust in government change as news about the virus changes. Preliminary findings from the first two are summarized here but the proposed paper will include comprehensive analyses from all seven.

Vaping in Today’s World: Do Fear Appeals and Message Framing Change the way E-Cigarette Users View Their Habit? • Chris Noland, University of South Carolina • This study used an experiment to examine fear and message framing and how they interact to influence attitudes and behaviors toward e-cigarette use. Fear was found to be a mediator for the effects of the stimuli on outcome variables such as state reactance, perceived risk of e-cigarettes, and e-cigarette use cessation. Low fear levels generated higher perceived risk when state reactance is low. Gain-framed messages led to more positive attitudes when state reactance was low.

Beyond personal responsibility: Analyzing how fear appeals and attribution frames affect behavioral intentions and policy information seeking • Nicole O’Donnell, Virginia Commonwealth University; Jeanine Guidry, Virginia Commonwealth University • Who is responsible for protecting water resources? This study combines positions from the extended parallel process model and attribution theory to test how visual frames (fear/non-fear) and attribution frames (personal/government) affect intentions related to three pro-environmental behaviors. A 2×2 between-subjects controlled experiment was conducted with 504 adults from a specified U.S. watershed. Overall, findings indicate the need to move beyond emphasizing personal responsibility frames when promoting pro-environmental behaviors. Implications for environmental communication are discussed.

“That’s Some Positive Energy”: How Social Media Users Respond to #Funny Science Content • Liane O’Neill; Meaghan McKasy, Utah Valley University; Leona Yi-Fan Su; Michael Cacciatore, University of Georgia; Sara Yeo; Qian Sijia • Scientists have been adopting social media and humor to improve relationships with publics. This study investigates the effects of different types of science humor shared by a scientist on Twitter. We identified an indirect relationship between exposure to humor and leaving relevant and positive comments, mediated by mirth, as well as a direct path between the humor types and leaving relevant, positive comments. Individuals’ social media use moderated the relationship between humor exposure and mirth.

Traits, Situational Primes, and Message Frames: Regulatory Focus, Self-Construal, Authoritarian Orientation, and Influencing Climate Change Perception and Policy Support • S. Senyo Ofori-Parku, University of Oregon • Three studies were conducted to examine how self-construal and regulatory focus— as traits, situational primes, and message frames— plus authoritarian orientation influence public support for climate change. We found that: (a) independent self-view and promotion focus traits, (b) telling people to think about their aspirations (promotion-focus priming), and (c) emphasizing climate change mitigation benefits (promotion-focused framing) are linked to increased risk perception/policy support. Further moderation analyses showed that promotion-focused and interdependent self-view frames were more persuasive, especially among those who have high authoritarian inclinations.

* Extended Abstract * Risk and Efficacy Uncertainty as motivators of Information Seeking and Protective Behaviors When Facing COVID-19 • MENGXUE OU • By conducting a 2 X 2 X 2 online factorial experiment, this study seeks to investigate the role of risk, uncertainty, and efficacy in messages on COVID-19 in motivating individuals to seek information and perform protective behaviors against COVID-19. Results revealed that the risk and uncertainty of messages on  COVID-19 have much to do with individuals’ affective responses, information-seeking intentions, and protective behavioral motivations. Whilst, the presentation of response efficacy in messages on COVID-19 has little to do with individuals’ affective responses, information-seeking intentions, and protective behavioral motivations. Implications of this study will be discussed in the formal paper.

Brokerage Combating Misinformation:  Examinations of Health Discussion Networks and Attitude toward Child Vaccination • Mina Park, Washington State University; Yingchia Hsu, Washington State University; Shawn Domgaard, Washington State University; Wenqing Zhao, Washington State University; Christina Steinberg • When members in social networks are closely connected, shared misinformation within the networks can lead to risky health decision making. This study investigates how social networks providing bridging and bonding social capital affect perception of child vaccine-related misinformation. A sequential mediation model reveals that bridging social capital from network brokerage indirectly increases positive attitude about child vaccination by enabling individuals to gather diverse knowledge and ensuring response efficacy of vaccinations.

Expensive medication or misinformation: The influence of competing frames and appeals on perceptions of DTCA and support for its regulation • Ayellet Pelled, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Juwon Hwang; Hyesun Choung; Jiwon Kang; Yuanliang (leo) Shan, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Moonhoon Choi, University of Wisconsin – Madison • “The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) gradual relaxation of federal restrictions on direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for prescription drugs over the past several decades has fueled a long-standing debate on whether these ads are more advantageous or pernicious. While proponents advocate for patient empowerment and improved health awareness, opponents caution against information distortion and the promotion of expensive or unnecessary medications. Via the theoretical lenses of gain-loss appeals and the negativity bias, this study examines the influence of mixed message appeals on perceptions of DTCA for prescription medications. The stimuli addressed potential monetary consequences–rise or decrease in medications cost–and informational consequences–consumer knowledge or misinformation. We assess whether individuals are more influenced by (a) positive, negative or mixed appeals, and by (b) monetary or informational consequences. In a second step we assess whether these concerns influence tendencies to support stricter regulation of DTCA. Our data suggest that informational consequences are more influential than the monetary consequences on perceptions of DTCA, especially concerning negative consequences such as misinformation and promotion of unnecessary medication. Paternal and maternal views were significant predictors of perceived effects such as whether DTCA informs or confuses people and whether it leads them to take better care of their personal health. However, when predicting support for regulation of DTCA it was the political predispositions that were key, and they seem to outweigh the persuasive appeals. Further findings and implications are discussed in the manuscript”

* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: Effects of narrative and behavioral involvement on adolescents’ attitudes toward gaming disorder • Yuchen Ren; Fuyuan Shen • This paper examines the impact of using narratives to communicate a controversial health issue, gaming disorder, on adolescents’ issue attitudes. In a between-subjects experiment, 115 adolescent participants read narrative and informational messages on gaming addiction. Results indicated that compared to the informational message, the narrative health message generated a more positive attitude toward the medical view of gaming disorder and greater attitude certainty. Transportation mediated narrative effect on attitude valence. Behavioral involvement moderated the narrative effect on attitude valence and attitude certainty.

Fear, Anticipated Regret, and Efficacy Perceptions for Active Depression Coping • Soojin Roh, Peking University HSBC Business School • This study examined how and to what extent different types of emotions – specifically fear and anticipated regret – positively and negatively contributed to individuals’ active depression coping intentions (e.g., seeking medical help and rational thinking), together with threat appraisals (i.e., susceptibility and severity assessments) and efficacy perceptions regarding depression. A two-stage structural equation modeling of a moderated mediation model with data from an online survey (N=1,027) showed that higher levels of perceived susceptibility not only directly led to inactive depression coping but also indirectly did so through the mediation of fear. On the other hand, severity and self- and response-efficacy perceptions all positively predicted active depression coping. While high levels of fear resulted in rather maladaptive responses toward depression (e.g., less intention to actively cope with depression), anticipated regret, as a positive moderator, reduced the negative impact of fear. Theoretical contribution and practical implications for strategic mental health communication message design were provided.

Risky Business? A content analysis of health risk behavior in VOD-content popular among adolescents • Anne Sadza, Radboud University; Serena Daalmans, Radboud University Nijmegen, behavioural Science Institute; Esther Rozendaal, Radboud University Nijmegen, Behavioural Science Institute; Moniek Buijzen, Radboud University Nijmegen, Behavioural Science Institute • Portrayals of risk behavior in media are prevalent and may affect adolescents’ attitudes towards these behaviors. A quantitative content analysis of trending programs (n = 529) from popular video-on-demand platforms investigated how often, by who and in what manner various risk behaviors are portrayed. Our findings indicate risk behavior of especially the substance use variety is prevalent and normalized, and this portrayal is stable across various genres of trending and popular video on demand programs.

Decisional conflict versus informational conflict: Assessing effects of exposure to different types of conflicting health information • Weijia Shi, University of Minnesota • There are two possible ways to conceptualize conflicting health messages: messages about decisional conflict and messages about informational conflict. Although prior research has documented the effects of exposure to conflicting health information (e.g., confusion, ambivalence, backlash), little is known about whether such effects vary across distinct conceptualizations. Informed by construal level theory, this study hypothesizes that decisional conflict may prime a high-level construal whereas informational conflict may prime a low-level construal; as a result, subsequent cognitive outcomes may be different. An online survey experiment was conducted with college students in the context of conflicting information about coffee consumption (N = 115). Results showed that exposure to conflicting information was linked to adverse effects but such effects did not differ significantly across conceptualizations. Theoretical implications and future directions are discussed.

Examining the effects of green cause-related marketing: The moderating role of environmental values and product type • Tsungjen Shih, National Chenghi University; Shaojung Sharon Wang, National Sun Yat-sen University • The present studies investigated the effectiveness of CRM campaigns on perceived corporate image and purchase intentions with product types and environmental values as moderators. Study 1 (N=1,175) found positive effects of CRM messages on corporate image and purchase intentions. However, the effects did not vary depending on the levels of fit between three NPOs and the telecom company. The results also indicated that CRM campaigns indirectly affected purchase intentions through corporate image, and the indirect effect was moderated by product type and environmental values. Study 2 (N=1,448) found positive effects of CRM campaigns on corporate image and purchase intentions, but the effect did not differ by the levels of fit between the causes and the computer company. Besides, corporate image positively mediated the effect of CRM campaigns on purchase intentions, and environmental values moderated this indirect relationship. These results corroborated the findings in Study 1. However, different from Study 1, product type moderated the effect of CRM campaigns on corporate image, but not the indirect relationship between CRM campaigns and purchase intentions.

Understanding the Use of Memes for Targeted HIV/STI Prevention Among Black and Hispanic Young Men Who Have Sex with Men • Jazmyne Simmons; Michelle Seelig; Victoria Orrego • Within the U.S., young Black and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) experience disproportionate rates of HIV and sexually transmitted infections. Stigma, HIV prevention fatigue, and, safer sex fatigue are contributors to these disparities. This study evaluated the effectiveness of Internet memes in comparison to infographics for relaying sexual health messaging among Black, Latino, and White MSM (N = 260). Findings lend promise to memes as a complimentary tool for health information.

Persuasive effects of outcome frames in waste classification: Moderating role of consideration of future consequences • Meiqi Sun, School of Journalism and Communication, Nanjing University; Xinyao Ma; Lulu Jiang; Nainan Wen • This study investigated the influence of two outcome framings—gain-loss framing and individual-societal framing—and an individual difference—consideration of future consequences (CFC)—on intentions of and public engagement with waste classification. Results of an experiment (N=215) in China demonstrated that the individual framing was more effective than societal framing in promoting intentions of waste classification, while the relative advantage of gain-loss framing was non-significant. Furthermore, the effect of individual-societal framing was moderated by CFC.

Social Media Health Campaigns for Promoting Influenza Vaccination: Examining Effectiveness of Fear Appeal Messages from Different Sources • Hongjie Tang, School of Communication and Design, Sun Yat-sen University;; Shenglan Liao; Yaying Hu, School of Communication and Design, Sun Yat-sen University; Liang Chen • The current study aims to examine the effectiveness of fear-induced health campaigns on social media in promoting influenza vaccination with the focus on information sources. A 2 × 3 × 2 (visible source × receiver source × technological source) factorial online experiment was designed to investigate the effectiveness of fear appeal messages offered by different sources on behavioral intention. A total of 534 college students were recruited to participate in the experiment. The results revealed a significant main effect for the visible source on both vaccination and information searching behavioral intention. Besides, visible source, receiver source and technological source interact to affect flu-related information searching. Theoretical implications for message design and practical implications for health campaign on social media were discussed.

* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: Effect of Context on Scientists’ Normative Beliefs and Willingness toward Public Engagement • Leigh Anne Tiffany, Michigan State University; Samantha Hautea, Michigan State University; John Besley, Michigan State University • Past research on the relationship between scientists’ public engagement normative beliefs and willingness to participate could prove misleading if respondents do not consider impacts of engagement activities. This study asks scientists to report normative beliefs and willingness to engage in the context of engagement impacts. Results indicate mentioning positive impacts result in more positive norms, but adding lost research time negatively affects beliefs. However, changing measurement does not affect the non-relationship between norms and engagement.

Mobilizing Users: Does Exposure to Misinformation and Its Correction Affect Users’ Responses to a Health Misinformation Post? • Melissa Tully, University of Iowa; Leticia Bode; Emily Vraga • Misinformation spreads on social media when users engage with it, but replies can also correct misinformation. Using an experiment and content analysis, we examine how exposure to misinformation and correction on Twitter about unpasteurized milk affect what participants would say in response to the misinformation. Results suggest that participants are unlikely to reply to the misinformation. However, content analysis of hypothetical replies suggests they largely do provide correct information, especially after seeing other corrections.

How daily journalists verify numbers and statistics in news stories:  An empirical study • Anthony Van Witsen, Michigan State University • Anthony Van Witsen Statistics are widely acknowledged as an essential part of journalism. Yet despite repeated investigations showing that routine news coverage involving statistics leaves much to be desired, scholarship has failed to produce an adequate theoretical understanding of how statistics are employed in journalism. Earlier research showed many journalists think anything counted or measured and expressed in numbers represents a form of unarguable truth, which may affect whether they think statistical information should be checked or verified. This study examines the verification process for statistics in detail by combining semistructured interviews with fifteen working journalists about their beliefs concerning statistics in the news with structured qualitative interviews concerning specific decisions they made about verifying, or not verifying, individual statistics in a selection of their recent stories. It sought to determine when the subjects looked for corroboration of a statistical truth claim and when and why they concluded statistics needed no checking and could be published as they stood. The results do not disconfirm earlier research about journalists beliefs concerning statistics, but show they operate in more complicated ways than previously suspected. Contrary to earlier research, journalists do not take anything expressed in numbers for granted. Consistent with that research, they rarely question the conceptual (and sometimes political) bases behind the creating of many statistics.

* Extended Abstract * SO ORDERED: A Textual Analysis of United States’ Governors’ Press Release Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic • Taylor Voges, University of Georgia; Matthew Binford, University of Georgia • The COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique environment from which each individual state, in the United States, has been forced to address their publics. In order to understand how each state has engaged with this pandemic, a textual analysis of each state’s governor’s first press release was conducted; five thematic trends were identified. Through use of risk communication, contingency theory (using external threat variables), and utilitarianism framework, the implications of these press releases are discussed.

‘An Incontestable Public Good’—Understanding the Asymmetry of NGO Vaccine Discourse throughout Latin America • Ryan Wallace, University of Texas at Austin • Exploring the increasing globalization of vaccine discourse, this study focuses on the asymmetrical flows of discourse throughout Latin America by key stakeholders in health communication—non-governmental organizations (NGOs). By analyzing the discourse of NGOs, this study seeks to understand how knowledge and power are distribution throughout Latin America and reveal the deeply-embedded histories of dependency that may continue to impact public health efforts throughout the region.

Debunking Health Misinformation on Social Media: Can Heuristic Cues Mitigate Biased Assimilation? * • Yuan Wang, The University of Maryland • This study examines whether source cues and social endorsement cues interact with individuals’ pre-existing beliefs in influencing health misinformation correction effectiveness. Using an experimental design, we find that providing corrective messages can effectively counteract the influence of misinformation, especially when the message is from an expert source and accompanied by high social endorsements. Participants evaluate misinformation and corrective messages in a biased way that confirms their pre-existing beliefs. However, their initial misperceptions can be reduced when receiving corrective messages.

* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: Measurement Invariance of the Sex-Related Marijuana Expectancies Scale Across Age and Gender • Jessica Willoughby, Washington State University; Stacey Hust; Jiayu Li; Leticia Couto • As recreational marijuana use continues to be legalized in the United States, there is a desire to examine messages promoting marijuana and the potential effects on adolescents and young adults. However, constructs such as sex-related marijuana expectancies, which have been found associated with intentions to use marijuana, marijuana use, and sexual behavior, have been adapted from research with limited examination of the scales themselves. This paper tests measurement invariance of a sex-related marijuana expectancies scale.

Fast and frugal: Information processing related to the coronavirus pandemic • Jody Chin Sing Wong; Janet Yang; Zhuling Liu; David Lee; Zhiying Yue • “This research focuses on three factors that influence how individuals cognitively process information related to the coronavirus outbreak. Guided by dual-process theories of information processing, we establish how the two different information processing modes (system 1: heuristic processing; system 2: systematic processing) are influenced by individuals’ responsibility attribution, discrete negative emotions, and risk perception. In an experiment, participants were exposed to a news article that either includes explicit attribution of responsibility (n = 445) or without this attribution (n = 498). Results reveal that exposure to the responsibility attribution frame led individuals to engage in more heuristic processing, but it did not influence systematic processing. Discrete negative emotions and risk perception mediated the relationship between responsibility attribution and information processing. The indirect relationships suggest a more intricate process underlying heuristic processing and systematic processing. In particular, information processing styles seem to be determined by social judgment surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

Which is Better? Theory of Reasoned Action or Theory of Planned Behavior:  A Meta-Analysis of Vaccination Research • Xizhu Xiao; Rachel Wong • Although Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) are often employed as theoretical guidance in vaccination promotion, no research to date has synthesized and compared their predictive validity. Prior studies also documented mixed findings regarding the predictive validity of a central component in TPB—perceived behavioral control (PBC). We searched five databases with relevant keyword combinations without time constraints. A total of 452 peer-reviewed studies were initially identified. After screening, 17 studies (19 independent samples) met our inclusion criteria and were included for final analysis. Results suggest that the sample-weighted average effects were moderate-to-strong. Attitude showed the strongest association with intention (r+ = 0.64), followed by norms (r+ = 0.61) and PBC (r+ = 0.42). Direct predictors of TRA and TPB explained 51.9% and 54.3% of the variance in intention respectively. Albeit small, PBC contributed significantly to the model. Moderator analyses showed that type of recipient significantly moderated attitude-intention and PBC-intention relationships; while norm-intention correlations were significantly moderated by type of norm measures. Despite prior concerns of PBC’s predictive validity, our findings demonstrate strong support for its effectiveness and the utility of TPB in vaccination research. Implications for health interventions are further discussed.

Stigma toward People Who Misuse Prescription Opioid Drugs: An Exploratory Study • Jie Xu, Villanova University; Xiaoxia Cao, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee • Based on the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), this study used a survey to examine personal, behavioral and environmental factors affecting college students’ stigmatic views toward people with prescription opioid drug (POD) misuse. Results indicated that stigmatic perception was negatively related to exposure to news coverage while positively associated with anti-opioid abuse messages. People with more stigmatic views toward POD misuse assigned more blame to individuals in such condition compared to pharmaceutical companies. POD misuse was negatively related to stigmatic, the relation was stronger among people with high self-efficacy compared to those with low self-efficacy. The results provide an interesting glimpse and add to the overall knowledge body of POD-related stigmatic views among college students. It provides initial yet compelling evidence for the diverging media influence, as well as self-efficacy and POD misuse behavior on stigma. The findings also shed lights that may help policymakers and the general public to counter the opioid crisis more effectively.

Effects of Information Veracity and Message Frames on Information Dissemination: Examining Zika Epidemic on Twitter • Qian Xu, Elon University; Shi Chen, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Lida Safarnejad, University of North Carolina, Charlotte • This research examines how information veracity interacted with four message frames (legislation of funding, election, women’s human rights, and sports) to influence the dissemination of tweets in the 2016 Zika outbreak. We discovered that the retweet networks of misinformation had larger network diameter and higher structural virality than those of true information about Zika. Four message frames differed in their respective capacities of moderating the impact of information veracity on the dissemination of Zika tweets.

Are You Passing Along Something True or False? Dissemination of GMO Messages on Social Media • Qian Xu, Elon University; Yunya Song, Hong Kong Baptist University; Nan Yu, University of Central Florida; Shi Chen, University of North Carolina, Charlotte • Using network analysis, this study investigates how information veracity and account verification influence the dissemination of information about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on social media. The dissemination networks of misinformation about GMOs were found to have higher structural stability than those of true information, as shown by denser network structure with fewer distinct subgroups. The unverified accounts significantly boosted misinformation dissemination by increasing network density. The unverified accounts received more reposts than the verified accounts.

Using Computational Methods to Examine the Online Media Agenda, Public Agenda, and Framing Related to Climate Change • Zhan Xu, Northern Arizona University; David Atkin; Lauren Ellis • Guided by framing theory, the present study utilizes a quantitative content analysis—including Latent Dirichlet Allocation –applied to online climate change articles posted from 2007-2019. Engagement with media agendas, public agendas and framing related to climate were examined in the online context. Findings suggest that advocacy articles were more engaging than denial articles. Exposure to climate change frames is related to social media engagement. Climate change frames differed in their ability to engage social media users.

If Others Care, I Will Fight Climate Change: Reexamine Influence of Presumed Media Influence in the Context of Collective Actions • Xiaodong Yang, Shandong University; Yijing Li; Zhuoran Li; Ran Wei • To address the flaws of previous studies in examining pro-environmental behaviors, this study incorporates the theory of collective action to reexamine the role of media in promoting pro-environmental behavioral intention. Based on the collective interest model, which emphasizes that individuals’ decision of participating in collective action depends on their perception of others’ performance and individuals’ concern about free-rider would hold them back from taking action, this study employed the influence of presumed media influence (IPI) model to seek an understanding of how perceived effects of environmental messages would affect an individual’s own reasoning for action. Data were collected from a nationally door-to-door survey in Singapore (N= 705). Findings show that people estimate others’ attention to media messages about climate change based on the amount of attention that they pay to these messages. The perception of others’ media attention leads them to develop presumed media influence on others. Further, findings show that the more people believe that others are influenced by media messages, the more likely they would engage in pro-environmental behavior. Attitude, social norms, and collective efficacy enhanced this relationship. Our findings extended the application of the IPI model in the context of environmental communication.

Understanding Science Bloggers’ View and Approach to Strategic Communication:  A Qualitative Interview Study • Shupei Yuan, Northern Illinois University; John Besley, Michigan State University • The current study used qualitative interviews to explore how science bloggers view and practice strategic science communication. Interviews with 20 science bloggers who cover various scientific topics suggest that many bloggers intend to achieve objectives beyond informing the public. Most science bloggers actively apply writing techniques in their articles, which vary in how explicitly connected they are with the objectives bloggers say they want to achieve. The findings demonstrate the value of science blogs from bloggers’ collective impact on science communication and also provided a window to the future development of online science communication.

When Virus Goes Political: A Computerized Text Analysis of Crisis Attribution on Covid-19 Pandemic • Weilu Zhang, School of Journalism, University of Missouri; Lingshu Hu; Jihye Park • As the Covid-19 pandemic crisis evolves, the U.S. is facing an unprecedented public health crisis. It is crucial for us to learn how the general public makes sense of the crisis to carry out appropriate crisis responses in promoting positive coping strategies among them. The current study finds that the public’s attribution and their attitude to the government during the crisis will be influenced by their political identity and the threatening level to their health.

<2020 Abstracts

Commission on the Status of Women

Feminism in unlikely places: Northern Nigeria and the #ArewaMeToo Movement • Olushola Aromona, University of Kansas; Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas • This study examined how Muslim women in Northern Nigeria leveraged social media to advocate women’s issues through the #ArewaMeToo hashtag on twitter. Thematic analysis of prominent feminist themes demonstrated the multiple and intersectional structural barriers that women experience in conservative cultures. The implications of this research are discussed in the context of hashtag activism for advocating for women’s rights and the role of social media in amplifying the feminist works of women in marginalized communities.

#bossbabe: Women’s Use of Social Media in Multilevel Marketing of Body and Health Products • Lauren Britton, Ithaca Collete; Louise Barkhuus, IT University of Copenhagen • Multi-level marketing companies, like Beachbody, Arbonne, and Rodan and Fields, have taken advantage of ubiquitous social media to generate business. This paper investigates how women, and mothers in particular, are drawn to MLM businesses and how they use and depend on individual social networks, particularly Instagram and Facebook, to run their businesses. We draw upon a feminist media theoretical framework to understand the social implications of these MLM companies and their use of women and social media. Conducting both a visual content analysis of Instagram MLM hashtags and an interview study, we examine how MLM mothers deploy social media functionality to support and grow their #mompreneur businesses. Our findings reveal that MLM companies, through their consultants, rely on a new version of ‘marketplace feminism’ to sell their products through social media (#bossbabe!) while generating a loyal and devoted fanbase.

* Extended Abstract * The Association of Fraternity Membership, Sports Media & Masculinity Norms with College Men’s Acceptance of Rape Myths • Stacey Hust; Soojung Kang, Washington State University, Pullman; Leticia Couto; Jiayu Li • Summary of the extended abstract: The current study conducted a survey with 320 fraternity members to assess their sports media use, conformity to masculinity norms, and acceptance of rape myth. Results suggested that conformity to masculinity, regular exposure to sports media, norms, control over women and playboy behavior were associated with acceptance of rape myth. Fraternity membership moderated the relationship between masculinity norms and rape myth acceptance.

Lusting after Shawn Mendes manly hands: Analyzing postfeminist themes in popular Dutch Girls Magazines. • Marieke Boschma, Radboud University; Serena Daalmans, Radboud University Nijmegen, behavioural Science Institute • The current study analyzes in what manner postfeminist thought is articulated in popular girl’s magazines. To reach this goal, we conducted a thematic analysis of three magazines. The results revealed that the magazines incorporate feminist, antifeminist and as a result a postfeminist discourse in their content. The magazines function as a source of gender socialization, with a large palette of postfeminist themes which articulate what it means to be a girl in contemporary society.

“Love what you DOULA”: An Analysis of Doulas and Doula Care in the News Media • Zehui Dai, Radford University; Dinah Tetteh, Arkansas State University • This study highlights the relationship between society, discourse about doula professionals and doula care in childbirth, and women’s maternal health care in general. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze discourses about doulas, doula care in childbirth and women in different news media internationally. The result suggests that news media sources promote doula support for women in labor and support doula’s advocacy for women’s complex pregnancy experiences. The authors contend that these discourses help to provide a nuanced understanding of women’s maternal health internationally as well as generate a “women-centered approach” in maternity health care.

“Who’s going to be a creep today?” How Gender Influences Audience Interactions with Top Broadcasters • Stefanie Davis Kempton, Penn State Altoona; Colleen Connolly-Ahern, Penn State University • “Audience interaction has become a key metric for the success of broadcast journalists. Social media allow audiences unprecedented access to top broadcast journalists, while also putting pressure on journalists to engage with audience members in more direct ways. However, as this study suggests, most of these interactions are subjected to the same gendered prejudices that have been instilled in the broadcast news industry for decades.

This study explores the role of gender in audience interaction with top broadcast journalists. A mixed method approach combining qualitative interviews and social media discourse analysis helped to uncover the ways in which male and female broadcast journalists interact with audiences, as well as how they negotiate through those interactions. Findings shed light on the gendered, and sometimes dangerous, ways in which these interactions take place.”

“Sluts and nuts”: Symbolic annihilation of women in the Kavanaugh allegation coverage • Danielle Deavours, University of Alabama • Modern American journalism practices rely heavily on the use of expert sources. Historically, white, male officials have dominated as sources in print, television, and online media (Humprecht & Esser, 2017), which means women are not being given an equal opportunity to influence the news. This can be especially troublesome in news coverage of sexual harassment allegations, where both female and male perspectives need to be heard. Symbolic annihilation theory suggests that media largely ignore women or portray them in stereotypical roles (Gerbner & Gross, 1976). This study seeks to expand the use of symbolic annihilation theory in the context of how females are used as sources in sexual allegation coverage. The study utilizes a content analysis of the national coverage of the Brett Kavanaugh sexual assault allegations in print, online, and television outlets. The study finds that journalists used male sources more often than female sources, and that male journalists were more likely to use male sources than female journalists. In addition, the study found that male sources were more likely to support Kavanaugh, less likely to support the accusers, and less likely to mention other victims of sexual assault or the #MeToo movement. These findings suggest symbolic annihilation is present in the coverage of this case, concerning considering the gendered issue of sexual assault allegations against an accused male in a position of power.

* Extended Abstract * “An utter disregard for best practices in supporting survivors:” Social media and ethics policies in the #MeToo era • Bailey Dick, Ohio University • In light of the January 2020 suspension of Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez for supposedly violating the paper’s social media policy in her tweeting about sexual assault as a sexual assault survivor herself, this study examines existing social media and ethics policies that in leading American newsrooms. Specifically, this paper examines those codes and policies in light of the #MeToo movement and the existence of policies that pertain to journalists sharing their own experiences with gender-based violence.

She’s a lady; he’s an athlete; they have overcome: Portrayals of gender and disability in the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games • Tracy Everbach, University of North Texas; Karen Weiller-Abels; Andrew Colombo-Dougovito, University of North Texas • This qualitative content analysis of the National Broadcasting Company’s (NBC’s) coverage of 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games sought to examine how the broadcasters framed gender and disability. The researchers employed feminist approaches, intersectionality, and hegemonic masculinity to examine the frames used in Alpine skiing coverage from the Paralympic Games. Results showed that women athletes received less airtime than the men, that women athletes were placed into traditional gender role frames, and that women were portrayed in a sexualized manner. The researchers also found that athletes’ disabilities were framed in a medicalized way, as something they should “overcome,” and that Paralympic athletes with disabilities were portrayed as “less than” able-bodied athletes. The researchers discovered that coverage of the Paralympic Games has not changed in the past decade, continuing to oppress women athletes with disabilities by stereotyping and marginalizing them, and stigmatizing both male and female athletes with disabilities by framing them as aspiring to be able-bodied.

“Remember to Breathe (But Don’t Make a Sound!)” Constructions of Childbirth in Post-Apocalyptic Narratives • Katie Foss, Middle TN State University • The rise of post-apocalyptic narratives has introduced a new lens on mediated birthing experiences. This paper uses a narrative analysis of pregnancy, labor, and birth on The Walking Dead (2010- ) A Quiet Place (2018), and Bird Box (2018). Findings suggest that these texts idealize medicalized birth, distort the birthing process, and reinforce the dichotomy of the “good” and “bad” mother – overall, missing their potential as redefined feminist spaces that present birth as natural.

The Syllabus is a Boys’ Club: Examining the paucity of woman authors in course materials at three U.S. journalism schools • Meg Heckman, Northeastern University; Maya Homan • An analysis of 222 journalism school syllabi used by three U.S. journalism schools during the 2018-2019 academic year revealed that the majority of instructional material was created by men. Of the authors listed on the syllabi in our sample, just 34% could be identified as women, although female instructors were somewhat more likely to assign material created by women. Roughly 20% of the syllabi analyzed listed no female authors at all. We argue that a paucity of woman authors in journalism school instructional materials contributes to the symbolic annihilation of women from the profession and may enforce male hegemony in newsrooms. We also discuss the role of groups like AEJMC’s Commission on the Status of Women and the Journalism and Women Symposium might play in encouraging journalism educators to make their syllabi more inclusive.

Media consumption and rape myth acceptance: A meta-analysis • Ashley Hedrick, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This meta-analysis studied the relationship between media consumption and rape myth acceptance (RMA). Twenty-nine studies (N=3,307) met inclusion criteria. The overall weighted mean effect size was r=0.086 (p<0.001), indicating a small but statistically significant relationship. Sub-analyses indicated that a few media types, especially violent pornography viewing and general pornography viewing, drove this relationship. Also, age was a significant moderator. Adolescents and young adults reported a stronger relationship between media consumption and RMA than adults.

Sexist Events Make It Hurt More: Objectification, Social Comparison, and Disordered Eating among Female Instagram Users • Roselyn Lee-Won, The Ohio State University; Mackenzie Kibbe; Sung Gwan Park, Seoul National University • Image-centric social media platforms such as Instagram are heightening females’ body image concerns. We aimed to extend the objectification theory framework by elucidating the role of social comparison and sexist discrimination experience. This study, conducted with a national sample of adult female Instagram users, showed that the positive relationship between body surveillance and disordered eating was significantly mediated by social comparison on Instagram and body shame; this serial mediation was moderated by sexist discrimination experience.

You can have it all with medicine: A qualitative analysis of gender in DTC advertisements • Hayley Markovich, University of Florida; Amanda Bradshaw, University of Florida; Debbie Treise, University of Florida; Matthew Cretul • Previous studies and reviews have looked at the differences in gender regarding diabetes disease management. This textual analysis looked at direct-to-consumer diabetes medication commercials to understand how these advertisements may influence, and produce gendered understandings of type 2 diabetes. Analysis of 66 direct-to-consumer advertisements, representing 10 brand name medications, found three gender stereotypes and two overall message strategies. The gendered depictions can potentially affect how women with the condition understand the condition and its treatments.

Miscarriage in the Media: Effects of Media Representation of Miscarriage on Knowledge and Attitudes • Zelly Martin • “This survey of 301 adults in the United States examines the effects of exposure to media about miscarriage on knowledge and attitudes about pregnancy loss. Results indicate that exposure to media about miscarriage had a small but significant association with knowledge about miscarriage. Knowledge about miscarriage had a moderate, significant relationship with positive attitudes about women who miscarry. Increased media exposure about miscarriage could lead to more positive attitudes about women who have miscarried.

“I will slap your face with my penis” Slovak female journalists describe their working environment • Simona Mikušová, Comenius University, Department of Journalism • The largest survey of female journalists working in the Slovak mass media was undertaken in 2020 and asked participants to respond to questions about their working conditions and perceived gender discrimination. This article focuses on their responses in relation to the motherhood dilemma, income gender gap, violence and harassment inside and outside of the newsroom and the impact of a predominantly masculine management. The study uses a mixed-methods approach, including an online survey of 150 female journalists and qualitative interviews with 10 female journalists. Most respondents articulated that flirting, sexual jokes, vulgarisms and other forms of sexual harassment are very common in their newsrooms. Surprisingly, few of the respondents reported this kind behavior as inappropriate. Slovak journalists are more concerned about low wages, gender biases that disadvantage mothers and even the absence of an older generation in their newsroom.

Developing new voices: Exploring feminist digital activism in India • Paromita Pain, University of Reno, Nevada • As my analysis of the tweets and interviews with participants and activists of the #MeTooIndia movement in 2018, show, the work of elite activists and the risks they took was critical to the success of the campaign but there was an exclusion of suburban voices and experiences. The onerous and taxing nature of digital labors are an unrecognized feature of women’s activism online, especially in the Indian context, adding more work to women’s already rarely acknowledged and undervalued burdens of labor. Online action here may have been supplemented by offline action, but participants found little support otherwise. Compounding issues, as the interviews reveal, are social media platforms who by nature are sexist and that has negative consequences for online feminist advocacy.

Women in wrestling: The representation of Olympic athletes in traditional media and on personal social media accounts in 2016 • Shannon Scovel, University of Maryland • This study assessed the traditional and social media coverage of U.S. wrestlers during the 2016 Olympic Games. Women’s wrestling articles from the Games aligned with previous research that suggests women are viewed as “other” by traditional press. Reports on Helen Maroulis’ gold medal win also focused on her position as a determined underdog and compared her to successful male wrestlers. Wrestler social media posts on Twitter and Instagram portrayed themes of empowerment and feminism.

Returning to the Digital World: Technology Use and Privacy Management of Women Transitioning from Incarceration • Hyunjin Seo, University of Kansas; Hannah Britton; Megha Ramaswamy; Darcey Altschwager; Matthew Blomberg, University of Kansas; Olushola Aromona, University of Kansas; Bernard Schuster; Ellie Booton; Marilyn Ault; Joi Wickliffe • Through interviews with 59 women transitioning from jails or prisons, our research analyzed barriers facing this population in terms of access to and use of digital communication technologies. We also examined the women’s perspectives on privacy and security online and how their perspectives influence their activities online. Discussions around these topics identified various facets of challenges the women face in returning to a society in which navigating digital information is of great importance. Our findings indicate that precarious situations that most of these women experience affect how they define and operationalize privacy boundaries online. Specifically, precarious housing and financial situations, concerns of ex-partners, mental health challenges, and lack of self-efficacy pose challenges for their digital access and use and influence their online privacy perspectives. Despite increasing rates of women’s imprisonments in the United States and growing importance of digital technologies in almost every aspect of our lives, there is little research examining how this marginalized population accesses and uses digital communication technologies. In this sense, our study fills an important gap in the literature. In addition, findings from this research suggest scholarly and policy implications for those who study or work in the areas of digital inclusion, marginalized women, or reentry education.

The Dragonfly Effect: Analysis of a Social Media Women’s Empowerment Campaign • Aya Shata, University of Miami; Michelle Seelig • This research examines how advocates used social media in advocacy efforts of the “Taa Marbuta” women empowerment campaign in Egypt. In-depth interviews conducted with the National Council for Women, United Nations entities, and SIDA. The campaign was analyzed using the dragonfly effect model as the analysis framework, and found it has clear goals and various techniques for attention and engagement, but ‘call for action’ was absent. Further analysis revealed two emerging themes. Social media transformed the campaign into an icon of women empowerment.

Forming a social-help movement through the efforts of breast cancer survivors in the #WeEightWomen campaign • Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas • In recent years, eight Iranian breast cancer survivors use the hashtag #WeEightWomen in Farsi to share their cancer-related messages on Instagram. This study aims to explore how #WeEightWomen campaign founders perceive this online social-help groups and examine whether this online social-help group could be considered a social movement. The findings revealed that founders have both positive and negative perceptions of this group. Drawing on Resource Mobilization Theory, this social help group is a social movement.

* Extended Abstract * Who’s Your Daddy? Gender Schema, Hostile Sexism, and Political Orientation as Predictors of Attitude toward “Enlightened Manvertising” • Miglena Sternadori, Texas Tech University; Alan Abitbol, University of Dayton • Results of a survey of U.S. men (n = 285) indicated that participants’ gender schemas, hostile sexism, political orientation, and support for women’s rights influenced their attitude toward “enlightened manvertising,” which refers to campaigns that redefine masculinity by promoting both masculine and feminine traits as a part of manhood. The results suggest a link between men’s views on redefining masculinity and their views on women and women’s roles in society.

* Extended Abstract * Intersectionality and transnational feminism: Breaking boundaries with standpoints of women public relations professionals in United Arab Emirates • Leysan Storie; Katie Place, Quinnipiac University • Feminist scholarship in public relations has illustrated women’s unique experiences and opportunities in the field. However, the majority of feminist research in public relations has remained safely within the Western boundaries, and has been characterized by a simplistic view of women, often considering only gender identity with disregard to other factors. This study applies intersectionality theory to explore the experiences of women PR professionals in the United Arab Emirates through in-depth qualitative interviews.

Angry Gymnastics: Representations of Simone Biles at the 2019 National and World Championships • Carolina Velloso, University of Maryland, College Park • This paper analyzes the representations of Simone Biles in media coverage of two major gymnastics events in 2019. Using the framework of critical feminist and race theories, a textual analysis of 34 articles revealed the pervasive use of gendered and racial codes to describe Biles in competition. The findings reveal a complex, intersectional representation of Biles, and underscore the persistent and systemic presence of these codes in contemporary discourse.

* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: Muslim Women: Semantic and Visual Primes, Stereotypes, and Evaluations • Anastasia Vishnevskaya; Heena Khan; Alex Tan • This study tests whether semantic and visual primes can activate stereotypes of Muslim women. We conducted a 4-factor randomized experimental design with adult Americans as participants. Our results show that primes activate two stereotype dimensions – warmth and competence. We also found that competence predicts intent to interview and hire for a university teaching job. Finally, we found that a high intensity prime activated positive evaluation on the competence stereotype dimension but negative evaluations on warmth.

<2020 Abstracts

Advertising Division

Graduate and Undergraduate Student Research
Exploring the Effect of Control on Playable Ad Effectiveness • Xiaohan Hu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • The playable ad is a new type of digital advertising that combines interactivity with gamification in brand communication. This study explores the psychological processes and effects of playable ads. Guided by psychological reactance theory, I examine how playable ads influence consumers’ perceptions of control, product attitude and psychological reactance. Findings from an experimental study show that playable ads, compared to video ads, increased consumers’ perceived control, which led to more positive attitudes toward the advertised products. This study also supports psychological reactance theory by revealing that increased perceptions of control diminished perceived freedom threat, and subsequently alleviated consumers’ psychological reactance (both anger and negative cognitions) toward advertising messages. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.

Words Can Tell More than Pictures: Investigating the Role of Presentation Format and Motivation on Consumer Responses to Online Product Information • Xiaohan Hu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Chen Chen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • We describe the results of a study exploring the effect of presentation format and motivation on consumer responses to online product information. We compared the effects of visual and textual online product presentation formats, controlling for the message content participants were exposed to in each condition. We also investigated the effect of consumer motivation (utilitarian and hedonic) in this process. Dependent measures included affective, cognitive, and conative (i.e. search and purchase intention) responses toward the product. Results showed that textual presentation led to increased cognitive and affective responses. We also found that cognitive and affective responses mediated the effect of presentation format on consumers’ search and purchase intentions. These results are discussed in the context of online search advertising and consumers’ product information-seeking behavior.

Effectiveness of Social Media Influencer Advertising: Attachment to Social Media as a Key to Positive Consumer Engagement • Haseon Park, University of Alabama • A growing body of advertising research has revealed that sponsoring social media influencers is effective in generating positive consumer attitudes toward advertising and behavioral intentions. In line with the previous influencer advertising research, this study aims to investigate engagement via social media influencers by taking psychological and behavioral aspects into account. Specifically, psychological attachment to social media (ASM) was examined as a predictor of social media influencer advertising effectiveness. An online experiment was conducted among college student samples by measuring attachment to social media, attachment to influencer, attitudes toward the brand and the influencer. Results indicated that attachment to social media, as a psychological personality trait, had significant, positive influence on behavioral intentions to comment on influencer’s sponsored post and purchase the promoted product. In addition, attachment to social media significantly enhanced attachment to influencer as well as brand trust. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

* Extended Abstract * The Illusion of Gender Diversity Among Advertising Practitioners: A Textual Analysis of Award-Winning Agency Websites • Teresa Tackett, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill • Gender disparity continues to permeate the advertising industry, with only 29 percent of women comprising the role of creative directors in advertising agencies. This research in progress used textual analysis to examine how award-winning agency websites are encoded with messages of deep-level diversity ¬– despite visually exemplifying surface-level diversity – by exploring the rhetorical and emblematic meaning-making processes creative agency practitioners use to position their teams on their websites.

Employee Engagement: How Female Advertising Agency Practitioners Avoid Burnout and Maintain Creativity • Teresa Tackett, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill • This study analyzes women’s creativity and job satisfaction in an advertising agency setting as it relates to the agency’s leadership, culture and workplace processes. Exploring Employee Engagement Theory through 10 semi-structured interviews with female advertising practitioners, the results demonstrate the key role communication plays in determining levels of engagement in the workplace, which is imperative for the recruitment and retention of talent in an industry riddled with burnout.

Product qualities perceptions in online an context: An exploratory study of package design elements’ influence • Jacqui Villarreal • Living in the 21st century is synonymous with living in a digital world, including purchasing goods online, with 79% of Americans reporting doing so (Smith & Anderson, 2016). One of the growing online retailing industries is skincare, an industry in which shoppers tend to evaluate their options online before making a purchase either in store or online (Mintel Academic, 2017). An online experiment was deployed to test the perceptions of skincare products, specifically a moisturizer. Participants were exposed to one of three experimental conditions (a seafoam jar, a glass bottom jar, or a silver capped jar) each compared to a control (an all white plastic jar), and the study measured product perceptions including effectiveness, luxuriousness, quality, attractiveness, price, and purchase intent. Results show that there are significant differences between the glass bottom stimulus and the control condition in terms of all outcomes (p=.018 for effectiveness, and p=.000 for all other outcomes), with the mean scores being higher for the glass jar by >1 point for multiple outcomes. The findings from this study implicate that the packaging of a product may influence consumer perceptions of the qualities of that product.

How Skeptical Are You About This Sponsor? Comparing the Effects of Alcohol Industry Sponsored and Nonprofit Organization Sponsored Anti-Drunk Driving Advertisements on Attitude Toward Drunk Driving • Chung In Yun, Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations at the University of Texas at Austin • This study compared the effects of industry-sponsored and nonprofit organization-sponsored anti-drunk driving advertisements on consumers’ skepticism level and their attitude toward drunk driving. The results showed that the alcohol industry’s advertisement engenders higher consumers’ skepticism than the nonprofit organization’s advertisement. Moreover, among the participants who watched the industry’s advertisement, people with a high level of skepticism are more likely to have negative attitude toward drunk driving behavior than those who have a low skepticism level.

Open Research
Superiority, Comfort and Responsiveness: U.S. Car Ads Take on Japanese Competition, 1965-1977 • Khalid Alharbi, University of South Carolina; Jackson Carter, University of South Carolina; Kenneth Campbell, University of South Carolina • This study explores frames used by U.S. automobile companies in advertisements when Japanese cars entered the U.S. market on a full scale in the mid-1960s to late 1970s. Using a grounded theory approach, an analysis of 200 print advertisements suggests that U.S. auto companies used a frames of superiority at home and abroad, which were direct reflections of the political and cultural changes occurring in the country.

Effects of Brand Feedback to Negative eWOM and Moderating Roles of Product Price • Manu Bhandari, Arkansas State University; Kyung Jung Han, California State University – Bakersfield; Po-Lin Pan, Arkansas State University • This 2 X 2 experiment examined effects of brand feedback (a business’ written response to online reviews/eWOM) and product price (monetary cost) on brand attitudes and purchase intentions. Brand feedback improved brand attitudes and indirectly increased purchase intentions. Higher prices, however, led to brand feedback decreasing purchase intentions. Findings further establish brands’ role in eWOM theory, and, consistent with some past research, suggest brand feedback may not be without its risks.

FoMO and Happiness on Instagram: A serial mediation of social media influencer-related activities and the role of authenticity • Jung Ah Lee; Laura Bright, University of Texas at Austin; Matthew Eastin, University of Texas at Austin • Mounting research shows negative psychological effects for social media and recognizes Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) as a key driver of social media use. This article focuses on social media influencers (SMIs) and investigates potentially positive forms of usage on psychological well-being. A serial mediation model using survey data (N = 617) indicates SMI-related activities are positively associated with subjective happiness. Furthermore, SMI-related activities jointly and positively mediate the relationship between FoMO and subjective happiness.

Time, Space and Convergence in Advertising and Public Relations: Contemporary Analysis of Job Market Trends • Andrew Brown, University of Tennessee; Sally McMillan, University of Tennessee; Alexander Carter, University of Tennessee; Nicholas Sarafolean, University of Tennessee • “The purpose of this research is to explore the influence of time, space and convergence on modern advertising and public relations. Using a media ecology lens, this study explored how technology shifts have impacted traditional advertising and public relations disciplines: are the disciplines converging or moving apart? By employing digital scraping and analysis technologies, researchers pulled 2,609 advertising listings and 2,855 public relations job listings in the fall of 2019 and analyzed the full text of those listings for evidence of convergence and/or divergence. Consideration of five research questions revealed a job market that seeks essential communication skills, digital marketing and social media mastery; while also championing traditional and discipline-specific advertising and public relations core competencies.”

The Short- and Long-term Memory of Brands Co-appearing in Television Programs • Fanny Fong Yee Chan, Hang Seng University of Hong Kong • The proliferation of brand integrations has led to a phenomenon of brand co-appearance which appeared to be an increasingly prevalent trend in television programs. However, the cognitive impact of brand co-appearance has yet to be explored. Three experimental studies were conducted to examine the short-term and long-term recall and recognition of brands co-appeared. The results have important theoretical implications to the field and provide practical insights to brand owners and marketers.

Social Media Influencers’ Disclosures of Brand Relationships on Instagram: Characteristics and Engagement Outcomes • Su Yeon Cho; Shiyun Tian, University of Miami; Xiaofeng Jia; Wanhsiu Tsai • This content analysis presents one of the earliest systemic examinations of social media influencers’ brand-related posts on Instagram by assessing the message characteristics and engagement outcomes of posts with and without disclosures of material connections. Additionally, this study compares posts for endorsed, co-branded, and self-branded products, and evaluates to what extent SMIs comply with the FTC disclosure guidelines. Based on the findings, theoretical and strategic implications were provided for marketers, SMIs, and policymakers.

Brand Message Strategies on Instagram • Jung Hwa Choi • The primary goals of this research are to provide an exploratory analysis investigating how global brands currently use social media, especially Instagram, to share brand messages and build relationships with consumers. Specifically, this study analyzes corporate account marketing messages posted by global brands on Instagram to understand how global brands are using Instagram for purposes of interacting with and building relationships with consumers using a content analysis based on the brand associations by Aarker. Consumers’ reactions to each strategy used in photos and captions – “likes” and comments – were analyzed as indicators of consumer engagement. The overall findings of the study indicated that Instagram marketers often are not using the strategies that generate the highest consumer engagement. Practical guidance on how to tap into the brand potential of marketing communication tools, such as Instagram is provided.

Unbranded and Branded Direct-to-Consumer Advertising (DTCA) Using Social Media Influencers and Effects of Disclosure • Ida Darmawan, University of Minnesota; Jisu Huh, University of Minnesota • “This study examined effects of unbranded and branded DTC social media influencer advertising by pharmaceutical companies on attitude toward the ad and behavioral intentions, and the impact of ad disclosure on the ad outcomes. The underlying mechanism was evaluated by applying the Persuasion Knowledge Model. The unbranded message with ad disclosure resulted in higher persuasion knowledge activation, leading to more positive attitude toward the ad and higher behavioral intentions. Additionally, significant interaction effect was found.”

Consumer Responses to Sponsored Posts on Instagram: The Roles of Selfie, Account Verification, and Valence of Caption • Yang Feng, San Diego State University; Chen Lou, Nanyang Technological University • Marketers continually seek ways to enhance social media users’ empathetic reactions toward a brand endorser who uploads a sponsored post. Given this background, this research examines how three elements (i.e., selfie-posting, account verification, and valence of post caption) affect consumers’ empathetic reactions to sponsored posts on Instagram (operationalized as the number of “likes” a sponsored post receives) using social media data. Our results indicate that the negative valence of a caption impairs the two-way interaction effect between account verification and selfie on users’ empathetic responses. However, the positive valence of the caption does not play a significant role. Implications and future research directions are provided.

Visual Cues in Direct-to-Consumer Advertisements for Healthcare Services • Kylie Hill, University of Nevada, Reno; Sung-Ywon Park, University of Nevada, RENO • The visual cues on healthcare service advertisements can influence consumers’ expectations and attitudes towards healthcare services and providers. In this study, a visual content analysis of digital direct-to-consumer healthcare service advertisements was carried out in order to examine identity characteristics of patients and providers, healthcare interactions, and patient motivators depicted in the advertisements. Subsequently, the content analysis results were compared with the actual preferences of healthcare users identified through interviews.

The Moderating Role of Media Multitasking in the Effects of Message Consistency across Multiple Ads • Se-Hoon Jeong • Using two experiments, the present study examined how message consistency (vs. variation) across multiple ads affects cognitive and attitudinal outcomes and whether media multitasking moderate the effect. Results of Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 showed that the effect of message consistency on cognitive outcomes (brand memory) was moderated by media multitasking such that the positive impact of message consistency on brand memory was found when multitasking, but not when single-tasking. In addition, Experiment 2 showed a significant main effect of message consistency on attitudinal outcomes such that the varied message (vs. consistent message) condition induced more favorable attitudes toward the ad and the brand. The results suggest that the message consistency strategy can be effective in the multi-media environment where media users frequently multitask, yet the strategy needs to be used with caution.

Should Stigmatized Companies Use a high-fit or low-fit Cause in Cause-Related Marketing? • Mengtian Jiang, University of Kentucky; Hyun Ju Jeong • This study investigated the effects of organizational core stigma and company-cause fit on consumer responses to the cause-related marketing campaigns. 272 Mturk workers participated in 2 (stigmatized industry: casino vs amusement park) x 2 (company-cause parings) online experiment. Results showed that socially stigmatized companies should use a high-fit cause in CRM to reduce the negative effects of stigma on perceived social responsibility and company attitudes, which increased purchase intention. Contributions, limitations and future research directions are discussed.

The Determinants of Pre-Roll Ad Skipping and Viewership: Evidence from Big Data • Mi Hyun Lee, Northwestern University; Su Jung Kim, University of Southern California; Sungho Park, SNU Business School, Seoul National University; Sang-Hyeak Yoon • Skippable ads are known to provide a better ad experience by giving viewers sense of control with the ability to skip an ad after watching it for a short period of time. Despite the growing interest, few studies have investigated factors that influence skipping or viewership of pre-roll skippable ads. This study examines the determinants of pre-roll ad skipping and viewing behaviors by using clickstream data of 2,078,090 users’ ad and content viewing behaviors on a popular online video content platform in South Korea. We found that ad skipping and viewing behaviors are influenced by ad viewing habit, age, contextual factors such as when and how they watch online video content, and the congruence between program genre and ad brand category. We conclude with the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.

Do Viewers Really Talk about Ads during Commercial Breaks? Findings from a South Korean Social TV Platform • Kyongseok Kim, Towson University; Hyang-Sook Kim, Towson University; Mun-Young Chung; Yeuseung Kim • As live TV has lost viewers to streaming services and digital videos, live TV producers have strived to bring viewers back to TV screens by integrating social features in programming. Meanwhile, social TV has become a prevalent TV viewing pattern. While previous findings indicate that social TV can help increase engagement with TV programs, whether advertisers can benefit from social TV is uncertain. The aim of this study was to shed more light on this idea by investigating what live TV viewers talk about during commercial breaks. A content analysis was conducted using 4,792 live comments posted on a major social TV platform during the commercial breaks in five episodes of a popular South Korean TV drama. Results indicate (a) that a majority of the live comments pertained to the drama episodes (79.7%) rather than commercials (8.9%) and (b) that the comments related to commercials tended to be negative (50.1%). Overall, the findings suggest that social TV viewers might be program-oriented and, thus, either neglect or unfavorably perceive program-irrelevant tasks (e.g., attending to and processing commercials). Theoretical and practical implications for social TV advertising are discussed.

Internet Users Respond to Relevant and Irrelevant Ads Within Online Paginated Stories Differently When the Ads are Presented at Different Proportions: Application to Programmatic Buying and Contextual Advertising • Anastasia Kononova, Michigan State University; Wonkyung Kim, BNU-HKBU United International College; Eunsin Joo, BNU-HKBU United International College; Kristen Lynch, Michigan State University • Applying the ad-context congruence framework, priming theory, and associative network of memory model, an online experimental study (N = 449) investigated the effects of displaying different proportions of thematically relevant and irrelevant ads in online paginated stories on cognitive load, brand recognition memory (sensitivity and criterion bias), ad and brand evaluations, ad clicking intentions, and brand purchase intentions. The results of the study indicated that the brands advertised in context-irrelevant ads were recognized better than the brands advertised in context-relevant ads. Encoding of irrelevant ads was associated with a conservative criterion bias, especially when these ads were presented in the condition with the high proportion of relevant ads. Ratio of relevant to irrelevant ads affected recognition of these ad types differently. Attitudes and behavioral intentions were more positive toward relevant ads than toward irrelevant ads. Theoretical implications of the study are connected to the advancement of the two-dimensional construct of thematic ad-context congruence. Practical implications are discussed in relation to contextual advertising and programmatic buying.

Associations between Tourist Profiles, Destinations, and Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) Communications: A Study on TripAdvisor • Say Wah Lee; Ke Xue • Despite abundant research on tourists’ eWOM communications, studies on factors related to their actual eWOM communications remain limited. This research investigates associations between tourist profiles, destinations, and eWOM communications. Review data regarding ten destinations in two Chinese cities were mined from TripAdvisor. One-way and two-way analyses of variance were conducted. Results showed significant differences in ratings and numbers of words in reviews across various tourist profiles and destinations. Implications and future research suggestions were provided.

Traditional Ads versus Host-Read Sponsor Ads: Examining Consumer Response to Advertising in Podcasts • Annika Fetzer Graham, The University of Alabama; Nancy Brinson, The University of Alabama; Laura Lemon, The University of Alabama; Coral Bender, The University of Alabama • The purpose of this study is to understand the effects of traditional ads vs. host-read sponsor ads for the same brand in various podcasts. Specifically examined were respondents’ persuasion knowledge, ad skepticism, and parasocial interaction. This 2 (familiar vs. unfamiliar) x 2 (host-read ad vs. traditional ad) online experiment (n=212) found that familiarity with the podcast and its host increased parasocial interaction, leading to higher perceived ad credibility, and a more favorable attitude toward the brand. The ad type impacted ad credibility and attitude toward the brand when controlling for parasocial interaction.

Irritating or enjoyable? Exploring the effects of soft-text native advertising and social-media engagement level • Kang Li; Fuyuan Shen • Given the proliferation of native advertising, and the limited existing research regarding the persuasion path of native advertisements on social media, the present research aimed to compare the effectiveness of native advertising with that of regular social-media advertising. Specifically, this research focused on one type of native advertising, soft-text native advertising, which has rarely been explored in existing research. In addition, we also examined the effects of engagement levels of social-media native advertising. The results showed that, compared to regular social-media advertising, soft-text native advertising is more effective for inducing favorable attitudes toward ads and products, as well as greater purchase intention. This is achieved through inducing higher perceived entertainment, flow experience, ad value as well as lower perceived irritation. In addition, the existing engagement level (e.g., number of views and comments at the time the user views the ad) can significantly affect viewers’ purchase intentions through influencing perceived ad entertainment. Based on these findings, suggestions regarding means of creating more effective social-media advertising are presented.

Choosing Appropriate Colors for Green Advertising: Perceived Greenwashing through Color Choices • Dongjae (Jay) Lim, University of Georgia; Nah Ray Han, University of Georgia • Many studies found that color delivers meaning and influence consumers’ minds and feelings, yet relatively little empirical findings exist on the topic of green advertising. By drawing on the match-up hypothesis, we aimed to shed light on how different types of color affect consumers’ evaluation of green ads. The study involves a 2 (Environmental performance: fit vs. unfit) × 4 (colors: green vs. blue vs. red vs. gray) experiment and reveals that colors associated with nature imagery lead favorable attitudinal outcome through color appropriateness. Moreover, we found that the role of color appropriateness is moderated when consumers perceive a mismatch between color and the brand’s actual environmental performance. When consumers perceived color that is not associated with the actual environmental performance of the brand, even colors associated with nature (green) was deemed to be a less appropriate choice, which further perceived as greenwashing.

Excellence in Ad Agency Leadership: A Mixed Method Multi-Country Study of Attributes and Styles • Padmini Patwardhan; Sabrina Habib, University of South Carolina; Hemant Patwardhan; Gayle Kerr; Louise Kelly; Kathleen Mortimer; Sally Laurie • “Unlike the extensive body of leadership research in related disciplines, research on advertising leadership is almost non-existent. Effective leadership is central to negotiating changes and stimulating creativity in new and different ways. The study examines agency leadership in global contexts. It fills a gap by examining leadership styles and qualities from the perspective of practitioners in the US, UK and Australia. Using GLOBE’s Culturally Endorsed Leadership Theory framework and adopting a mixed method approach – survey and in-depth interviews – data were collected from advertising executives and leaders in the three regions. In all three regions, perceptions of excellent leadership were fairly similar with some nuanced differences. Findings suggest that top desired qualities for agency leadership were integrity, vision, inspiration and collaboration. Overall, Collaborative, Performance oriented and Humane styles were viewed as most effective. Ideal leaders for today’s agencies should be future-focused with the vision and knowledge to re-imagine the nature of the agency business, present-focused and collaborative in implementation and action, and people-focused and empathetic in times of change and churn.”

A History of Content Marketing: The Ancient Origins of Marketing Communication’s Newest Discipline • Brian Petrotta, University of Oklahoma; Fred Beard, University of Oklahoma; Ludwig Dischner, University of Oklahoma • Much like advertising’s practitioners, practitioners of content marketing suggest their discipline is an ancient one, although most trace its origins to custom-published magazines of the late 1800s. This paper reports a systematic synthesis of the many definitions of content marketing and the first scholarly history of its development and practice. Findings support two conclusions: content marketing (1) existed much earlier than previously recognized and (2) objectives, strategies, and tactics have been consistent across the millennia.

* Extended Abstract * Comparing Expectancy Violations Committed by Influencer Advertising Sources on Social Media • Marilyn Primovic, University of Georgia; Joe Phua, University of Georgia • Advertisers select influencer sources to promote brands on widely followed social media accounts. This sponsored content is integrated into the content already being posted by an influencer source, which advertisers do not have control over. This study applies parasocial theory and the source credibility model to examine expectancy violation theory for two types of influencer sources, traditional influencers and celebrities. This study may inform advertisers in the process of selecting an influencer source.

Effects of placing a front-of-pack label on print food advertisements on consumer attitudes • Sumin Shin, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; SangHee Park, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater • A typical front-of-package nutrition label shows one serving size, calories, saturated fat, sodium, and sugar. This study applies a front-of-package label to the advertising context. The results indicate that the presence of the label increases the ad effectiveness, and healthier nutrient content listed on the label negatively affects the ad effectiveness. The degree of nutrient content influences purchase intention directly and indirectly via perceived healthfulness, ad attitude, brand attitude, and healthy brand image sequentially.

How multitasking during video content decreases ad effectiveness: The roles of task relevance, video involvement, and visual attention • Shuoya Sun; Bartosz Wojdynski, University of Georgia; Matthew Binford, University of Georgia; Charan Ramachandran, University of Georgia • In a 3 (secondary task: none, related, unrelated) x 2 (ad-video congruence: high/low) between-subjects eye-tracking experiment, participants (N = 151) watched a 9-minute video documentary segment containing one mid-roll video ad while their visual attention to the screen was recorded. Participants in two-thirds of the conditions also read two online articles on a mobile device during the video. Results show effects for both multitasking and task relatedness on attention to the ad and attitudes toward the ad, through distinct pathways.

* Extended Abstract * Engagement Effects and Recall: A Multi-Year Analysis of Brand Communication in Social Media • Kristen Sussman, The University of Texas at Austin; Laura Bright, University of Texas at Austin; Gary Wilcox • This study examines single and multimodal effects of social media engagement on recall. Using longitudinal data associated with 46 businesses and over 21,000 ads, the analysis provides empirical findings revealing how various factors associated with online behavioral engagement lead to recall on a social networking site. Through initial modeling, comments and post shares explain about 36% of the variance associated with a person’s ad recall while impressions and engagement explain about 80% of the variance.

* Extended Abstract * Do Graphic Cues on Food Packaging and the Flavor of a Food Product Influence Perceptions of Product Characteristics? Results from an Experiment • Chan Thai, Santa Clara University; Hayley Trillo, Santa Clara University; Jacqui Villarreal • Most regulations on food packaging are focused on text-based package elements (explicit cues) that make claims about the product, while non-verbal package elements (subtle cues) have largely been ignored. This study hypothesizes that subtle cues on food packaging, such as graphics and flavor, influence perceptions of the food product. Utilizing a 4×4 online experiment, we test the influence of two types of subtle cues on the front of food packages, graphics (drawing, photograph, farmland scene, control) and flavor (kale, strawberry, orange, snap pea) of the product, on perceptions of taste, healthfulness, eating intentions, and purchase intentions. Data were gathered from two convenience samples: University students (n=100) and Amazon MTurk workers (n=200). One-way ANOVA tests showed no significant differences for graphic type. For the flavor, kale flavored products scored significantly higher on the perceived healthfulness outcome (5.51) compared to the snap pea (4.85), strawberry (4.81), and orange (4.49) products (p<.001). For eating/purchasing intention, kale flavored products scored significantly lower (3.07/3.39) compared to snap pea (3.83/3.94), strawberry (4.65/4.74), and orange (4.44/4.67; p<.001). For taste, kale flavored items scored lower (2.53) than the other flavors (3.83, 3.88, 3.17, p=0.19). Our results suggest that the flavor of a food product can exert influences on people’s perceptions of how healthy the product is, what the product might taste like, and intentions to eat or purchase these products.

Meaning Transfer in Celebrity Endorsement: Meaning Valence, Association Types, and Brand Awareness • Shiyun Tian, University of Miami; Wanhsiu Tsai; Weiting Tao; Cheng Hong, California State University, Sacramento • This study examined how meaning transfer influences brand image beliefs and brand attitudes. The moderating roles of association types and brand awareness were also investigated. The results confirmed the transfer of meanings. The change in attitudes was consistent with the valence of the celebrity’s meanings, as a function of the post-conditioning brand image belief. Furthermore, the effects increase when less-known brands were associated with celebrities via co-branding. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

The Role of Guilt, Shame, and Social Distance in Bystander-Focused Prevention of Campus Sexual Violence: A Construal Level Theory Approach • Shiyun Tian, University of Miami; Queenie Li, University of Miami • Guided by the Appraisal-Tendency Framework and Construal Level Theory, this study investigates how emotional appeals (guilt vs. shame) and social distance frames (distant vs. proximal) influence college students’ attitudes toward bystander action campaign and behavioral intention. The findings indicated a two-way interaction effect between these two message factors on campaign attitude and behavior intention. Additionally, self-efficacy was found to be the mediator that underlying the match-based effects. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Spreading the Tingles: An Investigation into the Use of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) Triggers in Advertising • Tianjiao Wang, Bradley University; Quan Xie; Rachelle Pavelko • Through the lens of embodied cognition and mental simulation theories, this study examined the use of ASMR triggers in advertising and the mechanism underlying the impact of ASMR experience on ad attitudes. The study conducted an online experiment of 539 participants and adopted an ASMR trigger (3: host-focused, object/task-focused, control) x ASMR trait (2: ASMR group vs non-ASMR group) x brand repetition (4) between-subjects factorial design. Results suggest that ads with ASMR triggers generated more tingling sensations compared to those without ASMR triggers. It also reveals that the tingling experience can directly improve ad attitudes, as well as via increased levels of mental simulation. Moreover, the ASMR group reported more positive ad attitudes compared to the non-ASMR group, regardless of the type of ads watched. Theoretical and marketing implications for ASMR advertising and directions for future research are discussed.

Competent and Warm? Examining Asian Stereotypes in Advertising • Buduo Wang, The University of Texas at Austin; Lucy Atkinson, The University of Texas at Austin; Angeline Scheinbaum; Siyan Li, The University of Texas at Austin • “According to the stereotype content model (SCM), competence and warmth are the two key dimensions of stereotype content (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002). Intelligent but nerdy, Asians and Asian Americans have been stereotyped as high in competence but low in warmth. The purpose of this study is to examine whether consumers perceive Asian endorsers in advertising as more competent but less warm than white endorsers and how endorser’s race interacts with perceived warmth/competence to impact advertising effectiveness. Hypotheses are tested with a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment (n=136). The findings reveal that Asian endorsers are perceived as both more competent and warmer, regardless of product category. The interaction between endorser’s race and perceived competence/warmth is also observed and discussed. Ads featuring white endorsers are more likely to be affected by perceived warmth/competence than ads with Asian endorsers. Both theoretical implications and managerial implications are provided.”

Carousel Advertising for Public Health: Effects of Narrative and Involvement • Lewen Wei, Pennsylvania State University; Guolan Yang; Heather Shoenberger, The Pennsylvania State University; Fuyuan Shen • An online experiment was conducted to examine the effectiveness of carousel advertising for public health on social media. We found when communicating about health issues, carousel advertising conditionally increased message engagement among highly involved individuals when the content was composed as a narrative instead of statistics. This in turn, fostered more favorable responses towards the advertising practice. Implications for interactive advertising in the carousel format are discussed.

Building Brand Authenticity on Social Media: The Impact of Instagram Ad Model Genuineness and Trustworthiness on Perceived Brand Authenticity and Consumer Responses • jing yang, Loyola University Chicago; Camila Teran, Loyola University Chicago; Ava Francesca Battocchio, Loyola University Chicago; Shannon Wrzesinski, Loyola University Chicago; Ebbe Bertellotti, Loyola University Chicago • This study explores the impact of expressive facial and visual aesthetics of Instagram images on consumers’ evaluation of the source and the brand, using computational image analysis method. Following the theoretical rationale of meaning transfer model, our findings revealed positive effect of perceived source genuineness on the endorsed brands’ perceived authenticity, through the mediation of the perceived source trustworthiness. Moreover, the positive effect of model genuineness also carried over to brand attitude and behavioral intention.

Effects of Transparent Brand Communication on Perceived Brand Authenticity and Consumer Responses • jing yang, Loyola University Chicago; Ava Francesca Battocchio, Loyola University Chicago • This study explores the influence of transparent brand communication on consumers’ perception of brand authenticity, and its further impact on consumers’ attitude, trust, and behavioral intention towards the brand. Through a 2×2 online experiment design, this study examined the variation in consumers’ perception and responses, while connecting the literature of brand transparency and authenticity. Individuals’ difference in moral identity centrality was examined as a moderator in the study.

Why People Watch TikTok Influencer Videos and How They Are Influenced by Social Media Influencers: A National Survey of Chinese College Students • Yang Yang; Louisa Ha, Bowling Green State University • The purpose of this study was to explore TikTok (Douyin) influencers’ persuasion power over their followers. A national survey of 382 college students in China showed that entertainment gratification is the most common motivation in using Douyin. Those who have high parasocial relationship with the influencer have higher purchase intention of the recommended products when they have high persuasion knowledge of the influencers than those who have low persuasion knowledge. Implications on influencer marketing are discussed.

Millennials’ environmental involvement and their responses toward sustainable products and green advertising • Jason Yu • This article conceptualizes two types of environmental involvement, outcome-relevant (OREI) and value-relevant (VREI) environmental involvement, and presents two studies that use survey and experimental data to examine their effects on attitude toward green products and green purchase behavior as well as the two-dimensional Aad, Ab and purchase intention. In short, VREI, rather than OREI, dominates the effects of environmental involvement on green consumerism and consumer response toward green advertising. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

A Cross-Cultural Examination of CSR Advertising: The effects of negative moral emotions on information processing • Wen Zhao, Fairfield University • The goal of this study was to examine the persuasive influences of moral emotions on younger consumers’ judgments and decision-making, and the roles of culture and self-construal in processing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) advertising. This study employed a between-subjects online experiment where American and Chinese participants viewed one of the two CSR advertisement designed with ego-focused (e.g., an ad-elicited anger emotion), and other-focused appeals (e.g., an ad-elicited guilt emotion). The results indicated that negative moral emotions had significant positive influences on attitudes toward the ads and purchase intention through the peripheral route, for the negative affective responses showed simple cue effects on judgments without influencing validation of the thoughts. In addition, results revealed the interaction effects between guilt emotion and culture values (i.e., country) on attitudes. This study also examined the moderating role of self-construal in the relationship of guilt emotion and attitude formation.

Social and temporal distance and message concreteness: A study of Facebook advertising • Fei Xue; Lijie Zhou • The current study examined the effects of social distance, temporal distance, and message concreteness on Facebook users’ response to News Feed advertising. It was found that social distance moderated the congruency between temporal distance and message concreteness. When the ads were affiliated with close friends (low social distance condition), concrete messages lead to stronger purchase intention for a near future event, while abstract messages generated stronger purchase intention for a distant future event.

Special Topics in Advertising
Effects of Consumers’ Affective States on Ad Attention and Evaluation: A Hybrid Research Approach • Maral Abdollahi, University of Minnesota; Debarati Das, University of Minnesota Twin Cities; Xinyu Lu; Jisu Huh, University of Minnesota; Jaideep Srivastava, University of Minnesota Twin Cities • This study examined the effects of consumers’ affective states on selective attention to different types of ads and evaluation of the ads. Applying an innovative hybrid research approach using survey and computational methods, this study analyzed real-time affective states of TV viewers during the 2020 Super Bowl broadcast, ad-related tweets, and self-reported attention measures. The results demonstrate significant effects of consumers’ affective states on their selective attention to different ads and ad evaluation.

Consumers’ Perception on Artificial Intelligence Applications in Marketing Communication • Huan Chen, University of Florida; Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, University of Florida; Julia Kim; Irene Sanabria • A qualitative study was conducted to examine consumers’ perception of AI and AI marketing communication. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted to collect data. Findings suggest that 1) consumers’ interpretation of AI is multidimensional and relational focusing on functionality and emotion, as well as comparison and contrast between AI and human being; 2) consumers’ perception of voice assisted AI concentrates on different aspects including function, communication, adaptation, relationship, and privacy; and, 3) consumers consider AI marketing communication is unavoidable and acceptable but limited in its effect on influencing their evaluation of products and brands as well as shaping their consumptive behaviors.

Your Ad Here: The Influence of Mobile Advertising Type and Placement • Yunmi Choi, Indiana University Southeast; Todd Holmes, California State University Northridge • As the market for smartphones grows globally, studying how to utilize mobile pages as an advertising platform is becoming critical. This experimental study was conducted to examine the impact of different ad types (still-image, animated, and video ads) and ad placement (pre-text and mid-text) on smartphone users’ irritation, intrusiveness, attention, memory, and attitudes. The results of the research revealed that mid-text ads receive higher perceived intrusiveness compared to pre-text ads. Also, video ads produced more positive attitude toward the ad and brand than the still image or animated banner ads. In this study, the animated ad received significantly less positive attitude toward the brand compared to the video pre-text ad.

Exploring Factors Influencing Ad Recognition on Social Media • A-Reum Jung, Sejong University; Jun Heo, Louisiana State University • This study aims to examine native ad recognition by disclosure explicitness. Further, this study examined native ad effects in relation to personalization and ad clutter. In order to fulfill these purposes, an eye-tracking experiment with participants’ Facebook page was conducted. Findings indicated that consumers need longer time to figure out native ads, but disclosure has no influence on the ad recognition. Personalized native ads could be a promising solution to break ad clutter.

Investigating the Impact of Immersive Advertising on Attitude toward the Brand: The Mediating Roles of Perceived Novelty, Perceived Interactivity, and Attitude toward the Advertisement • Jihoon (Jay) Kim, University of Alabama; Joe Phua, University of Georgia; Nah Ray Han, University of Georgia; Taeyeon Kim • Although immersive advertising has emerged as a new persuasion tool in digital media environments, unanswered questions about its effectiveness remain. A between-subjects experiment (N = 127) with three levels of immersion (i.e., low, medium, high) tested whether greater levels of immersion led to more favorable attitude toward the advertisement and the brand. The results not only confirmed this hypothesis but also revealed the mediating roles of perceived novelty, perceived interactivity, and attitude toward the ad. Details about the effects of immersive advertising on consumer responses are presented, and theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Am I Being Watched? The Role of Perceived Surveillance and Privacy Cynicism in Synced Advertising Effects • Claire M. Segijn, Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota; Eunah Kim, University of Minnesota • Technological advancements have made it possible to personalize messages across media in real-time (i.e., synced advertising). Our online experiment (N = 527) showed that the more ads were synced, the higher consumers’ unaided recall became. Also, the more ads were synced, the more perceived surveillance, which led to less positive brand attitudes. However, consumers high in privacy cynicism had more positive brand attitudes. These results advance theories on the direct effects, underlying mechanisms, and boundary effects of synced advertising.

* Extended Abstract * CSR Virtual Reality Campaigns by Alcohol Companies: The Role of Self-Value and Prior Drinking Experiences • Yoon-Joo Lee; Wen Zhao, Fairfield University; Huan Chen, University of Florida • This study’s goal is to explore factors influencing immersive experiences in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR) virtual reality (VR) campaigns. The findings revealed that different types of self-value (social-CSRO) and prior experiences with alcohol products (alcohol consumption levels) interact in immersing into VR video contents and forming more positive attitude toward the video. This study implies that advertising practitioners may need to find important consumer values and prior experiences that are specifically relevant to a CSR VR as campaign.

Synced advertising and chilling effects: change in media diet as a result of corporate surveillance • Joanna Strycharz; Claire M. Segijn, Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota • Synced advertising is one of the most recent developments in the advertising practice and concerns personalizing messages based on people’s current offline media behavior. While this strategy promises to enhance advertising efforts, it comes with a number of threats as it raises ethical questions and may lead to unintended side-effects for consumers. In particular, data collection techniques used for synced advertising purposes require further attention since they extend the so-called corporate surveillance to consumers’ offline sphere. The current study investigates to what extent data collection for synced advertising causes so-called chilling effects, i.e. a change in consumers’ media diet. To explore the mechanisms behind such chilling effects, the current study builds on personalized advertising theories and psychological ownership theory and focuses on both advertiser- (data collection technique and location) and consumer-controlled (attitude towards personalization and need for self-presentation) factors. The findings show that indeed, data collection technique and need for self-presentation have an impact on chilling effects regarding consumers’ media diets. The findings carry implications for both the advertising industry and the regulators as chilling effects resulting from synced advertising can be seen a threat to consumer identity and autonomy.

Teaching and Pedagogy
* Extended Abstract * Curriculum drives everything: Advertising curriculum in ACEJMC programs • Sheri Broyles, University of North Texas • For those in advertising education the curriculum is the heart of each of our programs. This paper dives into the curricula across 50 advertising programs at U.S. universities and colleges accredited by ACEJMC, looking at both required courses and electives that might be of value to other programs. NOTE: Brief findings will be added here indicating big points made and a closing statement from discussion for why this is important.

* Extended Abstract * Best Practices in Online Course Development and Instruction: Targeting Advertising Students in a Post COVID-19 World • Betsy DeSimone, University of Tennessee; Courtney Carpenter Childers • The global COVID-19 pandemic led to dramatic shifts within higher education. None greater than the transition to remote instruction and online learning. Advertising courses are greatly impacted by this change as most require group work activities and creative challenges. This study highlights best practices for taking classes to an online delivery method via qualitative questionnaire exploring advertising student experiences. Phase 1 of data collection (N=61) took place late 2019, and phase 2 of data collection starts in late April 2020 for comparison.

Diversity and Inclusion in Advertising: What do Students Think? • Pamela Morris • The advertising industry has long been criticized for its lack of diversity. This exploratory investigation surveyed advertising and public relations students for perceptions of diversity in advertising. Students say they are confident in working with diverse teams, value inclusiveness, and want a wider meaning of diversity and for the industry to be more inclusive. Findings suggest incorporating diversity exercises into multiple parts of the advertising process can help motivate student to change the industry.

Incorporating Ethics into Introductory Advertising Courses: Student Perspectives • Pamela Morris • This introductory study reviewed how workshops and assignments built into introduction to advertising could impact students’ perceptions of ethics specific to advertising. The method of investigation was a survey at the semester’s beginning and end after structured engagement with ethics, including creating an ethics statement and incorporating ethics into the campaign process and pitch. Findings indicate that exposure and engagement of ethics made students more aware and articulate for the concept of ethics in advertising.

* Extended Abstract * Prepping (for) the Ad Industry: Understanding Personality and Career Adaptability of First- Generation College Students in Strategic Communication • Katie Olsen, Kansas State University; Alec Tefertiller, Baylor University; Danielle LaGree • Frequently coming from diverse and lower income backgrounds, first-generation college students (FGCS) may be a key demographic capable of improving the general lack of diversity that plagues the advertising industry. As such, understanding and supporting FGCS within collegiate strategic communication programs is increasingly important. Using a mixed method approach through two studies, the current investigation seeks to understand how personality differences, career adaptability, and diverse backgrounds influence career preparedness.

A Survey of Faculty Advisers at Student-Run Agencies • Brooke Borgognoni, University of Arkansas School of Journalism and Strategic Media; Jan Wicks, University of Arkansas School of Journalism and Strategic Media • This survey of faculty advisers examined major variables and findings of past research on student-run agencies using organizational theory. Larger agencies appeared to offer training in more formalized business procedures among a more diverse client base, found in previous research to be helpful to student-run agency graduates now on the job. Hopefully results will help future researchers identify which factors may best facilitate specific student performance outcomes at agencies of all types and sizes.

<2020 Abstracts

2020 Abstracts

AEJMC 2020 Conference Paper Abstracts
Virtual Conference • August 6 to 9

The following AEJMC groups will conduct research competitions for the 2020 conference. The accepted paper abstracts are listed within each section.

Divisions:

• Advertising
• Communicating Science, Health, Environment, and Risk (ComSHER)
• Communication Technology (CTEC)
• Communication Theory and Methodology
• Cultural and Critical Studies
• Electronic News
• History
• International Communication
• Law and Policy
• Magazine Media
• Mass Communication and Society
• Media Ethics
• Media Management, Economics, and Entrepreneurship
• Minorities and Communication (MAC)
• Newspaper and Online News
• Political Communication
• Public Relations
• Scholastic Journalism
• Visual Communication (VisCom)

Interest Groups:

• Community Journalism
• Entertainment Studies
• Graduate Student
• Internships and Careers
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer
• Participatory Journalism
• Religion and Media
• Small Programs (SPIG)
• Sports Communication (SPORTS)

Commissions:

• Status of Women

<< AEJMC Abstracts Index