Mass Communication and Society 2018 Abstracts
Moeller Student Competition
Effects of Self-Construal and Environmental consciousness on Green Corporate Social Responsibility perceptions • nandini bhalla, University of South Carolina • “Using a 2 (location of the company: India vs. U.S.) x 2 (location of the CSR: India vs. U.S.) between subjects experimental design, the study examines the citizen’s attitudes, WOM, and purchase intent towards a fictitious company doing green CSR in India and in the U.S. A SEM model is created, and results indicated that the individuals’ self-construal orientation play an important role in perceiving and evaluating corporation’s environmentally-friendly initiatives.”
Nothing but the Facts? Journalistic Objectivity and Media Adjudication of President Trump’s False Claims • Deborah Dwyer, Student • Previous research indicates reporters tend to shy away from formally settling disputed claims when covering political topics. This does not assist readers in determining what is true, damaging their epistemic political efficacy and interest. This content analysis examines the type of adjudication practices journalists use when covering untrue statements made by U.S. President Donald Trump. Adjudication practices by outlets that audiences consider “conservative” or “liberal” are compared to determine if and how they differ.
Open Competition
Examining the Rage Donation Trend: Applying the Anger Activism Model to Explore Communication and Donation Behaviors • Lucinda Austin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Holly Overton, University of South Carolina; Denise Bortree, Penn State University; Brooke McKeever • A national survey (N = 1275) explored how individuals’ anger and efficacy predict attitudes toward political and social activism, related communication behaviors, and financial support behaviors. Findings revealed partial support for the Anger Activism Model, which was tested in this unique context. Efficacy emerged as a stronger predictor compared to anger, and path analysis suggests that while anger directly predicts attitudes and communication behaviors, it also partially predicts efficacy.
From Reality to Drama: The Role of Entertainment TV Storytelling in Empowering U.S. Hispanic Parents • Caty Borum Chattoo, American University School of Communication and Center for Media & Social Impact; Lauren Feldman, Rutgers University; Amy Henderson Riley, American University School of Communication and Center for Media & Social Impact • In 2017, the Univision network and Too Small to Fail, a prosocial multi-media campaign, produced media content across three television storytelling genres (scripted drama, reality TV, news) in order to entertain and educate Hispanic parents and primary caregivers of children aged 0-5 about early brain development, and consequently, the role of parents and caregivers in the successful development of young children. This experimental study assessed the impact of each TV genre and found significant direct effects on knowledge, attitudes, and behavior; the effects were mediated by perceived entertainment value and positive emotions.
Explaining the “Racial Contradiction:” An Experimental Examination of the Impact of Sports Media Use and Response Strategy on Racial Bias towards Athlete Transgressors • Kenon Brown, The University of Alabama; Joshua Dickhaus, Bradley University; Ray Harrison, Jefferson State Community College; Stephen Rush, The University of Alabama • Previous studies (Authors, 20XX, Authors, 20XX) have found that minority athletes were perceived more positively than their White counterparts, counterintuitive to previous research. In order to explain this “racial contradiction,” this study analyzes the racial differences in response to criminal accusations based on the response strategy utilized and the amount of sports news consumed by participants. A between-subjects, double blind experiment was conducted among 464 participants to examine how an athlete’s race, an athlete’s chosen response strategy, and participants’ level of sports news consumption affects the perception of athletes accused of criminal allegations. Results show that while low sports news consumers did not differ in their perception of an athlete, whether he was Black or White, high sports news consumers perceived Black athletes more positively than White athletes, supporting the “racial contradiction.” Also, results showed that while participants that were low sports news consumers accepted the White athlete’s use of denial more than the Black athlete, participants that were high sports news consumers accepted the Black athlete’s use of denial more than the White athlete.
Music Use and Genre Choice as Coping Strategies for Emotions • Jewell Davis; Li-jing Chang, Jackson State University • This study used a survey to explore music use and genre choice as coping strategies for emotions. A total of 605 people answered the survey. Results showed a plurality of the respondents use music frequently to help cope with stress, deal with an issue and express emotions. The study also found rock, country, and pop were top genre choices to help cope with specific emotions, and mood maintenance drives more music use than coping needs.
Effects of Scandals and Presidential Debates in the U.S. 2016 Presidential Elections • Esther Thorson, Michigan State; Weiyue Chen, Michigan State University; Leticia Bode • The study investigates the impact of the presidential debates and two political scandals (Trump groping scandal and Comey reopening of the Clinton email case) on attitudes toward Clinton and Trump, and vote intent. The data include 49 days of a rolling cross section sample of 100 U.S. adults. Results show the campaign events have major effects that differ by partisanship, and that candidate attitudes often mediate the effect of events on vote intent.
Individual differences in second-level agenda setting • Renita Coleman; Denis Wu, Boston University • Studies of individual differences in agenda setting focus primarily on the first level, not the second. This study found some individual differences that make people more susceptible to the media’s agenda of issues do not work the same for affect. Education works in the opposite direction, with the highly educated more protected against media influence. Political party affiliation helps inoculate against the media’s affective agenda, but only when it comes to the opposition party’s candidate.
Effects of Race, Attractiveness, and Mental Health Attribution in Mass Shooting News • Tao Deng, Michigan State University; Syed Ali Hussain; Samuel M. Tham, Michigan State University; Saleem Alhabash, Michigan State University • This study explored effects of shooter ethnicity, attractiveness, and mental illness on a Facebook post using a 2 (ethnicity: White-Muslim) x 2 (attractiveness: low-high) x 2 (mental illness: present-absent) between-subject factorial design (N = 699). Findings showed that negative stereotypes against Muslim can be intensified by reading mass shooting news with Muslim perpetrator. Combining Muslim ethnicity and mental illness, participants expressed less favorable attitude toward mental illness. This trend reversed when the perpetrator was White.
Why? Because I like you: Effects of familiarity on perceptions of media trustworthiness • Stephanie Dunn, Missouri Western State University • This paper assesses the role familiarity and parasocial relationships have on perceptions of trustworthiness and credibility, particularly in evaluation of political commentators. Research presented demonstrates how familiarity and PSR allow commentators to overcome retraction messages. Findings suggest increased familiarity and higher PSR generate more positive message evaluations, higher assessments of source credibility, and increased likelihood of persuasion.
PTSD and Depression in Journalists Who Covered Harvey • Gretchen Dworznik • Thirty journalists from some of the most hardest hit cities during Hurricane Harvey were surveyed for symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTSD) and depression 2 months after the storm. 20% had storm related PTSD and 40% had depression. Though not all met the criteria for diagnosis, 90% were experiencing symptoms of both disorders to varying degrees. Implications for disaster coverage planning and newsroom managers are discussed.
Parents, Children, and Social Media: A Study of Value Congruence • Lee Farquhar, Butler University; Betsy Emmons, Samford University; Nia Johnson • This study examines value congruence, identity stewardship, and parent awareness of child’s behaviors. Participants had typical behavior patterns regarding social media use and concerns for privacy. However, parent monitoring of children’s online behaviors was remarkably low. These same parents were also confident that children were not taking part in behaviors they were not aware of. Lastly, value congruence was associated with open communication and positive behavior modeling, which supports past research.
Hot or Cold: #climatechange Societal Sentiment on Pinterest • Jeanine Guidry, Virginia Commonwealth University; Lucinda Austin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Linsey Grove, University of South Florida • This study examined visual social media posts focused on climate change through a quantitative content analysis of 500 Pinterest posts. Posts from nonprofit organizations received the least engagement. Inclusion of perceived benefits of addressing climate change and self-efficacy were associated with increased engagement; however, these concepts were mentioned far less frequently than severity of and susceptibility to climate change, which did not drive engagement.
Errors and Corrections in Digital News Content • Kirstie Hettinga, California Lutheran University; Alyssa Appelman, Northern Kentucky University • A between-subjects experiment (N = 386) explores the effects of correction features and reader investment on perceptions of digital news content. Findings suggest that participants paid more attention to the source and the correction when they read from the digital news outlet (Yahoo.com), rather than the legacy news outlet (The New York Times). Findings also suggest that liberal readers cared more than conservative readers about the LGBT-rights-related correction. Recommendations for online corrections practices are discussed.
The Effects of Constructive Television News Reporting on Prosocial Intentions and Behavior in Children • Iris Van Venrooij; Tobias Sachs; Mariska Kleemans • To overcome negative effects of news on young audiences and, instead, foster prosociality, constructive journalism promotes the inclusion of positive emotions and solutions in negative news stories. We experimentally tested whether including constructive elements in a story about a disaster indeed increased prosocial intentions and behaviors among children (N=468; 9-13 y/o). Results showed that solution-based news led to less prosocial behavior than emotion-based and non-constructive news. Negative emotions, but not self-efficacy, served as a mediator.
D.C. media coverage of the District’s Death with Dignity Act • Kimberly Lauffer; Sean Baker, Central Michigan University; Natalee Seely • In 2016, the District of Columbia City Council passed the Death with Dignity Act. Afterward, Congress attempted to block implementation of the law by invoking its power first to overturn the law and then, when unsuccessful in that effort, withhold money from the District. Previous studies examining local media coverage of aid-in-dying legislation have identified several recurrent frames, including fear of abuse, good death vs. bad death, preserving rights/autonomy, and culture war. D.C. media invoked those frames as well as others more specific to the District and the publications within it
Framing and Persuasion: A Frame-building Perspective • Jiawei Liu; Douglas McLeod • Research on framing effects has demonstrated that exposure to frames leads to shifts in readers’ preferences and attitudes. Applying this to message construction, we expect that frames’ persuasive effects will also be reflected in the frame-building process: in order to change preference in a particular direction, the corresponding frame will be selected. Our experimental findings suggest that the link between persuasion and frame-building is strong for emphasis frames but relatively weak for equivalence frames.
“They’re Turning the Frogs Gay!” Credibility and Attributes of Parasocial Relationships with Alex Jones • T. Phillip Madison, University of Louisiana – Lafayette; Emily Covington, University of Louisiana – Lafayette; Kaitlyn Wright, University of Louisiana – Lafayette; Timothy Gaspard, University of Louisiana – Lafayette • Exploitation of Americans’ information diets by foreign powers for the purpose of creating civil unrest is a well-documented practice and relies on “knowing” people whom we will never meet. Much of our responses to fake news, whether we buy into it or not, center around the one-sided relationships we have with people whom we see in the media. Such relationships are called “parasocial relationships,” or PSRs (e.g., Horton & Wohl, 1956) and have a tendency to shape our senses of reality and reactions to those senses of reality. Horton and Wohl (1956) originally identified “para-social relationships” as the one-sided relationships audiences have with mediated personae, namely people we see on television. Parasocial relationships seem to be more powerful than ever, as illustrated by fake news, inflamed divisiveness in the western word, weaponization, and Russia’s countless bots, trolls, and social media pages. According to Westneat (2017), “The information war is real, and we’re losing it.” In this bizzare, new era, fake news occupies all forms of media. In fact, many of today’s societal problems have been blamed on the pervasiveness and influential nature of fake news. This study examines parasocial relationships as well as perceived credibility and viewing frequency of Infowars, hosted by Alex Jones. Through our sample of Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) users (N = 584), we have explored which attributes of PSRs are related to perceived credibility of Alex Jones and viewing propensity. This research highlights the value of parasocial research as scholars navigate this post-2016 American presidential election news cycle. Parasocial relationships have become a large part of our identities and, thus, warrant thoughtful scrutiny.
Social (Media) Construction of Public Opinion in the Press • Shannon McGregor • A content analysis of election news and in-depth interviews with journalists documents the use of social media to report public opinion, classifying uses along the type of data, well as its function. Journalists used social media posts as sources of vox populi quotes, especially to showcase public reaction to media events. Social media firms marketed their quantitative metrics as public opinion to journalists, who reported these mostly in service of positioning candidates in the horserace.
Younger millennials’ media use: A qualitative gratifications and media repertoires approach • Danielle Myers LaGree, Kansas State University; Margaret Duffy, U of Missouri • The new media landscape has encouraged media multitasking behaviors. This exploratory study sought to understand why younger millennials are motivated to routinely attend to media across multiple sources and devices. An intregated uses and gratifications and media repertoires theoretical approach guided this qualitative study. In-depth interviews (N = 21) revealed that participants were more emotionally connected to their laptops than their cellphones and use media sources and devices to create work and entertainment spaces.
An experimental test of the effects of hurricane news about human behavior on climate-related attitudes • Jessica Myrick, Penn State University; Jeff Conlin • Mass communication about hurricanes–via traditional and online outlets–often features stories about morality. The best of us help others and the worst of us take advantage of the situation. The present study investigated how these types of hurricane news coverage, when displayed online featuring other users’ reactions, impacts climate-change intentions and policy support. A between-subjects online experiment (N = 514) was conducted using a 3 (news content: acts of kindness, acts of cruelty, control) x 3 (Facebook emoticon reactions: mostly love with some anger, mostly anger with some love, equal love and anger). Results reveal that emotional responses are key mediators of message effects.
Expanding Visibility on Twitter: Author and Message Characteristics and Retweeting • Chang Sup Park, University at Albany, SUNY; Barbara Kaye • Using a content analysis of 3,429 tweets about the South Korean Anti-Terrorism Act of 2016, this study finds that the tweets created by civil society, political actors, and mass media/journalists are more likely to be retweeted than the tweets written by ordinary individuals, suggesting the role of heuristic strategy. This study also finds that content factors influence retweeting (systematic strategy). Emotional tweets are more likely to be retweeted, and rationality of tweets moderates the association between author characteristics and retweeting.
Switchers & Seniors: Evaluating technology versus cohort-based changes in TV news consumption, 1984 -2008 • Patrick Parsons, Penn State University; Krishna Jayakar, Penn State University • This study uses cohort analysis and comparative simulation to gain a better understanding of the relative influence of technological displacement versus shifting demographic patterns in television news consumption from 1984 to 2008 with special attention to TV news consumption declines in the early and mid-1990s, prior to expansion of internet-based news. It considers implications of the research for current and near-future news consumption patterns.
The Effects of Flow in Mobile Gaming: Involvement, Spending Practices, and Attitude • Gregory Perreault, Appalachian State University; Samuel M. Tham, Michigan State University • This research studies free-to-play mobile game players in the United States (n=592) regarding their experience of flow, gaming involvement, and attitude towards the game’s financial model. Following Creswell and Clark’s (2007) exploration model of mixed methods, both qualitative and quantitative measures were utilized to identify and examine the variables. Even though participants reported low attitude towards advertising, the more involved participants indicated they would be accept alternative advertising if it led to more in-game currency.
Content Analysis of Music Alcohol-Dependent Women and Controls Associate with ‘Going Out’ versus ‘Staying Home’ • Anastasia Nikoulina, Indiana University; Thomas James, Indiana University; Joshua Sites, Indiana University; Edgar Jamison-Koenig, Indiana University; Glenna Read, Indiana University; Robert Potter, Indiana University • A content analysis of 636 songs was conducted for alcohol content, drug content, sexual content, risk-taking content, and musical tempo. The song corpus was created by female participants in a previous experimental study and represented their favorite titles for ‘going out with friends,’ or ‘staying home by yourself.’ Participants were selected for the experiment from two cohorts: those with self-reported alcohol dependency and controls. Results of the content analysis show that, as predicted by theory, Party Music was more likely to contain lyrical mentions of alcohol, drugs, and sexual behaviors. Party Music was also significantly faster in tempo than Home Music. These main effects did not interact with which cohort provided the titles. In addressing a research question, results show that regardless of cohort,Party Music was more frequently from the Pop and Hip-hop genre while Home Music was more often Rock and Indie.
Who is to blame? Analysis of government and news media frames during the 2014 earthquake in Chile • Magdalena Saldana, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile • This study relies on Entman’s definition of framing to analyze how the Chilean government and news media framed an earthquake occurring in Chile in 2014. Using structural topic modeling, 705 news stories and 174 press releases were content-analyzed to identify under which conditions the media may attribute blame when disasters are framed beyond the realm of accident. Findings are particularly relevant to understand the relationship between political actors and the press when disasters occur.
“What’s racist about deporting criminal illegal ‘Felons’?” Examining the link between emotion and cognition in tweets about immigration • Saif Shahin, American University; Laura Seroka, Bowling Green State University; Md Rezwan Islam, Bowling Green State University • This study examines nearly 4 million tweets about immigration posted during the 2016 U.S. presidential election (July-December). Sentiment analysis reveals Trust, Fear, and Anger to be the most prominent emotions. Topic modeling suggests Trust was on account of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, while Muslims and Mexicans aroused Fear and Anger. We also explain how emotions may produce cognitive connections among seemingly disparate issues and lead to post-hoc rationalization of anti-immigrant tweets.
Field and Ecological Explanations of Data Journalism Innovation: A Focus on the Role of Ancillary Organizations • Wilson Lowrey, University of Alabama; Lindsey Sherrill, University of Alabama; Ryan Broussard, University of Alabama • This study assesses the roles of ancillary organizations in data journalism innovation from the perspectives of both field and ecology paradigms using interviews with actors in the data journalism profession, including working journalists, leaders of foundations and professional associations, and educators. These two meso-level spatial approaches, field theory and ecology theory, are compared to shed light on the relative helpfulness of field approaches vs. ecology approaches in our social understanding of journalism and news construction.
Exploring Mechanisms of Narrative Persuasion in a News Context: The Role of Narrative Structure, Homophily, Stigma, and Affect in Changing Attitudes and Altruistic Behavior • Daniel Tamul, Virginia Tech; Mary Beth Oliver; Jessica Hotter, Virginia Tech • Two exploratory studies demonstrate, for the first time, that narrative persuasion can diminish the stigma attached to social groups featured in journalistic narratives. Study 1 shows narrative format improves attitudes toward Syrian refugees and this effect is mediated by narrative engagement and subsequently stigma, homophily, and meaningful affect. Study 2 replicates these findings against a separate participant pool, an additional story topic, and compares changes in engagement and stigma to a non-narrative fact sheet and a control condition.
What the fake?! How social media users define, spot, and respond to fake news • Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University Singapore; Darren Lim, NTU Singapore • Through dyadic interviews involving 20 social media users in Singapore, where members of each pair are friends both offline and on social media, this study sought to understand how social media users define, spot, and respond to fake news. The study found that the participants define fake news in terms of facticity, intention, and ethics. They verify if news is real or fake based on their own gut-feel, the content itself, through interpersonal checks, and through institutional sources. Finally, whether or not they correct others who post fake news depends on issue relevance, interpersonal relationships, and personal efficacy. While correcting others might be consistent with their need to do what is right, it might also negatively affect their need to maintain social relationships.
Post-Network Television: Motivations, Behaviors, and Satisfaction in the Age of Netflix • Alec Tefertiller, Kansas State University; Kim Sheehan, University of Oregon • Newer video technologies such as smart TVs and web streaming applications have radically altered how audiences consume televised content. Using an online, national survey (N = 790), this study identified five motivational factors for television viewing, most notably relaxing entertainment. In addition, patterns of ritualistic and instrumental viewing were identified. Audience activity facilitated by new technology was strongly associated with satisfaction and affinity for the television medium.
Dual Influences of Media Figures on Young Undergraduates’ Life Values: The Role of Wishful Identification • Caixie TU; Stella Chia • This study examined media and social influences of media figures and proposed a theoretical framework wherein two influences exert effects on undergraduates’ values. This study also adopted a psychological mechanism of wishful identification to investigate how it mediated such two influences. The whole framework was tested by survey data. Results showed media consumption was directly associated with value endorsement. The indirect associations were mediated by interpersonal discussion about media figures and wishful identification with figures.
Don’t Believe the Next Tweet: Designing and Testing News Media Literacy Interventions for Social Media • Melissa Tully, University of Iowa; Emily Vraga; Leticia Bode • Scholars have called for media literacy interventions as a response to the spread of misinformation online. This study examines the effectiveness of “news media literacy” (NML) messages for Twitter. Using two experimental designs, this study tests NML tweets designed to mitigate the impact of exposure to misinformation and to boost people’s perceptions of their own media literacy and its democratic value. Findings suggest it is difficult to craft messages that achieve these goals simultaneously.
Creating Agents of Change through Civic Media Production, Critical Media Literacy and Experiential Learning • Cindy Vincent, Salem State University; Jennifer Jeffrey, Salem State University • This study applies the civic media model within a media literacy course to examine how the convergence of critical media literacy, civic education and experiential learning help college students understand themselves as engaged community members. Interviews with college students collected over three semesters is qualitatively analyzed to understand how civic media production and experiential learning build a sense of civic agency within college students as collaborators of voice, dialogue and critical consciousness.
Can Inspiration Cross Party Lines? How News Framing of Morality and Partisan Cues Influence Elevation, Disgust, and Moral Judgments of Political Actors • T. Franklin Waddell, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida • Do partisans judge political actors based on the consistency of their moral behavior, or does partisan affiliation override moral evaluation? An online experiment (N = 710) revealed that participants exposed to acts of altruism or redemption reported higher levels of elevation relative to control, while acts of transgression or falls from grace elicited higher levels of disgust relative to control. No evidence of moderation by partisanship was revealed. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Do Press Releases about Digital Game Research Influence Presumed Effects? How Comparisons to Real World Violence and Methodological Details Affect the Anticipated Influence of Violent Video Games • T. Franklin Waddell, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida • Do comparisons to real world violence or details about how aggression is measured in the laboratory affect the presumed influence of violent video games? An online experiment (N = 505) examined this question using a 2 (comparison to violence: present vs. absent) x 2 (measurement details: present vs. absent) between-subjects design. Results reveal that comparisons to violence elicit differential effects on presumed influence contingent on the presence of methodological details and respondent sex.
Is the Grass Greener on the Other Side of the Geofence? • Kearston Wesner • Geofencing technology enables companies to obtain users’ physical location and deliver customized communications, including political messages. But to accomplish this, some businesses transmit user data to third parties without consent. The privacy tort of intrusion and Federal Trade Commission actions target unfair or deceptive practices, but these avenues are inadequate. Users’ privacy should be safeguarded by creating a federal privacy statute that requires opt-in notification and periodic reminders of data collection, usage, and transmission practices.
Depictions of Asperger’s Syndrome on Prime-Time Television: An Intergroup Contact and Social Cognitive Theory Approach • Stephanie Whitenack, Louisiana State University; David Hamilton; Meghan Sanders • Certain depictions of Asperger’s syndrome (AS) on prime-time television can affect how individuals perceive the disorder (Holton, 2013). Learning and relational differences among those who view onscreen portrayals of AS can affect audiences’ understanding, perceptions, and behavioral intentions of the out-group. An experiment was conducted with a total of 130 participants. Results reveal that people identify with more explicit portrayals on screen, however this may produce greater intergroup anxiety when thinking about real-life interpersonal contact.
Conceptualization of the public health model of reporting through application: The case of the Cincinnati Enquirer’s heroin beat • Erin Willis, University of Colorado Boulder; Chad Painter, University of Dayton • This case study seeks to demonstrate the Cincinnati Enquirer’s use of the public health model of reporting and public health news frames. The Enquirer created the first newspaper heroin beat in January 2016. Enquirer reporters framed the heroin epidemic as a public health issue, focusing on solutions, contextualizing the issue through societal determinants of health, and incorporating the voices of constituent groups. Findings are discussed using news framing and the public health model of reporting.
Big Data and Journalism Transformations: Evaluating Automation as a New Entrant to the Journalistic Field • Shangyuan Wu, Nanyang Technological University; Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University Singapore; Charles Salmon • As information circulates in unprecedented amounts, contemporary newsrooms are turning to automation to manage the data deluge. Amid falling revenues and newsroom closures, this study uses field theory and in-depth interviews to investigate how automation, as a new entrant, is transforming the journalistic field, including its impact on the field’s governing principles, the types of capital that journalists must acquire to remain competitive, and journalist attitudes towards the transformation and/or preservation of the field.
Undesirable Issue Indeed, but No Censorship Please! The Third Person Effect in Fake News on Social Media • Fan Yang, University at Albany, SUNY; Michael Horning, Virginia Tech University • An online survey (N =335) was conducted to examine the third person effect (TPE) in fake news and suggested that individuals indeed perceived a greater influence of fake news on others than on themselves. Although they evaluated fake news on social media as socially undesirable, they were also unsupportive of censorship as a remedy. Instead, individuals reported to be less willing to share the news they read on social media either online or offline.
Digital inequalities or personality differences? A longitudinal analysis of social media usage divides in China • Yiyan Zhang, Boston University; Lei Guo, Boston University; Homero Gil de Zúñiga, University of Vienna • This study contributes to the digital divide literature by better explicating a usage divide and by adding a China’s context based on a longitudinal analysis of varied social media uses among a national representative sample collected in mainland China. The results showed age and income significantly predicted many aspects of the usage divide, moderated by individuals’ personality traits. The study also demonstrated that the age- and income-generated usage divide were not significantly widened over time.
Student Competition
Stuck on Social Media: Predicting Young Adults’ Intentions to Limit Social Media Use • Nick Boehm • Health concerns of social media overuse (e.g., depression, anxiety, social isolation, etc.) warrant examinations of factors influencing the use of these technologies. While studies have characterized people’s adoption and use of social media, none have examined factors that would drive individuals to limit their social media use. This study found that an extended theory of planned behavior model significantly predicted intentions to limit daily social media use and behavior surrounding social capital maintenance and growth.
Colorism and Love for Fair Skin: Exploring Digitization’s Effect on India’s Arranged Marriage Matrimonial Ads • Dhiman Chattopadhyay, Bowling Green State University; Sriya Chattopadhyay, Bowling Green State University • Previous studies have found the presence of colorism, especially a bias toward fair-skinned women, in India’s newspaper matrimonial advertisements, where fair complexion is equated with beauty among Indian women. Historically matrimonial advertisements in newspapers are posted by family elders, such as parents of prospective brides. This study explores if the advent of online matrimonial portals has empowered marginalized members of families such as prospective brides greater access to and control over posting matrimonial ads, and if this in turn has changed the way women are depicted in matrimonial ads. Textual analysis of 150 online matrimonial ads indicated that younger women such as would-be brides posted more ads in online media, compared to older family members such as parents; that while there was less overt focus on physical attributes of women such as fairness of skin, colorism was present in more subtle forms; and that while online ads described women’s skills, and desires, they were unable to break free from shackles of socially constructed patriarchal norms where women’s physical attributes such as fair skin were considered critical qualities. Findings were consistent with the tenets of Critical Race Theory that colorism is an ingrained feature of social systems and is constantly negotiated based on a group’s own social interests. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Asian International Students’ Mass Media Use and Acculturation Strategies: Considering the Effects of Remote Acculturation • Lin Li; Shao Chengyuan • Surveying Asian international students in two U.S. universities about their mass media use and acculturation strategies, this study found that American news media use before relocation was positively related to assimilation and negatively related to separation, whereas American TV use after relocation had positive effects on assimilation, integration, and marginalization through increased cultural knowledge. Asian TV use was found to be positively related to separation and negatively related to assimilation and integration across time periods.
Crisis Management on Social Media: Inoculation Strategy and Organizational Interactivity • Pratiti Diddi, PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY; Lewen Wei, Pennsylvania State University • In this study we conducted a three-phase online experiment to examine the efficacy of the inoculation strategy and organizational interactivity in bolstering attitudes in crisis management on social media. With exposure to crisis of selected issues, if not preempted, users’ threat levels went up; if preempted, on the other hand, low response rate to negative comments led to undesirable perceptions of the organization. Implications and limitations are discussed.
Discussing Vulcans, Hermione, Khaleesi, and the Winchesters: An evaluation of parasocial interactions in online fandom forums • Sara Erlichman, Penn State • As parasocial interactions (PSI) are increasingly becoming observable in online settings and associated with fandom, it brings to question the role of parasocial relationships (PSR) in fandom communities. By conducting a content analysis, this study analyzes whether PSIs were present in online fandom forums (i.e. Star Trek, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Supernatural), as a possible indicator of fans actively maintaining their PSRs. The presence of parasocial interactions was supported in this study demonstrating the overlap of participatory fandom and fans’ relationship maintenance for fictional characters.
Social Media as an Emerging Institution: Expectations and Norms Online at the U.S. State House • Meredith Metzler • This paper draws on Polsby’s (1968) classic piece to ask: is social media an emerging political institution? Social media is a differentiated communication medium, but state legislative offices find it difficult to navigate. The perceived behavioral norms of the site—speed, confrontation, and boundary-less communication—conflicted with the legislators’ norms of “civil” interpersonal communication primarily with constituents. As social media emerges as an algorithmic communication institution, the conflicting norms will need to be reconciled.
Fake News Correction: How USDA Corrects Fake News about Organic Foods on Social Media • Keonyoung Park, Syracuse University; Jun Zhang, Newhouse School of Syracuse University; Laura Canuelas-Torres; Zheng Li • Building on the Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion, we explored the effects of different social media sources (i.e. government, nonprofit organizations, news corporations, and businesses) in correcting misinformation from fake news about organic foods. We conducted an online experiment, using a Mturk sample of US adults (N=264). Government (i.e., USDA) was the only source with significant impact on leading individual’s efforts to correct previous knowledge. Users seem to activate the central processing during this activity.
Local to global via social media: Using social media for news could make you global-minded • Aditi Rao, University of Connecticut • Contemporary society is becoming increasingly global. This globalization is often referred to in the context of businesses, tourism, trade, education, etc. However, globalization of individuals, i.e., having a global mindset, especially in the context of social media is not often heard of. The current study aimed to investigate whether using social media for news correlated with global-mindedness. A cross-sectional survey administered online asked college students (N = 324) to indicate their news-seeking habits on the four social media platforms—Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. A Global-Mindedness Scale was also included in the same survey to measure global-mindedness and its five dimensions (responsibility, cultural pluralism, efficacy, globalcentrism, and interconnectedness). Results showed a positive correlation between social media use for news and global-mindedness and its dimensions, except for globalcentrism. With regard to using social media for seeking news, Facebook and Twitter were found to be used the most. However, Snapchat and Instagram were the most used social media platforms. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Finding A Voice: Newspaper Editors and The Effect of Sexual Assault and Rape News • Susan Tebben, Ohio University • A qualitative study on newspaper editors in northern and southern Ohio. Using in-depth interviews, the study focuses on personal experiences and training and its effect on victim-naming policies, word choice in stories of sexual assault and rape, and the effect of an editor’s particular training and/or experience on how the topic is covered in newsrooms. Journalistic standards are consistent among the editors interviewed, but editorial decisions depend on the particular editor’s experience and training.
Underlying Effects of Endorser Identity and Bodily Addressing in Public Service Announcements • Lewen Wei, Pennsylvania State University; Arienne Ferchaud; Bingjie Liu • This study conducted a 2 x 2 between-subjects online experiment (N = 423) to explore audience reactions towards public service announcements (PSA) varying in the identities of message endorsers (peer vs. celebrity) and their bodily addressing styles (front vs. side), and the underlying psychological mechanisms. Findings suggest that on selected issues (anti-smoking and anti-sexual-abuse), celebrity endorsers with a frontal bodily addressing style induced more positive reactions to PSA via parasocial interaction experience with the endorser, whereas peer endorsers with a side bodily addressing rendered more message effectiveness via elicited empathy towards the endorser. Implications and limitations are discussed.
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