Communication Technology 2016 Abstracts
Faculty Papers
Emerging media as instruments of political liberation and government repression in autocracies and democracies from 1995 to 2012 • Britt Christensen, Zayed University; Jacob Groshek, Boston University • This study empirically analyzed whether emerging media were instruments in cultivating anti-government protest as well as political purges. Here, we also examine potential differences between these phenomena in 162 democratic and autocratic countries over 18 years. The results of a series of analytic models suggest that higher levels of emerging media are positively associated with more instances of both outcomes, which have increased dramatically in recent years.
Political Fiction: Campaign Emails During the 2014 Midterm Election • Bryan McLaughlin, Texas Tech; Bailey Thompson, Texas Tech University; Amber Krause, Texas Tech University • This study employed a mixed-method analysis of one year’s worth of political emails. In doing so, we (1) draw attention to, and theorize about, the unique communication process of political emails, (2) compare and contrast the types of appeals, calls to action, and definitions of social reality the Democratic and Republican parties employed during the 2014 election, and (3) propose a novel theoretical account of how political polarization is exacerbated in the new media environment.
My News Feed is Filtered? Awareness of News Personalization Among College Students • Elia Powers, Towson University • This exploratory, two-part study examines whether college students are able to identify how news is selected and sorted on platforms that use personalization technology. Interviews with one set of students (n=37) focused on the news sources they rely most heavily upon. A survey given to a second set of students (n=147) focused on Google and Facebook. Results show that students’ awareness of news personalization is limited. Implications for journalism and mass communication education are discussed.
Senior Citizens’ Interactions on Facebook: The Effects of Social Networking Affordances on Psychological Well-Being • Eun Hwa Jung; S. Shyam Sundar, The Pennsylvania State University • This study investigated how senior citizens’ activities on Facebook are associated with intrinsic motivation and subjective well-being. A content analysis and an online survey with older (> 60 years) Facebook users (N = 202) revealed that profile customization and commenting are positively associated with feelings of autonomy and relatedness respectively, both predictors of enjoyment on Facebook. SEM analysis showed that posting photos is positively associated with a feeling of competence, which is related to well-being. Communication Technology (CTEC) Faculty Papers Structured Stories: Testing the Technical, Editorial, and Cultural Feasibility of a Computational Journalism Project Frank Michael Russell, University of Missouri School of Journalism; David Caswell, Structured Stories; Maggie Angst, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Hellen Tian, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Arthur Cook Bremer, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Hui-Hsien Tsai, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Esther Thorson, University of Missouri School of Journalism This study reports the results of tests of a new form of event-based structured journalism. Guided by mentors with professional journalism experience, student journalists tested the Structured Stories platform with reporting projects in New York City and a Midwestern state. We concluded that Structured Stories is technically and editorially feasible. Culturally, the student journalists’ response to Structured Stories echoed tension between traditional journalistic practices and a “quantitative turn” bringing computational thinking into newsrooms.
“Just One More Rep”: Using Fitness Apps and Competition to Motivate Performance and Evaluate Deception • Jared Brickman; Shuang Liu; Yujung Nam; Zhaomeng Niu; QIAN YU, Washington State University • Abstract. Fitness applications on smartphones are becoming increasingly popular. Feasibility studies suggest this new communication technology is usable, but questions remain about the extent the apps can motivate behavioral change. Using a lab experiment, this study asked how a fitness application and explicit statements of competition influence exercise outcomes. Participants in the app conditions completed more exercise, and people who were told they were competing used more deception when inputting their scores into the application.
Does anyone understand? A content analysis of health infographics on Pinterest • Jeanine Guidry, Virginia Commonwealth University; Jay Adams, Member; Shana Meganck; Marcus Messner, Virginia Commonwealth University; Richard D. Waters, University of San Francisco; Caroline Orr • A content analysis of 500 infographics on Pinterest studied the literacy levels, sources, health issue types, and presence/absence of sponsors. Results show that the combination of Pinterest and infographics is a powerful one – health communication specialists should consider Pinterest as a regular tool in their communications arsenal.
Human Control or Machine Control – Which do we Trust? The Role of Control and Machine Heuristics in Online Information Disclosure • Jinyoung Kim, The Pennsylvania State University; S. Shyam Sundar, The Pennsylvania State University • When making a purchase via our smartphones, do we feel more comfortable revealing our credit-card number to a machine agent rather than a human agent? Are we more likely to disclose personal information to a social media site that offers us control over privacy settings? An online experiment (N = 160) revealed that interface cues triggering the “machine heuristic” and one’s degree of belief in “control heuristic” predict self-disclosure. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Managing Disclosure through Social Media: How Snapchat is Shaking Boundaries of Privacy Perceptions • Justin Velten, The University of Texas at Tyler; Rauf Arif, University of Texas at Tyler; Delane Moehring, The University of Texas at Tyler • The rise of online human communication tools commonly referred to as social media apps are changing the dynamics of interpersonal relationships through self-disclosure and privacy management. However, little scholarly research is speaking to the broader role of social media as a method of privacy management in the context of interpersonal relationships. Therefore, this study focuses on Snapchat, a smartphone photo-share app and its influences on privacy management and privacy boundaries centered around the process of building and strengthening relationships through disclosure of private information. Using qualitative interview technique, results of interviews with 75 Snapchat users led to the identification and discussion of three categories in the realm of Sandra Petronio’s Communication Privacy Management Theory (2002). These three categories are privacy ownership, privacy control, privacy turbulence with discussion of the five principles of private information. Finally, this investigation explores and describes a new way in which scholars can view Snapchat through McLuhan’s claim that the medium is the message.”
Important Tweets Matter: Predicting Retweets in the #blacklivesmatter Talk on Twitter • Kate Keib, University of Georgia Grady College; Itai Himelboim, University of Georgia • Social movements increasingly use social media, particularly Twitter, to reach existing and new publics. Social media allows users to share content, but the quality of shared content has been scrutinized. A case study of the #Blacklivesmatter movement examines two key elements of tweets as predictors of retweeting: content importance – political, economic, cultural and public – and expression of emotion. Findings suggest important and emotional tweets were more often retweeted. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Motivations and Uses of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat: Which platform wins the challenge among college students? • Mengyan Ma, Michigan State University; Victoria Artis; Maggie Bakle; Florence Uwimbabazi; Saleem Alhabash, Michigan State University • With increasing reliance on social media and social networking sites, the current explores the differences among Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat in terms of use intensity, time spent daily on the platform, and the motivations to use each platform. Additionally, the study applies the uses and gratifications approach to contrast the ways in which motivations to use each of the four platforms predict the intensity of using that platform. A cross-sectional survey of college students (N = 396) asked participants to indicate the intensity of using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat as well as nine different use motivations. Findings showed that participants spent the most time daily on Instagram, followed by Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter, respectively. They also indicated the highest use intensity for Snapchat and Instagram (nearly equally), followed by Facebook and Twitter, respectively. With regard to use motivations, Snapchat took the lead five of the nine motivations. Findings are discussed in relation to the uses and gratifications approach and uniqueness of different social media and SNSs.
Twitter Analysis of Tweets that Emerged after the #Wacoshooting • Mia Moody, Baylor University; David Lin, Baylor University; Kaitlyn Skinner • This study applies computational and machine-learning techniques to analyze the tweets that emerged following the Waco biker incident of 2015. Findings indicate individuals used Twitter to take a stand on the highly publicized incidents surrounding the shootout. Thousands of tweets emerged with popular hashtags to identify the case such as #wacoshooting, #wacobikers and #wacothugs, #Ferguson, #whitebikers, #blacklivesmatter and #Whiteprivilege. Responses to the Waco shootout were polarizing with individuals weighing in on Twitter to show support or scorn for the bikers, city officials, law enforcement and attorneys. Themes of race surfaced in tweets about the event as it occurred in the midst of the #Blacklivesmatter movement. Twitter users compared bikers to the movement, using tweets and graphics to illustrate various points. The Branch Davidian incident also provided an important backstory to the biker incident. Images of the fiery burning of the Branch Davidian compound, which occurred decades earlier, were still on people’s minds as evidenced by tweets that characterized the incident as “just another Waco tragedy.”
Context Collapse and Privacy Management: Diversity in Facebook Friends Increases Online News Reading and Sharing • Michael Beam, Kent State University; Jeffrey T. Child, Kent State University; Myiah Hutchens, Washington State University; Jay Hmielowski, Washington State University • This study tests a moderated-mediated model where diversity of relationship contexts of Facebook friends influences sharing and reading news. Using survey data from 771 US Facebook users, we find that more context collapse in people’s Facebook friends is positively related to both sharing and reading news. Furthermore, reading news on Facebook mediates the relationship between context collapse and news sharing. Lastly, openness in privacy management moderates the relationship between reading and sharing news on Facebook.
Uses of Cellphone Texting: An Integration of Motivations, Usage Patterns, and Psychological Outcomes • Namkee Park, Yonsei University, South Korea; Seungyoon Lee, Purdue University; Jae Eun Chung, Howard University • This study suggests an integrated model that explains the associations among motivations for using cellphone texting, usage patterns, and psychological consequences. Using data from an online survey (N = 335), the study identified motivations of communication with strong ties and weak ties, which were found to be associated with different usage patterns of cellphone texting. Further, time spent on cellphone texting was negatively associated with relationship satisfaction, while the number of text messages sent and received was associated with reduced feelings of loneliness through higher levels of perceived intimacy and relationship satisfaction.
Pills and power ups: How in-game substance shapes players’ attitudes and real-life substance abuse intentions • Ryan Rogers, Marist College; Jessica Myrick, Indiana University • “Objective: Guided by social cognitive theory, this study investigated the effects of in-game substance use portrayals in video games on players’ real-world substance-related cognitions and intentions. Materials and Methods: A custom-designed computer designed game presented 97 participants across two studies with encounters with alcohol and cigarettes. For half of the participants, the in-game substance use facilitated gameplay and for the other half the substance use inhibited gameplay. Results: The first study showed that negative consequences of in-game substance use improved attitudes toward the game, which then impacted attitudes toward drinking under certain conditions. In the second study, participants had more positive attitudes toward the game when the game portrayed positive consequences for cigarette smoking, and this impacted attitudes toward smoking. vConclusion: Mediated portrayals of substance use, like those found in video games, can influence a player’s perception of substance use. We believe that carefully crafted video games could be used to discourage substance use behaviors. However, the effective means of implementation and understanding how users will respond under different conditions merits further study.”
Time, Space, and Digital Media: An Analysis of Trade Press Depiction of Change in Practice • Sally McMillan, University of Tennessee • This study applied Harold Innis’ concepts of time- and space-biased media to examine digital media for 10 years beginning with the dawn of the “Web 2.0” era in 2005. Analysis of the advertising trade press showed changes in how time and space were conceptualized. Roles of media professionals and content “consumers” were also examined. Changes in the media business were presented as more revolutionary than evolutionary. Implications for theory, practice, and pedagogy are discussed.
Comparing Facebook and Instagram: Motivations for Use, Social Comparison Process, and Psychological Outcomes • Seohee Sohn, Yonsei University, South Korea; Namkee Park, Yonsei University, South Korea • Based upon uses and gratifications and social comparison theories, this study compares the motivations and consequences of Facebook and Instagram use. While previous studies on SNS social comparison generalized that SNS use provokes negative social comparison and leads to negative psychological consequences, this study proposed that the association is more complicated. The study examined the role of user motivations in the process and aftermath of social comparison. A sample of 285 undergraduate students who used either Facebook or Instagram participated in the study. Main findings suggest that contrary to previous studies, entertainment is the highest motivation for using both SNSs, yet motivation for relationship maintenance was still higher on Facebook. Self-expression motivation played a key role in social comparison process, suggesting that students higher in self-expression motivation made more positive social comparison. Negative social comparison led to lower satisfaction with life and mental health, but only for Facebook users. Implications and limitations are discussed.
Japanese love to Tweet: The effects of information sharing, relational mobility and relational commitment on Twitter use in Japan • Shaojung Sharon Wang, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan • The Japanese Internet is more culturally homogenous and Japanese websites that provide services similar to or copies of U.S.-based websites are often more popular than the originals in Japan. Yet, Twitter has encountered few barriers in entering the country. Japan is one of the biggest Twitter markets in the world and Japanese is the most frequently tweeted language after English. The goal of this study was to explore the factors that may influence the intensity of Twitter use in Japan through the dual lens of the socio-ecological aspects and the characteristics of CMC. The results demonstrated that relational mobility and information sharing intention were significant predictors of Twitter use intensity. Positive relationships between Twitter self-disclosure and relational commitment, and between relational commitment and intensity of Twitter use, were also supported. Implications on how the Japan’s real-world social and cultural norms may be relative to the virtual world are discussed.
Do Fitness Apps Need Text Reminders? An Experiment Testing Goal-setting Text Reminders to Promote Self-monitoring • Shuang Liu; Jessica Willoughby • “Fitness tracking apps have the potential to change unhealthy lifestyles, but users’ low compliance is still an issues. The current intervention examined the effectiveness of using goal-setting theory-based text message reminders to promote tracking activities on fitness apps. Participants who received goal-setting reminders liked the messages and showed significantly increased self-efficacy, mindfulness of personal goal, motivation, and intention to use the app.
Understanding the Role of Different Review Features in Purchase Probability • Su Jung Kim, Iowa State University; Ewa Maslowska, Northwestern University; Edward Malthouse, Northwestern University • The role of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has been recognized by marketers and academics, but little research has examined the impact of eWOM on purchase behavior. This study aims to disentangle the effect of different online review features (i.e., review valence, length, pros and cons, helpfulness, authorship and product recommendation) on sales. Using product reviews and sales data from an online retailer website, this study investigates the financial impact of online product reviews. The results provide interesting theoretical contributions to the literature on persuasion. In addition, managerial implications on how companies should design and manage their online review system are offered.
Assessing the Influence of eWOM and Online Brand Messages on Consumer Decision-Making • Tai-Yee Wu, University of Connecticut; Carolyn Lin • This study examined the integrative effects of a brand’s online product description, eWOM content, digital retail platforms and innovation adoption factors on a consumer’s decision-making process. Results from a between-subject experiment (N = 231) suggest that consumer perceptions of product-description usefulness, technology fluidity, product usefulness, product-use ease, consumer-review trustworthiness, consumer-review usefulness, user ratings of consumer reviews and retail-platform trustworthiness have a direct or indirect effect on their attitude and purchase intention toward the technology product.
Flow in Virtual Worlds: The interplay of Community and Site Features as Predictors of Involvement • Valerie Barker • Cultivating involvement within virtual worlds where interactivity and community are salient attributes represents a key goal for businesses and educators. This survey assessed whether the interplay of these attributes facilitates a form of intense involvement known as flow. Findings showed that site features mediate the relationship between sense of community and reported flow experience. Therefore, site designers may choose to intensify involvement by encouraging community spirit via interactivity, feedback, content variety and ease of use.
Quizzical Attraction of Online Personality Quizzes: A Uses and Gratifications Perspective • Yee Man Margaret Ng; GIna Masullo Chen, The University of Texas at Austin; Ventiva Chen • Personality quizzes are all the rage. Applying the principles of Uses and Gratifications (U&G), this study offered an exploratory look at what gratifications people fill by doing these quizzes and sharing their results on SNSs. Results via factor analysis from a pre-test (open-ended questions) and a survey of 282 participants identified three gratifications for doing online personality quizzes (self-identity, entertainment, and subjective norms) and sharing results of quizzes on social media (socialization, attention-seeking, and entertainment) respectively. OLS hierarchical regressions were also employed to examine how demographics, personality traits, social capital factors, perception of quiz reliability, and personal motives influence on the intention to do and share quizzes. Final results showed that the need for entertainment is the strongest predictor.
Social Influence on the Net: Majority Effect on Posters and Minority Effect on Lurkers • Young June Sah; Wei Peng, Michigan State University • Participatory websites provide users with two distinctive contexts: posting comments and lurking. Acknowledging lack of studies comparing social influence in these contexts, the current study investigated whether comments in a participatory website generates different social influence for posters and lurkers. An online experiment (N = 334) was conducted in a 2 (context: posting vs. lurking) X 3 (opinion composition in comments: balanced, lopsided, or unanimous) between-subjects design. Results revealed that posters were influenced by a majority opinion whereas lurkers were affected by the minority one when exposed to opposing two opinions advocated by numerically-majority and -minority comments respectively. Faced with unanimous comments, both posters and lurkers were influenced by the unanimous opinion. Additional analyses revealed different mechanisms of these effects. The majority effect, mediated by posters’ perceived publicness and moderated by group identification, seems to be driven by normative pressure. The minority effect, moderated by need for cognition, deem to be based on informative influence.
Challenging Read: How Regulatory Non-fit can Increase Online News Audience Engagement • Yu-Hao Lee, Department of Telecommunication, University of Florida; Bruce Getz, University of Florida; Min Xiao • We conducted a 2 (motivation) x 2 (regulatory fit/non-fit) experiment to test the effect of regulatory fit and non-fit news headlines on perceived importance, news value, time spent in the article, information elaboration, and likelihood to seek additional informational. The results showed that when users are motivated to read the news, regulatory fit headlines increased time spent in article, information elaboration, and likelihood to seek additional information. When users have low motivation to read the news, the regulatory non-fit headline increased time spent in article, elaboration, and likelihood to seek more information.
Open Competition
Enhancing writing quality with virtual reality technology: 360° images give journalists information for vivid descriptions • Clyde Bentley, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Joy Jenkins, University of Missouri; Bimal Balakrishnan, University of Missouri • This project explores an alternate way that virtual reality technology can be used to enhance journalism. Rather than used for publication images, VR cameras were used as image note-takers that allowed student reporters at a large Midwestern university to add vivid detail to stories. Theories of narrative literature, narrative persuasion and transportation suggest these details are key to reader engagement while also instructing students in a form of journalism that might offer them greater recognition in the field.
How Social Indicators on Discussion Webpages Influence Interpretations of Conversation Norms • David Silva, Washington State University • Indicators of group size and normative statements are common elements in online discussion spaces. Both provide clues about how to act in a discussion environment, but their effect on perceptions of online group norms is not fully understood. This study conducted an experiment manipulating these two elements. Main effects and an interaction effect were found and are applied to theories of media processing and efforts to create optimal online discussion spaces.
The Role of Mobile Phone Use in Bonding and Bridging Peer Capital among Singaporean Adolescents • Estee Goh, Nanyang Technological University; Agnes Chuah; Shirley Ho, Nanyang Technological University • This study investigates the relationships between personality traits, peer mediation, mobile phone use, problematic mobile phone use (PMPU), and peer capital. Through a self-administered survey, data were collected from 624 participants from secondary schools in Singapore. Results showed that self-esteem, extraversion, peer co-use and mobile phone use were positively associated with peer capital. However, PMPU was found to be negatively related to bonding peer capital. Limitations and implications were discussed.
Perceptions of Online Reviews: Motivation, Sidedness, and Reviewer Information • Hyunjin Seo; Roseann Pluretti; Fengjun Li • This study conducted a 2 (motivation) x 3 (review sidedness) x 2 (reviewer activeness) mixed factorial design experiment to examine how characteristics of online reviews and reviewer information influence people’s evaluations of online reviews. Our results show that how actively the reviewer posts online and how many friends the reviewer has on the review site influence people’s evaluations of positive, negative, or neutral reviews of products and services. Prior perceptions of online reviews moderate these effects.
Effects of Music Pacing in a Nutrition Game on Flow, and Explicit and Implicit Attitudes • Jose Aviles; Sushma Kumble; Michael Schmierbach; Erica Bailey, Penn State University; Frank Waddell; Frank Dardis, Penn State University; Yan Huang, The Pennsylvania State University; Stephanie Orme; Kelly Seeber; Mu Wu, Penn State University • Video games have been utilized as persuasive technologies in limited contexts. However, few studies have examined how particular attributes of games influence these persuasive messages. The current study offers a contribution to this area by examining the interactions between music and flow, and the effect they have on players’ implicit and explicit attitudes toward nutritional food. Results indicate that attention and enjoyment are significant moderators of implicit attitudes, but did not moderate explicit attitudes. Specifically, the results indicated that for lower levels of attention and enjoyment, fast-paced music aided in higher levels of implicit attitudes. However, for higher levels of attention and enjoyment, slow-paced music aided in higher levels of implicit attitudes.
Applying a Uses and Gratifications Approach to Health App Adoption and Use • Linda Dam; Deya Roy; David Atkin, UConn; Dana Rodgers • The present study employs an audience-centered approach to examine motivations for mobile fitness app use. Guided by uses and gratifications (U&G) theory, we explore motivations to use a specific health and fitness app. An online survey of 469 respondents reveals that competitiveness was the most powerful predictor of behavioral intentions related to app use. Although this research was largely exploratory in nature, it does support previous research linking such psychological factors as self-efficacy and self-esteem–alongside media uses and gratifications–with communication technology adoption. Study results thus provide support for a new set of mobile app uses and gratifications than can profitably supplement conventional measures of m-health technology adoption and use.
Dualities in journalists’ engagement with Twitter followers • Rich Johnson, Creighton University • Scholars have identified that journalists have a strong occupational identity, leading to ideological conceptions of the rules of the field. However, while journalists are often the first to embrace technological change, they often do so in different ways than most people. With the arrival of digital technologies, journalists are often faced with practices that run contrary to long-established ideology, and they often carry traditional practices over to new media. Using the theoretical lens of Giddens’s structuration theory, this research identifies traditional journalism structures that encourage or discourage journalists to interact with their followers on the social network Twitter. Using constant comparative analysis to interpret 23 interviews with contemporary journalists, this study identified multiple dualities between the use of Twitter and traditional newsgathering.
Using Instagram to Engage with (Potential) Consumers: A study of Forbes Most Valuable Brands’ Use of Instagram • Sherice Gearhart, Texas Tech University; Oluseyi Adegbola; Jacqueline Mitchell, University of Nebraska at Omaha • The current study identifies connections between the posting behavior of popular brands on Instagram and audience engagement. Posts (N = 710) were coded for image type and the presence of brand-related and social content. Using an individualized engagement score for each post, results found audiences were most responsive when images featured products and logos together and when social content appears in captions. Findings are useful to marketing strategists aiming to capitalize on this platform.
How Do Parents Manage Children’s Social Media Use? Development and Validation of a Parental Mediation Scale in the Context of Social Media Across Child and Parent Samples • Shirley Ho, Nanyang Technological University; Liang Chen, Nanyang Technological University • Social media use carries both opportunities and risks to children and adolescents. In order to reduce the negative impacts of social media on children, we aim to focus our efforts on parental mediation of social media. Specifically, the purpose of this research is to enhance the conceptualization and operationalization of parental mediation of social media. First, we conducted focus groups with both children and parents in Singapore in Study One. The results identified and developed an initial scale based on four conceptually distinct parental mediation strategies of social media – labelled as active mediation, restrictive mediation, authoritarian surveillance, and monitoring. Following this, we conducted a survey in Study Two with a representative sample of 1424 child participants and 1206 parent participants in Singapore to develop and test the scale. After some modifications, the results revealed a scale that was confirmed and validated. The implications and limitations were discussed.
Moderating Effects of App Type on Intention of Continued Use of Mobile Apps among Young Adults • Wei Peng, Michigan State University; Shupei Yuan, Michigan State University; Wenjuan Ma, Michigan State University • With the increasing popularity of mobile apps, research on their adoption and acceptance is also on the rise. However, an important yet understudied area is the continued use after initial adoption. Additionally, although there are a variety of mobile apps, most previous research either examines one type of mobile app or treats all types of mobile apps as one homogenous entity. The purpose of this study is to investigate the moderating effects of app type on intention of continued use among the three most popular types of mobile app (social networking, game, and productivity apps). A survey (N = 790) with young adults was conducted based on the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2). The structural equation modelling results showed that the moderating effects between app type and factors in UTAUT2 on behavioural intention of continued use. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Student Papers
Psychological Proximity to Issues of the Elderly • Ah Ram Lee, University of Florida • Even though the rapid aging of the population has been a global phenomenon, many societies are not ready to embrace the issue due to prevalent ageism and the lack of the public’s efforts to address issues of the elderly. Reducing negative stereotypes of the elderly and building harmonious relationships between young and old generations have been critical and momentous issues to solve across the globe. To contribute to the efforts, this paper proposed and empirically tested the effects of vivid images of future self enabled via age-morphing technologies as a part of communication strategies to address the issue. 302 participants completed an online survey following the individual trial to see an image of one’s old self. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the proposed relationships among psychological continuity, group identification, empathy, sympathy, ageism, psychological proximity, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. Results revealed that psychological continuity created through a vivid image of future self is positively correlated with group identification with the elderly, which leads to psychological proximity to issues of the elderly. This relationship is positively mediated by empathy and sympathy, and ageism negatively mediates the relationship. The close feelings to issues relevant to the elderly are likely to elicit positive attitude toward the efforts of addressing the issues as well as participation intentions to relevant social media campaigns for the elderly. Theoretical and practical implications of the determinants of psychological proximity and their role in creating positive attitudes and behaviors are discussed.
The Impacts of WeChat Communication and Parenting Styles on the Quality of the Parent-Child Relationship • Cheng Chen, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Zhuo Chen, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • “The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine how WeChat communication patterns (frequency, means, and content), WeChat affordances (perceived intrusiveness and ubiquity), and parenting styles (uninvolved, controlling-indulgent, and authoritative) influence the quality of the parent-child relationship (companionship, intimate disclosure, satisfaction, emotional support, and approval). Data were gathered from a probability sample of 407 university students in mainland China, among whom 391 were emerging adults. Regarding WeChat communication patterns, content (especially parent-initiated text messaging and intimate sharing) contributed to the formation of high-quality relationships between parents and children. In addition, regression analysis showed that parenting styles, especially controlling-indulgent and authoritative, were the most significant predictors of parent-child relationship quality. It is interesting to note that female college students were more likely to feel companionship and approval when parents sent intrusive content to them. The limitations of the study and its implications for future research are discussed.
Social media use for information and political participation: An investigation of the moderation effect of social media type • Cheonsoo Kim • This study investigates the relationship between social media use for information and political participation by taking social media type—symmetrical vs. asymmetrical—seriously. It proposes and tests a moderated mediation model, in which the indirect effect of the informational use of social media through online participation on offline participation is moderated by users’ relative preferences for social media type. The findings indicate the link between social media use for information and offline participation was fully mediated by the extent to which a user engages in online political activities. And users’ relative preferences for social media type moderate the indirect effect, suggesting that, the more frequently individuals use symmetrical media for information, the more likely they are to participate in political activities.
Journalism, Silicon Valley, and Institutional Values: Discursive Construction of the Digital Disruption of News • Frank Michael Russell, University of Missouri School of Journalism • This study explores interactions between journalism, Silicon Valley, and citizens with an analysis of interviews in the Riptide oral history of the digital disruption of journalism. Discourse between four senior news executives who conducted the interviews and 21 technology executives, developers, investors, and entrepreneurs indicated that journalists and technologists interact with each other based on institutional-level concerns of journalism and Silicon Valley. Findings suggested Silicon Valley could be defined as an emerging institution.
Redefining the News through Social Media: The Effect of Policy, Organization, and Profession on Journalistic Impact • Kristen Guth, University of Southern California; Christina Hagen; Kristen Steves • Social media participation by journalists in news outlets has brought into question traditional organizational structures and measures of audience reach, and has spurred the creation of social media policies for the newsroom. From a sample of 205 journalists in a large metropolitan news organization, this research: (a) tests the scale reliability of policy communication measures, (b) proposes a new scale for gatekeeping, and (c) investigates the relationship of several measures to social media impact.
Exploring the roles of social anxiety, self-efficacy, and job stress on Chinese workers’ smartphone addiction • Li Li, Nanyang Technological University • This study is to explore the relation of psychological factors (i.e., social anxiety and smartphone self-efficacy) and environmental factor (i.e., job stress) to smartphone addiction among young workers. The data were gathered from 527 employees in China. The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) identified four key smartphone addiction symptoms: withdrawal, salience, inability to control craving, and productivity loss. Social anxiety, smartphone self-efficacy and perceived job stress were found to be positively associated with their smartphone addiction.
Exploring WhatsApp’s Last Seen Timestamp among Young Adults from Argentina • Mora Matassi • This article explores how young adults in Argentina perceive, use, and react to the Last Seen timestamp on WhatsApp’s mobile instant messaging platform. This feature indicates the last time a user opened the application. Data have been derived from focus groups with 23 young adults living in Buenos Aires. The analysis shows that users perceive this feature as a threat to privacy and to responsiveness control, while they use it as a tool for inferring others’ movements and conveying their own activities. I argue that this perception is due to the symmetrical setting of WhatsApp’s information policy and to the emergence of one-to-one monitorial practices in mobile communication platforms. I draw upon these findings to contribute to the existing knowledge of perceptions and uses of everyday mobile CMC devices.
Networked narratives on Humans of New York: A content analysis on social media engagement • Ruoxu Wang, Penn State University; Jinyoung Kim, The Pennsylvania State University; Anli Xiao, Penn State University; YoungJu Jung, Penn State University • Humans of New York (HONY) is a popular Facebook page which has more than 13 million fans. The posts on HONY are termed as networked narratives, which are stories told on social media with technology affordances enabling story co-construction between the story tellers and the readers. A content analysis (N = 390) was conducted to examine the popular topics on networked narratives and its impact on social media engagement as represented by the number of likes, the number of shares, and the likability of characters featured in the post. Results revealed that a set of topics of the networked narratives were associated with social media engagement. Also, the tone and the length of the posts were associated with social media engagement.
Facing up to Facebook: How Digital Activism, Mass Media, and Independent Regulation Defeated a Challenge to Net Neutrality • Saif Shahin, School of Journalism, The University of Texas at Austin • This study traces how Facebook-promoted Internet.org/Free Basics, despite initial acclaim, was eventually rejected in India – and how net neutrality came to be codified in the process. The topic modeling of articles (N=1,752) published over two-and-a-half years in 100 media outlets pinpoints the critical junctures in time at which the public discourse changed its trajectory. Critical discourse analysis of different phases of discourse then identifies the causal factors and contingent conditions that produced the new policy.
Hail Lucky Money on WeChat: A rising cultural form on the Chinese mobile Internet • Shuning Lu, The University of Texas at Austin • This paper complicates our understanding of the intersection between technology and culture by unpacking why Lucky Money, an add-on of the mobile application WeChat, has evoked such a big fanatic enthusiasm among Chinese mobile phone users and how it becomes meaningful with regard to its form and users’ practices in Chinese context. Based on the combination of auto-ethnography on Wechat and textual analysis of several strands of sources, including news articles, online discussion and personal commentaries, the study seeks to answer: how might Lucky Money on WeChat weave itself into the texture of the social and cultural surroundings in the context of China? What kind of mentality and imagination might Lucky Money on WeChat invoke from the Chinese public? By considering Lucky Money as a cultural form, the article first analyzes the origins and nature of Lucky Money, with a focus on the trajectory embedded in the larger social and cultural conjuncture that gave rise to the prevalence of its mobile counterpart. The study then presents characteristics of the platform of WeChat along with various modes of sending and receiving digital money. The article further reviews the state of debate about the meanings of Lucky Money on WeChat among different textual communities. It concludes with reflections on the wider implications of Lucky Money on WeChat in regard to the broad social milieu of contemporary China.
#ReclaimMLK: Collective memory and collective action in the Age of Twitter • Simin Michelle Chen, University of Minnesota • In light of the recent racial injustice, #ReclaimMLK’15 was a day of protest organized around reclaiming the legacy of Dr. King Jr. To mobilize protesters and legitimize their collective action, organizers appropriated counter-memory of Dr. King in their tweets. Therefore, #ReclaimMLK presented an opportunity to examine the appropriation of collective memory as a form of mobilization and justification during the street demonstrations on Martin Luther King Day in 2015. Bridging the conceptual gap between collective action and collective memory, this study uses quantitative content analysis to examine the strategic use of Twitter by three notable organizers during #ReclaimMLK to organize, build community, broadcast their activities and demands, and encourage hashtag activism. Findings suggest that while the three organizers focused more on the present rather than the past, there is a significant difference in how they utilized Twitter for the purpose of #ReclaimMLK. This study therefore adds to the discussion and broaden our understanding of Twitter’s role in contentious politics
Strangers in the field: Public perception of professionals, technology, audiences, and the boundaries of journalism • Victor Garcia-Perdomo, University of Texas at Austin/Universidad de La Sabana, Colombia; Heloisa Aruth Sturm, University of Texas at Austin • This study addresses the concept of boundaries in the journalistic field from the perspective of the audience, and explores how technological factors may reshape professional news borders. Findings from a two-wave U.S. national panel survey suggest that offline platform use for news versus social media news consumption predicts distinct outcomes about the role of journalists in the current news environment. Perception of technology, particularly reliability, optimism and efficiency, is a significant predictor of the intersection between journalists, audiences and tools.
Mediated hookup: gratifications and psychological attributes as predictors of Chinese college students’ hookup behavior via “People Nearby Applications” (PNAs) use • Yuchao Zhao, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Yuan Wang, Chinese University of Hong Kong • This study explores whether and how gratifications and psychological traits affect Chinese college students using PNAs to hook up. First, a factor analysis of a field survey (N=511) outlined two unique gratifications obtained (i.e., mediated sexual convenience and online recognition) from the use of PNAs to hook up. Results from regression analysis showed that one psychological trait (i.e., loneliness) was a strong predictor of both gratifications. Additionally, loneliness significantly predicted four different dimensions of using PNAs to hook up. To a lesser extent, gratifications and other two psychological traits (i.e., self-esteem and traitlike communication apprehension) solely respectively predicated one indicator of using PNAs to hook up.
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