Information networks and social media use in public diplomacy: a comparative analysis of South Korea and Japan

This article examines how South Korean and Japanese public diplomacy organizations employ digital media to embrace the principle of ‘networked public diplomacy’ through analyses of the web and social media practices. A network analysis was used to map interorganizational information networks among core public diplomacy organizations in each country. To reveal the key organizations' communication strategies on Facebook, a content analysis was also conducted. The findings indicate that Japan had a strong internal network infrastructure achieved through dispersed connections and partnerships; however, Korea had a centralized network, including a limited number of dominant actors. The results of content analysis suggest that both South Korea and Japanese public diplomats focused on promoting their cultural products and national values through their use of texts and visual images. In addition, user profile analysis gaged the degree of users' engagement in the organizations' profiles and identified the demographic features of users. Comparative data suggest the Korean public diplomacy organization was more successful at attracting and engaging with foreign public than the Japanese public diplomacy organization. These results imply that although these two countries had similar sociopolitical backgrounds and perspectives of public diplomacy, they had distinct forms of internal information networks, communication strategies, and social networking performances with public.     

The impact of online social capital on social trust and risk perception

This study investigated how social media use and online social capital might have influenced social trust and risk perception of a public health crisis in China. It also tested the validity and reliability of the online social capital measurement in the context of a Chinese food-safety crisis. Study findings validated the impact of online social capital on social trust and risk perception. In addition, two new dimensions of online social capital scale were identified; these two dimensions are in parallel to Putnam’s [2000. Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of american community. New York: Simon and Schuster] conception of ‘bonding social capital’ and ‘bridging social capital.’ Social and policy implications of the study results are discussed.     

Personal ties,group ties and latent ties: connecting network size to diversity and trust in the mobile social network WeChat

This study examines whether and how network size is associated with diversity and trust in the mobile SNS context. Online survey data (N?=?327) on Chinese WeChat users reveal that both personal network size and extended network size are positively related to the diversity of people’s social networks. We believe the explanation for these findings may be that the affordances of WeChat provide users opportunities to accumulate a wide spectrum of relations ranging from strong ties, weak ties to latent ties and thus a larger network can enable them to access to more diverse resources. We also find that extended network size is negatively related to people’s trust in their WeChat contacts. We argue that the increasing size of the extended network may reduce familiarity, certainty and accountability that assumed to be prerequisites of trust.     

Predicting elections from social media: a three-country,three-method comparative study

ABSTRACT

This study introduces and evaluates the robustness of different volumetric, sentiment, and social network approaches to predict the elections in three Asian countries – Malaysia, India, and Pakistan from Twitter posts. We find that predictive power of social media performs well for India and Pakistan but is not effective for Malaysia. Overall, we find that it is useful to consider the recency of Twitter posts while using it to predict a real outcome, such as an election result. Sentiment information mined using machine learning models was the most accurate predictor of election outcomes. Social network information is stable despite sudden surges in political discussions, for e.g. around elections-related news events. Methods combining sentiment and volume information, or sentiment and social network information, are effective at predicting smaller vote shares, for e.g. vote shares in the case of independent candidates and regional parties. We conclude with a detailed discussion on the caveats of social media analysis for predicting real-world outcomes and recommendations for future work.     

Effectiveness of health messages to change women's thin-ideal and unhealthy weight control intentions: Connecting social norms and social networks approaches

The thin-ideal is becoming increasingly dominant among women in Eastern Asian countries such as China and South Korea. The internalization of the thin-ideal leads to body image disturbance and unhealthy weight-control behaviors. Based on the social networks and social norms approaches, this study tests the effectiveness of normative messages in reducing women's internationalization of the thin-ideal and weight-control intentions through an experiment among female college students in China. It investigates how the following three factors: content of normative message (psychoeducational or feminist), source of the message (strong ties or weak ties), and characteristics of the recipients (self-weight evaluations) influence women's body image and weight-control intentions. Results of this study suggest that normative messages with a psychoeducational approach delivered through strong ties are more effective in decreasing women's internalization of the thin-ideal than the same message delivered through weak ties. In contrast, normative messages with a feminist approach delivered through weak ties are more effective in reducing women's internalization of the thin-ideal and unhealthy weight-control intentions than the same messages delivered through strong ties. There is an interaction effect between message content and recipients' self-weight evaluation. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.     

From platform jumping to self-censorship: internet freedom,social media,and circumvention practices in Zambia

This article describes the complex media environment of urban Zambia based on qualitative interviews with 42 active ICT and social media users in Lusaka. After a contextual discussion of media censorship and Internet freedom, the article draws upon interview data to delineate four circumvention practices: (1) platform jumping; (2) anonymity; (3) self-censorship; and (4) negotiation of legal challenges. Rather than approach circumvention as a set of techniques disseminated from the information capitals of the world to those in the “global south,” this study approaches it as a set of cultural practices that emerges within particular sociohistorical conditions and platforms of communication.     

Consumer health information seeking in social media: a literature review

Objective

The objective of this literature review was to summarise current research regarding how consumers seek health‐related information from social media. Primarily, we hope to reveal characteristics of existing studies investigating the health topics that consumers have discussed in social media, ascertaining the roles social media have played in consumers’ information‐seeking processes and discussing the potential benefits and concerns of accessing consumer health information in social media.

Methods

The Web of Science Core Collection database was searched for existing literature on consumer health information seeking in social media. The search returned 214 articles, of which 21 met the eligibility criteria following review of full‐text documents.

Conclusion

Between 2011 and 2016, twenty‐one studies published explored various topics related to consumer information seeking in social media. These ranged from online discussions on specific diseases (e.g. diabetes) to public health concerns (e.g. pesticide residues). Consumers’ information needs vary depending on the health issues of interest. Benefits of health seeking on social media, in addition to filling a need for health information, include the social and emotional support health consumers gain from peer‐to‐peer interactions. These benefits, however, are tempered by concerns of information quality and authority and lead to decreased consumer engagement.     

Exploring the de-stigmatizing effect of social media on homosexuality in China: an interpersonal-mediated contact versus parasocial-mediated contact perspective

The subject of homosexuality remains taboo in contemporary China, given that the public maintains a considerably negative attitude toward the subject. Recent Pew Research indicates that, on average, 21% of Chinese respondents believe that homosexuality should be accepted. However, parallel surveys of Internet users paint a different picture, as online surveys found a more liberal atmosphere toward homosexuality and same-sex marriage. The online and offline discrepancy in attitudes toward homosexuality begs the question of whether the Internet carries a stigma-reducing function in terms of views on sexual minority groups. Guided by the contact hypothesis and parasocial contact theory, the current study investigates the de-stigmatizing effect of the social media on homosexuality in China. A web-based survey with 980 social media users with a heterosexual orientation confirmed the positive role of interpersonal-mediated contact with lesbian and gay celebrities via social media venues in stigma reduction; but findings did not lend support to the parasocial-mediated contact hypothesis.     

Students' increased time spent on social media,and their level of coronavirus anxiety during the pandemic,predict increased social media addiction

Background

During the COVID-19 pandemic period, the level of anxiety and the duration of social media use increased in university students.

Objectives

This study aimed to examine the relationship between coronavirus anxiety and social media addiction in university students.

Methods

The sample consisted of 346 university students in Turkey. The data were collected online using the Sociodemographic Data Form, the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale Short Form and the Social Network Addiction Scale. The data were analysed using one-way analysis of variance, Mann–Whitney U test, Pearson correlation analysis, chi-square analysis and multiple linear regression analysis.

Results

The results showed that the mean coronavirus anxiety score was higher in men than in women. Social media addiction increased as the daily time spent by the students on social media increased. A positive correlation was found between the daily time spent on social media before the pandemic and social media usage during the pandemic. It was concluded that students use social media more during the pandemic than before it and that social media addiction increases as the students' coronavirus anxiety increases.

Conclusion

It is important to plan initiatives to reduce coronavirus anxiety to prevent social media addiction in young people.

Study Location and Sample

The research population consisted of 1st and 2nd year students who are studying in the Medical Services and Techniques Department of Vocational School of Health Services at a university located in the west of Turkey, during the Fall Term of academic year 2020–2021. Students in this department are studying in anaesthesia, dialysis, first and emergency aid, medical laboratory techniques, medical imaging technique, and medical documentation and secretarial programmes.     

Echoslamming: how incivility interacts with cyberbalkanization on the social media in Hong Kong

Cyberbalkanization has growingly become common on the Internet and can lead to public’s opinion polarization. This study investigates a specific process of cyberbalkanization through which incivility is circulated within online communities. From a dataset of Hong Kong-based Facebook Pages collected during a social movement, a set of politically-organized communities was identified and their connectivity generated a post-sharing network. A random sample of contents shared between and within these communities was then manually classified based on the level of incivility. The targets of offence through the use of uncivil language were also coded. Contents shared within ideologically compatible communities were found to be more likely to be uncivil. The association was significantly more positive in a populistic community, of which members had unique political nature and cultural norms. The targets were usually political opponents and incivility was adopted to petition detractors from within-community discussions. We therefore suggest ‘echoslamming’ is an online phenomenon through which uncivil contents catalyse anger toward political opponents among ideologically congruent information sources and consequently reinforce the audience’s predilection. Such a mechanism can be one underlying explanation for a vicious circle of cyberbalkanization-induced polarization on political opinions.     

改革开放中的大陆英语传媒及功能分析

此文论述了在改革开放的社会环境下 ,中国大陆英文媒介的现实功能和潜在功能 ,旨在反映英文传媒与社会变革的互动关系。英文传媒的诉求目标是海外受众和国内精通英文的知识阶层。与中文传媒相比 ,因其诉求对象的不同而被赋予编辑上的灵活性和一定的专业自主权。从而为其功能的发挥拓展了更为宽松的空间     

Applying user analytics to uses and effects of social media in China

ABSTRACT

We introduce what user analytics can do in the first half of the paper and then illustrate how to do user analytics in the second half. In the current context, user analytics refers to a set of diverse communication research methods on uses and effects of social media. User analytics has evolved from TV ratings research to online user research. The history illustrates what data sources, measures, and analyses can be used for what types of research questions under user analytics. We discuss the similarities of and differences between user analytics and other methods of computational communication research (e.g. content mining and online experiments), and compare the strengths and weaknesses of user analytics with traditional quantitative methods (e.g. survey). Finally, we present an application study of Chinese bloggers to demonstrate how to employ user analytics methods to study the production, consumption, and effects of user-generated content.     

Mapping user relationships for health information diffusion on microblogging in China: A social network analysis of Sina Weibo

This study applies social network analysis to examining the pattern of relationships among networked users on Sina Weibo, the most popular social networking site in China. Focusing on verified (or V-) users and ordinary (non-V-) users, this study maps three centrality attributes of the social network, in terms of in/out degree, closeness, betweenness, along with cliques, in the dissemination and sharing of health-related information in the virtual community. Findings reveal a ‘spider web’ pattern of relationship among 50 V-users and 50 non-V-users during a regular period of time, highlighting the dominant position of the V-users for health-related information diffusion. Data analysis then reports a ‘drifting dandelion’ pattern of network among those who shared the information about a health-related incident on Weibo. This study also provides further information about the topical categories of health-related messages shared during the regular period as well as the topics concerning the incident. The implications of social networking media for health communication are also discussed.     

Television fiction and online communities: an analysis of comments on social networks and forums made by female viewers

This article analyzes the feeling of communities of female social viewers who watch television fiction and participate in social networks and forums dedicated to the programs. The sample is made up of 7,849 comments from 157 platforms (49 Facebook pages, 71 Twitter accounts, and 37 forums). We describe the characteristics of these communities of fans, which differ significantly from cult fandoms and are based on ICT interweaving between reception and female viewers’ daily lives. The results reveal that these active online poster and lurker communities express themselves through their emotional ties with the television series, self-reflection, and the manifestation of intimacy. Identification with the group is based on the relationship of the storylines with their own lives, with no attempts at constructing a cultural or political identity.     

Reinforcing attitudes in a gatewatching news era: Individual-level antecedents to sharing fact-checks on social media

Despite the prevalence of fact-checking, little is known about who posts fact-checks online. Based upon a content analysis of Facebook and Twitter digital trace data and a linked online survey (N?=?783), this study reveals that sharing fact-checks in political conversations on social media is linked to age, ideology, and political behaviors. Moreover, an individual’s need for orientation (NFO) is an even stronger predictor of sharing a fact-check than ideological intensity or relevance, alone, and also influences the type of fact-check format (with or without a rating scale) that is shared. Finally, participants generally shared fact-checks to reinforce their existing attitudes. Consequently, concerns over the effects of fact-checking should move beyond a limited-effects approach (e.g., changing attitudes) to also include reinforcing accurate beliefs.     

Social capital and relationship maintenance: uses of social media among the South Asian Diaspora in the U.S.

This study uses the framework of bridging and bonding social capital to explore how South Asian immigrants to the U.S. negotiate relationships amongst three social groups: their ties in their home country, their ties to Americans, and their ties to other South Asian immigrants living in the U.S. In so doing, it develops a model for immigrant social media use that contributes to an ongoing reassessment of the notion of community.     

Antecedents of Incidental News Exposure: The Role of Media Preference,Use and Trust

ABSTRACT

The online environment has radically changed the way in which users consume, discover and manipulate news. The growing relevance of social media platforms and digital intermediaries for news sharing and consumption increase the likelihood of citizens to be exposed to online news even when they are not seeking it. This digital transformation fundamentally challenges the way online news use and exposure have been conceptualized and measured, affecting also to citizens’ knowledge about public affairs and politics. This article examines the factors that predict the probability to be an “incidentally exposed news user” online. Specifically, based on a representative US sample from the Pew Research Centre, this study analyses the role of media preference, use and trust. Findings indicate that beyond users’ demographics and loyalty, readers’ news preferences, uses and trust, specially of social media platforms, affect their probability to be incidentally exposed to news online. These results have important empirical and theoretical implications for understanding the connection between readers’ news consumption patterns and online exposure, intentional or incidental.     

Candidates’ use of informal communication on social media reduces credibility and support: Examining the consequences of expectancy violations

ABSTRACT

This experiment (N= 476) investigates how individuals evaluate political candidates who use informal communication on social media. We use expectancy violations theory (EVT) to predict that informal communication will lead to negative evaluations. Our results suggest that politicians’ use of informal communication on social media leads to expectancy violation, which decreases perceived credibility and lessens intention to support a candidate. This effect was not moderated by sex (male versus female) or age (young versus old) of the candidate, nor of participants being the same sex as the candidate. These findings suggest that political figures should use informal communication on social media with caution.     

Examining public acquisition of science knowledge from social media in Singapore: an extension of the cognitive mediation model

This study extends the cognitive mediation model (CMM) by examining the role of social media in cultivating public science knowledge. A sample of 901 Singaporeans was collected through an online survey panel. The results showed that the CMM could be applied to a social media context with a focus on science literacy. Specifically, the findings indicated that people with higher levels of surveillance gratification and social utility motivations tended to pay more attention and to elaborate more about science news that they encounter on social media. Likewise, people with greater social utility motivation tended to engage in greater interpersonal discussions on social media. Notably, attention to news on social media had an indirect association with science knowledge through news elaboration and interpersonal discussion on social media. Implications for theory and practice for science communication were discussed.