Investigating Suicide-Related Subliminal Messages on Instagram

Crisis ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Florian Arendt ◽  
Antonia Markiewitz ◽  
Sebastian Scherr
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Conscious Awareness ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Quantitative Content ◽  
Subliminal Messages ◽  
Subjective Threshold ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Group A

Abstract. Background: Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among 15–29-year-olds and Instagram is one of the most popular and fastest-growing social media platforms among this age group. A previous study presented preliminary evidence for suicide-related "subliminal messages" on Instagram, defined as very brief presentations of suicide-related content in video posts that users have no conscious awareness of. Aim: A systematic quantitative study was pending. Method: We conducted a quantitative content analysis of 100 Instagram video posts. A frame-by-frame coding procedure allowed for an assessment of whether suicide-related content was depicted in very brief segments, even when this content could not be consciously recognized when watched at regular speed. Results: Analysis indicates that a substantial amount of suicide-related content is presented in very brief shots. We identified 67 very brief shots that appeared in 21 video posts. Of interest, 13 of these video posts presented more than one very brief suicide-related shot. Limitation: The subjective threshold of conscious awareness differs inter-individually. This complicates the operationalization of subliminal messages. Conclusion: Subliminal messages are ethically highly problematic. There is a need for a greater awareness of possible suicide-related subliminal messages on Instagram.

Suicide on Instagram – Content Analysis of a German Suicide-Related Hashtag

Crisis ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Arendt
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Suicide Prevention ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Conscious Awareness ◽  
Subliminal Messages ◽  
Tentative Evidence ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Death Wishes

Abstract. Background: Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15–29-year-olds globally. Unfortunately, the suicide-related content on Instagram, a popular social media platform for youth, has not received the scholarly attention it deserves. Method: The present study provides a content analysis of posts tagged as #selbstmord, a German suicide-related hashtag. These posts were created between July 5 and July 11, 2017. Results: Approximately half of all posts included words or visuals related to suicide. Cutting was by far the most prominent method. Although sadness was the dominant emotion, self-hate and loneliness also appeared regularly. Importantly, inconsistency – a gap between one's inner mental state (e.g., sadness) and one's overtly expressed behavior (e.g., smiling) – was also a recurring theme. Conversely, help-seeking, death wishes, and professional awareness–intervention material were very rare. An explorative analysis revealed that some videos relied on very fast cutting techniques. We provide tentative evidence that users may be exposed to purposefully inserted suicide-related subliminal messages (i.e., exposure to content without the user's conscious awareness). Limitations: We only investigated the content of posts on one German hashtag, and the sample size was rather small. Conclusion: Suicide prevention organizations may consider posting more awareness–intervention materials. Future research should investigate suicide-related subliminal messages in social media video posts. Although tentative, this finding should raise a warning flag for suicide prevention scholars.

No Interaction on Instagram

2020 ◽  
pp. 33-51
Author(s):  
Uta Russmann ◽  
Jakob Svensson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
National Election ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Quantitative Content Analysis ◽  
Interaction Processes ◽  
Quantitative Content ◽  
Social Media Platforms

This chapter addresses a neglected issue within the field of social media and political communication. It focuses on interaction processes on Instagram asking how political parties used Instagram—a platform that is centered around images—when engaging in interaction with their followers on the platform. The focus is on political parties' use of Instagram in the 2014 Swedish national election campaign. This gives an impression of the first attempts of political parties' use of this communication platform. The quantitative content analysis focuses on Instagram images including their captions and comments (posts) that Swedish parties published four weeks prior to Election Day. The results suggest that not much changes on Instagram compared to other social media platforms: Swedish political parties hardly used Instagram to interact with their followers, and the very few interactions taking place did not contribute to the exchange of relevant and substantive information about politics. Interaction and deliberation are also not enhanced by the images.

Welcome or Not: Comparing #Refugee Posts on Instagram and Pinterest

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 512-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanine P. D. Guidry ◽  
Lucinda L. Austin ◽  
Kellie E. Carlyle ◽  
Karen Freberg ◽  
Michael Cacciatore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Random Sample ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Quantitative Content Analysis ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Quantitative Content ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Syrian Refugee Crisis ◽  
Security Concern

The Syrian refugee crisis, started in 2011, has resulted in millions of Syrians fleeing their homes: 6.6 million have been internally displaced and more than 4.6 million have fled the country. This flow of refugees has led to both humanitarian efforts to assist refugees and growing views of refugees as a threat to receiving countries’ security and autonomy. Sentiments about the still-growing crisis are increasingly expressed on social media platforms, including visual ones like Instagram and Pinterest. However, little is known about what and how information about refugees is presented on these platforms. The current study addresses this gap by conducting a quantitative content analysis of a random sample of 750 Instagram posts and 750 Pinterest posts to evaluate and compare visual and textual messaging surrounding this crisis. Results show that Pinterest messages more frequently depict security-concern sentiment and include more unique visual components than Instagram. Across platforms, security-concern posts were more likely to be framed thematically; whereas most humanitarian-concern posts were framed episodically. The study concludes with a discussion of implications for communication scholars and practitioners that may inform the development of visual-based social-mediated messaging.

scholarly journals #LibraryLife: A quantitative analysis of social media usage, content, and engagement at the Vancouver Public Library

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Vander Kooy
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Quantitative Content Analysis ◽  
Social Media Platform ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Quantitative Content ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Platform

This paper explores the contents of the Vancouver Public Library’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube feeds between September 1st and November 30th, 2020 to better understand how each social media platform is being used to communicate with stakeholders. This quantitative content analysis of each platform’s usage, content, and engagement highlights some important trends libraries should be aware of concerning both the use of multiple social media platforms and the evaluation of their current social media strategies.

Comparing Representation of Depression on Reddit and Twitter Social Media Platforms (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethan Kaji ◽  
Maggie Bushman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Dsm Iv ◽  
Twitter Users

BACKGROUND Adolescents with depression often turn to social media to express their feelings, for support, and for educational purposes. Little is known about how Reddit, a forum-based platform, compares to Twitter, a newsfeed platform, when it comes to content surrounding depression. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to identify differences between Reddit and Twitter concerning how depression is discussed and represented online. METHODS A content analysis of Reddit posts and Twitter posts, using r/depression and #depression, identified signs of depression using the DSM-IV criteria. Other youth-related topics, including School, Family, and Social Activity, and the presence of medical or promotional content were also coded for. Relative frequency of each code was then compared between platforms as well as the average DSM-IV score for each platform. RESULTS A total of 102 posts were included in this study, with 53 Reddit posts and 49 Twitter posts. Findings suggest that Reddit has more content with signs of depression with 92% than Twitter with 24%. 28.3% of Reddit posts included medical content compared to Twitter with 18.4%. 53.1% of Twitter posts had promotional content while Reddit posts didn’t contain promotional content. CONCLUSIONS Users with depression seem more willing to discuss their mental health on the subreddit r/depression than on Twitter. Twitter users also use #depression with a wider variety of topics, not all of which actually involve a case of depression.

Twitter Users’ Displays of Affect in the Global Warming Debate

2021 ◽  
pp. 004728162110078
Author(s):  
Shanna Cameron ◽  
Alexandra Russell ◽  
Luke Brake ◽  
Katherine Fredlund ◽  
Angela Morris
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Technical Communication ◽  
Research Team ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
Quantitative Content ◽  
Twitter Users

This article engages with recent discussions in the field of technical communication that call for climate change research that moves beyond the believer/denier dichotomy. For this study, our research team coded 900 tweets about climate change and global warming for different emotions in order to understand how Twitter users rely on affect rhetorically. Our findings use quantitative content analysis to challenge current assumptions about writing and affect on social media, and our results indicate a number of arenas for future research on affect, global warming, and rhetoric.

A shift from science to politics : a content analysis of COVID-19 Videos on YouTube (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chyun-Fung Shi ◽  
Matthew C So ◽  
Sophie Stelmach ◽  
Arielle Earn ◽  
David J D Earn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Health Campaigns ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Conflicting Information ◽  
Social Media Platforms

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic is the first pandemic where social media platforms relayed information on a large scale, enabling an “infodemic” of conflicting information which undermined the global response to the pandemic. Understanding how the information circulated and evolved on social media platforms is essential for planning future public health campaigns. OBJECTIVE This study investigated what types of themes about COVID-19 were most viewed on YouTube during the first 8 months of the pandemic, and how COVID-19 themes progressed over this period. METHODS We analyzed top-viewed YouTube COVID-19 related videos in English from from December 1, 2019 to August 16, 2020 with an open inductive content analysis. We coded 536 videos associated with 1.1 billion views across the study period. East Asian countries were the first to report the virus, while most of the top-viewed videos in English were from the US. Videos from straight news outlets dominated the top-viewed videos throughout the outbreak, and public health authorities contributed the fewest. Although straight news was the dominant COVID-19 video source with various types of themes, its viewership per video was similar to that for entertainment news and YouTubers after March. RESULTS We found, first, that collective public attention to the COVID-19 pandemic on YouTube peaked around March 2020, before the outbreak peaked, and flattened afterwards despite a spike in worldwide cases. Second, more videos focused on prevention early on, but videos with political themes increased through time. Third, regarding prevention and control measures, masking received much less attention than lockdown and social distancing in the study period. CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that a transition of focus from science to politics on social media intensified the COVID-19 infodemic and may have weakened mitigation measures during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is recommended that authorities should consider co-operating with reputable social media influencers to promote health campaigns and improve health literacy. In addition, given high levels of globalization of social platforms and polarization of users, tailoring communication towards different digital communities is likely to be essential.

scholarly journals Characteristics of Gun Advertisements on Social Media: Systematic Search and Content Analysis of Twitter and YouTube Posts (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Jordan ◽  
James Kalin ◽  
Colleen Dabrowski
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Systematic Search ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Corporate Ownership ◽  
Public Health Concern ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Streaming Services ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Different Characteristics

BACKGROUND Although gun violence has been identified as a major public health concern, the scope and significance of internet gun advertising is not known. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to quantify the characteristics of gun advertising on social media and to compare the reach of posts by manufacturers with those of influencers. METHODS Using a systematic search, we created a database of recent and popular Twitter and YouTube posts made public by major firearm manufacturers and influencers. From our sample of social media posts, we reviewed the content of the posts on the basis of 19 different characteristics, such as type of gun, presence of women, and military or police references. Our content analysis summarized statistical differences in the information conveyed in posts to compare advertising approaches across social media platforms. RESULTS Sample posts revealed that firearm manufacturers use social media to attract audiences to websites that sell firearms: 14.1% (131/928; ±2.9) of Twitter posts, 53.6% (228/425; ±6.2) of YouTube videos, and 89.5% (214/239; ±5.1) of YouTube influencer videos link to websites that facilitate sales. Advertisements included women in efforts to market handguns and pistols for the purpose of protection: videos with women included protection themes 2.5 times more often than videos without women. Top manufacturers of domestic firearms received 98 million channel views, compared with 6.1 billion channel views received by the top 12 YouTube influencers. CONCLUSIONS Firearm companies use social media as an advertising platform to connect viewers to websites that sell guns. Gun manufacturers appropriate YouTube servers, video streaming services, and the work of YouTube influencers to reach large audiences to promote the widespread sale of consumer firearms. YouTube and Twitter subsidize gun advertising by offering server and streaming services at no cost to gun manufacturers, to the commercial benefit of Google and Twitter’s corporate ownership.

scholarly journals Examining the Role of Facebook in the Dissemination of Hate Messages over the Agitation for Biafra in Ikeja, Lagos

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (09) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ogbu S. U. ◽  
Olupohunda Bayo Festus
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Regulatory Mechanisms ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Methods ◽  
Method Approach

In Nigeria, during the agitation for Biafra by the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra between 2013 and 2017, the role of Facebook in the dissemination of hate messages by the protagonists and those in opposition to the agitation raised concern about the role of social media as a tool for the spread of hate messages. It is against this background that this research was designed to evaluate the role of Facebook in the spread of hate messages over the agitation for the separate state of Biafra. The study adopted the exploratory design and the mix method approach; both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. For the quantitative data, 400 questionnaires were administered on purposively sampled respondents. The surveys were analyzed using simple percentages and frequency distribution. Also, content analysis of some purposively selected Facebook messages was carried out. In the end, the research found that hate messages were propagated through Facebook using six major channels during the agitation for Biafra between 2013 and 2017. They include; Facebook Personal Profiles, Status Updates and Wall Postings, Facebook Group Chats, Facebook Video Uploads, Individual Comments and Likes, Video Shares and Reposts, and sharing of articles and links to other social media platforms. In line with its findings, the research recommended that Facebook should review its community standards and policies on postings of hate messages through its medium and also strengthen its regulatory mechanisms to ensure that it does not provide a platform anymore for propagators of hate messages in Nigeria and around the world.

scholarly journals SOCIAL MEDIA VS TRADITIONAL MEDIA AND THEIR IMPACT ON BRAND IMAGE COMMUNICATION ON INDIAN MILLENNIALS

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1359-1373
Author(s):  
Ajit Jain
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Brand Image ◽  
Social Media Marketing ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Image Communication ◽  
Generation Z ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Marketing Methods

The study focuses on examining which form of marketing out of the age-old Traditional Media or the latest Social Media Marketing has a greater impact on the consumer and which form, can communicate the brand image in a better way. The study focuses on finding answers to questions like what are the new platforms to reach out to targeted consumers, Reasons for which customers follow a brand on social media? etc. Concepts related to the brand image, traditional media, social media marketing, and lastly branding on social media platforms are introduced and examined in the paper. The experimental part of the study consists of a quantitative survey on Indian millennials and generation Z customers, i.e. in the age group of 15-30 years. The results imply that in general social media marketing methods are more effective and can communicate brand image in a better way than that of traditional media. Also, today’s young generation is more attracted to the brands having a strong social media presence.

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