Media framing of social media addiction in the UK and the US

A manual content analysis compares 6019 Twitter comments from six countries during the 2016 US presidential election. Twitter comments were positive about Trump and negative about Clinton in Russia, the US and also in India and China. In the UK and Brazil, Twitter comments were largely negative about both candidates. Twitter sources for Clinton comments were more frequently from journalists and news companies, and still more negative than positive in tone. Topics on Twitter varied from those in mainstream news media. This foundational study expands communications research on social media, as well as political communications and international distinctions.

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Coda

Digital Humanities in Latin America ◽

10.5744/florida/9781683401476.003.0017 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 267-270

Author(s):

Héctor Fernández L’Hoeste ◽

Juan Carlos Rodríguez

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Latin American ◽

Social Relations ◽

Digital Humanities ◽

The Us ◽

The Uk

This chapter provides a balance for the volume, accounting for the implications of recent political shift in the US, much of which has been linked to social media. It emphasizes how the texts included in this collection also suggest the speed with which technology is playing a preeminent role in cultural, political, and social relations, be it north or south of the border. In the end, it seeks to strike a balance between the scholarly worlds in Portuguese and Spanish and academic spheres of the Anglo domain, clarifying the volume's intention not to pontificate, but rather to serve as a bridge between the Latin American digital humanities and the Anglo academe in the US and the UK, in a fashion as independent as possible to hegemonic proclivities.

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Who shares news on mobile messaging applications, why and in what ways? A cross-national analysis

Mobile Media & Communication ◽

10.1177/2050157920958442 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 205015792095844

Author(s):

Antonis Kalogeropoulos

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Breaking News ◽

Main Motivation ◽

News Stories ◽

Current Affairs ◽

The Us ◽

The Uk ◽

National Analysis ◽

News Sharing ◽

Cross National

Recently, in many countries, the use of mobile messaging applications for news has risen while the use of Facebook for news has declined. The purpose of this study is to identify who shares news on messaging applications, why and in what ways. Findings from a survey and focus groups in the US, the UK, Germany, and Brazil show that (a) the main motivation for news users to share news in these spaces is context collapse; their aversion to news sharing on an open network like Facebook, (b) the anytime/anywhere mobile affordance facilitates their need for private news sharing, (c) news stories chosen for sharing usually revolve around niche interests or breaking news events and not politics and current affairs, (d) news sharers are likely to be young, and to trust in news found on social media in the Western countries of our sample, while they tend to be older and partisan in Brazil where 38% of the population shares news on mobile messaging apps during an average week.

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EU Armed Forces’ Use of Social Media in Areas of Deployment

Media and Communication ◽

10.17645/mac.v4i1.336 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 51-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Maria Hellman ◽

Eva-Karin Olsson ◽

Charlotte Wagnsson

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Comparative Perspective ◽

Member States ◽

Eu Member States ◽

The Us ◽

Use Of Social Media ◽

The Uk ◽

Social Media Strategy

The advent of social media can be seen both as a risk and an opportunity by armed forces. Previous research has primarily examined whether or not the use of social media endangers or strengthens armed forces’ strategic narrative. We examine armed forces’ perceptions of risks and opportunities on a broad basis, with a particular focus on areas of deployment. The article is based on a survey of perceptions of social media amongst the armed forces of EU member states, thus adding to previous research through its comparative perspective. Whereas previous research has mainly focused on larger powers, such as the US and the UK, this article includes the views of the armed forces of 26 EU states, including several smaller nations. In analyzing the results we asked whether or not risk and opportunity perceptions were related to national ICT maturity and the existence of a social media strategy. The analysis shows that perceptions of opportunities outweigh perceptions of risks, with marketing and two-way communication as the two most prominent opportunities offered by the use of social media. Also, armed forces in countries with a moderate to high ICT maturity emphasize social media as a good way for marketing purposes.

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Detecting fake news on Facebook: The role of emotional intelligence

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0246757 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. e0246757

Author(s):

Stephanie Preston ◽

Anthony Anderson ◽

David J. Robertson ◽

Mark P. Shephard ◽

Narisong Huhe

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Emotional Intelligence ◽

Public Health Research ◽

Fake News ◽

Training Interventions ◽

The Us ◽

User Data ◽

The Uk ◽

Emotional Intelligence Training

The proliferation of fake news on social media is now a matter of considerable public and governmental concern. In 2016, the UK EU referendum and the US Presidential election were both marked by social media misinformation campaigns, which have subsequently reduced trust in democratic processes. More recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the acceptance of fake news has been shown to pose a threat to public health. Research on how to combat the false acceptance of fake news is still in its infancy. However, recent studies have started to focus on the psychological factors which might make some individuals less likely to fall for fake news. Here, we adopt that approach to assess whether individuals who show high levels of ‘emotional intelligence’ (EQ) are less likely to fall for fake news items. That is, are individuals who are better able to disregard the emotionally charged content of such items, better equipped to assess the veracity of the information. Using a sample of UK participants, an established measure of EQ and a novel fake news detection task, we report a significant positive relationship between individual differences in emotional intelligence and fake news detection ability. We also report a similar effect for higher levels of educational attainment, and we report some exploratory qualitative fake news judgement data. Our findings are discussed in terms of their applicability to practical short term (i.e. current Facebook user data) and medium term (i.e. emotional intelligence training) interventions which could enhance fake news detection.

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The Delocalization of the Local Election

Social Media + Society ◽

10.1177/2056305120924772 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 205630512092477

Author(s):

Caleb T. Carr

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Political Action ◽

Local Level ◽

Local Elections ◽

Local Election ◽

Geographically Dispersed ◽

The Us ◽

Local Residents ◽

Election Results ◽

The Uk

Local elections are no longer just influenced by, marketed toward, or relevant to only a small, geographically constrained electorate. Social media increasingly connect politics to publics that may extend beyond politicians’ or issues’ local constituencies. Every election—from Senator to alderperson—has been rendered accessible and relevant to broad individuals, organizations, and interests. Now, campaigns—particularly in close races or battleground areas—can canvas beyond the local level to seek donations, campaign volunteers, or to encourage local residents to vote. Social media have become venues to demonstrate a candidate’s likability with users, which are parlayed into local goodwill and electability. And foreign nationals and governments increasingly are using social media to spread disinformation or to otherwise sway local issues. Ultimately, what was once a city, county, state, provincial, or national election can now play out on a global stage through social media, with all of the subsequent influence and impacts. This article uses several geographically dispersed and representative examples to exemplify the delocalization of the local election, including Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 Senate Campaign (the US), the effect of nationwide social media popularity and interactivity on local election results (Taiwan and The Netherlands), and Russian influence in the 2016 Brexit Referendum (the UK). It concludes by calling for new understanding of what political involvement and political action may mean in a socially mediated society.

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Media Framing and the Threat of Global Pandemics: The Ebola Crisis in UK Media and Policy Response

Sociological Research Online ◽

10.1177/1360780418811966 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 73-92 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Elisa Pieri

Keyword(s):

Media Framing ◽

Problem Definition ◽

Treatment Recommendation ◽

Media Communication ◽

Political Response ◽

The Us ◽

The Uk ◽

Best Responses

Pandemics pose new and difficult challenges. Risks associated with the spread of pandemics generate intense speculation in Western media. Taking the 2014–2015 Ebola outbreak as a case study, the article critically analyses how the risk of contagion in the US, Europe, and the UK has been constructed in UK media and policy discourse. Drawing on the importance of media framing in shaping a given problem definition, causal interpretation and treatment recommendation, the article critically assesses the impacts of the British newspaper framing of Ebola, questioning the rationale of a UK domestic political response based on containment and border screenings. The article also takes a comparative angle, engaging with constructions of previous pandemics. Underscoring the importance of a sociological analysis of these framings, the article critically reflects on the role of media communication in reproducing certain topoi, which reduce the scope for open public debate around best responses to a pandemic emergency.

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Artificial intelligence-enabled analysis of UK and US public attitudes on Twitter and Facebook towards COVID-19 vaccination (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.26627 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Amir Hussain ◽

Ahsen Tahir ◽

Zain Hussain ◽

Zakariya Sheikh ◽

Kia Dashtipour ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

Social Media ◽

Language Processing ◽

Vaccine Development ◽

Public Attitudes ◽

Public Attitude ◽

Media Analysis ◽

Public Confidence ◽

The Us ◽

The Uk

UNSTRUCTURED Background: Global efforts towards the development and deployment of a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 are rapidly advancing. We developed and applied an artificial-intelligence (AI)-based approach to analyse social-media public sentiment in the UK and the US towards COVID-19 vaccinations, to understand public attitude and identify topics of concern. Methods: Over 300,000 social-media posts related to COVID-19 vaccinations were extracted, including 23,571 Facebook-posts from the UK and 144,864 from the US, along with 40,268 tweets from the UK and 98,385 from the US respectively, from 1st March - 22nd November 2020. We used natural-language processing and deep learning-based techniques to predict average sentiments, sentiment trends and topics of discussion. These were analysed longitudinally and geo-spatially, and a manual- eading of randomly selected posts around points of interest helped identify underlying themes and validated insights from the analysis. Results: We found overall averaged positive, negative and neutral sentiment in the UK to be 58%, 22% and 17%, compared to 56%, 24% and 18% in the US, respectively. Public optimism over vaccine development, effectiveness and trials as well as concerns over safety, economic viability and corporation control were identified. We compared our findings to national surveys in both countries and found them to correlate broadly. Conclusions: AI-enabled social-media analysis should be considered for adoption by institutions and governments, alongside surveys and other conventional methods of assessing public attitude. This could enable real-time assessment, at scale, of public confidence and trust in COVID-19 vaccinations, help address concerns of vaccine-sceptics and develop more effective policies and communication strategies to maximise uptake.

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ISLAMIC POPULISM IN POST-TRUTH INDONESIA

Epistemé Jurnal Pengembangan Ilmu Keislaman ◽

10.21274/epis.2020.15.02.265-286 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (02) ◽

pp. 265-286

Author(s):

Rubaidi Rubaidi

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Similar Pattern ◽

Democratic Consolidation ◽

Western Countries ◽

The Us ◽

In Series ◽

False News ◽

The Uk

This article examines the rise of Islamic populism in post-truth Indonesia. It particularly discusses the proliferation of Islamic populism narratives in social media that lead to hoaxes and hate speeches which appeared in series of political elections. This article argues that there has been a similar pattern of Indonesian form of populism to that of other parts of western countries, particularly the US and the UK. Like populism in the latter two countries, the issue of “indigeneity” has generated the reproduction of post-truth narrates, ranging from false-news, hoaxes, and hate-speeches, blaiming the so-called “foreign” elements of the country. Islamist mobilisation is central to explain the proliferation of post-truth politics which cultivates tensions and divisions among society and reserves as a threat to democratic consolidation in contemporary Indonesia.

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Beyond social media news use algorithms: how political discussion and network heterogeneity clarify incidental news exposure

Online Information Review ◽

10.1108/oir-04-2020-0133 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Rebecca Scheffauer ◽

Manuel Goyanes ◽

Homero Gil de Zúñiga

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Public Affairs ◽

Political Discussion ◽

Content Type ◽

Network Heterogeneity ◽

The Us ◽

Incidental Exposure ◽

Social Media Platforms ◽

The Uk ◽

News Use

PurposeTraditionally, most readers' news access and consumption were based on direct intentional news seeking behavior. However, in recent years the emergence and popularization of social media platforms have enabled new opportunities for citizens to be incidentally informed about public affairs and politics as by-product of using these platforms. This article seeks to shed light on how socio-political conversation attributes may explain incidental exposure to information.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on US and UK survey data, the authors explore the role of political discussion and discussion network heterogeneity in predicting individuals' levels of incidental exposure to news. Furthermore, the authors also test the role of social media news use as a moderator. A hierarchical OLS regression analysis with incidental news exposure as dependent variable was conducted as well as analyses of moderation effects (heterogeneity*social media and political discussion*social media) using the PROCESS macro in SPSS.FindingsFindings reveal that heterogeneous networks are positively related to incidental news exposure in the UK, while sheer level of political discussion is a positive influence over incidental news exposure in the US. Social media news use moderates the relationship between political discussion and incidental news exposure in the UK. That is, those who are highly exposed to news on social media and discuss less often about politics and public affairs, they tend to be incidentally exposed to news online the most. Meanwhile, the interaction of social media news and discussion heterogeneity showed significant results in the US with those exhibiting high levels of both also receiving the biggest share of INE.Originality/valueThis study contributes to closing research gaps regarding how and when people are inadvertently exposed to news in two Western societies. By highlighting that beyond the fate of algorithmic information treatment by social media platforms, discussion antecedents as well as social media news use play an integral part in predicting incidental news exposure, the study unravels fundamental conditions underlying the incidental news exposure phenomenon.

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