scholarly journals Are people incidentally exposed to news on social media? A comparative analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 2450-2468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Fletcher ◽  
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Online News ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Incidental Exposure ◽  
Media Environments

Scholars have questioned the potential for incidental exposure in high-choice media environments. We use online survey data to examine incidental exposure to news on social media (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter) in four countries (Italy, Australia, United Kingdom, United States). Leaving aside those who say they intentionally use social media for news, we compare the number of online news sources used by social media users who do not see it as a news platform, but may come across news while using it (the incidentally exposed), with people who do not use social media at all (non-users). We find that (a) the incidentally exposed users use significantly more online news sources than non-users, (b) the effect of incidental exposure is stronger for younger people and those with low interest in news and (c) stronger for users of YouTube and Twitter than for users of Facebook.

scholarly journals Online scrutiny of people with nice cars: A comparative analysis of Chinese, Russian, and Anglo-American outrage

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-260
Author(s):  
Qian Huang ◽  
Rashid Gabdulhakov ◽  
Daniel Trottier
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Contrasting Cases ◽  
Sina Weibo ◽  
Late Model ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Media Discourses ◽  
Chinese Social Media

Connected by platforms and equipped with mobile recording devices, social media users are able to conduct near-constant mutual scrutiny. Such mediated scrutiny sometimes escalates to public denunciations online and even mediated or embodied interventions. A recurring theme of such scrutiny can be observed not only on Chinese social media but also on platforms in Russia and elsewhere, in which hostility is openly expressed towards people with nice cars (i.e. late model, luxury, foreign vehicles). In these cases, nice cars are not merely a fact provided by participants in their denunciations; they also serve as an implication of the privileges the owners might possess. By juxtaposing cases in China against other socio-political contexts, the research intends to achieve a better understanding of how and why nice cars are rendered meaningful by participants via mediated scrutiny on social media in China and beyond. The research collects and analyses relevant social media discourses on platforms including Sina Weibo (China), YouTube (Russia), and Facebook (United Kingdom; Australia; United States). Comparing and contrasting cases in different countries, the research demonstrates various forms of critical and populist sentiments that are shaped by unique socio-cultural and political contexts.

The sagacity of the surround: The casual sex-assemblages of young adults

Sexualities ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 136346072096765
Author(s):  
George Sanders ◽  
Heidi Ann Lyons
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Casual Sex ◽  
Deleuze And Guattari ◽  
Dating Apps ◽  
Research Questions

The current study applies the concept of the assemblage, an aggregation of discursive and nondiscursive bodies, objects, and ideas, to young adults and casual sex. By de-centering human subjectivity, we are able to focus on some of the ways in which dating apps and sexual desires, in addition to human and nonhuman bodies, can be propelled and/or impeded in anticipation of sexual encounters. To answer our research questions, we rely on online survey data from young adults living in the United States ( N = 99). Making use of the theoretical contributions of Deleuze and Guattari, our findings highlight the ways dating apps and social media contribute to organizing, arranging and rearranging the casual sex assemblage.

scholarly journals A Study of a Sample of Facebook Users Finds They Do Not Seek Political News through Facebook But Are Exposed to Political News through This Medium

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-38
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Margaret Stovold
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Online News ◽  
Social Utility ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Political News ◽  
High School Degree ◽  
News Sources ◽  
News Source ◽  
Tv News ◽  
The Mean

A Review of: Schaferm, S., Sulflow, M., & Muller, P. (2017). The special taste of snack news: an application of niche theory to understand the appeal of Facebook as a source for political news. First Monday, 22(4-3). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/fm.v22i4.7431 Abstract Objective – To investigate Facebook as a source of exposure to political news stories and to compare the reasons for using Facebook as a news source and the gratifications obtained, compared with other news sources. Design – Survey questionnaire. Setting – Facebook. Subjects – 422 German Facebook users. Methods – An online survey was developed to investigate the use of Facebook as a news source compared with other sources. Specific research questions were informed by the ‘theory of niche’ (Dimmick, 2003) which examines the coexistence and competition between different media outlets by examining the breadth, overlap and superiority of one platform over another. The survey was distributed using a ‘snowball’ technique between July and August 2015. The survey was shared by 52 student research assistants on their Facebook profiles. They asked their friends to complete the survey and share it with their own networks. Main results – The mean (M) age of the 422 respondents was 23.5 years (SD=8.25). The majority were female (61%) with a high school degree (89%). TV news and news websites were the most frequently used sources of political news. Facebook ranked third, ahead of newspapers, search engines, magazines, email provider websites, and Twitter. The mean score for the importance of Facebook as a news sources was 2.46 (SD=1.13) on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is low and 5 is high. This fell in the middle of the range when compared with the top ranked source assessed by importance (TV news, M 4.40, SD=0.88) and the lowest (email providers, M 1.92, SD=0.97). Users rarely visited Facebook with the purpose of finding news (M 1.59, SD=0.73). However, they estimated around 24% of the posts they see were concerned with political news, and when encountered, these stories are frequently read (M 3.53, SD=1.18). However, the level of interaction as measured by liking, commenting, sharing or status updates was low (M 1.94 SD=1.09; M 1.37, SD=0.79; M 1.51, SD=0.85 and M 1.4, SD=0.78 respectively). The ‘gratification’ categories where Facebook as a news source scored the highest were for killing time (M 2.97, SD=1.29), entertainment (M 2.92, SD=1.05), and surveillance (M 2.77, SD=1.01). When compared to newspapers and TV news, it was found that Facebook has a lower score for niche breadth, meaning that it serves a specific rather than general news function. Facebook also had a lower overlap score when compared with the other media, thereby performing a complementary function, while TV news and newspapers perform similarly. TV news scored better for providing balanced information, surveillance and social utility while Facebook scored highest for killing time. There was no difference in the category of entertainment. There was a similar picture when comparing Facebook with newspapers. Conclusion – The authors conclude that while users do not actively seek political news through Facebook, they are exposed to political news through this medium. Respondents did not consider the news to be well balanced, and that currently Facebooks’ niche is restricted to entertainment and killing time. The authors note that this may be disappointing for news organisations, but there is potential to expose large audiences to political news when they are not actively seeking it. The findings represent a specific time point in a changing landscape and future research will need to take these changes into account. Comparisons with other online news sources and the use of objective measures to validate self-reported data would be valuable areas for future research.

Social media news deserts: Digital inequalities and incidental news exposure on social media platforms

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110595
Author(s):  
Matthew Barnidge ◽  
Michael A Xenos
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Digital Inequality ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Online Networks ◽  
Midterm Elections ◽  
Incidental Exposure ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Civic Skills ◽  
New Form

Some people live in social media “news deserts,” while others are embedded in online networks that are rich in news content. These news deserts represent a new form of digital inequality—distinct from problems of access, resources, or civic skills—that could foreclose one of the ways social media are believed to contribute to informing citizens and engaging them in democratic processes: providing opportunities for incidental news exposure. This study investigates incidental exposure on social media platforms, drawing on an online survey administered just before the 2018 US Midterm Elections ( N = 1493). The study finds that even after controlling for key individual-level factors, characteristics of social media discussion networks play a role in explaining variation in incidental exposure. The results are discussed in light of prevailing theory about incidental exposure, public engagement, and digital inequalities.

Evolution of public sentiments during the COVID-19 pandemic: Case comparisons of India, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
May Oo Lwin ◽  
Anita Sheldenkar ◽  
Jiahui Lu ◽  
Peter Johannes Schulz ◽  
Wonsun Shin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Initial Period ◽  
The United States ◽  
Crisis Response ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Communication Space

BACKGROUND Public sentiments are an important indicator of crisis response, with the need to balance exigency without adding to panic or projecting overconfidence. Given the rapid spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, governments have enacted various nationwide measures against the disease with social media platforms providing the previously unparalleled communication space for the global populations. OBJECTIVE This study aims to examine and provide a macro-level narrative of the evolution of public sentiments on social media at national levels, by comparing Twitter data from India, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States during the current pandemic. METHODS Over 67,363,091 million Twitter posts on COVID-19 from 28 January 2020 to 28 April 2021 were analyzed from the five countries with "wuhan", "corona", "nCov", and "covid" as search keywords. Change in sentiments ("very negative", " negative", "neutral or mixed", "positive”, “very positive”) were compared between countries in connection with disease milestones and public health directives. RESULTS Country-specific assessments show that negative sentiments were predominant across all five countries during the initial period of the global pandemic. However, positive sentiments encompassing hope, resilience, and support arose at differing intensities across the five countries, particularly in Asian countries. In the next stage of the pandemic, India, Singapore, and South Korea faced escalating waves of COVID-19 cases, resulting in negative sentiments, but positive sentiments appeared simultaneously. In contrast, while UK and US negative sentiments increased sharply and dramatically after the declaration of a national public emergency, strong parallel positive sentiments were slow to surface. CONCLUSIONS Our findings on sentiments across countries facing similar outbreak concerns suggest potential associations between government response actions both in terms of policy and communications, and public sentiment trends. Overall, a more concerted approach of government crisis communication appears to be associated with more stable public sentiments balanced between positives and negatives over the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spotlight

2021 ◽  
pp. 106-108
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Young People ◽  
The United States ◽  
Text Line ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Crisis Counselors

In the darkest moments of their lives, young people are finding help through the Crisis Text Line (“text HOME to 741741”). 1 Now available in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, the resource provides access to trained crisis counselors who respond to texters around the clock, helping them to move beyond a crisis. Most people learn about the Crisis Text Line through social media....

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