Testing the inadvertency hypothesis: Incidental news exposure and political disagreement across media platforms

Journalism ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 1099-1118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Barnidge
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Political Disagreement ◽  
Midterm Elections ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Social Media Platforms

The inadvertency hypothesis predicts that people encounter political difference in social media spaces not by design, but rather as a by-product of social media’s affordances and cultural logics. The hypothesis implies that incidental news exposure plays a central role in starting conversations from which perceived political disagreement may arise. Relying on a two-wave, online survey collected before and after the 2018 US Midterm Elections (N = 1493), this study builds on prior tests of the inadvertency hypothesis. It also elaborates on the hypothesis by comparing social media platforms. Results are supportive of the inadvertency hypothesis, more so for social networking sites such as Facebook than for other types of social media. Results are discussed in light of the study’s contribution to literature on social media and democracy.

scholarly journals The Use of Social Media in Public Relations at Non-Governmental Organisations in South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (6(J)) ◽  
pp. 150-161
Author(s):  
G. Nchabeleng ◽  
CJ. Botha ◽  
CA Bisschoff
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Public Relations Practitioners ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Way

Social media can be a useful tool in public relations in non-governmental organisations (NGOs), but do NGOs make use of social media in their quest for service delivery in South Africa? Social networking sites, blogging, email, instant messaging, and online journals are some of the technological changes that changed the way interaction between people and how they gather information. Although social media is mainly used for interactive dialogue and social interaction, the private sector soon realised that the web-based technologies (especially Facebook and Twitter) could also be a competitive business tool. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) soon followed suit however at a slower pace than the general communication growth rate of social media in South Africa. This article examines if social networking sites have any impact on public relations practices of NGOs in South Africa – an environment where both customers and employees still struggle to take full advantage of social media. The critical literature findings increase the understanding of the current and future challenges of social media use in public relations at NGOs in South Africa. The study explores the main differences between traditional and social media, how social media is redefining public relations role, and shed some light on defining public relations practices, identify the uses, limitations and benefits of social media by public relations practitioners in NGOs. Recommendations for future communication research are given. Based on the literature, a qualitative research design collected data using semi-structured, individual interviews. The results revealed that social media platforms such as Facebook do have an effect, and even changed the way in which NGOs communicate. The study also revealed that social media certainly has an impact on public relations relationships. This means that it has become crucial that public relations practitioners at NOGs embrace and take advantage of social media, and that they should also invest in proper electronic platforms to reap the benefits of improved communication internally and externally.

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.

Hyperreality of #BlackLivesMatter Movement on Social Media

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-303
Author(s):  
Ghozian Aulia Pradhana ◽  
◽  
Syaifa Tania ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
African American ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Social ◽  
True Meaning ◽  
Social Media Platforms

This study aims to reveal how hyperreality is reflected in using the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag on social media. The death of an African-American, George Floyd, that involved white police, has sparked outrage and demonstrations in many U.S. states. Issues pertaining to racism sparked in relation to the event, and many people protested demanding justice. The demand for justice then went into a wave of massive global protests both in offline and online realities—the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag was widely used on social media when protests were held. The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag even became a trending topic on several social media platforms, as if everyone was concerned about the issue and aiming for the same purpose. However, we might find several posts that neither reflected nor were related to the case. Some social media users put the hashtag even though their content substance was not related. This phenomenon then led to a condition of hyperreality in questioning reality from a simulation of reality. The method used in this study is content analysis which measures the sentiment of comments on Twitter and Instagram. The study found that social networking sites mobilised online movements even though they were not directly related to the #BlackLivesMatter movement. On the other hand, hashtag activism reduced the true meaning of the social movement. Therefore, the hyperreality in #BlackLivesMatter could not be seen any longer as a form of massive protests demanding justice and ending violence, but merely to gain more digital presence on social media. Keywords: Black lives matter, movement, social media, hyperreality, hashtag activism.

The sharing economy and livestreaming of terror: Co-production of terrorism on social media

2021 ◽  
pp. 65-78
Author(s):  
Yasmin Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Mass Murder ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Recording Device ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Mass Entertainment

In the xenophobic attack on a mosque in New Zealand, the perpetrator filmed the mass murder through a GoPro recording device attached to his head. The attack was streamed live on social networking sites, including a notorious extremist alt-right forum. This livestreaming of the terrorist attack on social media platforms received global condemnation, but it brought renewed scrutiny to the ‘sharing economy’ online and how terrorist attacks can be made for sharing, reposting, and editing of content by users, circumnavigating the removal of such content. This phenomenon widens the co-production of terror through mass audiences’ interaction in real time, positioning terror as mass entertainment. This chapter examines the architecture of the ‘sharing economy’ online and its significance in the production of terror, as well as the moral and ethical considerations it poses for humanity.

scholarly journals Recruitment Via Social Media: An Exploratory Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-93
Author(s):  
Aida Maryani Bt Abd Rashid ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Job Applicants ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Online Recruitment ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Right ◽  
Recruitment Tool

Recent studies have shown that social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn, have become emergent agents for employer and recruitment Agents to search for potential employees to work for their companies. Employers and recruitment agents are using social networking sites for recruitment as these sites offers a vast database of people information. Social media has made an easy pathway for employers and recruitment agents to narrow down their search to the targeted group of people and hire the best employees, thus elevating online recruitment to greater height. However, there are risks associated with the use of social media as a recruitment tool and users must understand that once they become part of a social media community, their online profiles can be accessed by almost everyone. By knowing the risks and complications of social media, it will be a step in the right direction towards managing the apparent risks. The objective of this paper is to study how social media is used in attracting quality job applicants and examine the risk associated with social media recruitment.

scholarly journals The Effect of Media Technology on Electronic Shopping

Webology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (Special Issue 04) ◽  
pp. 1424-1435
Author(s):  
Hussein Najm Abd Ali ◽  
- -
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Major Part ◽  
Media Technology ◽  
Commercial Success ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Cost Efficient

Social networking helps create greater online presence, leads and traffic for businesses. Strategic social media preparation is an integral part of an E-commerce sector. Social media continues to achieve global prominence because of commercial success. There is a great percentage of promotional campaigns taking place via social media platforms. Getting social media presence can make ecommerce even more useful. It makes it incredibly convenient to draw consumers via social media. Social media has motivated many people to buy different things, you know. Lots of firms have been able to market their goods and business through Facebook and other social networking platforms. Generally, only bigger corporations can use social media. To build profitable company on social media, you need to set specific goals. Companies now use social media with the intention of expanding their market. Social networking has the potential to boost revenue and it is an efficient cost-efficient way to communicate with customers. If you connect with your customers on Facebook and Twitter, you will be able to figure out what your customers want. Social networking sites cater for conversational features by 'liking' and 'discussing' features. Sharing knowledge online is relevant because it affects the decisions taken by customers when purchasing goods and services. A perfect way to promote your company is to add Sharing buttons for social media sites on your website. In this way, it's likely that you'll raise the number of users your site gets. Several individuals base their buying choices on things seen in the internet. Social media play a major part in one's networking and selling practices. Consumers around the world will be spending billions of their hard earned dollars yearly on social media sites.

scholarly journals Rumour Detection Models & Tools for Social Networking Sites

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 3291-3296
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
The People ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Fuzzy Logic Technique

Efficient utilization of social networking sites (SNS) had reduced communication delays, at the same time increased rumour messages. Subsequently, mischievous people started sharing of rumours via social networking sites for gaining personal benefits. This falsified information (i.e., rumour) creates misconception among the people of society influencing socio-economic losses by disrupting the routine businesses of private and government sectors. Communication of rumour information requires rigorous surveillance, before they become viral through social media platforms. Detecting these rumour words in an early stage from messaging applications needs to be predicted using robust Rumour Detection Models (RDM) and succinct tools. RDM are effectively used in detecting the rumours from social media platforms (Twitter, Linkedln, Instagram, WhatsApp, Weibo sena and others) with the help of bag of words and machine learning approaches to a limited extent. RDM fails in detecting the emerging rumours that contains linguistic words of a specific language during the chatting session. This survey compares the various RDM strategies and Tools that were proposed earlier for identifying the rumour words in social media platforms. It is found that many of earlier RDM make use of Deep learning approaches, Machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, Fuzzy logic technique, Graph theory and Data mining techniques. Finally, an improved RDM model is proposed in Figure 2, efficiency of this proposed RDM models is improved by embedding of Pre-defined rumour rules, WordNet Ontology and NLP/machine learning approach giving the precision rate of 83.33% when compared with other state-of-art systems.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Spread of Fake News and its Detection. Techniques on Social Networking Sites

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Isyaku Hassan ◽  
Mohd Nazri Latiff Azmi ◽  
Akibu Mahmoud Abdullahi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Fake News ◽  
The Public ◽  
Detection Techniques ◽  
Literature Synthesis ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Linguistic Approach

The phenomenon of fake news has become a much contentious issue recently. The controversy regarding this issue has further been intensified by the openness of social media platforms. Via a systematic review, this paper offers a discussion on the spread and detection techniques of fake news on Social Networking Sites (SNSs). A total of 47 articles eventually fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were coded for the literature synthesis. The overall findings from the literature on fake news and social media have been extracted and synthesized to explore the creation, influence and popular techniques and dimensions used for fake news detection on SNSs. The results showed that various entities are involved in the creation and spread of fake news on SNSs, including malicious social and software agents. It was also found that early registered users, old people, female users, delusion-prone persons, dogmatic persons, and religious fundamentalists are more likely to believe in fake news than other groups of individuals. One of the major problems of the existing techniques is their deficiency in datasets. Therefore, future studies on fake news detection should focus on developing an all-inclusive model with comprehensive datasets. Social media users require fake news detection skills especially using linguistic approach. This study provides the public with valuable information about the spread and detection of fake news on SNSs. This is because SNSs are an important avenue for fake news providers.

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