scholarly journals EXPRESSION OPINIONS ABOUT HONG KONG PROTESTS ON FACEBOOK: A STUDY OF THE SPIRAL OF SILENCE THEORY IN SOCIAL MEDIA

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUODAN PAN
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Spiral Of Silence ◽  
The Spiral Of Silence

A change in the climate: Online social capital and the spiral of silence

First Monday ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Sheehan
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Spiral Of Silence ◽  
Social Cooperation ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Bonding Social Capital ◽  
Bridging Social Capital ◽  
The Spiral Of Silence ◽  
Speak Up

This study explores the connection between online social capital and the Spiral of Silence. Online social capital is an individual’s network of social connections, a network that enables and encourages social cooperation. The Spiral of Silence theory suggests that an opinion can become dominant if those who perceive their opinion to be in the minority do not speak up because society threatens them with isolation. A study of 550 individuals explored their willingness to speak up on an issue, and assessed whether they thought they held a majority of a minority opinion. This study compared both their bonding social capital (via homogeneous networks) and bridging social capital (via heterogeneous networks) to their willingness to speak up and their perceptions of whether others held their opinions. Regression analyses shows that bridging social capital is a key influencer in people’s willingness to speak up in social media and other online venues.

Perceiving online public opinion: The impact of Facebook opinion cues, opinion climate congruency, and source credibility on speaking out

2020 ◽  
pp. 146144482093105
Author(s):  
Alisius D Leong ◽  
Shirley S Ho
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Experimental Design ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Source Credibility ◽  
Spiral Of Silence ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Speaking Out ◽  
The Spiral Of Silence ◽  
The Impact

The novel affordances and unique features on social media have transformed the way people assess public opinion. Drawing on the spiral of silence (SOS) theory, this study examines the roles that user-generated comments (UGCs) and aggregated user representations (AURs), represented by reaction emojis, play in shaping perceptions of the opinion climate. It also investigates how features on the platform trigger perceptions of source credibility to influence willingness to speak out. Results from a 3 (opinion cues: UGCs-only vs AURs-only vs UGCs and AURs) × 2 (opinion climate congruency: congruent vs incongruent) × 2 (source credibility: high vs low) between-subjects experimental design revealed that audiences perceived reaction emojis to reflect public opinion. Source credibility was found to affect willingness to speak out and moderate opinion climate congruency. The findings extend the SOS theory by highlighting the significant role that novel affordances have on SOS components operating online. Implications of the findings were discussed.

scholarly journals Are Chinese Netizens Willing to Speak Out? The Spiral of Silence in Public Reactions to Controversial Food Safety Issues on Social Media

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (24) ◽  
pp. 13114
Author(s):  
Linjia Xu ◽  
Jiaying Liu ◽  
Jarim Kim ◽  
Myoung-Gi Chon
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Genetically Modified ◽  
Food Additives ◽  
Age Distribution ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Spiral Of Silence ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
The Spiral Of Silence

This study examines the influential factors posited by the Spiral of Silence Theory (SoS) in shaping people’s perceptions of the overall public opinion towards food safety issues in China and their willingness to speak out. Two highly controversial issues, including genetically modified (GM) food and food additives, are examined. Using an online opt-in panel in China, we collected survey responses from a total of 1089 respondents, with a comparable age distribution to that of Chinese netizens, as indicated in the most recent census. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions were conducted to make statistical inferences about the proposed research questions and hypotheses. Findings suggest that perceived opinion incongruence, self-relevance, and self-influence significantly affected the extent to which people were willing to express their opinions on social media for the genetically modified food issue, but not the use of food additive issue. The study provides evidence of the silencing effect on publicly expressing opinions about the food safety related issues in China and clarifies the potential boundary conditions of the SoS mechanism in the context of Chinese social media where the majority of public opinions come into formation.

scholarly journals Communicating COVID-19 on Social Media: The Effects of the Spiral of Silence

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 66-85
Author(s):  
Arthur Atanesyan ◽  
Anahit Hakobyan ◽  
Bradley Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Presentation Mode ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Spiral Of Silence ◽  
Mass Communications ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Communicative Behavior ◽  
Official Position ◽  
The Spiral Of Silence

In this paper, the Spiral of Silence theory (SOS) in the study of mass communications is applied to examine the trends and mechanisms of public opinion in Social Media (SM), using the popular topic of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study includes a secondary analysis of the data on pandemic information consumption obtained through four mass surveys conducted in Armenia. In the period from July 1 to August 30, 2020, we also surveyed Armenian Facebook users by means of Google forms during the highest outbreak of the pandemic in Armenia. In particular, the study demonstrates that although the majority of people are well informed about both public conduct requirements and the sanctions for misconduct during the pandemic, they do not follow the rules but hide their real opinion, preferring to openly agree with the official position while silently breaking the rules (that is, they keep their silence). We have found a correlation between the opinion environment of “friends” and other Facebook users, and a willingness to express their own opinion. Due to the predominance of the self-presentation mode as a communication strategy on Facebook, there is a trend among Armenian users not to risk their reputation, and avoid possible critics by keeping silence, if the discussion goes against their opinion. The findings of the study might be helpful both for the further development of communication theories and its application to the conditions of new pandemic reality, and for a better understanding of communicative behavior mechanisms in SM.

Spiral of silence on social media and the moderating role of disagreement and publicness in the network: Analyzing expressive and withdrawal behaviors

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 3917-3936 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsuan-Ting Chen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Indirect Effect ◽  
Spiral Of Silence ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Moderated Mediation Model ◽  
Opinion Expression ◽  
Withdrawal Behaviors ◽  
The Spiral Of Silence ◽  
Moderating Role

Using two-wave panel data from Hong Kong, this study examines the spiral of silence process on social media. It extends the theoretical framework by including both supporting and disagreeing opinion expression and examining not only expressive but also withdrawal behaviors on social media. This study also investigates the moderating roles of disagreement and publicness as two affordances on social media that influence the spiral of silence process. Results from the moderated mediation model with a panel lagged and autoregressive analysis suggest that fear of social isolation (FSI) has an indirect effect on discouraging disagreeing opinion expression but not supporting opinion expression and on encouraging withdrawal behaviors through enhancing willingness to self-censor (WTSC) on social media. This indirect effect is contingent on the levels of disagreement and publicness in one’s network. Higher levels of disagreement and publicness promote the spiral of silence. Implications of the findings are discussed.

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