scholarly journals The Causes and Consequences of COVID-19 Misperceptions: Understanding the Role of News and Social Media

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aengus Bridgman ◽  
Eric Merkley ◽  
Peter John Loewen ◽  
Taylor Owen ◽  
Derek Ruths ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Consumption ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Relationship

We investigate the relationship between media consumption, misinformation, and important attitudes and behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. We find that comparatively more misinformation circulates on social media platforms, while traditional news media tend to reinforce public health recommendations like social distancing. We find that exposure to social media is associated with misperceptions about COVID-19 while the inverse is true for news media. These misperceptions are in turn associated with lower compliance with social distancing measures. We thus draw a link from misinformation on social media to behaviours and attitudes that potentially magnify the scale and lethality of COVID-19.

“I Wish I Could Grow a Full Beard”: The Amateur Pogonotropher on the Beardbrand YouTube Channel

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-306
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Ideal Type ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Ideal

Pogonotrophy refers to beard cultivation including growth and grooming practices. This exploratory study contributes to the little understood role of beard culture on YouTube. Scholarship examining the relationship between social media platforms such as YouTube and beard culture is almost nonexistent. This gap in the research allows us to ask the following: What sorts of content do users circulate about beards on YouTube? And, how does this content contribute to how users interact and learn about beards? A total of 62,061 user-generated comments across 310 videos featured on the Beardbrand YouTube channel were collected and examined using qualitative media analysis. Three themes emerged from an analysis of these data: the yeard quest, the ideal type, and how to beard. The findings illustrate the important role that YouTube plays in fostering contemporary beard culture. Suggestions for future research are noted.

Social Media Use Among Olympians and Sport Journalists in Hungary

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-199
Author(s):  
Agnes Kovacs ◽  
Tamas Doczi ◽  
Dunja Antunovic
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Media ◽  
Hungarian Case ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

The Olympic Games are among the most followed events in the world, so athletes who participate there are exceptionally interesting for the media. This research investigated Olympians’ social media use, sport journalists’ attitudes about Olympians’ social media use, and the role of social media in the relationship between Olympians and sport journalists in Hungary. The findings suggest that most Hungarian Olympians do not think that being on social media is an exceptionally key issue in their life, and a significant portion of them do not have public social media pages. However, sport journalists would like to see more information about athletes on social media platforms. The Hungarian case offers not only a general understanding of the athlete–journalist relationship, and the role of social media in it, but also insight into the specific features of the phenomenon in a state-supported, hybrid sport economy.

scholarly journals The Dislocation of News Journalism: A Conceptual Framework for the Study of Epistemologies of Digital Journalism

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 259-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mats Ekström ◽  
Oscar Westlund
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
News Media ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Digital Journalism ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
Journalism Research ◽  
Knowledge Claims

This article focuses on news journalism, social media platforms and power, and key implications for epistemology. The conceptual framework presented is intended to inspire and guide future studies relating to the emerging sub-field of journalism research that we refer to as “Epistemologies of Digital Journalism”. The article discusses the dependencies between news media and social media platforms (non-proprietary to the news media). The authority and democratic role of news journalism pivot on claims that it regularly provides accurate and verified public knowledge. However, how are the epistemic claims of news journalism and the practices of justifications affected by news journalism’s increased dependency on social media platforms? This is the overall question discussed in this article. It focuses on the intricate power dependencies between news media and social media platforms and proceeds to discuss implications for epistemology. It presents a three-fold approach differentiating between (1) articulated knowledge and truth claims, (2) justification in the journalism practices and (3) the acceptance/rejections of knowledge claims in audience activities. This approach facilitates a systematic analysis of how diverse aspects of epistemology interrelate with, and are sometimes conditioned by, the transformations of news and social media.

scholarly journals Changes in public response associated with various COVID-19 restrictions in Ontario, Canada: an observational study using social media time series data

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antony Chum ◽  
Andrew Nielsen ◽  
Zachary Bellows ◽  
Eddie Farrell ◽  
Pierre-Nicolas Durette ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
News Media ◽  
School Closure ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Public Response ◽  
Collective Attention ◽  
Positive Sentiment

Background: News media coverage of anti-mask protests, COVID-19 conspiracies, and pandemic politicization has overemphasized extreme views, but does little to represent views of the general public. Investigating the public’s response to various pandemic restrictions can provide a more balanced assessment of current views, allowing policymakers to craft better public health messages in anticipation of poor reactions to controversial restrictions. Objective: Using data from social media, this study aims to understand the changes in public opinion associated with the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions (e.g. business and school closure, regional lockdown differences, additional public health restrictions such as social distancing and masking). Methods: COVID-related tweets in Ontario (n=1,150,362) were collected based on keywords between March 12 to Oct 31 2020. Sentiment scores were calculated using the VADER algorithm for each tweet to represent its negative to positive emotion. Public health restrictions were identified using government and news media websites, and dynamic regression models with ARIMA errors were used to examine the association between public health restrictions and changes in public opinion over time (i.e. collective attention, aggregate positive sentiment, and level of disagreement) controlling for the effects of confounders (i.e. daily COVID-19 case counts, holidays, COVID-related official updates). Results: In addition to expected direct effects (e.g. business closure led to decreased positive sentiment and increased disagreements), the impact of restriction on public opinion is contextually driven. For example, the negative sentiment associated with business closures was reduced with higher COVID-19 case counts. While school closure and other restrictions (e.g. masking, social distancing, and travel restrictions) generated increased collective attention, they did not have an effect on aggregate sentiment or the level of disagreement (i.e. sentiment polarization). Partial (region-targeted) lockdowns were associated with better public response (i.e. higher number of tweets with net positive sentiment and lower levels of disagreement) compared to province-wide lockdowns. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates the feasibility of a rapid and flexible method of evaluating the public response to pandemic restrictions using near real-time social media data. This information can help public health practitioners and policymakers anticipate public response to future pandemic restrictions, and ensure adequate

scholarly journals Success in an Online Giving Day: The Role of Social Media in Fundraising

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Bhati ◽  
Diarmuid McDonnell
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Audience Engagement ◽  
Social Media Data ◽  
Size Number ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Media Data

Social media platforms offer nonprofits considerable potential for crafting, supporting, and executing successful fundraising campaigns. How impactful are attempts by these organizations to utilize social media to support fundraising activities associated with online Giving Days? We address this question by testing a number of hypotheses of the effectiveness of using Facebook for fundraising purposes by all 704 nonprofits participating in Omaha Gives 2015. Using linked administrative and social media data, we find that fundraising success—as measured by the number of donors and value of donations—is positively associated with a nonprofit’s Facebook network size (number of likes), activity (number of posts), and audience engagement (number of shares), as well as net effects of organizational factors including budget size, age, and program service area. These results provide important new empirical insights into the relationship between social media utilization and fundraising success of nonprofits.

Neo-Populist Scandal and Social Media

2020 ◽  
pp. 442-459
Author(s):  
Juha Herkman ◽  
Janne Matikainen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
News Reporting ◽  
The Public ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Media Environments ◽  
Political Scandals ◽  
The Relationship

The article analyses a political scandal that occurred in Finland in 2015, when an MP of the populist right-wing Finns Party, Olli Immonen, published a Facebook update in which he used the same kind of militant–nationalist rhetoric against multiculturalism that Norwegian mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik had used a couple of years earlier. By analyzing the content published in both social and news media, the role of social media and the relationship between news reporting and social media are explored by analyzing the progress of the scandal. The analysis indicates the prominent role of social media as being a starting point for scandal and for keeping scandal in the public eye, serving as forums for supporters and opponents of the scandalized politician. The relationship between social and news media seems symbiotic in this case because both of them fed and inspired each other during the scandal. However, further research is needed to fully understand the role of social media in scandals linked to north and west European populist right-wing parties, as well as political scandals occurring in different political contexts and media environments.

The role of social media in political change in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yahya Fatah
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Kurdistan Region ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Relationship

This study deals with the relationship between the political field and the media field especially the role of the social media platforms on the political transformation recently in Kurdistan region of Iraq. This is done through a scientific and theoretical study about the controversial relationship between both politic and media and by directing a group of questions concerning this subject to the media experts and socialists in both of Sulaymaniyah and Polytechnic University of Sulaymaniyah. Finally the researcher reaches a group of results, of which: most of the sample members see that the social media platforms is a suitable environment to express and oppose the authority in the Kurdistan region but it is also see that the social media platforms causes stirring up strife and chaos in the region and they also see that it encourages violence which leads to burning party headquarters and governmental institutes in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. On the other hand, most of the sample people see that the role of the religious leaders is stronger than the role of the social media on the community in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

scholarly journals Spreading (dis)trust in Fiji? Exploring COVID-19 misinformation on Facebook forums

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1and2) ◽  
pp. 63-84
Author(s):  
Romitesh Kant ◽  
Rufino Varea
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant challenges for the health system across the globe and fueled the surge of numerous rumours, hoaxes, and misinformation regarding outcomes, prevention and cure of the virus.  The COVID-19 pandemic has also had severe political, economic and societal effects and affected media and communication systems in unprecedented ways. While traditional journalism has tried to adapt to the rapidly evolving situation, alternative news media on the internet have given the events an ideological spin. These voices have been criticised for furthering societal confusion and spreading potentially dangerous ‘fake news’ or conspiracy theories via social media and other online channels. The impact of the disease and the lack of information associated with it have allowed medical misinformation to rapidly surface and propagate on various social media platforms. Previous studies have highlighted a similar trend during recent public health emergencies, mainly the Ebola and Zika outbreaks. Such a phenomenon is alarming on both individual and public health levels to the extent that governments are realising the gravity and attempting to limit its effects. This article offers a unique perspective because it provides data-driven qualitative insights into Fijian Facebook posts related to infectious disease outbreaks. This study aims to understand public views and opinions on Fijian social media during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and to outline potential implications for health information.

scholarly journals Changes in public response associated with various COVID-19 restrictions in Ontario, Canada: an observational study using social media time series data (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antony Chum ◽  
Andrew Nielsen ◽  
Zachary Bellows ◽  
Eddie Farrell ◽  
Pierre-Nicolas Durette ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
News Media ◽  
School Closure ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Public Response ◽  
Collective Attention ◽  
Positive Sentiment ◽  
Negative Sentiment

BACKGROUND News media coverage of anti-mask protests, COVID-19 conspiracies, and pandemic politicization has overemphasized extreme views, but does little to represent views of the general public. Investigating the public’s response to various pandemic restrictions can provide a more balanced assessment of current views, allowing policymakers to craft better public health messages in anticipation of poor reactions to controversial restrictions. OBJECTIVE Using data from social media, this study aims to understand the changes in public opinion associated with the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions (e.g. business and school closure, regional lockdown differences, additional public health restrictions such as social distancing and masking). METHODS COVID-related tweets in Ontario (n=1,150,362) were collected based on keywords between March 12 to Oct 31 2020. Sentiment scores were calculated using the VADER algorithm for each tweet to represent its negative to positive emotion. Public health restrictions were identified using government and news media websites, and dynamic regression models with ARIMA errors were used to examine the association between public health restrictions and changes in public opinion over time (i.e. collective attention, aggregate positive sentiment, and level of disagreement) controlling for the effects of confounders (i.e. daily COVID-19 case counts, holidays, COVID-related official updates). RESULTS In addition to expected direct effects (e.g. business closure led to decreased positive sentiment and increased disagreements), the impact of restriction on public opinion is contextually driven. For example, the negative sentiment associated with business closures was reduced with higher COVID-19 case counts. While school closure and other restrictions (e.g. masking, social distancing, and travel restrictions) generated increased collective attention, they did not have an effect on aggregate sentiment or the level of disagreement (i.e. sentiment polarization). Partial (region-targeted) lockdowns were associated with better public response (i.e. higher number of tweets with net positive sentiment and lower levels of disagreement) compared to province-wide lockdowns. CONCLUSIONS Our study demonstrates the feasibility of a rapid and flexible method of evaluating the public response to pandemic restrictions using near real-time social media data. This information can help public health practitioners and policymakers anticipate public response to future pandemic restrictions, and ensure adequate resources are dedicated to addressing increases in negative sentiment and levels of disagreement in the face of scientifically informed, but controversial, restrictions.

The 140 Characters AreSetting the Agenda of the Day: A Critical analysis of Role of twitter in Lalitgate

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Online Source ◽  
The Social ◽  
News Organizations ◽  
The Face ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Media

The face of a news room in India has been changed radically with the ever growing popularity of social media, where it sets agenda for the news organizations to follow. The #Lalitgate is a classical example, where the Ex IPL Commissioner, Lalit Modi, who has gained a notorious image due to his controversies, broke news on twitter, from there it has been picked up by 24x7 news channels, subsequently online portals do a piece on it, again there is a prime time discussion on that news, followed by a morning coverage by the news papers. As a person gain ability to create sensationalism, he utilizes the ability of social media to create some dialogues, with a larger worldwide audience, which was earlier not possible due to the monologue approach of traditional media. The ability of that piece of information to get retweeted by followers allows it to trend high on twitter. As the number become astonishing some time, it automatically qualifies for the attention of the editors of media organizations and eventually sets the agenda of the day. The social media platforms; Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp etc. have become the essential tool of news gathering of a modern news room. Twitter with its 302 million followers worldwide, eventually became a credible online source of news gathering as the tweets are usually came through a first person, citing his/her views or, opinion on a subject matter. This research paper aims to critically analyze the role of twitter as an agenda setting tool in #Lalitgate, where, the cricket administrator turned whistleblower, Lalit Modi, used twitter effectively for his revelations, and he not only trolled successfully on twitter but news media as well. The scope of this paper is limited to the media coverage by English medium news channels and papers only.

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