Promoting Sustainable Lifestyle Habits: “Real Food” and Social Media in Spain

Obesity and state of being overweight are beginning to be treated as global epidemics. In this context, health professionals are increasingly acting as expert opinion leaders that use social media to connect with the public, in order to promote healthy lifestyles and provide specific recommendations for different product categories, including fresh, processed, and ultra-processed meat products. This study investigates how exposure to content created by health professionals, and posted on social media, influences consumers’ attitudes. For this purpose, the collaboration of one relevant nutritionist influencer in Spain has been obtained. The online survey created has provided 4.584 responses, received from followers (from May to June 2019). After applying a partial least squares path modeling approach, the results suggest that trust in the content shared, the perceived credibility of the professional sharing the information and the informative value, determine the strength with which consumers acquire more knowledge about endorsed products, develop a favorable predisposition towards them, prefer them over their options, and modify their behaviour by purchasing them, instead of their usual foods. The link is stronger, in the case of trust and influencer’s credibility, than for informative value. However, the latter has an indirect effect on the attitude phases through the former.

The Influence of Farmers’ Socio-Economic Characteristics on Their Choice of Opinion Leaders: Social Knowledge Systems

Smallholder farmers’ social knowledge systems are evolving in connecting key actors within and outside their knowledge systems. These key actors play a vital role in navigating the complexity and the dynamics of organisations, and effectively influence the community. This study identified the opinion leaders of smallholder farmers and measured the extent of their influence on the quality of these farmers’ knowledge of agriculture. Furthermore, the study explored the reasons why farmers choose their opinion leaders. A structured questionnaire was administered to 219 purposively selected smallholder farmers in the rural areas in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Data were captured and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 and STATA to run multinomial logistic regression model (MNL). The results showed that farmers participated in field visits and attended farmers’ group meetings to communicate with agricultural advisors and group leaders. In addition, the findings showed that interactions could be a crucial element of knowledge and learning for farmers. This showed that the farmers required a consistent flow of material resources and knowledge. The time and energy spent by farmers building social relationships with these opinion leaders reflected the accumulation of information and resources gathered. Issues related to accessibility, availability and, quick feedback regarding farmers’ problems emerged, which seemed to influence the farmers’ choice of an opinion leader. The language and accessibility to sources of knowledge and feedback were crucial to the smallholder farmers included in the study. Furthermore, the results revealed that farmers’ educational level, farmers who engaged in agriculture for household consumption, and opinion agricultural skills have statistical significance on farmers’ choice of opinion leaders. Considering the findings, it is suggested that efforts to improve farmers’ active knowledge systems and access to the opinion leaders within these active knowledge systems should take into consideration the socio-economic factors that influence farmers’ choices and participation in social systems and social interactions. These findings may help agents develop a better understanding of the dynamics of local communities and the social complexity that shapes farmers’ environments and decisions. To be a progressive and effective opinion leader, constant, continuous assessment is needed to increase leadership skills. In addition, the enhancement of programmes, which will recognise the active opinion leaders within the communities, are needed to strengthen the efforts and impact for more resilient outcomes.

Using Social Network Analysis to Identify Opinion Leaders in Agricultural Knowledge Exchange and Decision-Making Network of Farm Women

The use of social network theories dates back to 1930s with the pioneering works of psycho-sociologist Moreno. With the advent of advanced technologies, there has been an explosion of its applications to various disciplines. The study applies social network theory to analyze agricultural knowledge exchange and decision-making network of farm women. The analysis identifies farm women who occupy central and strategic positions and acts as opinion leaders in the network. The study was carried out in the Himalayan regions of Uttarakhand, India. Descriptive research design and multi-stage sampling were adopted. A total of 298 respondents were selected purposively from the two villages of Uttarakhand. Data were collected through survey sociometric method. UCINET and SPSS were used for data analysis and interpretations. The findings showed that high in degree and Out degree centrality was recorded by 24 (12, 12) and 48 (26, 22) farm women in the two study villages. Total 24 opinion leaders were identified within the agricultural knowledge exchange and decision-making network. Their extent of opinion leadership was influenced by age, marital status, farming experience, socio-economic status, innovativeness, achievement motivation, decision making ability, risk preference, economic motivation, information seeking behaviour, cosmopoliteness and social participation.

E-COMMERCE LIVE STREAMING – AN EMERGING INDUSTRY IN CHINA AND A POTENTIAL FUTURE TREND IN THE WORLD

With the widespread use of the Internet, many industries have developed rapidly. The economy based on the Internet poses a significant threat to the traditional economy. Live streaming plus e-commerce, which is acknowledged as the current global economic status, is the result of combing live streaming and various industries through the Internet. E-commerce live streaming is one of the most essential types of online live streaming. In this article, it is defined as the live streaming of the e-commerce platform used by Key Opinion Leaders or product sellers through the built-in live streaming function of the platform to propagate goods, brands, events, etc. to achieve goals of brand exposure and product sales. Compared with the traditional economic model, the combined model of e-commerce and live streaming has its advantages and characteristics. This kind of marketing tool is now prevalent. However, there are many deficiencies in e-commerce live streaming that need to be improved since the development of e-commerce is immature and supervision of Internet use is ongoing.

Online Opinion Leaders in the Health Promotion Digital Era

Health opinion leaders have widely embraced social media for health promotion and public health communication which can make a strong influence on the public decision making. However, despite the growing relevance of public health threats such as infectious diseases, pandemic influenza and natural disasters, research has paid little attention to the qualities of opinion leaders. Moreover, there is limited evidence that public health organisations use social media appropriately to engage in meaningful conversations with audiences. Thus, the aims of the study are to describe principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders to promote health issues, to discuss the strategies of social media used, to explain the opinion leaders’ influence attributes in health decision making and finally to develop a model of online opinion leader in the contemporary health promotion era. Content analysis was conducted on Facebook postings of five selected health opinion leaders. In addition, semi-structured interviews with 10 followers were conducted. The findings of the study revealed that there are three principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders, which are language, interaction and themes. There are three strategies opinion leaders use to influence the public: social connectivity, social support and social consultation. Furthermore, there are five opinion leaders’ attributes that influence the public’s decision making, namely personality, authenticity, trust/credibility, professional knowledge and social position. The model would be beneficial in educating and guiding the current public health opinion leaders in order to establish health and social well-being. Keywords: Online opinion leader, online health communication, public health, two-step flow theory, decision making.

Acceptance of Health Messages Conveyed by Parasocial Opinion Leaders on Twitter among Followers

Social media does not only provide a space for individuals to communicate, but it also encourages individuals to find and share health information. This situation has led to a change in the patterns and functions of health opinion leaders that exist on social media. Health opinion leaders influence media users by sharing and delivering health information and are capable of fostering parasocial relationships with media users. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the process by which parasocial opinion leaders shape health messages on social media. In correspondence, this study sought to understand the level of acceptance of health messages among Twitter users of the information tweeted by parasocial opinion leaders. In-depth interviews were conducted on 25 followers of parasocial health opinion leaders on Twitter. This study found that the formation of health messages and information conveyed by parasocial health opinion leaders could influence their followers. Four forms of message reception were identified in this study: 1) information and complexity reduction (a description, information delivery style, information sharing, information, and health literacy, and correction of information and mythical perceptions), 2) health orientation, 3) stimulation of interest, and 4) strengthening of the image and ethics of professionalism. Additionally, this study also discovered that media users perceived health opinion leaders as mentors, family members, friends, and idols. Keywords: Health communication, opinion leader, parasocial opinion leaders, parasocial relationship, social media.

Anne Applebaum’s Strategy of Telling the History of International Relations in Central and Eastern Europe

The text aims to present the strategy used by Anne Applebaum to bring the history of Central and Eastern Europe closer to western audiences. In the article, the author was presented as a journalist and public intellectual who developed an original way of speaking and writing about the past of Central and Eastern Europe. She has been portrayed as a kind of mediator who attempts to explain the essence and sources of the diverse identities and narratives that have formed among the nations and cultures of Central and Eastern Europe. Selected assessments of her activity, formulated by historians as well as public opinion leaders, were also presented.