Designing Social Media Fundraising Messages: An Experimental Approach to Understanding How Message Concreteness and Framing Influence Donation Intentions

This experiment examined the effects of fundraising message characteristics on donation intentions through a simulated social media campaign. A 2 (abstract vs. concrete message) × 2 (gain vs. loss framing) between-subjects experiment ( n = 213) revealed that a message with detailed fundraising outcomes elicited a greater intention to donate through heightened perceived message credibility, perceived transparency, cognitive elaboration, and empathy. Gain and loss framing, however, did not result in significant differences in donation intentions. Theoretically, this study uncovered the psychological mechanisms through which message concreteness increases donation intentions. Practically, results of this study provided implications for drafting effective fundraising messages that can be disseminated on social media.

Unintended Detrimental Effects of the Combination of Several Safety Measures—When More Is Not Always More Effective

To ensure safety-related behavior in risky operations, several safety measures, such as safety-related rules and safety management systems including audits, rewards, and communication, are implemented. Looking at each single measure, it is reasonable to assume that each one leads to rule compliance, but how do they interact? In an experimental study, we varied (1) the salience of either safety, productivity, or both, (2) the reward for the compliance and punishment for a violation, (3) the communication of audit results (result- or process-based), and (4) the gain and loss framing of performance indicators. In a 3 × 2 × 2 × 2 factorial between-group design, 497 engineering students in the role of Control Room Operator participated in a five hour simulation of a production year of a chemical plant. Looking at single effects, salient safety goals led to a low number of rule violations compared to the salience of production goals. Interestingly, the interaction of several measures showed that particular combinations of measures were highly detrimental to safety, although altogether, they were assumed to reduce risks. For practice, this means that the effects of safety measures depend on their particular combination and can lead to unwanted effects.

Fish Disease Outreach Messages: Testing of Gain and Loss Frames

Gain and loss framing has been used in risk communication across many fields as a technique for shaping individuals’ behaviors. Via community-engaged research conducted with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, we tested five message frames to determine efficacy for outreach programs. We made the following determinations: (a) for increasing risk perceptions regarding fish disease, a loss frame in a fish disease management context should be used; (b) for decreasing risk perceptions regarding fish disease management, a gain frame in a fish disease context should be used; (c) for motivating behavioral intention regarding prevention and risk reduction, a gain frame in a fish disease context should be used. Our findings are of interest to Extension professionals and others working in natural resources.

Qualitative analysis of visual risk communication on twitter during the Covid-19 pandemic

Background The Covid-19 pandemic is characterized by uncertainty and constant change, forcing governments and health authorities to ramp up risk communication efforts. Consequently, visuality and social media platforms like Twitter have come to play a vital role in disseminating prevention messages widely. Yet to date, only little is known about what characterizes visual risk communication during the Covid-19 pandemic. To address this gap in the literature, this study’s objective was to determine how visual risk communication was used on Twitter to promote the World Health Organisations (WHO) recommended preventative behaviours and how this communication changed over time. Methods We sourced Twitter’s 500 most retweeted Covid-19 messages for each month from January–October 2020 using Crowdbreaks. For inclusion, tweets had to have visuals, be in English, come from verified accounts, and contain one of the keywords ‘covid19’, ‘coronavirus’, ‘corona’, or ‘covid’. Following a retrospective approach, we then performed a qualitative content analysis of the 616 tweets meeting inclusion criteria. Results Our results show communication dynamics changed over the course of the pandemic. At the start, most retweeted preventative messages came from the media and health and government institutions, but overall, personal accounts with many followers (51.3%) predominated, and their tweets had the highest spread (10.0%, i.e., retweet count divided by followers). Messages used mostly photographs and images were found to be rich with information. 78.1% of Tweets contained 1–2 preventative messages, whereby ‘stay home’ and ‘wear a mask’ frequented most. Although more tweets used health loss framing, health gain messages spread more. Conclusion Our findings can inform the didactics of future crisis communication. The results underscore the value of engaging individuals, particularly influencers, as advocates to spread health risk messages and promote solidarity. Further, our findings on the visual characteristic of the most retweeted tweets highlight factors that health and government organisations should consider when creating visual health messages for Twitter. However, that more tweets used the emotive medium of photographs often combined with health loss framing raises concerns about persuasive tactics. More research is needed to understand the implications of framing and its impact on public perceptions and behaviours.

The Influence of Gain-Loss Framing and Its Interaction with Political Ideology on Social Distancing and Mask Wearing Compliance During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of cases and over half a million deaths in the United States. While health experts urge citizens to adopt preventative measures such as social distancing and wearing a mask, these recommended behaviors are not always followed by the public. To find a way to promote preventative measures, the present study examined the role of gain-loss framing of COVID-19 related messages on social distancing and mask wearing compliance. Moreover, the study also tested potential moderating effects on framing with three individual characteristics: political ideology, subjective numeracy, and risk attitude. A sample of 375 U.S. adult residents were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Each participant read either a gain or loss-framed message related to practicing protective behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants also completed scales of preventative behaviors, risk attitude, subjective numeracy, political ideology, and other demographic variables. It was found that those who were more liberal, risk-averse and had greater subjective numeracy were more likely to wear a mask and/or follow social distancing. Furthermore, in the presence of demographic and psychological factors, the study found participants in the loss-framed condition than in the gain-framed condition were more likely to adopt both preventative measures, supporting the notion of loss aversion. Additionally, the framing effect was also moderated by political ideology on mask-wearing, with the effect being stronger in liberals than in conservatives. Collectively, the study implies message framing may be a useful means to promote preventative measures in the current pandemic.