Pub Date : 2024-11-21DOI: 10.1177/20563051241298449
Jinping Wang, S. Shyam Sundar, Nilàm Ram
The social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has grown to become an important venue for political discourse, with candidates using it integrally in their election campaigns. However, it is not clear if activity on Twitter can be used to forecast elections, given conflicting findings in the literature. By analyzing 830,796 tweets mentioning key hashtags related to nine US senate races in 2014, 2016, and 2018, we demonstrate that cascades in volume and sentiment of tweets between September 1 and Election Day can predict election outcomes. We developed a non-linear growth modeling tool to identify the point in time at which bandwagon support for competing candidates begins to diverge. We also discovered that bot-driven tweets play a negligible role. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for both computational research and media effects, showing the value of combining big-data analysis and longitudinal non-linear dynamics to study the relationship between social media activity and real-world outcomes.
{"title":"Can Social Media Engagement Predict Election Results? Bandwagon Effects of Tweets About US Senate Candidates","authors":"Jinping Wang, S. Shyam Sundar, Nilàm Ram","doi":"10.1177/20563051241298449","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051241298449","url":null,"abstract":"The social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has grown to become an important venue for political discourse, with candidates using it integrally in their election campaigns. However, it is not clear if activity on Twitter can be used to forecast elections, given conflicting findings in the literature. By analyzing 830,796 tweets mentioning key hashtags related to nine US senate races in 2014, 2016, and 2018, we demonstrate that cascades in volume and sentiment of tweets between September 1 and Election Day can predict election outcomes. We developed a non-linear growth modeling tool to identify the point in time at which bandwagon support for competing candidates begins to diverge. We also discovered that bot-driven tweets play a negligible role. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for both computational research and media effects, showing the value of combining big-data analysis and longitudinal non-linear dynamics to study the relationship between social media activity and real-world outcomes.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"253 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142684138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-21DOI: 10.1177/20563051241298415
Sara Bentivegna, Rossella Rega
This research uses artificial intelligence and manual content-analysis to examine the diffusion of incivility against political leaders on Twitter during the 2022 Italian election campaign. Using a mixed approach (artificial intelligence and manual content analysis), we examined 22,465 uncivil tweets posted in the 4 weeks before the vote. Results show that hostility toward leaders increases as voting approaches and as candidates’ public visibility grows, and that it affects frontrunner leaders the most. Furthermore, the analysis of the different forms of incivility showed that it changes depending on the target it hits, revealing unexpected aspects: contrary to expectations, incivility against the only female leader (Giorgia Meloni) are not “sexist attacks” but forms of demonization (i.e., association with figures/symbols concerning totalitarian regimes); while against Giuseppe Conte, accusations of “illegality,” lies and “misinformation” prevail, that is, the same kind of incivility that he and his party use against opponents. Finally, we found that the authors of uncivil attacks are mainly ordinary/sporadic users, with all the consequences that this implies in terms of a normalization of incivility in public debate.
{"title":"Politicians Under Fire: Citizens’ Incivility Against Political Leaders on Social Media","authors":"Sara Bentivegna, Rossella Rega","doi":"10.1177/20563051241298415","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051241298415","url":null,"abstract":"This research uses artificial intelligence and manual content-analysis to examine the diffusion of incivility against political leaders on Twitter during the 2022 Italian election campaign. Using a mixed approach (artificial intelligence and manual content analysis), we examined 22,465 uncivil tweets posted in the 4 weeks before the vote. Results show that hostility toward leaders increases as voting approaches and as candidates’ public visibility grows, and that it affects frontrunner leaders the most. Furthermore, the analysis of the different forms of incivility showed that it changes depending on the target it hits, revealing unexpected aspects: contrary to expectations, incivility against the only female leader (Giorgia Meloni) are not “sexist attacks” but forms of demonization (i.e., association with figures/symbols concerning totalitarian regimes); while against Giuseppe Conte, accusations of “illegality,” lies and “misinformation” prevail, that is, the same kind of incivility that he and his party use against opponents. Finally, we found that the authors of uncivil attacks are mainly ordinary/sporadic users, with all the consequences that this implies in terms of a normalization of incivility in public debate.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142684144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Despite the growing body of research on people disclosing sensitive details about their identities or experiences online, few studies have focused on how individuals with intersecting stigmas manage these disclosures. Those facing multiple, overlapping sources of discrimination may encounter compounded challenges, which can complicate their assessment of the perceived benefits and risks of disclosure. This study seeks to understand disclosure among individuals with intersecting stigmas by examining how queer-identifying individuals in Mumbai, India, navigate the intersection of queerness and mental health disclosures on social media. Based on qualitative findings from 35 interviews, we identify three key factors that can further enhance existing disclosure frameworks. First, the perceived risk of disclosure can be amplified by intersecting sources of stigma, such that people may be particularly wary of disclosing at all, and especially on social media. Second, the importance of community support and resources for those with intersecting stigmas can increase their focus on the communal benefits of disclosure. Third, prior experiences with disclosing stigma on particular social platforms can affect the perceived safety of disclosing on those platforms and influence the strategies used. We discuss the implications of these findings and suggest areas for further investigation to develop a more comprehensive disclosure framework for those with intersecting stigmas.
{"title":"Queerness and Mental Health in India: An Intersectional Approach to Sensitive Social Media Disclosures","authors":"Annika Pinch, Jeremy Birnholtz, Jatin Chaudary, Preeti Tripathi, Shruta Rawat, Alpana Dange, Rachel Kornfield","doi":"10.1177/20563051241302145","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051241302145","url":null,"abstract":"Despite the growing body of research on people disclosing sensitive details about their identities or experiences online, few studies have focused on how individuals with intersecting stigmas manage these disclosures. Those facing multiple, overlapping sources of discrimination may encounter compounded challenges, which can complicate their assessment of the perceived benefits and risks of disclosure. This study seeks to understand disclosure among individuals with intersecting stigmas by examining how queer-identifying individuals in Mumbai, India, navigate the intersection of queerness and mental health disclosures on social media. Based on qualitative findings from 35 interviews, we identify three key factors that can further enhance existing disclosure frameworks. First, the perceived risk of disclosure can be amplified by intersecting sources of stigma, such that people may be particularly wary of disclosing at all, and especially on social media. Second, the importance of community support and resources for those with intersecting stigmas can increase their focus on the communal benefits of disclosure. Third, prior experiences with disclosing stigma on particular social platforms can affect the perceived safety of disclosing on those platforms and influence the strategies used. We discuss the implications of these findings and suggest areas for further investigation to develop a more comprehensive disclosure framework for those with intersecting stigmas.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142673885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-19DOI: 10.1177/20563051241293623
Chelsea A. Allen, Zuleka R. Henderson, Jalana Harris, Rae L. Chang, Errica L. Williams, Courtney D. Cogburn
Evidence suggests that the conception of “mental health,” as well as Western health care models, needs to be reimagined to better reflect the unique care needs of Black people. Within these systems, Black people are more likely to experience secondary victimization and retraumatization. Despite these systemic failings, Black people often find ways to manage self-care, wellness, and healing. Within the context of dueling pandemics (COVID-19 and racial injustice), Black people turned to social media applications to develop community-led, culturally-congruent care models. This study aims to explore the ways Black people experienced virtual engagements on social media during the dueling pandemics. This exploratory study employed a six-phase thematic analysis approach, while utilizing publicly available textual data (Instagram comments) from two key social media engagements targeting Black audiences. Prominent themes gleaned from this analysis elucidate the healing and therapeutic value of these virtual gatherings. These include: (1) Expression of Gratitude and Appreciation, (2) Necessity, (3) Timeliness, (4) Accessibility, (5) Emotional and Spiritual Impact of the Virtual Space, (6) Ancestral and Culturally-Grounded Healing Practices, (7) Reprieve within the Virtual Space, and (8) Community and Collectivism. Our analysis reveals that when elaborating on their experience participating in two key social media engagements targeting Black audiences, attendees’ responses reflect key aspects of empirically-grounded, culturally-congruent care models for Black people (i.e., radical healing). We contend our findings demonstrate the unique ways social media applications might be more intentionally leveraged to create culturally-congruent care for Black people.
{"title":"Telehealth “Verzuz” Radical Telehealing: Reimagining Social Media as Virtual Healing Spaces for Black Communities","authors":"Chelsea A. Allen, Zuleka R. Henderson, Jalana Harris, Rae L. Chang, Errica L. Williams, Courtney D. Cogburn","doi":"10.1177/20563051241293623","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051241293623","url":null,"abstract":"Evidence suggests that the conception of “mental health,” as well as Western health care models, needs to be reimagined to better reflect the unique care needs of Black people. Within these systems, Black people are more likely to experience secondary victimization and retraumatization. Despite these systemic failings, Black people often find ways to manage self-care, wellness, and healing. Within the context of dueling pandemics (COVID-19 and racial injustice), Black people turned to social media applications to develop community-led, culturally-congruent care models. This study aims to explore the ways Black people experienced virtual engagements on social media during the dueling pandemics. This exploratory study employed a six-phase thematic analysis approach, while utilizing publicly available textual data (Instagram comments) from two key social media engagements targeting Black audiences. Prominent themes gleaned from this analysis elucidate the healing and therapeutic value of these virtual gatherings. These include: (1) Expression of Gratitude and Appreciation, (2) Necessity, (3) Timeliness, (4) Accessibility, (5) Emotional and Spiritual Impact of the Virtual Space, (6) Ancestral and Culturally-Grounded Healing Practices, (7) Reprieve within the Virtual Space, and (8) Community and Collectivism. Our analysis reveals that when elaborating on their experience participating in two key social media engagements targeting Black audiences, attendees’ responses reflect key aspects of empirically-grounded, culturally-congruent care models for Black people (i.e., radical healing). We contend our findings demonstrate the unique ways social media applications might be more intentionally leveraged to create culturally-congruent care for Black people.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"39 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142673882","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-19DOI: 10.1177/20563051241298446
Delia Cristina Balaban, Maria Mustățea, Valeriu Frunzaru
Smartphones have become daily companions and store many personal information, including contact lists, photos, and videos. Even though users download smartphone apps for various purposes, they are also data collection instruments. Within the Protection Motivation Theory research streamline, the present research focuses from a comparative perspective on young adults’ concerns and engagement with privacy protection behaviors while setting up smartphone apps. Aiming to assess how threat and coping appraisals relate to privacy protection behavior from a comparative perspective, we conducted an online survey ( N = 931) in Germany ( n = 479) and Romania ( n = 452) with young adults (age 18–26 years). Findings showed differences between the two countries in the sense that individuals’ overarching privacy attitudes transfer to and manifest in the context-specific behavior of setting up apps. For German young adults, susceptibility and severity of the data collection by companies are positively related to privacy protection behavior while setting up apps. Romanians are confident that they can protect their data by setting up apps. For German and Romanian young adults, self-efficacy in online communication was related to response efficacy of privacy protection while configuring apps.
{"title":"Understanding the Motivations of Young Adults to Engage in Privacy Protection Behavior While Setting Up Smartphone Apps: A Cross-Country Comparison Between Romania and Germany","authors":"Delia Cristina Balaban, Maria Mustățea, Valeriu Frunzaru","doi":"10.1177/20563051241298446","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051241298446","url":null,"abstract":"Smartphones have become daily companions and store many personal information, including contact lists, photos, and videos. Even though users download smartphone apps for various purposes, they are also data collection instruments. Within the Protection Motivation Theory research streamline, the present research focuses from a comparative perspective on young adults’ concerns and engagement with privacy protection behaviors while setting up smartphone apps. Aiming to assess how threat and coping appraisals relate to privacy protection behavior from a comparative perspective, we conducted an online survey ( N = 931) in Germany ( n = 479) and Romania ( n = 452) with young adults (age 18–26 years). Findings showed differences between the two countries in the sense that individuals’ overarching privacy attitudes transfer to and manifest in the context-specific behavior of setting up apps. For German young adults, susceptibility and severity of the data collection by companies are positively related to privacy protection behavior while setting up apps. Romanians are confident that they can protect their data by setting up apps. For German and Romanian young adults, self-efficacy in online communication was related to response efficacy of privacy protection while configuring apps.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"57 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142673925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-12DOI: 10.1177/20563051241298042
Rys Farthing, Katja Koren Ošljak, Teki Akuetteh, Kadian Camacho, Genevieve Smith-Nunes, Jun Zhao
Children and young people’s online privacy is increasingly challenged by the datafication of the digital world, and this is an increasingly important area of policy concern. Understanding what young people understand online privacy to be, and what they want done to protect it, is key to creating effective and rights-realizing policy responses. This article explores young people’s perceptions across four countries and finds they have nuanced understandings about online privacy and clear, robust ideas about how to improve it. Context mattered, and their online privacy concerns and ideal protections were often informed by their socio-political context and awareness of and trust in datafication.
{"title":"Online Privacy, Young People, and Datafication: Different Perceptions About Online Privacy Across Antigua & Barbuda, Australia, Ghana, and Slovenia","authors":"Rys Farthing, Katja Koren Ošljak, Teki Akuetteh, Kadian Camacho, Genevieve Smith-Nunes, Jun Zhao","doi":"10.1177/20563051241298042","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051241298042","url":null,"abstract":"Children and young people’s online privacy is increasingly challenged by the datafication of the digital world, and this is an increasingly important area of policy concern. Understanding what young people understand online privacy to be, and what they want done to protect it, is key to creating effective and rights-realizing policy responses. This article explores young people’s perceptions across four countries and finds they have nuanced understandings about online privacy and clear, robust ideas about how to improve it. Context mattered, and their online privacy concerns and ideal protections were often informed by their socio-political context and awareness of and trust in datafication.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"95 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142601945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-09DOI: 10.1177/20563051241296229
Bibo Lin
How is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, such as machine learning (ML) algorithms and Large Language Models (LLMs), in social chatbots transforming friendship and love? This study investigates Replika, an app offering AI friends and/or lovers to users. Unlike most AI companion research grounded in Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) and interpersonal communication theories, this study employs the sociological concept of McDonaldization to interrogate broader social and cultural implications of Replika. I argue that McDonaldization offers a systematic framework to understand the fast friendship and fast love provided by social chatbots while accounting for its limits in addressing the personalization enabled by emerging AI technologies. To bridge the conceptual gap, I propose the term “Robotization of Love,” pointing to the merging of efficient, quantifiable, predictable, and controllable love and algorithmically personalized love. The Robotization of Love also underscores the growing significance of robotic elements in shaping our affection and sociality.
{"title":"The AI Chatbot Always Flirts With Me, Should I Flirt Back: From the McDonaldization of Friendship to the Robotization of Love","authors":"Bibo Lin","doi":"10.1177/20563051241296229","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051241296229","url":null,"abstract":"How is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, such as machine learning (ML) algorithms and Large Language Models (LLMs), in social chatbots transforming friendship and love? This study investigates Replika, an app offering AI friends and/or lovers to users. Unlike most AI companion research grounded in Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) and interpersonal communication theories, this study employs the sociological concept of McDonaldization to interrogate broader social and cultural implications of Replika. I argue that McDonaldization offers a systematic framework to understand the fast friendship and fast love provided by social chatbots while accounting for its limits in addressing the personalization enabled by emerging AI technologies. To bridge the conceptual gap, I propose the term “Robotization of Love,” pointing to the merging of efficient, quantifiable, predictable, and controllable love and algorithmically personalized love. The Robotization of Love also underscores the growing significance of robotic elements in shaping our affection and sociality.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"69 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142597060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-08DOI: 10.1177/20563051241293484
Sukhmani Khorana, Ruth DeSouza, Bhavya Chitranshi
This article reports on and analyses data from a situated and in-depth project on the experiences of six cisgender South Asian-Australian women/people who gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, negatively racialized women experienced barriers to health care and a lack of social support, which were further exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. International border closures in Australia combined with local mitigation strategies inhibited social and cultural support from families, impacting many migrant mothers/birthing people who gave birth for the first time in Australia. Many hospitals in the states of New South Wales and Victoria instituted restrictions to birthing services as a way of reducing exposure to the coronavirus during the pandemic. Our research suggests that pre-existing limitations of health care providers, digital platforms, and apps with regard to culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women in Australia have been amplified during the pandemic. Online Facebook groups from the mothers’ countries of origin or cultural backgrounds, or for mothers who had babies due in the same month, represented a significant source of information and support for the participants. This was particularly important at a time when women’s capacities to engage in traditional cultural practices, which provide practical, emotional, and informational support, were compromised by the inability to garner familial support. We situate these findings in the literature on “performing good motherhood” in neoliberal times and via reliance on digital devices and platforms and what it means for CALD women’s sociality, sense of agency, and negotiations with cultural practices.
{"title":"Using Pregnancy and Parenting Apps and Social Media During COVID-19: Absence and Sociality, Agency and Cultural Negotiations for South Asian–Origin Women in Australia","authors":"Sukhmani Khorana, Ruth DeSouza, Bhavya Chitranshi","doi":"10.1177/20563051241293484","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051241293484","url":null,"abstract":"This article reports on and analyses data from a situated and in-depth project on the experiences of six cisgender South Asian-Australian women/people who gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, negatively racialized women experienced barriers to health care and a lack of social support, which were further exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. International border closures in Australia combined with local mitigation strategies inhibited social and cultural support from families, impacting many migrant mothers/birthing people who gave birth for the first time in Australia. Many hospitals in the states of New South Wales and Victoria instituted restrictions to birthing services as a way of reducing exposure to the coronavirus during the pandemic. Our research suggests that pre-existing limitations of health care providers, digital platforms, and apps with regard to culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women in Australia have been amplified during the pandemic. Online Facebook groups from the mothers’ countries of origin or cultural backgrounds, or for mothers who had babies due in the same month, represented a significant source of information and support for the participants. This was particularly important at a time when women’s capacities to engage in traditional cultural practices, which provide practical, emotional, and informational support, were compromised by the inability to garner familial support. We situate these findings in the literature on “performing good motherhood” in neoliberal times and via reliance on digital devices and platforms and what it means for CALD women’s sociality, sense of agency, and negotiations with cultural practices.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142597061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Social media offer opportunities for companies to promote their image, but companies online also risk being denounced if their actions do not align with their words. The rise of social media bots amplifies this risk, as it becomes possible to automate such efforts to highlight corporate hypocrisy. Our experimental survey demonstrated that bots and human actors who confront a corporation touting their commitment to equality by calling out organizational pay gaps damage perceptions of the corporation, heighten anger toward them, and ultimately can elicit boycott intentions. These hypocrisy challenges are equally effective when they come from bots and user accounts. Challenges to hypocritical behavior on social media are consequential and require further exploration.
{"title":"Bot Versus Humans: Who Can Challenge Corporate Hypocrisy on Social Media?","authors":"Serena Armstrong, Caitlin Neal, Rongwei Tang, Hyejoon Rim, Emily K. Vraga","doi":"10.1177/20563051241292578","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051241292578","url":null,"abstract":"Social media offer opportunities for companies to promote their image, but companies online also risk being denounced if their actions do not align with their words. The rise of social media bots amplifies this risk, as it becomes possible to automate such efforts to highlight corporate hypocrisy. Our experimental survey demonstrated that bots and human actors who confront a corporation touting their commitment to equality by calling out organizational pay gaps damage perceptions of the corporation, heighten anger toward them, and ultimately can elicit boycott intentions. These hypocrisy challenges are equally effective when they come from bots and user accounts. Challenges to hypocritical behavior on social media are consequential and require further exploration.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"69 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142594779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-06DOI: 10.1177/20563051241292990
Sai Wang
While online hate speech has become a serious problem in multimedia environments, most studies in this area have examined text-based hateful content, with less attention paid to its other visual aspects. From a multimodal perspective, we conducted an online experiment ( N = 799) to investigate how multimodal hate speech (i.e., text and images presented together to convey hateful meanings) on social media affected users’ prejudicial attitudes and prosocial behavioral intentions. The results showed that participants in the text-plus-image (vs. text-only) condition felt more sympathy, which led to less implicit prejudice toward the target group and more prosocial behavioral intentions. In addition, exposure to text-plus-image hate speech had an indirect effect on prosocial behavioral intentions through sympathy and implicit prejudice. The findings contribute to scholarship on online hate speech and provide insights into the affect heuristics that individuals rely on when processing multimodal information.
{"title":"The Power of Images: How Multimodal Hate Speech Shapes Prejudice and Prosocial Behavioral Intentions","authors":"Sai Wang","doi":"10.1177/20563051241292990","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051241292990","url":null,"abstract":"While online hate speech has become a serious problem in multimedia environments, most studies in this area have examined text-based hateful content, with less attention paid to its other visual aspects. From a multimodal perspective, we conducted an online experiment ( N = 799) to investigate how multimodal hate speech (i.e., text and images presented together to convey hateful meanings) on social media affected users’ prejudicial attitudes and prosocial behavioral intentions. The results showed that participants in the text-plus-image (vs. text-only) condition felt more sympathy, which led to less implicit prejudice toward the target group and more prosocial behavioral intentions. In addition, exposure to text-plus-image hate speech had an indirect effect on prosocial behavioral intentions through sympathy and implicit prejudice. The findings contribute to scholarship on online hate speech and provide insights into the affect heuristics that individuals rely on when processing multimodal information.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"149 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142594764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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