Alcohol posts on social media frequently receive likes that are often perceived by emerging adults as peer approval of alcohol consumption and have been linked to their drinking intentions in... Show moreAlcohol posts on social media frequently receive likes that are often perceived by emerging adults as peer approval of alcohol consumption and have been linked to their drinking intentions in previous research. This research, however, has generally not considered the fact that liking is a reciprocal behavior that differs from day to day. By conducting an app-integrated daily diary study and employing a network analytic approach, the current study contributes to this line of research by providing a better understanding of the dynamics of likes for alcohol posts and how these likes, in turn, affect emerging adults' actual alcohol use. In total, 265 college students (M-age = 20.49, SDage = 1.89, 74% female) participated in the daily diary study. They answered daily questionnaires about their alcohol use, and we monitored their online activities (posting and liking) via an app. We used exponential random graph models to predict the probability of receiving a like on a post and generalized linear mixed effect models to estimate the likelihood of participants drinking alcohol. First, the results showed that participants received, on average, more likes for alcohol posts than for non-alcohol posts (30 vs. 15 likes). Second, likes were given more often if they were reciprocal. Last, liking alcohol posts significantly predicted participants' alcohol consumption on the same day. The fact that liking alcohol posts relates to daily drinking behavior is disconcerting because one click or 'like' might reinforce a young person's drinking behavior on that day; hence, future research and interventions should focus more thoroughly on this worrying form of online approval. Show less
Gaining an audience on social media is an important goal of contemporary policy advocacy. While previous studies demonstrate that advocacy-dedicated nonprofit organizations—what we refer to as... Show moreGaining an audience on social media is an important goal of contemporary policy advocacy. While previous studies demonstrate that advocacy-dedicated nonprofit organizations—what we refer to as advocacy groups—use different social media tools, we still know little about what specific audiences advocacy groups set out to target on social media, and whether those audiences actually engage with these groups. This study fills this gap, deploying survey and digital trace data from Twitter over a 12-month period for the Australian case. We show that while groups target a variety of audiences online, there are differences between group types in their strategic objectives and the extent to which particular audiences engage with them. Business groups appear to target elite audiences more often compared with citizen and professional groups, whereas citizen groups receive more online engagement from mass and peer audiences. Show less
There is much discussion about the potential negative effects of social media use on people’s political attitudes. But, does social media use shape trust in government? We use evidence from the... Show moreThere is much discussion about the potential negative effects of social media use on people’s political attitudes. But, does social media use shape trust in government? We use evidence from the 2012 and 2016 ANES as well as the 2018 American Institutional Confidence Poll to test competing expectations regarding this question: that social media polarizes versus de-polarizes trust judgments across partisan lines. Our analyses provide greater support for the expectation of polarization. We then unpack the potential mechanisms behind these findings. We use the number of “stealth” issue campaigns targeted to the respondent’s state in 2016 as a proxy for the amount of political conflict the respondent was likely to have experienced when using social media during the 2016 Presidential election. Notably, we find that polarization is substantially impacted by the nature of the voter’s broader political environment. These findings are consequential for our understanding of how social media influences public opinion and draws attention to the role of the broader political context for this relationship. Show less
Varady, N.H.; Chandawarkar, A.A.; Kernkamp, W.A.; Gans, I. 2019
IntroductionWith the rise of camera phones, selfie-taking has become a normative part of our modern culture. However, little is known about how this behavior may relate to eating disorder (ED)... Show moreIntroductionWith the rise of camera phones, selfie-taking has become a normative part of our modern culture. However, little is known about how this behavior may relate to eating disorder (ED) characteristics, particularly in those who already have eating disorder symptoms of clinical severity. The current study investigated how selfie-posting and selfie-taking with no intention of posting online (offline selfies) were related to ED symptoms.MethodA total of 152 females (average age 22.44 years) with ED symptoms of clinical severity completed self-report questionnaires measuring selfie-frequency (online and offline), frequency of non-selfie photo posting, social networking site use, body dissatisfaction, body checking, ED symptom severity, self-esteem and body avoidance. Responses were collected via an ED social community.ResultsNo direct relationship, or indirect association via body dissatisfaction, was found between selfie behavior and ED symptom severity. However, the more offline selfies an individual took, the more frequently they body checked, and this, in turn, was related to greater ED symptom severity.ConclusionsThese results suggest that offline selfies may be a modern form of body checking. Our findings are the first to imply that offline selfie-taking may be a problematic behavior and a potential maintenance factor for individuals with severe ED symptoms. Show less
