Predictors of Social Television Viewing: How Perceived Program,Media, and Audience Characteristics Affect Social Engagement With Television Programming

This study investigated social television viewing by introducing the social engagement construct. Three categories of factors, television program related perceptions, social media characteristics, and audience attributes, were proposed to predict the social engagement experience. This investigation tested 10 audience motives for using social media to engage with television content. It was found that social engagement is a complex process driven by multiple factors, particularly, program-related variables such as affinity, involvement, and genre preferences, as well as individuals' innovativeness trait.     

Government Digital Transformation: Understanding the Role of Government Social Media

Government social media has been integrated as part of the government administrative tools to improve public service and promote public goals. However, the current government information literature is limited to understanding government social media adoption and its purpose for political marketing. The present study seeks to understand the role of government social media in promoting government digital initiatives (i.e., government-backed digital currency). The study validated the inter-relationships between government social media effort, privacy concerns, trust in technology, reachability, and citizens' participation in government-initiated digital innovations. A total of 505 responses from Chinese citizens were collected through an online self-administered questionnaire survey, and the data was submitted to a two-stage Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling-Artificial Neural Network analysis. The analytic results revealed that privacy concerns, trust in technology, and reachability positively influence digital participation. In addition, the information quality and perception of trust in government social media have significant positive influences on government social media engagement. The study provides strategic practical suggestions to government agencies in effectively utilizing social media as a communication platform to foster citizens' participation in government's digital initiatives.     

The Evolving Journalistic Roles on Social Media: Exploring “Engagement” as Relationship-Building between Journalists and Citizens

ABSTRACT

Scholarly and pragmatic definitions of the term “engagement” vary drastically. This article attempts to capture the nuances of the term by exploring journalists’ roles on social media where “engagement” is supposed to be particularly prevalent. Using in-depth interviews, we gauge the attitudes of traditional political journalists as well as those who think of themselves as “engagement specialists” about their responsibilities in interactive spaces. In addition, we analyze what kinds of engagement are happening in these spaces, and how citizens’ expectations are being articulated, in terms of journalist-audience relationship—an organic resultant of engagement. We found that journalists are taking on new kinds of roles in social spaces—often in the name of “engagement”—but that work is not always particularly interactive with citizens; rather, content is engaged with. In contrast, citizens look to journalists to play a number of roles that range from civic guide to therapist. Thus, relationship building happens sporadically. Furthermore, engagement level is dependent on the platform and its affordances. This research offers a continuum of social media engagement conceived as relationship building that can reconcile the disparities in how we define engagement, and suggests newsrooms appreciate the nuances via a series of recommendations.     

The Role of Engagement in Learning From Active and Incidental News Exposure on Social Media

The growing reliance on social media as news platforms may lead to more passive news consumption but also offers greater potential for engaging in news. This study investigates the role of engagement with news content on Facebook and Twitter between news exposure and current events knowledge. An online survey (N = 400) tests the relationships between social media news seeking, incidental exposure to news on social media, engagement in shared news content, cognitive elaboration, and current events knowledge. The results show that both active seeking of and incidental exposure to news on both sites are linked to engagement, which is linked to greater cognitive elaboration about the content. Furthermore, engagement mediates the relationship between both types of news exposure and cognitive elaboration. However, engagement and elaboration are not related to knowledge. These results indicate that the key role of social media in news content is not knowledge gain but the ability to engage users who may be passively receiving news on these sites. This study extends the cognitive mediation model of learning from the news in the context of current social media, with updated news consumption norms such as engagement with news on these sites, and incidental news exposure.     

Testing a cultural orientation model of electronic word-of-mouth communication: a comparative study of U.S. and Korean social media users

Expanding electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) literature and cross-cultural literature, this study proposes a horizontal–vertical dimensions of individualism and collectivism (HVIC)-eWOM model in a cross-cultural context. We employed HVIC at the individual level to explain the variance of eWOM communications on social media. We collected data from American and Korean social media users to examine how the hypothesized model fits the samples from each country. The analysis of the HVIC-eWOM model within and between the two countries revealed that there are some similarities and differences in influential cultural dimensions on eWOM communications in the two countries. The results suggest that vertical aspects of individualism and collectivism are significant drivers of opinion-leadership and opinion-seeking tendencies for both countries.     

Understanding the Nature,Uses, and Gratifications of Social Television: Implications for Developing Viewer Engagement and Network Loyalty

This study employed an online survey (N = 310) to explore how viewers’ motivations for social TV participation influence their involvement in social TV activities, their program commitment, and network loyalty. Findings show that social infotainment and social companionship are the primary motivations of social TV participation. However, only social infotainment significantly predicts the intensity of viewers’ social TV usage, which has a positive influence on program commitment and network loyalty. Additionally, the relationship between social TV usage and network loyalty is partially mediated by program commitment. These findings demonstrate the value of social TV to broadcasters and provide directions for initiating and maintaining long-term relationships with viewers.     

Social media use in local government: Linkage of technology,task, and organizational context

Social media technologies have begun to enter the governmental workplace as tools to accomplish improved public service and engagement. Widespread recognition of the potential of social media technology for achieving public outcomes does not match our understanding about how and why specific tools are being used for specific purposes. This paper makes use of newly collected national survey data from local government managers in five different agencies to address the questions: which social media tools are being used, for which tasks or purposes; and what organizational characteristics influence the coupling of task and technology. Findings reveal patterns of social media tool application for particular purposes, although organizations do not all use social media tools in the same way. Moreover, regression analysis shows that different organizational factors – work characteristics, innovativeness, technology and management capacity and stakeholder influence – predict each of the four technology–task couplings — social media for dissemination, social media for feedback on service quality, social media for participation, and social media for internal work collaboration. This study demonstrates that social media tools are not a monolithic group and calls for greater research attention to the complex interactions among social media technology, task and organizational context.     

Social media use for work during non-work hours and work engagement: Effects of work-family conflict and public service motivation

Social media is widely used for work by civil servants in China at present. In Chinese cultural context, social media use for work during non-work hours (SMUNW) has many different effects on civil servants from those in Western countries. However, we have little understanding about how social media use for work during non-work hours could affect the psychological state of civil servants at work. Drawing upon conservation of resources theory and work-family border theory, this study utilized a moderated mediation model to investigate the relationship between SMUNW and employee work engagement. Based on data collected from 423 Chinese civil servants, the results demonstrated that SMUNW was negatively associated with work engagement. The work-family conflict played a mediating role between SMUNW and work engagement and public service motivation (PSM) moderated the negative effect between work-family conflict and work engagement. More importantly, our findings showed that the indirect relationship between SMUNW and work engagement through work-family conflict was more pronounced for civil servants with higher PSM rather than lower. Finally, theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Social media adoption and resulting tactics in the U.S. federal government

In 2009, the departments in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government received the presidential marching order to “harness new technologies” in order to become more transparent, collaborative and participatory. Given this mandate, this article sets out to provide insights from qualitative interviews with social media directors to understand the factors that influence internal adoption decisions to use social media applications, such as Facebook, Twitter, or blogs. Three distinct factors influence the adoption decisions of social media directors: information about best practices in their informal network of peers, passive observations of perceived best practices in the public and private sector, and “market-driven” citizen behavior. The resulting adoption tactics include: (1) representation, (2) engagement, and (3) networking. The findings point to the need for higher degrees of formalized knowledge sharing when it comes to disruptive technology innovations such as social media use in highly bureaucratic communication environments. Recommendations based on the lessons learned are provided for practitioners and social media researchers to develop social media tactics for different organizational purposes in government.     

Second Screening: Measuring Second Screen User Behavior in a Social Television Viewing Environment

ABSTRACT

This study investigated second screen user behavior in a social television-viewing environment. Two online consumer panels of 1,052 second screeners were sampled to complete the three-stage research strategy. Through conceptualization and operationalization of the second screening construct, this study identified five underlying dimensions, including utility, control, interaction, influence, and attention. These five dimensions demonstrate different functionalities delivered by digital devices, such as laptop computers, tablets, and smartphones, to interact with television content. The theoretical and practical implications of second screening were also discussed.     

网络社区临场感对阅读行为的影响机制研究——基于满意度的中介效应分析

[目的/意义]网络社区的出现推动了网络阅读行为的展开,以社会临场理论为基础,研究网络社区用户阅读行为的影响因素并构建概念模型,为进一步促进网络社区阅读环境建设,推动阅读行为的开展,提升阅读效果提供理论借鉴。[方法/过程]应用社会临场理论、满意度理论,通过问卷调研法,在对197名网络社区用户进行调研的基础上,运用结构方程法,通过SPSS 17.0与LSIREL 8.7,就网络社区社会临场感对用户阅读行为发挥作用的机制进行实证研究。[结果/结论]结构方程检验结果显示,网络社区社会临场感对用户阅读行为发挥正向作用,即网络社区用户社会临场感越强,阅读行为发生的可能性越高;用户满意度在社会临场感与用户阅读行为之间发挥了完全的中介效应。     

Social media effects on fostering online civic engagement and building citizen trust and trust in institutions

This paper tests the extent to which social media is shaping civic engagement initiatives to build trust among people and increase trust in their institutions, particularly the government, police and justice systems. A survey of 502 citizens showed that using social media for civic engagement has a significant positive impact on trust propensity and that this trust had led to an increase in trust towards institutions. Interestingly, while group incentives encouraged citizens to engage online for civic matters, it is civic publications through postings on social media that intensify the urge of citizens for civic action to address social issues. Post-hoc analysis via ten interviews with social activists was conducted to further examine their perceptions on trust towards institutions. The overall findings suggest that institutions, in their effort to promote a meaningful and trusting citizen engagement, need to enhance trust among the public by fostering social capital via online civic engagement and closing the public–police disengagement gap.     

Television Use and Social Capital: Testing Putnam's Time Displacement Hypothesis

Robert Putnam (1995a, 19956) charged that television is the driving force behind the decline in social capital in America. He argued that television viewing has privatized our leisure time, thus inhibiting participation outside the home. However, Putnam's time displacement hypothesis never has been tested. We empirically examined the extent to which television reduces social capital through time displacement. Analyses of data from a Midwestern city (N = 416) did not support the time displacement hypothesis; time spent with television did not affect civic engagement through perceptions of time pressure. There was only a direct negative impact of television viewing time on civic engagement. Time spent reading newspapers enhanced engagement. Moreover, this relation worked indirectly through time pressures-the more time spent with newspapers, the less time pressures one perceived.     

Building context-based knowledge of government social media communication through an ethnographic study of the US Coast Guard

Governments are increasing digital communication with citizens, yet little is known about how the public sector influences communicators’ daily social media activities. This ethnographic study uses interviews, documents, and participant observation to offer a rare emic view of the US Coast Guard (USCG) social media program. Breaking up the monolithic public sector communication context, influences on social media communication were nested within five contexts: organization, military, parent agency, federal government, and the US public sector. By observing how the contexts and related attributes influence personnel and the program, the study provides insights related to social media communication processes rather than merely content products. Findings extend theoretical and practical applications by identifying enablers and challenges to government social media communication within an applied context. USCG's culture and history of transparency and engagement drive the strategy, while resource constraints and a devaluing of social media within the decentralized organization constrain program effectiveness and real-time engagement.     

Social influence in groups: A comparative application of relational framing theory and the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion

Normative influence, as opposed to informational influence, in groups often diminishes decision-making outcomes. Despite the important effect of social influence on group performance, prior research on social influence in groups has largely focused on variable analytic conditions that affect influence, instead of on theoretical explanations of the use of social influence. This paper addressed that limitation by applying Relational Framing Theory (Dillard, Solomon, & Samp, 1996) and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) to social influence in groups. A 3 (group interaction goal: task, group, control)×2 (involvement: high or control) factorial design experiment was conducted to test the applicability of these two theories. Results demonstrated that neither theory predicted the occurrence of normative and informational statements in discussion. Additional tests, however, showed greater general support for Relational Framing Theory.     

Impact of acculturation,online participation and involvement on voting intentions

This study examines the extent to which acculturation and enculturation orientations affect online political participation, political involvement and voting intentions among a sample of Turkish-Dutch immigrants. The study uses data from Turkish-Dutch participants. Structural Equations Modelling (SEM) is employed for assessing the relationships in the conceptualized model. The findings show that enculturation and acculturation influence online participation and involvement, which in turn, are related to voting intentions. The study further examines the mediating role of political involvement and online political participation. Political involvement mediates the relationships between enculturation and acculturation and voting intentions. The results further indicate the effect of online participation on voting intentions is mediated by political involvement. The study findings provide insights into offline and online cultural and civic engagement tendencies among an important immigrant segment that policy makers should consider in the future.     

An Open Government Maturity Model for social media-based public engagement

Social media has opened up unprecedented new possibilities of engaging the public in government work. In response to the Open Government Directive, U.S. federal agencies developed their open government plan and launched numerous social media-based public engagement initiatives. However, we find that many of these initiatives do not deliver the intended outcomes due to various organizational, technological, and financial challenges. We propose an Open Government Maturity Model based on our field studies with U.S. federal healthcare administration agencies. This model is specifically developed to assess and guide open government initiatives which focus on transparent, interactive, participatory, collaborative public engagement that are largely enabled by emerging technologies such as social media. The model consists of five maturity levels: initial conditions (Level 1), data transparency (Level 2), open participation (Level 3), open collaboration (Level 4), and ubiquitous engagement (Level 5). We argue that there is a logical sequence for increasing social media-based public engagement and agencies should focus on achieving one maturity level at a time. The Open Government Maturity Model helps government agencies implement their open government initiatives effectively by building organizational and technological capabilities in an orderly manner. We discuss challenges and best practices for each maturity level and conclude by presenting recommendations.     

Influence of Social Identity on Self-Efficacy Beliefs Through Perceived Social Support: A Social Identity Theory Perspective

While much research documents the influence of self-efficacy on enactment of health behaviors, relatively less attention has been given to the factors that influence self-efficacy. To enhance our understanding of the various sources of self-efficacy, this study integrated social identity theory into this context and proposed and tested a model, which describes a process through which social identity can influence self-efficacy of engaging in health-related behaviors. Consistent with the proposed meditational model, the findings showed that individuals who had stronger social identity with a given social group perceived greater social support from the group, which in turn predicted higher self-efficacy of engaging in a health-related behavior advocated by the group, and ultimately predicted greater behavioral intention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Local e-government 2.0: Social media and corporate transparency in municipalities

Various authors have highlighted the potential contribution of the internet to enhance the interactivity, transparency, and openness of public sector entities and to promote new forms of accountability. The search for new styles of governance which promote higher levels of transparency and the engagement of citizens is viewed as a way of improving citizens' trust in governments. As the social media are becoming ubiquitous, both academics and practitioners need some initial and reliable background data about the deployment of this kind of technology at all levels. The aim of this work is to provide an overall view about the use of Web 2.0 and social media tools in EU local governments in order to determine whether local governments are using these technologies to increase transparency and e-participation, opening a real corporate dialog. In addition, the paper tries to identify which factors promote the level of development of these tools at local level. Our results show that most local governments are using Web 2.0 and social media tools to enhance transparency but, in general, the concept of corporate dialog and the use of Web 2.0 to promote e-participation are still in their infancy at the local level.     

Understanding and Managing Others: The Impact of Social Intelligence upon Social Influence

The present study provided support for the relevance of social intelligence—to social influence. Consistent with but extending past research, recognizing situational influences (i.e., discriminative facility) was associated with effective social interactions. In particular, individuals high in discriminative facility demonstrated greater flexibility when considering influence tactics than individuals low in discriminative facility.