When off-line seeks information online: The effect of modality switching and time on attributional confidence and social attraction

This study’s goal was to learn how adding the extractive information-seeking behavior of Facebook profile viewing following face-to-face information-seeking behavior in initial interactions affected attributional confidence (AC) and social attraction (SA). Additionally, the present study was a quasi-replication of research exploring how changes in time spent on information seeking impacted AC and SA testing two uncertainty reduction theory axioms. Two modalities, face-to-face (FtF) only versus FtF and profile viewing, across three time conditions of 4, 6, and 8 minutes yielded six experimental conditions. AC for the two modalities were similar when time was held constant. Comparing the two modalities for 8 minutes resulted in higher social attraction for the FtF-only condition. Also, the data report a significant interaction with modality and time. Time impacts AC and SA even with relatively small changes.     

Does Facebook Use Predict College Students’ Social Capital? A Replication of Ellison,Steinfield, and Lampe’s (2007) Study Using the Original and More Recent Measures of Facebook Use and Social Capital

In 2007 Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe published an article on the positive association between Facebook use and social capital that started a decade of research on the social outcomes of social network site use. Although cited almost 9,000 times, it received critique on the conceptualization and operationalization of Facebook use and social capital. In this study we replicate Ellison et al.’s study with original and alternative measures of social capital and Facebook use, thereby shedding light on the robustness, stability, and ecological validity of the original findings. We found that Facebook intensity positively predicts the original social capital measures, lending support to the validity of the original findings. Its relationship with structural measures, however, was weak for bridging and absent for bonding social capital.     

News Sources and Follow-up Communication

For sports actors, social media provide the opportunity to bypass sports journalism's gatekeeping function and to disseminate sports-related information to target groups directly. Thus, social media have been conceptualized as a competitor to journalism. We argue that the relation is much more diverse. We differentiate between competitive, integrative, and complementary facets of the relationship between sports journalism and social media. Our study focuses on complementarity and analyzes how far social and mainstream media serve as sources for each other. Therefore, we combine an online survey among 122 German sports journalists, an analysis of the Twitter networks of German sports journalists during the Winter Olympics 2014, and a content analysis of the most popular news items in social media. Results suggest that sports journalists perceive social media accounts of athletes as beneficial news sources, especially to gather inside information. Huge sports events influence the social media activities of sports journalists as they tend to have stronger connections to athletes at these times. Whereas social media appear to be significant sources for sports journalism, sports media content receives little attention in social media. However, our results indicate that sports journalism and social media indeed maintain a complementary relation.     

She’s Hot,for a Politician: The Impact of Objectifying Commentary on Perceived Credibility of Female Candidates

The way female politicians are discussed in traditional and new media may contribute to the way individuals evaluate those candidates. Objectification theory suggests that framing individuals in a way that reduces them to their physical characteristics is detrimental to perceived agency. To that end, an experiment was designed to determine the impact of objectifying comments on the evaluation of female candidates. Researchers created two Facebook feeds discussing a hypothetical female candidate. For both feeds, the discussion focused on the candidate’s policy credentials, with one feed containing commentary on the female candidate’s body. Aspects of credibility and suitability for office were impacted by objectifying commentary, implying the need for future research directed at the specific impact objectification has on candidate evaluation.     

Do your social media lead you to make social deal purchases? Consumer-generated social referrals for sales via social commerce

The advent of social commerce has resulted in a new business model for e-commerce. Although studies on this business model have increased over time, they have paid less attention to its core business model: consumer-generated social influence on sales on a social commerce site. Therefore, in this paper, we examine the effect on sales of social sharing, such as Facebook “likes” and Twitter tweets, which generate social influence, using data from major social commerce companies. We find that consumer-generated social referrals regarding deals significantly boost sales in social commerce. When we examine deals involved in national sales, this finding holds only for Facebook but not for tweets. These findings have the implication for managers that not all social referrals are meaningful in increasing sales for their business.     

Facebook与国外图书馆服务

Facebook是web2.0环境下美国网络服务的一个成功网站,以其方便性、功能性而备受大学生的欢迎。Facebook平台是开展图书馆服务的有效途径,文章详细介绍了国外图书馆依托该平台所开展的服务。     

To unfriend or not: exploring factors affecting users in keeping friends on Facebook and the implications on mediated voyeurism

The goal of this study was to explore the tendency for people to keep friends on Facebook whom they do not maintain frequent or regular contact with. Drawing upon theories on self-consciousness and self-presentation and individual differences, the paths from the Big Five personality traits and the tendency to keep friends through public self-consciousness and Facebook self-presentation were examined. The paths from Facebook voyeurism to public self-consciousness and Facebook self-presentation were particularly salient. The direct and indirect effects further provide empirical support for understanding the fluid and unsettling notion of mediated voyeurism.     

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.