Investigating Reddit Self-Disclosure and Confessions in Relation to Connectedness, Social Support, and Life Satisfaction

As a site where users can, and often do, remain anonymous, Reddit is a useful site for investigating how online disinhibition contributes to the sharing of private information. The current study surveyed Reddit users (N = 628) about the sharing of personal information unknown to their friends and families – and in particular, the use of threads developed for confessionary purposes. Results revealed a connection between the sharing of personal unknown information and feelings of connectedness, social support, and life satisfaction, as well as the traits of sensation seeking and narcissism. Furthermore, the frequency of posting official confessions was positively related to loneliness and narcissism, and negatively related to social connectedness and life satisfaction. Rating and/or commenting upon confession posts was significantly related to sensation seeking and narcissism. Finally, spending more time online, on social media, and on Reddit was associated with more self-disclosure of intimate and unknown information

Drowning Out the Message Together: Analysis of Social Media Comments on a Political Sex Scandal

This study content analyzed online comments on Fox News and CNN’s YouTube platforms related to news stories on the 2017 special election for the U.S. Senate in Alabama. Republican candidate Roy Moore attracted widespread media attention one month prior to the election – after being accused of sexual misconduct for alleged relationships decades before his run for U.S. Senate. Comment threads were polarized on the two ideologically different forums (CNN and Fox News) as well as within these forums. The latter indicated a crossover effect or the tendency of social media users to leave comments on an ideologically opposing forum. Regardless of being “native” or crossovers, commenters tended to drown out reporters’ messages by introducing new discussion topics. Through the examination of the most popular comments, this study argues for the need for a more nuanced approach to understanding audience gatekeeping in today’s polarized media environment. The article highlights the importance of monitoring online comments to understand the power of the audience to exercise control over the direction of social media commentary

This is the Way the World “Friends”: Social Network Site Usage and Cultivation Effects

Social network sites (SNSs) such as Facebook and Twitter have become a primary means of communication over the past decade. Prior research (e.g. Gerbner, Gross, Morgan & Signorielli, 1980) has indicated that recurring themes in media can make those themes chronically available in consumers, altering interpersonal attitudes and overall worldview. Previous research demonstrated primarily negative impacts of chronic television consumption, with increased perceptions of the frequency of violent crime, infidelity in romantic relationships, and personal vulnerability to both, dubbed “Mean World Syndrome.” However, if SNS use continually primes users with social connection, then more positive, trusting social attitudes may result instead. An initial study showed a positive correlation between intensity of SNS use and endorsement of trusting social attitudes; a follow-up study demonstrated a causal effect for SNS primes on the same broad attitudes. These findings suggest frequent, intense SNS use may create a “Friendly World Syndrome” that mirrors established cultivation effects for television. Implications for SNS use, potential mechanistic explanations, and future directions of inquiry are discussed

Social Media and Digital Storytelling for Social Good

This case study examines the Blue Roots Project, a graduate studies collaboration between Michigan-based, online water journalism organization Circle of Blue and the Center for Emerging Media Design and Development at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. The Blue Roots Project is a community arts and digital storytelling project that uses social media channels to elicit user-generated content focused on the effects of the world’s fresh water crisis. The project uses social media as a tool for the following goals: accessing and connecting with already established communities, meeting the audience where they already gather, creating a dialogue about issues, eliciting user-generated content, creating access points for the project, and creating a relationship with the audience

Digital Media Platforms and Education: The Uses of Social Networking in the UAE and China

Young people today are growing up in a digitalized environment.  What challenges do they face in navigating this content-rich, symbolic environment? In this article, the researcher reviews university students' perceptions of media literacy by examining the use of social networking platforms (SN) in academic settings. The researcher distributed 1200 surveys evenly split between Chinese and UAE students and 998 were returned and analyzed. The findings reveal that while many students believe that media literacy should become a priority in modern curricula, this urgency is not felt by the majority of students.  The researcher reviews current views and methodologies in the literature related to media literacy and its status in current pedagogy.  The study draws from gravitation theory to place the use of SN tools within a broader background of communication.  The Uses and Gratification Theory is also invoked to explain how SN was made attractive to campus activists and protesters in the two countries

News Consumption in the Case of the Garifuna People: Reaching the Audience or Not?

The purpose of this research is to understand how social media is affecting the news consumption of minority cultures, both within and outside the U.S. Using natives of Central America with ancestral roots in Africa as research subjects, this research explores how the Garifuna culture experiences social media and how these media influence news consumption and perceptions. Using a grounded theory approach, in-depth interviews were conducted in the United States and Honduras. The results of those interviews indicate that media can aid individuals within the Garifuna culture to perceive they have gained some knowledge of world news, yet in actuality, this knowledge is superficial at best

“Modern Day Presidential:" Donald Trump and American Politics in the Age of Twitter

The increasing power of social media over American news and politics is difficult to ignore thanks to the visibility of President Trump’s tweets both on online and traditional media. This paper seeks to better understand the strategy behind Donald Trump’s use of Twitter both as a candidate and during his first year as president. Through a careful study of his tweets and their ability to take advantage of the specific user makeup on Twitter and the choice of mainstream media to often echo his tweets in their coverage, a consistent strategy emerges based on a combination of traditional advertising practice and radicalist discourse that continues to reshape the American political landscape today

Underneath the Filter Bubble: The Role of Weak Ties and Network Cultural Diversity in Cross-Cutting Exposure to Disagreements on Social Media

While the idea of the filter bubble, in which people are sheltered from challenging and disagreeable news, is a valid concern for democracy, it requires much theoretical sophistication and empirical support.  This paper explores the extent and scope of filter bubble effects, employing the concept of “cross-cutting exposure,” or exposure to disagreeable viewpoints, on social media.  Survey analysis of 271 Facebook users suggests they do get exposed to cross-cutting information frequently, and that cross-cutting information was more likely to come from weak ties, or acquaintances and strangers in their network, as opposed to strong ties of friends and families.  Furthermore, those who have ethnically and religiously more diverse networks were more likely to be exposed to cross-cutting information.  Taken together, it is argued that the current concern for the filter bubble is rather exaggerated and that one’s network characteristics, such as network compositions and cultural diversity, can influence the degree of the filter bubble

‘Thanks, but it is more about interacting with fans for us’: Twitter Communication between BBC’s Sherlock and NBC’s Hannibal Fans and Producers

This paper looked at online communication between producers of BBC’s show Sherlock and NBC’s show Hannibal with their fans. The main aim was to investigate engagement of producers with fans on social media and the use of accounts on social media, e.g. whether TV shows interact with fans through the use of the official network, a production company affiliated accounts or people involved with the show use their own accounts to communicate with fans. Kent and Taylor’s five features of dialogic public relations (Mutuality, Propinquity, Empathy, Risk and Commitment) were used to analyse communication. The results show that two shows share many similarities but the main differences in approach to communication come from the business structure of two broadcasters, public versus commercial. Both shows also showed evidence of dialogic PR techniques, but BBC’s Sherlock also utilised elements of publicity

Facebook Under Attack? Privacy – Europe’s Way of Waging War on U.S Giants?

With the latest focus across Europe and globally on data protection and privacy issues, not least in light of the GDPR[1] which came into force in all member states of the European Union on 25th May 2018, social media sites have come under scrutiny for their data protection practices.[1] General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/67