Using Instagram to Engage with (Potential) Consumers: A study of Forbes Most Valuable Brands’ Use of Instagram

With over 800 million monthly users, Instagram has become one of the most popular social networking sites utilized by individuals and businesses alike. Guided by interactivity theory, the current study identifies connections between the posting behaviour of popular brands on Instagram and audience engagement. Instagram posts (N = 710) from brands on the Forbes Most Valuable Brands list were coded for image type and the presence of brand-related and social content. Using an individualized engagement score for each post, results found audiences were most responsive when images featured products and logos together and when social content appears in captions. Findings of this study are useful to marketing strategists aiming to capitalize on this platform

The Influence of Framing Effects on Public Opinion of Antibiotic use in Livestock

After years of debates and opposition from pharmaceutical companies, the Final rule of the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) went into effect in January 2017 requiring antibiotics used for both humans and animals for the purpose of growth promotion to be discontinued. This study sought to determine the effects framing content regarding antibiotic use in livestock and antibiotic resistance had on public opinion. Using a between-subjects experimental survey research design, 297 respondents indicated their perceptions of antibiotic use in livestock and the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria before being randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Each condition was a mock Twitter account framed differently based on findings from previous studies. After reading their assigned mock Twitter page, respondents indicated their trust of the information contained in the account, their information seeking behavior, demographics, and their support for antibiotic use in livestock. Using an ANCOVA, results indicated the frame influenced trust of information (F = 8.7, p \u3c .05) and information seeking behavior (F = 4.48, p = .01) while support was not significant (F = 2.7, p = .07). Results suggest the blame frame has the greatest influence on shaping public opinion of antibiotic use in livestock and the development of antibiotic resistance

A Sentiment and Content Analysis of Twitter Content Regarding the use of Antibiotics in Livestock

On January 1, 2017, the final rule of the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) was put into place requiring antibiotics approved for both humans and animals to be discontinued for growth promotion. This change was brought on by the role growth promoters in livestock production play in the development of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance increases the costs associated with human health care by increasing the length of stays in the hospital and requiring more intensive medical care for patients. The purpose of this study was to explore sentiment and characteristics of social media content and the characteristics of the key influencers whose opinions had the greatest amount of reach on social media in regard to antibiotic use in livestock and antibiotic resistance. Nuvi, a social media monitoring program, provided sentiment for each tweet and coded 64.8% of the content (n = 129) as negative compared to 38.2% (n = 76) humans coded as negative. The contrast between human coders and Nuvi indicates there could be discrepancies between how Nuvi codes content and the way a human might interpret the content. No key influencer discussed antibiotic use in livestock positively. Findings suggest agricultural communicators should not rely completely on the output from sentiment analysis programs to evaluate how the public discusses issues related to agriculture, particularly controversial issues. Further, agricultural communications practitioners should prioritize monitoring the content shared by key influencers in an effort to better understand the content being shared by the most influential users. Recommendations for future research are provided

A Content Analysis of Antibiotic use in Livestock in National U.S. Newspapers

The discovery of the antibiotic Aureomycin as a growth promotor for the livestock industry was viewed as revolutionary in 1950. The use of antibiotics as growth promoters in livestock, however, has been questioned by health professionals concerned with the role this use might play in the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria. As a public health issue, newspapers have covered this topic since its discovery. Media, such as newspapers, have used frames to discuss the topic over time as new discoveries have occurred, policy changes have been implemented, and food animal production has changed. The purpose of this study was to determine the frames and sources used by national U.S. newspapers when discussing the topic of antibiotic use in livestock and antibiotic resistance. A quantitative content analysis was conducted on three national U.S. newspapers from 1996 – 2017 and found three primary frames were used when discussing antibiotic use in livestock and antibiotic resistance. The content analysis also indicated that over 90% of the news articles contained a scientific source when communicating about this scientific topic. Based on the frames identified some readers are being ill-informed about this topic and could be using this information in their decision making without having all of the facts. Science communicators should prioritize the inclusion of scientific sources in their writing as they communicate about complex, controversial topics

Public thoughts on incentivizing COVID-19 vaccine uptake in the United States: testing hostile media bias with user-generated comments

Facebook is the most popular social media platform and often used by news organizations to distribute content to broad audiences. Features of this online news environment, especially user-generated comments shown to news consumers, have the potential to induce audience perceptions of hostile media bias. This study furthers investigation into the influence of exposure to Facebook comments and news topics on consumers. Using a sample of U.S. adult Facebook users (N = 1,274), this work utilized a 2 (likeminded comments or disagreeable comments) × 2 (story topic of requiring COVID-19 vaccines to receive a monetary bonus or maintain employment) between-subjects experimental design. While controlling for the influence of partisanship, this work further proves that features of the Facebook environment uniquely influence news audience perceptions of neutral news content. Specifically, findings indicate that news story topic can influence perceptions of bias. Further, topic and comment exposure interacted, demonstrating the intensity of story topic and likeminded comments enhance hostile media perceptions

Where\u27s the fracking bias?: Contested media frames and news reporting on shale gas in the United States

© 2019 Hydraulic fracturing, often called fracking, is a drilling technique that accesses previously inaccessible oil/gas reserves. Although the process could aid U.S. energy independence, it is controversial and public opinion is divided. Guided by agenda-setting and framing, this study content analyses news coverage of fracking (N = 524) across cable networks (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC). Results show cable news lacks substance and relies on thematic framing. While all networks failed to provide factual information, issue-related topics discussed and sources used vary ideologically. Theoretical and practical implications, which include the potential for priming audiences and influencing future behaviors and judgments, are discussed

Facial Yoga Data

Although the use of different frames in health-related communication have been found to alternatively persuade individuals to adopt certain behaviors, limited research has compared whether context-transcendent and context-specific frames are more persuasive and explored the interaction effects between these two frames on health behavior adoption. Focusing on facial yoga as the health behavior of interest, the study examines the influence of appearance- and health-framed messages, utilizing a 2 x 2 between-subjects factorial design with data from 117 undergraduate female Instagram users. The results reveal that female students' attitudes toward facial yoga are influenced by gain and loss frames, while intentions are influenced by both context-specific and context-transcendent frames. Notably, health-gain-framed messages exhibit the strongest influence on people's intention to adopt facial yoga.</p