Tweeting about sexism motivates further activism: A social identity perspective

Women, more so than men, are using social media activism to respond to sexism. However, when they do, they are also faced with gendered criticisms (\u27hashtag feminism\u27) that may instead serve to silence them. Based in social identity theory, this research examined how women\u27s social media activism, in response to sexism, may be a first step toward further activism. Two studies used a simulated Twitter paradigm to expose women to sexism and randomly assigned them to either tweet in response, or to a no-tweet control condition. Both studies found support for a serial mediation model such that tweeting after sexism strengthened social identity, which in turn increased collective action intentions, and in turn, behavioural collective actions. Study 2 further showed that validation from others increases the indirect effect of tweeting on behavioural collective action through collective action intentions, but group efficacy did not moderate any indirect effects. It was concluded that when social media activism in response to sexism promotes an enactment of women’s social identity, thereby mobilizing them to further action

Narcissism: a factor behind the selective sharing of news online

The current study examined the extent to which narcissism influences the social network users’ intention to share positive and negative life events with (close or unknown) online contacts. Using an online survey, small vignettes and a cross-sectional convenience sample of 119 participants, the results showed that narcissism positively predicted sharing intention of positive and negative life events with strangers. However, individuals rating higher in narcissism were less likely to share negative news with family. The research findings suggest that personality traits such as narcissism, the type of contacts online, and the nature of the news may shape what information is shared by online users. The type of news presented may therefore be a function of who is posting the content, their personality, and the kind of social network contacts they have online