Resistance and the City

In the context of the 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak in South Korea, this study examines the multifaceted effects of media use considering the current complex media environment. Analysis of a two-wave online panel survey found that traditional media use had a positive influence on MERS knowledge while social media use did not. However, knowledge did not facilitate preventive behaviors. In contrast, negative emotional responses due to media use stimulated desirable behaviors. Furthermore, social media use directly influenced behavioral responses but traditional media use did not show the same effects. Different functions of traditional and social media during an epidemic are discussed.

In recent years, the role of media in individuals’ alcohol consumption has been touched upon by several researchers. Nevertheless, the underlying processes explaining the relationship between media use and alcohol consumption, as well as the differences in strength of the associations between social and traditional media use and alcohol consumption remain understudied. The present exploratory cross-sectional study (N = 381) among emerging adults (M = 21.83, SD = 2.04, 75.3% females, 67.7% college students) examined drinking identity and non-drinking identity as underlying mechanisms of the relationship between alcohol-related media use and alcohol consumption, while comparing the role of social and traditional media in these processes. We found no associations between traditional media use and drinking identity, non-drinking identity or alcohol consumption. In contrast, social media use was both directly and indirectly related to alcohol consumption via drinking identity and non-drinking identity. This demonstrates that social media can play a socializing role in emerging adults’ alcohol consumption.

Media use and insomnia after terror attacks in France

This study explores how audiences seek information from social and traditional media, and what factors affect media use during crises. Using the social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) model, an examination of crisis information and sources reveals that audiences use social media during crises for insider information and checking in with family/friends and use traditional media for educational purposes. Convenience, involvement, and personal recommendations encourage social and traditional media use; information overload discourages use of both. Humor and attitudes about the purpose of social media discourage use of social media, while credibility encourages traditional media use. Practically, findings stressed the importance of third-party influence in crisis communication and the need for using both traditional and social media in crisis response.

The exposure to relevant social and/or historical events can increase the generation of false memories (FMs). The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a calamity challenging health, political, and journalistic bodies, with media generating confusion that has facilitated the spread of fake news. In this respect, our study aims at investigating the relationships between memories (true memories, TMs vs. FMs) for COVID-19-related news and different individual variables (i.e., use of traditional and social media, COVID-19 perceived and objective knowledge, fear of the disease, depression and anxiety symptoms, reasoning skills, and coping mechanisms). One hundred and seventy-one university students (131 females) were surveyed. Overall, our results suggested that depression and anxiety symptoms, reasoning skills, and coping mechanisms did not affect the formation of FMs. Conversely, the fear of loved ones contracting the infection was found to be negatively associated with FMs. This finding might be due to an empathy/prosociality-based positive bias boosting memory abilities, also explained by the young age of participants. Furthermore, objective knowledge (i) predicted an increase in TMs and decrease in FMs and (ii) significantly mediated the relationships between the use of social media and development of both TMs and FMs. In particular, higher levels of objective knowledge strengthened the formation of TMs and decreased the development of FMs following use of social media. These results may lead to reconsidering the idea of social media as the main source of fake news. This claim is further supported by either the lack of substantial differences between the use of traditional and social media among participants reporting FMs or the positive association between use of social media and levels of objective knowledge. The knowledge about the topic rather than the type of source would make a difference in the process of memory formation.

This study aims to explore how social media use influences people’s political efficacy and political participation in China, and how such relationships are moderated by a need for orientation, “the most prominent of the contingent conditions for agenda-setting effects” (McCombs, 2004). Results show that social media use can boost all dimensions of political efficacy among Chinese netizens, including internal, external, and collective efficacy. Moreover, social media use has much stronger relationships with different dimensions of political efficacy than traditional media use. Social media use is also more strongly associated with online political participation than with offline participation. The need for orientation accentuates the relationship between social media use and political efficacy as well as political behaviors. As social media have become an increasingly important platform for Chinese people’s political life, this study has shed light on the political role of social media and its psychological conditions.

Academics in the UK Use Social Media to Enhance Traditional Scholarly Reading

In the face of demands for researchers to engage more actively with a wider range of publics and to capture different kinds of research impacts and engagements, we explored the ways a small number of environmental researchers use traditional and social media to disseminate research. A questionnaire was developed to investigate the impact of different media as a tool to broker contact between researchers and a variety of different stakeholders (for example, publics, other researchers, policymakers, journalists) as well as how researchers perceive that their use of these media has changed over the past five years. The questionnaire was sent to 504 researchers whose work had featured in a policy-oriented e-news service. 149 valid responses were received (29%). Coverage in traditional media (newspapers, broadcast) not only brokers contact with other journalists, but is a good source of contact from other researchers (n=47, 62%) and members of the public (n=36, 26%). Although the use of social media was limited amongst our sample, it did broker contact with other researchers (n=17, 47%) and the public (n=10, 28%). Nevertheless, few environmental researchers were actively using social media to disseminate their research findings, with many continuing to rely on academic journals and face-to-face communication to reach both academic and public audiences.

Youth Social Media Use and Health Outcomes: #diggingdeeper

The growth of social media use raises significant questions related to political information and its effect on political knowledge and participation. One issue is whether social media delivers news and political information in a similar manner as traditional news media sources, like newspapers, TV, and radio, by contributing to political knowledge, which is linked to voter turnout. This dissertation examines the relationship between an individual's social media use, their use of traditional news media sources, and whether they turn out to vote. It utilizes American National Election Survey data from the 2016 U.S. Presidential election to complete three studies. First, the dissertation compares people who prefer social media and those who prefer traditional news media sources across as series of political habits and attitudes. Second, it looks at the expansion of the media environment and examines whether a person's social media use and preference for news or entertainment is related to political knowledge and voter participation. Finally, this dissertations examines at whether social media use increases the odds an individual will turn out to vote, thus acting in a similar manner as traditional news media. The results identify differences between people who prefer social media and people who prefer traditional news media sources. In particular, people who prefer social media tend to be younger, have less political knowledge, and have a lower voter turnout rate. However, unlike traditional news media use, the use of social media did not increase the odds an individual turned out to vote in 2016. Further, the use of social media and an individual's content preference of entertainment versus news was not related to political knowledge nor voter turnout. While social media does not appear to have a positive relationship with turnout, it does not appear to discourage a person from voting either. The results suggest that more work needs to be done, including examining the relationship between age, social media use and turnout, as well as how content length may be related to political participation. Finally, further examination is needed of the possible indirect ways social media may be related to voter attitudes and participation.

Navigating Social Media in #Ophthalmology

Spatial Patterns of Purposeful Social Networking and Socioeconomic Influences: Towards a Mature, Inclusive Networked Society in the U.S.

Intensive use of new media in schools significantly affects the modernization, quality and development of the educational process, especially the teaching activities. However, the use of media in schools is mainly conditioned by several factors, among which are: the attitudes of teachers, their personal opinions on the media tools, and their level of skills for media use. Among the factors influencing the preferences of teachers, especially when it comes to implementing new or traditional media, is the experience of teachers. In line with this, the central issue and the main goal of this paper are to examine the correlation between the years of service of teachers and application of traditional or modern media in school. The starting hypothesis is that teachers with more years of experience prefer the use of traditional media (radio and television), while the younger part of the population of teachers is more directed towards the use of new media, especially the Internet. The work is part of a broader research, which used a sample of teachers from Central and Southern Serbia. The main instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire, which consisted of 32 questions. For the purpose of this paper, items that relate to the use of traditional and modern media were analyzed. Research results confirmed the initial hypothesis and showed that there are statistically significant differences in the attitudes of teachers towards the implementation of the media in relation to their years of work experience. The hypothesis that teachers with fewer years of work experience gladly use the Internet and new media, while older teachers rather use traditional media in teaching, was confirmed. Research findings suggest the need for systematic training of teachers, especially of those with more years of employment, enabling them in the use of modern media resources at the school.

COVID-19 vaccine booster shots are necessary to provide durable immunity and stronger protection against the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. As a major platform for access to information, social media plays an important role in disseminating health information. This study aimed to evaluate hesitancy toward COVID-19 vaccine booster shots in China, assess its association with social media use, and provide information to manage social media. We conducted a cross-sectional study across all 31 provinces in mainland China from November 12, 2021, to November 17, 2021. In total, 3,119 of 3,242 participants completed the questionnaire (response rate = 96.2%). COVID-19 vaccine booster shot hesitancy rate in China was 6.5% (95% CI: 5.6–7.3). Unemployment (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.428, 95% CI: 1.590–3.670), low monthly income (aOR 2.854,95% CI: 1.561–5.281), low scores of knowledge (aOR 0.917, 95% CI: 0.869–0.968) and low level of cues to action (aOR 0.773, 95% CI: 0.689–0.869) were associated with vaccine hesitancy. Compared with public social media, lower vaccine hesitancy was associated with high perceived importance of social media (aOR 0.252, 95% CI: 0.146–0.445) and official social media use (aOR 0.671, 95% CI: 0.467–0.954), while higher vaccine hesitancy was associated with traditional media use (aOR 3.718, 95% CI: 1.282–10.273). More efforts are needed to regulate the content of social media and filtering out misinformation. The role of official social media in disseminating health information should be enhanced.

#trial: clinical research in the age of social media