Social media communication, beliefs in foreign interference, and voting intentions: Survey evidence from the 2020 U.S. presidential election

BackgroundCitizens are expected to make informed voting decisions. Theoretical approaches suggest that people are most likely to acquire their political knowledge through media. As more people turn to social media as a source of news, the political knowledge gains from using these technologies are called into question. Previous research has shown that rather than increasing objective political knowledge, the use of social media for news only increases people’s metacognitive sense of being knowledgeable (subjective knowledge), which in turn increases their political participation. However, it remains to be understood which particular forms of social media use, e.g., incidental or intentional news exposure, are related to which dimension of political knowledge. The present work examines (a) the extent to which different motivational forms of social media news consumption foster subjective knowledge, and (b) whether this metacognition is related not only to political participation as a broad concept, but also to specific democratic outcomes such as voting intentions.Methods and resultsResults from a pre-registered, pre-election survey (N = 1,223) of social media users show that intentional news seeking, but not incidental news exposure on social media, is directly related to increased subjective knowledge. Subjective knowledge appears to explain the relationship between social media news use and voting.DiscussionBy showing that incidental and intentional social media news use affect subjective knowledge differently, this study provides preliminary and nuanced insights into the ultimate role that social media technologies can play in democratic processes.

Recently the increasing number of companies uses the social media for creation of positive image. But if the nature of social media communication and the possible risk for company’s image is not assessed appropriately, companies could lose the positive image very quickly and for a long time. Communication in social media is much more complicated than traditional communication, because consumer response and intercommunication limits the possibilities for company to control and manage the content of communication. The success of social media communication for image formation depends on the preparation to communicate in social media. Management of new technologies and communication channels, management of trust and relationship in social media requires new skills.Participation of companies in social media and integration of social media to image formation only recently have got a particular attention in academic and practical field. There is still a lack of empirical evidences. The authors of the article present the study of the company’s image formation within the context of communication in social media, which allows defining concrete requirements for effective communication in social media in developing the image of the company.The authors of the article provide the conceptual model for company’s image formation with communication in social media, reflecting the process of company‘s communication in social media. The model involves the following blocks: 1) company’s identity, 2) strategy formation of communication in social media (that defines the way how the company’s identity should be presented to target audience), 3) interaction between audience and the message content, 4) interaction within audience and 5) evaluation of company’s image. Empirical research of the image formation in social media of banks in Lithuania allowed to make some revisions in the conceptual model, adding the stage of resource allocation to the model block of communication strategy formation, and eliminating the stage of message content format selection.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.em.18.2.4651

PurposeTraditionally, most readers' news access and consumption were based on direct intentional news seeking behavior. However, in recent years the emergence and popularization of social media platforms have enabled new opportunities for citizens to be incidentally informed about public affairs and politics as by-product of using these platforms. This article seeks to shed light on how socio-political conversation attributes may explain incidental exposure to information.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on US and UK survey data, the authors explore the role of political discussion and discussion network heterogeneity in predicting individuals' levels of incidental exposure to news. Furthermore, the authors also test the role of social media news use as a moderator. A hierarchical OLS regression analysis with incidental news exposure as dependent variable was conducted as well as analyses of moderation effects (heterogeneity*social media and political discussion*social media) using the PROCESS macro in SPSS.FindingsFindings reveal that heterogeneous networks are positively related to incidental news exposure in the UK, while sheer level of political discussion is a positive influence over incidental news exposure in the US. Social media news use moderates the relationship between political discussion and incidental news exposure in the UK. That is, those who are highly exposed to news on social media and discuss less often about politics and public affairs, they tend to be incidentally exposed to news online the most. Meanwhile, the interaction of social media news and discussion heterogeneity showed significant results in the US with those exhibiting high levels of both also receiving the biggest share of INE.Originality/valueThis study contributes to closing research gaps regarding how and when people are inadvertently exposed to news in two Western societies. By highlighting that beyond the fate of algorithmic information treatment by social media platforms, discussion antecedents as well as social media news use play an integral part in predicting incidental news exposure, the study unravels fundamental conditions underlying the incidental news exposure phenomenon.

Believing in opportunities in a virtual environment and having started an intensive communication in social media, companies increasingly pay more attention to the measuring of brand efficiency in social media as one of the means to build up a competitive advantage for a company and its impact on brand equity. Social media has changed the communication between brands and consumers: consumers, not brands, become the main message recipients as well as senders. Consumers gain more power to influence brand expression, contribute to its creation, dissemination, promotion and representation. A consumer can interpret messages sent by a brand in his or her own way and communicate his or her interpretation to others. It becomes difficult to assess the impact of messages on brand equity spreading among consumers as it can be affected by both positive and negative information spreading as a word-of-mouth. Traditional Internet tools for evaluation of financial and non-financial efficiency of communication in social media and primary research on brand equity can be used in evaluation of the impact of communication in social media on brand equity. Return on investment is calculated when financial efficiency of communication in social media is measured. In evaluation of non-financial (or consumer behavior) results of communication in social media it is recommended to apply quantitative and qualitative methods, which help to measure consumer generated content, the number of brand fans, their positive and negative comments, their statements, the number of subscribers, the number of video views. There are a lot of free and paid Internet ( Google News Search, Google Blogs Seach, Board Reader, Twitter Advanced Search, Social Mention, Addict-o-matic, Veidaknyge.lt and etc), which tools can be helpful in the analysis of reports. So far the efficiency of communication in social media is assessed from a short-term perspective, therefore, it remains unclear what kind of long-term return communication in social media brings. Companies should measure not only the separate efficiency indicators of communication in social media, but also their interplay and impact on brand equity. The existing measuring indicators of communication in social media efficiency and evaluation methodology are rather fragmented and do not show the impact of communication in social media on brand equity yet. Companies striving to evaluate the impact of social media on brand equity should note the following aspects: In achieving the objective results of assessment of brand communication in social media both financial (short-term perspective) and non-financial (long-term perspective) measuring of the efficiency of brand communication in social media should be performed. Companies should measure not only the separate efficiency indicators of brand communication in social media, but also their interplay and impact on brand equity. Research on primary brand equity (awareness, image, perceived quality, consumer loyalty to brand) should be done prior and after the implementation of communication campaign in order to determine the link of efficiency results of brand communication in social media and brand equity. The impact of communication in social media on brand equity should be evaluated from a short-term and a long-term perspective. Companies seeking to get comprehensive indicators for measuring the brand equity in social media have to set measurable brand equity objectives and compare the obtained results with the established objectives. The purpose of the research is to identify indicators for measuring the efficiency of communication in social media allowing to measure the impact of communication in social media on brand equity, by introducing the measurement methods of indicators. The object of the research is the efficiency of communication in social media measurement. Research is formed by a systematic and comparative analysis and summary of scientific literature. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.em.17.2.2198

Social media has a growing presence as a source of communication for the nonprofit arts sector. Many organizations use social media in an attempt to communicate and develop relationships with audiences. However, there is not much research about social media or how an organization should use it as a method to improve social media communication with its audience. During a ten-week summer internship at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, I conducted social media research and develop a social media plan. The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center is an nonprofit arts organization that is devoted to the study, practice and appreciation of photography in Philadelphia. The mission is fulfilled by providing exhibits, educational programs, and affordable access to photography equipment. I worked with the staff to develop social media tactics that would improve PPAC use of social media and communication with its audience. I used this experience as a case study for this thesis to help describe social media communication and social media evaluative metrics. The goal of this thesis is to determine if social media can be used as a source of communication, if there are metrics that a nonprofit arts organization can track and if those metrics can be used to help an organization improve its communication efforts. This case study research found that social media can provide an additional source of communication for organizations and their audiences. It also found that before committing to a social media strategy, an organization conducts research regarding existing social media presence and measurable evaluative metrics that will help improve communication.

Participatory sensing of traffic, where Internet users share traffic situations either observed by them or automatically sensed by sensors on their smartphones, has become an established means of collecting real-time traffic information (e.g., Google Traffic and Waze). Recent studies have identified strong correlation between social media activity and traffic patterns in the New York area. Interestingly, social media communication leads road traffic. This project computes similar correlations in southern California with an aim to increase the time-resolution of vehicle traffic prediction as near real-time message volume information is available from online social networks. This study collects the number of public messages sent from southern California on the Twitter social media platform. Messages related to several topics are collected. Vehicle flow data at major freeways in the Los Angeles region as measured by Caltrans' extensive network of inductive loop sensors from Caltrans Performance Measurement System (PeMS). The correlation between the two datasets — social media communications and vehicle traffic — is calculated between these datasets. The strengths of these correlations are used to describe the relationship between social media traffic and vehicular traffic in different regions in the southern California. Results show that social media communication is correlated to traffic sensor data with both showing a periodic pattern with approximately the same period. The relationship between social media and vehicular traffic is similar in different roadways in the same region and also holds across regions. Correlation of traffic with volume of social media communications is maximized with a lag of approximately 3 hours (i.e., social media changes appear before traffic volume changes). If further study can also show that there is predictive value in this observation, the time resolution of traffic prediction can be increased by adapting it to real-time changes in social media message volume.

This study is a discussion about the role that social media plays in enhancing communication among individuals, highlighting its prospects and related challenges. This research examines the impact of social media on improving communication among individuals and its prospects and challenges. This study had taken an integrated approach of secondary data analysis methodology through an extensive systematic review of the existing literature, along with the Canadian Research Data Collection (CREDC) national web-survey, to collect the attitudinal and behavioral insight of social media users on different platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn considering theoretical frameworks like Social Presence Theory and Media Richness Theory. Further, this conceptual review used PRISMA guidelines to examine how social media improves communication. Eligibility and exclusion criteria ensured peer-reviewed article selection and credibility. Study reveals that social media platforms significantly enhance interpersonal communication by fostering increased interconnectedness, more accessible information, and community formation. Notably, while these digital environments have considerable benefits, such as the facilitation of learning and support networks, they are also fraught with challenges, including misinformation, privacy concerns, and potential adverse effects on mental health. These findings therefore have dual approaches to reaping the benefits of social media in communication: the promotion of user education to reduce misinformation and building up digital literacy, while there is also a need to consider regulations that will protect against violation of privacy and cyberbullying. It is at this point that stakeholders will, arguably, have fewer difficulties in making use of social media to continue developing active citizenship and rich interpersonal relationships. Future research is encouraged to further explore the implications of emerging technologies on social media communication practices.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to develop an analytical comparison between the impact of social media communication (both user-generated and firm-created) and the effects of traditional media communication. In particular, the components of customer-based brand equity and any difference in the effects according to brand origin associations are investigated. The target group consisted of fans and followers of beer brands on social media.Design/methodology/approachIn all, 192 questionnaires were collected a survey link that was posted on beer brand pages that operate in the Italian market. Structural equation modeling was developed to investigate the impact of social and traditional media communication on brand equity and a multi-group analysis to examine the differences according to the brand names’ origin associations.FindingsResults show that fans and followers cannot be considered as a collective unit. Additionally, consumers make a clear distinction between firm-created/user-generated social media and traditional media communication. Specifically, they distinguish how the effects of the two media outlets differ in relation to the brand origin associations. International brands should concentrate on both firm-created and user-generated communication, whereas national (Italian) brands should foster their firm-created communications. In both cases, however, traditional media communication loses its effectiveness on the brand equity components.Originality/valueContrary to existing literature, this project compares the effect of 2.0 and traditional media on various social media platforms, pointing out two different models according to the brands’ origin associations. This study develops interesting insights both for international companies with huge brand portfolios and for national firms in a complex market like those for beer.

New technologies penetrate into all spheres of our lives and shifts personal communication as well as traditional communication between customers and organizations; provide all the participants of communication with more possibilities. Economic crisis promotes internet-based communication and stimulates organizations to look for cheaper possibilities, i. e. to integrate social media into relations building, public relations and other activities. Recent theoretical and practical scientific studies emphasize the importance of the development of social media ideas and its integration into organizations’ communication activities, which used in appropriate way, can help to reach the appointed results: to present and to sell services or goods, to build brand value or to maintain two-way relations with target audiences, etc. Social media is changing the traditional marketing paradigm and stimulates new attitudes toward relations between organizations and consumers, where information flows bilateral, direct and effectively, may be diffused in social networks by consumers’ wishes and can help to strengthen organization positions in the market. Therefore scientists recommend organizations to appraise the value of every member of virtual communities and to communicate in correct way: adding value, helping to solve problems, educating and etc. The article concentrates on the attitude which organizations have to have for successful social media, implementation and achievement of organizational goals. Different departments of organization should be involved in more effective use of social media. Business organizations have to consider both positive and negative social media application aspects in order to avoid certain risks. The negative aspect of social media that is mostly appointed by scientists is the lack of control mechanism: message content, timing and frequency. In order to avoid the risks related with communication in social media organizations have to plan social media implementation process. The main objective of this research is to build up the structural model of communication in social media and to test the application perspectives of the model for study promotion in public higher education institutions. The result of theoretical analysis is an original model of communication in social media. The steps of the model implementation are: environment and competitors’ analysis preparation of communication strategy, selection of appropriate channels, communication process, monitoring, assessment and comparison of results. The theoretical model of communication in social media includes not only the process of communication between the organization and consumers, but also the stages of preparation and assessment that are also important in the evaluation of implementation of the overall communication strategy. A case study of Lithuanian state higher education institutions was used to reveal the possible application of the suggested model of communication in social media in the promotion of higher education studies in social media. The communication of higher education institutions in social media is important since active involvement of prospective students in communication in social media can help prospective students to choose the university where he or she would like to study. Social media presents a university as „live“, communicating and caring about current and prospective students. The study on communication in social media by promoting studies at Lithuanian higher education institutions showed that the suggested model of communication in social media of business organizations can be successfully applied to the communication of universities in social media. The popularization of higher education institutions and involvement of prospective students should originate from environment analysis and planning as well as benefit assessment that may be gained by social media.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.23.2.1550

PurposeThe purpose of the study was to explore multidirectional flows of information over the course of an emergency. The following research questions were designed to guide this study: How does social media communication unfold over the course of an emergency at a cultural event? How does the nature and purpose of social media communication between all SM users change once an emergency occurs that affects event operations? How does the sentiment of social media communication change once an emergency occurs that affects event operations?Design/methodology/approachThis study explored how social media was used to communicate about on-site emergencies at community cultural events. Three events were studied before, during and after an on-site emergency that disrupted the event. The Twitter and Facebook posts referencing emergencies that took place at Shambhala, Detonate and Zombicon were explored, and the nature and purpose of the posts revealed how online communication changed throughout the emergencies. The Social Mediated Crisis Communication Model guided this research and findings contribute to the model's ongoing development by incorporating additional theories and models.FindingsThe research demonstrates that social media communication shifts during an emergency and how communication moves through a network changes. Once an emergency is underway, communication increases and who is talking with whom changes. The nature and purpose of the social media conversation also evolves over the course of an emergency.Research limitations/implicationsThis study examined the social media communication during three on-site emergencies at three different cultural events. The findings contribute to the understanding of the Social Media Crisis Communication Model. Specifically, the research confirms the various actors who engage online but also shows that two-way communication is not common. As this study only examined three events experiencing three different emergencies, we have a limited understanding of how the type of emergencies affects social media communication.Practical implicationsThe findings show the need for pre-crisis work by event organizers. It is necessary for the events to build trust with their online communities to ensure that when an emergency occurs the event will be seen as a trusted source. Also, staff training is needed to ensure people are prepared to handle the complexities of communicating online during an emergency. Issues like misinformation, influencers and the rapid pace of social media communication create a challenging environment for staff who are unprepared.Originality/valueEmergencies can threaten the survival of event organizations and put the health and wellness of attendees, staff and other stakeholders at risk. The study of crisis communication in special event contexts has received little theoretical attention and yet it is an important area of event management practice. Social media is an essential part of communication strategies and should be integrated into emergency planning to best reach people when an emergency threatens the safety of those involved with the event. The Social Media Crisis Communication Model offers some insight, but understanding its relevance is necessary if it is to be integrated into event emergency management.

The aim is to examine the influence of social media communication on the formation of ideological and political discourse among Chinese youth. The study sample comprised 716 college students from China. The research utilized the Critical Thinking Test by L. Stark, a Media Literacy Assessment Test, and a Personal Values Orientation Test. The initial hypothesis that social media communication practices do not affect critical thinking, beliefs, and value orientations among college students was refuted. The results demonstrate the positive influence of ideological and political discourse on social media in shaping value orientations (correlation coefficient > 0.7), as well as media literacy skills (8.87 ± 0.38 points) and critical thinking (17.58 ± 0.41 points) among students. The activity of Chinese students in social media and their participation in ideological and political discourse is confirmed by the high level of orientation towards communication (30.78 ± 0.75 points) and socio-political activity (27.80 ± 0.28 points). The results of the study can be used to improve the effectiveness of communication practices in social media in the context of ideological and political discourse, promoting the development of critical thinking, value orientations, and patriotic beliefs among Chinese college students. These results are of interest not only at the local level but also in the global context of a multicultural educational environment, contributing to the creation of a positive image of the Chinese state. Future research is planned to focus on examining the characteristics of college students’ participation in ideological and political discourse depending on their chosen professions.

While practice and research show that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communication on social media can have positive effects on corporate reputation, brand attitude and purchase intention, consumer engagement with CSR posts has been underwhelming. Companies are not successfully tapping into the inherent potential of social media communication. This theoretical review integrates extant CSR and social media communication research to contribute to a better understanding of the processes involved in CSR effectiveness on social media. We develop a theoretical model of CSR social media communication, that takes into account its specific characteristics—sensitivity to peer influences through norm activation, interactivity, viral CSR message propagation through sharing, CSR empowerment, and humane-oriented appeals in CSR posts. The hypothesized framework connects CSR and social media-specific drivers with two social media CSR communication outcomes: i) CSR effectiveness in terms of CSR associations, corporate/brand attitude and purchase behavior, and ii) social media performance indicators related to propagation on the network—social media endorsement and opposition (liking, positive and negative commenting, and sharing of the CSR post). The model explains the resulting relationships through mediation processes based on CSR credibility and motive attribution, psychological consumer empowerment, moral emotions, as well as social identity and norm activation. Self-construal and community identification are identified as consumer-based contingency factors of these effects. The review framework provides an extended process-oriented agenda for future studies. The paper recommends multi-brand experimental field studies in a real-life social media setting and highlights the requirement of industry collaboration. The expected findings will help companies to choose relevant CSR initiatives, design effective CSR posts, boost viral propagation on the network, and counter and avoid social media opposition through negative feedback.

The growing reliance on social media as news platforms may lead to more passive news consumption but also offers greater potential for engaging in news. This study investigates the role of engagement with news content on Facebook and Twitter between news exposure and current events knowledge. An online survey (N = 400) tests the relationships between social media news seeking, incidental exposure to news on social media, engagement in shared news content, cognitive elaboration, and current events knowledge. The results show that both active seeking of and incidental exposure to news on both sites are linked to engagement, which is linked to greater cognitive elaboration about the content. Furthermore, engagement mediates the relationship between both types of news exposure and cognitive elaboration. However, engagement and elaboration are not related to knowledge. These results indicate that the key role of social media in news content is not knowledge gain but the ability to engage users who may be passively receiving news on these sites. This study extends the cognitive mediation model of learning from the news in the context of current social media, with updated news consumption norms such as engagement with news on these sites, and incidental news exposure.4

The growing reliance on social media as news platforms may lead to more passive news consumption but also offers greater potential for engaging in news. This study investigates the role of engagement with news content on Facebook and Twitter between news exposure and current events knowledge. An online survey (N = 400) tests the relationships between social media news seeking, incidental exposure to news on social media, engagement in shared news content, cognitive elaboration, and current events knowledge. The results show that both active seeking of and incidental exposure to news on both sites are linked to engagement, which is linked to greater cognitive elaboration about the content. Furthermore, engagement mediates the relationship between both types of news exposure and cognitive elaboration. However, engagement and elaboration are not related to knowledge. These results indicate that the key role of social media in news content is not knowledge gain but the ability to engage users who may be passively receiving news on these sites. This study extends the cognitive mediation model of learning from the news in the context of current social media, with updated news consumption norms such as engagement with news on these sites, and incidental news exposure.

The assault on the Capitol (2021) in Washington, DC – and its replication in Brazil (2023) – has alerted the world to the effects of social media exposure to unverified information bringing (old) unresolved knots back to the attention of global public opinion. Like industrial waste, fake news, misinformation and post-truth contribute to polluting the wells from which democracy is fed – the autonomy of the public sphere and the reliability of the information system. Social media, with their algorithmic logic, have helped to consolidate the disinformation dynamic by exposing open societies to foreign interference. Using a conceptual matrix approach as a methodological tool to systematize the literature highlights through conceptual connections, the authors identify four main arenas of malign foreign information influence. They subsequently apply a meta-analysis of the journal articles where political communication was involved, focusing specifically on the electoral/political arena to analyse the case of the 2016 US presidential election. Elections and political campaigns have always been targeted by foreign interference but never with such a degree of pervasiveness as shown in the 2016 election, which is a true example of how foreign interference can undermine democratic processes in a sovereign country by exploiting existing social divisions, influencing the minds of the public, threatening the integrity of voting systems and manipulating the media. The authors conclude by affirming the need to integrate foreign interference studies into political communication research as a further level of analysis since its features tend to become structural.