Media Messages Research Articles

Do media message receivers asymmetrically react to non-strategic and strategic media coverage? Evidence from Hong Kong

This study decomposes media coverage into a non-strategic (random news) component and a strategic component backed by investor relations (IR) activities. Conceptually, media message receivers, including analysts and investors, asymmetrically react to non-strategic and strategic media coverage if their reactions to strategic media coverage are biased. Therefore, their reactions to non-strategic media coverage provide a benchmark of unbiased actions for empirically identifying the upward bias, if any, in their reactions to strategic media coverage. Using a sample of Hong Kong firms that provides unique data on IR activities, this study finds that analyst following and forecast error are unbiased in response to strategic media coverage. However, investors’ actions are biased upward in response to strategic media coverage, whose positive impact is over 50% stronger than that of non-strategic media coverage on stock performance and institutional ownership. Moreover, investors heavily discount the strategic media coverage of firms with high information asymmetry.

A normalization model for repeated letters in social media hate speech text based on rules and spelling correction.

As social media booms, abusive online practices such as hate speech have unfortunately increased as well. As letters are often repeated in words used to construct social media messages, these types of words should be eliminated or reduced in number to enhance the efficacy of hate speech detection. Although multiple models have attempted to normalize out-of-vocabulary (OOV) words with repeated letters, they often fail to determine whether the in-vocabulary (IV) replacement words are correct or incorrect. Therefore, this study developed an improved model for normalizing OOV words with repeated letters by replacing them with correct in-vocabulary (IV) replacement words. The improved normalization model is an unsupervised method that does not require the use of a special dictionary or annotated data. It combines rule-based patterns of words with repeated letters and the SymSpell spelling correction algorithm to remove repeated letters within the words by multiple rules regarding the position of repeated letters in a word, be it at the beginning, middle, or end of the word and the repetition pattern. Two hate speech datasets were then used to assess performance. The proposed normalization model was able to decrease the percentage of OOV words to 8%. Its F1 score was also 9% and 13% higher than the models proposed by two extant studies. Therefore, the proposed normalization model performed better than the benchmark studies in replacing OOV words with the correct IV replacement and improved the performance of the detection model. As such, suitable rule-based patterns can be combined with spelling correction to develop a text normalization model to correctly replace words with repeated letters, which would, in turn, improve hate speech detection in texts.

Classification Performance Comparison of BERT and IndoBERT on SelfReport of COVID-19 Status on Social Media

Messages shared on social media platforms like X are automatically categorized into two groups: those who self-report COVID-19 status and those who do not. However, it is essential to note that these messages cannot be a reliable monitoring tool for tracking the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The classification of social media messages can be achieved through the application of classification algorithms. Many deep learning-based algorithms, such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) or Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), have been used for text classification. However, CNN has limitations in understanding global context, while LSTM focuses more on understanding word-by-word sequences. Apart from that, both require a lot of data to learn. Currently, an algorithm is being developed for text classification that can cover the shortcomings of the previous algorithm, namely Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT). Currently, there are many variants of BERT development. The primary objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two classification models, namely BERT and IndoBERT, in identifying self-report messages of COVID-19 status. Both BERT and IndoBERT models were evaluated using raw and preprocessed text data from X. The study's findings revealed that the IndoBERT model exhibited superior performance, achieving an accuracy rate of 94%, whereas the BERT model achieved a performance rate of 82%.

O contributo dos estudos discursivos na construção de mensagens publicitárias nos meios digitais: análise da comunicação de uma marca de água de mesa

Advertising has found opportunities and challenges in the new digital media. In these ways of communicating, we recognize complexity, variety, increased immediacy, and new dialogisms. Institutions and brands became aware of the impact of these new media and the need for more efficient communication. Discourse studies are an instrument for analysing promotional messages in traditional and digital media, but also contribute to institutions and brands using these media in efficient and ethically responsible ways. Three approaches are revisited to assess its spectrum of analysis: looking at communication as (1) social interaction, revealing power relations, cultural processes, and discursive practices (critical discourse analysis); (2) understanding the rhetorical architecture of the textual fabric, which enables an argumentative, persuasive, and effective discourse (rhetoric and argumentation); (3) examine the contribution of pragmatic linguistics to the understanding of language in the interaction created in new media (principles of conversation and implicature).

The Curious Personality Cult of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi: At the Crossroads of Religion, Politics, and Communication Strategies and Technologies

Abstract This paper studies the construction of the personality cult of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the deceased leader of the Islamic State (is) organization that ruled large territories in Iraq and Syria in the mid to late 2010s. Examining a range of is primary sources, I argue that al-Baghdadi sought to develop a distinct personality cult by cultivating auras of holiness and mystique around his personae. While he flaunted putatively exceptional religious leadership credentials, it is al-Baghdadi’s use of communication strategies and technologies for projecting his personality cult that distinguishes his case and this study. Al-Baghdadi sought to strategically mystify himself by rarely appearing in public and largely avoiding visual self-revelation in the media messages he released. Ultimately, given his defiance of regional and international powers and his group’s notoriety, al-Baghdadi’s low visibility and self-enigmatization worked to his advantage by generating much interest about him among supporters and the global media.

Reforming the Bench: Public Support for Supreme Court Institutional Change

Abstract Approval of the Supreme Court recently hit its lowest point in decades. Calls for reforming the Court have gained traction as a result. In this study, we look at how media framing can influence public support for two specific reforms: Court packing and term limits. In a survey experiment, we provide respondents with either a pro-, anti-, or mixed-valence framed message about one of these two reforms. We find support for the proposition that media messages have the power to decrease support for reform but not to increase support for reform. Additionally, we theorize that highlighting the conflict surrounding the Court activates ideological considerations individuals hold toward the Court. In support of this theory, we find that discussing either Court packing or term limits decreases specific support of the high Court among Democrats and increases specific support among Republicans across all conditions.

Mechanisms of Climate Change Media Effects: Roles of Risk Perception, Negative Emotion, and Efficacy Beliefs

ABSTRACT In the context of climate change communication, this study explores the process through which exposure to media messages about a risk leads to recommended behavioral intentions. We propose a model of this process based on the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) and the Risk Perception Attitude (RPA) framework. Our model analyzes how risk perception, negative emotion, and efficacy beliefs mediate and moderate the effects of media messages on people’s intention to engage in pro-environmental behaviors. A national survey among 1,000 adults in South Korea was analyzed, and the fitting of PROCESS Models 4 and 15 yielded four main findings. First, media exposure was directly and positively related to risk perception, negative emotion, and pro-environmental behavioral intention. However, the significant relation between media exposure and behavioral intention was partly conditional upon efficacy beliefs. Second, risk perception and negative emotion were also significantly related to behavioral intention conditional upon efficacy beliefs. Third, efficacy beliefs significantly moderated the relation between risk perception and behavioral intention, but not between negative emotion and behavioral intention. Fourth, efficacy beliefs served as a moderator for the indirect effect of media exposure on behavioral intention via risk perception and negative emotion.

Attitudes of the audience towards media messages on face mask use regarding the COVID-19 pandemic: From compliance to slacking

The study focused on the transition from compliance to slacking in the audience’s attitudes towards media messages encouraging the use of face masks to avoid COVID-19. It employed the survey and multimodal analysis designs based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). A sample of the messages on the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) website and YouTube were chosen for the multimodal analysis using purposive sampling. Findings showed that social media was one of the ways that most respondents commonly heard or saw messages about using face masks. Though short-term positive attitude and compliance were found, it mainly became inconsistent over time, despite the media blitz on the benefits of masking up. It recommended that there was an urgent need to re-contextualize media messages on using face masks by adopting a bottom-up strategy and a hybrid of communication approaches.

I “Like” It: The Effects of Social Media Platform and Message on Consumer Engagement Actions

The academic literature reports mixed evidence on how social media platform and message impact consumer engagement. We investigated the effects of three platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) and three message themes (sales, informational, and relationship building) on six consumer engagement actions (comment, like, search, share, talk about, and purchase) in a lab experiment. College students responded to social media posts featuring their National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I women’s basketball team. Results for platform show that participants were more likely to comment on Facebook and Twitter (vs. Instagram) and more likely to purchase on Twitter (vs. Instagram). Results for message theme show that participants were more likely to comment, like, and share informational and relationship building posts and more likely to purchase after sales posts. Results for message theme vary by gender for search and talk about (with others). These results can help sport marketers develop social media content that drives specific engagement actions.

Crafting Entrepreneurial Pet Brands: Unravelling the Influence of Media Exposure on COVID-19 Anxiety through the Lens of Pet Attachment

This study aims to investigate the impact of media exposure regarding COVID-19 on anxiety with the mediating role of risk perception and the moderating role of pet attachment. The target population of the study is pet owners in major cities of Pakistan. The results concluded that media exposure has a significant and positive impact on risk perception, and risk perception has a significant and positive impact on anxiety. Furthermore, pet attachment plays a moderating role between media exposure and risk perception, and there is a partial mediation effect of risk perception between media exposure and anxiety. The study suggests that pet attachment must be considered as a solution to reduce risk perception caused by media exposure to COVID-19. The effect of media exposure regarding COVID-19 on anxiety has not been widely studied in Pakistan, nor has the mediating role of risk perception and the moderating role of pet attachment; therefore, this study is a contribution towards filling this gap. The goal of the study is to find out how business owners in the pet sector strategically mold their brands and deal with the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 environment. It also explores how media exposure affects people's anxiety levels throughout the epidemic, with a focus on how people's attachment to their pets mediates this effect. When examining and interpreting the emotional and psychological components of people's reactions to COVID-19-related media messages in the context of their relationships with their pets, the lens of pet attachment offers a distinctive viewpoint. For future studies, the impact of media exposure on anxiety may be examined across various cities in Pakistan, with larger sample sizes. Managerial implications are discussed.

Determinants of Quit Attempts and Short-Term Abstinence among Smokeless Tobacco Users in India: Global Adult Tobacco Survey, 2016-17.

Smokeless tobacco is the preponderant form of tobacco in India. The cessation indicators are weaker for smokeless tobacco users than smokers. There is a dearth of literature on the effectiveness of the interventions that motivate and assist smokeless tobacco users in quitting in program settings. Data from Global Adult Tobacco Surveys (GATS), 2016-17, was analysed. Quit attempts in the previous 12 months among SLT users and duration of abstinence were the two outcome variables. The chief exposure variables were the receipts of various interventions that warned about the dangers of smokeless tobacco or encouraged quitting. Logistic regression analyses were employed to identify determinants of quit attempts. For the hazard of relapse to tobacco use, survival analysis was used. The odds of quit attempts among SLT users in the previous 12 months were more among those who received advice from healthcare providers (OR 2.09; 1.87-2.34), noticed messages from media that made them think about quitting (OR 1.67; 1.50-1.86) and noticed a warning label that made them think about quitting (OR 1.39; 1.25-1.55). Those who used counselling (HR 0.81; 0.70-0.93) or medication (HR 0.79; 0.66-0.95) sustained abstinence from smokeless tobacco for a longer duration compared to those who did not use any cessation method. Quit advice by healthcare providers is an influential determinant of a quit attempt, and this intervention needs to be scaled up. The media messages and warning labels were effective among those who considered quitting after noticing them. Cessation methods can help prolong the abstinence from smokeless tobacco, but the reach of cessation methods is limited.

A qualitative study of pregnant women’s perceptions and decision-making regarding COVID-19 vaccination in Thailand

To identify pregnant women’s attitudes towards, and acceptance and rejection of, COVID-19 vaccination. This prospective, descriptive, implementation study was conducted in the Antenatal clinic of Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. In Phase I, 40 pregnant women were interviewed. Phase II consisted of questionnaire development and data validation. In Phase III, the questionnaire was administered to 400 participants. Pregnant women’s attitudes towards and acceptance and rejection of COVID-19 vaccination. Most pregnant women were uncertain about the potential harm of vaccination to themselves or their unborn child, including risks such as miscarriage or premature birth (59–66/101 [58.4%–65.3%]; OR 2.53–8.33; 95% CI 1.23–3.60, 5.17–19.30; P < 0.001) compared to those who disagreed with vaccination. Their vaccination decisions were significantly influenced by social media information regarding vaccination complications in pregnant women (74/101 [73.3%]; OR 15.95; 95% CI 2.15–118.55; P = 0.001) compared to those who disagreed with vaccination. Most pregnant women opined that they should not receive a COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 6.57; 95% CI 2.44–17.70; P = 0.001). Most also rejected vaccination despite being aware of its benefits (AOR 17.14; 95% CI 6.89–42.62; P < 0.001). Social media messages and obligatory vaccination certifications influence maternal vaccination decisions. Pregnant women believe vaccination helps prevent COVID-19 infection and reduces its severity. Nevertheless, the primary reason for their refusal was concern about potential harm to their unborn child or themselves during pregnancy.The Thai clinical trials registry: TCTR20211126006.

Beyond counterintelligence: understanding the SBU’s social media outreach on Telegram during wartime

ABSTRACT This study examines the Security Service of Ukraine’s (SBU) use of its Telegram channel for social media outreach during the Russo-Ukrainian war. It employs a qualitative thematic analysis of Telegram posts published between February 2022 and October 2023 to investigate the SBU’s communication strategies. The study identifies the SBU’s focus on themes such as collaboration and treason, showcasing its operational successes, and countering Russian espionage in its social media messaging. The findings provide insights into the SBU’s approach to engaging the Ukrainian public, in contrast with traditional concepts of intelligence communication, and emphasise its role in influencing public discourse.

Effectiveness of Mediterranean Diet on Daytime Sleepiness among Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Oman.

Background Sleep disturbance is a major complaint among individuals with diabetes mellitus and may be augmented by dietary interventions. The objective of this randomized controlled trial was to determine the effectiveness of a Mediterranean diet intervention on daytime sleepiness among individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Oman. Methods In total, 134 eligible individuals with T2DM (61 and 73 participants in the intervention and control groups, respectively) were recruited. The intervention participants underwent a 6-month Mediterranean diet intervention consisting of individual dietary counseling, cooking classes, phone calls, and social media messages, while the control group continued with standard diabetes care. Daytime sleepiness was assessed using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. All data was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results Daytime sleepiness was evident, with ∼ 30% of the participants experiencing it, with no significant difference between control and intervention participants at baseline. There was a significant reduction in daytime sleepiness in both the intervention and control groups after 6 months, with daytime sleepiness significantly lower in the intervention group, with a modest difference of 42.56% ( p < 0.001). Conclusion Adherence to the Mediterranean diet is effective in reducing daytime sleepiness among individuals with T2DM. Clinical Trial UMIN000041152.

ENSEMBLE CLASSIFIER BASED FAKE NEWS IDENTIFICATION IN ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK

In today’s context, one of the main mediums of news consumption is through social media. It has become a common trend now to produce fake news for speedy propagation and popularity. Thus, it creates a sort of illusion and deception for readers. Amidst the umpty number of researches done, we could say that there is no research that could accurately predict fake news over online. In this study, the ensemble classifier is employed to develop a model for fake news identification in online social networks. This proposed method applies the stacked ensemble classification model, the proposed approach that learns the represented text model and classifies the textual data into real news and fake news. Then, the proposed approach takes the collaborative decision from the classified data that is generated from the multiple base learners using the weight-based ensemble method. The accuracy prediction and performance evaluation of time consumption of detection fake news are consecutively 80 Percentage and 11 ms respectively. Thus, it improves the efficiency and classification accuracy over large-scale social media messages through an efficient sentiment analysis model.

Examining Muslims’ Opinions Toward Cultured Meat in Singapore: The Influence of Presumed Media Influence and Halal Consciousness

This study examines how halal consciousness acts as a precursor to the influence of presumed media influence model to explain Muslims’ views (i.e., attitudes and behavioral intentions) toward cultured meat. A survey of 658 Muslim Singaporeans found that halal consciousness positively correlated with Muslims’ attention to media messages on the benefits of cultured meat, which subsequently shaped their presumed attention to these messages by family members, friends, and social media influencers. Presumed attention from family members and social media influencers was positively associated with Muslims’ attitudes toward cultured meat and subsequently their consumption intentions. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Порядковая оценка популярности публикаций для задач мониторинга онлайновых социальных медиа

The paper examines the possibility of using various methods for generating ranking estimates of the popularity of messages in online social media. Using experimental data collected from the VKontakte network as an example, it is shown that using quantitative indicators of likes, reposts and comments as the basis for an ranking assessment of popularity gives an equivalent result. The need to use popularity metrics, normalized by the number of views or the size of the community audience, is noted when analyzing several online communities at the same time.

Pengaruh Pesan Akun Instagram @Ketimbang.Ngemisbekasi Terhadap Kepedulian Generasi Muda

The poverty that ensnares the elderly should get a more crucial treatment from the government. Through this account "Rather than Ngemis Bekasi'', the elderly who are trapped in poverty and far from the government's attention are eventually raised in the public. The research method used a survey method with an explanatory descriptive quantitative approach. The sample of this research is the younger generation who follow on Instagram @ketimbang.ngemisbekasi. The research method of this study is a survey method with an explanatory descriptive quantitative approach. The sample of this research is Accidental Sampling. Data collection techniques using questionnaires and interviews. The results of the study prove that 62.8% of the younger generation's concern for the elderly are influenced by messages in the @ Instagram account rather than socializing such as uploading photos/videos, captions, likes, comments, each of which can affect knowledge (cognitive), emotions (affective), and real behavior (conative) of respondents. The rest, 37.2%, is influenced by other factors such as motivation within themselves, family environment, community environment, and social closeness. The suggestions that the researchers give to the next researcher, it is better to learn more about other theories related to the influence of social media messages such as the uses- and-gratifications theory, which can use qualitative methods and add other variables that have not been studied in this study.

Impact of social media on secondary schools’ youths within Edo North, Edo State, Nigeria: A psychological perspective

This study examined the psychological impact of social media on Nigerian teenagers looking at how social media posts and tweets (messages) influence their perceptions towards migrating abroad. A survey research method was adopted to investigate the problem in its natural setting. Four secondary schools (SSs) within Edo North, Edo State, Nigeria were randomly selected from 56 government-owned SSs for the study. A questionnaire was used as a data collection instrument to obtain respondents' views (data) which was later analysed using SPSS. Spearman correlation and Pearson's R were used to measure the two hypotheses symmetrically. The chi-square was then used to test the results. According to their opinions (data collected), the findings of the study revealed that Nigerian teenagers of school age have access to social media, prefer text, video and audio kinds of information and mostly prefer Facebook to other social media networking sites. After analysing the tested hypotheses, the researcher concludes that there is a significant relationship between social media messages and Nigerian teenagers’ desire to travel abroad. Hence, social media messages or information affect their mental construct negatively which could be compared to mental slavery and they made some recommendations that would assist in mitigating these impacts.

Effects of media multitasking on the processing and comprehension of multiple documents: Does main idea summarization make a difference?

Media multitasking refers to simultaneous engagement in two activities, or the act of switching between multiple activities, of which at least one is a media activity. Based on this definition, we had 134 Norwegian undergraduates read four partly conflicting documents on sun exposure and health on a computer in order to write a report on the issue, with half of the participants (randomly assigned) receiving and reading short, authentic social media messages on a smartphone while reading the documents, and the other half reading the documents without being sent any such messages. Further, we manipulated what participants did after reading each document paragraph, with half of the participants (randomly assigned) briefly summarizing the main idea of each paragraph in writing, and the other half just rereading each paragraph. Participants’ integrative processing (i.e., cross-text elaboration strategies) were assessed with a task-specific self-report measure immediately after reading all four documents, and their comprehension of the documents was assessed by analyzing their written reports in terms of their ability to elaborate and integrate information within and across the perspectives discussed in the documents. Results indicated that social media multitasking on a smartphone disturbed both the integrative processing and the integrated understanding of the documents, with main idea summarization mitigating or counteracting these negative effects of multitasking. However, when controlling for working memory, reading comprehension skills, and prior knowledge, integrative processing was not found to mediate the effect of multitasking on integrated understanding of the documents. Limitations of the present study and directions for future research are discussed.