News Awareness Research Articles

Social Media Marketing and Advertising Under Conditions of External Military Aggression

Since February 2022, Ukraine has been in a state of constant threat due to a military invasion. In this regard, the activities of enterprises, in particular marketing, require the development of new approaches for survival and development. Social media marketing and advertising can be a particularly powerful tool in these circumstances. The consumer's awareness of the company's news and product range updates, live communication with the client, prompt resolution of controversial and conflicting situations and, in general, constant presence in the information field - this is far from a complete list of advantages that are open to businesses when using social networks. In turn, well-planned targeted advertising allows you to expand the target market almost limitlessly, attracting the most potential age, social and gender groups. Under conditions of external military aggression social media marketing (SMM) turns from a simple competitive advantage into a mechanism for saving both the business itself and the well-being of thousands of migrant families. Advertising, the techniques and practices used to bring products, services, opinions, or causes to public notice for the purpose of persuading the public to respond in a certain way toward what is advertised. The article discusses ways to use SMM and advertising tools, as well as features and tips for the wartime period. The mechanisms of promotion in various social networks, such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and others are considered. Regardless of which platforms is used or how it is used, the most important thing to remember is that social media is not a platform to pitch the business. It’s a community to express the personality, demonstrate the values, share useful information, and build up those around the brand. With people naturally following the page and promoting the content, there will be no need for pitching. And with this approach, it is possible to achieve not just the business goals but all of the other intangibles that translate to gratification and fulfillment.

Prevalence of insomnia and anxiety in university students during the COVID-19 lockdown: A cross-sectional study

Background: The world is facing COVID-19 pandemic and almost 70% of the world had gone under Lockdown. People are facing stress, insomnia and anxiety. The lack of basic awareness and spread of fake news are common causes of all these issues. This study was done to determine the prevalence of insomnia and anxiety in medical and non-medical students.
 Subjects and methods: Subjects were approached through friends in universities using WhatsApp. People having insomnia and anxiety before quarantine were excluded from this study. People using anti-depressants and anti-psychotics before quarantine were also excluded from this study. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 965 students of medical and non-medical universities in the cities of Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Consent was taken for using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and Insomnia Severity Index for scoring of anxiety and insomnia respectively. An online questionnaire made in Google forms was used for data collection. Independent t-tests, Pearson Correlation and Regression analysis were performed using SPSS v25.
 Results: Increased prevalence of anxiety and insomnia in non-medical students as compared to the medical students was observed. There was statistically significant strong correlation between anxiety and insomnia of the enrolled subjects (r=0.742, p<0.001). A linear regression equation was formulated. Increased prevalence of anxiety and insomnia in females was also determined.
 Conclusion: Non-medical students, compared to medical students, among which, females, compared to males, were more likely to suffer from anxiety and insomnia during lockdown.

Identifying Fake News: A Lesson from Library Science Students

This study aims to determine the level of the Library Science student’s awareness at UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta to prevent spreading fake news from the internet. This was carried out by identifying fake news with indicators by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). This research is a quantitative descriptive study. The data were obtained through questionnaires, interviews, and non-participative observation. The grand mean was used to conclude the data from the collected questionnaires. The results showed that the students' awareness of fake news was included in the high category, with a score of 3.77 from grades 1 to 5. Students of Library Science at UIN Sunan Kalijaga had the willingness and ability to recognize hoaxes on the internet, including 1) willingness to ask experts, 2) ability to understand news contexts, 3) willingness to check the sources of the news, 4) ability to read between the lines, 5) willingness to avoid prejudice (being neutral), 6) willingness to check the news production time (date), 7 ) willingness to examine news writers, and 8) willingness to examine supporting sources for news production. Students should implement critical thinking as the main skill for identifying fake news. Information literacy education can be used as a way to get their critical thinking skills.

Combating COVID-19 fake news on social media through fact checking: antecedents and consequences

ABSTRACT The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied with a pandemic of fake news spreading over social media (SM). Fact checking might help combat fake news and a plethora of fact-checking platforms exist, yet few people actually use them. Moreover, whether fact checking is effective in preventing citizens from falling for fake news, particularly COVID-19 related, is unclear. Against this backdrop, we examine potential antecedents to fact checking that can be a target for interventions and establish that fact checking is actually effective for preventing the public from falling for harmful COVID-19 fake news. We use a representative U.S. sample collected in April of 2020 and find that awareness of fake news and patterns of active SM use (e.g., commenting on content instead of reading it) increases the fact checking of COVID-19 fake news, whereas SM homophily reduces fact checking and the effects of SM use as users are trapped in “echo chambers”. We also find that fact checking helps users identify accurate information on how to protect themselves against COVID-19 instead of false and often harmful claims propagated on SM. These findings highlight the importance of fact checking for combating COVID-19 fake news and help identify potential interventions.

Does media coverage of fake news affect citizens’ reactions to misinformation and its correction?

During the 2016 US presidential election campaign, interest in fake news surged among political elites, media, and mass publics. This raises the question of how general awareness of fake news affects information processing by citizens. We address this deficit by theorizing about the consequences of awareness of fake news for receptivity to misinformation. We hypothesize that individuals induced to be more aware of fake news will be less likely to update beliefs and attitudes in response to information from news media. We test this theoretical expectation in a pre-registered experiment in cooperation with a national news magazine in Denmark. Results suggest that contrary to the hypothesis, primed and unprimed respondents react similarly. In both groups, misinformation affects approval of a fictional politician in the predicted direction, and a subsequent correction fully cancels out the initial effect of misinformation. The results suggest that the risk of fake news fatigue is limited and media outlets can discuss the phenomenon of fake news in general as well as present concrete factual corrections with little risk of engendering additional media skepticism.

Combating COVID-19Fake News on Social Media through Fact Checking: Antecedents and Consequences

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied with a pandemic of fake news spreading over social media (SM). Fact checking might help combat fake news and a plethora of fact-checking platforms exist, yet few people actually use them. Moreover, whether fact checking is effective in preventing citizens from falling for fake news, particularly COVID-19 related, is unclear. Against this backdrop, we (a) examine potential antecedents to fact checking that can be a target for interventions and (b) establish that fact checking is actually effective for preventing the public from falling for harmful COVID-19 fake news. To do so, we use a representative U.S. sample collected in April of 2020. We find that awareness of fake news and patterns of active SM use (e.g., commenting on content on SM instead of just reading it) increases the fact checking of COVID-19 fake news, whereas SM homophily reduces fact checking and the effects of SM use as users are trapped in “echo chambers.” We also find that fact checking helps users identify and follow accurate information on how to protect themselves against COVID-19 instead of false and often harmful claims propagated on SM. These findings highlight the importance of fact checking for combating COVID-19 fake news and help identify potential interventions.

Autocorrelation Method Analyzed the Crime News Awareness in India

Autocorrelation Method Analyzed the Crime News Awareness in India

FAKE NEWS PROLIFERATION IN NIGERIA: CONSEQUENCES, MOTIVATIONS, AND PREVENTION THROUGH AWARENESS STRATEGIES

Purpose: This study aims to understand the effects of fake news spreading in Nigeria, the reasons for fake news sharing among social media users, and eventually propose preventive measures (i.e. awareness strategies) to combat the proliferation of fake news in Nigeria.
 Main results: Some grave implications of fake news sharing were identified such as death, conflict escalation, political hostility, and societal panic. Meanwhile, people were motivated to share news mainly because of their civil obligation to inform others and provide advice or warning. These motivations, together with other contextual reasons such as media control, interpersonal trust and youth unemployment, had led to fake news proliferation in Nigeria.
 Methodology: This study adopts a documentary research method to generate the information necessary to investigate fake news spread in Nigeria. A total of 265 articles were drawn from Google Scholar search and after a close examination, only 20 articles were included for analysis.
 Implications: There is a need to increase fake news awareness, media and information literacy among Nigerians. Social media users should be constantly informed through adequate advertisements, workshops, conferences, and other forms of sensitization, about the consequences of fake news sharing, how to spot and differentiate fake news with made-up news and why it is imperative to be self-aware before forwarding any message.
 Originality/novelty: This paper contributes to knowledge in two ways. First, it compiles past research on fake news in Nigeria and analysed contextual factors and consequences of fake news proliferation in this context. Second, it reinforces the need for fake news awareness as a means of reducing the spread of fake news among social media users in Nigeria.

واقع وتحديات الصحافة العلمية فى العالم العربي

Despite its early onset in the Arab world in the nineteenth century, science journalism is, nowadays, facing different challenges that hinder its role in contributing to the sustainable development and prosperity of our society. The main pillars of science journalism are professionalism, accuracy, reliability and simplifying complex information. For science journalism to achieve its goals, it should reach a broader audience to raise the Arab society’s awareness of scientific matters, news and content. Therefore, we need to review our perspective of science communication by offering training programs to specialized reporters, battling "pseudoscience" via social media and other channels, and bridging the gap between scientists and science journalists. Furthermore, the digital revolution can also help empower science journalism. In addition, there is a need to fact-check news sections in Arab newspapers, websites and agencies, to filter the huge flow of information that sometimes deliberately deceives our minds.

Fake news - Does perception matter more than the truth?

The present paper experimentally investigates the effect of anchoring on fake news. In particular, we test how different levels of authority and awareness influence this effect. Subjects were presented with false information as an unreasonably high anchor and had to fulfill a related estimation task afterwards. Results show that all subjects, including those who were told that the information was false, were influenced by the anchor. Furthermore, a higher level of awareness of fake news led subjects to adjust more strongly downwards from the anchor. The effect of anchoring was also reduced when subjects without prior awareness were presented with arguments that were inconsistent with the anchor information.

A survey-based assessment of perceived flood risk in urban areas of the United States

Abstract How people perceive the risks of climatic hazards is currently a major research thrust in the field of risk perception. In the wake of recent flood disasters in the United States (US) and globally, more researchers are investigating social vulnerabilities as well as the role of cognition in explaining risk perceptions. This study analyzed how people in the US perceive the risk (i.e., likelihood and seriousness) of flooding via a layered analysis that considered several plausible and intertwined lines of inquiry from the risk perception literature. We surveyed 9250 individuals within nine major urban areas, including the largest city and one smaller city in each region. The National Flood Hazard Layer product provided data for deriving their potential exposure to flood hazards. The analyses tested and confirmed several hypotheses drawn from Social Vulnerability Theory and from Protective Motivation Theory: characteristics associated with social vulnerability (older, female, race/ethnic minorities, low income), previous experiences with and awareness of flood news, and potential exposure to flood hazard (local fraction of flood prone area) significantly increased risk perceptions of floods. Self-confidence in ability to cope with a future flood disaster lowered risk perceptions. This study is the first snapshot of flood risk perceptions nationwide in the US. It points to needs for more theoretically-driven research about flood risk perceptions and behaviors, flood risk communication within local communities, and more social and economic support for vulnerable populations.

News coverage, digital activism, and geographical saliency: A case study of refugee camps and volunteered geographical information.

The last several decades have witnessed a shift in the way in which news is delivered and consumed by users. With the growth and advancements in mobile technologies, the Internet, and Web 2.0 technologies users are not only consumers of news, but also producers of online content. This has resulted in a novel and highly participatory cyber-physical news awareness ecosystem that fosters digital activism, in which volunteers contribute content to online communities. While studies have examined the various components of this news awareness ecosystem, little is still known about how news media coverage (and in particular digital media) impacts digital activism. In order to address this challenge and develop a greater understanding of it, this paper focuses on a specific form of digital activism, that of the production of digital geographical content through crowdsourcing efforts. Using refugee camps from around the world as a case study, we examine the relationship between news coverage (via Google news), search trends (via Google trends) and user edit contribution patterns in OpenStreetMap, a prominent geospatial data crowdsourcing platform. In addition, we compare and contrast these patterns with user edit patterns in Wikipedia, a well-known non-geospatial crowdsourcing platform. Using Google news and Google trends to derive a measure of thematic public awareness, our findings indicate that digital activism bursts tend to take place during periods of sustained build-up of public awareness deficit or surplus. These findings are in line with two prominent mass communication theories: agenda setting and corrective action, and suggest the emergence of a novel stimulus-awareness-activism framework in today’s participatory digital age. Moreover, these findings further complement existing research examining the motivational factors that drive users to contribute to online collaborative communities. This paper brings us one step closer to understanding the underlying mechanisms that drive digital activism in particular in the geospatial domain.

Epistemology in the Era of Fake News

Fake news has recently garnered increased attention across the world. Digital collaboration technologies now enable individuals to share information at unprecedented rates to advance their own ideologies. Much of this sharing occurs via social networking sites (SNSs), whose members may choose to share information without consideration for its authenticity. This research advances our understanding of information verification behaviors among SNS users in the context of fake news. Grounded in literature on the epistemology of testimony and theoretical perspectives on trust, we develop a news verification behavior research model and test six hypotheses with a survey of active SNS users. The empirical results confirm the significance of all proposed hypotheses. Perceptions of news sharers' network (perceived cognitive homogeneity, social tie variety, and trust), perceptions of news authors (fake news awareness and perceived media credibility), and innate intentions to share all influence information verification behaviors among SNS members. Theoretical implications, as well as implications for SNS users and designers, are presented in the light of these findings.

News Coverage, Digital Activism, and Geographical Saliency: A Case Study of Refugee Camps and Volunteered Geographical Information

The last several decades have witnessed a shift in the way in which news is delivered and consumed by users. With the growth and advancements in mobile technologies, the Internet, and Web 2.0 technologies users are not only consumers of news, but also producers of online content. This has resulted in a novel and highly participatory cyber-physical news awareness ecosystem that fosters digital activism, in which volunteers contribute content to online communities. While studies have examined the various components of this news awareness ecosystem, little is still known about how news media coverage (and in particular digital media) impacts digital activism. In order to address this challenge and develop a greater understanding of it, this paper focuses on a specific form of digital activism, that of the production of digital geographical content through crowdsourcing efforts. Using refugee camps from around the world as a case study, we examine the relationship between news coverage (via Google news), search trends (via Google trends) and user edit contribution patterns in OpenStreetMap, a prominent geospatial data crowdsourcing platform. In addition, we compare and contrast these patterns with user edit patterns in Wikipedia, a well-known non-geospatial crowdsourcing platform. Using Google news and Google trends to derive a measure of thematic public awareness, our findings indicate that digital activism bursts tend to take place during periods of sustained build-up of public awareness deficit or surplus. These findings are in line with two prominent mass communication theories: agenda setting and corrective action, and suggest the emergence of a novel stimulus-awareness-activism framework in today’s participatory digital age. Moreover, these findings further complement existing research examining the motivational factors that drive users to contribute to online collaborative communities. This paper brings us one step closer to understanding the underlying mechanisms that drive digital activism in particular in the geospatial domain.

Study on Attitudes of Cancer Patients about Breaking Ways of Bad News

Background and Aim : Giving bad news is an inevitable part of medical profession. There are different opinions about telling the truth and giving bad news to patients in different cultures and societies. Thus, purpose of this study was investigating attitudes of cancer patients about methods of awareness of bad news. Materials and Methods : The study was cross-sectional research that has been done on a sample of 160 people of cancer patients. This study used questionnaire that its validity was confirmed by communication sciences professors and medical experts. The reliability of questionnaire and Cronbach's alpha for all items of the questionnaire was 95 percent in estimating validity of questionnaire was determined that all questions were significantly correlated. SPSS software, regression analysis and Fisher test were used. Ethical Considerations : In this study, verbal informed consent of participants was obtained followed by an explanation about the purpose of the study, anonymity and confidentiality of patients' information. Findings : In this study investigated 160 patient point of view.37.5% of participants were men and 62.5 of them were women (18-77years). The results show that 57.7 % of patients agreed with historical approach, 78.8% of them agreed with direct source style and 94.4% agreed with informal style of giving information. 18.1% of patients disagree with the flow of the companions of patients of the disease. Conclusion : Findings indicates on better breaking of the bad news to the patients with a historical approach and telling to the patient by physician, directly. Citation: Karimi Rahjerdi A, Nasiri B, Shamshiri AR. Study on Attitudes of Cancer Patients about Breaking Ways of Bad News. Bioeth Health Law J. 2017; 1(2):49-54.

A Social Media Primer for Professionals

Social media sites have become powerful and important tools for health education, promotion, and communication activities as they have dramatically grown in popularity. Social media sites also offer many features that can be used for professional development and advancement. When used wisely and prudently, social media sites and platforms offer great potential for professional development by building and cultivating professional networks, as well as sharing information to increase one's recognition and improve one's reputation. They also provide a medium for increasing one's knowledge and awareness of timely news and trends by following important organizations, opinion leaders, and influential professionals. When used unwisely and imprudently, there is the potential to delay, damage, or even destroy one's professional and personal life. In this commentary, we offer recommendations for using Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter for professional development and caution against online behaviors that may have negative professional consequences. In summary, we believe that the strengths and benefits of social media for professional advancement and development far outweigh the risks and encourage health promotion professionals to properly engage these powerful tools.

Decision‐making preferences and information needs among Greek breast cancer patients

We aimed at assessing Greek breast cancer patients' preferences for participation in treatment decision making and their information needs. In a cross-sectional study, 329 breast cancer patients were administered at the Control Preferences Scale, a card-sort measurement designed to elicit preferences for participation in decision making. Information needs were assessed with Cassileth's Information Styles Questionnaire. The majority of patients (71.1%) preferred to play a passive role in treatment decision making, with most of them wanting to delegate responsibility of the decision completely to their doctor (45.3%). A collaborative role was preferred by 24%, whereas only 4.6% chose an active role. Most women expressed a general desire for as much information as possible about their illness (62.6%), but a substantial proportion (37.4%) did not want detailed information; instead, they wished to avoid awareness of bad news. Women who desired less informational details and preferred a passive role requested less frequently a mammography (p<0.001) and/or Pap test (p<0.0005) prediagnostically. This study's findings showed that the proportion of patients who wanted to play a passive role in decision making is the highest reported compared to similar studies from other countries, indicating the impact of the dominating paternalistic model of the doctor-patient relationship in the Greek medical encounter. The association of desired information details and decision-making preferences with screening for cancer procedures prediagnostically highlights the significance of providing the patients with the appropriate information and the choices available for their treatment.

Proximity, Not Story Format, Improves News Awareness among Readers

News researchers have studied various facets of news recall and retention, including recall differences across media (newspapers, radio broadcasts and television newscasts), benefits of visuals in recall and how story style (feature story, news story, etc.) affects recall. The consensus of all these studies has been that media users recall very little of the news presented to them, regardless of medium or method.1 What related studies have determined, however, is that people remember and understand general information (not just news stories) more effectively if it is presented in a manner that is personally relevant or provides cues about importance and salience.2 And while no previous research has specifically tested news stories and editorials together for recall and understanding, research on newspaper editorials has pointed to the importance of editorial pages for informing citizens, helping cement their opinions and encouraging general newspaper readership.3The key concepts of interest in this study are news awareness and proximity. In seeking to expand upon previous research, it is important to test not just news recall but news awareness-defined in numerous earlier studies as a reader's knowledge plus understanding about the topic.4 The proximity concept, when applied to news and journalism, indicates the local nature of the news-how close, both physically and psychologically-an event is to the reader.3 Researchers have repeatedly found that issues to which the reader feels both a high physical and high psychological proximity are best recalled and understood.6 Recall increases directly with level of involvement and with level of prior knowledge about the subject.7There are several benefits of studying story format and story proximity. In a practical sense, story format and proximity are important because they can be changed. Newspapers cannot affect their audiences' educational or socioeconomic status, their previous knowledge or their cognitive frameworks-all factors in readers' news awareness. Newspapers can, however, change the format used to present stories and the proximity of those stories to the readers' everyday lives. The study of story format and proximity has the potential to produce useful, practical information that can improve news awareness in citizens.Research QuestionsTo understand how story proximity is related to news vs. editorial format and how both proximity and format affect recall and awareness, the following research question is posed:RQ1:What is the relationship between proximity of news information, story format (news story vs. editorial) and degree of news awareness?The literature suggests that recall of information is strongest for print media and for topics about which the reader has some previous knowledge. In addition, when recalling information, readers tend to relate it to their lives and fill in the missing spaces with culturally relevant information.8 These ideas, taken together, suggest the following hypothesis:H1:People will have a greater awareness of news when it is presented as local than when it is presented as nonlocal.In addition, reading newspaper editorials and editorial pages may encourage readership of other sections of the newspaper as well as civic participation and a deeper understanding of local issues. Newspaper editorials provide cues about the importance of the information contained in the editorial based on that material's selection as an editorial topic. Editorials also provide visual cues about importance because of their placement on the opinion page and a layout that differs from that of news stories. Editorials provide arguments that can help readers refine their own opinions about important issues. This understanding of newspaper editorials and their functions suggests another research question:RQ2:Does reading newspaper editorials produce a greater awareness of news than does reading hard news stories? …

Political Literacy and the Teaching of Social Policy. A Study into the Political Awareness and Political Vocabularies of First Year Undergraduates

This article explores the findings of a research project carried out into the political awareness and attitudes of first year social science undergraduates. The results initially suggested that students generally lacked understanding of, and interest in, political structures and concepts and possessed poor news awareness and information-gathering skills. However, a more complex picture emerged that indicates a degree of engagement through responses to personal, moral and social questions, suggesting some degree of politicisation, yet such issues seem dislocated from their studies. This mixed picture poses serious challenges for social policy teachers seeking to enhance political awareness among their students.

WEB INFORMATION MONITORING FOR COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE

The WWW has become one of the most important media for sharing information. Web information provides another emerging and important avenue and source of competitive intelligence (CI) for companies. CI is critical for companies to stay competitive in the marketplace. Apart from business users, there are other types of CI users such as technical users, casual users, news awareness users and others who would like to be kept informed on the latest development of their interested areas over the WWW. To discover web information, CI users need to constantly monitor certain web sites and web pages for related information. However, the dynamic nature of the web has made such monitoring task complicated and time-consuming. This paper proposes a web monitoring system, WebMon, to help users monitor specified web pages for latest changes and updates in information. Four monitoring functions including date monitoring, keywords monitoring, link monitoring and portion monitoring are supported by the system. The performance of these monitoring functions is also evaluated.