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Social Media Filtering and Democracy: Effects of Social Media News Use and Uncivil Political Discussions on Social Media Unfriending

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Abstract

In todays’ progressively polarized society, social media users are increasingly exposed to blatant uncivil comments, dissonant views, and controversial news contents, both from their peers and the media organizations they follow. Recent scholarship on selective avoidance suggests that citizens when exposed to contentious stimuli tend to either neglect, avoid, or by-pass such content, a practice scholarly known as users’ filtration tactics or unfriending. Drawing upon a nationally representative panel survey from the United States (W1 = 1,338/W2 = 511) fielded in 2019/2020, this study seeks to a) examine whether social media news use is associated to exposure to uncivil political discussions, and 2) explore the ways in which both constructs causally affect users’ unfriending behavior. Finally, the study investigates the contingent moderating role of uncivil political discussion in energizing the relationship between social media use for news and unfriending. Our findings first find support for the idea that social media news use directly activates citizens’ uncivil discussions and unfriending, while uncivil political discussion directly triggers unfriending behavior and significantly contributes to intensify the effect of social media news use over citizens’ unfriending levels. These findings add to current conversations about the potential motivations and deleterious effects of social media filtering in contemporary democracies.

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... Social media platforms provide users with the capability to filter content in either a preventive manner (e.g., selectively connecting with like-minded individuals to create a homogeneous online network) or a reactive (post-hoc) manner (e.g., removing someone from their online network after encountering opposing views) (Yang et al., 2017). In the latter case, social media filtering consists of three major practices: 1) content filtering, i.e., blocking posts one does not want to see; 2) social exclusion, i.e., excluding people from one's social networks with whom a person wants no more social interaction; and 3) communication filtering, i.e., one informs the unfriended individual and others about the exclusion or filtering (Goyanes et al., 2021;John & Agbarya, 2021). Different names for social media filtering are used on various social media platforms. ...
... This incivility in social media evokes negative affective and behavioral reactions (Gervais, 2015). For instance, when individuals were exposed to uncivil comments on social media, they tended to experience hostile cognitions and emotions (Kluck & Krämer, 2023) and lead users to adopt social media filtering strategies like unfollowing or unfriending (Goyanes et al., 2021). Consequently, incivility in social media can hamper the free flow of information and opinion exchange on digital media platforms (Coe et al., 2014) and even lead to polarization (Suhay et al., 2018). ...
... This finding aligns with previous studies that focused on impolite discussion manner. For instance, Goyanes et al. (2021) revealed that social media news use was positively associated with unfriending, especially when social media users were exposed to uncivil discussion. In particular, our finding provides empirical evidence that uncivil discussion, especially in political disagreement situations, can accelerate political polarization by ruling out the source of disagreement (Kim & Kim, 2019), regardless of the level of uncomfortableness they felt. ...
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To examine how political differences on social media disrupt user relationships, we conduct two 2 (political disagreement vs. political agreement) × 2 (civil vs. uncivil discussion) between-subjects experiments, with adult and college student samples. The results show that political disagreement heightens feelings of uncomfortableness, which in turn increases the intention to engage in social media filtering actions. Discussion manner moderates the association between uncomfortableness and social media filtering intention in college students, but not in adults. Uncomfortableness positively predicts filtering intention with civil discussion, whereas uncivil discussion leads to higher social media filtering intention regardless of the level of uncomfortableness. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of these findings, which have implications for the development of strategies aimed at mitigating the trends of political polarization.
... According to their findings, a respondent grew less affectionate toward someone, assessed this person as less likable, and became more uncomfortable around him/her after learning about perceived-value dissimilarity in viewpoint about politics. Perceived political value dissimilarity brought on by unpleasant publicity about politics immediately causes unfriending or unlikability behavior (Goyanes et al., 2021). A person's perceived disparity, particularly concerning SMP postings, positively increases SMP weariness and societal concerns, which consecutively might produce antipathy/dislike (Yang et al., 2022). ...
... Responders who viewed their co-worker's political stances as having comparable values to their own will probably like her/him in person. The outcome reinforces those of previously published articles showing that perceived value disparity brought on by impolite publicity about politics on SMP (1) leads to response-escaping behavior among workers and their supervisors over office disagreements, (2) instigates societal anxiety and SMP weariness (Yang et al., 2022), and (3) immediately causes unfriending behavior or unlikability (Goyanes et al., 2021). ...
... • The intercorrelation of perceived political value similarity and likability is optimistic and substantially supports three other studies (Goyanes et al., 2021;Song et al., 2021;Yang et al., 2022). However, these studies examined this relationship from different contexts. ...
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Aim/Purpose: This paper intends to answer the question regarding the extent to which political postings with value differences/similarities will influence the level of implicit knowledge sharing (KS) among work colleagues in organizations. More specifically, the study assesses contributors’ responses to a workmate’s publicity about politics on social media platforms (SMP) and their eagerness to implement implicit KS to the co-worker. Background: Previously published articles have confirmed an association between publicity about politics and the reactions from workfellows in the organization. Moreover, prior work confirmed that workers’ social media postings about politics may create unfavorable responses, such as being disliked and distrusted by workfellows. This may obstruct the KS because interpersonal relations are among the KS’s essential components. Therefore, it is imperative to assess whether the workfellows’ relationship affected by political publicity would impede the KS in the office. Methodology: Data was gathered using the vignette technique and online survey. A total of 510 online and offline questionnaires were distributed to respondents in Indonesian Halal firms who have implemented knowledge-sharing practices and have been at work for no less than twelve months in the present role. Next, the 317 completed questionnaires were examined with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Contribution: Postings about politics on SMP can either facilitate or impede the level of KS in organizations, and this research topic is relatively scarce in the knowledge management discipline. While previously published articles have concentrated on public organizations, this research centers on private firms. Moreover, this work empirically examines private companies in Indonesia, which is also understudied in the existing literature. Findings: The outcomes confirm that perceived political value similarity (PPV) in a co-worker’s social-media publicity has a significant and indirect influence on contributors’ eagerness to perform implicit/tacit KS. Further, colleague likability and trustworthiness significantly influence the level of KS among respondents. As PPV significantly forms colleague likability, likability strongly and positively shapes trustworthiness. Recommendations for Practitioners: The study shows that political publicity significantly affects implicit knowledge sharing (KS). As a result, managers and leaders, particularly those in private firms, are strengthened to instruct their staff about the ramifications of publicity embedded in employees’ SMP postings, particularly about political topics, as it may result in either negative or positive perceptions amongst the staff towards the workmate who posts. Recommendation for Researchers: As this study focuses on examining KS behavior in a large context, i.e., Indonesia Halal firms that dominate the Indonesian economy, and the fact that much polarization research focuses on society at large and less on specific sectors of life, it is important and interesting for researchers to conduct similar studies in a specific workplace as political agreements and disagreements become so important and consequential in everyday lives. Impact on Society: This article makes the implication that a person’s personality can influence how they react to political posts on SMP. It is difficult for the exposers to know the personality of each viewer of publicity in daily life. Workers’ newfound knowledge can motivate them to use SMP responsibly and lessen the probability that they will disclose information that might make their co-workers feel or perceive anything unfavorably. Future Research: There is a need for further studies to examine if the results can be applied to different locations and organizations, as individuals’ behaviors may vary according to the cultures of society and firms. Furthermore, future research can take into account the individual characteristics of workers, such as hospitability, self-confidence, and psychological strength, which may be well-matched with future work models. Future research may potentially employ a qualitative technique to offer deeper insights into the same topic.
... Most of the literature on social media news reception and dissemination has focused on individual characteristics, motivations, and gratifications (Kümpel, Karnowski, & Keylling, 2015). Beyond affordances such as political discussion or expression, recent studies have stressed the importance of perceived affordances of particular social media settings, such as user anonymity, content persistence, content personalization, and association, to explain specific behaviors online (Goyanes, Borah, & Gil de Zúñiga, 2021). Recent research has found that social media news use is positively associated with uncivil discussions and anti-social behaviors such as unfriending (Goyanes, Borah, & Gil de Zúñiga, 2021). ...
... Beyond affordances such as political discussion or expression, recent studies have stressed the importance of perceived affordances of particular social media settings, such as user anonymity, content persistence, content personalization, and association, to explain specific behaviors online (Goyanes, Borah, & Gil de Zúñiga, 2021). Recent research has found that social media news use is positively associated with uncivil discussions and anti-social behaviors such as unfriending (Goyanes, Borah, & Gil de Zúñiga, 2021). ...
... While recent research has found that social media news fosters incivility and anti-social behaviors (Goyanes, Borah, & Gil de Zúñiga, 2021), the literature is inconclusive regarding specifically aggressive behaviors on social media like insulting. On the one hand, past research has reported that abusing and insulting others online are more frequent around social media news and online media in general, as opposed to other social media conversations around entertainment or business (Udupa, 2018). ...
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Prior research has delved into the diverse effects that social media news consumption has over broader social media interaction patterns. From social ties curation, to ties filtering, blocking, and other behaviors, social media news consumption has been empirically deemed to influence the way citizens socialize in these virtual spaces. Drawing on a diverse and nationally representative two wave-panel data from Spain, this study builds on this strand of the literature by investigating the role of social media news, social media culture of impunity and social media envy or feelings of jealousy, and resentment toward others, over trolling and insulting people in social media. Results show that social media news has a direct association with malicious trolling but does not fuel abusive verbal interactions. The latter is mainly explained by individuals who embrace a culture of impunity-the expectation that in social media one may commit a crime or violation and not be held accountable-, and social media envy. Furthermore, there is a positive divergent interaction between social media envy and culture of impunity on insulting other citizens. That is, people who report higher levels of social media envy and culture of impunity tend to engage in insulting others the most in social media. KEYWORDS
... Besides, political similarity or dissimilarity is a prominent indicator to envisage individual likes amongst persons, and PVS is among the most vital variables in individual dislikes (Mallinas et al., 2018). Scholars Goyanes et al. (2021) also revealed that perceivedvalue dissimilarity caused by discourteous political exposure directly generates dislikes or unfriending behaviour. Especially regarding postings on social media, scholars Yang et al. (2022) disclosed that personal perceived dissimilarity positively causes social media fatigue and social anxiety, which in turn can generate the feeling of dislike. ...
... The finding of this study reveals that the relationship between perceived value similarity and likes is positive and significant, which means that participants who perceived their co-worker's political posts as similar values to theirs will likely like him/her personally, and vice versa. This finding is in line with that of earlier publications which revealed that (1) perceived-value dissimilarity caused by discourteous political exposure directly generates dislikes or unfriending behaviour (Goyanes et al., 2021), (2) perceived dissimilarity regarding postings on social media positively causes social media fatigue and social anxiety (Yang et al., 2022), which in turn can generate the feeling of dislike and (3) perceived-value dissimilarity causes feedback avoidance behaviour among leaders and subordinates through workplace conflicts (Song et al., 2021). ...
... (1) The positive and significant relationship between perceived value similarity and likes, reinforces three earlier works (i.e. Goyanes et al., 2021;Yang et al., 2022;Song et al., 2021). ...
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Purpose This study seeks to comprehend if political exposure containing disapproval and different values will affect implicit knowledge sharing (KS) amongst colleagues in the organization. This research examines participants' responses to a colleague's social-media political exposure and their readiness to perform implicit KS to their colleague. Design/methodology/approach Data collection uses an online questionnaire and a vignette approach. Subsequently, data analysis for 316 finished surveys employs structural equation modelling-partial least squares (SEM-PLS). Findings The findings show that the perceived-value similarity of political posts of a colleague significantly and indirectly affects workers' readiness to do implicit KS. Besides, likes and trusts also significantly affect workers' readiness to perform implicit KS. While perceived-value similarity strongly shapes likes, likes significantly and positively affect trusts. Originality/value Sharing social-media postings associated with political exposure can hinder the implicit KS in organizations and is understudied in the field of knowledge management. Especially, unlike this study which focuses on private companies, previous studies have paid more attention to public enterprises. Besides, this paper's empirical verification is obtained from private organizations in Indonesia, which is also neglected by scholars.
... When social media users are exposed to different political views and disagreements, they can avoid and filter these by engaging in unfriending behavior. An increasing amount of research on unfriending has mainly focused on the factors of unfriending behaviors (Goyanes et al., 2021;Sibona, 2014;Zhu & Skoric, 2021), but little attention has been paid to the consequences of social media filtering and avoidance. ...
... In addition, some scholars have raised concerns that unfriending may lead individuals into echo chambers or promote political polarization (Goyanes et al., 2021;John & Dvir-Gvirsman, 2015). However, only a limited number of studies have tested the role of unfriending in promoting homogenous community formation (e.g., Sasahara et al., 2021). ...
... Exposure to severe political disagreement (i.e., conflicting views that threaten personal values or beliefs) has also been identified as a significant predictor of unfriending (Bode, 2016;Neubaum et al., 2021;Sibona, 2014), especially in times of political turmoil (Zhu et al., 2017). Some evidence also suggests that engaging in political discussions on social media can directly or indirectly increase the likelihood that individuals will adopt unfriending behaviors (Goyanes et al., 2021;Zhu & Skoric, 2021, 2022, especially when they perceive themselves to be a minority in public opinion (Zhu & Skoric, 2022) and when they engage in political discussions with distant others (Zhu & Skoric, 2021). Goyanes et al. (2021) examined the relationship between social media news use, uncivil political discussion, and social media unfriending. ...
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Cross-cutting discussion is the foundation of deliberative democracy. However, previous research has reported inconsistent results regarding the effects of exposure to dissimilar perspectives on political polarization. This study aims to extend the literature by exploring how cross-cutting discussion influences affective polarization through unfriending and how this indirect effect is contingent upon exposure to incivility. The study analyzes panel data from a two-wave online survey conducted in South Korea (N = 890). The results show a significantly positive indirect effect of unfriending, suggesting that cross-cutting discussion further reinforces affective polarization via unfriending. Furthermore, the study identifies the boundary conditions for this mediating mechanism, showing that the mediated relationship of cross-cutting discussion on affective polarization via unfriending is stronger for those who are more exposed to incivility on social media.
... The frequency of social media news is positively associated with incidental exposure to counter-attitudinal information (Diehl, Weeks, and Gil de Zúñiga 2016), which can prompt avoidance behaviours. Goyanes, Borah, and de Zúñiga (2021) found that social media news use can increase unfriending behaviours on social media platforms. During the electoral period, partisan news exposure can further strengthen intergroup animus and weaken the tolerance of conflicting viewpoints (Levendusky 2013;Zhu, Skoric, and Shen 2017). ...
... Also, those who frequently consume news on social media are more likely to perform selective avoidance. While previous research found mixed evidence on the role of general social media use (Neely 2021;Yang, Barnidge, and Rojas 2017), this study dives into a more nuanced analysis of social media use: news use (Goyanes, Borah, and de Zúñiga 2021). During elections, political news becomes especially prominent. ...
... Moreover, while scholars found selective avoidance conscious and deliberate (Goyanes, Borah, and de Zúñiga 2021;Zhu and Skoric 2021), our findings suggest that selective avoidance may serve as a cognitive response to networking and information on social media platforms. We discover that cognitive ability is negatively associated with selective avoidance (H4). ...
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As the 2020 United State Presidential election presented tense partisan conflicts, we sought to explore whether and how such a social and ideological fissure can lead to large-scale politically motivated avoidance behaviours. Building on prior literature, we examine how social media behaviours (i.e. expressive social media news use and political discussion with weak ties) and social psychological attitudes (i.e. surveillance anxiety) are associated with selective avoidance on social media. Further, we explore cognitive ability's direct and indirect roles in influencing avoidance behaviours. We used online panel survey data collected during the 2020 election to test our assumptions. The findings suggest that those with high levels of expressive social media news use, political discussions with weak ties, and surveillance anxiety engage in more frequent selective avoidance. On the contrary, those with high cognitive ability are less likely to engage in selective avoidance. Furthermore, moderation effects suggest that low cognitive users with greater surveillance anxiety and frequent discussions with weak ties are most accustomed to selective avoidance. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and policy implications of these findings.
... And he argues that politics has permeated spheres of social life where it used to be absent. 42 See Sasahara et al. (2021) and Goyanes et al. (2021). ...
... See, for example,Halberstam and Knight (2016). 52 See, for example,Goyanes et al. (2021).7 THE DUTY TO PROMOTE DIGITAL MINIMALISM IN GROUP AGENTS ...
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In this chapter, we turn our attention to the effects of the attention economy on our ability to act autonomously as a group . We begin by clarifying which sorts of groups we are concerned with, which are structured groups (groups sufficiently organized that it makes sense to attribute agency to the group itself ). Drawing on recent work by Purves and Davis (Public Aff Q 36:136–62, 2022), we describe the essential roles of trust (i.e., depending on groups to fulfill their commitments) and trustworthiness (i.e., the property of a group that makes trusting them fitting) in autonomous group action, with particular emphasis on democratic institutions (which we view as group agents) and democratic legitimacy (which depends on trust and trustworthiness). We then explain how engagement maximization promotes polarization, which is detrimental to trust and trustworthiness and, in turn, democratic legitimacy and democratic institutions. We close by considering what groups might do to protect themselves from the threat posed to them by the attention economy.
... McLaughlin and Vitak, 2012;Marwick and boyd, 2011). Failing to adhere to these norms can lead to negative outcomes for social relationships, including the termination of social media connections (Goyanes et al., 2021;McLaughlin and Vitak, 2012). Compared to other forms of social behavior, corrections are particularly risky. ...
... Thus, the breakdown of personal networks may lead to polarization along critical social and political issues. Studies suggest that incivility can provoke negative emotions, attitude polarization, and unfriending (Goyanes et al., 2021;Kim and Kim, 2019). Negative emotions, in particular, can increase resistance to corrective efforts and damage the relationship between the sender and the recipient of the correction. ...
Article
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Misinformation often involves sensitive topics, and individuals may attempt to correct their peers using uncivil tones. We examined the effect of civil versus uncivil corrections on the perceived success of the correction and the reported relationship consequences. We used three-wave panel data consisting of 1513 participants in the first wave, and followed 686 individuals who participated in all three waves. Our results indicate that demographic variables were important predictors of the frequency and tone of correction. Furthermore, individuals reported an equal number of successful and unsuccessful correction experiences. Importantly, we found that more frequent civil correction was associated with a higher likelihood of success, and a successful correction experience was associated with positive relationship outcomes. In contrast, uncivil correction was associated with negative relationship consequences. In addition, individuals with higher appraisal literacy and those correcting close ties were more likely to report successful correction experiences.
... Online discussions tend to be negative, uncivil, and offensive. Hostility is often used as a reaction to counter-attitudinal opinions (Vochocová, 2020) and can consequently lead to selective behavior (Goyanes, Borah, & Gil De Zúñiga, 2021). Many users find such interactions and exposure to disagreement to be stressful, and they get angry (Macková, Novotná, Procházková, Macek, & Hrbková, 2021). ...
... While SNS can expose citizens to diverse information and motivate them to engage in discussions with people who hold opposing views, they also allow them to establish a more homogeneous information environment through the practices of filtering and content curation on SNS (Skoric, Zhu, & Lin, 2018). Selective avoidance (e.g., content removal or politically motivated unfriending; Skoric, Zhu, Koc-Michalska, Boulianne, & Bimber, 2021;Zhu & Skoric, 2022) provides opportunities to avoid content shared by those with whom they politically disagree (Bode, 2016), and it can be seen as a reaction to the uncivil online environment of SNS (Goyanes, Borah, & Gil De Zúñiga, 2021). On the other hand, engagement with some degree of selective exposure does not necessarily imply engagement in the practices of selective avoidance (Garrett, 2009;Skoric, Zhu, & Lin, 2018;Yang, Barnidge, & Rojas, 2017;Zhu & Skoric, 2022). ...
Article
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This study focuses on social networking sites and their role in partisan-based affective polarization and political antagonism. We examine the relationship by testing variables that indicate selective exposure to counter-attitudinal and pro-attitudinal information. The results from Czech survey data (n = 2,792) collected in 2020 show a positive relationship between both perceived discussion disagreement and attitudinal homogeneity of the network to political antagonism, and a positive relationship between the perceived attitudinal homogeneity of the network and affective polarization. The results thus question the existence of a single universal social media use pattern contributing to polarization.
... This theory assumes that technology can uphold new values and modify human values by its mere existence. A good example would be the creation of social media platforms: while it was never the intention of their creators, these platforms have had a significant impact on how people communicate, conduct a dialogue, engage with politics, and even how people perceive the truth (Goyanes et al., 2021). The disrupting and enabling effects of these platforms were not foreseen, but became a reality, nevertheless. ...
... Increasingly, news or politics is discussed online in an unfriendly manner. Unfriendly remarks provoke even more unfriendly remarks (Goyanes et al., 2021). Besides the effect of social media filters caused by algorithms that amplify the polarisation in online discussions, most of us will find it easier to behave in an uncivil manner online than offline (Nedelec, 2018). ...
... Uncivil discussion measures the frequency individuals engage in uncivil online discussion with others based on a scale from Goyanes et al. (2021). Participants were asked how often (1 = never; 10 = all the time) they talked about politics or public affairs online with the following people: (a) People who do NOT discuss politics in a civil manner, and (b) people who have insulted/intimidated/threatened you (W1 Spear-Brown = .89; ...
... Adapted from Goyanes et al. (2021), offline uncivil discussion measures the frequency individuals engage in uncivil discussion with others offline. Participants were asked how often (1 = never to 10 = all the time) they talked about politics or public affairs offline with the following people: (a) people who do NOT discuss politics in a civil manner, and (b) people who have insulted/intimidated/threatened you (W1 Spearman-Brown = .87‚ ...
Article
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In recent years, there has been an increased academic interest revolving around the beneficial or pernicious effects of ideological extremity and (uncivil) political discussion over democracy. For instance, citizens’ ideological predispositions and higher levels of political discussion have been linked with a more active and vibrant political life. In fact, ideological extremity and uncivil discussion foster institutionalized political engagement. However, less explored in the literature remains whether such polarization and uncivil discussions may be related to unlawful political behavior such as illegal protest. This study contends that one of the main drivers of illegal protest behavior lies in online uncivil political discussion, specifically through the normalization and activation of further incivility. We tested this through a two-wave panel data drawn from a diverse US sample and cross-sectional, lagged, and autoregressive regression models. Mediation analysis was also conducted to test whether uncivil online discussion mediated the relationship between frequency of online political discussion and illegal protest engagement. Overall, we found that illegal protest was particularly associated with online uncivil discussion, while ideological extremity and other forms of online and offline discussions seemed to have no effect on unlawful protest over time.
... Si bien el consumo de medios tradicionales supone una forma esencial para el acceso a la información que puede desarrollar la ciudadanía, en la actualidad se presenta un amplio abanico de otras posibles vías informativas disponibles en la red, a través de los diferentes medios y redes sociodigitales. En gran medida, estos espacios se están convirtiendo para buena parte de la sociedad en un medio fundamental de seguimiento de información política (Cho et al., 2009;Goyanes et al., 2021), debido a que su consumo es menos demandante que los medios tradicionales (Muñiz et al., 2018). Y es que, además de funcio- nes como la interactuación, el compromiso o engagement y la movilización de sus usuarios (Vesnic-Alujevic & Van Bauwel, 2014), los sitios creados dentro de la web 2.0 posibilitan en gran medida la transmisión de información sobre cualquier temática o asunto a públicos que no necesariamente son consumidores de los medios tradicionales. ...
Chapter
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Contar con una ciudadanía informada es esencial para lograr una democracia saludable. Sin embargo, para ello se requiere que las personas tengan motivación para buscar información, así como que existan fuentes informativas accesibles. En este texto se plantea el objetivo de estudiar el papel jugado por los medios de comunicación y la conversación como fuentes informativas en el desarrollo de conocimiento y sofisticación políticas entre la ciudadanía. Para ello se usan los datos derivados de dos encuestas representativas a nivel nacional mexicano realizadas en 2018 (N = 1819) y 2021 (N = 1750). Los resultados muestran niveles fuertes de escepticismo político entre la ciudadanía en ambos años, que deriva en consumo de medios y conversación política. Además, en ambos años se observa un papel destacado del consumo de noticias y de la conversación como factores explicativos del conocimiento e interés políticos de las personas.
... Selain penerbitwidina@gmail.com penerbitwidina@gmail.com itu, desentralisasi dan penguatan kapasitas pemerintah daerah akan menjadi fokus utama, memungkinkan daerah untuk menangani tantangan lokal secara lebih efektif dan mengurangi ketimpangan antara daerah maju dan tertinggal. (Goyanes et al., 2021) Pemberdayaan masyarakat dan partisipasi publik dalam pengambilan kebijakan akan menjadi prioritas, dengan pemerintah menciptakan mekanisme yang memungkinkan keterlibatan aktif warga, seperti forum konsultasi publik dan musyawarah. Reformasi birokrasi juga tetap menjadi agenda penting, dengan upaya menciptakan birokrasi yang profesional, responsif, dan efisien melalui sistem meritokrasi dan pengurangan korupsi. ...
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... It is known, among other things, that the involvement of citizens in free online discussions usually has several key features which determine their limited usefulness for the legislative process: comments are often very emotional and general, and participants are more aggressive and prone to polemic due to anonymity (Jankowski, van Os 2004;Papacharissi 2004;Chadwick 2009). There is also a tendency for opinions to polarize and for participants to focus on affiliations and group memberships rather than arguments, reinforced even further by the selection of content profiled based on the user's previous interests (Roy 2012;Duggan, Smith 2016;Goyanes, Borah, Zúñiga 2021). Engagement in various online political initiatives itself, while relatively common, is often short-lived, project-oriented (Loader, Vromen, Xenos 2014: 145), and frequently superficial and symbolic. ...
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Disregard for scientific facts and knowledge holders has usually been identified as a distinguishing feature of the penal populists’ politics. But is penal populism always anti-intellectual? In this article, I provide some deeper insight into the role of expertise in (penal) populist activity, especially in the context of the currently observed redefinition of expertise (some call it “the death of expertise”) and rapid development of new technologies that enable easy aggregation of citizensʼ collective wisdom. Will crowdlaw-making platforms prevent (penal) populism? Or will they strengthen it by facilitating the justification of radical and unnecessary changes in (criminal) law? Is there a place for traditionally conceived experts and established knowledge in crowdsourced law-making process, and if so, what should be their role?
... The importance of citizen reporting is also underscored as a tool for democratizing information by giving voice to groups or issues that may be marginalized in mainstream media coverage (Ennser-Jedenastik et al., 2022;Goyanes et al., 2021). Citizen reporting provides space for diverse and inclusive perspectives, enriching public debate and helping to balance potentially biased or limited narratives. ...
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This study proposes to analyze the influence of netizen (net citizen) accounts on the government's response to public service issues in Makassar over one year. The research method involves using data collected from the user's accounts, focusing on the frequency of reporting, types of issues reported, geographic distribution of reports, types of media used, and government responses to these reports. The analysis indicates that reports through citizen reporter accounts tend to receive quicker responses compared to direct complaints, with respondents evaluating the quality of these responses more positively. These findings suggest that digital platforms, such as social media, are effective in enhancing responsiveness due to emergency events, public priorities, and social pressures resulting from viral reporting.
... -Understanding the specifics of political (Goyanes Borah & Gil de Zúñiga, 2021) and geopolitical (Kar et al., 2021) activity in the process of determining the cultural priorities of society; ...
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The purpose of the research is to highlight the role of social media in the dynamic processes of modern culture development. Socio-cultural progress requires effective tools that will ensure the involvement of individual and social potential. Therefore, the article aims to position social media in the paradigm of the information and digital society. The research methodology is focused on the analysis of scientific works that interpret the content and format of information and communication activity of social media resources. The synergistic approach involves the formation of relevant algorithms for broadcasting social relations based on the interaction between different institutions and correlated with philosophical and ideological guidelines. The results of the study identify a number of information and communication dimensions that define worldview and mental meanings and form practice-oriented models of engaging society in synergistic interaction through social media resources. Among the key dimensions of the functioning of social networks in the information society system are: information, technology, dynamism, flexibility, creativity, heuristics, innovation. A promising area of research into the role of social networks in the context of actualising the philosophical and synergistic discourse is the problem of public self-organisation - the integrity of the approach to understanding social activity. Thus, social networks play an important role in the implementation of the principles of functioning of the social order (local or large-scale), providing the information and communication component of social activity. At the same time, social networks are actually becoming platforms where not only certain principles or elements of social development are presented, but also where discussion activity, debate and identification of the specifics of their implementation are formed. The problem of risks associated with the use of the potential of social communication, namely, responsibility, information security, and compliance with the norms of information culture, remains a matter of debate. Philosophy has historically fulfilled the mission of reconciling innovative dimensions with the fundamental dimensions of social activity, so the mental perception of the status of social networks is no less important than their functional potential.
... More pertinent to this study, uncivil political discussions on SNS are likely to be more common because of the diverse information sources and the high-level network heterogeneity endowed with the platforms (Bakshy et al., 2015;Barnidge, 2015). For instance, a recent study found that the use of social media for news is positively related to uncivil political debate (Goyanes et al., 2021). ...
Article
This study theorized that active political expression on social networking sites (SNS) facilitates political disagreement since it diversifies one’s communication network, which likely leads to political incivility. Additionally, individuals’ social identity might condition this indirect relationship. Relying on a two-wave panel survey in Hong Kong, this study found that political expression on SNS is significantly associated with political disagreement. However, political disagreement does not lead to political incivility, indicating that it does not mediate the relationship between political expression and incivility. Further analysis showed that the mediating relationship between political expression, disagreement, and incivility is only significant for dual identifiers.
... It is noteworthy to mention that the various ways we adopt to live and work are continuously being redefined and revolutionized by information and communication technologies (ICTs). According to Goyanes et al. (2021), the potential significance of ICT in shaping and reshaping individuals' attitudes cannot be ignored or marginalized. Social media platforms, being the most influential representation of ICT, not only dominate a great part of people's lives but also direct their everyday activities. ...
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This paper attempts to investigate the extent to which linguistic misinformation via social networking platforms affects an attitudinal shift on the part of Saudis in terms of the social, political, and religious issues propagated by the various social networks. This study delves into the verbal and nonverbal linguistic strategies employed to influence the cognitive background of Saudis as well as their ideological beliefs in a way that targets a shift in their attitudinal behavior, socially, politically, and religiously. The paper analytically covers two linguistic dimensions of using language to influence others, either persuasively or manipulatively: the lexical level, which focuses on the lexical choices of particular words that serve to create a specific attitudinal shift in the recipients’ personalities, and the pragmatic level, which constitutes the intended meaning of speakers or writers that lies beyond the surface propositional meaning of the linguistic expression. To achieve its objective, the paper draws on two analytical strands: critical discourse analysis (CDA) and the social cognitive theory (SCT). The paper has three main findings: first, language is a rhetorical device for influencing the public’s political, social, and religious views, and, therefore, the rhetorical power of the word significantly contributes to attitudes shift; second, misinformation propagated via social networks influences the attitudinal behavior of recipients, particularly at the social level; and, third, social platforms are ideology conduits via which various meanings targeting attitudes shift are communicated.
... On the one hand, people who use social media for news are known to engage in uncivil discussions, unfriend users, or hide content due to political differences (Goyanes, Borah, & Gil de Zúñiga, 2021). On the other hand, a key motivation for social media use is to maintain interpersonal ties, and the importance of keeping in touch with others may be greater than the willingness to avoid disagreeable information they may post. ...
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Drawing on theoretical explanations of political information consumption, political self-expression, and social media affordances, this article examines the engagement of social media users from Latvia with political content in the context of parliamentary elections. According to the results of semi-structured interviews (N = 49), social media can facilitate following politics and expose users to information they have not been actively seeking out. While users are able to curate their newsfeeds, not all of the interviewees did so actively to disengage from political content even though they were not interested in it and displayed signs of information overload. This kind of incidental exposure did not substantially contribute to their willingness to engage with politics. Although many interviewees were politically active in some way, their hesitation to express their opinions about political matters persisted. This is explained by a perception of political participation as activities that should be undertaken in private, rather than publicly communicated. Furthermore, social media affordances that allow users to be visible and identifiable are shown to exacerbate the obstacles to expressing political views.
... Political participation, although less often researched (n =2), is also a consistently positive predictor. In contrast, political interest (n = 13) shows a mixed pattern-46.15% of the effects are positive, whereas 53.85% are negative.The negative effects were mostly identified in Western democracies including the United States, the United Kingdom, and France during elections or political downtimes(Barnidge et al., 2022;Goyanes, Borah, & Gil de Zúñiga, 2021;Hayes, Smock, & Carr, 2015;Kim et al., 2021;Skoric et al., 2022;Zhang & Shoenberger, 2021), and none of them are statistically significant. In comparison, the positive effects-mostly statistically significant-were observed primarily in contexts of drastic political shifts and conflicts such as Hong Kong during and after the Umbrella Movement(Skoric, Zhu, & Lin, 2018;Zhu & Skoric, 2021;Zhu et al., 2017), with one exception from Germany(Neubaum, Cargnino, Winter, & Dvir-Gvirsman, 2021).Regarding factors related to social media use, both use intensity (n = 10) and political use of social media (n = 13) are frequently researched and consistent predictors. ...
Article
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Recent years have seen a surging scholarly interest in disconnective political behaviors on social media, commonly termed "politically motivated unfriending." This study presents a systematic review of 28 articles (34 studies) on this topic. Through content analysis, it provides a robust synthesis of the trend, contexts, and focuses of the research, the scale and prevalence of politically motivated unfriending, and its antecedents and consequences. Through inductive thematic coding, it identifies 3 recurring themes with regard to the conceptualizations of politically motivated unfriending-it is understood as selective avoidance under the normative framework of the public sphere, self-care following the logic of personal spaces, and a means to create safe spaces within unequal social structures. This systematic review highlights the importance of understanding the political implications of social media through the lens of disconnectivity, demonstrates the democratic paradox of disconnection, and offers recommendations for future research.
... Penggunaan media sosial semakin masif (Abdurohim, 2021c), ini terlihat dari berbagai laporan yang telah disampaikan oleh bebrapa perusahaan peneliti, Indonesia merupakan negara ke-4 terbesar setelah negara Cina, India dan Amerika pada tahun 2021, dimana masyarakat indonesia telah menggunakan berbagai platform media sosial sebanyak 193 juta untuk melakukan komunikasi baik dengan rekan bisnis, sahabat, dan keluarga (Goyanes et al., 2021). Potensi ini sangat mendukung untuk dipergunakan dalam memasarkan produk perusahaan, meskipun dalam data pengguna sebanyak tersebut belum dilakukan perincian antara laku-laki dan wanita, umur yang menggunakan serta lokasi pengguna berada di provinsi mana. ...
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Sistematika buku Pemasaran Era Kini: Pendekatan Berbasis Digital ini mengacu pada pendekatan konsep teoritis dan contoh penerapan. Buku ini terdiri atas 16 bab yang dibahas secara rinci, diantaranya: Bab 1 Pengantar dan Konsep Dasar Pemasaran Digital, Bab 2 Perilaku Konsumen Di Era Digital, Bab 3 Digital Marketing Vs Tradisional Marketing, Bab 4 Strategi Pemasaran Digital, Bab 5 Komunikasi Pemasaran Digital, Bab 6 Digital Customer Relationship Management, Bab 7 Social Media Marketing Strategy, Bab 8 Media Sosial dan Keterlibatan Konsumen, Bab 9 Design Bisnis Media Sosial, Bab 10 Sosial Media Endorser dan Sosial Media Platform, Bab 11 Aplikasi Sosial dan Grafik Sosial, Bab 12 Sosial Media dan Sosial Media Channels, Bab 13 e-Consumer dan e-WOM, Bab 14 Online Marketplace, Bab 15 Business to Business (B2B) dan Business to Consumer (B2C), dan Bab 16 Manfaat Pemasaran Digital Bagi UMKM.
... Shils (1991;1997) influentially described civility as "softly spoken, respectful speech" (1991, 13), i.e., an individual, substantive virtue consisting, on one level of interpersonal respect and courtesy, but also on the willingness to restrain one's most divisive, antagonistic, impolite, and polarizing tendencies in the name of the common good. Shils' dualist interpretation of civility is echoed in distinctions between interpersonal politeness and political civility (Papacharissi 2004;Stryker, Conway and Danielson 2016), or personlevel and public-level civility (Muddiman 2017) but, crucially, these conceptualizations focus on the effects of the different kinds of speech on democratic processes, arguing that while individual lack of etiquette is not necessarily harmful or incompatible with valid political arguments, utterances that disregard or disparage others' "democratic identity" threaten democracy (Goyanes, Borah, and Gil de Zúñiga 2021;Papacharissi 2004, 267). ...
Article
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Drawing on discussions about the manifestation of incivility in online news comments sections, our research operationalizes the concept of incivility and suggests a methodological approach that relies on manual and automated text analysis and regression analysis to assess its prevalence and identify its predictors. Relying on a data analysis of over two million comments on immigration and unemployment retrieved from twelve newspapers websites from six countries (Brazil, Chile, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States), our study confirms the prevalence of incivility in online news comments sections and shows that comments on the topic of immigration, with clear political orientation, particularly right-wing, and displaying populism and false information perception are more prone to include discursive features of incivility. ARTICLE HISTORY
... Social media provides a space for users with a variety of information. Users are often exposed to various contents and views shared or produced by citizens from all walks of life (Goyanes et al., 2021). TRA includes individual intentions to conduct behavior, attitudes toward behavior and subjective norms, where the individual's choice to perform these behaviors is determined by attitudes toward behavior and subjective criteria (Fisbein and Ajzen, 1975). ...
Article
Purpose This study aims to investigate the role of social media in increasing trust, self-perceived creativity and millennial entrepreneurial satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach The empirical analysis was conducted using a sample of 385 millennial entrepreneurs that were recruited for online survey. After conducting reliability and validity tests, the data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings The results showed that the quality of social media information had a direct and indirect positive and significant effect on trust and satisfaction. Social media marketing activities had a direct and indirect positive and significant effect on trust and self-perceived creativity. System Quality of social media also has a significant direct influence on trust. However, there is no direct relationship to satisfaction. Finally, social media marketing activities have a significant direct effect on trust and satisfaction. Practical implications This research can contribute to marketing experts and millennial entrepreneurs in improving the quality of advertising information and the credibility of social media used to support creativity, trust and satisfaction. In addition, marketing experts and millennial entrepreneurs with online-based communities should optimize their marketing activities on social media. Originality/value This study has shown a more comprehensive model of the relationship between information quality, system quality, social media marketing activities, self-perceived creativity, trust and satisfaction. This study also reveals a significant direct and indirect effect of social media marketing activities on satisfaction.
... However, reactions to incivility also vary. For some, incivility might fuel negative feelings (see Rösner et al., 2016) and lead to unfriending (Goyanes et al., 2021). Others might find it to be an acceptable way to communicate (Sydnor, 2019). ...
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Even though social networking sites create a unique online public space for the exchange of opinions, only a small share of citizens participate in online discussions. Moreover, research has depicted current online discussions as highly uncivil, hostile, and polarized, and the number of heated discussions has escalated in the last two years because of health, social, and security crises. This study investigates the perceived barriers to participation in Facebook discussions, focusing on two topics: the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian War. It explores the role that the negativity of these online discussions has on participation. To investigate the perspectives of users and their personal experiences with online discussions in times of crisis, we apply a qualitative research method and interviews with participants. We collected and analyzed 50 semi-structured interviews with Czech Facebook users who participated in discussions during the spring of 2021 (i.e., Covid-19) and the spring of 2022 (i.e., Russo-Ukrainian War). The results show that, after initial mobilization at the beginning of the pandemic, the crisis reinforced several crucial barriers to participation in discussions due to the perceived persistence of polarization (e.g., the spread of disinformation, the bipolar character of discussions, negative perception of opponents), which subsequently spread to other areas and issues. The data also implies that these barriers tend to demobilize less active participants, those who do not have strong opinions, and participants who think the subject matter is not worth the heated exchange of opinions.
... Covariates Following prior research (Nan, 2012a(Nan, , 2012b, other than age, gender (coding: male = 1, female = 2), ethnicity (coding: 1 = Caucasian, 2 = Native American, 3 = Asian, 4 = Hispanic, 5 = African American, 6 = Other) and education (e.g., Goyanes et al., 2021), we also controlled flu vaccination status. Flu vaccination status was measured using a yes-no question asking whether they have received a regular flu vaccine or shot in the past 12 months (1 = yes, 2 = no; Yes = 53.3%). ...
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Although there is enough scientific evidence to show the benefits and safety of vaccines, vaccine rates are low, while misperceptions about vaccines are on the rise. The main purposes of the current study are to 1) examine the effects of narrative vs. statistical messages on vaccine intention, 2) test the mediating role of perceived expectancies, and 3) examine the moderating roles of perceived susceptibility and misperceptions on vaccine intention. Data were collected with an online experiment through Amazon Mturk. The online experiment was conducted via Qualtrics once the study was considered exempt by the Institutional Research Board of a large University in the U.S. A total of 300 participants aged 18 and above completed the survey. Findings show that perceived expectancies mediate the relationship between message manipulation and vaccine intention. Our findings also show a three-way interaction which indicates that among individuals with high misperceptions, statistical messages are more persuasive for individuals with high perceived susceptibility, while narrative messages are more influential for individuals with low perceived susceptibility.
... And the algorithms won't help you to become who you want to be. Instead of that, they will preserve who you are at that moment in time, because they are based on who you were and there is a financial incentive to keep you in that 'bubble' (Goyanes et al., 2021;Van Dijck et al., 2018). Our contemporary youth spends a considerable number of hours a day online. ...
... While social media platforms vary in terms of the combinations of strong and weak ties they afford (Goyanes et al., 2021), a distinct feature of the online world is that borders are lacking between what is public and private (Jensen, 2007). Facing a potential collapse of social contexts (boyd, 2014), people may engage in self-censorship practices (Velasquez & Rojas, 2017). ...
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People’s perceptions of and experiences within online spaces are central to understanding implications of current online surveillance mechanisms. The aim of this study was to gain insight into how people accustomed to online spaces as part of social life negotiated social media as private and public spaces. This study drew on in-depth interviews with “social media natives” in Norway for this purpose. The interview data especially pinpointed two analytically separable, but currently empirically interchangeable, factors that were pivotal to the interviewees' negotiations of private and public space: the Internet’s lack of temporal and spatial boundaries and social media’s distributive logic. While the interviewees took these features of the online for granted, they explained feeling potentially surveilled by anyone, at any time, and thus acting accordingly. As social media that utilise people’s data for economic profit are increasingly providing spaces for people’s interactions, these feelings of uncertainty and surveillance prompts questions about the future role of prominent social media.
... Among the several reasons why (some) voters fail to hold political actors accountable for their actions is a blind loyalty to their preferred party, an attitude that previous literature has labeled as obstinate partisanship (OP) (Ardèvol-Abreu & Gil de Zúñiga, 2020). Obstinate partisans (OPs) remain loyal to "their" party "no matter what they do," "both when they are doing well and not so well," and "even when they make a mistake" (Ardèvol-Abreu & Gil de Zúñiga, 2020, p. 330; see also Goyanes, Borah, & Gil de Zúñiga, 2021). ...
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Scholars have recently sought to explain why some voters remain loyal to “their” parties or candidates “no matter what they do” – an attitude that has been labeled as obstinate partisanship (OP) and limits electoral accountability. We argue that the development of OP may have to do, at least partly, with people’s (in)ability to critically evaluate political information and their tendency to isolate themselves in online bubbles of congenial information and interactions. Building on this framework, we use two-wave panel survey data (NW1 = 1,259; NW2 = 982) to explore direct and indirect associations between information evaluation – a key component of information literacy – and OP. We find that information evaluation is negatively associated with OP in cross-sectional and autoregressive regression models. Analyses also support an indirect relationship between information evaluation and OP through political homophily in social media and online. We discuss possible implications for democracy and information literacy initiatives.
... Further, there is a link between the application of social media and a lower level of political participation which is not surprising. Rather news access from social media is related to uncivil discourses and unfriending, which is shutting down opposing ideas and views and contributes to polarization (Goyanes et al. 2021). ...
Article
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Online media of digital methodology has transformed human behaviors from sociocultural and political backing, interest, and participation to sharing supposition or resistance and has transfigured the approach of interaction and thinking—a serious issue for digital anthropology that centeres on internet-related changes of social marvels, a configuration of chaotic pluralism. With the prime argument that digital social media platforms implant feebleness, insecurity, and instability into social and political life, this paper investigates the risks that online media impose on democracy. Based on auxiliary secondary data, the methodology incorporates qualitative verifiable, and analytical methods. The paper's findings contend that the politico-techno-driven political economy of digital innovation has chopped social and democratic institutions and has destabilized worldwide social relations and politics, democracy has been fumed, stormed, and hacked. Social media has created a modern world order of amazing befuddling filter bubble impact where cyber-violence is misogynistic--social media is just like a redirection of Chinese whispers. Subsequently, with, private on-screen characters, governments' data dispersal, and so-called security and safeguarding of citizens' democratic rights, allegorically, George Orwell’s nightmare of 'Animal Farm' unfurling. In a bourgeois populist science of the 'digital panopticon' of technological colonialism, state surveillance, and bourgeois information, humankind is becoming more divided and unsecured and in the future citizens' will be deprived of numerous sociopolitical rights. Future people may fade under the pressure of high-tech colonialism which concurs with the normalization approach that 'offline field' powerful people are powerful 'online' too. Upcoming democracy is probable to be a discreetly 'high-hat' elitist endeavor. Current endeavors and legislations are romanticized as a glass half empty with very few tools to control cyberspace. It is pivotal to invigorate and fortify citizens’ digital agency and self-determination in society, politics, well-being, and economy, otherwise, societies/countries are probable to be more totalitarian.
... Penggunaan media sosial semakin masif (Abdurohim, 2021c), ini terlihat dari berbagai laporan yang telah disampaikan oleh bebrapa perusahaan peneliti, Indonesia merupakan negara ke-4 terbesar setelah negara Cina, India dan Amerika pada tahun 2021, dimana masyarakat indonesia telah menggunakan berbagai platform media sosial sebanyak 193 juta untuk melakukan komunikasi baik dengan rekan bisnis, sahabat, dan keluarga (Goyanes et al., 2021). Potensi ini sangat mendukung untuk dipergunakan dalam memasarkan produk perusahaan, meskipun dalam data pengguna sebanyak tersebut belum dilakukan perincian antara laku-laki dan wanita, umur yang menggunakan serta lokasi pengguna berada di provinsi mana. ...
Book
Full-text available
Sistematika buku Pemasaran Era Kini: Pendekatan Berbasis Digital ini mengacu pada pendekatan konsep teoritis dan contoh penerapan. Buku ini terdiri atas 16 bab yang dibahas secara rinci, diantaranya: Bab 1 Pengantar dan Konsep Dasar Pemasaran Digital, Bab 2 Perilaku Konsumen Di Era Digital, Bab 3 Digital Marketing Vs Tradisional Marketing, Bab 4 Strategi Pemasaran Digital, Bab 5 Komunikasi Pemasaran Digital, Bab 6 Digital Customer Relationship Management, Bab 7 Social Media Marketing Strategy, Bab 8 Media Sosial dan Keterlibatan Konsumen, Bab 9 Design Bisnis Media Sosial, Bab 10 Sosial Media Endorser dan Sosial Media Platform, Bab 11 Aplikasi Sosial dan Grafik Sosial, Bab 12 Sosial Media dan Sosial Media Channels, Bab 13 e-Consumer dan e-WOM, Bab 14 Online Marketplace, Bab 15 Business to Business (B2B) dan Business to Consumer (B2C), dan Bab 16 Manfaat Pemasaran Digital Bagi UMKM.
... However, platforms -and in particular social media platforms -are increasingly used to spread and gather news amongst their users (Hågvar, 2019). As a result, the algorithmic chains that were designed to stimulate successful advertising have strong societal side effects that include a polarised -and mostly an unfriendly -discourse regarding political issues (Goyanes et al., 2021). Furthermore, it provokes media outlets to present their content in such a way that it successfully triggers the platform's algorithms, which leads to a change in media practice (Bucher, 2018). ...
Chapter
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... Therefore, students feel overloaded and overwhelmed when it comes to information evaluation and analysis. As reported by Swar et al [22], Karr-Wisniewski & Lu [23] and Goyanes et al [24], the excessive amount of information on social media creates disturbing behaviors and psychological issues such as: depression, productivity loss, anxiety, frustration, tiredness, control loss and anger etc. ...
Article
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Technological advancements have dramatically impacted the educational environment; in this context social media brings many educational benefits, but at the same time presents several challenges. One of these challenges is social media content overload; this, therefore, leads to the investigation on this issue to identify EFL students' opinions about this phenomenon and to know the consequences they experienced and solutions they use to reduce its impact. Data comes from 325 EFL students from Moulay Ismail University in Morocco who successfully completed an online questionnaire. The results from the study indicate that almost all EFL students suffer from social media content overload that exceeds their mental capacities. Also participants added that it is time consuming for them to analyze everything presented on social media. The results showed that EFL students experienced several consequences such as: mental fatigue, low productivity, stress and anxiety etc. These consequences, therefore, negatively impacted their academic achievements. In this regard, participants suggested some applicable strategies to mitigate the impact of content overload for instance: time management strategy, advance planning strategy, one platform use strategy and withdrawal strategy. All in all, the issue of content overload remains everlasting because social media platforms are evolving almost every month thanks to technological advancements and this will make this issue hard to vanish. Therefore, EFL students should accept the reality and take this issue seriously by sticking to strategies that can keep the impact at bay.
... What is more, "Scholars have always been interested in political interactions [1][2][3], face-to-face and online." [4]. Politics is, after all, an issue that affects to some extent our everyday lives, and political decisions can impact us negatively or positively. ...
Chapter
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The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the implications of freedom of speech regarding political discussions on social media platforms, such as Facebook. The paper will look at the following aspects: the occasion when social media users have to discuss politics as a hobby and as a means to keep their ideas out of the view of face-to-face social circles, to engage in social issues and even be part of protests, to discuss politicians’ public image, and attempt to change some users’ perception about it. Within social media, we witness debates or simple displays of emotions, allowing users to speak their minds and interact with other users, showing empathy toward them. The benefits of this are related to the therapeutic effects of speaking about what upsets them or angers them and finding like-minded users.
... Minority concerns and topics frequently discussed or shared by underprivileged socioeconomic groups may be less well-known to many people due to these filtering processes. Unfriending strategies and algorithmic screening might also lead to the formation of isolated groups based on opinion-reinforcing arguments and extreme discourses, which may lead to the creation of hate speech (Barberá, 2014;Joan, 2015;Zúñiga, 2015;Bakshy et al., 2015;Skoric et al., 2018;Goyanes et al., 2021). ...
Chapter
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Probably a decade ago, social media became nothing to boom in the Indian subcontinent. However, the population of this country helped many social media networking sites to spread and popularize. It is used not only for making new friends but also covers a wide range of news, information, communication, advertisement, sharing ideas, blogging, education, employment, and many more. This chapter brings many things including brief history of social media, educational sites, research, e- library etc. It will understand the deeper meaning of the social media and how it helps utilize in the field of Education.
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In this paper, I argue that surveillance capitalism and computational propaganda can undermine democratic equality. First, I argue that two types of resources are relevant for democratic equality: 1) free time, which entails time that is free from systemic surveillance, and 2) epistemic resources. In order for everyone in a democratic system to be equally capable of full political participation, it’s a minimum requirement that these two resources are distributed fairly. But AI that’s used for surveillance capitalism can undermine the fair distribution of these resources, thereby threatening democracy. I further argue that computational propaganda undermines the democratic aim of collective self-determination by normalizing relations of domination and thereby disrupting the equal standing of persons. I conclude by considering some potential solutions.
Chapter
This research delves into the intricate relationship between social media adoption and rural development in Karnataka, India. Employing a quantitative approach, the study explores the impact of social media on knowledge sharing, community engagement, and empowerment in rural communities, with a focus on demographic characteristics. The investigation reveals a significant positive correlation between social media usage and adoption and rural development (r = 0.169, p < 0.01). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) results indicate that Social Media Usage and Adoption (SMUA) significantly influences Social Media Platforms (SMP) (β = 0.351, p < 0.001) and correlates positively with Knowledge Sharing, Community Engagement (KCE) (β = 0.293, p < 0.001). While Rural Development (RD) shows no direct impact on SMUA (β = 0.035, p = 0.454), it negatively associates with Challenges and Opportunities (CO) (β = −0.071, p = 0.026) and significantly positively correlates with KCE (β = 0.316, p < 0.001). The model fit indices affirm a strong fit (Chi-square value/DF = 1.929, GFI = 0.996, AGFI = 0.971, NFI = 0.991, CFI = 0.995, RMSEA = 0.048). The study underscores the positive impact of rural social media adoption, enhancing platform usage, knowledge sharing, and community engagement. It further highlights the vital role of rural development in fostering knowledge exchange and addressing challenges, providing valuable insights for policymakers and community stakeholders to promote effective engagement in rural contexts.
Article
The contemporary media environment is often characterized as awash in uncivil and divisive messages. Central to this characterization, are social media, where partisans may engage in uncivil exchanges with outgroup members. The Internet has also become a key source of partisan news content, which is often filled with vitriol and “outrage” toward “the other side.” Using panel survey data from a large and diverse general-population sample of the US, the current study considers the influence of exposure to incivility on social media and online news use on a particularly emotional form of division, affective polarization. Fixed effects regression analyses find no main effects, but significant interaction effects between exposure to incivility via social media and online news use (pro-attitudinal, counter-attitudinal, and nonpartisan online news use) on affective polarization. Exposure to incivility via social media as a form of personal contact, appears to supplement the effect of partisan online news (and vice versa), whether pro-attitudinal or counter-attitudinal, intensifying affective polarization. However, when combined with exposure to incivility on social media, nonpartisan news appears to have an attenuating effect on affective polarization.
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Buku ini berupa editorial yang merupakan catatan-catatan reflektif atas perjalanan politikpasca Reformasi 1998
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El presente artículo de revisión se deriva de la investigación Una mirada comprensiva a las relaciones entrelectura, diseño y redes sociales digitales. Por las características de su construcción, presenta un panoramadiagnóstico e interpretativo frente a las categorías que lo rigen. Se constituye como una revisión sistemáticaorientada por los principios de la metodología PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviewsand Meta-Analyses), alrededor de las categorías lectura, diseño y redes sociales. Sus principales conclusionesderivan en la visión de la lectura como un ejercicio funcional o analizado en contravía del uso de las redessociales; y el diseño como una práctica ligada a productos maquetados como receptáculos de contenidos,soportados en muchas ocasiones en inteligencia artificial; y las redes sociales como entornos totalizantes yvinculados fuertemente al marketing. Se analizan las principales tensiones, identificándolas como relacionesentre lectura y diseño (de débil abordaje); visiones de la lectura en redes sociales (pocas y en sentido funcional);y diseño, dispositivos y redes sociales (donde se encuentra una correlación más potente, pero definidapor las conclusiones esbozadas).
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The fundamental role of political discussions in democracy has been frequently highlighted by quantitative and qualitative literature at the intersection of political communication and media effects. Most research has revolved around whether, and if so under what conditions, social media platforms constitute public spaces where democracy can be nurtured and promoted. Building on this literature and underscoring the importance of individuals’ self-effects theories, this qualitative study, based on 42 in-depth interviews, clarifies how social media users navigate political discussions and their ulterior affective and cognitive processes, introducing the notion of political discussion regret. Specifically, this concept fundamentally emphasizes the sterility of partaking in political discussions as the main motivation for users’ cognitive lamentation, which indirectly cancels the presumed muscle of social media as the sphere of public and private political discussion and deliberations. Implications of the study’s findings and main theoretical consequences for the political discussion literature are also provided.
Article
Two-year colleges provide the opportunity for students of all ages to try new subjects, change careers, upskill, or begin exploring higher education, at affordable rates. Many might begin their exploration by taking a course at a local two-year college. Currently, not many of these institutions in the U.S. offer data science courses. This article introduces the perspective lens of students who have gone through the Montgomery College Data Science Certificate Program. We found that, contrary to many other educational fields at the College, data science students tend to come from diverse backgrounds and career paths. A common theme emerged that all students learned valuable skills and applications such as coding in various programming languages and approaches to machine learning. Other meaningful themes included an appreciation of course accessibility, especially catered towards busy professionals who might only be able to take evening courses. Students appreciated learning that data science and ethics are intertwined. Finally, it was evident that going through the data science program positively impacted the lives and careers of these students. The implications of the themes of these student experiences are discussed as they relate to data science education.
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While most research has examined incivility in political contexts, few studies have explored the role of online incivility in contexts where partisan cues are lacking. Integrating insights from selective exposure, media salience, and serial position effects, we proposed the concept of “incivility salience” and examined how its two manifestations—position and proportion of uncivil messages in a comment thread—affected news engagement behavior. Through two conjoint experiments in the United States, we found that people avoided engaging with comment threads starting with uncivil content and the ones with a higher proportion of uncivil content. Furthermore, we identified that the salience of uncivil content could influence the extent to which people perceive such content as uncivil, which in turn impacts engagement behavior. Overall, this study offers a novel framework that considers incivility salience as a core element for understanding the perceptual and behavioral effects of online incivility.
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One of today’s most controversial and consequential issues is whether the global uptake of digital media is causally related to a decline in democracy. We conducted a systematic review of causal and correlational evidence (N = 496 articles) on the link between digital media use and different political variables. Some associations, such as increasing political participation and information consumption, are likely to be beneficial for democracy and were often observed in autocracies and emerging democracies. Other associations, such as declining political trust, increasing populism and growing polarization, are likely to be detrimental to democracy and were more pronounced in established democracies. While the impact of digital media on political systems depends on the specific variable and system in question, several variables show clear directions of associations. The evidence calls for research efforts and vigilance by governments and civil societies to better understand, design and regulate the interplay of digital media and democracy.
Research
The main motive of this research is to understand the reasons how social media takes the control of our day-today life. There are many ways social media can do this, but for this research we take how unfollow someone or mute someone or reduce the time on social media can take control of our life and for this purpose we chose the social media platform Instagram. We collect 200 survey data for our research and then cluster the data into different categories (negative posts, social factor, unimportant posts, psychological factors, etc.). For clustering into different categories, we follow separate codebooks for all three variables. The result of our study shows that posts related categories like negative posts or unimportant posts play a major role to taking control of social media. 36.7% people thought that unimportant post is the reason why they unfollow someone and 41.3% participant believe that unimportant post is the reasons why they mute someone on Instagram. The outcome of this study provides that posts, social factors, and psychological factors are main reasons to unfollow or mute someone but some other factors like disagreement, and inactivity makes the outcome more interesting even some participate not sure which factor influence them to unfollow or mute someone on Instagram.
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Concerns about selective exposure to partisan information have become a mainstay for scholars of political communication in the changing media environment. This study draws on a survey of a unique population—readers of political blogs—to explore the relationship between perceptions of mainstream media bias (as hostile media perception) and selective exposure to media sources that provide like-minded information as well as social support. We find that hostile media perception is an important motivator for partisan selective exposure among this audience, and also that such perceptions can lead indirectly to expressive political participation by encouraging visits to politically homogeneous online spaces.
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The political blogosphere is replete with uncivil discussions and is apt to examine the influence of incivility on news frames. The present study brings in literature from incivility and framing effects and uses two experiments to examine the influence of incivility on news frames for democratic outcomes such as willingness to participate, online participation, openmindedness, and attitude certainty. Primary findings indicate the detrimental effects of incivility causing less openmindedness and more attitude certainty. At the same time, incivility causes more willingness to participate and online participation. More importantly, the findings demonstrate how incivility interacts with news frames. Implications for news framing effects in the social media landscape are discussed.
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With the advances in interpersonal communication of the “Web 2.0” era, questions about the importance of civility are perhaps more important than ever. Mass digital interaction between strangers has become an everyday occurrence, bound by few behavioral norms. I argue that the widespread presence of incivility in online political communication limits the deliberative potential of online interactions. To test this hypothesis, I manipulate exposure to uncivil political discourse in an online discussion forum. I find that exposure to disagreeable uncivil political talk induces feelings of anger and aversion, which in turn reduces satisfaction with the message board discourse. On the other hand, exposure to like-minded incivility increases the use of uncivil behavior in political comments by message board posters. Notably, these effects mainly occur when histrionic, emotional incivility is present. I discuss why like-minded and disagreeable incivility have different effects, why and reflect on what the presence of incivility means for online political discourse.
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Using original national survey data, we examine how social media use affects individuals' discussion network heterogeneity and their level of civic engagement. We also investigate the moderating role of personality traits (i.e., extraversion and openness to experiences) in this association. Results support the notion that use of social media contributes to heterogeneity of discussion networks and activities in civic life. More importantly, personality traits such as extraversion and openness to experiences were found to moderate the influence of social media on discussion network heterogeneity and civic participation, indicating that the contributing role of social media in increasing network heterogeneity and civic engagement is greater for introverted and less open individuals.
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The power of political blogs in American politics is now evident to anyone who follows it. In Typing Politics, Richard Davis provides a comprehensive yet concise assessment of the growing role played by political blogs and their relationship with the mainstream media. Through a detailed content analysis of the most popular political blogs--Daily Kos, Instapundit, Michelle Malkin, and Wonkette--he shows the degree to which blogs influence the traditional news media. Specifically, he compares the content of these blogs to four leading newspapers noted for their political coverage: The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Times. He explains how political journalists at these papers use blogs to inform their reportage and analyzes general attitudes about the role of blogs in journalism. Drawing on a national survey of political blog readers, Davis concludes with a novel assessment of the blog audience. Compact, accessible, and well-researched, Typing Politics will be an invaluable contribution to the literature on a phenomenon that has reshaped the landscape of political communication.
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This article takes up the popular argument that much online discussion is toxic and hence harmful to democracy, and argues that the pervasiveness of incivility is not incompatible with democratically relevant political talk. Instead of focusing on the tone of political talk, scholars interested in understanding the extent to which digital platforms threaten democratic values should focus on expressions of intolerance. I demonstrate the validity of this conceptual model by investigating the discursive and contextual features associated with incivility and intolerance online in the context of public comments in two different platforms—news websites and Facebook. Results show that incivility and intolerance occur in meaningfully different discussion settings. Whereas incivility is associated with features that reveal meaningful discursive engagement, such as justified opinion expression and engagement with disagreement, intolerance is likely to occur in homogeneous discussions about minorities and civil society—exactly when it can hurt democracy the most.
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Journalists, scholars, and citizens have raised concerns regarding the high share of incivility in comment sections of news outlets. The current study surveyed members of the social movement #ichbinhier, which aims at collectively countering uncivil comments to cultivate a civil discussion atmosphere in comment sections. We root the activities of #ichbinhier as corrective action and identify the determinants of the members’ engagement by integrating research on bystander behavior and collective action. The findings of our survey show that factors pertaining to individual skills, perceived responsibility, and expected benefits relate to the members’ likelihood to engage against uncivil online comments. Regarding factors derived from collective action research, group efficacy and knowledge of the rules and structures of the movement account for higher levels of engagement. These results shed light on the factors that motivate and inhibit #ichbinhier members—and, potentially, Facebook users in general—to engage against uncivil comments.
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Meta-theoretical focus is given to how communication researchers are approaching and hypothesizing moderation. A moderation typology is offered and an evaluation of the field’s common practices for positing moderation reveals an inability to discern between three overarching classifications (Contributory, Contingent, Cleaved). A content analysis of eight communication journals reveals moderation hypotheses lacking a level of precision that can best aid the field’s knowledge generation. In addition, vague hypothesizing is leaving communication researchers vulnerable to the commitment of Type III error (i.e., correctly rejecting a null hypothesis for the wrong reason). Recommendations are provided in an effort to improve the field’s conceptualization and presentation of moderation.
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This article examines exposure to political disagreement on social media and user filtration in response to it. Popular arguments suggest that social media sites prevent exposure to political disagreement either through algorithmic filtration or selective affiliation. Another popular argument says that when users are exposed to political disagreement on social media, they filter it from their feeds by “unfriending”/ “unfollowing” or “hiding” the author. We put these narratives to the test by examining (a) the relationship between social media use and exposure to political disagreement and (b) the factors that predict user filtration in response to political disagreement. Results from analysis based on a nationally representative sample of Colombian adults in urban areas show that (a) engagement with news and public affairs content on social media is positively associated with exposure to political disagreement and (b) the amount of disagreement users are exposed to is not related to user filtration in response.
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Using the 2012 presidential election as a case study, this work set out to understand the relationship between negative political advertising and political incivility on Twitter. Drawing on the stimulation hypothesis and the notion that communication with dissimilar others can encourage incivility, it was predicted that (1) heightened levels of negative campaign advertising would be associated with increased citizen activity on Twitter, (2) increased citizen activity would predict online incivility, and (3) that increases in citizen activity would facilitate a positive indirect relationship between negative advertising volume and citizen incivility. This theoretical model was tested using data collected from over 140,000 individual Twitter users located in 206 Designated Market Areas. The results supported the proposed model. Additional analyses further suggested that the relationship between negative political advertising and citizen incivility was conditioned by contextual levels of economic status. These results are discussed in the context of political advertising and democratic deliberation.
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The emergence of social media has changed individuals' information consumption patterns. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of information overload, similarity, and redundancy in unsubscribing information sources from users' information repertoires. In doing so, we randomly selected nearly 7,500 ego networks on Twitter and tracked their activities in 2 waves. A multilevel logistic regression model was deployed to test our hypotheses. Results revealed that individuals (egos) obtain information by following a group of stable users (alters). An ego's likelihood of unfollowing alters is negatively associated with their information similarity, but is positively associated with both information overload and redundancy. Furthermore, relational factors can modify the impact of information redundancy on unfollowing.
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Using 23 novel indicators and a 1,000+ sample representative of a full undergraduate population we examined: how much consensus there was about perceptions of the incivility/civility of various categories of speech/behavior; and whether political incivility is a unidimensional or multidimensional latent construct. Confirmatory factor analyses suggest perceived political incivility is a multidimensional construct. Insulting utterances, deception, and behaviors tending to shut down inclusive ongoing discussion can be treated as distinct, underlying aspects of incivility. More than 75% of respondents viewed all 23 indicators, except issue-oriented attacks, as very, mostly, or somewhat uncivil. If replicated on a representative national sample, standardized indicators of political incivility should be constructed and routinely employed in national surveys of political attitudes and behavior.
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Abstract Despite the potential of online commenting spaces for public deliberation, they are often full of destructive or uncivil and aggressive comments. Based on research on social learning and social influence, we conducted an online experiment to investigate the effects of uncivil comments on readers' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions. The experiment was built on a one-factorial between-subjects design including four experimental conditions and a control group: Participants were exposed to a news article and six user comments of which zero, one, three, or six were uncivil. Results suggest that exposure to uncivil comments can lead to an increase in readers' hostile cognitions. The effect, however, does not rise with exposure to a higher proportion of incivility. No significant effects were found on hostile emotions or the use of incivility in readers' own comments.
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‘Religion and politics’, as the old saying goes, ‘should never be discussed in mixed company.’And yet fostering discussions