Wiley: Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication: Table of Contents

The Identification and Influence of Social Roles in a Social Media Product Community

Lamya Benamar, Christine Balagué, Mohamad Ghassany — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 00:00:00 -0800

This research focuses on the identification of social roles and an investigation of their influence in online context. Relying on a systemic approach for role conceptualization, we investigate member's activity, shared content and position in the network within a consumer to consumer social media-based community (SMC) around a product. This investigation led to the identification of ten core roles, based on three key elements: object of interest (product, practice, and community), main contribution type (sharing information and seeking information), individual orientation (factual, emotional). We propose an explanation about how these roles, through their positioning, participate in the community dynamics and how they contribute to the creation and diffusion of cookery as a social practice, shaping the periphery around this practice.

We Face, I Tweet: How Different Social Media Influence Political Participation through Collective and Internal Efficacy

Daniel Halpern, Sebastián Valenzuela, James E. Katz — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 00:00:00 -0800

This study advances a theoretical model centered on collective and internal efficacy to explain the separate pathways through which political sharing on Facebook and Twitter may influence individuals to engage in political activities. We test the model with data from a 2-wave panel survey conducted with an adult population in 2013 in Chile. We found that frequent usage of Facebook and Twitter for sharing political information is conducive to higher levels of participation through different efficacy measures. Facebook has a significant effect on collective—not internal—efficacy, whereas Twitter's effect is on internal—not collective—efficacy. Results are discussed in light of the diverse affordances and strengths of network ties of Facebook and Twitter.

Is Anybody Out There?: Understanding Masspersonal Communication Through Expectations for Response Across Social Media Platforms

Megan French, Natalya N. Bazarova — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 00:00:00 -0800

This work extends the masspersonal communication model (MPCM; O'Sullivan & Carr, 2017) by introducing anticipated interaction as a way to understand variations within the masspersonal continuum. Drawing from Thompson's mediated communication framework (1995), we argue that anticipated interaction paves the way for establishing a communicative relationship between interactants. In social media, this relationship is rooted in a sender's expectations for audience response and the imagined responsive audience. Using experience sampling, we show that anticipated interaction varies across social media. Further, we outline the relational and situational factors associated with expecting response and the specificity of imagined responsive audience. These variations and their sources characterize masspersonal communication as a socially and technologically situated practice shaped by multiple intersecting influences.

Incidental Exposure, Selective Exposure, and Political Information Sharing: Integrating Online Exposure Patterns and Expression on Social Media

Brian E. Weeks, Daniel S. Lane, Dam Hee Kim, Slgi S. Lee, Nojin Kwak — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 00:00:00 -0800

Political information sharing in social media offers citizens opportunities to engage with news and express their political views, but how do different patterns of online political information exposure, including both incidental and selective exposure, affect sharing? Using two-wave panel survey data collected in the United States, we examine the relationship between incidental and selective exposure and their consequent links to political information sharing, across different levels of strength of political party affiliation. Our results demonstrate that incidental exposure to counter-attitudinal information drives stronger partisans to more actively seek out like-minded political content, which subsequently encourages political information sharing on social media. The results highlight the need to consider both types of political information exposure when modeling citizens' political behavior online.

Issue Information

Thu, 09 Nov 2017 00:00:00 -0800

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Volume 22, Issue 6, Page I-II, November 2017.