John Robert Bautista

Tweeting Social Support Messages After a Non-Celebrity's Death: The Case of the Philippines' #Fallen44

Nowadays, social networking sites have provided an accessible means to convey social support to grievers who mourn for the dead. To explore how Twitter is used to convey social support after a non-celebritys death, this study conducted a content analysis of 1,557 Twitter posts bearing the hashtag #Fallen44--a reference to the death of 44 elite Philippine policemen during a terrorist manhunt. Using a hybrid coding approach, the findings show that Twitter users conveyed social support by sending informational (56.28%) and emotional (39.76%) support messages. Informational support was mostly expressed by posting or sharing pictures and news articles relevant to the Fallen44, while emotional support was mostly conveyed by paying tribute, showing sympathy, and offering prayers for them. Moreover, a small proportion (3.96%) of tweets did not convey social support but reflected humor or anger or were spam messages. This study is one of the first to provide empirical support for the use of Twitter to convey social support after a non-celebritys death in an Asian setting. Practical and theoretical implications for online social support are discussed.

Predicting Intention to Take Protective Measures During Haze: The Roles of Efficacy, Threat, Media Trust, and Affective Attitude

The annual Southeast Asian haze pollution raises public health concerns in this region. Based on a modified extended parallel process model, this study examines efficacy (self-efficacy and response efficacy) and perceived threat (susceptibility and severity) and incorporates new constructs of media trust and affective attitude. Results from a Web survey of 410 undergraduate students in Singapore show that response efficacy to seek haze-related information mediates the association between perceived self-efficacy and intention to take protective measures during haze. Moreover, self-efficacy is negatively associated with affective attitude (e.g., fear and worry) toward haze-related health problems. Next, perceived severity and perceived susceptibility are positively associated with response efficacy and affective attitude. Affective attitude toward haze is a stronger predictor than response efficacy for behavioral intention. Finally, trust in new media is positively associated with young Singaporeans’ affective attitude, which positively affects their behavioral intention to take protective measures.

Understanding the Relationships between mHealth Apps’ Characteristics, Trialability, and mHealth Literacy

The widespread adoption of mobile phones has increased the potential of mHealth to improve health communication and health outcomes because these devices could serve as a ubiquitous and affordable means to disseminate health information to large populations. Given that mHealth apps offer free or limited trials as part of promotional strategies, potential users’ trialability is a critical step of the preadoption process. Drawing from Rogers’ diffusion of innovation theory, this study examines the relationships of adopters’ perceived characteristics of mHealth apps (i.e., relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, and observability) with their trialability. It further investigates how the perceived control of mobile devices and trialability of mHealth apps influence two dimensions of mHealth literacy, namely seeking and appraisal of health information. This web survey recruited 295 young mHealth app users from a Singaporean university. Results of partial least squares regression show that the observability of mHealth apps is the only factor positively related to mHealth trialability. Perceived control of mobile devices and trialability of mHealth apps are positively associated with seeking and appraisal of health information. Practical and theoretical implications to mHealth are discussed.

Examining How Communication and Knowledge Relate to Singaporean Youths’ Perceived Risk of Haze and Intentions to Take Preventive Behaviors

ABSTRACT As Southeast Asia has experienced haze crises in recent years, encouraging Singaporeans to take preventive measures against negative health outcomes during haze is a growing concern. This study examines how communication factors (i.e., attention to traditional media and new media, interpersonal discussion, and knowledge) can inform Singaporeans about haze and influence their risk perceptions and intentions to undertake self-protective measures. The web survey of 410 respondents shows that attention to traditional media, attention to new media, interpersonal discussion, knowledge, and risk perception are positively associated with intention to take preventive measures. However, only interpersonal discussion is related to risk perception. Theoretical as well as practical implications of the findings are discussed.

How and Why Users Use Social TV Systems? A Systematic Review of User Studies

The development of social TV systems has gained momentum in the past decade. However, it is unclear how and why users use social TV. The goal of this systematic review is to identify trends in social TV user studies and understand how and why users use it following Geerts and De Grooffs social TV features. After searching for articles in major engineering and social science databases, we found 10 user studies that are mainly exploratory. They are predominantly qualitative and lack theory-based research and system design rationale. In general, users have positive reception on the usability and sociability of social TV systems despite expressing privacy concerns and insufficient control. Text chat is preferred than voice chat as a mode of communication. TV show genre and plot structures influence system usage. This review contributes to social TV research by offering a comprehensive understanding of social TV features that influence system usage.

Content-related factors influence perceived value of location-based mobile advertising

ABSTRACT Location-based mobile advertising (LBA) is forecast to drive the growth of the mobile advertising industry. Although past research supports that advertising content influences their effectiveness, little research has identified content factors and examined their effects on users’ perceived value of LBA. Analyzing web survey data from a national representative sample of 605 Singapore mobile consumers, partial least square results show that LBA content factors (contextualization, relevance, entertainment, and credibility) are positively related to perceived value, while irritation has a negative effect. Among them, credibility has the highest effect size to perceived value of LBA, followed by entertainment, which can be explained by context and culture. The results also show a positive relationship between LBA perceived value and use intention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.