Julia Daisy Fraustino

Social Media Use During Disasters How Information Form and Source Influence Intended Behavioral Responses

This study provides insights that can inform disaster communication management, policymaking, and theory building through a nationally representative field experiment (N = 2,015 U.S. adults) grounded in media richness theory, information and communication technologies (ICTs) succession theory, and the social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) model. Key findings include the following: (1) Significant main effects of disaster information source were detected on how likely participants were to seek further disaster information from TV, local government websites, and federal government websites; (2) regardless of information form and source, participants reported strongest intentions to immediately communicate about the disaster predominately via offline interpersonal forms rather than through online organizational and personal forms; and (3) regardless of information source, participants reported strong intentions to evacuate if instructed to do so by the government. These findings call for developing crisis communication theory that is more focused on how publics communicate with each other rather than with organizations about disasters and predict a wider variety of crisis communication outcomes.

Is it a sense of autonomy, control, or attachment? Exploring the effects of in-game customization on game enjoyment

The data shows the distinct role of autonomy, control and attachment in creating enjoyment.Consistent with self-determination theory, feelings of autonomy and control contribute to enjoyment.Attachment to the customized avatar contributes to enjoyment through immersion.In general, players perceive a sense of control through customizing avatars.The feelings of autonomy and control are more critical predictors of enjoyment than attachment. This study presents a model linking character customization and game enjoyment. Two separate studies using different types of customization (functional vs. aesthetic) were employed to test two competing mechanisms that explain the effects of customizing in-game characters: feelings of autonomy and control-rooted in self-determination theory-and perceived attachment to game characters. Additionally, this study investigated how these two divergent mechanisms influence game enjoyment through immersion-related experiences. The findings showed that the feelings of autonomy and control are consistently stronger explanations for enjoyment, regardless of customization type. The results suggest that similar to other entertainment media, games can appeal to individuals through the senses of autonomy, control, and attachment to a character; the first two prove more critical.

CDC's Use of Social Media and Humor in a Risk Campaign—“Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse”

This is a multiple methods study that highlights the tension between awareness- and behavioral-based campaign successes, particularly when communicating using social media and pop-culture-referencing humor. To illustrate, it examines the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) “zombie apocalypse” all-disaster-preparedness campaign. An interview with a CDC campaign manager, campaign document analysis, and a 2 (information form: social vs. traditional media) × 2 (message strategy: humorous vs. non-humorous) experiment uncovers benefits and pitfalls of using social media and humorous messaging for risk communication. Findings show social media can quickly spread information to new publics for minimal costs; however, experiment participants who received the humorous (i.e., zombie) risk message reported significantly weaker intentions to take protective actions in comparison to those who received the traditional, non-humorous risk message.

The Scared, the Outraged, and the Anxious: How Crisis Emotions, Involvement, and Demographics Predict Publics’ Conative Coping

ABSTRACT Through a nationally representative survey of 1,840 U.S. adults, this study examined fright, anger, and anxiety as emotional predictors of how publics respond to organizational crisis communication and communicate with each other during a hypothetical terrorist attack. The study also examined the influences of age, gender, and publics’ involvement with prior media coverage of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings through hierarchical regression analyses. Crisis emotions, involvement, and demographics are significant predictors of different communication behavioral outcomes. Insights and implications for practice and theory development are discussed.

Corporate Associations Written on the Wall: Publics’ Responses to Fortune 500 Ability and Social Responsibility Facebook Posts

This is a quantitative content analysis of Fortune 500 companies’ Facebook profiles, wall posts, and wall comments. It confirms that a 3-part typology of message strategies—corporate ability (CA), corporate social responsibility (CSR), and hybrid—exists in corporate online social networking communication. As predicted, when corporations used CA strategies in wall posts, publics’ wall comments demonstrated greater CA associations and product evaluations than CSR associations and company evaluations. Likewise, when corporations used CSR strategies, publics showed greater CSR associations than CA associations. These corporate messages and publics’ responses in the real-world digital market support the synergistic model of corporate communication strategy.

Teaching, Tweeting, and Teleworking: Experiential and Cross-Institutional Learning through Social Media.

ABSTRACT Today’s college students increasingly need skills in social media and teleworking. To develop these skills, instructors at four institutions created and implemented a cross-institutional group project that required students to create and share online an instructional video about a social media topic. Students then discussed the videos and their teleworking experience through subsequent cross-institutional Twitter chats. Based on the results from this study, suggestions are offered for helping students learn through teaching and discovering the benefits and drawbacks of teleworking.

Extending understanding of service-learning projects: Implementing place-based branding for capstone courses

ABSTRACT Numerous institutions encourage service-learning, but few have extended beyond nonprofit realms to include (1) larger budgets, (2) multi-faceted volunteer/staff/leadership constraints, and (3) elevated expectations with immediate impact on full towns. This study explores how strategic communication students construct knowledge in branding and relationship building while solving real-world problems. To do so, this research examines service-learning, place-branding projects for senior capstone students. Specifically, students in two courses developed and partially implemented strategic place-branding plans for two struggling towns. This work details the approach and, through quantitative and qualitative methods, extends understanding of service-learning outcomes for students, faculty, the university, and communities.