Kaye D. Sweetser

How Much Do They Think It Affects Them and Whom Do They Believe?: Comparing the Third-Person Effect and Credibility of Blogs and Traditional Media

Using an experimental design, this study investigated third-person effect and media credibility as a result of media attribution. Specifically, we compared third-person effect across four media sources: personal blogs, media blogs, online news, and print newspaper. Overall, participants exhibited third-person effects equally across the mediums. Third-person effect regressed with credibility.

Kids These Days: Examining Differences in Political Uses and Gratifications, Internet Political Participation, Political Information Efficacy, and Cynicism on the Basis of Age

Using a telephone survey of randomly selected voters from the general population, the authors sought to understand the interrelatedness of the use of the Internet as a political information source with perception of political participation, political information efficacy, and cynicism. Guided by the uses and gratifications theory and employing the Political Media Gratifications Scale, the authors examine these constructs in terms of emergent generational differences. Findings indicate that digital natives differ from their older voting counterparts, and the researchers conclude more research must investigate further to accurate determine meaning.

A Losing Strategy: The Impact of Nondisclosure in Social Media on Relationships

Using a posttest-only experimental design with control (N = 409), this study investigated the role of nondisclosure and its impact on perceived relational maintenance strategies in the context of social media campaigns through the relational theory of public relations. As one of the first studies investigating what an organization can do to damage—rather than build—a relationship with their publics, this experiment manipulated a single ethical construct to determine whether that unethical behavior degraded the organization–public relationship. Results indicate that unethical behavior (i.e., lack of disclosure) indeed damaged the organization–public relationship within several relational maintenance strategies: communicated relational commitment, responsiveness/customer service, positivity/optimism, and responsiveness to criticism. Implications to both the practice and the further development of relationship management theory are discussed.

Credibility and the Use of Blogs among Professionals in the Communication Industry

This study examines use, credibility, and impact on the communication industry of blogs as seen by professional journalists and public relations practitioners. Informed by the uses and gratifications perspective and using an online survey, the study used factor analysis to reveal simplistic blog use categorizations as being either interactive or noninteractive. Results also indicate that those who are labeled “high users” in both factors assign more credibility to the medium. Differences between journalism and public relations professionals were examined.

YouTube-ification of Political Talk: An Examination of Persuasion Appeals in Viral Video

In 2008, U.S. Internet users watched 14 billion videos on YouTube. During the 2008 presidential campaign, voters rated watching YouTube political videos as one of the top three most popular online political activities. But to what degree are YouTube political videos influential of viewers’ perceptions, and to what degree does the source of the video make an impact? Similar to all other new forms of online communication, the effects of YouTube clips on consumers of political information, and the credibility of these messages, have yet to be understood. This study takes a step into that direction through a three-cell posttest-only experimental design that exposed participants to three YouTube clips about health care, each clip containing a different persuasive appeal (source or ethos, logic or logos, and emotion or pathos). Results revealed that the ethos appeal ranked as the most credible appeal, followed by logos and pathos, a somewhat promising finding that users resist being swayed by emotion or hard numbers and pay attention to message source. No relationship was found between the appeals and political information efficacy or the political cynicism of participants.

The blogosphere and public relations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the perception and adoption of blogs among public relations practitioners and how blog use relates to roles and status.Design/methodology/approach – A national e‐mail survey of 216 US public relations professionals was used.Findings – While blog use was similar to national audiences, practitioners were maintaining mostly personal blogs and using blogs professionally at low levels. Furthermore, women lagged behind men in the strategic use of blogs. Finally, cluster analysis challenged Porter and Sallots roles typology, reverting to the previous manager‐technician dichotomy.Practical implications – While practitioners use blogs at a similar level to that of the general population, they may be missing an opportunity to reach publics directly both through blogging and placing stories in blogs.Originality/value – The paper provides an early look at an emerging technology that most practitioners agree will have a substantial impact on the industry.

Social Media Adoption Among University Communicators

Long interviews were conducted with university communicators at 2 distant universities with distinct social systems. Participants were drawn to adopt social media mainly by relative advantage, compatibility, and trialability attributes of the innovation. Inductive themes that emerged from the interviews included an emphasis on publics, information sharing, cost, and convenience. A believer–nonbeliever distinction among adopters is introduced. Believers are driven by the same characteristics of social media that public relations researchers have found to be essential to the practice of public relations itself: 2-way communication, interactivity, dialogue, and engagement.

Social Media and Online Political Communication: The Role of Interpersonal Informational Trust and Openness

This study examines relationships among interpersonal informational trust and openness with Internet-based political activities and attitudes. Conceptually, it proposes the categorization of online spaces and activities as consumption or interaction types, and classifies interpersonal informational trust within inner and outer circles. Interpersonal informational trust was found to be positively associated with perception of online activities as political participation. It also was associated with use of all types of online media for purposes of political communication, but mostly with online spaces that require interaction with others. Interpersonal political openness showed positive association with the use of interactive-type Web sites for purposes of political communication.

Valence-based homophily on Twitter: Network Analysis of Emotions and Political Talk in the 2012 Presidential Election

This study integrates network and content analyses to examine valence-based homophily on Twitter or the tendency for individuals to interact with those expressing similar valence. During the 2012 federal election cycle, we collected Twitter conversations about 10 controversial political topics and mapped their network ties. Using network analysis, we discovered clusters—subgroups of highly self-connected users—and coded messages in each cluster for their expressed positive-to-negative emotional valence, level of support or opposition, and political leaning. We found that valence-based homophily successfully explained the selection of user interactions on Twitter, in terms of expressed emotional valence in their tweets or support versus criticism to an issue. It also finds conservative voices to be associated with negatively valenced clusters and vice versa. This study expands the theory of homophily beyond its traditional conceptualization and provides a new understanding of political-issue interactions in a social media context.

Lesser of Two Evils? Political Organization–Public Relationship in the 2016 Election

Using a national sample of first-time voters (N = 1,465), this online survey investigated relationship theory in political public relations. Looking at one’s relationship with both major U.S. political parties during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, this study seeks to determine the level of relationship and variables that might predict it. Results indicate that these first-time voters had moderate-to-low relationships with the parties. Even so, relationship with one’s party is predicted by authenticity of your party’s candidate and the level of credibility you assign your party.