Lindsay H. Hoffman

All the news that's fit to post: A profile of news use on social networking sites

Facebook and other social networking sites (SNSs) are altering the way individuals communicate. These online environments allow users to keep up with friends, network with colleagues, and share their personal views and observations with others. Previous work describes typical social networking site users as young, extroverted, and technologically savvy. Little research exists, however, on the emerging role of news in the social network environment. With over 500 million global Facebook users, both print and television based media outlets are making concerted efforts to become part of this important and increasingly ubiquitous virtual world. The present study uses a sample of students, faculty, and staff from a large university to investigate the factors that are related to news use on Facebook. Findings indicate that while news use is still a minor component of overall social network site activity, certain key variables, such as gender and life satisfaction, have a significant impact on how Facebook is used for news-related purposes. Future implications for news in the social networking world are presented and discussed.

Satire, Punch Lines, and the Nightly News: Untangling Media Effects on Political Participation

Research often collapses programming like The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Late Show, and The Tonight Show into one category of programming. However, recent research suggests that both the content and effects of viewing these programs differ. This study separates satire or parody and traditional late-night comedy to examine effects of viewing on political participation. Results suggest that viewing satire or parody has positive and significant effects on political participation through the mediator of political efficacy, as does viewing traditional TV news. However, this relationship is not borne out for viewers of traditional late-night comedy. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Participation or Communication? An Explication of Political Activity in the Internet Age

ABSTRACT This study clarifies the differences between political participation and political communication online. Although many studies have examined the nature and effects of online activity, none has effectively distinguished between the two types of behavior. This lack of clarity has arguably led to conflicting findings and confusion about what demarks a truly participatory act online. Using Pew 2008 data, online political behaviors are defined and examined. Results suggest that online communication and participation do appear to be different constructs, and while online participation predicts voting, online communication does not. Implications for conceptualizing these behaviors and directions for future research are discussed. This manuscript utilizes publicly available data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The data are available at http://www.pewInternet.org/Shared-Content/Data-Sets/2008/November-2008-Post-Election.aspx, and SPSS syntax is available from the author upon request.

Assessing Causality in the Relationship Between Community Attachment and Local News Media Use

Numerous studies have demonstrated a relationship between community attachment and local news media use. Despite calls for panel studies to determine the direction of causality in this relationship, there is little evidence beyond cross-sectional surveys, which are often further limited to single communities. In order to contribute to the debate about causal direction, we conducted a four-wave national panel study with repeated measurement of community attachment and local news media use. Cross-sectional analyses confirmed the expected relationship between news use and community attachment. However, more conservative panel analyses controlling for a lagged measure of the dependent variable failed to produce evidence of causal relationships. The hypothesized role of population density and ethnic diversity as cross-level moderators of this relationship was examined using multilevel modeling. Methodological and theoretical reasons for the results are discussed and suggestions for alternative study designs are proposed.

Why Would You Decide to Use an Online Dating Site? Factors That Lead to Online Dating

The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of online dating usage. Past studies have examined the concern of trust in relation to inaccurate self-presentation and self-disclosure. Few studies have examined what factors lead to online dating usage and how trust plays a role in the probability of using an online dating site. Using 2005 data from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2 significant predictors were found: Individuals who use the Internet for a greater amount of tasks are more likely to use online dating sites, and individuals who are trusting of others are less likely to use online dating sites. This study has implications for the ongoing research of trust in online dating, as well as examining what other factors may affect online dating usage.

When the World Outside Gets Inside Your Head: The Effects of Media Context on Perceptions of Public Opinion

Citizens are variably influenced by information flow depending on their location within a social structure. One method of understanding this influence is through an assessment of multiple levels of analysis. Although many scholars have called for such analyses, few have heeded that call. This research addresses the relevance of “context” to the study of media effects on perceptions of public opinion. Survey data from the American National Election Studies are combined with a content analysis of campaign news in 24 regional newspapers, as well as advertising data, in order to parse out contextual media effects. Results show that perceived public opinion varies significantly across media markets. Newspaper use and personal candidate preference had a significant effect on the likelihood of perceiving Kerry to be the state-winning candidate. There was also a significant cross-level interaction between media context and political discussion on perceptions of public opinion.

Assessing Cultural and Contextual Components of Social Capital: Is Civic Engagement in Peril?

Much research on political participation and civic engagement centers on the question: “What motivates people to get involved?” Several communication variables have been purported to influence these activities, such as television, newspaper, and Internet use. The general conclusion is that civic and political participation is declining. However, the rates of decline (or increase) in these activities among certain racial and cultural groups, such as Blacks compared with Whites, is not clear. Furthermore, the roles of religion and the church—an important component in creating bonds and networks that encourage such participation—have received little attention among communication scholars. The authors sought to examine the intricacies among race, religiosity, and political and civic engagement by expanding the current literature on social capital to include cultural and contextual components of church involvement. They found that in a national sample, the more involved Blacks are with church and the more frequently they attend services, the more involved they are in their communities. Moreover, their findings are consistent with previous research regarding media use; newspaper reading, and Internet use were positively related with civic engagement and voting, whereas television use was not. Implications for communication research, social capital, and measurement of race and culture are discussed.

Online emotional appeals and political participation: The effect of candidate affect on mass behavior

The role that emotions play in shaping mass political behavior is increasingly well researched. This study refocuses the debate to explore the effect that the emotions expressed by candidates (target affect) through new media have on participation, rather than the effect of emotions felt by voters (observer affect). A unique experiment embedded in a nationally representative online survey demonstrates that appeals invoking target affect can strongly increase citizens’ political participation both online and offline. Contrary to fears that the use of emotions by political elites will agitate the least knowledgeable citizens, however, the results demonstrate that it is the most politically-engaged citizens who are mobilized by such appeals. These findings have significant implications for our understanding of the participatory consequences of emotional political messages on the Internet.

Explaining the Gap: The Interaction of Gender and News Enjoyment in Predicting Political Knowledge

This study investigated emotion as a potential explanation for the omnipresent gender gap in political knowledge. Past studies have examined methodological issues, socioeconomic attributes, and media use as possible contributors, but have not included enjoyment of media use as a factor in the relation between gender and political knowledge. Using 2007 data from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, it was found that, in line with uses and gratifications theory, enjoyment did indeed play a role in the acquisition of political information, and increased enjoyment resulted in higher political knowledge. This relation was stronger for women than for men.

Interactivity between Candidates and Citizens on a Social Networking Site: Effects on Perceptions and Vote Intentions

Voters and political candidates increasingly use social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook. This study uses data from an online posttest-only experiment ( N = 183) in analyzing how exposure to supportive or challenging user comments on a fictional candidates Facebook page influenced participants’ perceptions of and willingness to vote for the candidate, as well as whether candidate replies to each type of user comments affected these outcomes. Participants who viewed a page with supportive comments and “likes” reported more favorable perceptions of and greater support for the candidate, relative to participants who viewed a page with challenging comments. Thus, the appearance of interactivity between a candidate and other users on the candidates Facebook page can shape the responses of those viewing the page. However, exposure to candidate replies to either supportive or challenging comments did not lead to significantly more favorable perceptions or a greater likelihood of voting for the candidate.