Moon J. Lee

Current social media uses and evaluations in American museums

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate how American museums are currently using social media. We assessed which social media sites are being used, to what purpose, and how this use is being evaluated. To determine which museums are using social media to increase participant engagement toward relationship maintenance, we collected 315 online surveys among American museums, and conducted nine in-depth interviews with professionals currently working with social media. Results indicate that American museum professionals believe becoming involved with social media is important. Museums are still mostly involved with one-way communication strategies using Facebook and Twitter to focus on event listing, reminders, and reaching larger or newer audiences by increasing the number of fans and promotional messaging. There is some evidence to suggest museums are trying to increase their use of social media for multi-way communication strategies.

Effects of Violence Against Women in Popular Crime Dramas on Viewers' Attitudes Related to Sexual Violence

In a posttest-only group experimental design, 176 college undergraduates (80 male, 96 female) watched TV crime drama scenes, which included either sexual or physical violence against women, to determine the effects of crime dramas on enjoyment, gender stereotypes, acceptance of the objectification of women, and rape myth acceptance. Male participants who watched sexual violence clips expressed less support for traditional gender stereotypes. There were no significant condition effects for the remaining outcome measures among the male participants except that they perceived the physical violence clips to be the most enjoyable. Results for female participants were mixed. Implications are discussed within the frameworks of social cognitive theory and the potential benefits of well-designed crime dramas to address sexual violence against women.

The effects of self-efficacy statements in humorous anti-alcohol abuse messages targeting college students: who is in charge?

This study examined the effect of self-efficacy statements in humorous anti-alcohol abuse television advertisements on college students. A posttest only group design experiment was conducted with 124 college students. It was found that highly rebellious individuals who watched ads with a self-efficacy statement (i.e., “You Are in Control of the Situation”) indicated lower alcohol expectancies, higher risk perceptions, and higher intentions to change their drinking behaviors than those in the non-self-efficacy condition. The findings suggest that health promotional messages should be tailored to rebellious college students, particularly those who are at risk, in a manner that not only gains their attention but also minimizes possible defensive reactions to the given messages. Humorous messages with self-efficacy statements could offer ways to communicate with rebellious college students regarding their drinking problems.

Fear Versus Humor: The Impact of Sensation Seeking on Physiological, Cognitive, and Emotional Responses to Antialcohol Abuse Messages

ABSTRACT This study investigates the differences in physiological, cognitive, and emotional responses to existing emotional antialcohol abuse advertisements (fear vs. humor appeal) between high and low sensation seekers. A 2 (Message Type) × 2 (Sensation-Seeking Tendency) × 4 (Message Repetition) mixed-model experiment with repeated measures was conducted with 71 college students. The results, based on self-reports, indicated that fear messages generated more interest and perceived danger of excessive drinking regardless of sensation-seeking tendency, whereas humorous messages were rated as more likeable than fear messages, and the difference was bigger among low sensation seekers than among high sensation seekers. One interesting finding was that for both fear and humor appeals, low sensation seekers showed greater emotional responses (greater corrugators activities and greater zygomatic activities) than high sensation seekers overall. The implications of the current study as well as suggestions for future study were discussed.

Effective message design targeting college students for the prevention of binge-drinking: basing design on rebellious risk-taking tendency.

This study examined the responses of college students who were exposed to different types of episodic stories related to drinking (gender-consistent vs. gender-inconsistent condition) and their intention to modify risky behavior (binge drinking) based on their rebellious risk-taking tendency. Self-report measures such as intention to modify drinking behavior and reaction to the message were measured. Eighty-two college students between the ages of 19 and 23 years participated in a posttest-only group design experiment. Results suggested that rebellious participants were less afraid of the dangers of binge drinking than those who were low in rebelliousness for the gender-consistent condition. Regardless of the level of rebelliousness, the participants who were in the gender-consistent (increased relevance) condition produced higher recognition scores than those who were in the gender-inconsistent condition. However, the rebellious participants who were in the gender-inconsistent condition exhibited a higher level of intention to change their drinking behavior than did those in the gender-consistent condition.

Do Online Comments Influence the Public's Attitudes Toward an Organization? Effects of Online Comments Based on Individuals’ Prior Attitudes

ABSTRACT The authors investigated the effects of reading different types of online comments about a company on peoples attitude change based on individuals prior attitude toward the company. Based on Social Judgment Theory, several hypotheses were tested. The results showed that the effects of online comments interact with individuals’ prior attitudes toward a corporation. People with a strong negative attitude toward a corporation were less influenced by others online comments than people with a neutral attitude in general. However, people with a prior negative attitude were more affected by refutational two-sided comments than one-sided comments. The results suggest that the effects of user generated content should be studied in a holistic manner, not only by investigating the effects of online content itself, but also by examining how others’ responses to the content shape or change individuals’ attitudes based on their prior attitudes.

Designing Skin Cancer Prevention Messages: Should We Emphasize Gains or Losses? Message Framing, Risk Type, and Prior Experience:

Purpose: To test whether message framing (ie, gain vs. loss) and risk type (ie, health vs appearance risk) in skin cancer prevention messages interact with one’s prior experience. Design: Two experiments with a 2 (message framing: gain vs loss) × 2 (risk type: health vs appearance risk) factorial design were conducted. Setting: The participants were given a URL to the experiment website via e-mail. On the first page of the website, the participants were told that they would be asked to evaluate a skin cancer print public service announcement (PSA): Online experiments. Participants: A total of 397 individuals participated (236 for experiment 1 and 161 for experiment 2). Apparatus: Four versions of the skin cancer print PSAs were developed. Four PSAs were identical except for the 2 manipulated components: message framing and risk type. Measures: Measures were adopted from Cho and Boster (message framing), Jones and Leary and Kiene et al. (risk type), De Vries, Mesters, van’t Riet, Willems, and Reubsaet and Knight, Kirincich, Farmer, and Hood (prior experience), and Hammond, Fong, Zanna, Thrasher, and Borland and Hoffner and Ye (behavioral intent). Analysis: General linear models were used to test hypotheses. Results: Three-way interactions among message framing, risk type, and prior experience were found: When the intent of the message was to encourage sunscreen use, the effects of message framing and risk type were shown to be the exact opposite directions from when the intent was to discourage indoor/outdoor tanning. Conclusion: To discourage tanning among those with prior experience, messages emphasizing losses in terms of one’s health will work better. For those with no prior experience, messages emphasizing potential appearance losses will work better for discouraging tanning while messages emphasizing gains like improving appearance will do a better job in encouraging sunscreen use.

Circulating Humorous Antitobacco Videos on Social Media: Platform Versus Context.

We investigated whether exposure to same humorous antitobacco videos via different types of social media platforms and contexts (health vs. humor) influences individual’s health risk perceptions, attitudes, and behavioral intents. An experiment with a 2 (social media types: YouTube and Facebook) × 2 (message contexts: health-focused and humor-focused contexts) factorial design was conducted. It was found that those who watched the humorous antitobacco videos on Facebook in the health-context exhibited a higher level of risk perception of smoking, less positive attitude toward smokers, and a higher level of intention to avoid smoking in the future than the participants who viewed the same videos on YouTube in the health-context or on Facebook in the humor-context. These findings provide useful practical guidelines in using social media for health communication/promotion. Humorous health promotion messages are best circulated on social networking sites such as Facebook accompanied by others’ support for the given health topic (i.e., in health-contexts). Practical/theoretical implications and limitations of the study were further discussed in this article.

Promoting HPV Vaccination Online.

We investigated the effects of message framing and online media channel on young adults’ perceived severity of human papillomavirus (HPV), perceived barriers and benefits of getting HPV vaccination, and behavioral intention to get vaccinated. An experiment was conducted with 142 college students. We found an interaction effect: The loss-framed message posted on Facebook was more effective in increasing the number of people who expressed their willingness to get HPV vaccination than the gain-framed message presented on Facebook. However, this framing effect was not found when the identical message was presented on an online newspaper. People’s perceptions of severity of HPV and barriers of getting HPV vaccination were also influenced, depending on which media channel the information was circulated.

When does individuals’ willingness to speak out increase on social media? Perceived social support and perceived power/control

Abstract In this study, we investigated the effects of opinion congruency on individuals’ willingness to speak out on Social Media. We tested the mediation effect of perceived social support, influencing the sense of power/control and in turn affecting their willingness to share opinions on their personal Social Networking Sites. We found that people are more willing to speak out on social media when their perceived social support enhances perceived sense of power/control through their opinion congruency with others’ online comments. The findings suggest that individuals’ perceived sense of power serves as an underlying mechanism that accounts for why people share their opinions in a social media setting. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed in the study.