Piotr S. Bobkowski

Sharing the News Effects of Informational Utility and Opinion Leadership on Online News Sharing

This study examined the joint effect of message and personality attributes on online news sharing. In two experiments (N = 270, N = 275), readers indicated their likelihood to share news representing two content domains and three informational utility dimensions. A moderated mediation path analysis was used. On average, news consumers shared news containing informational utility. Opinion leaders shared news irrespective of informational utility because they discerned informational utility in news that, objectively speaking, lacked such utility. In one experiment, opinion leaders also were more likely than nonleaders to share news perceived to contain informational utility.

Talking Politics on Facebook Network Centrality and Political Discussion Practices in Social Media

This study examines the relationship between political discussion on Facebook and social network location. It uses a survey name generator to map friendship ties between students at a university and to calculate their centralities in that network. Social connectedness in the university network positively predicts more frequent political discussion on Facebook. But in political discussions, better connected individuals do not capitalize equally on the potential influence that stems from their more central network locations. Popular individuals who have more direct connections to other network members discuss politics more often but in politically safer interactions that minimize social risk, preferring more engaged discussion with like-minded others and editing their privacy settings to guard their political disclosures. Gatekeepers who facilitate connections between more pairs of otherwise disconnected network members also discuss politics more frequently, but are more likely to engage in risk-tolerant discussion practices such as posting political updates or attempting political persuasion. These novel findings on social connectedness extend research on offline political discussion into the social media sphere, and suggest that as social network research proliferates, analysts should consider how various types of network location shape political behavior.

Hit Me Up and We Can Get Down

Young peoples sexual self-disclosures in social media profiles can be problematic for those who produce them and for those who consume them. This study merged a content analysis with survey data to identify the characteristics of youth who engaged in online sexual self-disclosure. MySpace profiles belonging to 560 National Study of Youth and Religion respondents in the United States (18 to 23 years old) were analyzed (56,462 content units). A third of the profiles contained at least one sexual self-disclosure; their average incidence was less than one per profile. Online sexual self-disclosure was associated with offline sexual risk behaviors (e.g., sex with casual partners), and with increased frequency of alcohol consumption. Among sexually active females, it was associated with early sexual debut. In light of problem behavior theory, these findings suggest that online sexual self-disclosure may be considered a sexual risk behavior.

Social media divide: characteristics of emerging adults who do not use social network websites

Public opinion has embraced social media as a vital tool to reach U.S. emerging adults, but this generation has not universally adopted social media technologies. Using in-depth interviews, this study examined the characteristics of 20 emerging adults (18 to 23 years old) who were non-adopters of social media. Compared to social media users, non-adopters had less economic stability, more fractured educational trajectories, and weaker support from parents and friends. Non-adopters did not use social media because they lacked access or leisure time, were not socialized into their use, lacked skills, or did not want to maintain social contacts via social media technologies. If social media are increasingly used in attempts to to improve young people’s lives, practitioners must understand who is left behind in the wake of these technologies.

Civic Implications of Secondary School Journalism: Associations With Voting Propensity and Community Volunteering

This study examines the association between high school journalism and civic engagement in early adulthood, independent of other civic activities. Nationally representative data show that taking high school journalism classes is related positively to voting in the years following high school, to a similar degree that taking debate classes or participating in student government is related to voting. High school journalism also moderates the association between family socioeconomics and civic engagement. Underprivileged student journalists tend to vote and volunteer more than their non-journalism peers. The study theorizes journalism education’s unique contributions to civic development and civic communication competence.

Student Media in U.S. Secondary Schools: Associations with School Demographic Characteristics

This study provides an up-to-date counting of student media in U.S. public high schools. The analysis underscores the importance of school demographic characteristics in predicting whether schools offer student media. The disparities identified here should inform how journalism schools, scholastic journalism organizations, funding agencies, and media companies prioritize their outreach activities to scholastic journalism programs. Precedence should be given to initiatives that address journalism and media programs in smaller schools and in schools that serve larger minority populations. There is also a need for supporting the establishment of online media outlets.

Sampling Methods and Sample Populations in Quantitative Mass Communication Research Studies: A 15-Year Census of Six Journals

This study evaluated the sampling methods and sample populations used in all U.S.-based survey and experimental mass communication studies published between 2000 and 2014 in six major journals (N = 1,173). Most studies used nonprobability samples, and more than half used student samples. Experiments used more nonprobability and student samples than surveys. Funded studies used more probability and nonstudent samples than nonfunded studies. Implications of results pertaining to population validity and interpretations of findings for mass communication research are discussed.

Who Are the “Journalism Kids?” Academic Predictors of Journalism Participation in Secondary Schools

Prior scholastic journalism research did not adequately address the possibility that journalism students perform better academically because of their backgrounds and inherent abilities. Using Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 data, this study shows that high school journalism attracts better students. Although for-credit and extracurricular programs differentiate journalism student characteristics, journalism students generally tend to have greater English self-efficacy, higher English grade point average, greater involvement in schools, be female and White, or have a higher socioeconomic background than those who do not participate in journalism. Future assessments of journalism’s contribution to academic achievement should account for students’ pre-journalism characteristics.

Media, Influence of

Adolescents are avid media consumers. Much of who they are, how they think, and what they do is informed by what they see and hear in the media. Here trend data are summarized about how much time adolescents spend attending to various media that are created for consumption by large audiences: television, music, movies, magazines, and some parts of the Internet. The mechanisms that link media messages and adolescents’ feelings, beliefs, and actions are discussed. Scientific research is reviewed on the influence of the media on four content domains that adolescents are exposed to in the media: violence, sexual and romantic relationships, idealized body images, and risky substances, such as tobacco and alcohol. In sum, this entry provides a synopsis of what is known about what adolescents do with the media and what effects the media have on adolescents’ health and well-being.

Who Gets Vocal about Hyperlocal: Neighborhood Involvement and Socioeconomics in the Sharing of Hyperlocal News

This study examined the characteristics of readers who share hyperlocal news in person, over email, and through social media. A reader survey of 10 hyperlocal news websites that operate in a variety of communities in the United States was conducted (n = 2289). More readers indicated sharing hyperlocal news in person than through email or social media. Higher neighborhood involvement and higher education tended to characterize readers who shared hyperlocal news via each of the three channels. Education moderated the association between neighborhood involvement and sharing news in person and via social media. These results suggested that highly involved readers with little education used social media more than their highly educated neighbors to share news from hyperlocal websites. The study extends the precepts of channel complementarity theory into the domain of online news sharing.