Teresa Correa

RACE AND ONLINE CONTENT CREATION

The user-generated Web provides new tools for participation by creating content. Drawing from uses and gratifications and social identity gratifications paradigms, the authors investigated quantitatively the differentiated uses of participatory technologies among diverse racial and ethnic groups of college students. Using qualitative techniques, we also explored the different discourses and meanings these social groups attach to these tools. A survey showed that among online users, minority groups – African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians – tend to create online content more frequently than white students. Four focus groups with different racial and ethnic groups revealed that the meanings attached to these participatory tools differ. Although three main principles emerged as organizing discourses – connecting, enacting the self, and struggling – these themes were framed differently. For instance, while social connection with friends and family was mentioned across all groups, connecting with niche communities emerged among minorities; they valued these tools as an opportunity to connect with communities to which they share identities and their voices are relevant. The authors also found that although these tools open the opportunity of representing the self for everyone, different groups framed this possibility differently. While African-Americans highlighted the idea of self-expression, that is, expressing their inner thoughts and culture to others, white students focused more prominently on instrumental reasons such as promoting their work. Finally, all groups, except African-Americans, expressed their struggles with the problems that emerge when nobody controls the creation of content such as hostile or ‘immature’ interactions.

Women Matter in Newsrooms: How Power and Critical Mass Relate to the Coverage of the HPV Vaccine

This study explored how female journalists affect news content when holding positions of power, reaching a critical mass in the newsroom, and covering an issue that appeals to them. The study compared a male-dominated news organizations coverage of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine with coverage by a more gender-balanced organization in terms of news executives and reporters. It also explored whether content produced by female reporters from both organizations differed. The more gender-balanced organization covered the vaccine more frequently and more prominently, and used more diverse themes than its counterpart. The content created by female reporters at different outlets also diverged.

Framing Latinas: Hispanic women through the lenses of Spanish-language and English-language news media

It is argued that the media’s tendency to stereotype minority groups is due, in part, to a weak identification with them. This study compared the frames used by the Miami Herald (MH), an English-language newspaper targeted to general audiences, and El Nuevo Herald (ENH), its Spanish-language counterpart targeted to Hispanics, to explore whether the stronger media identification with the audience affects the type of frames used to depict Latinas. Using framing as a theoretical framework, this investigation found that the MH emphasized the individual achievements of successful women and described them as a new profitable market. ENH highlighted the family sacrifices of successful females and depicted them as family-devoted and sensual. As a result, the greater cultural identification with the audience may avoid manifest negative stereotypes but embrace pan-ethnic stereotypes that, eventually, may become harmful because they contribute to the homogenization and racialization of a group such as Latinas.

Brokering new technologies: The role of children in their parents’ usage of the internet

This study investigated to what extent sons and daughters influence their parents’ adoption of digital media, particularly the internet, compared to other influence sources. It also explored structural factors that play a role in this bottom-up process, such as socio-economic differences and gender. Finally, it examined the relationship between this bottom-up technology transmission process and parents’ levels of internet self-efficacy and online activities. Drawing from socialization and diffusion of innovation research and using a self-administered random mail survey, we found that children play a role in including their parents in the digital environment, particularly among women, people who are older (35 years old and above), and belong to lower socio-economic groups. We also found that this bottom-up technology transmission is somewhat negatively associated with parents’ internet self-efficacy. Implications and possible interpretations of these results are discussed.

Digital skills and social media use: how Internet skills are related to different types of Facebook use among ‘digital natives’

ABSTRACT Based on the idea that Internet use can be conceptualized in terms of depth (frequency) and width (differentiated) uses of the Web, this study explored how socio-demographic factors and digital skills are related to frequency and types of Facebook use among young adults. It used a face-to-face representative survey conducted in the three main urban areas of Chile among a sample of 18-to 29-year olds. The results found that men and more educated young people had higher levels of skills, confirming that the so-called ‘digital natives’ are not a monolithic group. They also revealed that digital skills did not predict frequency of Facebook use. Furthermore, lower educated young people tended to use Facebook more frequently. Although these results go against the long-established digital divide research, traditional digital gaps emerged when types of use were analyzed. While more educated and skillful individuals tended to use Facebook for informational and mobilizing purposes, socio-demographic factors and skills did not make a difference in Facebook use for social purposes.

Ties, Likes, and Tweets: Using Strong and Weak Ties to Explain Differences in Protest Participation Across Facebook and Twitter Use

Based on the theoretical concepts of social networks and technology affordances, this article argues that different social media platforms influence political participation through unique, yet complementary, routes. More specifically, it proposes that Facebook and Twitter are conducive to protest behavior through two distinct mechanisms: whereas the influence of Facebook use is more effective through communication with strong-tie networks, the impact of Twitter use is more effective through communication with weak-tie networks. To test these expectations, we analyze data from a cross-sectional, face-to-face survey on a representative sample of Chilean youths conducted in 2014. Findings in the study lend empirical support for these hypotheses. Consequently, while different social media (in this case, Facebook and Twitter) are similar in their participatory effects, the paths through which this influence occurs are distinct, a finding that highlights the importance of studying political behavior across different media platforms.

Acquiring a New Technology at Home: A Parent-Child Study About Youths’ Influence on Digital Media Adoption in a Family

This study examines to what extent children influence their parents’ acquisition of new technologies in a country with diverse levels of technology penetration, such as Chile. It also investigates the factors that play a role in the influence process, including children’s persuasive strategies (argumentative vs. non-argumentative) and parents’ attitudes toward technology (perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness). Using a parent-child survey and dyadic analyses, the results suggest that youths influence their parents’ acquisition of all technologies under study, particularly the Internet. Also, argumentative strategies have a greater influence than non-argumentative strategies. Finally, parents’ perceived usefulness played a more important role than perceived ease of use in the influence process.