Focus: Social Media
Social media are computer-mediated technologies that allow the creating and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks.
Abstract: Social media and media culture have significantly impacted how we understand ourselves, our communities, and our society. Marginalized groups have utilized social media as an effective outlet for self-expression and connecting with others. This project sought to understand how transgender Latinas use Instagram to present their identities and experiences using #TransLatina. The interdisciplinary team […]
Read MoreAbstract: Social media provide the opportunity to create and maintain online and offline social relationships (Kuss & Griffiths, 2011, 2017), though they also provide opportunities to influence public discourse (Bennett, 2012; Carney, 2016) via the dissemination of important information at rapid rates (Hornik, Satchi, Cezareo, & Pastore, 2015). One element of public discourse highly shaped […]
Read MoreAbstract: This research examines how visual representation of social media influencers affects perceptions and attitudes toward influencers and their persuasive messages. Using the theoretical frameworks of the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) and the Behaviors from Interpersonal Affect and Stereotypes (BIAS) Map, Study 1 demonstrated that influencers with broad smiles were perceived as warmer and more […]
Read MoreAbstract: The use of humor is increasingly advocated as a means of enhancing the effectiveness and visibility of science messages on social media. However, the influence of humorous scientific content on user engagement is empirically unknown. The contribution of this study is threefold. First, we conduct a content analysis of humorous scientific posts on Twitter […]
Read MoreAbstract: Through two experiments, this study assessed source and message effects of Instagram-based pro-veganism messages. Experiment 1 (N = 294) examined effects of organization (brand versus non-profit) and message types (egoistic versus altruistic) on consumer responses to Instagram-based pro-veganism content. Experiment 2 (N = 288) examined effects of source type (celebrity versus non-celebrity) and message […]
Read MorePaper accepted for presentation at the International Communication Association Annual Conference, Gold Coast, Australia, May 2020. Abstract: Through two experiments, this study assessed source and message effects of Instagram-based pro-veganism messages. Experiment 1 (N = 294) examined effects of organization (brand versus non-profit) and message types (egoistic versus altruistic), while experiment 2 (N = 288) […]
Read MorePaper to be presented to American Advertising Academy (AAA) conference, San Diego, CA. Abstract: Given the prevalent use of social media in disseminating public service announcements (PSAs) encouraging healthy behavior, investigating the effects of user-generated comments alongside health messages became an important pursuit in the advertising and marketing scholarship. With this in mind, Facebook user-generated […]
Read MoreLucinda Austin and Yan Jin (Eds.) (Forthcoming in 2021). Social Media and Crisis Communication (Second Edition), Routledge.
Read MoreAbstract: This study posits that human values can be used to identify and segment audiences for social media‐based valuable brand activities. Three online surveys were conducted with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram users (ages 18–34) on Amazon Mechanical Turk (N = 491). The relationship between social media users’ values and their reported social media activities was […]
Read MoreNah Ray Han (Grady PhD Student) was awarded the 2019-2020 American Academy of Advertising Dissertation Award ($2,500) for her proposal “The Influence of Digital Crowding and Perceived Privacy on Advertising with Anthropomorphic Characters in Social Media”
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