- Harvard University, Harvard Law School, Department Memberadd
- Hyunjin Seo is Oscar Stauffer Professor in the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at th... moreHyunjin Seo is Oscar Stauffer Professor in the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas. She is also a fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. As the founding director of the KU Center for Digital Inclusion, Seo leads community-based research projects offering technology education and information literacy workshops to marginalized groups including refugees, minority seniors, and formerly incarcerated women now seeking to enter the workforce.
Her research interests lie at the intersection of digital media, civic engagement and international communication. She has conducted research on how social collaborative networks, facilitated by digital communication technologies, help mobilize movements or address social problems at local, national or international levels. Her recent projects include a National Science Foundation-funded program offering evidence-based technology education to recently incarcerated women who are now hoping to reenter the job force and empirical analyses of marginalized populations' digital learning and online information assessment. Seo's research on teens’ use of social media and collective action was funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation.
Her research has received top paper awards at leading international conferences and has been published in top-tier journals such as Journal of Communication and New Media & Society. In 2013 she was named a Docking Faculty Scholar, an award given by the University of Kansas to a faculty member who has “distinguished themselves early through exceptional research and teaching.” In January 2014, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication named her an Emerging Scholar in recognition of my research on social media and social change. Seo received her Ph.D. in mass communications from Syracuse University in 2010 where her dissertation was awarded the all-university Doctoral Prize.
Seo teaches courses on social media, research methods and strategic campaigns. Her “excellence and innovation in teaching” earned her a Promising Professor Award from AEJMC’s Mass Communication and Society Division in 2013. Critical and analytical thinking and independent learning are at the core of her teaching, as she believes these are important tools students will require in whatever profession they pursue in an increasingly complex world. She strives to help students build reasoning abilities and spark their imagination. And her classes combine theoretical and hands-on approaches to issues by enabling students to work with real-world clients. Most of all, she is excited about the idea of potentially helping students realize their dreams.
Seo’s research and teaching are influenced by her professional experience in journalism and strategic communication in South Korea and the United States. Prior to her graduate studies in the United States, Seo was a foreign affairs correspondent for South Korean and international media outlets. During that time, she traveled extensively to cover major international events including six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear issues and gatherings of world leaders such as the United Nations and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit talks. She has also consulted to U.S. and Korea-based nongovernmental organizations regarding their social media strategies and relations with international press.edit
Massive and sustained candlelight vigils in 2016–2017, the most significant citizen-led protests in the history of democratic South Korea, led to the impeachment and removal of then President Park Geun-hye. These protests took place in a... more
Massive and sustained candlelight vigils in 2016–2017, the most significant citizen-led protests in the history of democratic South Korea, led to the impeachment and removal of then President Park Geun-hye. These protests took place in a South Korean media environment characterized by polarization and low public trust, and where conspiracy theories and false claims by those opposing impeachment were frequently amplified by extreme right-wing media outlets. How then was it possible for pro-impeachment protests seeking major social change to succeed? And why did pro-Park protesters and government efforts to defend Park ultimately fail? An agent-affordance framework is introduced to explain how key participants (agents), including journalists, citizens, social media influencers, bots, and civic organizations, together produced a broad citizen consensus that Park should be removed from office. This was accomplished by creatively employing affordances made available by South Korea’s history, legal system, and technologies. New empirical evidence illustrates the ongoing significant roles of both traditional and nontraditional agents as they continue to co-adapt to affordances provided by changing information environments. Interviews with key players yield firsthand descriptions of events. The interviews, original content analyses of media reports, and examination of social media posts combine to provide strong empirical support for the agent-affordance framework. Lessons drawn from citizen-led protests surrounding Park Geun-hye’s removal from office in South Korea are used to offer suggestions for how technology-enabled affordances may support and constrain movements for social change elsewhere in the world.
Research Interests:
The COVID-19 pandemic and international students: A mixed-methods approach to relationships between social media use, social support, and mental health The COVID-19 pandemic has added significant stress to international students in the... more
The COVID-19 pandemic and international students: A mixed-methods approach to relationships between social media use, social support, and mental health The COVID-19 pandemic has added significant stress to international students in the U.S. who already face myriad challenges in adjusting to their host country. We used a mixed-method approach combining survey and interview research involving international students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs at a U.S. university to analyze how their social media use and perceived social support and social adjustment are associated with their sense of mental well-being when taking into account demographic and social psychological characteristics. Our findings show that international students spent an increased amount of time on social media during the pandemic for both networking and information seeking purposes. Those who use social media primarily for networking purposes reported better mental health, whereas social media use for information seeking was not significantly associated with their mental health. Social support was an important predictor of international students' social media use. This study provides scholarly and policy implications for supporting international students during a public health crisis. Contents Introduction Literature review Methods Results Discussion Conclusion
Research Interests:
As society increasingly relies on digital technologies in many different aspects, those who lack relevant access and skills are lagging increasingly behind. Among the underserved groups disproportionately affected by the digital divide... more
As society increasingly relies on digital technologies in many different aspects, those who lack relevant access and skills are lagging increasingly behind. Among the underserved groups disproportionately affected by the digital divide are women who are transitioning from incarceration and seeking to reenter the workforce outside the carceral system (women-in-transition). Women-in-transition rarely have been exposed to sound technology education, as they have generally been isolated from the digital environment while in incarceration. Furthermore, while women have become the fastest-growing segment of the incarcerated population in the United States in recent decades, prison education and reentry programs are still not well adjusted for them. Most programs are mainly designed for the dominant male population. Consequently, women-in-transition face significant post-incarceration challenges in accessing and using relevant digital technologies and thus have added difficulties in entering or reentering the workforce. Against this backdrop, our multi-disciplinary research team has conducted empirical research as part of technology education offered to women-in-transition in the Midwest. In this article, we report results from our interviews with 75 women-in-transition in the Midwest that were conducted to develop a tailored technology education program for the women. More than half of the participants in our study are women of color and face precarious housing and financial situations. Then, we discuss principles that we adopted in developing our education program for the marginalized women and participants’ feedback on the program. Our team launched in-person sessions with women-in-reentry at public libraries in February 2020 and had to move the sessions online in March due to COVID-19. Our research-informed educational program is designed primarily to support the women in enhancing their knowledge and comfort with technology and nurturing computational thinking. Our study shows that low self-efficacy and mental health challenges, as well as lack of resources for technology access and use, are some of the major issues that need to be addressed in supporting technology learning among women-in-transition. This research offers scholarly and practical implications for computing education for women-in-transition and other marginalized populations.
Research Interests:
Based on interviews with 75 women transitioning from incarceration, our research identifies technology access and skills barriers facing this population and their underlying concerns and motivations in navigating privacy online. Our... more
Based on interviews with 75 women transitioning from incarceration, our research identifies technology access and skills barriers facing this population and their underlying concerns and motivations in navigating privacy online. Our results suggest precarious housing and financial situations, concerns about ex-partners, mental health issues, and lack of self-efficacy pose challenges for their access to and use of digital technologies and influence their online privacy perspectives. Many participants reported relying primarily on cellphones for various tasks including job applications. Closing public places including libraries amid the COVID-19 pandemic put them at an even greater disadvantage, as many of them depend on computers or Wi-Fi available in those places. Nothing-to-lose attitudes were salient among this group resulting in many not taking precautionary measures online or choosing to go offline. Our research highlights the importance of building academic-community partnerships to provide technology and privacy education tailored for this population’s particular needs and desires.
Research Interests:
This study conducted content analysis and word co-occurrence network analysis of tweets about the Ukraine plane crash in Iran in 2020 to analyze differences between English tweets and Farsi tweets in framing and discussing the major... more
This study conducted content analysis and word co-occurrence network analysis of tweets about the Ukraine plane crash in Iran in 2020 to analyze differences between English tweets and Farsi tweets in framing and discussing the major international event. Results from our computational analysis and human coding of the tweets show important differences and similarities between English tweets and Farsi tweets in terms of prominent frames and frequently co-occurring word pairs, and topic areas discussed. People offered different diagnostic and prognostic perspectives on the crash. In both English and Farsi tweets, 'UkrainePlaneCrash' was frequently paired with 'Iran' and 'Ukraine.' The most prominent frame in both English and Farsi tweets was diagnostic frame. In terms of collection action frame, there were statistically significant differences between English and Farsi tweets. While the second most prominent frame in Farsi tweets was motivational frame, prognostic frame was the second most prominent frame in English tweets.
Research Interests:
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the urgency to bridge the digital divide, as those without reliable internet, adequate devices, and digital literacy skills were severely disadvantaged when most essential activities moved online.... more
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the urgency to bridge the digital divide, as those without reliable internet, adequate devices, and digital literacy skills were severely disadvantaged when most essential activities moved online. This study examines how the pandemic has affected women recently released from jail or prison, a group that was already at a disadvantage in terms of digital access and skills even before the pandemic. Our interviews with 45 women in transition show that their lack of stable access to the internet and digital devices during the pandemic influenced their post-incarceration supervision requirements, job applications, educational opportunities, and others. These women navigated the challenges by working with their social connections (e.g., friends and neighbors) and relying on emergency resources deployed by local institutions during the pandemic. Those staying in transitional houses before being fully released into communities indicated that they often depended on facility staff or family/friends in the community for pandemic-related information due to their limited access to the internet in those facilities. These and other findings from this research provide insights into the technological challenges and needs of marginalized women during the public health crisis.
Research Interests:
Researchers conducted a content analysis of 537 Twitter images posted by Kuwait University, King Saud University of Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates University to examine how public universities in the Middle East use social media... more
Researchers conducted a content analysis of 537 Twitter images posted by Kuwait University, King Saud University of Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates University to examine how public universities in the Middle East use social media to promote their agenda. Researchers analyzed prominent topics and democracy frames featured in the Twitter images and the structural characteristics of those images. The analysis shows significant differences between the three universities in terms of the most prominent topic category and democracy frame. A significantly higher proportion of the Twitter images posted by Kuwait University featured educational and political topic categories. The analysis of democracy frames shows that these public universities often used their social media channels to promote the respective government's political agenda.
Research Interests:
ased on our community engagement project involving 47 older, low-income African-American adults from a senior community center, this study analyzes how an underserved population acquires knowledge and skills related to digital... more
ased on our community engagement project involving 47 older, low-income African-American adults from a senior community center, this study analyzes how an underserved population acquires knowledge and skills related to digital technologies. We discuss the conceptualization, implementation, and evaluation of a weekly, four-month long computer class for members of the senior community center. Our mixed-method research shows the importance of taking into account both the multidimensional nature of adult learning and the social and cultural contexts in which learning occurs when working with underserved adult populations. Findings from our formative and evaluative research offer insights into changes in the computer class participants’ attitudes toward and perspectives on key digital literacy issues including security and privacy online and online information verification. Scholarly and policy implications are discussed in the context of digital competency and adult learning for marginalized populations.
Research Interests:
We investigate homophily in the tie structure of the global Internet by estimating Exponential Random Graph (ERG) models. Specically, we analyze the extent to which dierent variables including Gross National Income, geographic proximity,... more
We investigate homophily in the tie structure of the global Internet by estimating Exponential Random Graph (ERG) models. Specically, we analyze the extent to which dierent variables including Gross National Income, geographic proximity, political regime type, and press freedom rating account for the pattern of direct country-to-country Internet connections. Results show that for 20111-2014, but not before, press freedom homophily is signicantly predictive of the presence (or absence) of country-to-country Internet connections even when controlling for geographic proximity, bandwidth, and whether or not a country is democratic. The regime type variable was a signicant predictor in 20021-2004 but not after. The ndings provide insights into changes in press freedom around the world and the global Internet structure. The ERG approach used in this study should be useful for future research in related areas.
Research Interests:
Using a big data approach, this study investigates how climate change NGOs across the world connect and interact on Twitter. It found that despite being members of a global alliance that aims to organize concerted efforts to battle... more
Using a big data approach, this study investigates how climate change
NGOs across the world connect and interact on Twitter. It found that
despite being members of a global alliance that aims to organize
concerted efforts to battle climate change, NGOs rarely connect or
interact on Twitter. In addition, the Global North/South hierarchy is
perpetuated in the network of these NGOs, with those from Global
North and Oceania playing the role of opinion leaders on Twitter and
dominating the conversations on climate change. Our social network
analysis found that the network density is sparse, with a very low
density. It also identified several types of centralities, conceptualized as
connectivity, as predictors of an organization’s tweeting frequency and
online opinion leadership. Practical and theoretical implications for
interorganizational communication and online opinion leadership were
discussed.
NGOs across the world connect and interact on Twitter. It found that
despite being members of a global alliance that aims to organize
concerted efforts to battle climate change, NGOs rarely connect or
interact on Twitter. In addition, the Global North/South hierarchy is
perpetuated in the network of these NGOs, with those from Global
North and Oceania playing the role of opinion leaders on Twitter and
dominating the conversations on climate change. Our social network
analysis found that the network density is sparse, with a very low
density. It also identified several types of centralities, conceptualized as
connectivity, as predictors of an organization’s tweeting frequency and
online opinion leadership. Practical and theoretical implications for
interorganizational communication and online opinion leadership were
discussed.
Research Interests:
This study examines how low-income African American older adults, one of the groups most vulnerable to misinformation online, assess the credibility of online information. In examining this, we conducted both face-to-face interviews and a... more
This study examines how low-income African American older adults, one of the groups most vulnerable to misinformation online, assess the credibility of online information. In examining this, we conducted both face-to-face interviews and a survey and then analyzed how their digital media use, demographics, self-efficacy, and involvement with particular topics were associated with their credibility assessments of online information. Our results suggest that education and topic involvement are statistically significant factors associated with assessments of message content and source credibility. Moreover, for our respondents, assessments of content credibility, as opposed to those of source credibility, were far more challenging. This research is one of the few studies examining online information credibility assessments made by low-income minority older adults. Theoretical and practical implications of our results are discussed in the context of misinformation, credibility assessment, and the digital divide.
Research Interests:
In response to rapid changes in the communication environment, nonprofits are increasingly relying on digital technologies to achieve their communication goals. We examine factors influencing nonprofits' digital-based external... more
In response to rapid changes in the communication environment, nonprofits are increasingly relying on digital technologies to achieve their communication goals. We examine factors influencing nonprofits' digital-based external communication based on a survey of communications directors at transnational nonprofits, with an analysis of each organization's characteristics as described on its Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 990 and website. Our results show that, at the organizational level, nonprofits with stronger leadership support concerning social media activities were more likely to use different digital platforms and value more various functions of social media for external communication as compared with those lacking such support. At the individual level, communications directors' perceived ease of social media use and time in their current position significantly influenced their emphasis on different functions of social media. This research fills a gap in the literature by analyzing both organizational characteristics and individual communications director's attributes in assessing nonprofits' social media use.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This study examines US and South Korean journalists' use of sources and their perceptions of source credibility in covering the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions. In particular, this study analyzes the relationship... more
This study examines US and South Korean journalists' use of sources and their perceptions of source credibility in covering the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions. In particular, this study analyzes the relationship between journalists' perceptions of source credibility and the media's source use in terms of the aggregate and individual levels. Results of content analysis of US and South Korean newspapers are compared with data from a survey of US and South Korean journalists who covered the six-party nuclear talks. Government officials are dominant sources in media coverage of the talks because of their high level of accessibility and credibility. US and South Korean journalists assigned the greatest credibility to government officials of their own country. The two groups showed significant differences in their perceptions of credibility of South Korean officials, North Korean officials, Japanese officials, and Japanese experts. Moreover, this study finds that individual journalists' perceptions of source credibility were as strongly correlated with their individual use of sources as with the news media's aggregate use of sources. Implications of the findings are discussed in the context of media sociology, in particular gatekeeping.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
... The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of e-government ... 15. Evaluating SocialNetworking in Public Diplomacy (pages 243-259). Hyunjin Seo (Syracuse ... Online Activism and Computer Mediated Communications (pages... more
... The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of e-government ... 15. Evaluating SocialNetworking in Public Diplomacy (pages 243-259). Hyunjin Seo (Syracuse ... Online Activism and Computer Mediated Communications (pages 260-274). Stephen Fariñas (Florida ...
This study examines the communications networks formed by direct international Internet links, weighted by bandwidth capacity, each year over the 2002-2011 period. Specifically, we analyze changes in bandwidth distributions at country,... more
This study examines the communications networks formed by direct international Internet links, weighted by bandwidth capacity, each year over the 2002-2011 period. Specifically, we analyze changes in bandwidth distributions at country, regional, and continental levels during the period and identify network communities at these different levels. We apply an urn-based model developed with country-level data to bandwidth distributions at regional and continental levels. While the 2011 global Internet network closely resembles that of 2002, the network has become more tightly interconnected over time and the high international bandwidth regions of Northern Europe, Northern America, and Western Europe have seen a modest decline in their share of total global bandwidth. As a consequence, international bandwidth concentration is showing a slow decline. Relative connectedness as measured by percentage of bandwidth staying within UN geographic regions is decreasing, whereas the percentage remaining within the continent has been fairly constant during the analysis period. All of this must be understood in the context of enormous total international bandwidth growth between 2002 and 2011 at all levels of analysis.
Research Interests:
... Donsbach, W. 2004. Psychology of news decisions: Factors behind journalists' professional behavior. Journalism , 5(2): 131157. ... Donsbach, W. 2004. Psychology of news decisions: Factorsbehind journalists' professional... more
... Donsbach, W. 2004. Psychology of news decisions: Factors behind journalists' professional behavior. Journalism , 5(2): 131157. ... Donsbach, W. 2004. Psychology of news decisions: Factorsbehind journalists' professional behavior. Journalism , 5(2): 131157. ...
Research Interests:
Flash mobs are new, emerging, and evolving social phenomena that have recently been associated with youth violence in the US cities. The current study explores how youth understand flash mobs through focus groups conducted in Kansas City,... more
Flash mobs are new, emerging, and evolving social phenomena that have recently been associated with youth violence in the US cities. The current study explores how youth understand flash mobs through focus groups conducted in Kansas City, Missouri (a site of violent youth flash mobs). Results indicate that youth have varying familiarity with flash mobs and define them in different ways; that youth perceive youth boredom to be the most frequent cause of problems with flash mobs; that youth connect ongoing social disorder with the violence associated with flash mobs; and that while social media are facilitators of flash mobs, flash mobs have their roots in youth activities that have been going on for generations (e.g., hanging out in groups and cruising). Results illustrate the importance of conducting formative research with youth, particularly about emergent phenomena, when developing interventions and communication campaigns aimed at reducing youth violence.
Research Interests:
Social media platforms have become important in spreading propaganda images during conflicts, as demonstrated in several recent cases including the Israeli–Hamas confrontation in 2012 and graphic internet videos by the self-proclaimed... more
Social media platforms have become important in spreading propaganda images during conflicts, as demonstrated in several recent cases including the Israeli–Hamas confrontation in 2012 and graphic internet videos by the self-proclaimed Islamic State in 2014. This study examines the role of visual propaganda in the social media age by analyzing themes, frames, and structural features of images posted on the official Facebook pages of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces in 2013 and 2014. Our content analysis shows interesting differences and similarities between the two sides in using images to promote their political agendas during the recent Syrian conflicts following the 2011 uprisings. The Syrian government used visual frames to support its narrative that President Assad is a fearless leader protecting its people and that life has continued normally throughout Syria. The Syrian opposition used various images to solidify its narrative of the Assad regime’s brutality and sufferings of Syrian civilians. There were significant differences in terms of audience reactions to images with different themes and frames. These and other issues are discussed in the context of visual propaganda and framing in social media-based information warfare.
Research Interests:
This study examines the role of social media-based marketing in generating social capital by analyzing wall posts and comments on Facebook pages of a for-profit social enterprise (TOMS) and a conventional for-profit company (Sperry... more
This study examines the role of social media-based marketing in generating social capital by analyzing wall posts and comments on Facebook pages of a for-profit social enterprise (TOMS) and a conventional for-profit company (Sperry Top-Sider). Our content analysis shows that compared to the Sperry Facebook page, the TOMS Facebook page featured a higher proportion of wall posts involving community engagement and social issues. While aspects of bonding social capital were most prominent in both Facebook pages, the TOMS online community was more likely to generate bridging social capital than the Sperry online community. These results suggest that the social entrepreneurship aspect of TOMS contributes to information exchanges between weak ties and forging of new ties via its brand community on Facebook. This research enhances our understanding of differences and similarities between for-profit social enterprises and conventional for-profit companies in use of social media for public relations and their implications for creating a dialogic space essential for facilitating development of social capital.
Research Interests:
Based on a survey of international students enrolled in a U.S. university, this study examines how social media use is associated with perceived social support and adjustment when demographic and social psychological characteristics are... more
Based on a survey of international students enrolled in a U.S. university, this study examines how social media use is associated with perceived social support and adjustment when demographic and social psychological characteristics are controlled for. Our research shows that level of social media use is positively associated with level of perceived social adjustment but not with level of perceived social support. International students don't feel comfortable discussing their distress via social media due to complex cultural internetworking present in the online networking sphere. The results of this study indicate that in studying this topic we should take into account both common challenges in getting social support online and special circumstances facing international students. The current study offers scholarly and policy implications for providing relevant social, academic, and professional resources to international students in the United States — a group that has significantly grown in numbers in the past decade.
Research Interests:
This research examined how social self-efficacy, collective self-esteem, and need to belong can be used to predict teens' use of social media. The particular focus was on how these social psychological variables together with social media... more
This research examined how social self-efficacy, collective self-esteem, and need to belong can be used to predict teens' use of social media. The particular focus was on how these social psychological variables together with social media use account for variation in teens' participation in a flash mob – an exemplar of 21st-century collective action. Empirical data come from a survey of teens in a major Midwestern city in the USA. Teens' need to belong was positively associated with the amount of time they reported spending on social networking sites, even when controlling for gender, race, and household socioeconomic status. Both teens' social self-efficacy and time spent on YouTube were positively associated with their intention to participate in a flash mob in the future. These and other findings are discussed in the context of the role of social media in youth culture and collective action.
Research Interests:
We explore the relationship between regime type and country access to the Internet at both domestic and global levels by conducting longitudinal analyses of economic, population, and Internet data between 2002 and 2011. In particular, we... more
We explore the relationship between regime type and country access to the Internet at both domestic and global levels by conducting longitudinal analyses of economic, population, and Internet data between 2002 and 2011. In particular, we investigate how a country's position in the global Internet network is associated with the country's type of political institution while attempting to take into account its economic growth and population (so-called scale effects). Our analysis shows that liberal democracies dominated the global Internet network both in 2002 and in 2011, followed by polyarchies and electoral democracies. Finally, our panel regression and network analyses suggest that it is important to consider network characteristics in investigating whether and how a country's regime type influences the country's Internet adoption. We discuss implications of these and other findings for idea flows and economic developments.
Research Interests:
We conducted focus groups with low-income African American older adults in Kansas City, MO, to examine how this underserved group adopts and uses technology and how technology adoption/use is associated with health information seeking... more
We conducted focus groups with low-income African American older adults in Kansas City, MO, to examine how this underserved group adopts and uses technology and how technology adoption/use is associated with health information seeking behavior. Low-income African American older adults have been shown to lag behind in terms of their technology access and use. Our findings show that although low-income African American older adults perceive technology to be highly useful, they do not view it as easy to use, thus preventing them from further adopting or using relevant technologies. Consequently, there is skepticism with respect to using technology to search for health information. Our study advances research on underserved groups’ technology use and health information seeking by looking at the intersectionality of race/ethnicity, age, and income.
In response to rapid changes in the communication environment, nonprofits are increasingly relying on digital technologies to achieve their communication goals. We examine factors influencing nonprofits' digital-based external... more
In response to rapid changes in the communication environment, nonprofits are increasingly relying on digital technologies to achieve their communication goals. We examine factors influencing nonprofits' digital-based external communication based on a survey of communications directors at transnational nonprofits, with an analysis of each organization's characteristics as described on its Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 990 and website. Our results show that, at the organizational level, nonprofits with stronger leadership support concerning social media activities were more likely to use different digital platforms and value more various functions of social media for external communication as compared with those lacking such support. At the individual level, communications directors' perceived ease of social media use and time in their current position significantly influenced their emphasis on different functions of social media. This research fills a gap in the literature by analyzing both organizational characteristics and individual communications director's attributes in assessing nonprofits' social media use.
Research Interests:
We investigate homophily in the tie structure of the global Internet by estimating Exponential Random Graph (ERG) models. Specically, we analyze the extent to which dierent variables including Gross National Income, geographic proximity,... more
We investigate homophily in the tie structure of the global Internet by estimating Exponential Random Graph (ERG) models. Specically, we analyze the extent to which dierent variables including Gross National Income, geographic proximity, political regime type, and press freedom rating account for the pattern of direct country-to-country Internet connections. Results show that for 20111-2014, but not before, press freedom homophily is signicantly predictive of the presence (or absence) of country-to-country Internet connections even when controlling for geographic proximity, bandwidth, and whether or not a country is democratic. The regime type variable was a signicant predictor in 20021-2004 but not after. The ndings provide insights into changes in press freedom around the world and the global Internet structure. The ERG approach used in this study should be useful for future research in related areas.
Research Interests:
Researchers conducted a content analysis of 537 Twitter images posted by Kuwait University, King Saud University of Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates University to examine how public universities in the Middle East use social media... more
Researchers conducted a content analysis of 537 Twitter images posted by Kuwait University, King Saud University of Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates University to examine how public universities in the Middle East use social media to promote their agenda. Researchers analyzed prominent topics and democracy frames featured in the Twitter images and the structural characteristics of those images. The analysis shows significant differences between the three universities in terms of the most prominent topic category and democracy frame. A significantly higher proportion of the Twitter images posted by Kuwait University featured educational and political topic categories. The analysis of democracy frames shows that these public universities often used their social media channels to promote the respective government's political agenda.
Research Interests:
—Online review systems play an important role in affecting consumers' behaviors and decision making, attracting many spammers to insert fake reviews to manipulate review content and ratings. To increase utility and improve user... more
—Online review systems play an important role in affecting consumers' behaviors and decision making, attracting many spammers to insert fake reviews to manipulate review content and ratings. To increase utility and improve user experience, some online review systems allow users to form social relationships between each other and encourage their interactions. In this paper, we aim at providing an efficient and effective method to identify review spammers by incorporating social relations based on two assumptions that people are more likely to consider reviews from those connected with them as trustworthy, and review spammers are less likely to maintain a large relationship network with normal users. The contributions of this paper are twofold: (1) We elaborate how social relationships can be incorporated into review rating prediction and propose a trust-based rating prediction model using proximity as trust weight; and (2) We design a trust-aware detection model based on rating variance which iteratively calculates user-specific overall trustworthiness scores as the indicator for spamicity. Experiments on the dataset collected from Yelp.com show that the proposed trust-based prediction achieves a higher accuracy than standard CF method, and there exists a strong correlation between social relationships and the overall trustworthiness scores.
Research Interests:
Analyzing Facebook content produced by 289 global climate nonprofits from 18 countries, this study investigates these NGOs' framing of climate change. Of the three protest frames, diagnostic was most popular. Of the three aspects of... more
Analyzing Facebook content produced by 289 global climate nonprofits from 18 countries, this study investigates these NGOs' framing of climate change. Of the three protest frames, diagnostic was most popular. Of the three aspects of climate change, including impact, action, and efficacy, action was used most frequently, while efficacy was the least common. Messages refer to effects at the present time. NGOs from developed countries are more likely than those from developing nations to discuss climate actions. Climate impacts are more likely to appear in these NGOs' persuasive messages than efficacy. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Research Interests:
Objective This study examines how those who were born outside the United States and migrated to the country in the past decade used social media and other online sites to deal with uncertainties around the coronavirus disease 2019... more
Objective This study examines how those who were born outside the United States and migrated to the country in the past decade used social media and other online sites to deal with uncertainties around the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. In particular, we examine how they used digital communication technologies to tap into online resources and social connections both in the United States and their origin country and how various aspects of online information management were associated with their willingness to get vaccinated against the virus. Method We conducted an online survey and in-depth interviews with international migrants aged 18–64 years who moved to the United States in 2011 or later and were living in two neighboring states in the US Midwest as of spring 2021. Since this research involves understanding how these international migrants dealt with uncertainties related to coronavirus disease 2019 vaccinations, we collected the survey and interview data when each state ha...
Research Interests:
The COVID-19 pandemic has added significant stress to international students in the United States who already face myriad challenges in adjusting to their host country. We used a mixed-method approach combining survey and interview... more
The COVID-19 pandemic has added significant stress to international students in the United States who already face myriad challenges in adjusting to their host country. We used a mixed-method approach combining survey and interview research to analyze how international students’ social media use and perceived social support/adjustment are associated with their sense of mental well-being when taking into account demographic and social psychological characteristics. Our findings show that international students spent an increased amount of time on social media during the pandemic for both networking and information seeking purposes. Those who use social media primarily for networking purposes reported better mental health, whereas social media use for information seeking was not significantly associated with their mental health. Social support was an important predictor of international students’ social media use. This study provides scholarly and policy implications for supporting in...
Research Interests:
The COVID-19 pandemic aggravated existing challenges for racial/ethnic minority immigrants in the U.S. in obtaining health information and seeking health care. Based on in-depth interviews with 49 racial/ethnic minority immigrants in the... more
The COVID-19 pandemic aggravated existing challenges for racial/ethnic minority immigrants in the U.S. in obtaining health information and seeking health care. Based on in-depth interviews with 49 racial/ethnic minority immigrants in the U.S. Midwest, this study examines how they navigated online health information related to general health issues and in particular COVID-19, how they encounter online misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccination and their willingness to get vaccinated. Results show that participants use online health information from both the U.S. and their home country to stay informed about the pandemic, but often encounter misinformation and hate speech online. Further, participants are hesitant to correct misinformation due to contentious online environment. Additionally, findings revealed that younger participants tended to be less willing to get vaccinated due to low perceived benefits. The study suggests scholarly and practical implications for those who wor...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This chapter details an agent-affordance framework designed to offer an understanding of social change dynamics in rapidly changing information ecosystems. In doing so, it explicates a taxonomy of agents and affordances critical to the... more
This chapter details an agent-affordance framework designed to offer an understanding of social change dynamics in rapidly changing information ecosystems. In doing so, it explicates a taxonomy of agents and affordances critical to the Park Geun-hye impeachment. This framework includes four types of agent and three categories of affordance to account for social change dynamics that have become both more decentralized and increasingly intertwined between human and nonhuman computational agents. As communication infrastructure and social and political processes co-adapt, it is imperative to consider how structural and behavioral affordances affect social change. The framework considers the complex web of motivations, processes, and outcomes that support networked collective actions and enable these actions to succeed or fail.
Research Interests:
The COVID-19 pandemic aggravated existing challenges for racial/ethnic minority immigrants in the U.S. in obtaining health information and seeking health care. Based on in-depth interviews with 49 racial/ethnic minority immigrants in the... more
The COVID-19 pandemic aggravated existing challenges for racial/ethnic minority immigrants in the U.S. in obtaining health information and seeking health care. Based on in-depth interviews with 49 racial/ethnic minority immigrants in the U.S. Midwest, this study examines how they navigated online health information related to general health issues and in particular COVID-19, how they encounter online misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccination and their willingness to get vaccinated. Results show that participants use online health information from both the U.S. and their home country to stay informed about the pandemic, but often encounter misinformation and hate speech online. Further, participants are hesitant to correct misinformation due to contentious online environment. Additionally, findings revealed that younger participants tended to be less willing to get vaccinated due to low perceived benefits. The study suggests scholarly and practical implications for those who wor...
Research Interests:
This chapter offers a detailed analysis of online and offline interactions and information exchanges that took place in organizing candlelight vigils in 2016–2017 that contributed to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.... more
This chapter offers a detailed analysis of online and offline interactions and information exchanges that took place in organizing candlelight vigils in 2016–2017 that contributed to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. Interactions between agents and affordances resulted in the nation’s first removal of a president through impeachment processes. Key agents—in particular, journalists, social media influencers, citizens, activists, news organizations, and civic organizations—interacted to produce, share, and amplify cognitive and affective content resulting in massive citizen participation in candlelight vigils for 20 consecutive weeks. It provides an in-depth analysis of these and related issues based on interviews with journalists, activists, citizens, government officials, and technology company representatives and experts. The interview data are triangulated using analyses of news reports and social media posts.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In response to rapid changes in the communication environment, nonprofits are increasingly relying on digital technologies to achieve their communication goals. We examine factors influencing nonprofits’ digital-based external... more
In response to rapid changes in the communication environment, nonprofits are increasingly relying on digital technologies to achieve their communication goals. We examine factors influencing nonprofits’ digital-based external communication based on a survey of communications directors at transnational nonprofits, with an analysis of each organization’s characteristics as described on its Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 990 and website. Our results show that, at the organizational level, nonprofits with stronger leadership support concerning social media activities were more likely to use different digital platforms and value more various functions of social media for external communication as compared with those lacking such support. At the individual level, communications directors’ perceived ease of social media use and time in their current position significantly influenced their emphasis on different functions of social media. This research fills a gap in the literature by ...
Research Interests:
A popularidade dos itens de notícias on-line é calculada pelos sites de notícias como função do comportamento dos leitores, tais como clicar sobre ou ler artigos, encaminhá-los via e-mail para outras pessoas, comentá-los ou discuti-los e... more
A popularidade dos itens de notícias on-line é calculada pelos sites de notícias como função do comportamento dos leitores, tais como clicar sobre ou ler artigos, encaminhá-los via e-mail para outras pessoas, comentá-los ou discuti-los e até seguir os links para eles nos blogs. Os sites de notícias on-line muitas vezes fornecem listas que mostram a ordem de popularidade dos artigos que são atualizadas durante o dia todo. A popularidade reflete não somente o interesse dos indivíduos, mas pode também representar acomunicação de um leitor individual a outras pessoas. No caso dos artigos enviados via e-mail , os destinatários podem ser amigos, parentes ou colegas. Quando os leitores acrescentam comentários embaixo de um artigo, podem alcançar qualquer um na Internet. Quando os leitores se comunicam com outros leitores, aumentam o processo normal de gatekeeping, porém suas escolhas podem não refletir os valores das notícias dos jornalistas que elaboraram os sites. Este estudo compara os ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Massive and sustained candlelight vigils in 2016–2017, the most significant citizen-led protests in the history of democratic South Korea, led to the impeachment and removal of then President Park Geun-hye. These protests took place in a... more
Massive and sustained candlelight vigils in 2016–2017, the most significant citizen-led protests in the history of democratic South Korea, led to the impeachment and removal of then President Park Geun-hye. These protests took place in a South Korean media environment characterized by polarization and low public trust, and where conspiracy theories and false claims by those opposing impeachment were frequently amplified by extreme right-wing media outlets. How then was it possible for pro-impeachment protests seeking major social change to succeed? And why did pro-Park protesters and government efforts to defend Park ultimately fail? An agent-affordance framework is introduced to explain how key participants (agents), including journalists, citizens, social media influencers, bots, and civic organizations, together produced a broad citizen consensus that Park should be removed from office. This was accomplished by creatively employing affordances made available by South Korea’s hist...
This chapter provides background information regarding South Koreans’ anger and frustration with the Park Geun-hye administration, which led to a series of candlelight vigils calling for her impeachment. In particular, it analyzes public... more
This chapter provides background information regarding South Koreans’ anger and frustration with the Park Geun-hye administration, which led to a series of candlelight vigils calling for her impeachment. In particular, it analyzes public sentiment surrounding President Park’s handling of the 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry in which 250 South Korean high school students died. Prior to the revelation of the Park-Choi corruption scandal, the Sewol ferry disaster, caused by human error and poorly managed by the Park government, was the most significant event that contributed to reaching a tipping point for the impeachment movement. The Park-Choi scandal served as a trigger for public outrage, which had been simmering for several years. This chapter analyzes how outrage and embarrassment spread in the information ecosystem at that time and served to motivate people to participate in the impeachment vigils.
This chapter applies the agent-affordance framework introduced in Chapter 2 to the ever-changing information ecosystem in South Korea by identifying changes in key agents and affordances in the country over the past three decades. This is... more
This chapter applies the agent-affordance framework introduced in Chapter 2 to the ever-changing information ecosystem in South Korea by identifying changes in key agents and affordances in the country over the past three decades. This is accomplished in the context of co-adapting technological, cultural, political, and legal environments in the country. The chapter provides the background information necessary to explicating the dynamics of information generation and dissemination by and between different agents in South Korea. In particular, it contributes to enhancing understandings of technological, social, political, and legal affordances in South Korea that lay the groundwork for analyses in the subsequent chapters. South Korea’s news media environment, citizens’ use of social media, concerns of misinformation, and issues related to the division of the Korean Peninsula are discussed in the context of agent-affordance interactions. Secondary data analysis is used to document ch...
James Pamment. Intersections between public diplomacy & international development: case studies in converging fields. Los Angeles, California: University of Southern California. Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Center on... more
James Pamment. Intersections between public diplomacy & international development: case studies in converging fields. Los Angeles, California: University of Southern California. Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Center on Public Diplomacy (CPD Perspectives on public policy, 2016, paper 2), 2016.
As society increasingly relies on digital technologies in many different aspects, those who lack relevant access and skills are lagging increasingly behind. Among the underserved groups disproportionately affected by the digital divide... more
As society increasingly relies on digital technologies in many different aspects, those who lack relevant access and skills are lagging increasingly behind. Among the underserved groups disproportionately affected by the digital divide are women who are transitioning from incarceration and seeking to reenter the workforce outside the carceral system (women-in-transition). Women-in-transition rarely have been exposed to sound technology education, as they have generally been isolated from the digital environment while in incarceration. Furthermore, while women have become the fastest-growing segment of the incarcerated population in the United States in recent decades, prison education and reentry programs are still not well adjusted for them. Most programs are mainly designed for the dominant male population. Consequently, women-in-transition face significant post-incarceration challenges in accessing and using relevant digital technologies and thus have added difficulties in enteri...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The COVID-19 pandemic signifies not only a global health crisis but has also proven to be an infodemic characterised by many conspiracy theories. Prior research informs us that belief in health-related conspiracies can harm efforts to... more
The COVID-19 pandemic signifies not only a global health crisis but has also proven to be an infodemic characterised by many conspiracy theories. Prior research informs us that belief in health-related conspiracies can harm efforts to curtail the spread of a virus. Therefore, as the global efforts of mass inoculation are underway, it is crucial to understand which factors shape tendencies to believe in conspiracy theories. In the current study, we explore how Pakistani adults’ perceived risk of COVID-19, sense of national identity, and trust in traditional and social media sources, are associated with their belief in conspiracy theories related to the pandemic. The data for this study come from an online survey of 501 adults ages 18–49 conducted in April and May 2020 in Pakistan. Our results show that a perception of risk makes it less likely for the participants to believe in conspiracy theories even when taking into account key demographic factors. Furthermore, trust in social media has a positive association with belief in conspiracy theories, whereas trust in traditional media and people’s sense of national identity are not associated with conspiracy beliefs. This study offers important scholarly and policy implications for navigating major global health issues, in Pakistan and other similarly situated countries.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Although most higher education institutions cater their programs to traditional college students, high school graduates or those in their early 20s, the adult-student population makes up most degree-seekers in the United States (U.S.).... more
Although most higher education institutions cater their programs to traditional college students, high school graduates or those in their early 20s, the adult-student population makes up most degree-seekers in the United States (U.S.). Adult-student population, known as non-traditional students, includes students who are returning to postsecondary institutions after dropping out, working adults, formerly incarcerated individuals as well as professionals who want to turn life experience into college credit. With the influx of non-traditional students, higher education institutions must rethink and put in place strategies to better support these students. With this in mind, recruitment of non-traditional students in computing related fields is of great interest to increase the number of graduates to meet the future of the workforce needs in particular in the emerging technology (EmTech) fields. Therefore, we propose a panel to discuss opportunities for re-entry computing education and...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
From misleading news articles around elections in Brazil and the United States to mob lynchings fueled by false social media messages in India to made-up stories about COVID19 vaccination, a deluge of disinformation and misinformation is... more
From misleading news articles around elections in Brazil and the United States to mob lynchings fueled by false social media messages in India to made-up stories about COVID19 vaccination, a deluge of disinformation and misinformation is affecting various aspects of citizens’ lives around the world. Although there is an increasing number of research papers dealing with disinformation or misinformation, a majority of these have focused on the United States. This Special Section on comparative approaches to mis/disinformation features conceptual and data-informed articles with international and global perspectives on the prevalence, impact, and diffusion of mis/disinformation in different countries. Articles selected for the Special Section provide new theoretical and empirical contributions to existing bodies of knowledge whether focusing on one country or offering comparative perspectives involving multiple countries. The articles, individually and collectively, offer important scho...
Research Interests:
This study conducted content analysis and word co-occurrence network analysis of tweets about the Ukraine plane crash in Iran in 2020 to analyze differences between English tweets and Farsi tweets in framing and discussing the major... more
This study conducted content analysis and word co-occurrence network analysis of tweets about the Ukraine plane crash in Iran in 2020 to analyze differences between English tweets and Farsi tweets in framing and discussing the major international event. Results from our computational analysis and human coding of the tweets show important differences and similarities between English tweets and Farsi tweets in terms of prominent frames and frequently co-occurring word pairs, and topic areas discussed. People offered different diagnostic and prognostic perspectives on the crash. In both English and Farsi tweets, 'UkrainePlaneCrash' was frequently paired with 'Iran' and 'Ukraine.' The most prominent frame in both English and Farsi tweets was diagnostic frame. In terms of collection action frame, there were statistically significant differences between English and Farsi tweets. While the second most prominent frame in Farsi tweets was motivational frame, prognostic frame was the second most prominent frame in English tweets.
Research Interests:
Public opinion is likely to be susceptible to the way a government and the news media frame foreign countries, because unlike domestic issues, foreign news is typically beyond a person’s direct experience. How does the American public... more
Public opinion is likely to be susceptible to the way a government and the news media frame foreign countries, because unlike domestic issues, foreign news is typically beyond a person’s direct experience. How does the American public respond to foreign news when its government and the news media promote competing frames and change their prominence according to the relations between the U.S. and that foreign country? The present study shows this frame building and frame effects by using a public opinion poll and content analysis of U.S. policy statements and media coverage. North Korea was chosen because its visibility to the American public has increased since President George W. Bush designated it as one of the countries in the ‘‘axis of evil’’. The results show that during a four-month period, the U.S. government and the newspaper produced three competing frames, and that the magnitude of the frames shifted as U.S.–North Korean relationships shifted. These shifts in turn made the...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Studies suggest women dropout of college and leave the workforce due to their family, finances, and military duty. However, women interested in (re-)entering the tech fields can be the largest untapped talent pool that may fulfill the... more
Studies suggest women dropout of college and leave the workforce due to their family, finances, and military duty. However, women interested in (re-)entering the tech fields can be the largest untapped talent pool that may fulfill the needs of the future computing workforce. In this panel, five passionate women will share their experiences with identifying the challenges for women to re-enter emerging technology professions and the role of industry-academic relationship in facilitating such initiatives in order to develop future relevant initiatives.
Research Interests: Computer Science and Acm
Analyzing Facebook content produced by 289 global climate nonprofits from 18 countries, this study investigates these NGOs’ framing of climate change. Of the three protest frames, diagnostic was most popular. Of the three aspects of... more
Analyzing Facebook content produced by 289 global climate nonprofits from 18 countries, this study investigates these NGOs’ framing of climate change. Of the three protest frames, diagnostic was most popular. Of the three aspects of climate change, including impact, action, and efficacy, action was used most frequently, while efficacy was the least common. Messages refer to effects at the present time. NGOs from developed countries are more likely than those from developing nations to discuss climate actions. Climate impacts are more likely to appear in these NGOs’ persuasive messages than efficacy. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Research Interests:
This study examines how low-income African-American older adults, one of the groups most vulnerable to misinformation online, assess the credibility of online information. In examining this, we conducted both face-to-face interviews and a... more
This study examines how low-income African-American older adults, one of the groups most vulnerable to misinformation online, assess the credibility of online information. In examining this, we conducted both face-to-face interviews and a survey and then analyzed how their digital media use, demographics, self-efficacy, and involvement with particular topics were associated with their credibility assessments of online information. Our results suggest that education and topic involvement are statistically significant factors associated with assessments of message content and source credibility. Moreover, for our respondents, assessments of content credibility, as opposed to those of source credibility, were far more challenging. This research is one of the few studies examining online information credibility assessments made by low-income minority older adults. Theoretical and practical implications of our results are discussed in the context of misinformation, credibility assessment...
Research Interests:
We conducted focus groups with low-income African American older adults in Kansas City, MO, to examine how this underserved group adopts and uses technology and how technology adoption/use is associated with health information seeking... more
We conducted focus groups with low-income African American older adults in Kansas City, MO, to examine how this underserved group adopts and uses technology and how technology adoption/use is associated with health information seeking behavior. Low-income African American older adults have been shown to lag behind in terms of their technology access and use. Our findings show that although low-income African American older adults perceive technology to be highly useful, they do not view it as easy to use, thus preventing them from further adopting or using relevant technologies. Consequently, there is skepticism with respect to using technology to search for health information. Our study advances research on underserved groups’ technology use and health information seeking by looking at the intersectionality of race/ethnicity, age, and income.
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT Using a big data approach, this study investigates how climate change NGOs across the world connect and interact on Twitter. It found that despite being members of a global alliance that aims to organize concerted efforts to... more
ABSTRACT Using a big data approach, this study investigates how climate change NGOs across the world connect and interact on Twitter. It found that despite being members of a global alliance that aims to organize concerted efforts to battle climate change, NGOs rarely connect or interact on Twitter. In addition, the Global North/South hierarchy is perpetuated in the network of these NGOs, with those from Global North and Oceania playing the role of opinion leaders on Twitter and dominating the conversations on climate change. Our social network analysis found that the network density is sparse, with a very low density. It also identified several types of centralities, conceptualized as connectivity, as predictors of an organization’s tweeting frequency and online opinion leadership. Practical and theoretical implications for interorganizational communication and online opinion leadership were discussed.
Research Interests:
We investigate homophily in the tie structure of the global Internet by estimating Exponential Random Graph (ERG) models. Specifically, we analyze the extent to which different variables including Gross National Income, geographic... more
We investigate homophily in the tie structure of the global Internet by estimating Exponential Random Graph (ERG) models. Specifically, we analyze the extent to which different variables including Gross National Income, geographic proximity, political regime type, and press freedom rating account for the pattern of direct country-to-country Internet connections. Results show that for 2011–2014, but not before, press freedom homophily is significantly predictive of the presence (or absence) of country-to-country Internet connections even when controlling for geographic proximity, bandwidth, and whether or not a country is democratic. The regime type variable was a significant predictor in 2002–2004 but not after. The findings provide insights into changes in press freedom around the world and the global Internet structure. The ERG approach used in this study should be useful for future research in related areas.
Research Interests:
With the increasing popularity of online review systems, a large volume of user-generated content becomes available to help people make reasonable judgments about the quality of services and products from unknown providers. However, these... more
With the increasing popularity of online review systems, a large volume of user-generated content becomes available to help people make reasonable judgments about the quality of services and products from unknown providers. However, these platforms are frequently abused since fraudulent information can be freely inserted by potentially malicious users without validation. Consequently, online review systems become targets of individual and professional spammers, who insert deceptive reviews by manipulating the rating and/or the content of the reviews. In this work, we propose a review spamming detection scheme based on the deviation between the aspect-specific opinions extracted from individual reviews and the aggregated opinions on the corresponding aspects. In particular, we model the influence on the trustworthiness of the user due to his opinion deviations from the majority in the form of a deviation-based penalty, and integrate this penalty into a three-layer trust propagation f...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Media Studies, Higher Education, Political Science, Public Relations, Content Analysis, and 13 moreSocial Media, Visual Communication, Middle Eastern Studies, Twitter, Public Relations & Social Media, New Media and Education, Mass Communication and New Media, Visual Comunication, Visual Content Analysis, Media Watch, VISUAL FRAMING, Public Relations Visual Content, and Public Relations in Middle Eastern
Research Interests:
Social media platforms have become important in spreading propaganda images during conflicts, as demonstrated in several recent cases including the Israeli–Hamas confrontation in 2012 and graphic internet videos by the self-proclaimed... more
Social media platforms have become important in spreading propaganda images during conflicts, as demonstrated in several recent cases including the Israeli–Hamas confrontation in 2012 and graphic internet videos by the self-proclaimed Islamic State in 2014. This study examines the role of visual propaganda in the social media age by analyzing themes, frames, and structural features of images posted on the official Facebook pages of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces in 2013 and 2014. Our content analysis shows interesting differences and similarities between the two sides in using images to promote their political agendas during the recent Syrian conflicts following the 2011 uprisings. The Syrian government used visual frames to support its narrative that President Assad is a fearless leader protecting its people and that life has continued normally throughout Syria. The Syrian opposition used various images to soli...
Research Interests:
Based on a survey of international students enrolled in a U.S. university, this study examines how social media use is associated with perceived social support and adjustment when demographic and social psychological characteristics are... more
Based on a survey of international students enrolled in a U.S. university, this study examines how social media use is associated with perceived social support and adjustment when demographic and social psychological characteristics are controlled for. Our research shows that level of social media use is positively associated with level of perceived social adjustment but not with level of perceived social support. International students don’t feel comfortable discussing their distress via social media due to complex cultural internetworking present in the online networking sphere. The results of this study indicate that in studying this topic we should take into account both common challenges in getting social support online and special circumstances facing international students. The current study offers scholarly and policy implications for providing relevant social, academic, and professional resources to international students in the United States — a group that has significantl...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This research examined how social self-efficacy, collective self-esteem, and need to belong can be used to predict teens’ use of social media. The particular focus was on how these social psychological variables together with social media... more
This research examined how social self-efficacy, collective self-esteem, and need to belong can be used to predict teens’ use of social media. The particular focus was on how these social psychological variables together with social media use account for variation in teens’ participation in a flash mob – an exemplar of 21st-century collective action. Empirical data come from a survey of teens in a major Midwestern city in the USA. Teens’ need to belong was positively associated with the amount of time they reported spending on social networking sites, even when controlling for gender, race, and household socio-economic status. Both teens’ social self-efficacy and time spent on YouTube were positively associated with their intention to participate in a flash mob in the future. These and other findings are discussed in the context of the role of social media in youth culture and collective action.