“Do human values matter for promoting brands on social media? How social media users' values influence valuable brand‐related activities such as sharing,content creation,and reviews”

Companies consider social media‐based consumer engagement behaviors such as sharing, content creation, and reviews for brands as more valuable than “liking” or consuming brand content. Studies show that branded content shared or created by consumers on social media may drive more brand awareness and loyalty than “likes” (Adweek, 2013). Global companies are increasingly focusing their efforts on motivating consumer‐driven content creation (e.g., Coca‐Cola #shareacoke and Apple #ShotoniPhone; Sprout Index, 2018). However, marketing practitioners are only recently beginning to understand social media audiences who engage in such activities (Adweek, 2018). 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 examined. Findings indicate that the human values examined (conservation, self‐enhancement, openness to change and self‐transcendence) are significant drivers of valuable brand‐related social media activities. Companies should address conservation‐driven users in order to elicit brand sharing and creation activities. Companies should target conservation‐driven users for sharing promotions, self‐enhancement‐driven users for sharing informational content and writing of product reviews, and openness to change‐driven users for user‐generated content. Bussinesses should further highlight their corporate social responsibility efforts as a negative relationship is found between users' self‐transcendence values and brand activities. Recommendations are provided on how brandscan address users' values in their social media marketing to motivate sharing of branded content and content creation.     

Skating through pregnancy and motherhood: A narrative analysis of digital stories of elite figure skating expectant mothers

ObjectivesAlthough research on elite sport and motherhood is growing, more research is needed to understand the narratives that shape their identities and lives. We sought to build on sport psychology research centralizing the media as naturalistic data resources to explore elite athlete mother identity in cultural context. The specific aim was to explore how elite athlete identities are portrayed during pregnancy on Instagram.DesignTwo high profile elite figure skating expectant mothers’ (i.e., Meagan Duhamel and Aljona Savchenko) Instagram posts were the focus of a dialogical narrative analysis (DNA) grounded in relativist narrative inquiry. Two research questions were explored: 1. how do expectant athlete mothers portray themselves in big and small stories, and 2. what are the implications (e.g., psychosocial, behavioural) of identity meanings portrayed in digital stories?ResultsDNA of 122 posts (n = 82 for Duhamel, n = 40 for Savchenko) identified a key big story: (re)configuring ideal pregnancy. Four small stories fed into fluid meanings of ‘ideal pregnancy’ and ways of ‘doing pregnancy’ linked to self-identity portrayals: documenting the growing life, baby bumps on display, Olympic dreams/journeys and living the good life through leisure. Consumerism was shown to thread small stories. These findings show contradictions of motherhood meanings and body ideals (e.g., feminine, athletic) vs realities (e.g., tired, sore), linked to actions (e.g., skating during pregnancy, promoting products or athlete brand), in good mother and biomedical narratives.ConclusionsA big and small story approach grounded in narrative inquiry holds value to learn more about the digital landscape’s role in shaping athlete expectant mother self-identities. Future research exploring social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook) may expand intertextual understanding of athlete mothers' identities and lives.     

Social Media Use and Creativity: Exploring the Influences on Ideational Behavior and Creative Activity

This study explored the relationship between social media (SM) use and creativity. The data collected from 407 participants included indicators such as time spent using SM, frequency of SM use, purposes for using SM, and the nature of SM use. The data involved two aspects of creativity: ideational behavior and creative activity and accomplishment. Correlational analyses indicate that SM use is positively related to both creativity measures. Overall, the active use of SM (e.g., sending a post) is more related to creativity than the passive use (e.g., reading others’ posts); and the link between creativity and SM use is more evident for certain platforms (i.e., Twitter) than others (e.g., Instagram). Ideational behavior and creative activity were also found to be higher among those who use SM primarily for expressing their ideas and opinions, gleaning information on topics to discuss and self‐education and learning compared with those who use it primarily for entertainment or relaxation. None of the creativity measures used was related to extraversion and excessive use of SM. Our findings indicate that SM is not necessarily a negative factor for creativity; it may even be a useful platform to support new ideas and projects.     

How Readability Shapes Social Media Engagement

We suggest that text readability plays an important role in driving consumer engagement on social media. Consistent with a processing fluency account, we find that easy‐to‐read posts are more liked, commented on, and shared on social media. We analyze over 4,000 Facebook posts from Humans of New York, a popular photography blog on social media, over a 3‐year period to see how readability shapes social media engagement. The results hold when controlling for photo features, story valence, and other content‐related characteristics. Experimental findings further demonstrate the causal impact of readability and the processing fluency mechanism in the context of a fictitious brand community. This research articulates the impact of processing fluency on brief word‐of‐mouth transmissions in the real world while empirically demonstrating that readability as a message feature matters. It also extends the impact of processing fluency to a novel behavioral outcome: commenting and sharing actions.     

Content Hungry: How the Nutrition of Food Media Influences Social Media Engagement

What motivates people to consume and engage with food media on social networks? We adopt an evolutionary lens to suggest that the valence of people’s affective state varies by the implied caloric density of food media, which has a direct impact on social media engagement. First, we analyze a catalog of Buzzfeed’s Tasty videos based on nutritional content derived from the dish’s ingredients and find that visualizing caloric density (i.e., calories per serving) positively influences likes, comments, and shares on Facebook. We then replicate this phenomenon in an experiment, providing preliminary evidence for the role of affect as an explanatory mechanism. We conclude by isolating the role of affect with a classic misattribution task, which attenuates the elevated engagement resulting from exposure to calorie-dense food media. These findings contribute to the dialogue on the antecedents of social media engagement and offer implications for content developers, advertisers, consumer health advocates, and policymakers.     

Manifestations of personality in Online Social Networks: self-reported Facebook-related behaviors and observable profile information

Despite the enormous popularity of Online Social Networking sites (OSNs; e.g., Facebook and Myspace), little research in psychology has been done on them. Two studies examining how personality is reflected in OSNs revealed several connections between the Big Five personality traits and self-reported Facebook-related behaviors and observable profile information. For example, extraversion predicted not only frequency of Facebook usage (Study 1), but also engagement in the site, with extraverts (vs. introverts) showing traces of higher levels of Facebook activity (Study 2). As in offline contexts, extraverts seek out virtual social engagement, which leaves behind a behavioral residue in the form of friends lists and picture postings. Results suggest that, rather than escaping from or compensating for their offline personality, OSN users appear to extend their offline personalities into the domains of OSNs.     

Getting going and letting go: Religiosity fosters opportunity‐congruent coping with work‐related uncertainties

This study investigated how religiosity relates to goal engagement (i.e., investing time and effort; overcoming obstacles) and goal disengagement (i.e., protecting self‐esteem and motivational resources against failure experiences; distancing from unattainable goals) in coping with perceived work‐related uncertainties (e.g., growing risk of job loss) that arise from current social change. We hypothesised that religiosity not only expands individuals' capacities for both engagement and disengagement but also fosters an opportunity‐congruent pattern of engagement and disengagement, promoting engagement especially under favourable opportunities for goal‐striving in the social ecology and facilitating disengagement especially under unfavourable opportunities. Multilevel analyses in a sample of N = 2089 Polish adults aged 20–46 years partly supported these predictions. Religiosity was associated with higher goal engagement, especially under favourable economic opportunities for goal‐striving in the social ecology (as measured by the regional net migration rate). For disengagement, the results were more mixed; religiosity was related to higher self‐protection independently of the economic opportunity structure and predicted higher goal‐distancing only under the most unfavourable opportunities. These results suggest that religiosity can promote different coping strategies under different conditions, fostering a pattern of opportunity‐congruent engagement and, to some extent, disengagement that is likely to be adaptive.     

Does Family Life Help to be a Better Leader? A Closer Look at Crossover Processes From Leaders to Followers

Although research on family‐to‐work processes is accumulating, not many studies have looked at how the leader's family issues spillover to work and what the consequences are for their followers. We investigate whether leaders’ family‐to‐work conflict (FWC) and enrichment (FWE) influence first their own well‐being at work (i.e., job burnout and work engagement) and consequently the well‐being of their followers due to crossover processes. We test whether crossover is due to the transfer of emotions from the leader to followers (affective crossover) or due to diminished or enhanced support from the leader (behavioral crossover). Using a sample of 199 leaders and 456 followers, we found that leader FWC (Time 1) was positively related to leader feelings of burnout 4 weeks later (Time 2), consequently enhancing follower feelings of burnout 5 weeks after Time 1 (Time 3). Similarly, leader FWE had a positive relationship with follower engagement, through leader enhanced engagement. Our findings fully supported the affective crossover mechanism. In addition, leader burnout was negatively related to leader supportive behavior, indirectly increasing burnout among followers. Our results underscore that leaders’ family life matters at work, influencing not only their own well‐being but also how they motivate and support their followers.     

Positive youth development,thriving and social engagement: An analysis of gender differences in Spanish youth

The framework of Positive Youth Development (PYD) arose from a strength‐based conception of the transition to adulthood. Although previous literature has provided evidence for some PYD correlates, little is known about gender differences in PYD and its outcomes in thriving and social engagement, which could improve interventions” effectiveness. Thus, this study aimed to examine gender differences in PYD dimensions (i.e., competence, confidence, connection, caring, and character), individual thriving (i.e., psychological adjustment, academic adjustment, and healthy lifestyles) and social engagement, and to examine the associations between them. Data from the ‘PYD in a Cross‐National Perspective Project” in Spain were collected by administering a paper‐based self‐report to students from high school and university. Results showed greater scores in connection, caring, and character in women, as well as greater social engagement and academic adjustment. Men presented higher competence and confidence, more frequent physical activity and better psychological adjustment. In addition, more PYD was related to greater social engagement, better psychological and academic adjustment, and healthier lifestyles. Some practical implications for program design may be derived, which underscore the need to promote the five PYD dimensions equally in female and male youths in order to improve their individual thriving and social engagement.     

Does disseminating (mis)information restore social connection during a global pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic impeded social interaction, negatively affecting well-being worldwide. To slow virus spread, practices were enacted to minimize face-to-face contact, leading to increased social disconnection. As people turned increasingly to online environments (e.g., social media) to fulfill needs for inclusion and belonging, misinformation regarding COVID-19 simultaneously ran rampant. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether impeded social inclusion may have contributed to the spread of misinformation. We recruited a sample of adult social media users in the United States (N = 431) and randomly assigned them to be either included, ostracized (i.e., ignored), or rejected (i.e., to receive explicitly negative attention). Participants subsequently rated their willingness to share COVID-19 claims via social media (in fact, all claims were false). Participants learned that sharing some claims would likely lead to high expected engagement from others on social media (e.g., “likes”), whereas some claims would likely lead to little expected engagement. While information sharing was low in our sample, participants were more willing to share claims that they believed would lead to higher levels of engagement—consistent with the idea that sharing information is motivated not only by the desire to educate others but also to elicit social connection. However, this behavioral intention was no more common among participants who had been momentarily ostracized or rejected online than among participants who had been included. Future research should continue to explore the link between social exclusion and the motivation to disseminate (mis)information beyond a pandemic-related context.     

Emotional responses during social information seeking on Facebook

Based on existing research on social networking and information seeking, it was proposed that Facebook.com use could be conceptualized as serving two primary goals: passive social browsing (i.e., newsfeeds) and extractive social searching (i.e., friends' profiles). This study explored whether these categories adequately reflect Facebook use and whether they moderate physiological indicators of emotion. Thirty-six participants navigated Facebook.com while their on-screen activity and physiological responses associated with motivation and emotion were recorded. Results showed that the majority of screens encountered during Facebook use could be categorized as devoted to social browsing or social searching. Participants spent more time on social browsing than they spent on social searching. Skin-conductance data indicated that sympathetic activation diminished during the course of both social browsing and social searching. Facial EMG data indicated that participants experienced more pleasantness during the course of social searching than they experienced during social browsing. These results are discussed in terms of existing social-networking research and an evaluative space model of emotion.     

Can Facebook Informational Use Foster Adolescent Civic Engagement?

The findings on the association between Social Networking Sites and civic engagement are mixed. The present study aims to evaluate a theoretical model linking the informational use of Internet‐based social media (specifically, Facebook) with civic competencies and intentions for future civic engagement, taking into account the mediating role of civic discussions with family and friends and sharing the news online. Participants were 114 Italian high school students aged 14–17 years (57 % boys). Path analysis was used to evaluate the proposed theoretical model. Results showed that Facebook informational use was associated with higher levels of adolescent perceived competence for civic action, both directly and through the mediation of civic discussion with parents and friends (offline). Higher levels of civic competencies, then, were associated with a stronger intention to participate in the civic domain in the future. Our findings suggest that Facebook may provide adolescents with additional tools through which they can learn civic activities or develop the skills necessary to participate in the future.     

So close and yet so far away: A psychological distance account of the effectiveness of leader appeals

Contradictory recommendations persist on how leaders best communicate goals to followers. Whereas scholars of visionary leadership recommend emphasizing the desirability of preferred end‐states, scholars of goal setting argue that the perceived feasibility of a goal determines motivation. This paper proposes and tests a synthesis based on construal level theory. Under relatively high (i.e., abstract) levels of construal, such as when leader–follower distance is relatively large, leader appeals that emphasize desirability (i.e., desirable appeals) are more likely to be effective than appeals that emphasize feasibility (i.e., feasible appeals). Under relatively low (i.e., concrete) levels of construal, such as when leader–follower distance is relatively small, feasible appeals are more likely to be effective. Two experimental studies in two different countries provide support for our predictions.     

Facebook addiction: concerns, criticism, and recommendations--a response to Andreassen and colleagues

This paper provides a brief critique of the Facebook addiction research field in relation to the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale developed by Andreaessen and colleagues (2012). Just like the term "Internet addiction," the term "Facebook addiction" may already be obsolete because there are many activities that a person can engage in on the Facebook website (e.g., messaging friends, playing games like Farmville, and gambling). What is needed is a new psychometric scale examining potential addiction to a particular online application (i.e., social networking) rather than activity on a particular website (i.e., Facebook).     

Professional Self-Efficacy as a Predictor of Burnout and Engagement: The Role of Challenge and Hindrance Demands

ABSTRACT. The objective of the current study is to analyze the role of professional self-efficacy as a predictor of psychosocial well-being (i.e., burnout and engagement) following the Social Cognitive Theory of Albert Bandura (1997). Structural Equation Modeling was performed in a sample of secondary school teachers (n = 460) and users of Information and Communication Technology (n = 596). Results show empirical support for the predicting role that professional self-efficacy plays in the perception of challenge (i.e., mental overload) and hindrance demands (i.e., role conflict, lack of control, and lack of social support), which are in turn related to burnout (i.e., erosion process) and engagement (i.e., motivational process). Specifically, employees with more professional self-efficacy will perceive more challenge demands and fewer hindrance demands, and this will in turn relate to more engagement and less burnout. A multi-group analysis showed that the research model was invariant across both samples. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Predictors of Emerging Suicide Death Among Military Personnel on Social Media Networks

Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States and is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. military. Previous research suggests that data obtained from social media networks may provide important clues for identifying at‐risk individuals. To test this possibility, the social media profiles from 315 military personnel who died by suicide (n  = 157) or other causes (n  = 158) were coded for the presence of stressful life situations (i.e., triggers), somatic complaints or health issues (i.e., physical), maladaptive or avoidant coping strategies (i.e., behaviors), negative mood states (i.e., emotion), and/or negative cognitive appraisals (cognition). Content codes were subsequently analyzed using multilevel models from a dynamical systems perspective to identify temporal change processes characteristic of suicide death. Results identified temporal sequences unique to suicide, notably social media posts about triggers followed by more posts about cognitions, posts about cognitions followed by more posts about triggers, and posts about behaviors followed by fewer posts about cognitions. Results suggest that certain sequences in social media content may predict cause of death and provide an estimate of when a social media user is likely to die by suicide.     

Are all “research fields” equal? Rethinking practice for the use of data from crowdsourcing market places

New technologies like large-scale social media sites (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) and crowdsourcing services (e.g., Amazon Mechanical Turk, Crowdflower, Clickworker) are impacting social science research and providing many new and interesting avenues for research. The use of these new technologies for research has not been without challenges, and a recently published psychological study on Facebook has led to a widespread discussion of the ethics of conducting large-scale experiments online. Surprisingly little has been said about the ethics of conducting research using commercial crowdsourcing marketplaces. In this article, I focus on the question of which ethical questions are raised by data collection with crowdsourcing tools. I briefly draw on the implications of Internet research more generally, and then focus on the specific challenges that research with crowdsourcing tools faces. I identify fair pay and the related issue of respect for autonomy, as well as problems with the power dynamic between researcher and participant, which has implications for withdrawal without prejudice, as the major ethical challenges of crowdsourced data. Furthermore, I wish to draw attention to how we can develop a “best practice” for researchers using crowdsourcing tools.     

Where the smart things are: social machines and the Internet of Things

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - The emergence of large-scale social media systems, such as Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter, has given rise to a new multi-disciplinary effort based...     

The COVID-19–Social Identity–Digital Media Nexus in India: Polarization and Blame

Drawing on social identity theory and research on digital media and polarization, this study uses a quasi-experimental design with a random sample (n = 3304) to provide causal evidence on perceptions of who is to blame for the initial spread of COVID-19 in India. According blame to three different social and political entities—Tablighi Jamaat (a Muslim group), the Modi government, and migrant workers (a heterogeneous group)—are the dependent variables in three OLS regression models testing the effect of the no-blame treatment, controlling for Facebook use, social identity (religion), vote in the 2019 national election, and other demographics. Results show respondents in the treatment group were more likely to allay blame, affective polarization (dislike for outgroup members) was social identity based, not partisan based, and Facebook/Instagram use was not significant. Congress and United Progressive Alliance voters in 2019 were less likely to blame the Modi government for the initial spread. Unlike extant research in western contexts, affective and political polarization appear to be distinct concepts in India where social identity complexity is important. This study of the first wave informs perceptions of blame in future waves, which are discussed in conclusion along with questions for future research.