Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It, Darren Linvill, Patrick Warren

Publications

Internet trolls don’t troll. Not the professionals at least. Professional trolls don’t go on social media to antagonize liberals or belittle conservatives. They are not narrow minded, drunk or angry. They don’t lack basic English language skills. They certainly aren’t “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds,” as the president once put it. Your stereotypical trolls do exist on social media, but the amateurs aren’t a threat to Western democracy

Professional trolls, on the other hand, are the tip of the spear in the new digital, ideological battleground. To combat the threat they pose, we must first understand …

Mobile Media Beyond Mobile Phones, Jordan Frith, Didem Özkul

Publications

In this introduction, we argue for an expanded focus in mobile media and communication studies (MMCS) that accounts for the many types of mobile media that affect our lives. We begin by pointing out that mobile phone/smartphone research has dominated MMCS as a field. That focus makes sense, but it runs the risk of MMCS essentially turning into “smartphone studies,” which we argue would limit our impact. To make that case, we identify a few examples of the types of oft-ignored technologies that could add to the depth and breadth of MMCS research (e.g., RFID [radio frequency identification] tags, the …

Social Shaping Of Mobile Geomedia Services: An Analysis Of Yelp And Foursquare, Jordan Frith, Rowan Wilken

Publications

In their book, Location-Based Social Media: Space, Time and Identity, Leighton Evans and Michael Saker remark on the apparent ‘death’ of location-based social networks, suggesting that location-based social networks can now be understood as ‘a form of “zombie-media” that animates and haunts other media platforms’. In this article, we use this perspective as a point of departure for a social shaping of technology-informed analysis of two key geomedia platforms: Yelp and Foursquare. With Yelp approaching its 15th year of service and Foursquare approaching its 10th anniversary, this article provides a timely opportunity to (re-)examine the significance of Yelp and …

The Role Of Social Media In Enhancing Risk Communication And Promoting Community Resilience In The Midst Of A Disaster, Kathryn E. Anthony, Steven J. Venette, Andrew S. Pyle, Brandon C. Boatwright, Carrie E. Reif-Stice

Publications

The importance of engendering community resilience after a disaster event cannot be overstated. In this chapter, we argue that the strategic design of risk communication messages is critical for communities affected by crises. In the past, many communication practitioners employed the single shot, top-down approach for constructing messages, especially during crises. Given growing recognition of the ineffectiveness of this model, scholars have become more attentive to the role of message design in conveying risk to stakeholders. Specifically, through the lens of the message convergence framework, we argue the need for a multiple messages approach that targets diverse groups of people …

Heuristics For Communicating Science, Risk, And Crisis, Katherine E. Rowan, Andrew S. Pyle

Publications

Scientific information about physical hazards is important and very easy to miscommunicate. Because science uses complex wording and sophisticated reasoning, many assume that sharing science with lay stakeholders is solely a matter of substituting simple words and sentences for unfamiliar terms and complex syntax. An additional frequent assumption is that ‘giving information’ or ‘educating’ are the only important goals when communicating with stakeholders about health and the environment. Indeed, one study shows that, among scientists who share science online with lay stakeholders, their principal goals when communicating with lay audiences are to ‘educate’ or ‘defend science’. Although these goals are …