Social Media Commons^™

Reddit As A Source Of Covid-19 Information: A Content Analysis Of R/Coronavirus During The Early Pandemic, Brent Hale, Mark Alberta, Seung Woo Chae

Faculty Publications

Emerging research has begun examining the utility of social media platforms for information dissemination during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following this developing thread, this work examines discourse within r/coronavirus, a Reddit forum (i.e., subreddit) developed to curate COVID-19 information that burgeoned during the early months of the pandemic. Through a content analysis of 226 posts and 2260 corresponding comments generated between February and May, 2020, this study investigated early-pandemic communication patterns in this platform, including what information was deemed important and how users framed causes and solutions. Overall, findings indicate that users of r/coronavirus prioritized information about COVID-19 spread, public health …

Online And Offline Identity Gaps: Cross-Contextual Predictors And Psychological Outcome, Ningyang Wang

Master's Theses

Using Communication Theory of Identity as a framework, this study compared an individual’s online and offline personal-enacted identity gap and examined the effect of each personal-enacted identity gap on individuals’ psychological well-being, as well as tested four cross-contextual predictors for online and offline personal-enacted identity gaps.

Survey data were collected from 214 participants on Amazon M-Turk. A sequence of hypotheses was tested. A questionnaire used for measuring individuals’ online personal-enacted identity gap was generated.

The result suggested individuals experience larger personal-enacted identity gap offline, which significantly negative predict individuals’ psychological well-being, whereas online personal-enacted identity gap positively predicts psychological well-being. …

Planned Parenthood Takes On Live Action: An Analysis Of Media Interplay And Image Restoration Strategies In Strategic Conflict Management, Leslie Lynn Rasmussen

Dissertations

On February 1, 2011 the pro-life organization Live Action released videos that appeared to show Planned Parenthood clinic staff disregarding statutory rape and abortion reporting laws and aiding sex traffickers. The videos posted online quickly garnered over a million views and placed Planned Parenthood at the forefront of national news. The Federal government intervened and threatened to remove funding to the Title X organization. Planned Parenthood launched a campaign to retain funding using social media and controlled online media, and attempted restore its image as a reputable healthcare provider while engaged in conflict with Live Action.

A content analysis was …