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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Minnesota State Parks And Trails’ Use Of Facebook To Communicate Health And Safety Information During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Garrett M. Steede, Sahil S. Kamat Dec 2023

Minnesota State Parks And Trails’ Use Of Facebook To Communicate Health And Safety Information During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Garrett M. Steede, Sahil S. Kamat

Journal of Applied Communications

During the COVID-19 pandemic, state park visitation increased to levels above previous years. While navigating the pandemic, natural resource communicators took to social media to communicate about how COVID-19 was impacting park services and operations. We examined how the Minnesota State Parks and Trails (MSPT) engaged in health communication using Facebook over the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. We used quantitative content analysis to measure content and engagement on the N = 105 posts made by the MSPT from 2020 - 2022 regarding COVID-19. Results provide an understanding as to how natural resource communicators engaged in health communication …


Community Attitudes Toward Local Foods And Producers: The Role Of Warmth Versus Competence Across Demographics For Social Media Engagement., Danielle L. Eiseman, Andrea Stevenson Won Apr 2023

Community Attitudes Toward Local Foods And Producers: The Role Of Warmth Versus Competence Across Demographics For Social Media Engagement., Danielle L. Eiseman, Andrea Stevenson Won

Journal of Applied Communications

Connecting local food producers with consumers is useful for ensuring individuals have access to healthy, fresh, foods. Small farmers, however, lack the resources to effectively connecting with consumers through traditional forms of marketing. Marketing to consumers through social media is a low-cost method that local food producers can use to promote their products. Creating engaging content on social media can be challenging, thus there is a need for guidance on how to effectively engage with local consumers through social media. Studies in advertising have shown dimensions of warmth and competence can be useful frames for engaging consumers across a variety …


Framing Friction: A Content Analysis Investigating How The Cdc Framed Social Media Communication With The Public During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Michaela Kandzer, Valentina Castano, Lauri M. Baker, Ashley Mcleod-Morin Feb 2022

Framing Friction: A Content Analysis Investigating How The Cdc Framed Social Media Communication With The Public During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Michaela Kandzer, Valentina Castano, Lauri M. Baker, Ashley Mcleod-Morin

Journal of Applied Communications

The novel coronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan, China in December 2019. This zoonotic disease quickly spread through over 100 countries, including the U.S. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency by the end of January 2020. Soon after, many U.S. states issued mandatory stay-at-home orders, which caused adverse effects for agricultural businesses and food supply chains. During this crisis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shared information through social media platforms such as Facebook. This study sought to understand how the CDC framed direct communication to the public about issues related to COVID-19 using …


A Systematic Literature Review Of The Intersection Between Social Media And Cultural Identity: Implications For Agricultural And Environmental Communication, Catherine E. Dobbins, Fallys Masambuka-Kanchewa, Alexa J. Lamm May 2021

A Systematic Literature Review Of The Intersection Between Social Media And Cultural Identity: Implications For Agricultural And Environmental Communication, Catherine E. Dobbins, Fallys Masambuka-Kanchewa, Alexa J. Lamm

Journal of Applied Communications

Social media has radically changed human communication patterns, impacting how people perceive scientific information. This study sought to explore how cultural identity impacts the use of, and engagement with, social media content related to agriculture and the environment. Informed by Social Representation Theory, a systematic qualitative literature review was conducted to investigate how cultural identity impacted engagement with social media sources of agricultural and environmental information. Several studies indicated differences in social media engagement between people from different cultures. However, different definitions and perspectives on cultural identity emerged with some researchers describing culture in relation to nationality and others in …


Examining The Social Properties Of Oklahoma Agricultural Facebook Pages: A Quantitative Content Analysis, Audrey E. H. King, Quisto Settle Dec 2020

Examining The Social Properties Of Oklahoma Agricultural Facebook Pages: A Quantitative Content Analysis, Audrey E. H. King, Quisto Settle

Journal of Applied Communications

Social media is used by millions of people in the United States, and producers are often encouraged to maintain a social media presence to promote their businesses and agriculture in general. Farmers have deeply entrenched identities. Social identity theory states people self-sort into certain groups. Social comparison and positive distinction are two principles of social identity theory. There is a need to research how agricultural operations are portraying those identities, including how they portray the identities of dissimilar agricultural operations online. This study compared Oklahoma mainstream and alternative producers in a quantitative content analysis of their Facebook pages. The following …


Facebook Activity Of Oklahoma Agritourism Facebook Pages, Brittany L. Bowman, Quisto Settle, Stacy Tomas, Angel Riggs May 2020

Facebook Activity Of Oklahoma Agritourism Facebook Pages, Brittany L. Bowman, Quisto Settle, Stacy Tomas, Angel Riggs

Journal of Applied Communications

Agritourism is recreational travel for agricultural activities. Agricultural operations benefit from income diversification, the public receives hands-on agricultural experiences, and rural communities benefit from economic development. However, agritourism operators have reported challenges in marketing. As social media becomes increasingly important in tourism marketing, the purpose of this research is to describe overall Facebook activity related to Oklahoma agritourism. A quantitative content analysis was conducted on 174 Facebook pages of Oklahoma agritourism operations to describe posts, public interaction, events, and advertisements. Oklahoma agritourism operations had a mean of 1,330 page likes, and 69% of Facebook pages had posts during the sample …


“You Call That Meat?” Investigating Social Media Conversations And Influencers Surrounding Cultured Meat, Annie R. Specht, Joy N. Rumble, Emily B. Buck Feb 2020

“You Call That Meat?” Investigating Social Media Conversations And Influencers Surrounding Cultured Meat, Annie R. Specht, Joy N. Rumble, Emily B. Buck

Journal of Applied Communications

Cultured meat has yet to reach store shelves but is nonetheless a growing issue for consumers, producers, and government regulators, many of whom have taken to social media to discuss it. Using a conceptual framework of social cognitive theory and issues management, this qualitative content analysis investigated social-media discourse surrounding the topic of cultured meat in the United States by describing the content of the discussion in late 2018 and identifying individual influencers and communities of influencers engaged in the discussion. Data were collected from Twitter using listening platform Sysomos MAP. The thematic analysis revealed eight themes: legality and marketing …


An Investigation Of Agricultural Crisis Communications Via Social Media, Courtney Gibson, Erica Irlbeck, Courtney Meyers, Cindy Akers, Peggy Price Nov 2019

An Investigation Of Agricultural Crisis Communications Via Social Media, Courtney Gibson, Erica Irlbeck, Courtney Meyers, Cindy Akers, Peggy Price

Journal of Applied Communications

How an agricultural organization handles the way the media reports a crisis can have an impact on the public’s perceptions of the organization, and sometimes the industry as a whole. The popularity of social media outlets as a venue for disseminating and gathering information and news makes the use of social media surrounding agricultural crises an important topic to investigate (Glynn, Huge, & Hoffman 2012; Hermida, 2010). A qualitative case study was conducted to investigate the use of social media tools during an agricultural crisis. The participants – communications directors, social media managers, and individuals with a close connection to …


Exploring The Impact Of Ohio Agricultural Organizations’ Social Media Use On Traditional Media Coverage Of Agriculture, Leigha Haller, Annie R. Specht, Emily B. Buck Nov 2019

Exploring The Impact Of Ohio Agricultural Organizations’ Social Media Use On Traditional Media Coverage Of Agriculture, Leigha Haller, Annie R. Specht, Emily B. Buck

Journal of Applied Communications

One of the nation’s most important industries, agriculture, has adopted social media to communicate with consumers and the public. At the same time, traditional news media remains important to the agriculture industry because many consumers still receive information about agriculture from sources such as newspapers and television. Little literature at the time of this study explored how social media is used specifically as a media relations tool. The purpose of this study is to examine how agricultural organizations in Ohio communicate via social media and how the messages could impact central Ohio traditional media outlets’ coverage of agricultural issues. The …


Crowdsourcing Change: An Analysis Of Twitter Discourse On Food Waste And Reduction Strategies, Annie R. Specht, Emily B. Buck May 2019

Crowdsourcing Change: An Analysis Of Twitter Discourse On Food Waste And Reduction Strategies, Annie R. Specht, Emily B. Buck

Journal of Applied Communications

Food waste has emerged as a major issue in the United States as the nation collectively sends more than 133 billion pounds of food to its landfills every year. In September 2015, the USDA and EPA announced an initiative to cut U.S. food waste in half by 2030. Between 2015 and 2016, nearly 100,000 posts about food waste have been published on Twitter, a microblogging platform that has been a hub of “slacktivism” since its inception in 2006. Using a conceptual framework of social cognitive theory, online activism, and crowdsourcing, we analyzed food waste conversation participants’ demographics, online communities, and …


Blue Bell's Facebook Posts And Responses During The 2015 Listeria Crisis: A Case Study, Kelsi Opat, Haley Magness, Erica Irlbeck Dec 2018

Blue Bell's Facebook Posts And Responses During The 2015 Listeria Crisis: A Case Study, Kelsi Opat, Haley Magness, Erica Irlbeck

Journal of Applied Communications

Blue Bell Creameries faced an unprecedented situation when it pulled all of its products during a Listeria outbreak in 2015. Despite a very public crisis that resulted in three deaths, Blue Bell survived the disaster and maintained a large and loyal customer base. A content analysis of the Blue Bell Ice Cream Facebook page was conducted to evaluate Blue Bell’s public communications, and its followers’ public reactions to the Facebook communication during the crisis. Results indicated that Blue Bell primarily posted messages that included recall and restocking information, thankfulness to stakeholders, and details about improvements to food safety during the …


#Transformffa: An Analysis Of Social Media Content During The 2016 National Ffa Convention, Tiffany M. Rogers-Randolph, Lisa K. Lundy, Jessica L. Harsh, Raychel Rabon Mar 2018

#Transformffa: An Analysis Of Social Media Content During The 2016 National Ffa Convention, Tiffany M. Rogers-Randolph, Lisa K. Lundy, Jessica L. Harsh, Raychel Rabon

Journal of Applied Communications

The proliferation of social media has the ability to considerably impact stakeholders’ perspective of an organization’s brand. Due to this relationship, social media analysis is crucial to executing informed brand communication strategies. In October 2016, the brand communication strategies of the National FFA Organization were focused on promoting the 89th National FFA Convention. A large portion of these efforts and resources were dedicated towards the utilization of social media. This study was designed as a content analysis of the National FFA Organization’s social media presence during the dates of the convention. The goal was to identify the prominent themes …