Research on participatory websites has been minimally theoretical and lacks a comprehensive framework that identifies common elements and their functions across a variety of Web 2.0 platforms. This article suggests the definitions of 4 common message types in participatory websites-proprietor content, user-generated content, deliberate aggregate user representations, and incidental aggregate user representations-and offers research exemplars that illustrate how they may function in transforming online social interaction and influence. It introduces the 6 empirical studies in this Special Issue of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication in terms of the theories, functions, cues, and message types on which these articles focus.

Two studies investigated (a) how public figures' interaction with their followers on social network sites (SNS) affects individuals' impressions about and attitudes toward them, and (b) how individuals' interpersonal orientation moderates such effects, if any. In Study 1, participants viewed either a famous actor's Twitter page or a news article merely relaying his Tweets. Exposure to the Twitter page (vs. news article) induced stronger feelings of actual conversation (i.e., social presence) among less affiliative individuals, whereas the reverse was true for more socially proactive ones. Social presence, in turn, facilitated parasocial interaction with the target and heightened the participants' willingness to watch his movie, with limited effects on their overall evaluation of the target. Study 2, which employed a lesser known local politician using a different microblogging service, replicated the advantage of SNS communication over the news article for socially reserved individuals, with no corresponding effect for more affiliative ones. Keywordsaffiliative tendency, parasocial interaction, social network sites (SNSs), social presence, TwitterDefined as "web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semipublic profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others

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Drawing upon the uses and gratifications approach, the current study examined how international students' Internet use motivations affect their academic, social, and emotional adjustments in the new environment. A total of 166 Chinese students studying in Korea participated in a web-based survey. First, a factor analysis identified four distinct motivations for Internet use: homeland orientation (to stay connected to the home country), local information seeking (to learn about the host society), local social interaction (to form interpersonal relationships locally), and entertainment. After controlling for the effects of sociodemographic variables (i.e., gender, year at school, length of residence, Korean language proficiency) and personality traits (i.e., extraversion, openness to experience, neuroticism), Internet use motivations were found to be significant predictors of international students' social and emotional adjustments. Specifically, those seeking to build a local social network through the Internet reported greater satisfaction with their social life, whereas homeland orientation was associated with poorer emotional adaptation. Various Internet activities, such as e-mail, blogging, and instant messaging, were not significantly related to college adjustments, suggesting the multi-functionality of Internet-based communication channels.

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