Social Media Type Matters: Investigating the Relationship Between Motivation and Online Social Network Heterogeneity

Kim, Cheonsoo; Lee, Jae Kook

doi:10.1080/08838151.2016.1234481

Cited by 42 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Given that the positive relationship between political interest and cross-cutting discussion on Facebook is partially mediated by news consumption, future research could advance this line of research by exploring the mediating impact of other online activities. For example, because most people use Facebook for social purposes (Kim and Lee, 2016), it is possible that social interaction activities (e.g. chat with others who share a common hobby) may also relay the impact of political interest on cross-cutting discussion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, future research could examine the mechanism of cross-cutting discussion during non-election cycles. Third, this study examines antecedents of cross-cutting discussion on Facebook, a symmetrical social media site where mutual consent is needed to build a connection and users are often more concerned with relationship management (Kim and Lee, 2016). Future studies could investigate cross-cutting discussion on other asymmetrical platforms, such as Twitter.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Determinants of cross-cutting discussion on Facebook: Political interest, news consumption, and strong-tie heterogeneity

Lee

2020

New Media & Society

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Scholarly debate persists as to whether the use of social networking sites (SNSs) encourages or discourages political discussion with people holding different opinions. Drawing on a national survey, this study focuses on Facebook and explores the predictors of cross-cutting discussion on this platform. The results reveal that political interest is positively associated with cross-cutting discussion and this relationship is mediated by the frequency of news consumption on Facebook, suggesting that Facebook use has the potential of exposing the politically attentive to dissonant views. Furthermore, the level of heterogeneity of a person’s strong-tie network is found to accentuate the mediating effect of Facebook news consumption. Implications are discussed for the impacts of Facebook use on deliberative democracy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of cross-cutting discussion on Facebook: Political interest, news consumption, and strong-tie heterogeneity

Lee

2020

New Media & Society

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“…A closer look at the studies on social media, network diversity, and homophily shows that there is an overrepresentation of studies on Twitter (e.g., Colleoni et al, 2014;Conover et al, 2011;Himelboim et al, 2013;Kearney, 2019). However, different platforms might be used differently by social media users and have diverging effects in relation to polarization (C. Kim & Lee, 2016). For understanding if people are connected with diverse others and experience cross-cutting exposure, we also need to look at the broader picture through a cross-platform approach (Dubois & Blank, 2018).…”

Section: Social Media and Network Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing Diverse Online Networks in the Context of Polarization: Understanding How We Grow Apart on and through Social Media

Bozdağ

2020

Social Media + Society

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Social media enable their users to be connected with a diverse group of people increasing their chances of coming across divergent viewpoints. Thus, network diversity is a key issue for understanding the potentials of social media for creating a cross-cutting communication space that is one of the premises of a functioning democracy. This article analyzes the strategies social media users adopt to manage their network diversity in the context of increasing polarization. The study is based on 29 semi-structured interviews with diverse social media users from Turkey and qualitative network maps. Furthermore, the study adopts a cross-platform approach comparing Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp in relation to the diversity of their users’ networks. The study shows that social media users adopt different strategies interchangeably in specific contexts. These strategies include visible (unfriending, blocking) and invisible (muting, unfollowing, and ignoring) forms of disconnection, debating, observing divergent opinions, and self-censorship. Political interest of social media users, political climate, issue sensitivity, and “imagined affordances” of social media platforms play a role in users’ choices about which strategy to choose when they are confronted with divergent viewpoints through their diverse online networks. Building on the unfriending literature that points out to rather partisan users, who unfriend, unfollow or block others, this article demonstrates that in peak moments of polarization, also the politically disengaged or moderate users disconnect from diverse others.

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“…A Pew research report indicates that two-thirds of Facebook users mostly become friends with people they already know offline (Duggan and Smith, 2016). Such social purposes of using the platform suggest that people are unlikely to select Facebook friends solely based on political similarity (Kim and Lee, 2016). Indeed, a study of 10.1 million Facebook users found that more than 20% of an individual’s Facebook friends are from the opposing side (Bakshy et al, 2015).…”

Section: Incidental Exposure To Counter-attitudinal Information On Famentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This article contributes to the debate by focusing on the particular mechanism of incidental exposure, through which individuals may encounter counter-attitudinal information on Facebook, the most popular social media platform. Facebook users are known to primarily use this platform for social purposes and do not necessarily select friends based on political similarity (Kim and Lee, 2016). As a result, more than 20% of an individual’s Facebook friends are from the opposing side (Bakshy et al, 2015), suggesting high probability of accidentally encountering counter-attitudinal information on the platform.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Stumbling upon the other side: Incidental learning of counter-attitudinal political information on Facebook

Lee

2018

New Media & Society

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Drawing on a panel survey and a laboratory experiment, this study investigates incidental exposure to counter-attitudinal political information on Facebook. The frequency of Facebook use is found positively associated with incidental exposure to counter-attitudinal political information, suggesting the important role of Facebook in exposing users to political disagreement. In addition, the findings of the experiment indicate that individuals coming across counter-attitudinal Facebook posts are able to recognize the information of these posts. This study suggests that incidental exposure is an important mechanism through which social media users encounter and learn about counter-attitudinal political information. Implications are discussed in terms of the influence of social media use on democracy.

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Social Media Type Matters: Investigating the Relationship Between Motivation and Online Social Network Heterogeneity

Cited by 42 publications

References 43 publications

Determinants of cross-cutting discussion on Facebook: Political interest, news consumption, and strong-tie heterogeneity

Determinants of cross-cutting discussion on Facebook: Political interest, news consumption, and strong-tie heterogeneity

Managing Diverse Online Networks in the Context of Polarization: Understanding How We Grow Apart on and through Social Media

Stumbling upon the other side: Incidental learning of counter-attitudinal political information on Facebook

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