Spiral of silence on social media and the moderating role of disagreement and publicness in the network: Analyzing expressive and withdrawal behaviors

Abstract

Using two-wave panel data from Hong Kong, this study examines the spiral of silence process on social media. It extends the theoretical framework by including both supporting and disagreeing opinion expression and examining not only expressive but also withdrawal behaviors on social media. This study also investigates the moderating roles of disagreement and publicness as two affordances on social media that influence the spiral of silence process. Results from the moderated mediation model with a panel lagged and autoregressive analysis suggest that fear of social isolation (FSI) has an indirect effect on discouraging disagreeing opinion expression but not supporting opinion expression and on encouraging withdrawal behaviors through enhancing willingness to self-censor (WTSC) on social media. This indirect effect is contingent on the levels of disagreement and publicness in one’s network. Higher levels of disagreement and publicness promote the spiral of silence. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Free Speech and Safe Spaces: How Moderation Policies Shape Online Discussion Spaces

“…This result affirms that moderators effectively implemented differing moderation policies in my sample. I operationalized spiral of silence effects slightly differently than they have been treated in the literature, a distinction captured by the difference between expressive and withdrawal behaviors as defined in Chen (2018). Generally, spiral of silence predicts a limit of expressive behaviors, that is, the decision to limit future posting.…”

"It’s Going to be Out There For a Long Time": The Influence of Message Persistence on Users’ Political Opinion Expression in Social Media

“…Since social media have become political forums in which users discuss their opinions on controversial issues, research tested to what extent the silence mechanism also applies to those communication environments and whether there are boundaries to the original theoretical tenets in online communication. Empirical studies, either survey or experimental approaches, did not provide consistent corroboration for the silence hypothesis in social media (e.g., Chen, 2018;Kwon, Moon, & Stefanone, 2015;Nekmat & Gonzenbach, 2013;Porten-Cheé & Eilders, 2015). What may account for these inconsistencies is that studies exploring the silence hypothesis in online communication took different social media platforms into consideration which resulted in investigating various communication settings with different situational characteristics such as the size of the audience or the user's anonymity (e.g., AUTHORS; Chen, 2018;Luarn & Hsieh, 2014;Yun & Park, 2011;Wu & Atkin, 2018).…”

“…In terms of theoretical implications, this work reveals that a comprehensive understanding of silencing mechanisms is not possible without accounting for characteristics of the communication situation such as the question of the ephemerality of one's opinion expression. A systematic consideration of situational characteristics could contribute to explain why the silence hypothesis is supported in some online communication channels but not in others (Chen, 2018;Kwon et al, 2015;Nekmat & Gonzenbach, 2013;Porten-Cheé & Eilders, 2015). It seems that in certain situations (e.g., diverse technological contexts), people feel higher social costs for expressing themselves, while in other situations they feel encouraged to become outspoken given the potential benefits.…”

Construcción del concepto fanbullying: Revisión crítica del acoso en redes sociales

“…El término de comunidad virtual se emplea, según Morell y Subirats (2012), como la expresión que define a los grupos sociales que interactúan en la red y, concretamente, en las redes sociales (en adelante RRSS): plataformas de mayor popularidad entre la población internauta en las que se comparte información con amigos y usuarios (Chang & Hsiao, 2014). En efecto, los medios sociales en línea se han transformado en espacios de divulgación principal para las acciones y opiniones de individuos y colectivos, donde el factor emocional influye especialmente en las decisiones humanas (Chen, 2018;Kanavos, Perikos, Hatzilygeroudis & Tsakalidis, 2016).…”