That Is So Gross and I Have to Post About It: Exemplification Effects and User Comments on a News Story

Abstract

Exemplification is a term referencing the use of emotional and arousing messages or images to elicit responses based on impression formation. A variety of research has demonstrated that exemplification has an impact on perceptions of events, individuals, and organizations. Less is known, however, about how exemplification processes manifest in user comments after news stories. The current study examines this question in terms of an emergent aspect of computer-mediated communication: the ability of users to comment on news stories. Specifically, this study investigates how exemplified accounts in user comments to a news story may influence audience perceptions. Respondents reported their perceptions of threat severity, susceptibility, behavioral intentions, and perceptions of organizational reputation after viewing different manipulations of a news story. The findings are consistent with Exemplification Theory and indicate that user-generated comments can influence exemplification effects. Results are discussed in terms of implications for public relations and crisis communication.

Lessons for Crisis Communication on Social Media: A Systematic Review of What Research Tells the Practice

“…Effective dialogue seems mainly to be about taking actions in social media that demonstrate that the organization is listening to affected or critical citizens and consumers during crisis situations even if "genuine dialogue is not easily achieved during a social media crisis" (Ott & Theunissen, 2015, p. 101). In a corporate communication context, a crises can generate a lot of discussion in social media, and organizations need to be proactive and active participants by using dialogic strategies to reinforce organizational images (Spence, Lachlan, Sellnow, Rice, & Seeger, 2017). Such strategies can for example concern engaging stakeholders through social media in helping the organizations find best solutions for responding to the crisis (Romenti, Murtarelli, & Valentini, 2014).…”

“…If citizens and customers do not even know where to look for information, or where and how they can contribute their own information, crisis information will probably not be shared by social media users (Guo, 2017;Spence et al, 2017). Getchell and Sellnow (2016) find, as another example, that an organization should establish itself in the social media sphere before the risk and/or crisis situation arises, and demonstrate that the organization is there to disseminate information, communicate and listen.…”

“…Social media monitoring is also recommended as a way to evaluate the emotional character of a crisis (Gerken et al, 2016) and a way to perform preventive analyses of how people express their coping with different threats, such as food hazards (Gaspar et al, 2014). Some scholars also argue the importance of strategic organizations not only monitoring online news stories, but also monitoring audiences' comments about them in the digital sphere (Spence et al, 2017).…”

COVID-19 Echo Chambers: Examining the Impact of Conservative and Liberal News Sources on Risk Perception and Response

“…To assess the estimation of specific risks, we used 3 survey questions adapted from previous research. 47 Participants were asked to estimate the percentage of the US population that will become infected with COVID-19 (M = 48.47, SD = 26.50), the percentage of those infected who will develop a serious illness (M = 37.39, SD = 26.56), and the percentage of those infected who will die as a result of the disease (M = 30.80, SD = 28.46).…”

The impact of social media as a strategic approach to corporate communication when handling crises at a selected South African bank

“…In this study the researcher wanted to understand if there are any risks, associated with this approach, and if so, make recommendations to Bank X on how to close that gap. In a corporate communication context, a crisis can generate a lot of discussion on social media, and organizations need to be proactive by using strategies to reinforce organizational reputation [4]. Such strategies can for example concern engaging stakeholders through social media in helping the organizations find best solutions for responding to the crisis.…”