New Media & Society

This study investigates the persuasive effects of messages generated with artificial intelligence in online political targeting, focusing on three distinct strategies: targeting based on political orientation, age, and personality traits. Through an experimental design conducted across 15 countries (N = 7118), we uncovered that political targeting based on voters’ pre-existing political orientation, receiving messages from a party that is already favored by the receiver, had a persuasive impact on voters. These effects included higher likability of the ad and heightened issue importance. Contrary to popular belief, targeting based on age or a combination of multiple categories does not affect persuasive outcomes. Taken together, by building upon a cross-national analysis, this research provided a robust analysis of how multiple targeting strategies influence the electorate in an EU election context.

While digital platforms foster a sense of community and identity, they also facilitate harmful exclusionary practices. In this context, toxic and hateful speech are key mechanisms not only for harming others but also marking processes of othering and belonging. In this article, we examine the role of hateful and toxic speech in structuring processes of in- and out-group formation and maintenance by focusing on a public Colombian Telegram group. More specifically, we examine how members use toxic speech to position themselves and others in relation to narratives emerging from the group by analyzing 3221 posts with high levels of toxicity. Our analysis yields insights into the complex and paradoxical uses of antisocial behavior on social media platforms. Overall, the findings of this study deepen our understanding of the social gratifications that underlie how hate and toxic speech are used to disenfranchise individuals.

Journalists’ social media use is a recent example of long-standing gaps between journalistic discourse and journalistic practice. This manuscript applies the sociological concept of rationalization to explain the persistence of this gap, theorizing that the need for rational explanations of one’s work is so powerful for journalists that they offer one description publicly, or to their bosses, while practicing something different. We apply rationalization theory to reflect on journalism’s love affair with Twitter, now that many journalists and their organizations have deprioritized the platform. In interviews, journalists indeed could readily offer rational explanations for Twitter’s use and purpose in journalism, but further questions revealed that common practices didn’t serve the stated purposes; instead, journalists’ attachment to the platform was primarily relational. We argue humans’ inherent sociality, individuals’ response to a field in crisis, and journalism’s acute need for social validation may contribute to this disconnect.

Wayfair, an American furniture and home goods retailer, garnered sudden attention across social media in 2020, particularly Twitter and Reddit, due to a conspiracy theory linking the company to child trafficking. The short-lived, well-delineated nature of this theory, coupled with its simultaneous emergence across multiple platforms, makes it a distinct case for studying the dynamics of online conspiracy development and spread. Using intermedia agenda-setting theory and computational approaches, we analyzed 1.2 million posts to explore cross-platform interactions. We examined how platform affordances shaped discourse and enabled the conspiracy’s dissemination. Reddit’s anonymity and detailed discussions sustained narratives, while Twitter amplified emotional content and broadened the audience. Hourly time-series analysis reveals a bidirectional influence: Reddit set thematic agendas that Twitter amplified, while Twitter’s emotional content shaped Reddit’s discussions. These findings shed light on the digital development of child abuse conspiracy theories while advancing the understudied aspects of intermedia agenda-setting literature.

We gain exposure to news across a range of platforms and, within each platform, across a range of sources. How does a multi-platform media environment shape the news choices we make and the gaps that result from those choices? We address this question tracking news exposure across TV, the web, and YouTube for approximately 55,000 unique US panelists over a period of 39 months. We find important variations in the demographic profiles of those who choose to consume news within platforms and those who consume news across, casting light on the contingencies of news divides. We also show evidence of a systematic amplification effect: the slice of the population that chooses to consume news across platforms increases their overall levels of exposure, suggesting that a multi-platform media environment widens the gap between news consumers and those who decide to opt out.

TikTok presents an opportunity for strategic and health communicators. There are more than 300 million views associated with the hashtags #sexualassaultawareness and #sexualassaultsurvivors on TikTok. Using quantitative content analysis, we analyzed 150 TikTok videos about “sexual assault” for trends in self-disclosures (RQ1), message framing (RQ2), types of sexual violence (RQ3), emotions (RQ4), creator characteristics (RQ5–7), and engagement (RQ8). We found that millions of people are seeing and engaging with this content. Coded videos were often (68%) framed from the perspective of educating or creating awareness. Video creators often engaged in displays of authenticity like showing their face on camera (84%). Coded videos often (60%) framed information in a way that “calls out” perpetrators or social norms surrounding sexual violence. This study sets the stage for future explorations of strategic communication on TikTok, including but not limited to projects related to sexual violence resistance and prevention.

Online hostility poses a growing societal challenge, yet quantitative evidence on how social media users respond to different kinds of hostility targeting different identities is limited, even though insights into bystander perceptions are detrimental to combat the online hate endemic. This online experiment (N = 461) examines cognitive (perceived acceptability), affective (negative emotions), and behavioral (intervention intentions) responses to varyingly hostile comments (impolite vs uncivil vs intolerant) directed at a female science communicator with different ethnic (Black vs White) and LGBTQIA+ identity cues (heterosexual vs homosexual vs trans), thus shedding light on intersectional identities comprising social group affiliations with varying levels of marginalization. While intolerance triggered stronger emotional reactions than impoliteness and incivility (likely due to its discriminatory nature), participants were, somewhat paradoxically, more inclined to act (and advocated for more institutional action) against incivility. Furthermore, ethnic cues had a much stronger influence than LGBTQIA+ identity cues across response domains.

OnlyFans is a patronage platform primarily for sexually explicit content. Unlike professionally produced pornography, OnlyFans allows users to actively select their subscriptions and engage directly with creators. However, little is known about how the use of OnlyFans relates to various satisfaction with oneself and others. This study (n = 293) explores the association of OnlyFans usage—including viewing and interaction—with different types of satisfaction: sexual self-esteem, relational satisfaction with sexual partners, and sexual satisfaction. The study also examined the role of upward comparisons (e.g. comparing oneself to performers, comparing sexual partners to performers, and comparing one’s sex life to depicted performances) in these dynamics. Contrary to expectations based on previous pornography research, the data revealed a positive relationship between OnlyFans use and satisfaction through upward comparisons. The findings suggest that OnlyFans use was associated with upward comparisons with content creators, which in turn may relate to increased sexual knowledge, skill development, and inspiration.

While research has highlighted the ties between algorithms and culture, this article focuses on how cross-cultural encounters shape developers’ perceptions of their algorithmic work. I ask: How do cultural transitions and intercultural encounters influence people’s perceptions of their algorithms? How do key issues regarding algorithmic production get translated and reinterpreted? Based on 50 semi-structured interviews with Israelis who immigrated to Silicon Valley, I show that their interpretation of the cultural differences between Israeli and Silicon Valley cultures—and their culturally specific logic of difference—informs how they perceive the algorithms they develop and their ethical implications. I argue that these perceptions stem from deep-seated cultural tropes but are also potentially ameliorated by their encounter with Silicon Valley’s culture. Thus, this article calls for a more diverse view of Silicon Valley’s ideologies, showing that attention to cross-cultural encounters can both reveal and complicate the performative logics sustaining Silicon Valley’s liberal image.

Restrictive eating disorders (EDs) have among the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder. To date, little research has investigated the role of digital media in sharing ED experiences and promoting recovery for autistic individuals, despite high autism rates among those with EDs and the potential for social media (SM) to provide resources and support for adolescent girls and young women living with EDs. Given this gap, we undertook an exploratory study to assess content pertaining to autistic people’s difficulties with food and eating on the leading SM app TikTok. We identified four main themes: (a) EDs and autism; (b) cognitive, sensory, and behavioral dimensions of autistic eating and body issues; (c) social, cultural, and economic aspects of autistic people’s food challenges; and (d) self-reported role of TikTok in autistic individuals’ coping with food/eating difficulties. Our study contributes several novel findings to research on digital media, mental health, and marginalized populations.

This study revisits the original four research questions of Williams et al.’s “The Virtual Census: Representations of Gender, Race and Age in Video Games” to investigate if mainstream videogame representations have changed over time. In addition, this study expands on the original by including a fifth question examining the intersection of representations within videogames. Using a sample of the top 100 best-selling boxed videogames of 2017 from four console platforms, this study compares its findings to the 2017 US Census demographic estimates as well as to findings of the original study. The results of the study are similar to those of the original, but the intersectional analysis shows an over-representation of white adult male characters, specifically, and an under-representation of Black female characters of any age group. This study discusses potential reasons for the slow progress made in videogame representations and the need for more intersectional analyses on videogames.

In the so-called post-truth age and the rise of social media, news circulates widely and quickly, leading to information overload. In this context, individuals experiencing high issue involvement tend to engage more with information. Literature has recently focused on news literacy interventions to protect people from fake news. However, few have addressed these initiatives’ immediate and differential effects simultaneously on young adults’ vulnerability to deception. Through three experiments involving undergraduate university students in France, we demonstrate that intervention-based educational methods can mitigate the impact of issue involvement on belief in fake news. Yet, they do not enable individuals to protect themselves in the long run and may even prove counterproductive by triggering information overload. Our study contributes to the research investigating preventive practices to help users arm themselves against fake news in media communication, social media, and social marketing.

The present study sampled online daters to (a) inductively explore their motives for meeting a potential partner for face-to-face (FtF)-like interaction (i.e. a modality switch [MS]); (b) examine modality-switching motives and pre-MS modality expansion in relation to MS channel choice (e.g. video chat or in person); and (c) investigate whether MS motives, degree of pre-MS modality expansion, and MS channel are associated with partners going on a second FtF-like date. Results revealed that online daters possessed both relational (i.e. romantic, sexual, and platonic companionship) and information-seeking (i.e. fact-checking and exploration) MS motives. Holding the MS in person was associated with romantic, sexual, and platonic companionship motives, whereas meeting through video chat was associated with fact-checking motives and the degree of pre-MS channel expansion. Romantic MS motives and having held the MS through video chat were both associated with online daters going on a second FtF-like date.

This essay expatiates on the collective practices of image sharing of “direct-to-consumer” (DTC) genetic ancestry tests (GAT) results on social media, specifically the strategic, selective, and structural coupling of DNA charts, ancestry maps, and selfies. Building upon Guy Debord’s theory of the spectacle, I propose the concept of “platformed racial spectacle” to theorize such online phenomena: an aggregate of images voluntarily shared online, facilitated by the social media platform affordances and its sociality culture, fabricating the mythical connections between race, DNA, bodily traits, and geographies. Indicative of the racial structure and racial formations insidiously reified through such practices, the mobilization of racialization, semantics, and somatics can be found through the platformed racial spectacle and the collective practices of conjuring such a racial project. Contextualized in the subreddit r/23andme, I further explicate the emergence and existence of platformed racial spectacle, unfurl its texture and format, and expound its spectacular functionality of unification and alteration.

Astrology on social media has emerged as an important influence in shaping personal self-concepts and relationships. Building on the sensemaking theory, this study employs semi-structured interviews to explore how individuals make sense of astrology short videos on Douyin to navigate identity and intimacy. Findings illustrate how individuals interpret these videos to construct an “Imagined Self” that merges collective meanings with personal interpretations. Douyin acts as a “Holy Technology,” enabling algorithmic interactions that reinforce spiritual narratives. In addition, the regulated nature of astrology content on Douyin prompts users to demonstrate agency in creatively negotiating and adapting astrological meanings within China’s unique sociopolitical context. This research advances sensemaking theory by demonstrating its applicability to the digitally mediated construction of identity and intimacy, contributing to our understanding of digital spirituality.

Autocomplete is a popular search feature that predicts queries based on user input and guides users to a set of potentially relevant suggestions. In this study, we examine what YouTube autocompletes suggest to users seeking information about race on the platform. Specifically, we perform an algorithm output audit of autocomplete suggestions for input queries about four racial groups and examine the stereotypes they embody. Using critical discourse analysis, we identify five major sociocultural contexts in which racial information appears – Appearance, Ability, Culture, Social Equity, and Manner. We found that the participatory nature of YouTube produces a multifaceted representation of race-related content in its search outputs, characterized by enduring historical biases, aggregated discrimination, and interracial tensions, while simultaneously depicting minority resistance and aspirations of a post-racial society. We call for innovations in content moderation policy design and enforcement to address existing racial harms in YouTube search outputs.

Amid growing ecological threats to wildlife, organizations are increasingly exploring multimedia solutions to spur action. One such strategy involves enabling audiences to embody threatened wildlife (animal embodiment) via augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR). Despite AR/VR’s capacity to visualize threats onto one’s virtual body, little is understood about how these platforms differ in their uses and effects. Thus, A field study was conducted at a music festival where attendees (N = 99) evaluated custom-designed AR and VR games enabling animal embodiment. Results showed clear modality preferences for the AR game, though both AR and VR elicited high levels of connection, or body transfer (BT), with the animal body. BT also predicted pro-environmental behavior intentions, though this effect was strongest for direct (donations, volunteering) rather than indirect actions (social media advocacy). Results yield insight into the requirements for BT with animal bodies and establish support for animal embodiment as a viable environmental communications strategy.

Research on knowledge collaboration in Wikipedia has predominately focused on metadata at the article level or editor-centric analyses, often overlooking the complexities of knowledge collaboration and its contextual dependencies. This study takes a novel, fine-grained approach to investigating revision mechanisms in Wikipedia’s knowledge collaboration. By considering modified sentences as carriers of collective knowledge and spaces in which epistemic power is negotiated, it reconstructs their revision sequences and examines how editorial, contextual, content, and temporal factors shape Wikipedia’s revision dynamics. A total of 140,593 revisions (by 48,643 editors) of 76,525 sentences in 537 Wikipedia articles related to climate change were analyzed using text mining, natural language processing, survival analysis, and meta-analysis. The findings expand our understanding of how epistemic power is negotiated through collective endeavors underlying bureaucratic rules and community moderation in Wikipedia.

This article explores the notion of the child as found in the growing body of research on child influencer culture. While much of the existing literature adopts a reductionist and risk-focused perspective, this article explores the complexities and variations of the child figure in this field. Through an empirical case study of a successful Swedish child influencer, we highlight how multiple representations of ‘the child’ – as professional, creative, vulnerable, and marketing subject – can coexist within a single campaign. Theoretically, we draw on complexity theory, the concept of multiplicity and the feminist idea of ‘staying with the troubles’. We argue for a more nuanced approach to studying child influencers by embracing the uncertainties and challenges involved, and acknowledge that influencing is only one of many roles children occupy in their lives. This approach encourages thinking about children in dynamic, interconnected ways, recognising the fluidity of their roles across time, space and context.