It's the Audience: Differences in Social Support Across Social Media
It's the Audience: Differences in Social Support Across Social Media
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DOI：
10.1177/2056305116678894
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发表时间：
2016-10-01
影响因子：
5.2
通讯作者：
Wohn, Donghee Yvette
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Hayes, Rebecca A.;Carr, Caleb T.;Wohn, Donghee Yvette
在研究媒体效应时，为了回应近期超越社交媒体平台进行研究的呼吁，并运用社会信息处理模型来预测和解释结果，这项多方法研究首先利用一项美国全国性调查（N = 325）来检验通过副语言数字功能（PDAs，例如“点赞”、“+1”和“顶”）——社交媒体平台之间用于寒暄交流的一键式工具——所获得的社会支持的感知效果以及关系亲密度。调查结果显示，在通过PDA提供的社会支持的感知效果方面，不同平台之间存在一些显著差异，但在不同平台上的关系亲密度方面没有显著差异。这些发现被用于设计和开展焦点小组（N = 36），以了解为何会存在这些已确定的差异。焦点小组揭示，尽管所有平台都存在社会支持的交换，但根据平台以及该平台所触及的网络受众的不同，人们寻求和获得的社会支持维度也不同。此外，焦点小组还揭示了不同平台之间网络关系的性质存在有意义的差异，即便在亲密度程度上没有差异。综合这两项研究来看，一个平台的采用和持续使用似乎是社会因素和技术因素共同作用的独特结果。研究结果强调了进行跨平台研究的重要性，并证明了将PDAs作为一种便捷的跨平台比较工具的价值，因为它们是社交媒体中为数不多的通用特征之一。
Responding to recent calls to transcend social media platforms when examining media effects, and using the social information processing model to predict and explain results, this multi-method study first uses a US national survey (N = 325) to examine perceived effectiveness of social support and relational closeness via paralinguistic digital affordances (PDAs; e.g., "Likes," "+ Is," and "Upvotes")-the one-click tools for phatic communication-between social media platforms. Results of the survey reveal some significant between-platform differences in perceived effectiveness of social support provided by a PDA, but no significant differences in the relational closeness of ties across platforms. These findings were used to design and conduct focus groups (N = 36) to understand why the identified differences exist. Focus groups reveal that although social support is exchanged across all platforms, different dimensions of social support are sought and received depending on the platform and the network audience that platform accesses. In addition, the focus groups revealed meaningful differences in the nature of network relationships between the platforms, if not the degree of closeness. Taking the two studies together, it seems the adoption and continued use of a platform is an idiosyncratic function of both the social and the technological. Findings underscore the importance of conducting cross-platform studies and demonstrate the value of using PDAs as a convenient cross-platform comparison tool, as they are one of the few common features across social media.