Emotions and news on social media about climate change sharing. Moderating role of habits, previous attitudes and uses and gratifications among University students

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2020-1425

Keywords:

climate change; social media; emotions; uses and gratifications theory; news consumption habits

Abstract

Introduction: This article analyzes the influence of emotions on users' intention to share news about climate change on social media. Media consumption habits, previous attitudes towards the issue and social media uses and gratifications sought are considered as moderating roles. Methodology: An online, self-administered, questionnaire was submitted to a sample of undergraduate students from different courses and centers placed at Madrid region. Data were statistically tested following simple and multiple linear regression, simple and multiple logistic regression and simple and multiple ordinal regression models. Results and conclusions: It is concluded that fear and anger are the most influential emotions on users' intention to share a piece of news on social media. Information seeking, news internalizing and previous attitudes are identified as moderating factors.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Francisco Segado-Boj, International University of La Rioja. Spain

Doctor in Journalism from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2008). Currently a professor at Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (UNIR), where he leads the Research Team “Comunicación y Sociedad Digital” [EN: Digital Communication and Society]. Accredited as the University Titular Professor, has twelve years of research recognized by CNEAI. His lines of research are focused on digital media and social networks, as well as scientific and academic communication. He has published dozens of articles about these topics on magazines like Telematics & Informatics, Comunicar, El Profesional de la Información, Journal of Scholarly Publishing o First Monday.  Currently he is the leading researcher of the Project “Consumo de noticias en medios sociales. Análisis de factores en la selección y difusión de contenidos mediáticos”, [EN: “News consumption on social media. Analysis of factors on the selection and dissemination of media content”], reference CSO2017-86312-R financed by Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (MINECO), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER)

Jesús Díaz-Campo, International University of La Rioja. Spain

He has a degree in Journalism and PhD in Communication from Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He got a scholarship from Formación del Profesorado del Ministerio de Educación y Cultura and he did investigation residencies in the Journalism and Mass Communication Department of Tampere University (Finland) and in the offices of the European Journalism Training Association (Tilburg, Netherlands) and in the European Journalism Centre (Maastricht, Netherlands). Professor at the Enterprise and Communication Faculty of Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (UNIR), where he leads the Universitario en Comunicación e Identidad Corporativa Master and teaches several subjects since 2011. He has also taught at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (as an intern FPU) and in Universidad Pontificia Comillas. He is accredited by ANECA as University Titular Professor. Member of the Research Group Comunicación y Sociedad Digital (COYSODI) of Universidad Internacional de la Rioja. He is author of over forty articles published on several academic magazines (Telematics & Informatics, Transinformaçao, El Profesional de la Información, Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, Palabra Clave, Cuadernos.Info, Observatorio (OBS) or Historia y Comunicación Social, among others). Additionally, he has participated in different research projects obtained in competitive regime and has six years of research recognized by CNEAI. His main lines of research are focused on Communications Ethics; Corporative Social Responsibility; Political Communication and Social Networks; Radio.

Nuria Navarro-Sierra, Rey Juan Carlos University. Spain

Has a Degree and PhD with international major in Audiovisual Communication from Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She was hired as a trainee in the Department of Comunicación y Publicidad I through the program Formación del Profesorado Universitario del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte and did a residency research at the University of Lincoln (The U.K.). She is an Associated Professor in the courses and double courses of Periodismo, Comunicación Audiovisual y Periodismo. She has previously taught at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Centro de Estudios Superiores Felipe II, in the courses and degrees of Audiovisual Communication. She is member of the Research Group Investigación Visual, associated to Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Spain). Among her publications there are lines of research regarding television and radio in Spain, new business models or new digital communication media narrative.

References

Al-Rawi, A. (2017). Viral News on Social Media. Digital Journalism, 7(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1387062

Amoedo, A., Vara-Miguel, A. & Negredo, S. (2018). Digital News Report.es 2018. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_MqxpbPvMQM1lpvjsGm4QOKxlMC8IZ_D/view

Anderson, A. A. & Huntington H. E. (2017). Social Media, Science, and Attack Discourse: How Twitter Discussions of Climate Change Use Sarcasm and Incivility. Science Communication, 39(5), 598–620. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547017735113

Antunovic, D., Parsons, P. & Cooke, T. R. (2018). ‘Checking’ and googling: Stages of news consumption among young adults. Journalism, 19(5), 632-648. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884916663625

Berger, J. & Milkman K. L. (2012) What Makes Online Content Viral? Journal of Marketing Research, 49(2), 192-205. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.10.0353

Bilandzic, H., Kalch, A. & Soentgen, J. (2017). Effects of Goal Framing and Emotions on Perceived Threat and Willingness to Sacrifice for Climate Change. Science Communication, 39(4), 466-491. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547017718553

Bobkowski, P. S. (2015). Sharing the News: Effects of Informational Utility and Opinion Leadership on Online News Sharing. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 92(2), 320-345. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699015573194

Boulianne, S (2015). Social media use and participation: A meta-analysis of current research. Information, Communication & Society, 18(5), 524-538.

Bright, J. (2016). The Social News Gap: How News Reading and News Sharing Diverge. Journal of Communication, 66(3), 343-365. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12232

Cappella, J. N., Kim, H. S. & Albarracín, D. (2015). Selection and Transmission Processes for Information in the Emerging Media Environment: Psychological Motives and Message Characteristics. Media Psychology, 18(3), 396-424. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2014.941112

Carvalho, A., Van Wessel, A. & Maeseele, P. (2017). Communication practices and political engagement with climate change: A research agenda. Environmental Communication, 11(1), 122-135.

Chadwick, A. E. (2015). Toward a Theory of Persuasive Hope: Effects of Cognitive Appraisals, Hope Appeals, and Hope in the Context of Climate Change. Health Communication, 30(6), 598-611. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2014.916777

Chen, M. F. (2016). Impact of fear appeals on pro-environmental behavior and crucial determinants. International Journal of Advertising, 35(1), 74-92. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2015.1101908

Choi, J. (2016a). News Internalizing and Externalizing: The Dimensions of News Sharing on Online Social Networking Sites. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 93(4), 816-835. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699016628812

Choi, J. (2016b). Why do people use news differently on SNSs? An investigation of the role of motivations, media repertoires, and technology cluster on citizens' news-related activities. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 249-256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.08.006

Choi, J. & Lee, J. K. (2015). Investigating the effects of news sharing and political interest on social media network heterogeneity. Computers in Human Behavior, 44, 258-266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.11.029

Chyi, H. I. & Yang, M. J. (2009). Is online news an inferior good? Examining the economic nature of online news among users. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 86(3), 594-612. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900908600309

Coppini, D., Duncan, M. A., Mcleod, D. M., Wise, D. A., Bialik, K. E. & Wu, Y. (2017). When the whole world is watching: A motivations-based account of selective expression and exposure. Computers in Human Behavior, 75, 766-774. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.04.020

Da Silva, J. P. & Pereira, A. M. S. (2017). Perceived Spirituality, Mindfulness and Quality of Life in Psychiatric Patients. Journal of Religion and Health, 56(1), 130–140. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-016-0186-y

Dafonte-Gómez, A. (2018). News Media and the Emotional Public Sphere| Audiences as Medium: Motivations and Emotions in News Sharing. International Journal of Communication, 12, 2.133-2.152. https://doi.org/1932–8036/20180005

Eriksson, K., Coultas, J. C. & De Barra, M. (2016). Cross-Cultural Differences in Emotional Selection on Transmission of Information. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 16(1-2), 122-143. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12342171

Feldman, L. & Hart, P. S. (2016). Using Political Efficacy Messages to Increase Climate Activism. Science Communication, 38(1), 99-127. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547015617941

Feldman, L. & Hart, P. S. (2018). Is There Any Hope? How Climate Change News Imagery and Text Influence Audience Emotions and Support for Climate Mitigation Policies. Risk Analysis, 38(3), 585-602. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.12868

Gao, Q. & Feng, C. (2016). Branding with social media: User gratifications, usage patterns, and brand message content strategies. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 868-890. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.022

Gerber, A. H., McCormick, C. E. B., Levine, T. P., Morrow, E. M., Anders, T. F. & Sheinkopf, S. J. (2017). Brief Report: Factors Influencing Healthcare Satisfaction in Adults with Autism

Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(6), 1.896–1.903. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3087-3

Gil de Zúñiga, H., Jung, N. & Valenzuela, S. (2012). Social Media Use for News and Individuals’ Social Capital, Civic Engagement and Political Participation. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 17(3), 319-336. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2012.01574.x

Gil de Zúñiga, G., Molyneux, L. & Zheng, P. (2014). Social media, political expression, and political participation: Panel analysis of lagged and concurrent relationships. Journal of Communication, 64(4), 612-634.

Guallar, J., Suau, J., Ruiz-Caballero, C., Sáez, A. & Masip, P. (2016) Re-dissemination of news and public debate on social networks. El profesional de la información, 25(3), 1.699-2.407. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2016.may.05

Harber, K. D. & Cohen, D. J. (2005). The Emotional Broadcaster Theory of Social Sharing. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 24(4), 382-400. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X05281426

Hart, P. S. & Feldman, L. (2016). The Influence of Climate Change Efficacy Messages and Efficacy Beliefs on Intended Political Participation. PLOS ONE, 11(8), e0157658. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157658

Hartmann, P., Apaolaza, V., D’Souza, C., Barrutia, J. M. & Echebarria, C. (2014). Environmental threat appeals in green advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 33(4), 741-765. https://doi.org/10.2501/IJA-33-4-741-765

Hasell, A. & Weeks, B. E. (2016) Partisan Provocation: The Role of Partisan News Use and Emotional Responses in Political Information Sharing in Social Media! Human Communication Research, 42(4), 641-661. https://doi.org/10.1111/hcre.12092

Höijer, B. (2010). Emotional anchoring and objectification in the media reporting on climate change, Public Understanding of Science, 19(6), 717-731. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662509348863

Hopke, J. E. & Hestres, L. E. (2018). Visualizing the Paris Climate Talks on Twitter: Media and Climate Stakeholder Visual Social Media During COP21. Social Media + Society, 4(3), 205630511878268. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118782687

Hossain, M. A., Dwivedi, Y. K., Chan, C., Standing, C. & Olanrewaju, A. S. (2018). Sharing political content in online social media: A planned and unplanned behaviour approach. Information Systems Frontiers, 20(3), 485-501.

Hyun, K. D. & Kim, J. (2015). Differential and interactive influences on political participation by different types of news activities and political conversation through social media. Computers in Human Behavior, 45, 328-334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.12.031

Kalsnes, B. & Larsson, A. O. (2018). Understanding News Sharing Across Social Media. Journalism Studies, 19(11), 1.669-1.688. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2017.1297686

Karnowski, V., Kümpel, A. S., Leonhard, L. & Leiner, D. J. (2017). From incidental news exposure to news engagement. How perceptions of the news post and news usage patterns influence engagement with news articles encountered on Facebook. Computer Human Behaviour, 76, 42-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.06.041

Karnowski, V., Leonhard, L. & Kümpel A. S. (2018). Why Users Share the News: A Theory of Reasoned Action-Based Study on the Antecedents of News-Sharing Behavior. Communication Research Reports, 35(2), 91-100.

Katz-Kimchi, M. & Manosevitch, I. (2015). Mobilizing Facebook Users against Facebook’s Energy Policy: The Case of Greenpeace Unfriend Coal Campaign. Environmental Communication, 9(2), 248-267. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2014.993413

Kauffmann, Y., Ramel, J. C., Lefebvre, A., Isaico, R., De Lazzer, A., Bonnabel, A., Bron, A. M. & Creuzot-Garcher, C. (2015). Preoperative Prognostic Factors and Predictive Score in Patients Operated on for Combined Cataract and Idiopathic Epiretinal Membrane. American Journal of Ophthalmology, 160(1), 185-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.AJO.2015.03.027

Keib, K., Himelboim, I. & Han, J. Y. (2018). Important tweets matter: Predicting retweets in the #BlackLivesMatter talk on twitter. Computers in Human Behavior, 85, 106-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.03.025

Kilgo, D. K., Lough, K. & Riedl, M. J. (2017). Emotional appeals and news values as factors of shareworthiness in Ice Bucket Challenge coverage. Digital Journalism, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1387501

Kirk, A. H. P., Ng, B. S. P., Lee, A. N., Ang, B. & Lee, J. H. (2015). Perceptions of Pediatric Critical Care Nurses on the Initiation of a Nursing-Led Feeding Protocol. Journal of Nursing Research, 23(4), 308-12. https://doi.org/10.1097/jnr.0000000000000085

Klinger, U. & Svensson, J. (2015). The emergence of network media logic in political communication: A theoretical approach. New media & society, 17(8), 1.241-1.257. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814522952

Korgaonkar, P. K. & Wolin, L. D. (1999). A multivariate analysis of web usage. Journal of Advertising Research, 39(2), 53-68.

Krämer, N. C. & Winter, S. (2008). Impression Management 2.0. The Relationship of Self-Esteem, Extraversion, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Presentation Within Social Networking Sites. Journal of Media Psychology, 20(3), 106–116. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105.20.3.106

LaRose, R. & Eastin, M. S. (2004). A social cognitive theory of Internet uses and gratifications: Toward a new model of media attendance. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 48(3), 358-377.

Larsson, A. O. (2018). “I Shared the News Today, oh Boy”. News provision and interaction on Facebook. Journalism Studies, 19(1), 43-61. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1154797

Lee, C. S. & Ma, L. (2012). News sharing in social media: The effect of gratifications and prior experience. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(2), 331-339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.10.002

Lee, N. M., VanDyke, M. S. & Cummins, R. G. (2018). A Missed Opportunity?: NOAA’s Use of Social Media to Communicate Climate Science. Environmental Communication, 12(2), 274-283. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2016.1269825

Lee, Y. K., Chang, C. T. & Chen, P. C. (2017). What Sells Better in Green Communications: Fear or Hope?. Journal of Advertising Research, 57(4), 379-396. https://doi.org/10.2501/JAR-2017-048

Lischka, J. A. (2018). Logics in social media news making: How social media editors marry the Facebook logic with journalistic standards. Journalism, 146488491878847. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918788472

Martín-Quevedo, J., Fernández-Gómez, E. & Segado-Boj, F. (2019). How to Engage with Younger Users on Instagram: A Comparative Analysis of HBO and Netflix in the Spanish and US Markets. International Journal of Media Management, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/14241277.2019.1585355

Masip, P., Guallar, J., Suau, J., Ruiz-Caballero, C. & Peralta, M. (2015). News and social networks: audience behavior. El profesional de la información, 4(4), 363–370.

McLeod, J. M. (2000). Media and civic socialization of youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 27(2), 45-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1054-139X(00)00131-2

Nabi, R. L., Gustafson, A. & Jensen, R. (2018). Framing Climate Change: Exploring the Role of Emotion in Generating Advocacy Behavior. Science Communication, 40(4), 442-468. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547018776019

Oakley, R. L. & Salam, A. F. (2014). Examining the impact of computer-mediated social networks on individual consumerism environmental behaviors. Computers in human behavior, 35, 516-526.

Östman, J. (2014). The influence of media use on environmental engagement: A political socialization approach. Environmental Communication, 8(1), 92-109.

Penney, E. S. & Abbott, M. J. (2015). The Impact of Perceived Standards on State Anxiety, Appraisal Processes, and Negative Pre- and Post-event Rumination in Social Anxiety Disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 39(2), 162–177. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-014-9639-3

Scherman, A., Arriagada, A. & Valenzuela, S. (2015). Student and environmental protests in Chile: The role of social media. Politics, 35(2), 151-171.

Shapiro M. A. & Park, W. H. (2018). Climate Change and YouTube: Deliberation Potential

in Post-video Discussions. Environmental Communication, 12(1), 115-131. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2017.1289108

Singer, J. B. (2014). User-generated visibility: Secondary gatekeeping in a shared media space. New Media & Society, 16(1), 55-73. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444813477833

Skoric, M. M., Zhu, Q., Goh, D. & Pang, N. (2016). Social media and citizen engagement: A meta-analytic review. New Media & Society, 18(9), 1.817-1.839.

Stempel, C., Hargrove, T. & Stempel, G. H. (2007). Media Use, Social Structure, and Belief in 9/11 Conspiracy Theories. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 84(2), 353-372. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900708400210

Stieglitz, S. & Dang-Xuan, L. (2013). Emotions and Information Diffusion in Social Media—Sentiment of Microblogs and Sharing Behavior. Journal of Management Information Systems, 29(4), 217-248. https://doi.org/10.2753/MIS0742-1222290408

Taddicken, M. & Reif, A. (2016). Who participates in the climate change online discourse? A typology of Germans’ online engagement. Communications, 41(3), 315-337. https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2016-0012

Thorson, K., Edgerly, S., Kligler-Vilenchik, N., Xu, Y. & Wang, L. (2016). Seeking visibility in a big tent: Digital communication and the people’s climate march. International Journal of Communication, 10, 4.784-4.806. http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/4703/1802

Van der Wurff, R. & Schoenbach, K. (2014). Civic and citizen demands of news media and journalists: What does the audience expect from good journalism? Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 91(3), 433-451.

La Vanguardia (2017). Este río ha desaparecido y los científicos culpan al cambio climático. 19-4-2017. https://www.lavanguardia.com/natural/20170418/421794268373/rio-desaparece-cambio-climatico.html.

Velásquez, A., Renó, D., Beltrán, A. M., Maldonado, J. C. y Ortiz León, C. (2018). De los mass media a los medios sociales: reflexiones sobre la nueva ecología de los medios. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 73, 583-594.

Villi, M. & Matikainen, J. (2015). Mobile UDC: Online media content distribution among Finnish mobile Internet users. Mobile Media & Communication, 3(2), 214-229. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050157914552156

Villi, M. & Noguera-Vivo, J. M. (2017). Sharing media content in social media: The challenges and opportunities of user-distributed content (UDC). Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, 6(2), 207-223. https://doi.org/10.1386/ajms.6.2.207_1

Weeks, B. E. & Holbert, R. L. (2013). Predicting Dissemination of News Content in Social Media: A Focus on Reception, Friending, and Partisanship. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 90(2), 212-232. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699013482906

Whiting, A. & Williams, D. (2013). Why people use social media: a uses and gratifications approach. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 16(4), 362-369. https://doi.org/10.1108/QMR-06-2013-0041

Winter, S., Metzger, M. J. & Flanagin, A. J. (2016). Selective Use of News Cues: A Multiple-Motive Perspective on Information Selection in Social Media Environments. Journal of Communication, 66(4), 669–693. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12241

Wirz, D. S. (2018). Persuasion Through Emotion? An Experimental Test of the Emotion-Eliciting Nature of Populist Communication. International Journal of Communication, 12, 1.114-1.138. http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/7846

Yang, Z. J., Kahlor, L. A. & Griffin, D. J. (2014). I Share, Therefore I Am: A U.S.−China Comparison of College Students’ Motivations to Share Information About Climate Change. Human Communication Research, 40(1), 112-135. https://doi.org/10.1111/hcre.12018

Zhang, N. & Skoric, M. M. (2018). Media Use and Environmental Engagement: Examining Differential Gains from News Media and Social Media. International Journal of Communication, 12, 380-403. http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/7650

Published

2020-02-26

How to Cite

Segado-Boj, F. ., Díaz-Campo, J. ., & Navarro-Sierra, N. . (2020). Emotions and news on social media about climate change sharing. Moderating role of habits, previous attitudes and uses and gratifications among University students. Revista Latina De Comunicación Social, (75), 245–269. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2020-1425

Issue

Section

Miscellaneous

Most read articles by the same author(s)