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This study examined how social media use is associated with risk perception and social distancing as preventive behavior, which in turn can elicit negative emotions. The study is based on data collected from a nationwide online panel survey conducted during the COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea. Results show that social media use directly and indirectly impacts people’s negative emotions through risk perception and social distancing. The analysis also shows that risk perception and social distancing directly influence negative emotions, which plays a mediating role in the relationship between social media use and negative emotions. The findings of the study provide important implications for effective risk and health communication and health policy during an infectious disease outbreak. © AMIC/WKWSCI-NTU 2021.

Using national online panel survey data (N = 1,000) in South Korea, this study applied the Risk Information Seeking and Processing (RISP) model to examine how people are motivated to seek informati...

This study advances communication infrastructure theory by testing the effects of an integrated community storytelling network (ICSN) and social media as a newly emerging community storytelling age...

Analyzing data from a nationwide online panel survey in South Korea, this study examined the impact of media use on attribution of responsibility to individuals and the government, perceived risk, ...

Virtual reality technology has been positioned as a useful tool for the promotion of public health. This study explored how exposure to a virtual reality handwashing promotion video influences user...

Suicide is a serious public health concern (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). According to the World Health Organization (World Health Organization [WHO], 2017a), it is one o...

Analyzing national online panel survey data in South Korea, this study explored how social media use is associated with attitude toward suicide. Furthermore, we examined the mediating paths by whic...

Social networking sites (SNS) are becoming one of the most significant platforms for social interaction and information exchange in epidemics. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about what fa...

Using nationally representative survey data from the United States, we explored how social media use influences the formation of attitudes toward political compromise. We also analyzed the moderating effects of the Big Five personality traits and individual preference for living in a homogeneous or heterogeneous community on the relationship between social media use and political compromise. The results revealed that a preference for living in a heterogeneous community, where most residents have different opinions on politics, related positively to favorable attitudes toward political compromise. Moreover, two of the Big Five personality traits, agreeableness and conscientiousness, moderated the influence of social media use on attitudes toward political compromise. These findings suggest that social media use has differential effects on the formation of attitudes toward political compromise, depending on personality traits, rather than having a uniform influence. The results and corresponding implications are discussed in detail.

Individuals use social network sites (SNSs) as an effective tool for communicating relevant information with others during the outbreak of infectious diseases. However, little is known about the underlying mechanism through which communicative behaviors influence preventive behaviors. Thus, in the context of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in South Korea, this study investigated how two communicative behaviors (message expression and reception) in SNSs affected the communicators’ intentions to engage in MERS-preventive behaviors. Using data collected from a nationally representative panel survey of 1000 Korean adults aged 19 or older, we examined a theoretical expression and reception effects model. Results support the presence of effects from expressing and receiving MERS-related information via SNSs and their underlying mechanism during South Korea’s MERS outbreak. Public health officials and communication professionals should actively use SNS communication in coping with public health crisis caused by emerging infectious diseases., Highlights • SNS communication predicts MERS-preventive behavioral intentions. • Expressing information is negatively related to preventive behavioral intentions. • Receiving information is positively related to preventive behavioral intentions. • The effect of expressing information is fully mediated by self-efficacy. • The effect of receiving information is partially mediated by perceived threat.

By analyzing representative national survey data, this study explores the ways in which social media and social capital jointly affect civic participation. In particular, the study examines how the use of social media to express opinions or acquire trusted information influence citizens participatory activities in civic affairs. Our findings suggest that both social media use and social capital promote civic activities. Interestingly, this study reveals that social media exert differential effects on civic participation, depending on the individual's level of social capital, rather than having an equal impact on civic participation. The study offers a new perspective from which to examine the relationships between social media, social capital, and civic participation. The results and implications are discussed in detail below.

Using an experiment embedded within a representative survey, this study examined the interactive effect of party identification and risk/benefit perception on public opinion about biofuels. Democrats tended to be more supportive of biofuels than Republicans. However, the effect of party identification on opinion about biofuels varied when individuals considered the risk/benefit of biofuels in different domains. Individuals who reported greater affiliation with the Democratic Party were likely to support funding biofuels research when primed with the economic risks or the social/ethical benefits of biofuels. For those who considered the social/ethical benefits of biofuels, more self-identified Democrats were likely to support biofuels production and use. However, more self-identified Democrats were less supportive of biofuels production and use when they considered the political risks of biofuels. Implications are discussed.

Many Americans hold distorted views of elected officials and, as our study shows, the blame is due partly to our ideological biases and partly to mass media. Analyzing a nationally representative online survey, we corroborate recent research that found that one in five Americans still believe president Barack Obama is a Muslim and that almost seven in ten mistakenly think Sarah Palin, and notSaturday Night Live’s Tina Fey, was the first to say “I can see Russia from my house.” Although race, political ideology, and “born-again” or evangelical Christian status were the primary drivers of misperceptions about Obama’s faith, media use had a more crucial role in predicting the more widespread misperception about Palin. Misattribution of the Fey quote to Palin was greatest among heavy viewers of traditional news media and late-night TV comedy, which is suggestive of the “lamestream media” effect often espoused by prominent Republican figures.

Analyzing nationally representative online panel survey data during the MERS outbreak in South Korea, this study examined the role of social media exposure in shaping public's risk perceptions of MERS. The present study also investigated the moderating role of heuristic-systematic processing and self-efficacy in the relationship between social media exposure and risk perceptions. The findings of this study showed that social media exposure was positively related to forming risk perceptions. Moreover, heuristic-systematic processing and self-efficacy were found to moderate the impact of social media on risk perceptions. The interaction effects suggested that the role of social media in increasing risk perceptions of MERS was heighted by heuristic-systematic processing and self-efficacy. The results and implications of this study are discussed in greater details., Highlights • Social media exposure was positively associated with risk perceptions of MERS. • Systematic processing was positively associated with risk perceptions of MERS. • Self-efficacy for MERS was negatively associated with risk perceptions of MERS. • Social media exposure interacted with HSM and self-efficacy to influence risk perceptions of MERS.

Analyzing survey data on the issue of genetically modified foods in South Korea, this study explores the role of news media in facilitating informed issue evaluation. Respondents who read a newspaper more often were more knowledgeable about the issue. Also, heavy newspaper readers were more able than light readers to hold consistent views on different aspects of the issue. When it comes to television news, heavy viewers held stronger opinions than light viewers on the key issue attributes. News media use seems to allow the audience to engage in greater cognitive elaboration, helping them to make an informed and deliberate issue evaluation.

This study explores differences in volume of coverage and thematic content between US print news and online media coverage for an emerging technology – nanotechnology. We found that while American print news media and Google News coverage of this emerging technology has peaked and started to decline, Google Blog Search coverage of nanotechnology is still growing. Additionally, our data show discrepancies in thematic content of online and print news coverage. Specifically, online users are more likely to encounter environmentally themed content relating to nanotechnology than are users of American print newspapers. Differences in the amount of coverage of nanotechnology in print news and online media as well as thematic content suggest that public discourse on related issues will be shaped, in part, by media consumers’ preferred information platform.

Using a controversial issue in South Korea, a government plan to relocate the administrative capital, this study examines attribute agenda setting. Linking survey data to an analysis of news coverage, more specifically, the article explores how television news has influenced the way the public evaluates the plan and its various attributes, i.e. potential benefits and problems of the relocation. Findings support the idea that the media could increase public salience of certain attributes by placing them more prominently in news coverage. An important outcome of attribute agenda setting was its priming effect. Issue attributes emphasized in the media were functioning as important standards by which the audience evaluated the plan. These findings, taken together, enhance the intercultural validity of attribute agenda setting by demonstrating that the theory can be applied to South Korea, a country with a unique cultural tradition.

An analysis of television and newspaper coverage of poverty indicates that coverage has focused largely on societal-level, as opposed to individual causes and solutions. Television news viewing was positively associated with viewers' perceived government responsibility for solving problems.

Using a controversial issue in South Korea—a government plan to relocate the administrative capital—this study examines the role of news media use in facilitating informed issue evaluation, a form of deliberative decision making, where citizens carefully evaluate different attributes of an issue. Survey data indicated that respondents who used news media often were more able to articulate a specific reason why relocation would be a good or a bad idea. Heavy users of news media were also more firmly opinionated on key issue attributes and tended to think about the issue more carefully.

For novel issues like food nanotechnology, media can play an important role in shaping the awareness and mental associations that underlie public opinion. Seeking to complement recent research exploring public opinion formation about food nanotechnology, this study tracks the evolution of U.S. newspaper coverage of food nanotechnology, identifying the descriptive and thematic traits that have characterized this coverage over time. We use a rigorous methodology to examine the levels of coverage, authorship patterns, and thematic emphases exhibited in the American journalistic narrative about this burgeoning application of nanoscience. Our findings indicate that U.S. newspaper coverage of food nanotechnology is relatively modest in terms of how often it has been covered, its thematic diversity, and the level of journalistic expertise from which it was produced. To our knowledge, this is the first study to empirically assess journalistic coverage of food nanotechnology.

We have designed and realized a highly linear power amplifier module (PAM) for a WiMAX/WiBro base station using a simple linearization method. To improve the linearity of the PAM, we use large-signal intermodulation distortion (IMD) sweet spots, which are part of the inherent properties of power transistors. These IMD sweet spots are determined by the device technologies and the bias voltage. Our PAM consists of a drive stage and a power stage. Two amplifiers are used in the drive stage, a GaAs field effect transistor (GaAs FET) and a laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor. The linearity of the PMA can be maximally improved by the large-signal IMD sweet spots, which are tuned by the bias voltage of the GaAs FET at the signal power input of the drive stage. Using this method, the measured adjacent channel leakage ratio and power consumption efficiency of the PAM are improved by 2.9 dBc and 5.2%, respectively. The measured error vector magnitude of the PAM is only 1.45. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 52: 1952–1955, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.25374

Nanotechnology has become one of the fastest-growing emerging technologies in the United States. President Bill Clinton established the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) to increase federal investment in nanotechnology research and development in 2001. In 2003, the U S Congress enacted the twenty-first Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act to evaluate and promote federal nanotechnology research, development, and other activities. This research and development in nanotechnology has led to the advancement of nanotechnology applications and products. For example, consumers can find over 1,000 nanotechnology applications on the market, ranging from tennis rackets to skin care products (Scheufele and Dudo 2010). The social penetration of nanotechnology has raised concerns as an important social issue associated with its potential benefits and risks (Scheufele and Lewenstein 2005). News media have been covering nanotechnology issues for decades, helping to shape how the public understand and perceive the new technology, and whether they support the technology or not (Scheufele and Lewenstein 2005; Weaver et al. 2009).