TY - JOUR
T1 - Gay Bullying and Online Opinion Expression
T2 - Testing Spiral of Silence in the Social Media Environment
AU - Gearhart, Sherice
AU - Zhang, Weiwu
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2014/2
Y1 - 2014/2
N2 - Social network sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn have recently attracted the attention of public opinion scholars. However, research testing existing public opinion theories in a social media context is scarce. This study represents arguably the first empirical examination of the spiral of silence theory in the social media environment. Through an experimental manipulation embedded in an Internet survey, respondents (N = 760) were presented with a hypothetical scenario (i.e., friendly or hostile) concerning gay bullying, an issue suited for investigation due to its moral components. Willingness to self-censor and to some extent, congruency with the national opinion climate were significant predictors of various online opinion response strategies, indicating the presence of the spiral of silence phenomenon in the social media environment. However, individual characteristics such as issue importance were related to willingness to communicate about the issue, suggesting a liberating effect on opinion expression.
AB - Social network sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn have recently attracted the attention of public opinion scholars. However, research testing existing public opinion theories in a social media context is scarce. This study represents arguably the first empirical examination of the spiral of silence theory in the social media environment. Through an experimental manipulation embedded in an Internet survey, respondents (N = 760) were presented with a hypothetical scenario (i.e., friendly or hostile) concerning gay bullying, an issue suited for investigation due to its moral components. Willingness to self-censor and to some extent, congruency with the national opinion climate were significant predictors of various online opinion response strategies, indicating the presence of the spiral of silence phenomenon in the social media environment. However, individual characteristics such as issue importance were related to willingness to communicate about the issue, suggesting a liberating effect on opinion expression.
KW - issue importance
KW - online opinion expression
KW - perceived opinion climate
KW - social media
KW - social network sites
KW - spiral of silence
KW - willingness to self-censor
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84898684849&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0894439313504261
DO - 10.1177/0894439313504261
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84898684849
VL - 32
SP - 18
EP - 36
JO - Social Science Computer Review
JF - Social Science Computer Review
SN - 0894-4393
IS - 1
ER -