Can spiral of silence and civility predict click speech on Facebook?

Can spiral of silence and civility predict click speech on Facebook?

Opinion expressions on Facebook are characterized by “click speech” in which people express their opinions and support (or disagreement) of posts through the “like,” “comment,” and “share” buttons. This study uses a 2 (low vs. high opinion congruency) x 2 (message civility vs. incivility) between-su...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pang, Natalie, Ho, Shirley S., Zhang, Alex M. R., Ko, Jeremy S. W., Low, W. X., Tan, Kay S. Y.
Other Authors: Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Social sciences::Communication
Facebook
Spiral of Silence
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/141972
Description
Summary:Opinion expressions on Facebook are characterized by “click speech” in which people express their opinions and support (or disagreement) of posts through the “like,” “comment,” and “share” buttons. This study uses a 2 (low vs. high opinion congruency) x 2 (message civility vs. incivility) between-subject factorial experiment to examine the spiral of silence on participants’ likelihood to interact with social media. We randomly assigned 502 participants to one of four experimental conditions. Results indicate that the fear of isolation increased the likelihood of commenting on Facebook posts and a civil climate increased the likelihood of liking comments on Facebook posts. Findings suggest that “click-speech” could be considered a form of opinion expression.

Similar Items