Why do people access news with mobile devices? Exploring the role of suitability perception and motives on mobile news use

Using self-reported survey data (N = 281), the present study explores the structural relationships among mobile users’ perceptions of the suitability of two types of mobile news (political feature news and entertainment news), users’ motivations for mobile news usage, and their behavioral patterns. Our findings show that two types of perceived suitability for mobile news, particularly for political feature news, are strongly associated with all dimensions of motivations for mobile news usage. Furthermore, as predicted, our findings show that the information-seeking motive is the very factor that determines mobile news usage. The results also reveal that the accessibility motive mediates the relationship between the perceived suitability of obtaining news via a mobile device and users’ mobile news behavior. However, contrary to our expectation, the social utility motive does not mediate the relationship between users’ perceptions of the suitability of mobile devices for this purpose and their mobile news usage. Finally, the information-seeking and accessibility motives each have an indirect effect on the association between perceived suitability and mobile news usage. The implications of the study and recommendations for future research are also discussed.     

Does social media use really make people politically polarized? Direct and indirect effects of social media use on political polarization in South Korea

To help inform the debate over whether social media is related to political polarization, we investigated the effects of social media use on changes in political view using panel data collected in South Korea (N?=?6411) between 2012 and 2016. We found that, although there were no direct effects of social media use, social media indirectly contributed to polarization through increased political engagement. Those who actively used social network sites were more likely to engage in political processes, which led them to develop more extreme political attitudes over time than those who did not use social network sites. In particular, we observed a clear trend toward a more liberal direction among both politically neutral users and moderately liberal users. In this study, we highlight the role of social media in activating political participation, which eventually pushes the users toward the ideological poles. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Identifying associations between mobile social media users’ perceived values,attitude, satisfaction,and eWOM engagement: The moderating role of affective factors

Recently, the explosive growth of mobile social media technologies has dramatically transformed individuals’ interpersonal interaction, decision-making, and daily lifestyles. The primary objectives of this current article are to investigate the possible influences of perceived values (hedonic and utilitarian) on WeChat users’ affective responses (attitude and satisfaction) and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) engagement. This study represents one of the few that utilized customer-perceived value theory and uses and gratifications theory to establish a conceptual framework to determine consumers’ word-of-mouth behaviors in the WeChat setting. Based on a web-based survey of 408 WeChat users, structure equation modeling was implemented to identify and confirm the hypothesized research model. Overall, the results reveal that hedonic value and utilitarian value positively and significantly impact WeChat users’ attitudes and anticipated satisfaction. Additionally, satisfaction has a significant influence on eWOM engagement. Furthermore, utilitarian value is discovered to exert a significant indirect effect through satisfaction on eWOM engagement. The obtained outcomes offer fresh insight into whether and how mobile social media could promote mobile social media users’ attitudes and gratification which subsequently would facilitate indicators of eWOM engagement in contemporary mobile-mediated context.     

How the intensity of the immersive experience impels the extent of Social Streaming App dependency? An empirical assessment with mediation and moderation effects

With the rapid growth and popularity of Social Streaming Apps (SSAs) worldwide, it is valuable for scholars to understand the links between immersive experience provided by SSA, users’ attitudes towards SSA, and the resultant SSA dependency. Although unexplored in the SSA context, previous research has indicated the significance of immersive experience and its influence on user’s specific behavior through user attitude. The present study employs Structural Equation Modelling, by using 459 samples from a survey, to explore how the intensity of immersive experience can influence the degree of user dependency on SSA. Results indicate that immersive experience is positively associated with users’ positive attitudes towards SSA, which would lead to SSA dependency. In addition, this study also found out that users’ favorable attitude partially mediates the relationship between immersive experience and solitary play dependency. Whereas, attitude fully mediated the relationship between five out of six dimensions of SSA dependency. Furthermore, to better comprehend the intervening relationships between immersive experiences, user attitude, SSA dependency, the study also conducted a moderation analysis taking frequency of use as a moderating variable. The results illustrate that a high frequency of use is a strong psychological indicator for SSA dependency. This supports the importance of considering actual behavior along with their psychological states when examining users’ immersive experience and their SSA dependency.     

Who inadvertently shares deepfakes? Analyzing the role of political interest,cognitive ability,and social network size

The social and democratic implications of deepfakes (also deep fakes) technology are widely debated in the United States and elsewhere. Yet, we know surprisingly little about how online users engage with this newer form of disinformation. This study is one of the first to explore the inadvertent deepfakes sharing behavior of the citizenry. Drawing on survey data collected in the United States and Singapore, this study investigates the role of political interest, cognitive ability, and social network size in inadvertent deepfakes sharing. The findings suggest that those with higher political interests are more likely to share deepfakes inadvertently. Those with lower cognitive ability are also more likely to share deepfakes inadvertently. The moderation findings suggest that the relationship between political interest and deepfakes sharing is significantly moderated by network size. As such, the likelihood of politically interested citizens sharing deepfakes intensifies in more extensive social networks. These results are consistent across both contexts.     

The Internet: Is it a replicable technological and social phenomenon for central Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States?

The Internet is more than just inter-connectivity between computers across geo-political boundaries. The Internet is also a means of exchanging ideas to augment human endeavor. This paper explores conditions for, and possible benefits of, the evolution of the Internet in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.     

Do social media literacy skills help in combating fake news spread? Modelling the moderating role of social media literacy skills in the relationship between rational choice factors and fake news sharing behaviour

This study modelled the rational factors that predict fake news sharing behaviour. It also tested the moderating role of social media literacy skills. The focus was on social media users in Nigeria. An online survey was conducted to gather the responses from participants across Nigerian geopolitical zones. Structural equation modelling (SEM) Smart PLS 3.6 was used to analyse the data. We found that information sharing, the news finds me perception, trust in social media and status-seeking lead to fake news sharing among social media users in Nigeria. Specifically, trust in social media and status-seeking had a greater effect on fake news sharing behaviour. We also found that social media literacy skills significantly moderate the relationship between information sharing, status-seeking, the news finds me perception, trust in social media and fake news sharing in such a way that the effects/relationships are stronger among those with low social media literacy skills. This outcome contributes to theory and practice which was highlighted in the concluding aspect of this study.     

Ideological motives,digital divides,and political polarization: How do political party preference and values correspond with the political use of social media?

Social media provides new platforms for political participation and ideological categorization. However, little research has been done on how party preference is related to politically active social media use. We begin with a consideration of how political participation on social media has evolved between various socio-economic and demographic groups in advanced information societies and especially in Finland. In our empirical analysis we examine the general use of social media as well as its use for political purposes with the aid of a nationally representative dataset, collected in 2017–2018 from 3724 Finnish citizens. We argue that there are notable differences between parties when examining their supporters’ social media use for political purposes. The differences are related to the digital divides and political extremes. The results confirmed the idea that new political movements made up of younger and more educated supporters have been successful by leveraging social media. The study also revealed that the ideological gap between party supporters is greater in social media especially when examining new kinds of politics based on cultural questions, identity issues, and post-materialist values.     

Optical transitions in Cd x Hg1 ? x Te-based quantum wells and their analysis with account for the actual band structure of the material

Quantum-confinement levels in a Cd _x Hg_{1 ? x} Te-based rectangular quantum well are calculated in the framework of the four-band Kane model taking into account mixing between the states of electrons and three types of holes (heavy, light, and spin-split holes). Comparison of the calculation results with experimental data on the photoluminescence of Cd _x Hg_{1 ? x} Te-based quantum wells suggests that optical transitions involving the conduction and light-hole bands are possibly observed in the spectra.     

The electronic spectrum and electrical properties of germanium with a doubly charged gold impurity on both sides of the L 1 ⇄ Δ1 intervalley transition for uniform pressures of up to 7 GPa

The dependences of resistivity ρ and the Hall coefficient R<0 on hydrostatic pressure P(P≤7 GPa) were studied at room temperature in Ge:(Au, Sb) with a partially populated (at 0 K) doubly charged Au level E _Au ^2? on both sides of the intervalley transition that occurred for P?2.8 GPa. In terms of the two-band model, the baric dependences ρ(P) and R(P) and also the similar dependence of the Hall mobility with allowance made for interband scattering were calculated; the results agree satisfactorily with the experimental data. Characteristic parameters of the charge carriers and the baric coefficients for energy gaps between the edges of the L ₁ and Δ₁ subbands in the conduction band and the E _Au ^2? level were determined. It was ascertained that the position of the energy level for a doubly charged gold impurity in germanium is fixed with respect to the valence-band top. The density-of-state effective mass of electrons in the (100) minimum of the conduction band of germanium was determined experimentally (and using the known values of the band parameters) and was found to be m _dΔ=6^2/3(m _∥ m _⊥ ² )^1/3=1.05m ₀. It is shown that Ge:Au^2? can be used to check the uniformity of pressure of up to 10 GPa.     

Simulation of relaxation times and energy spectra of the CdTe/Hg1 ? xCdxTe/CdTe quantum well for variable valence band offset, well width, and composition x

The dependences of relaxation times and energy spectrum of the CdTe/Hg_{1 − x} Cd _x Te/CdTe quantum well (QW) on its parameters were simulated in the cadmium molar fraction range 0 < x < 0.16. It was found that the x increase from 0 to 0.16 changes electron wave function localization in the QW. A criterion for determining the number of interface levels of localized electrons depending on QW parameters was obtained. The effect of a sharp (by two orders of magnitude) increase in the relaxation time of localized electrons was detected at small QW widths and x close to 0.16.