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Hesitation While Posting: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Sensitive Topics and Opinion Sharing on Social Media

Authors:

Tempestt NealAuthors Info & Claims

SMSociety'20: International Conference on Social Media and Society

Pages 134 - 140

https://doi.org/10.1145/3400806.3400822

Published: 22 July 2020 Publication History

Abstract

This paper explores the habits of people when posting on several topics on social media platforms. We recruited 160 college-level students to participate in an online survey. Our survey asked respondents to indicate their likelihood to post on seven topics, as well as indicate why they may be hesitant to post on these topics. Self-identity, politics, health and mental health, finance and business, and science and technology emerged as sensitive topics which give rise to some level of self-censorship. Many respondents reported various reasons explaining their hesitation, including fear of negative responses or that a friend or family member might see the post. We also observed several differences between men and women respondents, especially on the topics of education and health. Our efforts could inform future research on the Spiral of Silence theory as it provides new topic-based evidence on selective posting habits.

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Cited By

Englezos E(2023)Digital-Public Spaces and the Spiral of Silence: Hyperliberal Illiberalism and the Challenge to DemocracyInternational Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique10.1007/s11196-023-10091-237:4(1131-1151)Online publication date: 29-Dec-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-023-10091-2
Shabahang RAruguete MShim H(2022)Social Media Posting AnxietyJournal of Media Psychology10.1027/1864-1105/a00030034:1(49-54)Online publication date: Jan-2022
https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000300

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Published In

cover image ACM Other conferences

SMSociety'20: International Conference on Social Media and Society

July 2020

317 pages

ISBN:9781450376884

DOI:10.1145/3400806

Editors:
Anatoliy Gruzd
Ryerson University in Canada
,
Philip Mai
Ryerson University in Canada
,
Raquel Recuero
Federal University of Pelotas and Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil
,
Ángel Hernández-García
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in Spain
,
Chei Sian Lee
Nanyang Technological University in Singapore
,
James Cook
University of Maine at Augusta in the United States
,
Jaigris Hodson
Royal Roads University in Canada
,
Bree McEwan
DePaul University in the United States
,
Jill Hopke
DePaul University in the United States

Copyright © 2020 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Publication History

Published: 22 July 2020

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SMSociety'20

SMSociety'20: International Conference on Social Media and Society

July 22 - 24, 2020

ON, Toronto, Canada

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Cited By

Englezos E(2023)Digital-Public Spaces and the Spiral of Silence: Hyperliberal Illiberalism and the Challenge to DemocracyInternational Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique10.1007/s11196-023-10091-237:4(1131-1151)Online publication date: 29-Dec-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-023-10091-2
Shabahang RAruguete MShim H(2022)Social Media Posting AnxietyJournal of Media Psychology10.1027/1864-1105/a00030034:1(49-54)Online publication date: Jan-2022
https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000300

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