Research Ideas

I have two research ideas related to online behavior:

1) Examining the characteristics of the most retweeted versus the most replied messages posted by journalists on Twitter – As Webster (2014) suggested, behavioral data may help understand what is commanding public attention. While various studies examined what types of content generate more public attention than others, my recent work (Tenenboim & Cohen, 2015) showed that different types of content on news websites are often associated with different expressions of interest – consumption versus discussion. Drawing on this study, I am interested in examining  the types of content that are associated with different participatory mechanisms on Twitter. This may allow us to better understand the role of these mechanisms and their potential contribution to a deliberative democracy.

2) Examining if / how design features of user comments sections affect the level of (in)civility - While user comments sections were typically designed as a long list of statements that users could merely read and add comments to it, leading news websites now offer users opportunities to rate comments, to indicate that they like a given comment, and to respond directly to it. According to Manosevitch (2014), such design features “matter for the potential of online spaces to facilitate effective public deliberation” (p. 1). I am interested in exploring the relationships between different features of user comments sections, and communication that conveys "an

unnecessarily disrespectful tone toward the discussion forum, its participants, or its topics" (Coe, Kenski & Rains, 2014, p. 660) and is manifested in these sections.

References

 Coe, K., Kenski, K. & Rains, S. A. (2014). Online and uncivil: Patterns and determinants of   incivility in newspaper website comments. Journal of Communication, 64(4), 658-679    

 ,Manosevitch, I. (2014). The design of online deliberation: Implications for practice

theory and democratic citizenship. Journal of Public Deliberation, 10(1): 1-4.

Tenenboim, O & Cohen A. A. (2015). What prompts users to click and comment:

A longitudinal study of online news. Journalism, 16(2), 198-217. doi:10.1177/1464884913513996 

Webster, J. G. (2014). The marketplace of attention. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.