Corrective or Confirmative Actions? Political Online Participation as a Consequence of Presumed Media Influences in Election Campaigns

Abstract

In the investigation of political participation, one potential influencing factor has so far hardly been considered: It is to a large extent unknown whether perceived influences of (online) media result in increased political (online) participation. To prove this, a survey among the population in the German federal state North Rhine-Westphalia was conducted in the context of an election (n = 485). The results show that perceived strong online influences led to an increase in online communication activities in the election campaign. The findings indicate that the online participation can be hardly interpreted as corrective, but rather as confirmative action.

Lonely together? Identifying the determinants of collective corrective action against uncivil comments

“…It describes actions that are reactive to (media) content perceived as harmful and that seek to influence the public sphere and counterbalance the negative influences of the content (Lim, 2017; Rojas, 2010). Recent empirical research on corrective action online includes sharing alternative opinions or information (Bernhard and Dohle, 2015; Golan and Lim, 2016) and engaging in online discussions to correct biases (Lim and Golan, 2011; Rojas, 2010). Some of these activities have also been conceptualized as political participation (e.g.…”

Uncivil User Comments Increase Users’ Intention to Engage in Corrective Actions and Their Support for Authoritative Restrictive Actions

“…The forms of corrective actions are heterogeneous. Considering online corrective action, researchers have investigated sharing countering information, engaging in online discussions, posting online comments, stating disapproval with a message in a reply comment or with Likes or Dislikes, and producing a countering video (Bernhard & Dohle, 2015; Chung, Munno, & Moritz, 2015; Golan & Lim, 2016; Hwang, Pan, & Sun, 2008; Kalch & Naab, 2017; Lim, 2017; Lim & Golan, 2011; Naab, Kalch, & Meitz, 2018; Rojas, 2010). In sum, these examples point to the fact that social media empower ordinary users to counterbalance content they perceive in conflict with their values or social norms often bypassing elites (Lim & Golan, 2011).…”

The Third-Person Effect of Online Advertising of Cosmetic Surgery: A Path Model for Predicting Restrictive Versus Corrective Actions

“…Recently, several researchers paid special attention to corrective actions that take place online or on social media. Taken together, the corrective actions aim to counterbalance a perceived negative influence of undesirable messages by correcting or contradicting apparent or potential bias, risks, or harms (Barnidge & Rojas, 2014; Lim & Golan, 2011); sharing countering information or opinions across social media (Bernhard & Dohle, 2015; Golan & Lim, 2016), and engaging in discursive activities to amplify one’s view in the public sphere (Feldman et al, 2015; Rojas, 2010; Wei et al, 2011).…”