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The Public Heart: The Impact of Sharing Emotions on Social Media

  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
  • SSHRC Awarded IG awarded 2015: We will explore how sharing-breadth influences consumers' emotions. We suggest that, compared to narrowcasting (sharing with few others), broadcasting (sharing with many others) changes the perspective, or the lens, through which consumers view their sharing, from an actor (internal) perspective to an observer (external) perspective. Prior research suggests that these changes in perspective may have implications for the strength of consumers' brand-related emotions. Specifically, taking an observer perspective by sharing with broader audiences may weaken emotions. Thus, a consumer who shares the sentiment "I love Starbucks!" with 340 Facebook friends may love Starbucks less than if she shares it with a single Facebook friend. Through a series of lab experiments, the current proposal aims to test this prediction and to provide novel insights into several aspects of emotional sharing via social media.

    This research will provide theoretical and methodological contributions to marketing and psychology, and will help organizations use social media to maximize the positive outcomes of sharing and minimize the negative outcomes. Further, this research will improve digital literacy for the general public; consumers will benefit from learning how broadcasting emotions influences them, enabling them to use social media to their benefit. The present research thus aims to provide important insights to the scholarly community, to industry, and to society.

  • Date created
    2014-10-06
  • Subjects / Keywords
  • Type of Item
    Research Material
  • DOI
    https://doi.org/10.7939/R34X54Q2B
  • License
    © Argo, Jennifer. All rights reserved other than by permission. This document embargoed to those without UAlberta CCID until 2023.