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Purpose: The aims of this paper are to explore the rise of cyberhate on the Zoom video conferencing platform at the outset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to examine victimized cases of Zoombombing where it was used as a cyberhate tool. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only impacted our lives and modes of working and studying, but also created new environments for cybercriminals to engage in cybercrime, cyberhate and hacking by exploiting tools such as Zoom. This new phenomenon called "Zoombombing" was first reported in mid-March 2020, when the social distancing and stay-at-home policies in the United States were nationally introduced. Design/methodology/approach: This research conducted a news media content analysis on cases of Zoombombing. To conduct this analysis empirically, a dataset with all of the reported Zoombombing cases from March to April 2020 was created. Google Trends, news media and tweets were used to analyze Zoombombing as a form of cyberhate, particularly digital racism. Findings: The results reveal prevalent Zoom-mediated racism toward Asian Americans, African Americans and Jewish Americans. This study understands Zoombombing from a sociopolitical/cultural perspective through news reporting of victimized cases and explores various ways that Zoombombing shapes, mediates, transforms and escalates racism. Originality/value: This study is one of the very first studies to analyze Zoombombing in a way that builds upon an emerging body of literature on cyberhate. This paper considers Zoom as a space where curious young people, cybercriminals, extremists and hackers impose their ideologies and beliefs upon newly established online learning and working environments and engage in a struggle for identity recognition in the midst of increasingly accessible vulnerable software and cyberspace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Podcasts have become a main content delivery platform in the last decade. Since not enough studies examined the wider population adoption patterns of podcasts in general and outside the USA in particular, the purpose of this paper is to examine the socio-demographics of podcast listeners and the uses and gratifications fulfilled by listening to podcasts using Israel's most popular podcast as our case study. Design/methodology/approach: The authors uploaded a survey on the podcast platforms aiming to identify their socio-demographic profiles of listeners (n=960) and where they listen to the podcast. Next, the authors conducted follow-up interviews with 100 respondents to understand their main uses and gratifications fulfilled while listening to the podcast. Findings: The findings of this survey indicate podcast listeners in Israel as mostly male, with self-reported high income, under the age of 45, highly educated and nearly half work in the high-tech sector. Follow-up interviews identified that the main uses and gratifications from listening to podcasts were cognitive – acquiring new knowledge, social – a desire to share new data with friends, entertainment, hobby and a way to assist falling asleep. Research limitations/implications: The findings of this study indicate that access to podcasts in Israel is utilized mostly by members of already advantaged and technology-oriented groups, thus potentially widening existing societal gaps. Originality/value: The study examines the podcast adoption in a country whose podcast adoption patterns were not yet explored, thus contributes toward mapping of the global usage of podcasts. It portrays podcasts in Israel as a platform used mostly by members of privileged and technology-oriented groups, which is similar to findings regarding the demographics of podcast listeners in the USA. Some of the uses and gratifications are similar to that in the USA while others, such as the desire to share knowledge and efficient time management, are unique and reflect the impact of the local culture and conditions on podcast adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of smartphones and computers as web survey entry response devices on the quality of responses in different question formats and across different survey invitations delivery modes. The respondents' preference of device and the response immediacy were also compared. Design/methodology/approach: Two field experiments were conducted with a cluster sampling and a census of all students in a public university in the USA. Findings: Device effect on response quality was only found when using computer-aided self-interviews, but not in e-mail delivered web surveys. Even though the computer was the preferred device, but the smartphone's immediate response was significantly higher than the computer. Research limitations/implications: The sample was restricted to college students who are more proficient users of smartphones and have high access to computers. But the direct comparison in the two studies using the same population increases the internal validity of the study comparing different web survey delivery modes. Practical implications: Because of the minor differences in device on response quality, researchers can consider using more smartphones for field work such as computer-aided self-interviews to complement e-mail delivered surveys. Originality/value: This is the first study that compares the response device effects of computer-aided self-interviews and e-mailed delivered web surveys. Because web surveys are increasingly used and various devices are being used to collect data, how respondents behave in different devices and the strengths and weaknesses of different methods of delivery survey help researchers to improve data quality and develop effective web survey delivery and participant recruitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Facebook has been identified as a primary source of political information by a majority (63 percent) of its users. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Facebook use and political participation, and investigate the mediating effects of the characteristics of one’s Facebook network (i.e. network size, proportion of strong ties, and discussion network heterogeneity).Design/methodology/approach This study relies on a representative survey of American adults (n=1,032) conducted during the 2012 primary election campaigns from May 3 to May 10. The sample was randomly selected from a representative online panel maintained by a professional research organization. Given this study’s focus on the influence of Facebook use and network characteristics, an online panel is suitable for testing the hypotheses.Findings The results show positive associations between Facebook use and both off- and online political participation. Further, the positive association between Facebook use and political participation is mediated by discussion network heterogeneity and the proportion of strong ties in one’s Facebook network, but not the network size.Originality/value This study sheds light on the roles played by network characteristics of Facebook. The composition of a user’s Facebook network is closely related with what kind of information she encounters and how likely she is to participate in politics. Hence, network characteristics (e.g. Facebook discussion network heterogeneity) arise as important for gaining a nuanced understanding of the relationship between general use of the medium and its political outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between subjective well-being (SWB) and exposure to online hate material using samples of Finnish and American youth and young adults. The authors aim to identify socio-demographic determinants of SWB and the social ties prevalent both online and offline that may be relevant to the discussion of how hate material associates with well-being.Design/methodology/approach The data are derived from online survey responses from both Finnish (n=555) and American (n=1,014) young people aged 15-30. The authors control for the possible effects of social trust, offline friendships, online victimisation and economic status, which have been found to associate with SWB in earlier studies.Findings The findings show a clear association that highlights the uniformity in how negatively intended material online affects young people, despite the inclusion of a cross-national comparison. The study confirms previous work concerning happiness and life satisfaction.Research limitations/implications The survey used was not designed solely to address issues of SWB and as such a more targeted set of questions may have resulted in more in-depth data. Also, structural determinants of SWB, social spheres, and tie strength were analysed through proxy measures.Practical implications The findings concerning new variables linked to well-being and victimization in the cross-national context provide a new point of reference in terms of online hate being associated with happiness.Originality/value The authors consider a number of descriptive characteristics, determining the relationship between these variables and participants’ happiness. Through this cross-national data set, new comparisons were made possible between internet users of both countries. The study combines many earlier findings with new variables and theoretical frameworks to add new perspectives to the understanding of how well-being is affected online among young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Purpose: The main purpose of the study is to understand the factors that facilitate correction behavior among individuals. In this study the authors examine the impact of self-perceived media literacy (SPML) and reflection on participants' correction behavior. Design/methodology/approach: Methods: Data for the study were collected from Amazon's MTurk using an online survey. Data were collected after a certificate of exemption was received by the Institutional Review Board in a research university in the United States (US) Qualtrics software was used to collect data. The total number of participants was 797. Findings: Findings: The findings show that although both SPML and reflection are positively associated with rumor refutation, higher SPML alone is not enough. Reflective judgment is critical for individuals to take part in this behavior online, such that individuals with higher reflective judgment indicated that they refute rumors online, irrespective of their SPML score. Originality/value: Originality: The authors tested the relationship of multiple variables with participants correction behavior. Although research shows the importance of social correction, there is not much knowledge about what facilitates actual misinformation correction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose-American police departments are beginning to implement social media as a strategy to engage the surrounding communities through various methods, including Facebook and Twitter. The purpose of this paper is to examine the varieties in the use of Facebook and Twitter by local police departments. Design/methodology/approach–This study collected all data between October 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014 from Facebook and Twitter accounts of seven city police departments in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. These agencies resemble many police departments in the USA, and in total serve a diverse population of approximately 1,435,000. Content analysis and statistical tests are conducted. Findings–Results show that specific types of posts are more engaging for the community. Facebook and Twitter interactions vary depending upon the type of posts, demonstrating that citizens are using Facebook and Twitter to interact in different ways. Research limitations/implications–The findings presented here give police agencies' insight on how to appropriately adjust their use of social media to fulfill the needs of the citizens and optimize interactions with the community. Originality/value–This is the first study to systematically examine and analyze the varieties in the use of social media by traditional American local police departments and their interactions with citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to analyses of the sport-politics nexus by identifying whether the demographics of Twitter followers of Al-Jazeera Sport in the USA (rebranded in 2014 as beIN USA) can be associated with a specific political orientation.Design/methodology/approach Based on selective exposure theory, which posits that people follow news sources that reinforce their existing views, the authors identify the news outlets followed by beIN Twitter followers. To put the findings in perspective, the authors compared the results to the news outlets followed by the Twitter followers of Al-Jazeera America, Al-Jazeera’s second US outlet. Next, to understand the nature of the beIN and Al-Jazeera America communities, the authors used social network analysis to analyze the distribution of retweets within these communities.Findings The analysis shows that whereas Al-Jazeera America Twitter followers follow significantly more liberal than conservative news outlets, beIN’s followers were not identified with a specific political orientation. Analysis of beIN’s followers’ retweets shows a greater degree of connectivity among beIN’s followers than among the followers of Al-Jazeera America, indicating a more connected social network.Research limitations/implications Findings indicate that beIN’s Twitter following is characterized by more diverse and more strongly connected audience than Al-Jazeera America on Twitter, highlighting sports as a non-politicized realm on Twitter.Practical implications For practitioners, the study illustrates that controversial non-western media networks such as Al-Jazeera can gain access to diverse populations in the West by operating in the sport realm rather than the news realm.Originality/value This study offers a pioneering indication of the extent of a sport-ethnocentrism nexus on Twitter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Guided by the Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking (CMIS), this article identifies significant predictors that impact individuals seeking COVID-19 information. People with different political ideologies read contradictory information about the COVID-19 pandemic. However, how political ideology may affect COVID-19 information seeking remains unclear. This study explores the major information channels for individuals with different political ideologies to seek COVID-19 information. It further examines how political ideologies influence CMIS's effectiveness in predicting online health information-seeking. Design/methodology/approach: This study collected 394 completed survey responses from adults living in the United States after the 2020 lockdown. ANOVA analyses revealed the differences in salience, beliefs, information carrier characteristics, utilities and information-seeking actions between Liberals and Conservatives. Regression analyses discovered variables that predict Liberals' and Conservatives' online health information seeking. Findings: Results suggest that the internet is the top channel for COVID-19 information seeking. Compared to Conservatives, Liberals report more COVID-19 information-seeking actions. Liberals also express stronger salience, perceive higher trustworthiness of online COVID-19 information, are more likely to think of seeking online COVID-19 information as useful and helpful and report more substantial efficacy to mitigate the risk. Most CMIS variables predict Liberals' information seeking; however, only salience significantly predicts Conservatives' information seeking. Originality/value: This article indicates that CMIS should include political ideology to refine its prediction of information seeking. These findings offer practical implications for designing health messages, enhancing information distribution and reducing the public's uncertainty. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-08-2022-0436. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Focusing on the sociological clarification based on structural pluralism, this study explores the degree to which social media users who comment on the news posts of local newspapers use uncivil remarks and words that reflect their moral foundations. Design/methodology/approach: This computer-assisted data collection produces three types of datasets that include numerous social media comments. To explore the association between moral foundations and incivility, both quadratic association procedure (QAP) and multiple regression QAP (MRQAP) are implemented. Findings: The findings suggest that social media users who comment on the news posts of urban-located newspapers tend to use more uncivil words compared to social media users who comment on the news posts of suburban and rural-based newspapers. Individuals who comment on the news posts of urban-based newspapers tend to show a wider range of moral foundation spectrums than those who comment on the posts of rural and suburban newspapers. Lastly, there are significant associations between moral-vice components and incivility in response to urban- and suburban-located newspapers' social media posts. Research limitations/implications: The employed bag-of-words may not completely capture incivility given that social media users can use nuanced and metaphoric terms instead of explicitly uncivil terms. Even though this study systematically selected local newspapers' social media accounts, the contextual factors of other newspapers in politically slanted communities could be different. Practical implications: The findings of this study provide meaningful and practical implications for journalists and news reporters. The inherent rudeness and aggressiveness of social media users can drive them to use uncivil and moral-harm words against a particular person or group. Social implications: Under the circumstance that fake news and politically slanted news content are widely distributed in the United States, social media users may easily express negative emotions toward news stories or the journalists who post the stories. Originality/value: Structural pluralism particularly specializes in explaining why and how the contextual factors of news stories differ depending on community complexity. Building on the reasoning of structural pluralism in the social media context, this study investigates the degree to which social media users who comment on the news posts of local newspapers employ uncivil remarks and moral foundation words. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-11-2020-0522. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]