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Article
2024
The influence of social norms on expressing sympathy in social media
The influence of social norms on expressing sympathy in social media
Abstract
Increasingly, people are turning to social media to express grief. By and large, however, the social media community can do little more than improvise reactions, not quite sure how to use the old familiar social scripts as guides to lending effective support. To examine the role of social media in the grieving process, we used a mixed-methods approach: 12 interviews with “social media grievers” reveal the expectations of the bereaved regarding other users’ behavior. By way of two online experiments with 1058 participants, we tested how these expectations are met by the messaging of social media providers in accordance with social norm theory. We found that injunctive social norm messages are particularly effective, whereas descriptive social norm messages vary in their effectiveness, depending on which information is presented and how prominently so. What our study shows, then, is that both are potent socio-technical tools that can guide users towards more empathetic behavior when dealing with the bereaved, so while social media may not be a substitute for therapy, they can offer profound comfort for those of us dealing with bereavement and grief.
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Journal of information technology, 39 (2024), 3, 417-440.
https://doi.org/10.1177/02683962231171401.
ISSN: 1466-4437
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English
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300 Social sciences, sociology, and anthropology
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Sustainable Development Goals
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@article{Graf-Drasch2024,
url = {https://hohpublica.uni-hohenheim.de/handle/123456789/16643},
doi = {10.1177/02683962231171401},
author = {Graf-Drasch, Valerie and Gimpel, Henner and Bonenberger, Lukas et al.},
title = {The influence of social norms on expressing sympathy in social media},
journal = {Journal of information technology},
year = {2024},
volume = {39},
number = {3},
pages = {417--440},
}