The JMS Digital and Social Media Research Project was conceived in order to develop a theoretically driven research agenda with the overarching goal of gaining insights into the processes underlying user involvement with a wide range of digital and social media genres, as well as the outcomes from such involvement. To date there have been two rounds of data collection (2012; 2013/14). The first involved a nationally representative telephone survey with almost 1500 respondents. Questionnaire items asked about use of social networking sites, news communities, search engines, and e-commerce sites. Other items investigated second-screen use. In 2013/14, six follow up surveys were conducted online to collect user responses about video games, virtual worlds, social networking sites, news communities, search engines, and second screen use. In the 2015/16 academic year, experimental work assessing the impact of Facebook on knowledge-gain is planned, along with social network analysis related to Twitter use. So far the project has involved only quantitative research, but in order to obtain a rich understanding of digital and social media all research methodologies are welcomed and encouraged.

 

The project has generated numerous presentations at scholarly conferences - including one at the May 2015 meeting of the International Communication Association and two given at the August 2015 meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication. 

 

Included below are the peer reviewed journal articles originating from the project thus far:

 

Barker, V. (2017). User perceptions about self-efficacy, features and credibility as antecedents to flow on social networking sites. Journal of Social Media in Society, 6(1), 110-143.

Barker, V. (2016). The role of attitudes about site features and sense of community in the experience of flow among virtual world visitors. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 9(3). Available at:
https://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/index.php/jvwr/article/view/7220/6392

Hopp, T.M., & Barker, V. (2016). Investigating the influence of age, social capital affinity, and flow on positive outcomes reported by e-commerce site users. Behaviour & Information Technology. Published online: 05 April 2016

Barker, V. (2015). Investigating Antecedents to the Experience of Flow and Reported Learning Among Social Networking Site Users. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 59, 679-697.

  

Coates-Nee, R. & Dozier, D. M. (In press). Second screen effects: Linking multiscreen media use to television engagement and incidental learning. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies.

 Hopp, T. M., Barker, V., & Schmitz Weiss, A. (2015). Interdependent self-cons
trual, self-efficacy, and community involvement as predictors of perceived knowledge gain among MMORPG players. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social
Networking, 18, 468-473.

Barker, V, Dozier, D. M. Schmitz Weiss, A., & Borden, D. L. (2014). Harnessing peer potency: Predicting positive outcomes from social capital affinity and online engagement with participatory websites. New Media & Society. Published online before print April 7, 2014, doi:10.1177/1461444814530291

 

Barker, V, Dozier, D. M. Schmitz Weiss, A., & Borden, D. L. (2013). Facebook “friends”: Effects of social networking site Intensity, social capital affinity, and flow on reported knowledge-gain. Journal of Social Media in Society, 2, 76-97.

 

For more information: valeriebarker@valeriebarker.net. Office: PSFA 350A, SDSU