Chen Anfan, Ng Aaron, Xi Yipeng, Hu Yong
School of Humanity and Social Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Anhui Province, China.
Business, Communication and Design Cluster, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore.
Digit Health. 2022 Mar 18;8:20552076221085061. doi: 10.1177/20552076221085061. eCollection 2022 Jan-Dec.
Various studies have explored the underlying mechanisms that enhance the overall reach of a support-seeking message on social media networks. However, little attention has been paid to an under-examined structural feature of help-seeking message diffusion, information diffusion depth, and how support-seeking messages can traverse vertically into social media networks to reach other users who are not directly connected to the help-seeker. Using the multilevel regression to analyze 705 help-seeking posts regarding COVID-19 on Sina Weibo, we examined sender, content, and environmental factors to investigate what makes help-seeking messages traverse deeply into social media networks. Results suggested that bandwagon cues, anger, instrumental appeal, and intermediate self-disclosure facilitate the diffusion depth of help-seeking messages. However, the effects of these factors were moderated by the epidemic severity. Implications of the findings on support-seeking behavior and narrative strategies on social media were also discussed.
多项研究探讨了增强社交媒体网络上求助信息总体传播范围的潜在机制。然而，人们很少关注求助信息传播的一个未被充分研究的结构特征——信息传播深度，以及求助信息如何在社交媒体网络中纵向传播，以触及那些与求助者没有直接联系的其他用户。我们使用多层回归分析了新浪微博上705条关于新冠肺炎的求助帖子，研究了发送者、内容和环境因素，以探究是什么使得求助信息在社交媒体网络中深入传播。结果表明，从众线索、愤怒情绪、工具性诉求和适度的自我表露有助于求助信息的传播深度。然而，这些因素的影响受到疫情严重程度的调节。我们还讨论了这些研究结果对社交媒体上求助行为和叙事策略的启示。
