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Reposted by Darian Harff

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 4d

I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.

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Jakob-Moritz Eberl @jamoeberl.bsky.social · 6d

New publication out in #IJPP! 📑
We study how audience expectations of journalism 📰 shifted during COVID-19 in Austria 🇦🇹 – showing both short-term rally effects & longer-term recalibration 🔄.
Led by @clmron.bsky.social & @danielwiesner.bsky.social , w/ @andreasriedl.bsky.social & me. 1/n

Screenshot of an academic article titled “Rally and Recalibrate: Political Dynamics of Audience Expectations of Journalism During Times of Crisis” published in The International Journal of Press/Politics (OnlineFirst, Sage Journals).
Authors: Claire Roney, Daniel Wiesner, Andreas A. Riedl, and Jakob-Moritz Eberl.
The abstract explains that the study examines how audience expectations of journalism in Austria evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic. It identifies shifts toward emerging journalistic roles such as Fact Checker and Science Communicator, based on data from three waves of the Austrian Corona Panel Project. Findings show fluctuating audience expectations tied to changes in public trust and crisis dynamics, emphasizing journalism’s need for adaptability.
Keywords listed: journalism, audience expectations, trust in institutions, crisis attitudes, survey research, COVID-19.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612251375203

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Stefan Kappacher @kappachers.bsky.social · 17d

Die neue TikTok-Betreiberfirma in den USA wird von den Trump Bros Ellison und Andreessen kontrolliert werden & das Weiße Haus soll sogar einen Vertreter im Vorstand bekommen. Demokratiepolitisch verheerend. Bemerkenswerte Analyse von @saschalobo.bsky.social www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/net...

TikTok als wichtigste Medien-, Kultur-, Informations-, Wissens- und Unterhaltungsplattform junger Amerikaner:innen wird dagegen nun möglicherweise einen Regierungszensor und -dirigenten in den Vorstand hineininstalliert bekommen. Die von außen kaum nachvollziehbare Aussteuerung der Inhalte mithilfe des geheimen Algorithmus kann leicht ein dystopisches Szenario ergeben: Eine trumpstaatliche Scheinöffentlichkeit, in der Pro-Trump-Inhalte um den Faktor hundert häufiger ausgespielt werden als Anti-Trump-Inhalte.

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Darian Harff @darianharff.bsky.social · 26d

🙋‍♀️ Last, this article explores differences in the presence of these elements across SMIs (e.g., based on gender). As such, female SMIs in this sample are most likely to self-disclose and to offer simplifying political content, which may have positive consequences for followers’ political involvement.

Darian Harff @darianharff.bsky.social · 26d

📢 In addition, about half of the political videos contain specific content cues such as calls for participation or explanations of political terms that could elucidate why people often associate parasocial opinion leader functions with them (e.g., the ability to simplify political topics).

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Darian Harff @darianharff.bsky.social · 26d

🤳 To compensate for the lack of personal exchange—which is the typical context of opinion leadership—SMIs for example use direct address or self-disclosure to build a connection with followers. I find that they employ these techniques as much in their political as in their non-political content.

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Darian Harff @darianharff.bsky.social · 26d

📰 Consistent with the opinion leader label, SMIs are primarily opinion-driven in their communication. When factual claims are made, SMIs mainly draw from legacy news media to support them—but frequently they also fail to provide sources for most claims made in a video.

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Darian Harff @darianharff.bsky.social · 26d

📊 New publication! In this single-author piece, I present insights into political content from social media influencers (SMIs) on YouTube in Germany. In the article, I examine to what extent SMIs construct an opinion leader role in their communication. doi.org/10.1080/1520...

Intimate and Opinion-Oriented Communication? Examining Social Media Influencers’ Opinion Leader Potential Through Their Political Content

Social media influencers (SMIs), described as popular social media users, have repeatedly posted about political topics on their channels. Extant work has described these SMIs as (parasocial) opini...

doi.org

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Wai Yen Tang Ph.D. @wytang.bsky.social · 26d

Intimate and Opinion-Oriented Communication? Examining Social Media Influencers’ Opinion Leader Potential Through Their Political Content by @darianharff.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/1520...

Intimate and Opinion-Oriented Communication? Examining Social Media Influencers’ Opinion Leader Potential Through Their Political Content

Social media influencers (SMIs), described as popular social media users, have repeatedly posted about political topics on their channels. Extant work has described these SMIs as (parasocial) opini...

doi.org

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Hendrik Meyer @hendrikmeyer.bsky.social · Sep 9

📢 Happy to see this #OpenAccess paper out in #Journalism!
"From disruptive protests to disrupted news frames: Comparing German news on climate protests"
with @mikefarjam.bsky.social, Helena Rauxloh & Michael Brüggemann

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Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · Aug 11

NEW PAPER!!

We study how the "AI slop" era could actually boost demand for credible news.

In an experiment with thousands of Süddeutsche Zeitung readers, we found that AI misinformation made people *trust news less*, but *read it more*. 🧵

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Luca Carbone @luca-carbone.bsky.social · Jul 28

Excited to share our latest preregistered study with Christoph Klimmt and @lauravandenbosch.bsky.social about the role of adolescents’ favorite music artists for the internalization of a performance-oriented self-concept! 🎶 doi.org/10.1080/1520... 1/

The Internalization of a Performance-Oriented Self-Concept Among Adolescents Through Their Favorite Music Artists

Music is a highly popular yet understudied element of adolescents’ media and cultural consumption that functions as an influential agent of socialization. Past work has shown the presence of perfor...

doi.org

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Sam Jeffers @worklesshard.bsky.social · Jul 25

Top social issues advertisers across various EU countries in the last 90 days - lots and lots of fundraising advertising, particularly for aid to Gaza. From October, Meta stops this.

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Dan Hiaeshutter-Rice @dhrice.bsky.social · Jun 16

Also Mia is on the job market and you should hire her, she’s an amazing scholar!

Mia Carbone @miacarbone.bsky.social · Jun 15

That was fun!! Such a cool panel on politics and pop culture. Thanks to everyone who attended and to the other presenters for sharing their awesome projects. And, thanks Dan for letting me be the one to share this super fun and interesting paper

Dan Hiaeshutter-Rice @dhrice.bsky.social · Jun 15

Starting in a few minutes, @miacarbone.bsky.social will be presenting our paper on how partisanship is associated with different music preferences and content! #ICA25

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Hendrik Meyer @hendrikmeyer.bsky.social · May 20

New in Social Media + Society:
How do (non-)disruptive #climate #protests shape social media debates?
We analyzed ~5M Twitter/X posts on #FFF & #LetzteGeneration: Disruptive protests generate more engagement—but also more polarization, driven by right-wing/conservative users: doi.org/10.1177/2056...

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JMCQ @jmcquarterly.bsky.social · May 26

Read all about how media enable social comparison with “attainable” role models here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10..... This study was authored by Darian Harff, Heleen Dekoninck, and Desiree Schmuck. @ipk-univie.bsky.social

Idols Within Reach: Measuring Perceptions of Media Role Models’ Attainability - Darian Harff, Heleen Dekoninck, Desiree Schmuck, 2025

Media do not only enable social comparison with perfect idols but also with role models who seem “attainable” and thus within reach for youth, which can invoke ...

journals.sagepub.com

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Anaëlle Gonzalez @gonzalezanaelle.bsky.social · May 14

🥳 New publication on the links between social media use and perfectionism in adolescence, as part of Prof. @lauravandenbosch.bsky.social 's MIMIc project (www.projectmimic.eu/)

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Media Psychology Lab @mediapsychologylab.bsky.social · May 13

The Media Psychology Lab has been awarded the Society Award 2025 by KU Leuven’s Humanities and Social Sciences Group, recognizing our research’s societal impact and public relevance.
We are honored by this recognition and committed to continuing research that bridges media, well-being, and society!

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Advertising & Media Psychology Research Group (U of Vienna) @adme-uvienna.bsky.social · Apr 30

📢 New Publication 📢

@rinatmeerson.bsky.social, @kevinkoban.bsky.social, Jörg Matthes review bystander research on content moderation, highlighting theoretical heterogeneity, a focus on cognitions, & lacking attention to content, moderation, context, & individual features.

👉 doi.org/10.1080/1369...

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Heleen Dekoninck @heleendekoninck.bsky.social · May 8

Pub alert ⚠️ It’s not just about 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 to be like them—it’s about 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯. Our new PoMRA scale measures perceptions of media role models’ attainability. We found that influencers seem more within reach than celebrities, underscoring why attainability matters in media effects studies✨

Darian Harff @darianharff.bsky.social · May 6

2️⃣ In the concept paper, we argue that closeness to opinion followers in status can make opinion leaders seem *attainable*. In the second pub @jmcquarterly.bsky.social, we (w/ @heleendekoninck.bsky.social and @desireeschmuck.bsky.social) present a measure for attainability: doi.org/10.1177/1077...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

doi.org

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Darian Harff @darianharff.bsky.social · May 6

Possible areas of use
- in research on counter-stereotypical role models
- in social comparison research (it may act as a potentially important boundary factor of effects)
- in research on social media influencers (attainability may be their unique quality and explain their influence potential)

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Darian Harff @darianharff.bsky.social · May 6

We found that PoMRA is correlated with constructs like perceived similarity, but clearly captures a unique construct. We examine that men generally view their role models as more attainable than women, and that social media influencers are viewed as more within reach than traditional celebrities.

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Darian Harff @darianharff.bsky.social · May 6

Our scale Perceptions of Media Role Models‘ Attainability (PoMRA) measures the extent to which people feel that they can become like their media role models. We used data from 3 independent youth samples to test and validate our scale. Three versions of the scale (23-, 10-, 5-item) were created.

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Darian Harff @darianharff.bsky.social · May 6

2️⃣ In the concept paper, we argue that closeness to opinion followers in status can make opinion leaders seem *attainable*. In the second pub @jmcquarterly.bsky.social, we (w/ @heleendekoninck.bsky.social and @desireeschmuck.bsky.social) present a measure for attainability: doi.org/10.1177/1077...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

doi.org

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Darian Harff @darianharff.bsky.social · May 6

Last, a simple two-step model does not sufficiently capture the various flows of communication between influencers (dubbed *proximal mass opinion leaders*/ProMOLs), their audiences, and other actors in the public sphere. We illustrate the multiple layers of ProMOLs’ impact in the visual model below.