Can online exemplars trigger a spiral of silence?

Zerback, Thomas and Fawzi, Nayla (2017): Can online exemplars trigger a spiral of silence? Examining the effects of exemplar opinions on perceptions of public opinion and speaking out. In: New Media & Society, Vol. 19, No. 7: pp. 1034-1051

Abstract

In modern media environments, social media have fundamentally altered the way how individual opinions find their way into the public sphere. We link spiral of silence theory to exemplification research and investigate the effects of online opinions on peoples’ perceptions of public opinion and willingness to speak out. In an experiment, we can show that a relatively low number of online exemplars considerably influence perceived public support for the eviction of violent immigrants. Moreover, supporters of eviction were less willing to speak out on the issue online and offline when confronted with exemplars contradicting their opinion.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Keywords: Exemplification; hate speech; public opinion perception; spiral of silence online; user comments
• Faculties: Social Sciences > Communication
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology; 300 Social sciences > 380 Commerce, communications and transportation
• ISSN: 1461-7315
• Alliance/National Licence: This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.
• Annotation: Article first published online: January 25, 2016
• Language: English