How Internet Communications are affecting (and being affected by) the Spiral of Silence: Possible Implications for Grassroots Campaigns – A Pilot Study
This study explores the creation and growth of various online groups and communities and how they help eliminate the feeling of isolation among individuals with minority view. The focus of this study was to test the spiral of silence theory in a two-way, electronic, group-communication type of se...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Insitute for Public Relations
2014-04-01
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| Series: | Public Relations Journal |
| Online Access: | https://prjournal.instituteforpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2014Mohammed.pdf |
| Summary: | This study explores the creation and growth of various online groups and
communities and how they help eliminate the feeling of isolation among
individuals with minority view. The focus of this study was to test the spiral of
silence theory in a two-way, electronic, group-communication type of setting. The
study also explored how the growth of online communities, and the subsequent
ineffectiveness of the spiral of silence theory, can be used by individuals and
groups with the minority or different views to start grassroots campaigns and
garner support for their various causes. This study also gained insight into the
problems of measuring spiral of silence. For this purpose, we studied one thread
of posts on two Protest Blog Websites’ over a period of four months and found
that as responses to the post increased, so did the number of search results over
the period of four months. |
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| ISSN: | 1942-4604 1942-4604 |