TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of user comments in estimation of the public opinion climate and perceived support for one's opinion
AU - Soffer, Oren
AU - Gordoni, Galit
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The World Association for Public Opinion Research. All rights reserved.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - This article examines how user comments influence assessment of public opinion climate and perceived support for one's opinion. The effects of user-comment sentiment (positive vs. negative) and of user-comment content (with or without personal exemplification) were tested with an online experiment (n ¼ 1,510). Results show that user-comment effects on estimates of public opinion depend mainly on the sentiment of the comments and not on their framing as opinions with or without personal exemplification. Negative comments significantly reduce readers' estimation of public opinion support of the issue dealt with by the article and affect the perceived support of one's opinion. Study results refer to the possible dangers in user comments deliberate manipulation in democratic public discussion.
AB - This article examines how user comments influence assessment of public opinion climate and perceived support for one's opinion. The effects of user-comment sentiment (positive vs. negative) and of user-comment content (with or without personal exemplification) were tested with an online experiment (n ¼ 1,510). Results show that user-comment effects on estimates of public opinion depend mainly on the sentiment of the comments and not on their framing as opinions with or without personal exemplification. Negative comments significantly reduce readers' estimation of public opinion support of the issue dealt with by the article and affect the perceived support of one's opinion. Study results refer to the possible dangers in user comments deliberate manipulation in democratic public discussion.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85101002731&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/IJPOR/EDZ036
DO - 10.1093/IJPOR/EDZ036
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AN - SCOPUS:85101002731
SN - 0954-2892
VL - 32
SP - 569
EP - 585
JO - International Journal of Public Opinion Research
JF - International Journal of Public Opinion Research
IS - 3
ER -