ABSTRACT
There have been increasing concerns about spreading COVID-19 fake news and misinformation from social media sites (SNSs) such as Facebook and Twitter, as they facilitate connection and communication on a large scale. Because of the massive amount of information transmitted through SNSs, manual verification of such information is impossible, prompting the development and implementation of automated methods for fake news identification, aka automatic fact-checking. Fake news creators employ a variety of aesthetic tactics to increase their success rates, one of which is to excite the readers' sentiment. Therefore, this research uses sentiment analysis to analyze whether sentimental and emotional words in SNSs content could explain the situations between the spreading of true and fake news. In this way, governments and platform providers could take action to help the general public identify fake news and misinformation and curb them at their source. This research also offers insights to the public on the importance and impacts of sentiment words in SNS content. © 2023, IGI Global. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: This study investigated the relationship between generalised trust and psychological well-being in college students, considering the social support obtained from their social networks via Twitter and face-to-face (FTF) interactions. Initially, the authors planned to collect data at the beginning of the first semester in 2019 for fine-tuning the model as a pilot study, and in 2020 for the main study. However, due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the data helped authors to analyse changes in young people's psychological situation before and during the pandemic in Japan. Design/methodology/approach: The study conducted a self-report survey targeting college students in the Kanto region in Japan. Data were collected from mid-May to the end of June 2019, as well as in early to mid-June 2020, with 304 and 584 responses, respectively. The collected data were analysed using structural equation modelling and a multiple regression analysis. Findings: The findings using the 2019 data set indicated that (a) students mostly used Twitter for information gathering and sharing of hobbies, and they received both informatics and emotional support from Twitter, and from FTF interactions;(b) there were direct positive effects of generalised trust and social skills on their psychological well-being;and (c) students with lower levels of generalised trust tended to interact with very intimate individuals using Twitter to obtain social support, which did not have any effects on their improvement of psychological well-being. From the 2020 data set, the authors also found that, like 2019, generalised trust and social skills had direct effects on the improvement of psychological well-being. Additionally, we observed that students spent more time using Twitter and received more emotional support from it, as most people tried not to meet other people in person due to the first State of Emergency in Japan. Similarly, the authors found that in 2019, only social support from very intimate partners via FTF communication had slightly significant effects on improving their psychological well-being, whereas in 2020, their expectation for social networks via FTF had decreased their levels of psychological well-being, but their social support from Twitter had slightly significant effects on their improvement of psychological well-being. One of the main reasons for this might be due to the challenge of meeting with others in person, and therefore, social support from Twitter partially played a role that traditionally was only beneficial through FTF communication. Originality/value: We understand that this is one of the few social psychological studies on social media that collected data both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides unique evidence in demonstrating how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed college students communication behaviours. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: While the library has remained a preferred place of learning and received a positive perception in all aspects, the current space planning, as categorized in the “four-space model,” does not seem to address user needs well. The purpose of this article is to explore the correlations of user perceptions, academic library usage and social capital. Design/methodology/approach: This research presented a new approach to understanding the academic library's role by surveying 120 users about their preferred place on the campus, actual usage, and perceptions of the library physically and remotely. Correlation analysis between library use and user activities was performed. Findings: The findings indicate that the library demonstrates attributes from all four levels in the learning space hierarchy, providing an ideal learning space for students. However, our results do not support academic libraries as the breeding ground of social capital. Originality/value: As the data of this study were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic period, the findings may provide us with insights on how library users have adjusted themselves in using these public facilities with social distancing in their minds. The findings also provide implications for re-designing the library places to meet the users' needs and make it favorable learning commons to students in both the pandemic and post-pandemic eras. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.