Partisan Memes
Collier, J. R., Kim, Y., & Murray, C. (2024). The composition and amplification of mainstream political memes: evidence from 4 US election cycles. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2024.2421390
Kim, Y., Collier, J.R., Murray, C., & Stroud, N.J. (2023). A spiral of homophily: Partisan memes as a catalyst for like-minded networks. Political Communication. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2023.2222364
Do people engage differently with partisan memes compared to partisan news? Does meme exposure increase polarization? What patterns do we see in how people engage with memes? Can we implement interventions to interrupt those patterns? This project uses four experiments to answer these questions. Study 1 establishes that people react differently to partisan memes than they do to partisan news. Studies 1-4 confirm that people react differently to pro- and counter-attitudinal memes (as well as a mix of pro- and counter-attitudinal memes). Studies 3 and 4 provide limited evidence that reminding people of the diversity of their online networks can reduce digital behaviors that produce more homogenous networks.
Additionally, what’s in a meme? Are there associations between the shares that memes receive and the political actors, issues, or persuasive strategies featured in political memes? This project used a content analysis of nearly 4,000 memes shared from the top 10 most-followed Republican and Democratic Facebook Pages trafficking primarily in visual political content. Memes were shared during the 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022 U.S. national election cycles and were coded by a team of researchers based on a series of 42 variables including political actors, issues, and strategies such as incivility, dehumanization, and targeting the political outgroup. The findings indicate that memes are relatively consistent in their content over time; for instance, Donald Trump was consistently among the top 2 political actors featured in our meme sample. Additionally, memes that highlighted stably owned partisan issues (think: Economy) or newly emerged issues (think: the Mueller-Russia investigation or the SCOTUS hearings for Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett) received greater numbers of shares as did uncivil memes. Importantly, uncivil memes only constituted ~13% of our sample. So, these results suggest that a particularly divisive subset of memes are among those being distributed most widely.
Partisanship, Polarization, Platforms, and (Mis)Perceptions
Bruun Overgaard, C.S. & Collier, J.R. (2023). In different worlds: The contributions of polarization and platforms to partisan (mis)perceptions. New Media & Society. 10.1177/14614448231176551
“They live, we are likely to say, in different worlds. More accurately, they live in the same world, but they think and feel in different ones.” — Lippmann, 1922
To what extent do partisans live in different worlds? This project used a national probability sample to examine how partisanship, polarization, and platforms are associated with peoples’ beliefs in four widely-circulated true and false political claims surrounding COVID-19 and the integrity of U.S. elections. We find that both parties differ in their beliefs in true and false claims, with each believing more in pro-attitudinal than counter-attitudinal claims. These relationships are stronger for those reporting greater affective polarization. We also find partisan differences in belief for claims based on whether people report using Facebook, Google, Twitter, or YouTube.
Testing Knowledge to Battle Misinformation
Collier, J.R.+, Pillai, R.M.+, & Fazio, L.K. (2023). Multiple-choice quizzes improve memory for misinformation debunks, but do not reduce belief in misinformation. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications.
+ indicates equal authorship
Can fact checkers use multiple-choice quizzes to improve knowledge and recall for accurate information? This in-progress research uses a series of online experiments to test whether interactive online quizzes are a useful tool for helping people remember fact-checked information. Results from these experiments indicate people who saw a quiz after reading a fact check were significantly more likely to recall complex health or political information than those who did not see a quiz, even one week later.
Pathways to Deeper News Engagement
Collier, J. R., Dunaway, J., & Stroud, N. J. (2021). Pathways to deeper news engagement: Factors influencing click behaviors on news sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 26(5), 265-283.
Collier, J.R. & Stroud, N.J. (2018). Using links to keep readers on news sites. The Center for Media Engagement. White paper. https://mediaengagement.org/research/links/
Do the pathways that people take to news influence whether they choose to click on more news articles? This project explored how the site referring users to a news article–like Facebook, Google, or the news homepage–coupled with the features of the link section itself–like Popular v. Related content or images v. text-only–could influence the likelihood of people clicking to read more news.
Coverage: NiemanLab
Fonts and Political Campaigns
Haenschen, K., Tamul, D., & Collier, J.R. (2021). Font matters: Towards a theory of typeface selection by political campaigns. International Journal of Communication, 15: 2894-2914.
How do graphic designers make decisions about typography in their political projects? And, what do fonts communicate about political campaigns? This project used a series of interviews with graphic designers for political campaigns along with a content analysis of 908 Congressional race logos from the 2018 midterm election to answer these questions. Findings indicate that Republicans are more likely to use serif fonts than Democrats and that this tendency increases as races become more competitive. Female candidates are more likely to use a script or handwritten font, while male candidates are more likely to use slab serifs.
Coverage: News@Northeastern, POLITICO Morning Score newsletter, Blue State newsletter, Slow Build newsletter, Yello newsletter
The Language of Fake News
Collier, J.R. & Van Duyn, E. (2022). Fake news by any other name: The effects of phrases for false content on public perceptions of U.S. news media. Journal of Applied Communication Research. Advance online publication.10.1080/00909882.2022.2148487
Van Duyn, E., & Collier, J.R. (2019). Priming and fake news: The effects of elite discourse on evaluations of news media. Mass Communication & Society, 22(1): 29-48. doi:10.1080/15205436.2018.1511807 **
**2019 Article of the Year Award from Mass Communication & Society
Does being exposed to talk about “fake news” matter more than being exposed to “fake news” itself? This project explored the influence of elite discourse about fake news on individuals’ ability to accurately identify fake and real news. Findings from this experiment suggest that exposure to elite discourse about fake news is detrimental to individuals’ ability to identify real (but not fake) news and has a negative impact on media trust.
Coverage: Poynter, New York Times Interpreter newsletter, NiemanLab, Boston Globe, Publico, and International Journalists’ Network blog
COVID-19 and Local News Coverage
Masullo, G.M., Jennings, J.T., Collier, J.R., Muddiman, A., Murray, C., Chavez, G., Deaven, K., Deller, N., Gursky, J., Joseff, K., Wadman-Goetsch, E., Wilner, T. & Stroud, N.J. (2020, May). Covering coronavirus: How audience needs are changing and how newsroom coverage compares. Center for Media Engagement. https://mediaengagement.org/research/coronavirus-coverage-changes
Masullo, G.M., Collier, J.R. , Muddiman, A., Murray, C., Chavez, G., Deaven, K., Deller, N., Gursky, J., Jennings, J., Joseff, K., Wadman-Goetsch, E., Wilner, T., & Stroud, N.J. (2020, April). Covering coronavirus: A snapshot of the information people want and what newsrooms are reporting. The Center for Media Engagement. https://mediaengagement.org/research/coronavirus -reporting-snapshot
How does local news coverage of coronavirus match up with audience needs and wants? This project used CrowdTangle data to look at what local television stations and newspapers around the country were saying about COVID-19 in both April and May at the beginning of the pandemic. These results were compared to survey data on what the public identifies as their information needs in order to provide recommendations to newsrooms about what topics to cover less and which to highlight more. Academic papers using this data are in progress.
Asymmetric Concerns about News
Collier, J.R. (2021). Conservative concerns about news. In Jarvis, S. (Ed.) New agendas in communication: How right-wing media and messaging (re)made American politics. New York: Routledge.
**Honorable Mention, Seymour Sudman Student Paper Competition,
American Association for Public Opinion Research
Do liberals and conservatives differ in their concerns about facts and news? Has this changed during the Trump administration? This project uses nationally representative panel data from 2016 and 2018 to show that partisan differences in attitudes toward news and facts exist where conservatives are much more likely to report greater concern for quality of news. Social media use does not influence these outcomes while partisan media diets do.
Selective Exposure and Homophily
Stroud, N.J. & Collier, J.R. (2018). Selective exposure and homophily during the 2016 presidential campaign. In B.H. Warner, D.G. Bystrom, M.S. McKinney, & M.C. Banwart (Eds.) An Unprecedented Election: Campaign Coverage, Communication, and Citizens Divided. (pp. 21-39). Santa Monica, CA: Praeger.
Where did people turn for news and information and with whom did they discuss politics in the context of the 2016 election? This chapter used data from the 2016 Texas Media and Society Survey to answer those questions, analyzing the partisan composition of the public’s mediated and interpersonal contacts. Results showed that partisan selective exposure and homophily exist and that using likeminded media and having like-minded discussion partners is more prevalent than hearing from opposing viewpoints.
Subscription Messages
Collier, J.R., Kim, Y., & Stroud, N.J. (2021). How news images affect clicking on subscription appeals. Journalism Practice. doi: 10.1080/17512786.2020.1738262
Kim, Y., Collier, J.R., & Stroud, N. J. (2021). The effectiveness of gain and loss frames in news subscription appeals. Digital Journalism, 9(3), 300-318.
Stroud, N.J., Kim, Y., & Collier, J.R. (2018). Subscription messages. The Center for Media Engagement. White paper. https://mediaengagement.org/research/subscription-messages/
What works and what doesn’t when advertising subscriptions? This project explores possible strategies for evaluating whether people click to learn more about subscribing to news. In partnership with three newsrooms across the United States, we conduct 23 experimental tests reaching 492,965 Facebook or email accounts. Results show that people aren’t persuaded by logos or messages conveying what’s at stake, and they want to sign up for free newsletters more than they want to pay for a subscription.
Coverage: NiemanLab, JWord podcast
Jessica R. Collier 