Work

Scenario-based messages on social media motivate COVID-19 information seeking.

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: Communicating information about health risks empowers individuals to make informed decisions. To identify effective communication strategies, we manipulated the specificity, self-relevance, and emotional framing of messages designed to motivate information seeking about COVID-19 exposure risk. In Study 1 (N=221,829), we conducted a large-scale social media field study. Using Facebook advertisements, we targeted users by age and political attitudes. Episodic specificity drove engagement: Advertisements that contextualized risk in specific scenarios produced the highest click-through rates, across all demographic groups. In Study 2, we replicated and extended our findings in an online experiment (N=4,233). Message specificity (but not self-relevance or emotional valence) drove interest in learning about COVID-19 risks. Across both studies, we found that older adults and liberals were more interested in learning about COVID-19 risks. However, message specificity increased engagement across demographic groups. Overall, evoking specific scenarios motivated information seeking about COVID-19, facilitating risk communication to a broad audience.

Source: Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition

DOI: 10.1037/mac0000114

Authors: Alyssa H. Sinclair, Morgan K. Taylor, Audra Davidson, Joshua S. Weitz, Stephen J. Beckett, Gregory R. Samanez-Larkin

Institutions: Duke University, Georgia Institute of Technology, École Normale Supérieure - PSL, Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure

Language: English

Topic: Communication and COVID-19 Impact

Subfield: Communication

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,000