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Message stream advertising (MSA) has become an increasingly popular option for advertising on mobile social media. However, MSA is often avoided by consumers, and this avoidance deserves more research attention. The purpose of this study is therefore to identify the underlying mechanism and key variables that affect consumer avoidance of MSA in the context of mobile social media.

A face-to-face survey was administered to current mobile users of WeChat (N = 438). Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the relationships in the research model.

Results revealed that mobile consumers employ mechanical avoidance methods (i.e. zipping, muting and zapping) against MSA. The findings also demonstrated that advertising intrusiveness (stimulus) is directly linked to negative emotions, perceived entertainment and sense of control (organism), which, in turn, relate to MSA avoidance (response).

The study contributes to the MSA avoidance literature by using the stimulus-organism-response model to deepen the understanding of consumers' MSA avoidance on mobile social media, and it suggests important managerial implications for advertising practitioners and platform operators.

The primary objectives of this article are to systematically explore whether and how certain WeChat use motives could lead to bridging social capital, bonding social capital and civic engagement among young people.

The data was collected from a large-scale online survey of 1208 young people in mainland China. Zero-order correlation analyses and structural equation modeling were carried out to examine the corresponding hypotheses.

Obtained findings show that WeChat use for informational and social motivations are positively associated with bonding and bridging social capital. Moreover, bonding social capital could mediate the relationship between WeChat usage for informational and relational motivations and civic engagement.

Theoretically, this article underlines the unique social and technological affordances of WeChat by exploring mobile social media use and how it would contribute to the quality of democracy by fostering young people's engagement in civic life. Practically, bridging and bonding social capital play significant roles in enhancing young people's civic engagement, which could be the meaningful resource for mobile social media designers, managers and government officials.

These obtained outcomes underlined the vital role of these newly emerging communication technologies in fostering democratic involvement and production of social capital in contemporary socially networked society.

Aiming to explore how audience consume and produce media events in the digital, distributed and social era we live in, the paper analyzes the viewing patterns of video news items during a media event (the week of Donald Trump's presidential visit to Israel, the first to a country outside the US), compared to a parallel comparable “ordinary” period (two weeks later, in which no inordinacy events occurred). The comparison focused on simultaneous activities of audiences engaged with the event, with either related (i.e. second screening) or unrelated (i.e. media multitasking).

The research is a diary study based on a dedicated mobile app in which respondents reported their news-related behavior during two periods: a media event period and comparable “ordinary” period.

Participants reported watching significantly more news video items in the first day of the media event week compared to the first day of the “ordinary” week. More than half of the viewing reports of the media event were not on TV. In the media event week, there were significantly higher percentages of viewing reports on smartphones/computers and significantly higher percentages of second-screening reports.

This is the first study that empirically explores the viewing patterns of video news items during a media event, compared to an “ordinary” period, focusing on media second screening of audiences engaged with the event. This comparison may reveal whether (1) media events still retain their centrality in a multi-screen era and (2) the role of the internet and online social media in the experience of media events.

The study aims to present a systematic literature review (SLR) to understand the current status of research on social media usage among the bottom of the pyramid (BOP). The purpose of this study is to identify the research gaps in this domain and review future research agendas by using theory, context, characteristics and methods [TCCM] framework.

An SLR, keywords co-occurrence and TCCM analysis were used to analyse and synthesize insights from 44 studies gained from Web of Science and Scopus databases.

The findings suggest that the USA and India are popular contexts for studying BOP. The BOP population uses social media to gain utilitarian, hedonic and social values. Further, social media can help BOP explore “entrepreneurship” opportunities, value co-creation and bring innovations.

This study expands the intellectual boundaries of social media at BOP and suggests multidisciplinary research. Additionally, adopting novel theoretical lenses helped determine social media's impact on BOP.

Most new media research focuses on behavior as a measure of engagement, while the psychological state of being occupied with its content has received little attention. This study examined news engagement beyond pure action observation by exploring young people’s psychological experiences with the news.

The study carried out a digital native’s survey on 212 people (18–28 years). The focus of the survey was on understanding individuals’ engagement with online news using affective and cognitive components. The authors compared the influence of each type of engagement on youth consumption of and attitudes toward online news.

The results of the hierarchical regression analysis showed that affective engagement can be a stronger predictor of online news consumption than cognitive engagement. While affective engagement significantly predicts positive attitudes toward online news, cognitive engagement had no significant effect.

These findings suggest that “engaging the heart” is more influential than “engaging the mind” in drawing young people to the news in today’s information environment. The study thus contributes to the understanding of the cognitive and emotional focus on news content and their importance in shaping young people’s expectations of online news. The findings from this study could have broader implications for future trends in online news consumption.

Social media celebrities are getting popular in promotions, and more people have experienced social media to receive information on diet and health tips. This research presents a study showing how social media can influence young people's diet behavior through collaboration with social media celebrities.

Through recruiting on various social media and online education forums, this research recruited 196 young Hongkongers to participate in an online survey developed based on the AIDA (Action, Interest, Desire, Attention) marketing communication model on how youths access diet information from social media celebrities in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong youths consume diet information from social media celebrities through instant messaging systems, social networking sites and online videos, and, in particular, information on food calories and nutrition. However, sponsorship from vendors would decrease their desire to agree with the messages from social media celebrities. After receiving this information, some participants would follow tips and guides from social media celebrities. However, they seldom share such information. Interestingly, males are more willing to follow these tips and guides.

First, this study fills the gap of prior research, which did not study much on how social media celebrities contribute to diet promotion to youths in Asia. Second, through the AIDA Model, this study shows how social media can affect the awareness and accessibility of diet information by young Hongkongers, followed by initiating their interest in this topic and retrieving more relevant information. Furthermore, the authors further understand their desire to follow and improve their behavior as promoted by social media influencers and how they practice such behavior. Based on these findings, health-related brands could consider using social media influencers helping to promote their products and services, and these brands could further use social media to secure customer engagement.

Video game streaming (VGS) is emerging as an extremely popular, highly interactive, inordinately subscribed and very dynamic form of digital media. Incorporated environmental elements, gratifications and user pre-existing attitudes in VGS, this paper presents the development of an extended model of uses and gratification theory (EUGT) for predicting users' behavior in novel technological context.

The proposed model was empirically tested in VGS context due to its popularity, interactivity and relevance. Data collected from 308 VGS users and structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to assess the hypotheses. Multi-model comparison technique was used to assess the explanatory power of EUGT.

The findings confirmed three significant types elements in determining VGS viewers' engagement, including gratifications (e.g. involvement), environmental cues (e.g. medium appeal) and user predispositions (e.g. pre-existing attitudes). The results revealed that emerging technologies provide potential opportunities for new motives and gratifications, and highlighted the significant of pre-existing attitudes as a mediator in the gratification-uses link.

This study is one of its kind in tackling the criticism on UGT of considering media users too rational or active. The study achieved this objective by considering environmental impacts on user behavior which is largely ignored in recent UGT studies. Also, by incorporating users pre-existing attitudes into UGT framework, this study conceptualized and empirically verified the higher explanatory power of EUGT through a novel multi-modal approach in VGS. Compared to other rival models, EUGS provides a more robust explanation of users' behavior. The findings contribute to the literature of UGT, VGS and users' engagement.

Due to the high penetration of social media and mobile devices in the recent decade, especially with the coronavirus, digital media tools have become a priority for marketing managers. Digital content marketing (DCM) is one of the crucial ingredients of the digital marketing strategy of businesses, which proposes value to the audience through brand-related and relevant content. The tourism industry is also trapped in the digital wave and has witnessed fundamental changes in how customers communicate. The growth of investment in DCM in this industry to introduce tourist attractions and acquire tourists calls for more research to explore multiple aspects of these initiatives' implementation. Despite the importance of DCM, there is no clear understanding of its implementation's various components. Therefore, the primary goal of the current study is to design a new comprehensive framework of DCM implementation that integrates its antecedents, process, and consequences in the tourism industry.

The mixed method was applied to achieve the research goal. The initial criteria and main components of the framework were identified with a comprehensive literature review to develop the framework. To enrich the initial criteria, some semi-structured interviews with experts were conducted; then, the extracted criteria and sub-criteria were prioritized and weighted using the quantitative best-worst method (BWM).

The results indicate that the proposed integrated framework contains three categories of antecedents, processes, and consequences and 12 main concepts. The weights and ranks of the extracted concepts and their sub-criteria are calculated using BWM.

The proposed framework helps managers have a big picture of the DCM strategy to successfully implement and consider the multiple dimensions of such initiatives. The proposed framework provides actionable insight for digital marketing decision-makers to manage such projects effectively and plan appropriate actions for progress.

A review of content marketing reveals that there are few studies conducted that integrate the components of the DCM implementation process, including antecedents, process, and consequences. This research is one of the first in the field of DCM implementation in the tourism industry to fill this theoretical gap. The main contribution of this research is to design a new integrated framework for DCM implementation that offers a holistic view of antecedents, process, and consequences.

Despite the burgeoning popularity of virtual gifting in live streaming, research lacks an in-depth understanding of the drivers behind this behavior. Using para-social relationship (PSR), this study aims to capture viewers’ lively social feelings toward the streamer as the key factor leading to the purchase behavior of virtual gifts. It also aims to establish a theoretical link between PSR and viewers’ holistic experience in live streaming as captured by cognitive absorption and aims to investigates the role of technological features (i.e. viewer–streamer and viewer–viewer interactivity, streamer-level and viewer-level deep profiling and design aesthetics) in shaping viewers’ experience.

Based on 433 survey responses, this study employs a combination of structural equation modeling and neural networks to offer valuable insights into the relationships between the technological environment, viewer experience and viewer behavior.

Our results highlight the salience of PSR in promoting the purchase of virtual gifts through cognitive absorption and the importance of the technological environment in eliciting the viewer experience. This study sheds light on the development of PSR in a technological environment and its relationship with cognitive absorption.

By applying PSR to conceptualize viewers’ perceived connection with the streamer, this study extends the research on purchase behavior in the non-shopping context by providing an enlightened understanding of virtual gift purchase behavior in live streaming. Moreover, by theoretically linking PSR with cognitive absorption, virtual gift purchase and technological features of live streaming, it enriches the theory of PSR and bridges the gap between the design practice of supporting the IT infrastructure of live streaming and research.

Smartphones have become a vital element of daily life and because of this ongoing reliance, consumer' attention is drawn to online platforms, which may harm societal communications. Therefore, this paper investigates a behavioral addiction known as “fear of missing out” (FoMO), which causes anxiety and leads to more problematic smartphone usage and phubbing behavior (PB). In addition, this paper examines the multidimensional perspective of smartphone addiction (SMA) and the moderating role of Big 5 personality types in the aforesaid relationship.

An online questionnaire was administered, to collect data from 468 smartphone users from universities across India. Partial least squares structural equation modeling and Hayes' PROCESS macros were employed as statistical tools for analysis.

Results highlight that there is a significant association between FoMO and PB with SMA as a significant mediator with partial mediation effect.

Conscientiousness, neuroticism and extroversion were found to be significant moderators in the model. Further, the findings raise awareness regarding smartphone etiquette and additional technology literacy required in this field.