Department of Journalism and Creative Media

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Browsing Department of Journalism and Creative Media by Author "Billings, Andrew C."

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    Binging on Gilmore Girls: a parasocial exploration of fans' viewing behaviors
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Dyche, Caitlin Samantha; Billings, Andrew C.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    Binge-watching has become increasingly popular with the rise of video-on-demand services and online streaming sites, but little has been done to evaluate the effects of this new viewing behavior on audiences. This study explores binge-watching as a possible mechanism in the formation of parasocial relationships with media personae as well as a motivator for the negative affects experienced when a persona is no longer included in new content, the phenomenon known as parasocial breakup. Other variables, such as the extent to which the media is watched alone or with others, were also explored. To test these relationships, two online surveys were completed by fans of the television show Gilmore Girls, one before the release of a new Gilmore Girls mini-series on Netflix and one after the release. A total of 387 fans participated in the surveys, which assessed their viewing behaviors of the mini-series and already-released episodes in the time leading up to the mini-series’ premiere. In the post-watching sample, it was found that binge-watching the mini-series was negatively related to parasocial relationship intensity. Furthermore, parasocial relationship intensity was positively related to parasocial breakup distress. Other predictors of parasocial relationship intensity include show affinity and age of viewer, while mini-series enjoyment was found to have a strong, negative correlation to parasocial breakup distress. Findings suggest further research regarding the relationship between binge-watching and parasocial relationships, as well as the influence that discussing the show with others has on breakup distress.
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    How does Olympic and biographical media coverage affect fan and social identification with Mo Farah?
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Simpson, Oliver; Bissell, Kimberly L.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    Mo Farah is a quadruple Olympic gold medalist who has won distance gold medals in track competition in the London and Rio De Janeiro Summer Olympic Games, in 2012 and 2016, respectively. Farah’s national and ethnic identity are complex. Often, news coverage of him has mentioned his heritage. Using media clips, one of Farah winning a race at the Olympics and two clips from a documentary about Farah – one where Farah is at home with family Oregon, where he trains, and one where Farah is visiting his roots in Somalia, where he was born – this study asked survey participants which clip scored highest on several scales. Those scores included how well Farah represented his country, his likability, his relatability to the American college student audience, and how positively the participants felt about him. Findings show that participants reacted most positively toward Farah when he was described as Somali in the media, even though he left Somalia at age eight, was officially a British athlete in the Olympics, and now lives in the United States. Participants on the whole responded better to personable documentary coverage than news coverage, and they seemed to embrace Farah based on what they perceived his national identity to be. Keywords: Social identity, national identity, ethnic identity, nuanced national identity, media coverage, sport and Olympic media, Mo Farah.
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    Is Facebook affecting your mood?: a study of personality and depression among college students
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2013) Wang, Yujiao; Zhou, Shuhua; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    This study examined whether the use of the social networking site, Facebook, is related to depressive moods among college students. The study used social comparison and SPAARS (Schematic, Propositional, Association, Analogical and Representation System) approach explaining the psychological processes that cause people to feel depressed. It aims to investigate the association between Facebook usage and depressive emotion due to different level of self-satisfaction and personalities among college students. A total of 213 college students completed an online questionnaire that assessed participants' levels of satisfaction, depressive emotions after Facebook use and their personality traits. Within the limitations of the study, results indicate that there is a moderate negative correlation between college students' levels of satisfaction and depressive emotions after Facebook use. For personality traits, neuroticism has a moderate and positive correlation with depressive emotion; conscientiousness and depressive emotions have moderate negative correlation and a weak negative correlation is found between extroversion, agreeableness, openness to new experiences and depressive emotion.