Facebook and other social media platforms are increasingly used to exchange opinions on political, social, and scientific topics. Younger people, in particular, consider them a primary means of accessing current debates. To explore opportunities for participation in digital public spheres, we must examine the circumstances in which private individuals express their opinions. We should also consider which groups of people can exert particular influence as opinion leaders. Individual users' attitudes towards current topics will be modeled from a reception perspective. This will be done by presenting journalistic content and voices from the audience simultaneously via comments in social networks or by supplementing traditional media use with a second screen, such as social TV. The research will examine the extent to which the characteristics of the digital public sphere trigger a form of information processing that is generally more oriented toward social desirability, and under what circumstances this can lead to an increased susceptibility to misinformation ("fake news").

Zentrale Publikationen:

Winter, S. (2020). Do anticipated Facebook discussions diminish the importance of argument
quality? An experimental investigation of attitude formation in social media. Media
Psychology, 23, 79-106. doi:10.1080/15213269.2019.1572521 [Impact Factor: 2.736]

Winter, S. (2019). Do anticipated Facebook discussions diminish the importance of argument quality? An experimental investigation of attitude formation in social media. Media Psychology. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/15213269.2019.1572521

Winter, S. (2018). Impression-motivated news consumption – Are user comments in social media more influential than on news sites? (Pre-registered study) Journal of Media Psychology. doi: 10.1027/1864-1105/a000245

Winter, S., Krämer, N. C., Benninghoff, B., & Gallus, C. (2018). Shared entertainment, shared opinions: The influence of Social TV comments on the evaluation of talent shows. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 62, 21-37. doi:10.1080/08838151.2017.1402903