“A Good Bell is Heard from Far, a Bad One Still Further”: A Socio-demography of Disclosing Negative Emotions in Social Media

Authors

  • Harri Jalonen Turku University of Applied Sciences

Keywords:

social media, negative emotion

Abstract

A survey study was conducted to explore whether certain demographic variables such as age, gender and education, and differences in individuals’ social media activity, explain differences in disclosing negative emotions in social media. The study found a relationship between age and the tendency to express and share negative emotions. The analysis shows that older users were more moderate in disclosing negative emotions than their younger counterparts. Instead, gender and education were not statistically significant factors in explaining social media behaviour. The study also shows that the more active the user is in social media, the more probably he or she also discloses negative emotions. The study underscores the importance of managing of negative social media content, and identifies several avenues for further studies.

 

Author Biography

Harri Jalonen, Turku University of Applied Sciences

I’m working as a Principal Lecturer and Research Group Leader (AADI - New Platforms and Modes of Value Creation) at Turku University of Applied Sciences (Finland). I also hold a position of Adjunct professor at University of Vaasa. I received my Ph.D. degree in Knowledge Management in 2007 from Tampere University of Technology. I´ve long-term research experience dealing with knowledge and innovation management, public management and digitalization issues in different organizational contexts, including over hundreds of publications in these fields. Recently I´ve focused on the fuzziness of innovation, the hidden side of knowledge management and the business use of social media. I´ve guided several thesis projects, including doctoral theses. I´m also a reviewer for many scientific academic journals, research grant applications and committee member of international conferences. I´ve managed or been involved in several international and national research projects.

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Published

2017-05-30