What motivates information sharing about disaster victims on social media? Exploring the role of compassion, sadness, expectancy violation, and enjoyment

Sharing information about disasters and victims on social media can help raise situational awareness, enhance issue-related knowledge, promote prosocial behaviors and rebuild a sense of community during the recovery stage. In the current study, we investigate two specific ways of framing victim information, how they influence the likelihood of sharing such information on social media, and the underlying cognitive and emotional mechanisms. Participants (N = 631) were randomly assigned to 1 of 12 experimental conditions as part of 2 (victim exemplification: present vs. absent) x 2 (provocative language: present vs. absent) x 3 (message stimuli) between-subjects factorial design. Main findings indicate that, although both sadness and message enjoyment were positively associated with information sharing intentions, messages that induced more enjoyment and less sadness were more likely to be shared. In addition, messages that violated less expectation were also more likely to be shared. Overall, this study suggests that those wanting to create a victim message that can be shared more widely should produce a message that elicits more sadness, uses less provocative language and is more enjoyable.

Automated summary

Sharing information about disasters and victims on social media can raise situational awareness and promote prosocial behaviors. Messages that induce more enjoyment and less sadness are more likely to be shared, while also avoiding violating audience expectations.