Spiral of silence networked: The Process of Public Opinion Formation from a Meso-Perspective.
The project investigated the influence of personal and media information sources in individual communication networks on the perception of public opinion and the formation of opinions on current topics. The focus was on the question of how people deal with contradictions in digital environments, for example when articles in the mass media contradict user-generated articles on digital platforms and both are forwarded and commented on via social media by friends or colleagues who have a different point of view.
To illustrate this with an example: How do people process a “Tagesthemen” article arguing in favor of a corona-related curfew if this article reaches them via the tweet of a colleague who, in turn, is critical of curfews? What influence do user comments on the curfew by Facebook friends have and how do personal conversations on the subject affect people's own opinions?
The project was developed in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Helmut Scherer from the IJK in Hanover and took place at two locations. It is based on the theory of the spiral of silence and other approaches to the influence of conformity. The empirical study comprised surveys of an online panel and online diary studies on personal and media sources of information.
The Düsseldorf sub-project was funded by the German Research Foundation with around €200,000 for the period from April 2020 to March 2022.