Will You Listen? An Examination of Parasocial Interaction and ...

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Will You Listen? An Examination of Parasocial Interaction and Credibility in Radio Maureen E. Savage and Patric R. Spence A quasi-experiment was designed to examine the effects of social media on parasocial relationships and credibility for on-air radio hosts. Hypotheses and research questions were tested using 4 experimental conditions. A sample of 240 participants were randomly assigned to a condition and then asked to complete a survey. Results showed that social media appeared to have a negative effect on the strength of a parasocial relationship as well as on credibility. According to a 2011 study by Arbitron, approximately 93% of Americans over the age of 12 listen to the radio on a weekly basis. Radio has been one of the most widely used sources of news and entertainment since the turn of the twentieth century, and continues to produce new programming despite having to compete with television and the Internet. Radio is accessible at almost every point of the day, whether at home, in the car, at work, or even during a crisis situation when electric power is not available (Spence, McIntyre, Lachlan, Savage, & Seeger, 2011). Many argue that the study of broadcast radio has been ignored in contemporary scholarship. Lacey (2008) refers to radio as ‘‘a neglected medium, invisible, the Cinderella of communication studies and a wallflower at the media studies ball’’ (p. 21). New media have taken over academic interest, considering how the ‘‘Golden Age of radio’’ has come and gone (Lacey, 2008). But the age of radio has not ended; instead, it has transformed to include wireless technology that no longer resembles traditional radio broadcasting. Satellite radio, MP3 podcasts, and Internet radio sites such as Pandora.com or LastFM all resemble traditional radio, but have now expanded its original definition (Baker, 2010; Mooney, 2010). Even with the advent of radio technology innovation, traditional radio broadcasting has maintained a solid and active audience. Listeners continue to regularly tune Maureen E. Savage (M.A., Western Michigan University, 2011) is currently a Ph.D. student at Indiana University completing her degree with the School of Journalism in Mass Communication. Her research focus is on radio broadcasting, radio’s impact on language transmission, and media audiences. Patric R. Spence (Ph.D., Wayne State University, 2005) is an associate professor in the Division of Instructional Communication and Research, College of Communication and Information, at the University of Kentucky. His research focuses on risk and crisis communication. © 2014 Broadcast Education Association DOI: 10.1080/19376529.2014.891214

Journal of Radio & Audio Media 21(1), 2014, pp. 3–19 ISSN: 1937-6529 print/1937-6537 online

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in to their favorite programs, whether they are driving to work, making breakfast, or getting ready for bed. When listeners turn on the radio, they are essentially inviting their favorite program hosts or broadcasters into their lives, relying on familiar names and voices to report the events of the day, play the newest hit song, or find more community oriented formats such as university student-run stations. Listening to these voices can become a part of a person’s everyday routine. Listeners may even begin to have feelings of attachment toward these familiar broadcasters, as the perceived physical or psychological ‘‘distance’’ between them is lessened (Perse & Courtright, 1993). Although the broadcaster and listener may never meet faceto-face, audience members may refer to their favorite host on a first name basis, regarding him or her as a welcome, yet invisible, guest in their homes. The current study investigates the one-way relationships, called parasocial relationships, in the context of traditional broadcast radio, supplemented with new media. Although the Internet and social media may be viewed as a threat to traditional radio broadcasting, few studies have examined how these media may actually be helping radio, and those who work in the industry. Radio relies on feedback in order to meet the needs of consumers. Listeners can now go to radio station Web sites or Twitter feeds and leave comments on bulletin boards or online forums. This kind of communication can be directed at a station in general, or it can be used to communicate with individual deejays or program hosts. A study by Ferguson and Greer (2011) examines how radio stations are using Twitter to promote their shows and interact with their audiences. Unlike more risky promotional actions, the authors argue, Twitter only requires however much time station personnel decide to devote to its management. The innovation of new media has given radio listeners another means to enhance their media consumption. Podcasts and web streaming can be used to supplement the listening experience. Johnson (2012) also explored this phenomenon in her study on NPR and new media following the rebranding of NPR. Results of the study showed features that allowed listeners to personalize their experience (i.e., online streaming, podcasts, and articles) were viewed as most valuable as well as potentially appealing to fans of more ‘‘traditional’’ media. More importantly to this study, the continually growing popularity of social networking media has created a means for more interpersonal interaction between radio hosts and listeners. Although there is a wide selection of social networking sites to choose from, this study examines how Facebook can be used as a tool to supplement radio listeners’ experiences. Facebook was created in 2004 as an online yearbook for Harvard University students. It quickly grew to include other colleges and universities (Facebook, 2013). Over its first decade, Facebook has continued to expand and upgrade its software and user interface (sometimes, much to the chagrin of Facebook users themselves). One of the many changes to Facebook has been the creation of the ‘‘Like’’ button and fan pages. Using these functions, users can keep up to date with groups that pertain to their individual interests, such as bands, celebrities, organizations, or social movements. The creation of the ‘‘Like’’ button along with other features allows more social Web engagement (Gerlitz & Helmond, 2013). For

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example, many of the hosts of radio stations throughout the United States manage their own fan pages to connect with their listeners, on-and off-air, and various programs are promoted in this way with hopes of maintaining or building audiences. Examining the ways in which social media may influence perceptions about radio program hosts may help better understand how parasocial interaction is used to build these one-way relationships. More specifically, this study examines the ways in which self-disclosure from a radio program host, whether disclosed over the air or posted online via a social networking site, is able to influence the perceived credibility of the host, and his or her relationship with listeners.

Literature Uses and Gratifications Radio has adapted over the many decades of its use to meet the needs and wants of its listeners. Using the theoretical lens of uses and gratifications, these ‘‘wants and needs’’ of listeners toward radio stations can be better understood. According to A. Rubin (2002), uses and gratifications can be understood as ‘‘a psychological communication perspective which focuses on how individuals use mass media and other forms of communication such as interpersonal communication to fulfill their needs and wants’’ (as cited in Urista, Dong, & Day, 2009). This theoretical approach helps explain the reasons individuals use certain kinds of media over others and what sort of payoff the individual may receive because of it. According to McQuail, Blumler, and Brown (1972), some of these gratifications include diversion, personal relationships, personal identity, and surveillance. People may listen to the radio to pass the time, learn what is going on in their communities, or feel a connection with another person’s voice. Other studies have determined there are two specific categories of gratifications: process and content (Kayahara & Wellman, 2007). Process gratifications are satisfied by interacting with the media, such as updating a Facebook page or texting in a vote on American Idol. Content gratifications may be satisfied by reading about a friend’s day on his or her blog, or gathering information from various news outlets. This suggests that individuals are active consumers of media (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1974). A number of studies have been conducted examining the uses and gratifications individuals gain from media. Blumler’s (1979) study on uses and gratifications determined that there were three broad categories that explain individual’s use of media: surveillance of the environment, diversion from the environment, and personal identity. Many scholars attempted to confirm these findings (see, e.g., Lain, 1985; Palmgreen, 1985; Towers, 1986); however, most of the results only supported two of the three categories. In Lichtenstein and Rosenfeld’s (1984) study, the only gratification of any significance was distraction as a means to kill time. Towers (1985, 1987) attempted to determine why people listened to the radio. Both studies showed the same results: radio was primarily being used for information (surveillance) and entertainment (diversion).

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As suggested previously, radio listeners may use social networking sites to enhance their listening experience. Social networking sites (SNS) are increasingly popular among various generations because they can satisfy a variety of needs from one central location (Ray, 2007, as cited in Urista, Dong, & Day, 2009). According to Donath and Boyd (2004), SNS are an inexpensive and user-friendly means of maintaining social relationships, both strong and weak. Because these Web sites have the potential to strengthen weaker social relationships, they are an ideal means for radio listeners to possibly gain or strengthen relationships with the program hosts they listen to on a regular basis. By viewing a host’s Facebook page, fans can satisfy their curiosity about the host. This also provides the host a venue for self-disclosure, which can strengthen or weaken the previously perceived relationship as well as establish credibility.

Credibility By listening to a program host on the radio, listeners make judgments about the credibility of the host. Attitudes toward another individual are key to establishing a productive relationship, particularly between radio hosts and their listeners. Many individuals choose to listen to those who share similar viewpoints and opinions as themselves. In other cases, the exact opposite may be true; a host may be appealing (or, at least, thought-provoking) if his or her opinions vary drastically from the listeners. One example of this phenomenon could be listening to a radio program host whose political viewpoints are similar or different to the listeners. Many would likely choose to listen to the host or station that has similar viewpoints. Some, however, may choose to listen to the opposing viewpoint’s program if not for hearing the other side’s opinion, then possibly to pick apart their argument. Regardless of the reasons for listening to a particular host, it can be assumed that listeners return time and time again because the host is viewed as a credible source. This puts radio hosts in a prime location for being able to influence listener’s attitudes regarding a variety of subjects. As previously stated, radio hosts are frequently in a position where they may influence others’ attitudes. In order for these hosts to be successful in their persuasion, the listeners must first perceive the hosts as credible sources of news and information. It would be incredibly difficult for a radio listener to develop any kind of parasocial relationship with a broadcaster without first establishing him or her as a credible source of information. Perceived source credibility can be defined as ‘‘judgments made by a perceiver : : : concerning the believability of a communicator’’ (O’Keefe, 1990, p. 131). McCroskey and Teven (1999) identify three dimensions of perceived source credibility: expertise/competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill. For this study, expertise/competence deals with how intelligent an individual is perceived. Trustworthiness describes the level to which a listener believes that the host will report the truth as it is known to him or her. Finally, goodwill measures how much the host is perceived to care for his or her listeners, and that the host is looking out

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for his or her listeners’ needs. The measure of credibility from McCroskey and Teven (1999) employs six semantic differential items anchored with two antonyms for each dimension (i.e., Self-centered/Not self-centered in the dimension of Goodwill). Each of the questions uses a sevenpoint response scale ranging from 1 to 7. Recent studies have used this scale in examining credibility and social media (Spence, Lachlan, Spates, & Lin, 2013; Spence, Lachlan, Westerman, & Spates, 2013; Westerman, Spence, & Van Der Heide, 2012). One widely popular example of the power of a credible radio news source occurred on October 30, 1938. On this evening, an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel War of the Worlds was broadcast over CBS Radio. Some six million listeners tuned in to the broadcast and heard Orson Welles and a group of actors announce that New York City was being invaded by Martians (Cantril, 1940). Before the story broadcast, an announcement was made that this was a fictional piece based on Wells’ novel; however, over a million listeners tuned in late to the program and missed the announcement. In the beginning, the program was presented as a musical concert, which was then interrupted by what appeared to be a breaking news story: the announcement of the Martian invasion. Mass panic and fear broke out in response to the program. Because the program was conducted in such a manner as a real breaking news bulletin, those who relied on radio news for important information did not realize it was a fictional broadcast. Newscasters were viewed as highly credible; therefore, many individuals did not know what to do in light of this new startling story (Cantril, 1940). With the availability of new media, radio listeners can now supplement their listening habits by looking up information regarding their favorite show hosts online. Facebook fan pages and personal pages provide an ideal outlet for hosts to reveal information about themselves, and for others to search for this information. One study by Mazer, Murphy, and Simonds (2007) examines how self-disclosure through Facebook impacted the credibility of teachers. Many of the results they found can be applied to radio hosts as well, replacing ‘‘teachers’’ with ‘‘radio hosts,’’ and ‘‘students’’ with ‘‘radio listeners.’’ If a person is a frequent listener of a particular host, he or she will expect certain mannerisms of speech based on his or her listening history. This listener could search for his or her favorite host, become a ‘‘fan’’ on Facebook, or perhaps even be accepted as ‘‘friends’’ with the host. If the host’s style of expression drastically differs from that which the listener is used to hearing on the air, it could be a jarring violation of expectations from this familiar character. The study found that not only did the style of self-disclosure make an impression on perceived credibility, but so did the amount and nature of the content being disclosed. The appropriateness of photos posted, wall posts shared, or affiliations made public will all affect whether the perceived credibility is positively or negatively impacted. In other words, the relationship will be positively influenced by posts deemed socially appropriate by the viewer, and negatively impacted by inappropriate posts like crude photos, excessive profanity, or information overload (Mazer et al., 2007). Similarly, Johnson’s (2011) study also shows that sharing personal information on Twitter increases a teacher’s perceived credibility

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for students. This was particularly true for younger participants, who tended to rate the teacher as more credible than as perceived by the older students. These results could presumably be due to the fact that the younger participants reporting spending more time on Twitter; therefore, they are more likely to understand Twitter’s uses and what is or is not appropriate to post (Johnson, 2011).

Parasocial Relationships When radio listeners develop habits tuning in to a specific radio host time after time, they may begin to develop perceived relationships with these individuals (see, e.g., Burgoon, 1978). This one-way mediated relationship is a parasocial relationship, which Horton and Wohl (1956) defined as an ‘‘illusion of intimacy’’ that an individual may feel toward a media figure (including radio hosts, celebrities, television actors, etc.). This sense of intimacy may be built up as a person tunes in to the same program time after time. Similar to an interpersonal relationship, the listener can decide for him or herself how intimate the relationship will become. Once the listener has tuned in to the program, it is his or her choice to continue listening and developing the parasocial relationship. Caughey (1984) suggests that, like interpersonal relationships, parasocial relationships can continue to develop once the interaction has ended. A listener may continue to think about viewpoints or information expressed by the radio host at other points throughout the day, which in turn may strengthen or weaken the perceived relationship. Overall, these parasocial interactions will tend to occur when it is less likely that radio host and listener will ever meet face-to-face. This is why, as A. M. Rubin and Step (2000) suggest, people will occasionally turn to online media to supplement or even replace interpersonal relationships. These parasocial relationships are fairly common occurrences in our increasingly mediated society (see, e.g., Levy, 1979). In some cases, these relational ties may be stronger than someone’s social relationships with friends (Koenig & Lessan, 1985). Studies have not yet examined how social media sites may influence the parasocial relationships between radio hosts and their audiences. Therefore, the first research question is posed: RQ1 : To what extent is the overall parasocial relationship between a radio host and his/her listeners affected by social media usage? How is the relationship affected by (a) the host’s online presence and (b) self-disclosure? Once it is noted whether any relationship exists between social media and parasocial interaction, this study will examine whether the host’s credibility is impacted by mediated self-disclosure. The second research question is the following: RQ2 : To what extent does on-air self-disclosure by a show host affect the relationship with listeners? Does self-disclosure affect the host’s credibility?

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The goal of this study is to further understand the relationship between social media, parasocial interaction, and perceived credibility. Prior studies have shown that mediated self-disclosure can have influencing effects on perceived credibility (see, e.g., Mazer et al., 2007). Because the relationship discussed in previous research has a similar relational distance to radio hosts and listeners, it would be expected that similar results would appear in this study. Therefore, the following hypothesis is predicted: H1 : Usage of social networking sites will positively influence perceptions of closeness between radio listeners and on-air personalities.

Methods Design From 2010 to 2011, an experiment was designed and conducted to examine the relationships between parasocial interaction, source credibility, and self-disclosure. A four-group post-test only study design with administrator selection was conducted to place participants in one of four listening conditions (Shaddish, Cook, & Campbell, 2001). A total of 240 participants were recruited from undergraduate communication courses at a large Midwestern university. Participants were randomly placed into one of four conditions. Individuals were taken to a research lab, where a prerecorded radio news story was played over a computer. The subject matter of the news report was regarding the need for more foster care parents in the state of Michigan. In the first condition, participants only listened to the informative news story. In the second condition, an element of selfdisclosure from the newscaster was included at the end of the recorded informative report. The third condition again had participants listen to the informative—only news report, plus look at a Facebook page of the newscaster. Finally, in the fourth condition, participants listened to the news report with self-disclosure, and also viewed the newscaster’s Facebook page. The Facebook page was designed to appear as a personal Facebook profile for a radio broadcaster. While this was a fictional character working for a nonexistent radio station, the authors managed the Facebook page to give the impression of veracity to the participants while also being able to control the contents of the page.

Measures Following exposure to the stimulus materials, participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire. The responses measured source credibility, parasocial interaction, general media use, and demographic information.

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Host credibility was measured with McCroskey and Teven’s (1999) source credibility index. These constructs are measured by six semantic differential type items which are anchored by antonyms (i.e., bright-unintelligent) using a 7-point Likerttype scale. Parasocial interaction was measured with A. M. Rubin, Perse, and Powell’s (1985) Parasocial Interaction scale. This scale asks participants to gauge their identification with a favorite newscaster, interest in a favorite newscaster, group identification/ interaction, and favorite newscaster problem solving activities. For this study, it was only necessary to use identification with favorite newscaster and interest in favorite newscaster. These constructs are measured using a five-point Likert-type scale, with anchors of strongly agree and strongly disagree.

Demographics Demographic information was measured using questions asking about various demographic characteristics. As a continuous variable, participants were asked to report their age. They were asked to check a box labeled either ‘‘male’’ or ‘‘female’’ to report their sex. Participants were also asked to report their racial identity by choosing from a list of ethnicities. Finally, participants were asked to check a box indicating an approximate yearly family income. This information was collected to control for any additional factors that may influence results.

Additional Indicators A series of questions were asked to determine participants’ general media usage as it pertains to this study. First, using a continuous variable (Sherry, Greenberg, Lucas, & Lachlan, 2006), participants reported approximately the total number of hours a week they listen to the radio. Participants were also asked through open-ended response to list any favorite radio stations, whether by call letters or identification numbers. They reported with a yes or no answer whether or not they have a preferred program or host to whom they listen frequently, and if so, what program or which host. Finally, participants were also asked to report information regarding use of social media, as well as other media (including time spent watching television or whether or not they own an MP3 player). These questions determined a participant’s familiarity with the media being used in this experiment.

Results A total of 240 participants completed the study. Thirty-three percent (N D 80) of the participants were male, and sixty-seven percent (N D 160) were female. Eighty percent (N D 191) identified themselves as Caucasian, twelve percent (N D 28) identified as African American, and three percent (N D 7) identified as Latino/Hispanic;

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the remaining five percent (N D 13) identified as either Asian American, Native American, or Other (see Table 1). To answer RQ1 , a one-way ANOVA analysis was used to compare means for parasocial interaction across four conditions. In condition one, participants listened to an informative radio news story about foster care in Michigan (M D 3.14, SD D .52); in condition two, participants listened to the same news story, but with additional self-disclosure from the host added at the end (M D 3.31, SD D .59); condition three consisted of participants listening to the information only news story and viewing a Facebook page about the host (M D 3.03, SD D .57); and the fourth condition had participants listen to the news story with self-disclosure as well as view the Facebook page (M D 3.20, SD D .52). Results of the one-way ANOVA, F(3, 234) D 2.52, p < .05 indicate significant

Table 1 Participant Demographic Information Demographic

% Age

18–24 25–50

89.2 10.8 Race

African-American Caucasian Latino/Hispanic Asian-American Native American Other

11.7 79.6 2.9 1.2 0.8 3.3 Sex

Male Female

33.3 66.7 Income ($)a

100,001 Note: a 4.6% did not report an approximate family income.

20.8 8.8 13.8 2.1 2.1 17.9

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Table 2 Parasocial Interaction Across the Four Conditions

Condition M (SD)

Straight News

News and Disclosure

News and Facebook

News, Disclosure, and Facebook

3.14 (.52)

3.31 (.59)

3.03 (.57)

3.20 (.52)

results between parasocial interaction and a host’s usage of self-disclosure or social media (see Table 2). A one-way ANOVA was also used to answer RQ2 , comparing host credibility across the four conditions. The scale was recoded so that on a Likert-style scale, an answer of ‘‘1’’ indicated a positive attribute, and an answer of ‘‘7’’ indicated a negative attribute. The corresponding means are as follows: Condition one (M D 2.42, SD D .62), condition two (M D 2.27, SD D .71), condition three (M D 2.60, SD D .70), and condition four (M D 2.70, SD D .73). Results of the one-way ANOVA, F(3, 234) D 4.40, p < .005, also show a significant relationship between host credibility and self-disclosure or social media (see Table 3). To examine H1 , a series of t-tests were conducted. The first t-test compared conditions one (M D 3.14, SD D .52) and three (M D 3.03, SD D .57) to assess what effects social media had on participants’ perceptions of parasocial interaction, t (117) D 1.07, n.s. Results determined no significant relationship. Additionally, conditions two (M D 3.31, SD D .59) and four (M D 3.20, SD D .52 also proved no significant relationship when social media was paired with self-disclosure, t (117) D 1.07, n.s.

Post Hoc Analyses A series of post hoc analyses were conducted to further explore relationships not initially covered by the research questions or hypothesis. A dichotomous measure asked participants whether or not they would listen to this host again in the future. A logistical regression was conducted to assess whether the four predictor variables of age, sex, credibility, and parasocial interaction significantly predicted whether or not a listener would listen again. When all four predictor variables are considered

Table 3 Credibility Across the Four Conditions

Condition M (SD)

Straight News

News and Disclosure

News Facebook

News, Disclosure, and Facebook

2.42 (.62)

2.27 (.71)

2.60 (.70)

2.70 (.73)

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Table 4 Logistic Regression Predicting Who Will Listen Again Variable Age Sex Credibility Parasocial interaction

B

SE

EXP(B)

p

.033 .132 .288 2.110

.067 .512 .746 .513

.968 1.141 1.334 8.205

.624 .796 .700 .000

together, they significantly predict whether or not a person wanted to listen again 2 (4, N D 120) D 23.118, p < .001, Nagelkerke R2 D .256. Table 4 presents the odds ratios, which suggest that the odds of listening again increase as parasocial interaction increases.

Discussion Research has well established that individuals often develop relationships with figures of the media, including celebrities, news hosts, and even fictional characters (see, e.g., Allen, 1988; Horton & Wohl, 1956; Perse & Courtright, 1993; R. B. Rubin & McHugh, 1987). Through the Internet and social media sites, fans have access to all kinds of information about these media figures through blogs, personal Web pages, and profiles. Many of these sites also provide the opportunity for interpersonal communication between celebrity and fan. The first research questions sought to explore this relationship and see what kinds of effects self-disclosure or social media may have on a fan’s parasocial interaction. There were significant differences between conditions, with means indicating that when the media host provided self-disclosure over the air, the parasocial interaction from the listener was increased. Social media, on the other hand, appeared to have a negative effect on the parasocial interaction; those conditions utilizing social media reported the lowest means for PSI. People will tune in to a radio program time after time for a number of reasons, including viewing the show host as a credible source of information (Rimmer & Weaver, 1987; Shaw, 1973). The second research question was posed to determine the effects of self-disclosure and social media on a radio host’s credibility. Would revealing information online and on-air make a news host appear more credible to his or her listeners? Again, significant differences were noted between groups. In this case, however, on-air self-disclosure only had positive effects between the first two conditions. As with the first research question, social media had a negative impact on credibility. Previous research shows that information posted on Facebook (or other social networking sites) can positively influence relationships, depending on the appropri-

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ateness of the posts (Johnson, 2011; Mazer et al., 2007). While this research focused on a teacher-student relationship, a radio personality radio listener relationship has a similar power distance with one person being the information giver, and the other the information receiver. Therefore, it would be expected that credibility would be similarly affected in the host listener relationship as the teacher-student relationship. If credibility was positively impacted by self-disclosure through social media, then it would follow that the relationship between the information giver and information receiver may get stronger as a result. An online presence also offers a more direct line of communication between radio hosts and their listeners. Therefore, it was hypothesized that having and using a social media site would positively impact the parasocial interaction between radio host and listener. This hypothesis was not supported by the results. In fact, the additional variable of social media had a negative impact on the parasocial interaction. One study by Thorson and Rodgers (2006) determined that in Internet mediated relationships, parasocial interaction was influenced by perceptions of interpersonal interaction. In this study, participants were not personally interacting with the radio host. Instead, participants were asked to simply view the page and browse photos, information, and wall posts. There may have been more significant results in parasocial interaction if participants had been asked to friend the radio host and interact through their Facebook wall. This would also require a greater time commitment on the part of the participant, which would make this experience more reminiscent to the development of an actual parasocial relationship. Revisiting the host’s Facebook page several times throughout the experiment may also increase the host’s credibility by simulating this parasocial experience. In this case, however, participants had only a brief one time encounter with an unfamiliar character, and they were not encouraged to interact with the broadcaster. In a true parasocial relationship, this would hardly be a fulfilling experience. Through post hoc analyses, another significant relationship was determined from the data. Participants were asked to report whether they would listen to the fictitious host again after this initial exposure. Participants with higher levels of parasocial interaction indicated wanting to listen again. Logically, anyone willing to listen to the host again would likely have stronger feelings of attraction toward the host, such as enjoying his style of speech or deeming him a credible source. Many participants made comments to this nature, like one person who wrote ‘‘the host seemed to genuinely care about the issue at hand.’’ Another participant stated ‘‘he does have a natural ease when speaking on the radio (doesn’t sound forced) and his voice was soothing/natural sounding.’’ Another interesting comment from a participant read, ‘‘I’d listen again to get a better picture/impression of his on-air personality.’’ Like the previous research showed, relational development with a media figure is an ongoing process affected by attraction (R. B. Rubin & McHugh, 1987). This attraction, in turn, builds the parasocial interaction; this positive reaction was then reflected in viewer loyalty to a particular media figure. These results may also be explained by the combination of the sample and the information on the page. According to Walther and Parks’ (2002) ‘‘warranting

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hypothesis,’’ other generated cues (in this case information posted on a page owner’s wall by friends or followers) are often judged as more objective, valid, and reliable since they are not sanctioned or controlled by the owner. ‘‘The more immune information is to manipulation, the higher the warranting value of the information’’ (Utz, 2010, pp. 315–316), suggesting that posts from friends will have a higher impact on viewers’ impressions than information posted by the profile owner. In regard to social media, warranting plays an important role when judging interpersonal traits (e.g., trustworthiness, sociability, extroversion). Several experiments have looked at the effects of cues generated by others upon impression formation (Spence et al., 2013; Walther, Van Der Heide, Hamel, & Shulman, 2009; Walther, Van Der Heide, Kim, Westerman, & Tong, 2008). Though self-generated information and negativity/additivity had an impact on the viewer’s perceptions, the results showed a clear warranting effect. More similar and positive other generated information led to higher impressions of credibility of the profile owner. Therefore even though means moved in the predicted direction, they may have been impeded by the lack of direct other generated cues on the topic of foster care and the dissimilarity between the sample and the profile owner. In future studies, if these indicators are addressed, the results can be expected to be stronger.

Limitations One of the major limitations of this study was that the majority of its participants were college-aged individuals. The social sciences provide a plethora of studies based on convenient samples of university students. Academic researchers accept convenience samples as viable. The frequent use of student only samples has created a line of research labeled the ‘‘Science of the Sophomore’’ (Sears, 1986; Spence & Lachlan, 2010). In order to make these results more reliable, there would need to be a wider age range in participants. Typically, parasocial relationships are built up over a long period of time. This study is basing results off of a single encounter. But despite the single exposure, the average means show that there was still a high level of parasocial interaction being reported. Ideally, however, participants would return to the lab and listen to the host and view his/her Facebook page multiple times to build that relationship over a period of time. They would then be resurveyed to see whether those initial levels of parasocial interaction and perceived credibility have changed since the initial exposure. Finally, the PSI scale was designed with the idea that participants would fill it out keeping in mind their personal favorite TV host/character/radio announcer. In this study, participants used the scale with a character with whom they were unfamiliar. Ideally, participants would fill out this survey with established opinions and notions of credibility regarding a radio personality. In order to make this an experimental study, however, using an already familiar and established media figure would have been difficult. Using an invented media personality allowed for total control and manipulation of the information presented during the experiment.

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Future Studies There are a variety of studies that can build off of this experiment. First and most logically, it would be interesting to note results of bringing participants back multiple times to observe the ways levels of parasocial interaction and perceived credibility change over time. This would be similar to ways parasocial relationships actually grow between a media consumer and the media figure. Would the levels of PSI or credibility continue to increase, or would it fluctuate over time? It would also be interesting to note the effects of gender on the experimental conditions. Would a male host be viewed as more credible than a female host? Would female listeners show more parasocial interaction toward a female host? This additional variable may build understanding of why listeners turn time and again to a particular host. Will listeners rely on hosts more similar to themselves? Or will they be more attracted to hosts of the opposite sex? This could help individuals within the media gain better understanding of gendered appeal, and how they could broaden their appeal to all genders. Additionally, it would be beneficial to design a study where a real radio broadcaster is used for a similar study, rather than a fictional, researcher managed character. This would be more authentic to what radio fans might experience in their own media consumption. While the researcher would lose control over what is being posted on the broadcaster’s Facebook page, it would simulate more of what actual radio fans would find if searching for their favorite broadcasters. This could be accomplished by contacting a broadcaster and gaining his or her permission and cooperation for the period of the experiment.

Conclusion Radio has been established as a reliable source for news, entertainment, and distraction all over the world. We can only wait and see what sort of new technologies, like social media, will do to improve, endanger, or work with radio to affect its popularity and usefulness among people of all ages. These technological changes make it an exciting time to study media and its effects on consumers. Those within the media are affected as well, and research gives us the tools to track these changes as they happen in today’s society.

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