Popularity cues in online media: Theoretical and methodological perspectives

Popularity cues, such as likes and shares, point to mainly positive user reactions. On an aggregated level, they either indicate relevance assignments or endorsements of online items, particularly in the context of political communication. Second, popularity cues may affect the audience’s political perceptions, behaviors, and attitudes. This paper addresses theoretical and methodological issues for both perspectives. Drawing on concepts such as perceived relevance, attitudinal consonance, and persuasion, the antecedents of liking and sharing are discussed. Then, the effects of popularity cues are described, mainly against the backdrop of the spiral of silence theory and heuristic processing. The degree of elaboration is identified as a key factor for understanding why political content is liked or shared and how Likes and Shares render political effects on an individual level. Methodological issues concerning data collection as well as the validity and viability of studies on popularity cues are discussed.