Hsiao-Chien Lai, Yen-Shen Chen

Parasocial interaction, social media, attraction, self-disclosure

In order to understand the new phenomenon of audiences’ experience of using traditional media converging with social media nowadays, this study applied parasocial interaction (PSI) perspective to examine the important factors related with the PSI mechanism, namely, attraction of sociality, attraction of DJs’ voice, instrumental motivation, and loneliness. In addition, social media use was considered as a new route of PSI in this study. The amount, depth, and valence of self-disclosure on Facebook Fan Pages were examined. The online survey recruited 303 participants who had experience both of broadcasting and Fan Pages for selected three popular music radio stations in Taiwan. The results indicated that the attractions of sociality and DJs’ voice impacted the PSI. Instrumental
motivation and loneliness were not reported as significant. For Fan Pages, the amount of self-disclosure negatively predicted PSI. On the contrary, the depth of self-disclosure positively predicted PSI. The impact of day/night broadcasting sessions was discussed to explain different audience experiences on social media. In sum, this paper focused on the influence of combination of new and traditional media on audiences, especially for their parasocial experiences.