1
The Foundational Principles of Behavior Change

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Explain the potential of social media to transform traditional audiences into more participatory, globalized, and civically engaged users through information interaction and dissemination.
2. Distinguish assumptions about media users between linear mass communication models and social media transactional processes.
3. Understand the role of behavior change theory in the social marketing process.

Introduction

Generation Z, individuals born between 1997 and 2012, grew up with social media and constant Internet access, with the average getting a personal smartphone by the age of 12. While previous generations’ use and interaction with digital technologies earned criticism for their lack of interest in reading print books, erosion of basic grammar skills, lack of memory recall ability, and a fascination with distributing mundane status updates through social networking sites (Bauerlein, 2009; Palfrey & Gasser, 2010), Generation Z is believed as the most ethnically diverse generation with promising commitment to diversity and inclusion initiatives (Meola, 2022).

The initial purpose of this book, Strategic social media: From marketing to social change, was to explore the ways in which technology inspires behavior change, leading toward greater opportunities for businesses and positive social changes. Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 2016, much has changed about the digital world we live in. Today’s media environment is more mobile, visual, and personalized. We saw digital tools such as enhanced visual communication, digital experience sharing, omnichannel marketing, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, mass personalization, and social e‐commerce change how and why average social media users and marketing professionals use digital technologies. Despite advances in technology and the many emerging new social media platforms, the guiding communication theories and strategies that inspire behavior change in social media users remain timeless. Practitioners who enter the field with the foundational knowledge of behavior change theories can adapt media strategy to meet technological advancements throughout their career. Whether your behavior change messages are intended to inspire business decisions or positive societal changes, you will be able to inspire any generation using the behavioral change communication theories offered throughout this text. Thus, the second edition of this text includes many updated case studies and technological trends, while highlighting the large scope of applications of the core strategic social media theories in various fields.

Individuals today have more frequent interaction with information about a wider range of issues, making them more engaged with events happening around the world. Many express concerns about the potential negative influence social media have on our youngest generations. However, after over two decades of social media adoption, it is clear that social media technologies are not a fad. The commitment toward inclusion and diversity of future generations could inspire positive behavior change through social media use.

The definition of what new media includes is perpetually changing. To say that one generation’s media use is better than another is ill‐informed. Most often, individuals fear the unfamiliar and unknown when it comes to technology. Today, an average Internet user worldwide spends 147 minutes per day on social media platforms (Statista, 2022). It is only natural to question what type of influence media has on everyday lives. However, this reflection must consider the complicated process of igniting behavior change through media content.

Years of communication research have taught us that the cause‐and‐effect process is not as simple as previously thought. Media is often identified as the cause for negative behavior, whether it is making us more violent, obese, or over‐sexualized members of society. However, the process of behavior change is far more complicated than what a direct media effects model suggests. It is easier to blankly assume that because person A consumed media B that they were led toward behavior C. These types of causal relationships seem justified, especially when the media message in question is something unfamiliar or scary. However, this type of assumption is sometimes referred to as “hypodermic‐needle theory” (Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007) and is an outdated notion of how media directly influences behavior through a linear cause‐and‐effect process. A strong understanding of behavior change research outlined in this chapter will help illustrate this process.

Social media is defined as a group of Internet‐based applications built on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 that allow the creation and exchange of user‐generated content (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Social media platforms are used by one‐in‐three people in the world and more than two‐thirds of all Internet users (Ortiz‐Ospina, 2019). It is a primary tool for users to gain access to information, social connection, and entertainment. Thus, it is logical to turn to social media when attempting to inspire behavior change. The user‐generated profile feature of social media is the closest connection many media producers will ever have to the individual personality of a consumer. Social media does not fundamentally change the ways in which media users make decisions about their everyday actions, but instead simply maximizes the opportunity for marketers to reach and interact with consumers. This book investigates how individuals turn to social media as a space to create and recreate personal and perceived identities, which in turn helps social media marketers understand how social media tools are used by their consumers to inspire behavior change through engaging content.

Many alternative social media references provide readers specific “how‐to” guides about social media uses. For example, they share information about how TikTok videos are structurally different than Instagram stories. However, the authors of this book believe that it is more useful for marketers to have a strong understanding of how social media inspires human behavior change than it is to inform about platform‐specific tools. Rather than constantly looking ahead at what is new or trendy in social media, it is more strategic and pragmatic to learn about how humans make decisions based on their own life experiences, including media content consumption. Marketers can then use this knowledge to develop social media strategies on any social media platform of their choice and adapt to the next trending platform.

Through a solid understanding of foundational communication theories, one will be able to apply the tools of behavior change to any past, present, or future social media platform. It is better to understand the link between media and behavior change than it is to know the technological differences between platform interfaces. By the end of this book, it should be clear that regardless of your goal as a social media strategist, whether it is for social media marketing, personal social media use, or creating large‐scale social change campaigns, the process through which media users are inspired toward permanent behavior change is the same.

Thus, the authors believe that the most effective marketers blend traditional communication theories and social media strategies to help individuals meet their goals via technologies. This chapter aims to discuss how social media has been able to push individuals toward more participatory, globalized, and civically engaged users by changing the ways in which users gather and disseminate information (Jenkins, 2006; Levine, 2007; Scheufele, 2002). While this chapter provides a substantial overview of communication theories, future chapters will help guide readers toward developing specific social media strategies, and thus illustrating the promising opportunities brought by social media.

Bridging Communication Theories and Social Media Practices

This chapter provides a basic communication theoretical framework for individuals looking to advance their career through the effective creation and dissemination of social media messages. One basic definition states that communication is “who says what to whom and with what effect” (Lasswell, 1948). This definition of communication intrinsically links the construct to persuasion. Whether it be the source of the message (who), the content of the message (what), or consumer characteristics (whom), the process of communication is all about behavior change (Griffin, 2011). Understanding human behavior is one of the most crucial things that social media specialists need to learn before developing successful social media marketing campaigns.

Because this book is vested in constructing effective social media messages, it will mostly examine the communication process through the mass communication paradigm. Traditional models of mass communication were long thought of as a “one‐to‐many” model, where one message was crafted to appeal to as many people as possible and broadcast through a mass medium to reach a large audience. Here, mass media audiences were seen as homogeneous,...