Research on eudaimonic media has so far predominantly focused on audiovisual offerings: movies or YouTube video clips. However, much meaningful and inspiring content nowadays is uploaded on social media in so-called memes. Three exploratory studies therefore investigated the occurrence, content, and effects of inspiring and meaningful memes in social media: The hashtags of eudaimonic memes were analyzed in semantic networks (study 1), a content analysis was conducted to typologize eudaimonic themes addressed in memes (study 2), and an online survey investigated the effects of eudaimonic memes on users (study 3). The results suggest that previously defined topics of inspiration and meaningfulness are also common among hashtags and memes and lead to the same beneficial effects for their consumers. The discussion aims at advancing the theory of mediated eudaimonia and understanding its relevance for well-being in the daily lives of social media users.
BartschA (2012) Emotional gratification in entertainment experience. Why viewers of movies and television series find it rewarding to experience emotions. Media Psychology15(3): 267–302.
2.
BastianMHeymannSJacomyM (2009) Gephi: an open source software for exploring and manipulating networks. International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media. Available from: http://www.gephi.org (accessed 29 October 2017).
3.
BrandesU (2001) A faster algorithm for betweenness centrality. Journal of Mathematical Sociology25(2): 163–177.
4.
DaleKRRaneyAAJanickeSHet al. (2017) YouTube for good: a content analysis and examination of elicitors of self-transcendent media. Journal of Communication67(6): 897–919.
5.
DanowskiJA (2009) Inferences from word networks in messages. In: KrippendorffKBockMA (eds) The Content Analysis Reader. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, pp. 421–429.
6.
Ersner-HershfieldHMikelsJSullivanSJet al. (2008) Poignancy: mixed emotional experience in the face of meaningful endings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology94(1): 158–167.
7.
GreenwoodDLongCR (2015) When movies matter: emerging adults recall memorable movies. Journal of Adolescent Research30(5): 625–650.
8.
HandsSEverittB (1987) A Monte Carlo study of the recovery of cluster structure in binary data by hierarchical clustering techniques. Multivariate Behavioral Research22(2): 235–243.
9.
HimelboimISmithMShneidermanB (2013) Tweeting apart: applying network analysis to detect selective exposure clusters on Twitter. Communication Methods & Measures7: 195–223.
10.
HoferMRiegerD (in press) On being happy while consuming entertainment: Hedonic and non-hedonic modes of entertainment experiences. In: MunizJAPulidoC (Hrsg) Routledge Handbook of Positive Communication.
11.
JacomyMVenturiniTHeymannSet al. (2014) ForceAtlas2, a continuous graph layout algorithm for handy network visualization designed for the Gephi software. PLoS ONE9: e98679.
12.
JanickeSHOliverMB (2017) The relationship between elevation, connectedness, and compassionate love in meaningful films. Psychology of Popular Media Culture6(3): 274–289.
13.
JanickeSHRamasubramanianS (2017) Spiritual media experiences, trait transcendence, and enjoyment of popular films. Journal of Media and Religion16(2): 51–66.
14.
JanickeSHRiegerDReineckeLet al. (2017) Watching online videos at work: The role of positive and meaningful affect for recovery experiences and well-being at the workplace. Mass Communication & Society21(3): 345–367.
15.
Janicke-BowlesSHRiegerDConnorW (2018) Finding meaning at work: The role of inspiring and funny YouTube videos on work-related well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, Online First.
16.
Kepios (2017) Most famous social network sites worldwide as of September 2017, ranked by number of active users (in millions). Q3 2017 Global Digital Statshot. Available at: https://kepios.com/data
17.
KhooGS (2015) Contemplating tragedy raises gratifications and fosters self-acceptance. Human Communication Research42: 269–291.
18.
KimJLeeJER (2011) The Facebook paths to happiness: effects of the number of Facebook friends and self-presentation on subjective well-being. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking14(6): 359–364.
19.
LazerDBrewerDChristakisNet al. (2009) Life in the network: the coming age of computational social science. Science323(5915): 721–723.
NewmanMEGirvanM (2004) Finding and evaluating community structure in networks. Physical Review E69(2): 026113.
22.
OliverMB (2008) Tender affective states as predictors of entertainment preference. Journal of Communication58(1): 40–61.
23.
OliverMBBartschA (2010) Appreciation as audience response: exploring entertainment gratifications beyond hedonism. Human Communication Research36(1): 53–81.
24.
OliverMBHartmannT (2010) Exploring the role of meaningful experiences in users’ appreciation of “good movies.”Projections: The Journal of Movies and Mind4(2): 128–150.
25.
OliverMBFerchaudAKimKet al. (2016) When we are the creators: implications of user generation of inspiring media messages. Paper presented at 67th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, Fukuoka, Japan, 9–13 June 2016.
26.
OliverMBHartmannTWoolleyJK (2012) Elevation in response to entertainment portrayals of moral virtue. Human Communication Research38: 360–378.
27.
OliverMBRaneyAA (2011) Entertainment as pleasurable and meaningful: Identifying hedonic and eudaimonic motivations for entertainment consumption. Journal of Communication61(5): 984–1004.
28.
OliverMBRaneyAASlaterMDet al. (2018) Self-transcendent media experiences: taking meaningful media to a higher level. Journal of Communication68: 380–389.
29.
ReineckeLOliverMB (2017) The Routledge Handbook of Media Use and Well-Being: International Perspectives on Theory and Research on Positive Media Effects. New York: Routledge.
30.
RiegerD (2017). Meaning, mortality salience and media use. In
ReineckeL.OliverM. B. (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Media Use and Well-Being: International Perspectives on Theory and Research on Positive Media Effects (pp. 93–105). New York: Routledge.
31.
RiegerDFrischlichLHögdenFSchrammKKaufRTappeE (2015). Appreciation in the face of death: Meaningful films buffer against death-related anxiety. Journal of Communication65(2): 351–372.
32.
RiegerDReineckeLFrischlichLBenteG (2014). Media entertainment and well-being – Linking hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment experience to media-induced recovery and vitality. Journal of Communication, 64(3): 456-478.
33.
RiegerDHoferM (2017) How meaningful movies can ease the fear of death: Integrating perspectives of eudaimonic entertainment and terror management. Mass Communication & Society, 20(5): 710–733.
34.
RStudio Team (2015) RStudio: Integrated Development for R. Boston, MA. Available at: http://www.rstudio.com/
35.
ShifmanL (2013) Memes in a digital world: reconciling with a conceptual troublemaker. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication18(3): 362–377.
36.
SlaterMDOliverMBAppelM (2016) Poignancy and mediated wisdom of experience: narrative impacts on willingness to accept delayed rewards. Communication Research. Epub ahead of print 15 January 2016. DOI: 10.1177/0093650215623838.
37.
ThrashTMElliotAJ (2003) Inspiration as a psychological construct. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology84: 871–889.
38.
ThrashTMMaruskinLAMoldovanEGet al. (2017) Writer–reader contagion of inspiration and related states: conditional process analyses within a cross-classified writer × reader framework. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology113(3): 466–491.
39.
ValkenburgPMPeterJ (2013) The differential susceptibility to media effects model. Journal of Communication63(2): 221–243.
40.
VordererP (2011) What’s next? Remarks on the current vitalization of entertainment theory. Journal of Media Psychology23: 60–63.
41.
VordererPHefnerDReineckeLKlimmtC (2018) Permanently online, permanently connected. Living and communicating in a POPC world. New York: Routledge.
42.
VordererPReineckeL (2015) From mood to meaning: the changing model of the user in entertainment research. Communication Theory25(4): 447–453.
43.
WhitingAWilliamsD (2013) Why people use social media: a uses and gratifications approach. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal16(4): 362–369.
44.
WirthWHoferMSchrammH (2012) Beyond pleasure: exploring the eudaimonic entertainment experience. Human Communication Research38(4): 406–428.
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
