Examining cultivation second order effects in digital media: a case study on the NSW Police Force Facebook page

Since the late 1960’s, cultivation theory has been a notable theory for understanding the effects of mass media communications, and in the case of television, how heavy viewing cultivates conceptions of our social reality. However, given the transformation of the media landscape since the formulation of cultivation, questions arise as to its continuing utility, and applicability to an analysis of digital media, particularly on social networking sites (SNS). A growing trend in cultivation research is examining whether the social and cultural effects traditionally seen as being cultivated by television, are present in digital media, and particularly on SNS. More of this type of cultivation research is needed to investigate whether SNS intersect with and either bolster or short-circuit the cultivation process. Consequently, this dissertation presents a case study focused on an analysis of cultivation and user experiences to determine whether an ‘online’ aspect of cultivation known as ‘second order’ effects were generated on digital media SNS such as the New South Wales Police Force Facebook Page. Second order effects are the phenomena where user attitudes, beliefs and behavioural intentions are formed or altered online at the time of viewing (Gerbner, Gross, et al., 1986a; Hawkins & Pingree, 1982; Shrum, 1995b; Shrum & Lee, 2012; Shrum et al., 2011). This study found that there was little or no evidence of second order effects on the SNS and that many of cultivation’s assumptions are now open to question. As such, this case study raises questions about the utility of cultivation in digital media, and makes suggestions for future cultivation research and its possible reconfiguration or adaptation.