Reading others’ comments and public opinion poll results on social media: Social judgment and spiral of empowerment

Applying Social Judgment Theory and the Spiral of Silence, we tested the effects of online comments and public opinion polls on the public's’ latitude of acceptance of others’ online comments, attitude toward a company, and willingness to speak out on Social Media. We conducted two experiments and found that the effects of online comments and public opinion polls interact with individuals’ prior attitudes toward a corporation. The latitude of acceptance toward online comments and participants’ willingness to speak out online increased as the comments themselves became negative only among people with negative prior attitudes. However, the change was not detected among people with positive prior attitudes. Practical and theoretical implications were further discussed.