Michael Beam
@mabeam.bsky.social
Media, tech & politics research, music enthusiast, #Crew96 fan. Prof. & Director of the School of Emerging Media & Technology at Kent State University in Ohio, USA. Producer of the Beat Oracle.
https://mabeam.net/
https://mabeam.net/
Heading to California for #aejmc25. Presenting research on news discussion and online sharing tomorrow morning. Friday morning I'm joining a panel on innovation and technology to share some ways we use social media analytics tool Brandwatch for research and teaching at Kent State.
August 6, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Heading to California for #aejmc25. Presenting research on news discussion and online sharing tomorrow morning. Friday morning I'm joining a panel on innovation and technology to share some ways we use social media analytics tool Brandwatch for research and teaching at Kent State.
Here is new research led by my collaborator Mike Bowen, Principal Researcher at Spotify & KSU doctoral student. This is his second paper exploring technology's potential role in meditation practice. He has exciting ideas at the intersection of UX, media effects, health behavior, & psychology!
JMIR Mental Health: Evaluating Theory-Driven Messaging to Overcome the Barriers to Meditation: Large-Scale #Digital Field Experiment #Meditation #Mindfulness #Health #Wellness #SelfCare
Evaluating Theory-Driven Messaging to Overcome the Barriers to Meditation: Large-Scale #Digital Field Experiment
Background: The general public is largely aware of meditation and there is compelling evidence the practice has #Health benefits. But, many people who are aware of meditation have not tried it, and those who do often struggle to establish a regular practice. The barriers to meditation are generally understood and include a lack of knowledge, a lack of time, and unclear benefits. These barriers present an impediment to self-efficacy in establishing a meditation practice. Despite these challenges, current strategies for promoting meditation may fail to address these barriers, leaving a gap in our knowledge about #Health communication efforts aimed at fostering meditation practices. Objective: The objective of this research is to leverage a large-scale, real world #Digital platform to understand whether breaking down the theory-based barriers to meditation can serve as an effective strategy for encouraging meditation. Methods: This research is a #Digital messaging-based experiment that includes #Approximately 1.33 million people, aged 18 and older, in the United States. The experiment was conducted on the Spotify mobile #App and includes one control condition and four test conditions. Each of the test conditions was a message that attempted to address a specific barrier to meditation. The control message only included the call-to-action without any theory-based messaging accompaniment. When users clicked the message, they were redirected to meditation content. The click-through rate and the activation rate of each message were the dependent variables in the experiment. Results: The most effective message, which was designed to break down the pragmatic barriers to meditation, had a click through rate odds ratio of 1.57 (95% CI 1.52-1.62) and an activation rate odds ratio of 1.55 (95% CI 1.45-1.65), relative to the control. The least effective, which was designed to break down knowledge barriers, had a click through rate odds ratio of 0.91 (95% CI 0.88-0.94) and an activation rate odds ratio of 0.66 (OR=0.66, 95% CI 0.61-0.71), compared to the control. After 7 days, the differences in people’s engagement with the meditation content itself between experimental conditions had substantively diminished. Conclusions: Theory driven messaging can potentially encourage people to explore meditation content, but not universally so, given two of the experimental conditions performed better than and two performed worse than the control. The most successful message broke down the barrier that meditation requires being alone and in a quiet place. Addressing this barrier may have boosted self-efficacy by aligning the practice with everyday settings that fit into people’s busy lifestyles. Future researchers might consider how to encourage people to engage in meditation during their daily activities. Additionally, breaking down the barriers to meditation through messaging can drive interest and experimentation with meditation content, but may not be enough to compel meaningful behavior change.
dlvr.it
July 11, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Here is new research led by my collaborator Mike Bowen, Principal Researcher at Spotify & KSU doctoral student. This is his second paper exploring technology's potential role in meditation practice. He has exciting ideas at the intersection of UX, media effects, health behavior, & psychology!
Reposted by Michael Beam
This congressionally-mandated institution is how we know about the state of education in America. Literally turning off the lights.
I just heard this as well. The entire staff of the National Center for Education Statistics, created in 1867, has been fired.
March 12, 2025 at 1:57 AM
This congressionally-mandated institution is how we know about the state of education in America. Literally turning off the lights.
Last semester our students used volumetric 3D video recording technology to produce holograms of dance students and placed them into virtual worlds. The recordings were screened as part of a live performance directed by KSU Dance Professor Jeff Rockland. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJnX...
DepthKit and Emerging Media and Technology
YouTube video by Kent State University College of Communication and Information
www.youtube.com
January 31, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Last semester our students used volumetric 3D video recording technology to produce holograms of dance students and placed them into virtual worlds. The recordings were screened as part of a live performance directed by KSU Dance Professor Jeff Rockland. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJnX...
Nice to see so much conversation here without spam and junk. Is this last week an important turning point in online communities and platforms?
I wrote about social media fragmentation in this piece published yesterday as part of a collection of 88 essays about the U.S. 2024 election.
I wrote about social media fragmentation in this piece published yesterday as part of a collection of 88 essays about the U.S. 2024 election.
The fragmented social media landscape in the 2024 U.S. election - Election Analysis - United States
Dr. Michael A. Beam Associate Professor and director of the School of Emerging Media and Technology at Kent State University. Email: mbeam6@kent.edu Dr. Myiah J. Hutchens Associate Professor and chair...
www.electionanalysis.ws
November 16, 2024 at 1:57 PM
Nice to see so much conversation here without spam and junk. Is this last week an important turning point in online communities and platforms?
I wrote about social media fragmentation in this piece published yesterday as part of a collection of 88 essays about the U.S. 2024 election.
I wrote about social media fragmentation in this piece published yesterday as part of a collection of 88 essays about the U.S. 2024 election.
Reposted by Michael Beam
Impressive - and fast - analysis of the US elections: (social) media, voters and the campaign. 88 crisp analyses. Great lineup. Open access.
Democracy commsky polisky @polcomm.bsky.social
www.electionanalysis.ws/us/
Democracy commsky polisky @polcomm.bsky.social
www.electionanalysis.ws/us/
www.electionanalysis.ws
November 16, 2024 at 8:17 AM
Impressive - and fast - analysis of the US elections: (social) media, voters and the campaign. 88 crisp analyses. Great lineup. Open access.
Democracy commsky polisky @polcomm.bsky.social
www.electionanalysis.ws/us/
Democracy commsky polisky @polcomm.bsky.social
www.electionanalysis.ws/us/
We're hiring an assistant prof with web skills for a joint appointment in our interdisciplinary Emerging Media & Tech program with tenure home in one of our College's 4 Schools (Comm Studies, Information, Media & Journalism, Visual Comm Design). Please share! jobslist.kent.edu/cw/en-us/job...
December 1, 2023 at 4:33 PM
We're hiring an assistant prof with web skills for a joint appointment in our interdisciplinary Emerging Media & Tech program with tenure home in one of our College's 4 Schools (Comm Studies, Information, Media & Journalism, Visual Comm Design). Please share! jobslist.kent.edu/cw/en-us/job...