Voices of the unsung: The role of social presence and interactivity in building empathy in 360 video

360 video is considered an “empathy machine,” in part because it places audiences in the perspective of the other. Despite its popularity, its influence on empathy is not fully understood. Two possible mechanisms driving empathy within 360 video are social presence (sense of being with others) and interactivity (degree of control over media content). To elucidate how 360 videos can encourage empathic outcomes through these factors, a 2 (social presence: high/low) × 2 (interactivity: high/low) between-subjects experiment (N = 110) was conducted testing 360 videos about Alaskan climate change refugees. Results demonstrate that social presence contributes to prosocial behaviors (donations) through empathic concern, an effect augmented by interactivity. Unexpectedly, the social presence manipulation also contributed to greater perceived interactivity. Collectively, results are promising and elucidate the role of social presence and interactivity in immersive storytelling.

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