Contact and Overview
Email Address
Office Hours
Monday: 1-3pm
Wednesday: 1-3pm
Friday: 1-3pm
Or by appointment.
Education
Ph.D., North Dakota State University (2017)
M.A., Virginia Tech (2009)
B.S., Appalachian State University (2007)
Teaching
Currently Teaching (Fall 2025)
COM 3317 Social Media Strategies
COM 3640 Media Planning
COM 4400 Advertising Campaigns
Courses Taught
COM 3936 Consumer Insights
COM 2105 Public Speaking in the Discipline
COM 3300 Mass Media & Society
COM 3544 Streaming and Social Media Influence
COM 2700 Foundations of Advertising
COM 3545 Special Topics: Creative Strategies in Advertising
COM 3430 Professional Ethics in Advertising
COM 3312 Crisis Communication
COM 3317 Social Media Strategies
COM 3928 Research Methods
COM 3155 Principles of Persuasion
COM 4400 Advertising Campaigns
COM 3640 Media Planning
Teaching and Research Specialties
Parasocial Relationships
Media Planning
Digital and Tabletop Games
Influencing
Live Streaming
Moé Culture
Professional Affiliations
Cratis D. Williams School of Graduate Studies (Affiliate Member)
International Communication Association (ICA)
American Advertising Federation (AAF)
National Communication Association (NCA)
American Academy of Advertising (AAA)
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Daniel E.S., Orme, S. & Ferchaud, A. (2025). Why Can’t We Be Friends (With Streamers): Streamers and Content Creators Perception of Parasocial Relationships and Therapeutic Inquiries on Stream. Mediekultur: Journal of Media and Communication Research, 78, 149-170.
Ferchaud, A., Johns, A, & Daniel, E.S. (2024) Beloved Bingeable Breakups? The impact of binge watching on retrospective imaginative involvement, parasocial relationships, and parasocial breakups. Journal of Media Psychology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2024.2354789
Ferchaud, A., Orme, S., & Daniel, E.S. (2022). Morality inside the matrix: A qualitative exploration of gamers’ moral considerations within virtual game space. Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds, https://doi.org/10.1386/jgvw_00056_1
Ferchaud, A., Yan, Z., & Daniel, E.S. (2022) Binging on the Heartbreak: The Effect of Binge Watching on Narrative Engagement and Parasocial Breakups. Psychology of Popular Media. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000414
Kowert, R. & Daniel, E.S. (2021). The one-and-a-half sided parasocial relationship: The curious case of live-streaming. Computers in Human Behavior.
Perreault, G., Daniel, E.S., & Tham, S. (2021). The Social Identity of ‘Loot Box’ gamers: A case study of the Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. Game Studies
Bean, A., Daniel, E.S., & Hays, S. (2020). A Clinicians Guide to Geek Culture. Fort Worth, TX, Leyline.
Crawford, E. & Daniel, E.S., & Yakubova, M. Kodagoda-Peiris, I. (2020). Connecting without connection: Using Social Media to Analyze Problematic Drinking Among Mothers. Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising
Daniel, E.S., Crawford, E., & Westerman, D. (2018). Understanding the influence of Social Media Influencers: Using the Lens of Taylor’s Strategy Wheel and Parasocial Interaction to Understand Online Vaping Communities. The Journal of Interactive Advertising (JIAD Finalist: “Best Paper” of 2018)
Daniel E.S. & Westerman, D. (2017). Valar Morghulis (All Parasocial Men Must Die): Having nonfictional responses to a fictional character. Communication Research Reports. 34(2), 143-152
Book Chapters
Daniel E.S. (2025). The Locus of Control in the Butterfly Mansion. In A. Bean (Ed.), The Psychology of Demon Slayer. Fort Worth, TX. Leyline
Daniel E.S. (2024) We were always an unlikely pair: Five and Delores. In R. Kowert (Ed.), The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: The Umbrella Academy. Pittsburgh, PA. ETC Press
Daniel E.S. (2023) Guiding gamers to “git gud”: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior as the persuasion process of continuing difficult games. In A. Bean (Ed.), The Psychology of Elden Ring. Fort Worth, TX. Leyline
Daniel E.S. (2022). Too Important for Bill’s PC: Attachment, Identification, and Parasocial Relationships with our Favorite Pokémon. The Psychology of Pokémon. Fort Worth, TX. Leyline
Daniel E.S. (2020). When Heroes become Villains: Developing Parasocial Relationships with Characters and the Expectancy Violation Meeting the Actors. In A. Bean, E. Daniel, S. Stewart, Integrating Geek Culture into Therapeutic Practice: A Clinician's Guide to Geek Therapy. Fort Worth, TX, Leyline
Daniel, E.S., (2020) Drinking the Magika: The Struggle of Overcoming Parasocial Relationships with Genocidal Regimes in Final Fantasy X. Submitted to Surpassing your Limit Breaks: The Psychology of Final Fantasy. Forth Worth, TX, Leyline
Daniel, E.S., Perreault, G., & Blight, M. (2020) Is the news cycle “real?”: A Case Stud of Media Fandom and Diffusion of Innovation in Persona 5. In A. Dunn (Ed.) Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Media Fandom. Hershey, PA: IGI Global
Daniel, E.S. (2020). Follow the trails of our enemies: Overcoming cognitive dissonance to achieve our goals. In R. Kowert (Ed.) Press Start: How Video Games Cultivate Happiness. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave
Garski, L., Shepard, C., & Daniel, E.S. (2019). Unmasking grief: Applying the Kubler-Ross Stages of Grief Model to The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. In T. Bean (Ed.) The Psychology of Zelda. Dallas, TX: Benbella
Publications
Bean, A., Daniel, E.S., & Hays, S. (2020). A Clinician's Guide to Geek Culture. Fort Worth, TX, Leyline.
Recent Awards
NCA Top Paper, Game Studies Division (2021)
Journal of Interactive Advertising Finalist for “Best Article” of 2018. (2019)
Title: Associate Professor, Advertising
Department: Department of Communication
Email address: Email me
Phone: (828) 262-2407