The Social Media Machines: An Investigation of the Effect of Trust Moderated by Disinformation on Users’ Decision-Making Process

Social media networking sites (SMNS) have become a popular communications medium where users share information, knowledge, and persuasion. In less than two decades, social media\u27s (SM) dominance as a communication medium can\u27t be disputed, for good or evil. Combined with the newly found immediacy and pervasiveness, these SM applications\u27 persuasive power are useful weapons for organizations, angry customers, employees, actors, and activists bent on attacking or hacking other individuals, institutions, or systems. Consequently, SM has become the preferred default mechanism of news sources; however, users are unsure if the information gathered is true or false. According to the literature, SMNS generates large amounts of fake news or disinformation. The rapid proliferation of disinformation, information disseminated with the intent to harm, through SMNS has dramatically influenced and reduced people\u27s trust in the story and hints at hand. Disinformation has caused data breaches and many injured individuals and organizations, resulting in a lack of confidence in SMNS. While irrefutable that SMNS has become the new news outlet, trust remains the foundation of all communication. Since SM has changed the communication process, it is perceived as the most dangerous information dissemination vehicle known to society. Unfortunately, no one is safe from its lethality. Users must approach their usage with extreme care by understanding the technical capabilities and increasing their competence in detecting disinformation campaigns\u27 powerful influence. The continuous spread of disinformation has caused the credibility and trust of behemoths like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, to be significantly affected. Since trust is an essential factor in SMNS, mistrust hinders users\u27 abilities to make informed decisions. Research suggests that people make decisions based on the available information; therefore, it can be deduced that the decision-making process of SMNS users has been forever altered. Consequently, monitoring the spread of disinformation has become a front-burner priority for the government and society. By examining the effect of trust moderated by disinformation, this study aimed to investigate the factors that affect SMNS users\u27 decision-making behaviors. Factors influencing trust were also examined using the Conformity Group Norm Theory (CGNT) and Self Concept Theory (SCT). A theoretical model was created, and there were seven constructs; decision-making (DM), trust (TR), and the trust influencing factors: identification (ID), compliance (CP), internalization (IN), agency (AG), and community (CM). The theoretical model tested was based on the linear directional relationship of trust and decision making moderated by disinformation. This research tested three social media networking sites, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, with disinformation empirically. This quantitative study employed a role-play scenario web survey methodology and adopted a two-step Pearson r correlation coefficient procedure for data analysis. Before collecting data, an expert panel reviewed, and pilot tested the survey. The expert review recommended changes to the wording, length, and formatting of the instrument, allowing the pilot test to be easily tested by participants. The web-based scenario survey was designed with a 5- point Likert scale and distributed to SMNS users through Qualtrics XM to gather data on their decision-making process. The data analysis results revealed the moderating effect of disinformation between trust and the decision-making process of SMNS users. The data supported the conformity group norm theory (CGNT) and self-concept theory (SCT) factors. The results indicated that identification (ID), compliance (CP), internalization (IN), agency (AG), and community (CM) influence trust. Since the spread of disinformation through SMNS has much broader implications for democracy and society as a whole, this research\u27s results contribute to the knowledge of SM users\u27 behavior and decision-making processes. This study also contributes to the IS body of knowledge on social cybersecurity and has implications for practitioners and academics. This study offers a model by integrating behavioral and cognitive theories better to understand the directional relationship of trust and decision-making when exposed to disinformation. The model also identifies essential elements that influence SMNS users\u27 trust and engage them in risky cybersecurity behaviors. Furthermore, this study provides evidence of the need for future US social media governance

Fake news, social media and marketing: A systematic review

There is growing concern amongst policy makers, managers and academic researchers over the role that social media plays in spreading misinformation, widely described as ‘Fake News’. However, research to date has mainly focussed on the implications of fake news for political communication and debate. There has been less focus on the implications of social media misinformation upon marketing and consumers. Given the key role of social media as a communication platform, there is a gap in our understanding of fake news through a consumer lens. We address this gap by conducting an interdisciplinary systematic review of the relevant literature. Through critical evaluation and synthesis of the literature, we identify five themes that explain the fake news phenomenon: the dissemination process, spreading channel features, outcomes, fabricated legitimacy and attitudes. Finally, we propose a theoretical framework that highlights themes’ relationships and research propositions to guide future research in this area

Understanding International Students’ Misinformation Behavior

Social media has made it easier for international students to draw on home-country sources of information, in addition to establishing new connections to host-country sources of information. However, social media has been shown to facilitate the spread of fake news, which could lead to increased exposure for those who are using sources from multiple countries. This exposure may result in increased vulnerability to the negative effects of misinformation. Understanding the misinformation experiences of international students will allow us to better assist a growing population of migrants and help us reformulate digital literacy strategies to be more effective in combating fake news. This research in progress article first synthesizes the literature on the spread of fake news and information behavior of international students. It then identifies the gap in our knowledge about the misinformation behavior of international students. Finally, it presents propositions for areas of research to bridge this gap

Fake News: Finding Truth in Strategic Communication

Fake news is an old phenomenon that has become a new obsession and a menace to society due to technological advancement and the proliferation of social media, which has changed traditional journalism norms. As the spread of false information has increased these past few years, it has become increasingly difficult for information consumers to distinguish between facts and fakes. A comprehensive systematic literature review to extract themes revealed the major factors responsible for spreading fake news. This qualitative interpretative meta-synthesis (QIMS) aims to better understand and offer solutions to combat fake news. This Ph.D. dissertation will serve as a guide for ethical communication practice and a reference for future research studies

Lateral reading and monetary incentives to spot disinformation about science

Peer reviewe

Rethinking Trust, Reconnecting Us

Advancements in online platforms can lead to a more widely informed public, but they also create room for false information. Misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine has become a public safety issue. Our team created a project that contributes to solving this global problem. Our project’s mission is to tackle vaccine related misinformation. The project utilizes a human-centered method to design a solution. Based on our literature review the main problem is skepticism about getting vaccinated. Our solution is to create an online portal targeted at college students, highlighting the benefits of vaccination, examining examples of misinformation, providing trusted sources for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals and persuading misinformation receivers to improve their media literacy. Our understanding of the target audience increased via QR code stickers that directed unvaccinated individuals to a survey. This data, alongside student and expert interviews, helped design our platform. The site’s tailored to the concerns of those less likely to receive the vaccine due to misinformation. Part of our campaign is to use Facebook to direct people to our website, which has had nearly 433 views since its launch in February. A stronger future in a virtual world requires sharpening the world\u27s ability to spot misinformation. Our project called upon our target audience to engage in 4 Rs: rethink COVID vaccine information they receive, re-evaluate information by fact-checking, reconsider getting vaccinated so that they can reconnect with their family and friends safely. We built an internationally accessible website, fostered an accepting online environment for education and asking questions to a healthcare professional, increased awareness of COVID-19 misinformation, connected individuals with different perspectives on vaccinations, encouraged young people to improve their media literacy, developed an appealing brand for vaccine-hesitant young people, contributed to research about campaign strategies for reducing vaccine hesitancy, and we’ve sparked a global conversation

Fake News and Social Media: The Impact of Emotional Lexicon on Interactive Behaviors

As issues with fake news continue to increase, so does the need to understand better the motivation for interacting with these types of articles. Social media has become a primary source for finding news. Individuals within social media have the option to share, like, and comment on new articles. Interventions such as fake checkers, rater comments, and other types of warnings have been proven helpful in slowing the believability and interactive behaviors of fake news articles on social media sites. This qualitative, phenomenological study interviewed five participants to gain insight into how individuals experience the negative emotional lexicon within fake news articles and interact with these articles on social media. A modified Van Kaam analysis method found that the sample population does not interact (like, share, or comment) on fake news articles regardless of the language used. The study\u27s findings also found that individuals feel compelled to discuss the topic in face-to-face settings, highlighting the importance of information sharing while avoiding digital platforms as the mechanism for achieving the goal

Factors that motivate South African students to share fake news on social media platforms

Dissertation (MIT (Information Systems) )--University of Pretoria, 2021.The increased adoption of social media and the continued spread of fake news has resulted in unique problems for society to overcome in the modern era. This study aims to determine what factors influence South African students to share fake news on social media platforms. The theory that was used to create the research model and questionnaire was the Users and Gratification (U&G) framework. A mixed-method approach was followed in conducting the study, utilising both quantitative and qualitative strategies. Data was gathered through collecting responses using a questionnaire distributed to students of the EBIT faculty at the University of Pretoria. 190 usable responses were gathered. The questionnaire was created using Google forms and the questionnaire link was shared to students through clickUP and various student groups on Facebook. The factors that were investigated were platform, emotional drivers, social responsibility, conformity, biases, trust, third-person perspective (TPP) and personality and how they influence intention to share fake news among students. The findings from the empirical study of 190 students found that the hypothesis that there is a positive association between bias and trust was partially supported. There was also found to be a negative correlation between third-person perspective, emotional drivers, and the conscientiousness trait of the big-five personality model. This confirms that people’s emotional drive, bias, TPP, trust, and conscientiousness have a moderate effect on their intention to share. Additionally, from the qualitative findings, the factors of previous experience and knowledge were also found to influence intention to share. Through partial least squares regression analysis, we found that the factors that contributed the most to intention to share are emotional influences and the conscientiousness trait of personality that both had a negative association. TPP has small correlations to intention to share. Trust and bias were removed from the quantitative model due to bad fit, however, from the qualitative findings it was determined that trust and bias impacted students’ identification of fake news articles. By understanding the relationship between TPP, conscientiousness, trust, bias, emotional drivers, previous experience, previous knowledge and intention to share fake news may help further the understanding of why fake news is spread, the motivation for students to share fake news and curb the spread with changing technological environments. These findings can also promote action to implement programs and regulations to protect users who are vulnerable and more exposed to fake news on social media platforms.InformaticsMIT (Information Systems)Unrestricte