Explaining News Trust in Social Media News during the COVID-19 Pandemic—The Role of a Need for Cognition and News Engagement

Kožuh, Ines; Čakš, Peter

doi:10.3390/ijerph182412986

Cited by 14 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…News engagement reflects the means by which audiences consume and participate in the news for either personal or social purpose (Ha et al, 2018; Park et al, 2021). A conceptual model for the relationship between NFC, news engagement, and news trust constructed for social media platforms was developed (Kožuh and Čakš, 2021) examining the mediating effects of news engagement on the relationship between the NFC and news trust. According to the model, the lower the NFC and the more prior knowledge social media users have about COVID-19, the more likely they think social media news includes all the essential facts about COVID-19 (Kožuh and Čakš, 2021).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do conspiracy theories circulating in the media or their debunking affect people’s trust in the media?

Corbu,

Bârgăoanu,

Udrea

et al. 2023

Social Science Information

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The COVID-19 pandemic has fostered an unprecedented number of conspiracy theories about the virus and the vaccine against the disease. Current research has tried to make sense of the effects of conspiracy narratives and debunking them in both mainstream and social media. However, the effect of such narratives or their debunking on media trust has not been investigated to date. By means of a 2 × 2 experimental design (N = 945) in Romania, we investigate how mainstream and social media content containing conspiracy theories about vaccination against COVID-19 and debunking them influence people’s trust in both mainstream and social media. People’s own beliefs in such narratives are used as moderators of these effects. Findings show that only the debunking content circulating in mainstream media decreases people’s trust in both mainstream and social media, and only for people exhibiting high levels of belief in conspiracy theories, that is only when people are exposed to counter-attitudinal content. Implications for stakeholders are discussed.

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Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do conspiracy theories circulating in the media or their debunking affect people’s trust in the media?

Corbu,

Bârgăoanu,

Udrea

et al. 2023

Social Science Information

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show abstract

“…Therefore, trust plays a crucial role in social media; thus, this variable must be studied by academics [36,37]. Based on Kožuh and Čakš [38], social media is one of the credible sources of information in a health crisis. In addition, according to Jin et al [39], user's willingness to share and adopt health knowledge is dependent on their trust in social media.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, according to Jin et al [39], user's willingness to share and adopt health knowledge is dependent on their trust in social media. The more users engage with social media news, the more they trust the actual situation around COVID-19 [38], thereby potentially increasing their self-efficacy and protective behavior. Moreover, trust in social media could influence users' response to comply with COVID-19 protocol guidance [40].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Social Media Usage on Users’ COVID-19 Protective Behavior: Survey Study in Indonesia

Handayani¹,

Zagatti²,

Kefi³

et al. 2023

JMIR Form Res

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Background Social media have become the source of choice for many users to search for health information on COVID-19 despite possible detrimental consequences. Several studies have analyzed the association between health information–searching behavior and mental health. Some of these studies examined users’ intentions in searching health information on social media and the impact of social media use on mental health in Indonesia. Objective This study investigates both active and passive participation in social media, shedding light on cofounding effects from these different forms of engagement. In addition, this study analyses the role of trust in social media platforms and its effect on public health outcomes. Thus, the purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of social media usage on COVID-19 protective behavior in Indonesia. The most commonly used social media platforms are Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter. Methods We used primary data from an online survey. We processed 414 answers to a structured questionnaire to evaluate the relationship between these users’ active and passive participation in social media, trust in social media, anxiety, self-efficacy, and protective behavior to COVID-19. We modeled the data using partial least square structural equation modeling. Results This study reveals that social media trust is a crucial antecedent, where trust in social media is positively associated with active contribution and passive consumption of COVID-19 content in social media, users’ anxiety, self-efficacy, and protective behavior. This study found that active contribution of content related to COVID-19 on social media is positively correlated with anxiety, while passive participation increases self-efficacy and, in turn, protective behavior. This study also found that active participation is associated with negative health outcomes, while passive participation has the opposite effects. The results of this study can potentially be used for other infectious diseases, for example, dengue fever and diseases that can be transmitted through the air and have handling protocols similar to that of COVID-19. Conclusions Public health campaigns can use social media for health promotion. Public health campaigns should post positive messages and distil the received information parsimoniously to avoid unnecessary and possibly counterproductive increased anxiety of the users.

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“…During the COVID‐19 pandemic, people have used social media more than ever (Kaya, 2020). However, it is reported that individuals' confidence in science has been shaken due to some news spread on social media during the pandemic (Kozuh & Caks, 2021). Social media shares have been an important part of the unfounded information spreading from the claim that the virus spreads faster with 5G technology (Buarque, 2022) to the fact that drinking pure alcohol is a precaution to be taken against the virus (Van Dijck & Alinejad, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Did we trust in science during the COVID‐19 pandemic? Modeling the relationship between trust, awareness, and conspiracy theories

Küçükaydın

Esen

Geçer

2023

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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Height on the COVID‐19 pandemic (2020–2021), a considerable atmosphere of uncertainty and insecurity has emerged throughout the world. At the same time, social media and conspiracy theories have gained a lot of popularity. However, due to the impact of science and scientists on the public countering these sources of information, the outcome of the test given by science during the pandemic is still unclear. In this study, the relationship between trust in science and scientists, reliance on social media, belief in conspiracy theories, and pandemic awareness is modeled. A total of 953 adults from Turkey participated in the study and the obtained data were analyzed with the structural equation model. According to the results of the path analysis, reliance on social media influencers and belief in conspiracy theories affect trust in science both directly and indirectly. In addition, there is a positive relationship between pandemic awareness and trust in science.

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Explaining News Trust in Social Media News during the COVID-19 Pandemic—The Role of a Need for Cognition and News Engagement

Cited by 14 publications

References 49 publications

Do conspiracy theories circulating in the media or their debunking affect people’s trust in the media?

Do conspiracy theories circulating in the media or their debunking affect people’s trust in the media?

Impact of Social Media Usage on Users’ COVID-19 Protective Behavior: Survey Study in Indonesia

Did we trust in science during the COVID‐19 pandemic? Modeling the relationship between trust, awareness, and conspiracy theories

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