The twitterization of journalism: User perceptions of news tweets

Abstract

Using an experiment and probability sample of Chicago and Los Angeles adults ( N = 1211), this study tested how tweet characteristics (tone, space) and participant age (younger, middle, older) affected attitudes about tweets from a local newspaper. Results indicate that non-opinionated tweets were perceived as more useful and credible than opinionated tweets, and local tweets resulted in more engagement than national tweets. Younger participants (19–36 years) reported more positive affect, usefulness, engagement, and credibility related to tweets than did middle/older age groups. Younger participants were generally more negative about opinionated national tweets and preferred opinionated local tweets compared with middle/older groups.

Assessing the Credibility and Authenticity of Social Media Content for Applications in Health Communication: Scoping Review

“…Most studies were conducted in the United States (n=16) and had between-subject experimental designs (n=19). All studies used convenience sampling, excluding one that used random sampling [ 51 ]. Many studies (n=19) had no inclusion or exclusion criteria for recruitment, whereas only 2 studies specified exclusion criteria that required the participants to have an active SM account [ 52 , 53 ].…”

“…Ohanian’s validated scale, created to assess the credibility of celebrity endorsers, also includes 3 constructs: attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise [ 31 ]. Other studies created their own scales for data collection, sourcing items from the literature, and were not validated before use [ 47 , 51 , 61 , 62 ].…”

“…Most papers (n=15) involved the manipulation of text (eg, in a SM post) via Facebook or Twitter feeds to assess credibility (n=11), trust (n=4), or both (n=2). Studies primarily explored the tone of voice, bandwagon cues, and expertise [ 47 - 49 , 51 , 56 , 58 , 59 , 63 - 66 ]. Full details of the studies are reported in Multimedia Appendices 3 - 7 .…”

“…On Twitter, Houston et al [ 51 ] found that the tone of voice impacted credibility; nonopinionated tweets (written as a headline), which conveyed no personal opinion, were more credible than opinionated tweets that used humor or sarcasm and conveyed strong personal opinion among consumers aged over 18 years, participating for monetary rewards ( Tables 1 and 2 ; Multimedia Appendix 4 ).…”

“…Flanagin and Metzger’s Scale of Message Credibility Online (2013) assesses 5 dimensions of credibility—believability, accuracy, trustworthiness, bias, and completeness—and was utilized in 2 papers [ 49 , 50 ]. Other papers that assessed message credibility adapted their own scale from multiple sources in the literature to evaluate the language used in Facebook posts, tweets, or message appeals in YouTube videos [ 47 , 51 , 61 ]. Internal reliability was assessed with Cronbach alpha values at an acceptable level (α>.7) in all three papers that adapted their own scale.…”