Falling for fake news: investigating the consumption of news via social media

In the so called ‘post-truth’ era, characterized by a loss of public trust in various institutions, and the rise of ‘fake news’ disseminated via the internet and social media, individuals may face uncertainty about the veracity of information available, whether it be satire or malicious hoax. We inv...

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Main Authors: Flintham, Martin, Karner, Christian, Creswick, Helen, Bachour, Khaled, Gupta, Neha, Moran, Stuart
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49179/
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author Flintham, Martin
Karner, Christian
Creswick, Helen
Bachour, Khaled
Gupta, Neha
Moran, Stuart
author_facet Flintham, Martin
Karner, Christian
Creswick, Helen
Bachour, Khaled
Gupta, Neha
Moran, Stuart
author_sort Flintham, Martin
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description In the so called ‘post-truth’ era, characterized by a loss of public trust in various institutions, and the rise of ‘fake news’ disseminated via the internet and social media, individuals may face uncertainty about the veracity of information available, whether it be satire or malicious hoax. We investigate attitudes to news delivered by social media, and subsequent verification strategies applied, or not applied, by individuals. A survey reveals that two thirds of respondents regularly consumed news via Facebook, and that one third had at some point come across fake news that they initially believed to be true. An analysis task involving news presented via Facebook reveals a diverse range of judgement forming strategies, with participants relying on personal judgements as to plausibility and scepticism around sources and journalistic style. This reflects a shift away from traditional methods of accessing the news, and highlights the difficulties in combating the spread of fake news.
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spelling nottingham-491792020-05-08T09:30:19Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49179/ Falling for fake news: investigating the consumption of news via social media Flintham, Martin Karner, Christian Creswick, Helen Bachour, Khaled Gupta, Neha Moran, Stuart In the so called ‘post-truth’ era, characterized by a loss of public trust in various institutions, and the rise of ‘fake news’ disseminated via the internet and social media, individuals may face uncertainty about the veracity of information available, whether it be satire or malicious hoax. We investigate attitudes to news delivered by social media, and subsequent verification strategies applied, or not applied, by individuals. A survey reveals that two thirds of respondents regularly consumed news via Facebook, and that one third had at some point come across fake news that they initially believed to be true. An analysis task involving news presented via Facebook reveals a diverse range of judgement forming strategies, with participants relying on personal judgements as to plausibility and scepticism around sources and journalistic style. This reflects a shift away from traditional methods of accessing the news, and highlights the difficulties in combating the spread of fake news. 2018-04-21 Conference or Workshop Item PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49179/1/Fake%20News%20CHI%20Submission-camera-ready.pdf Flintham, Martin, Karner, Christian, Creswick, Helen, Bachour, Khaled, Gupta, Neha and Moran, Stuart (2018) Falling for fake news: investigating the consumption of news via social media. In: ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2018, 21-26 April 2018, Montreal, Canada. Post-truth; fake news; social media; verification; Facebook; trust
spellingShingle Post-truth; fake news; social media; verification; Facebook; trust
Flintham, Martin
Karner, Christian
Creswick, Helen
Bachour, Khaled
Gupta, Neha
Moran, Stuart
Falling for fake news: investigating the consumption of news via social media
title Falling for fake news: investigating the consumption of news via social media
title_full Falling for fake news: investigating the consumption of news via social media
title_fullStr Falling for fake news: investigating the consumption of news via social media
title_full_unstemmed Falling for fake news: investigating the consumption of news via social media
title_short Falling for fake news: investigating the consumption of news via social media
title_sort falling for fake news: investigating the consumption of news via social media
topic Post-truth; fake news; social media; verification; Facebook; trust
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49179/