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Article
Social Media as Information Source: Recency of Updates and Credibility of Information
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (2014)
  • Patric R Spence, University of Kentukcy
  • David Westerman, North Dakota State University
  • Brandon Van Der Heide, Michigan State University
Abstract
Social media are increasingly being used as an information source, including information related to risks and crises. The current study examines how pieces of information available in social media impact perceptions of source credibility. Specifically, participants in the study were asked to view 1 of 3 mock Twitter.com pages that varied the recency with which tweets were posted and then to report on their perceived source credibility of the page owner. Data indicate that recency of tweets impacts source credibility; however, this relationship is mediated by cognitive elaboration. These data suggest many implications for theory and application, both in computer-mediated communication and crisis communication. These implications are discussed, along with limitations of the current study and directions for future research.
Keywords
  • System-Generated Cues,
  • Social Media,
  • Recency,
  • Twitter
Disciplines
Publication Date
2014
DOI
doi:10.1111/jcc4.12041
Citation Information
Patric R Spence, David Westerman and Brandon Van Der Heide. "Social Media as Information Source: Recency of Updates and Credibility of Information" Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication Vol. 19 (2014) p. 171 - 183
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/patric_spence/44/