Social Credibility Online: The Role of Online Comments in Assessing News Article Credibility

• In Event: Online Comments and the News: Interactivity, Perception, and Political Function

Abstract

This 2x2 experimental study (N=196) tested the effects of source expertise and opinion valence in readers’ comments on the credibility of an online news story about GMOs. The results show that source expertise had a significant influence on perceptions of article credibility, as the individuals judged the article more credible when the public comments embedded in the story were from expert sources (e.g., scientists) than when they were from non-expert sources (e.g., Twitter users). This was found to be especially the case with high-frequency news users and regardless of whether the comments were for or against GMOs. The results suggest that Internet users mainly use peripheral or heuristic route of information processing in their evaluations of online news credibility. The paper discusses the importance of social heuristics in the form of opinions of other people for online journalism.

Authors

• Ivanka Pjesivac, University of Georgia

• Nick Geidner, U of Tennessee

• Jaclyn Cameron, U of Tennessee