Sleeper Effect From Below: Long-Term Effects of Source Credibility and User Comments on the Persuasiveness of News Articles

• In Event: Online Comments as Audience Research

Abstract

User comments on news websites are a controversial element of online communication: Apart from their often low quality, their negative effects on recipients are subject of social and scientific concerns. However, most studies reporting such effects are based on measurements directly after the reception, and no research has been conducted regarding the long-term effects of comments. Therefore, this study transferred the sleeper effect in persuasion to news sites with comment sections. In a 2x2-experiment, the persuasiveness of a news article was measured immediately after reception and after a delay of two weeks. The media brand credibility as well as negative and positive user comments were operationalized as discounting/acceptance cues. Results suggest that negative user comments can cause a relative sleeper effect, implicating that they can impede the persuasiveness of an article in the short term, but not in the long term. These findings provide important implications for media effects research.

Authors

• Dominique Heinbach, Johannes Gutenberg U Mainz

• Marc Ziegele, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz