Misinformation-Aware Social Media: A Software Engineering Perspective

Abstract

Misinformation is extensively and speedily spreading on social media platforms. This leads to sever negative impact on users of social media and the quality of online created content. Fortunately, there is a growing interest among researchers to fight misinformation on social media by the production of algorithms that can detect low quality information. However, none of these studies focus on how to promote a healthier behaviour among social media users to minimize the act of spreading misinforming. In this paper, the author advocates that gamification can be adopted for the aim of enhancing users’ behaviour towards misinformation and increasing their critical digital literacy. An empirical study was conducted to investigate users’ perceptions with regards to the use of several gamification elements on social media to combat misinformation spread. The results indicated that users’ preferences and perceptions vary and highlights the need for systematic and novel approaches to incorporate gamification into the design process of social media to combat misinformation spread. Based on the results, the author devised a conceptual framework that can serve as a guide for software engineers to design a gamified misinformation-aware social media.