Abstract
Social media not only leads to efficient dissemination of information but also facilitates the spread of rumors. However, it remains unknown whether and how WeChat use influences rumor transmission. Using a nationwide sample of Chinese adults ( N = 9,368), we applied a moderated mediation model to examine whether the relationship among WeChat use, rumor anxiety, and rumor transmission intention varies with age. Our findings show that frequent use of WeChat decreased young adults’ intention to transmit rumors by alleviating rumor anxiety, whereas in older adults, it increased this intention by increasing rumor anxiety. Among older adults, WeChat use had not only a direct effect on facilitating rumor transmission intention but also indirect effects through increased rumor anxiety. Our findings suggest that older adults are dissimilar from younger adults in terms of their level of vulnerability to believing rumors and the way they fall for rumors.
Highlights
Massive amounts of information are transmitted from person to person on social media platforms, such as WeChat, every day
Taking WeChat as an example, the aim of this study was to investigate whether social media use is associated with individuals’ rumor anxiety and intention to transmit rumors, and whether these associations vary with age
Based on data from a national survey in China, this study investigated the relationship between the use of WeChat and rumor transmission intention and identified the underlying moderating mechanism of age in the relationships among WeChat use, rumor anxiety, and rumor transmission intention
Summary
Massive amounts of information are transmitted from person to person on social media platforms, such as WeChat, every day. WeChat, which is the most popular social media platform in China (Wen, Geng, & Ye, 2016), disclosed in their annual report that rumors had been blocked more than 500 million times in 2017 (Tencent, 2017). To understand why people spread rumors, studies have examined this phenomenon in terms of the characteristics of the rumor content (Chua et al, 2016) and social situational factors (Wang et al, 2018). A growing body of literature began to focus on how individual characteristics such as people’s cognition, behaviors, and demographics influence individuals’ rumor-sharing behaviors (Chua & Banerjee, 2018; Grinberg, Joseph, Friedland, Swire-Thompson, & Lazer, 2019; Guess et al, 2019).
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