Reasons to believe: Influence of credibility on motivations for using social networks

Abstract

One question that has troubled credibility researchers is why do people rely on media that they do not deem credible? This question has also arisen with the coming of social media, which is increasingly relied on for news and information despite its low credibility ratings. This study compares perceptions of credibility of political information found on Facebook, blogs, and Twitter to credibility of information found on traditional media and it investigates if credibility ratings influence motives for using social media for political information. This study found that all traditional media except Fox News were rated more credible than social media sites, which suggests that sources that strive to present news that is fair and unbiased are judged more credible. But traditional news sources are only rated as moderately credible, which indicates that they are not measuring up to the standards of journalistic integrity. Credibility of social media consistently influenced motivations for using them, suggesting that gratifications obtained from these sources may be strong enough that users are willing to trade credibility for need satisfaction.