A social network as information: The effect of system generated reports of connectedness on credibility on Twitter

Authors:
David Westerman;Patric R. Spence;Brandon Van Der Heide
Affiliations:
West Virginia University, Department of Communication Studies, 108 Armstrong Hall, PO Box 6293, Morgantown, WV 26506, United States;Western Michigan University, School of Communication, 220 Sprau Tower, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, United States;The Ohio State University, School of Communication, 3016 Derby Hall, 154 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210, United States
Venue:
Computers in Human Behavior
Year:
2012

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Abstract

Social media have gained increased usage rapidly for a variety of reasons. News and information is one such reason. The current study examines how system-generated cues available in social media impact perceptions of a source's credibility. Participants were asked to view one of six mock Twitter.com pages that varied both the number of followers and the ratio between followers and follows on the page and report their perceived source credibility. Data indicate that curvilinear effects for number of followers exist, such that having too many or too few connections results in lower judgments of expertise and trustworthiness. Having a narrow gap between the number of followers and follows also led to increased judgments of competence. Implications of these findings are discussed, along with limitations of the current study and directions for future research.