Does authenticity really matter? Exploring the middle-aged and elderly users’ motivations to share information on social media
Year: 2020
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: With information and communication technologies’ rapid development, gradually increased have been both the number of social media users and people receiving information via various social media platforms. There was plenty of misinformation that runs alongside may have harmful effects on individuals' well-being. More importantly, the middle-aged and elderly people might serve as unintentional accomplices in spreading misinformation. To deal with these issues, more understandings should be garnered about the nature of both middle-aged and elderly users’ information sharing behavior via social media. This study examined users’ motivations through a survey questionnaire, and a total of 268 valid responses were obtained. The findings showed that the users’ motivations were various and rooted from three major factors: 1) Social Interaction; 2) Knowledge Sharing; 3) Information Exchange. Although users have certain abilities to judge the authenticity of online information, users with lower educational levels were more likely to share information due to the need for social interaction and the authenticity might not be the main concern for them. This study suggests that to curb the spread of misinformation around the social communities of aged people, verification channels from authorities are vital but rather insufficient at times. Thus, the information literacy education should be strengthened proactively and at least include three learning indicators: 1) the basic skills of social media tools; 2) the strategies of credibility assessment; 3) the netiquette of social communities.
Source: Lincoln (University of Nebraska)
Authors: Chieh Liu, Tingyu Wu, Wayland Chang
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3047917569