News Consuming Habits of Young Social Media Users in the Era of Fake News (original) (raw)
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Fake News Reaching Young People on Social Networks: Distrust Challenging Media Literacy
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Current societies are based on huge flows of information and knowledge circulating on the Internet, created not only by traditional means but by all kinds of users becoming producers, which leads to fake news and misinformation. This situation has been exacerbated by the pandemic to an unprecedented extent through social media, with special concern among young people. This study aims to provide significant data about the youngest generation in Spain (Generation Z) regarding their media and information consumption, their social network use, and their relationship with fake news, all in relation to the feeling of reliability/trust. Focusing on a convenience sample of 408 young Spanish students from Generation Z aged 18 to 22, a descriptive exploratory study is presented. Data collection was performed with an adapted questionnaire. Results show that young Spanish people use networks for information, showing a surprising lack of trust in social networks as the media they consume the most. The content they consume the most since the occurrence of COVID-19 is related to politics, entertainment, humor, and music. On the other hand, distrust of politicians, media, and journalists is evident. The conclusion is that media literacy is still more necessary than ever, but with the added challenge of mistrust: maybe it is time to rethink media literacy.
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The COVID-19 pandemic and the boom of fake news cluttering the internet have revealed the power of social media today. However, young people are not yet aware of their role in the digital age, even though they are the main users of social media. As a result, the belief that older adults are responsible for information is being re-evaluated. In light of this, the present study was aimed at identifying the factors associated with the spread of fake news among young people in Medellín (Colombia). A total of 404 self-administered questionnaires were processed in a sample of people between the ages of 18 and 34 and analyzed using statistical techniques, such as exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The results suggest that the instantaneous sharing of fake news is linked to people’s desire to raise awareness among their inner circle, particularly when the messages shared are consistent with their perceptions and beliefs, or to the lack of time to properly verify t...
INTED Proceedings, 2020
Due to the rise of technological and communication platforms transformations, nowadays media literacy generates academic, political and social debates. There is a special concern with the younger generations, as studies document that they express particular behaviors due to the increased diffusion of digital consumption into their daily lives [1]. In the field of media literacy, news literacy becomes even more relevant today due to the rise of fake news, which is one of the biggest challenges for digital journalism today, because it endangers the truth and instigates misinformation which could have serious repercussions for society in general and for the youngest more susceptible generations, in particular. Based on these assumptions, this article comprehends and analyses of media and news consumption practices within Portuguese university students, studying in IADE-Universidade Europeia (in the academic year 2018/2019), located in Lisbon. Through the development of focus groups, we set to find the participants particular uses of social media for news access and consumption. We intend to define these audiences preference profiles, identify practices, analyse their relationship with the media and find patterns in their use of technology to access information. A literature review on the topic of news literacy and fake news is presented as an important challenge for the digital age of Journalism, especially with the proliferation of social media websites. We consider this from the point of view of media literacy, as these are key issues, and involve the creation of strategies-in formal and informal contexts-to aid younger generations into developing skills to critically interpret the news and create a reflexive consciousness of the world that goes beyond the view of the world that is proposed by the media and, particularly, digital platforms.
Communication Today, 2020
There is an important need in the literature to explore the effects of social media use on young people’s behaviour. The main purpose of this research is to explore which factors of users’ gratifications are associated with using social media by university students from four Visegrad countries in Central Europe. Online communication on social media may be affected by a variety of factors that affect the development of mutual relationships. Thus, research is also focused on trust building on social media. The research team conducted qualitative research aimed at the deeper understanding of students’ opinions on trust and social media and their view on the phenomenon of “fake news”. Conducted focus groups in four countries showed that university students, who are frequent users of social media, are inclined to trust certain pages they like but generally, they do not trust social media. They use social media primarily for maintaining relationships and they believe people who are connected to their network. It is obvious that students use social media to satisfy their needs, especially in the field of entertainment, partly also for obtaining information. The findings show that expected gratifications of students are built on their practical experience with media.
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The presence of “fake news” and potentially manipulative content in the media is nothing new, but this area has largely expanded with the emergence of the Internet and digital media, thus opening itself up to anyone who has online access. As a result, there is an increasing amount of such content in the media, especially in digital media. This paper deals with the perception of fake news and potentially manipulative content by various generations—in particular, the perceptions of the young and the middle-aged generations, with the focus being on their ability to recognise, verify, and relate to such content. The results of this study were gained by means of a qualitative methodology applied to focus groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results are presented through a thematic analysis of the differences in perception of “fake news” between these generations, firstly in terms of their apprehension and interpretation of it, and secondly in terms of their relation to it. The authors c...
Falling for Fake News: Investigating the Consumption of News via Social Media
In the so called 'post-truth' era, characterized by a loss of public trust in various institutions, and the rise of 'fake news' disseminated via the internet and social media, individuals may face uncertainty about the veracity of information available, whether it be satire or malicious hoax. We investigate attitudes to news delivered by social media, and subsequent verification strategies applied, or not applied, by individuals. A survey reveals that two thirds of respondents regularly consumed news via Facebook, and that one third had at some point come across fake news that they initially believed to be true. An analysis task involving news presented via Facebook reveals a diverse range of judgement forming strategies, with participants relying on personal judgements as to plausibility and scepticism around sources and journalistic style. This reflects a shift away from traditional methods of accessing the news, and highlights the difficulties in combating the spr...
Journalism Students and Information Consumption in the Era of Fake News
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Technological platforms, such as social media, are disrupting traditional journalism, as a result the access to high-quality information by citizens is facing important challenges, among which, disinformation and the spread of fake news are the most relevant one. This study approaches how journalism students perceive and assess this phenomenon. The descriptive and exploratory research is based on a hybrid methodology: Two matrix surveys of students and a focus group of professors (n = 6), experts in Multimedia Journalism. The first survey (n = 252), focused on students’ perception of fake news, the second (n = 300) aims at finding out the type of content they had received during the recent confinement caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Results show that most of the students prefer online media as a primary source of information instead of social media. Students consider that politics is the main topic of fake news, which, according to the respondents, are mainly distributed by adult u...
Fake News on Social Media and Adolescent’s Cognition
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This research aims to determine the extent to which teenagers distinguish true news from fake news and how these fake news affect adolescents’cognition. A lot of hoax information has sprung up on social media, especially during the 2019 Indonesian presidential election. The ability to check on the information spread in online media is influenced by each individual’s cognitive abilities. A person’s cognitive ability is to think rationally, including aspects of knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. This study used an explanative survey method with a quantitative positivistic paradigm. The results showed that the most influencing X variable to the Y variable was the Satire variable, which is positive and unidirectional. The Hoax variable has the most influence on cognitive abilities, even though the value is negative and not unidirectional. This means, the lower the understanding of Hoax, the higher the level of cognitive abilities.
Teenagers Faced with "Fake News": Perceptions and the Evaluation of an Epistemic Risk
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his chapter focuses on how an objective approach to fake news is perceived by a specific segment of the population: teenagers. It first proposes a synthesis of studies on the production and dissemination processes of fake news and how it is identified and assessed by the public. The aim is to characterize fake news from a scientific point of view to better identify the informational risks it is likely to generate. The chapter then aims to uncover the perceptions held by teenagers on this informational and social phenomenon. It describes the methodology of the authors' study, based on interviews with 14 young people aged 14 to 17. Finally, the results are presented and discussed by comparing them to other studies, particularly those concerning credibility judgments. They are considered in relation to questions on Media and Information Literacy and, more particularly, through reflections on the teaching practices used to enable young people to critically evaluate information.
Teens’ Motivations to Spread Fake News on WhatsApp
Social Media and Society, 2020
Younger people are exposed to misinformation that circulates rapidly on their mobile devices through instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp. Under the guise of news, an attractive format and outrage discourse, fake news appeal to their emotions by inviting them to distribute them impulsively. All of this is supported by a device—the mobile phone—in which the action of sharing is a matter of trust. Therefore, they are less likely to check a piece of content before resending it if it comes from a contact in their personal address book. To understand young people’s habits when receiving informative content through WhatsApp and the reasons why they choose to share it or not, this study designed a “Questionnaire on Student Habits for Sharing Fake News on the Mobile” (CHECK-M), to measure young teenagers’ exposure to “fake news” and their behavior. Empirical data, from a sample of 480 adolescents, confirmed that (1) they are more likely to share content if it connects with their interests, regardless of its truthfulness, that (2) trust affects the credibility of information, and that (3) the appearance of newsworthy information ensures that, regardless of the nature of the content, this information is more likely to be shared among young people.