Abstract
Rumors on social networking sites (SNS) pose a serious threat to the quality of online information. To combat rumors, the use of counter-rumors is burgeoning. Counter-rumors refer to messages that refute rumors. Little empirical research has focused on counter-rumors hitherto in the context of SNS. The ways in which users react to counter-rumors on SNS remain largely unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyze Facebook comments in response to counter-rumor posts. Comments related to two cases were collected: one case was on Facebook itself while the other was on KFC. Content analysis of the comments revealed categories such as providing information and forging connection with the online community. Chi-square tests showed that the volume of the different comment types differed between the cases. Overall, the paper suggests that compared with any other brand-related rumors, refutation of Facebook-related rumors using counter-rumors on Facebook can be more effective.
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Published - 2017 |
Event | 21st Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems: Societal Transformation Through IS/IT, PACIS 2017 - Langkawi, Malaysia Duration: 16 Jul 2017 → 20 Jul 2017 |
Conference
Conference | 21st Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems: Societal Transformation Through IS/IT, PACIS 2017 |
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Country/Territory | Malaysia |
City | Langkawi |
Period | 16/07/17 → 20/07/17 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the Ministry of Education Research Grant AcRF Tier 2 (MOE2014-T2-2-020).
Publisher Copyright:
© PACIS 2017.
Keywords
- Content analysis
- Counter-rumor
- Rumor
- Social media
- Social networking sites