Social Media as Information Source: Recency of Updates and Credibility of Information

Abstract

Social media are increasingly being used as an information source, including information related to risks and crises. The current study examines how pieces of information available in social mediaNewer communication technologies have increased the possibilities for how people can send and receive information. Social media are one such technology that has seen increased usage as an information source (Pepitone, 2010). For example, social media are being used to seek information about serious topics, such as circulating up-to-the minute information about cholera outbreaks in Haiti and identifying clean water sources during this outbreak (Sutter, 2010). Social media has also seen a great deal of usage by those seeking health information, with 59% of adult Americans (80% of internet users) reporting that they have accessed this type of information online (Fox, 2011). As this Pew Report suggests ''people use online social tools to gather information, share stories, and discuss concerns '' (Fox, 2011, p. 5). Similarly health professions and organizations are seeing the advantages of adopting social media because it is seen as an information equalizer allowing access to health care information to populations who, in the past, would not have this access (McNab, 2009). It provides a sense of privacy for the information seeker in that he/she does not have to disclose personal information in order to obtain health related information.

How food regulators communicate with consumers about food safety

“…Communicating effectively with consumers about food risks is important (van Dijk et al, 2008) Consumer willingness to accept and act upon food safety information is dependent upon the perceived credibility of food regulators' messages which is related to trust and goodwill (Westerman et al 2014). Trust and goodwill arise from empathy; competence; honesty and transparency;…”

“…Consumer willingness to accept and act upon food risk information is dependent upon the perceived credibility of the source which is related to the competence of that source, trust in the source and goodwill (Westerman et al, 2014 play in food regulation -maybe it's to them, they don't need that level of detail.…”

Analysis and visualization of social user communities

“…The tremendous growth and development of the Web produce a collapse of information to any user interested in access to quality information (Westerman et al, 2014). Additionally, another difficulty is the necessity to automatically extract information from different and heterogeneous sources (Klusch, 2012).…”

“…Additionally, another difficulty is the necessity to automatically extract information from different and heterogeneous sources (Klusch, 2012). To cope with this challenges, there are research oriented studies and application specially oriented to retrieve and organize information, especially nowadays in social networks (Tapscott, 2008), (Westerman et al, 2014). The vast amount of content available on the Internet, provokes that the end-users cannot exploit all its usefulness if they do not have the adequate tools to retrieve and display useful information organized.…”

An analysis of how Fortune 500 companies respond to users replying to company tweets

“…Time is an important concept when examining Twitter. Users appreciate consistent updates and are more easily persuaded when expectations are met in terms of response time (Westerman, Spence, & Heide, 2014). Because rapid response times are appreciated by users, companies should seek to respond quickly to negativity to diffuse the situation.…”