Abstract
This chapter begins with a brief historical review showing how our understanding of misinformation both is affected by and transcends social and technological evolutions. This review is followed by an attempt to define misinformation, which examines both its general features and its common taxonomies. The chapter outlines some of the psychological, sociological, and technological factors that perpetuate humans' susceptibility to misinformation. It then focuses on a series of very different case studies to illustrate how and why misinformation spreads on social media. The chapter concludes with a deceptively optimistic prognosis for social recovery. The heartbeat of any social media platform is the engagement of its user base. User engagement not only helps these platforms gain sociopolitical capital but is also necessary to sustain their business. The pitfalls of algorithmically curated social media are amplified in times of crisis, during which there is pressing demand from the public for real-time information as events unfold.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Title of host publication | Communication and Misinformation |
Subtitle of host publication | Crisis Events in the Age of Social Media |
Publisher | John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
Pages | 1-15 |
Number of pages | 15 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781394184972 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781394184941 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 8 2025 |
Keywords
- Misinformation
- Optimistic prognosis
- Social media
- Social recovery
- Sociopolitical capital
- User base
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Arts and Humanities
- General Social Sciences