DOCSLIB.ORG

Receiver-Assigned Attributions of Credibility to Influential Bloggers

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Receiver-Assigned Attributions of Credibility to Influential Bloggers University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 12-2012 Consider the Source: Receiver-Assigned Attributions of Credibility to Influential Bloggers Aaron Michael Sachs University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Communication Technology and New Media Commons, and the Other Communication Commons Recommended Citation Sachs, Aaron Michael, "Consider the Source: Receiver-Assigned Attributions of Credibility to Influential Bloggers. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2012. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/1402 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Aaron Michael Sachs entitled "Consider the Source: Receiver-Assigned Attributions of Credibility to Influential Bloggers." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Science, with a major in Communication and Information. John W. Haas, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Elizabeth M. Hendrickson, Virgina W. Kupritz Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Aaron Michael Sachs entitled “Consider the source: Receiver-assigned attributions of credibility to influential bloggers.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, with a major in Communication and Information. ______________________________ John Haas, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: ______________________________ Elizabeth Hendrickson ______________________________ Virginia Kupritz Accepted for the Council ______________________________ Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Consider the source: Receiver-Assigned Attributions of Credibility to Influential Bloggers A Thesis Presented for the Master of Science Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Aaron Michael Sachs December 2012 ii Copyright © 2012 by Aaron M. Sachs All rights reserved. iii Dedication This Master’s thesis is dedicated to my wife, Ashley, for encouraging me to push through the times I doubted myself and finish strong. Your love and your patience have kept me strong. iv Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge my committee: Drs. John Haas, Elizabeth Hendrickson, and Virginia Kupritz—thank you for all of your guidance, your patience, and your grace over the last year and a half. Without each of you, this thesis would not have happened. Dr. Karen Freberg – Thank you for being so encouraging and for helping me along in my pursuit to understand influence and credibility in the social media world. Brian Solis and Beth Kanter – Thank you for your willingness to participate in this research and for being willing to volunteer your blogs as a means for me to collect the data needed for this study. v Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine credibility as it pertains to blogging. While studies have traditionally considered credibility in the context of the material being created, this study examines source credibility in the context of the personality creating the material. Therefore, this study functions primarily as an exploratory study and seeks to present an understanding of source credibility from the perspective of the individuals participating in blogging communities cultivated by influential bloggers. An interview questionnaire was specially developed for this study. Ten participants were selected for this study. Eight of them are females, two of the participants are males. All but one of the participants are Caucasians. The study’s results show that support for attributions of credibility differing based on receiver gender and ethnicity does not exist. However, there was a difference in the types of credible behavior attributed to the bloggers in this study. Responses concerning the male Hispanic blogger indicate credibly behavior oriented toward providing depth of information, whereas responses concerning the White female blogger indicated an inclination toward a community-centric blog focused on providing a broad range of resources. Due to the limited sample size of this study, the ability to make general statements and infer statistical significance is limited, thus relegating this study to being only useful for exploratory purposes. This study’s results, data interpretation, implications, and possibilities for future research are discussed at length. vi Table of Contents Chapter 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction and General Information ............................................................................................ 1 Literature Review............................................................................................................................ 2 Credibility ................................................................................................................................... 4 Expertise ................................................................................................................................. 5 Trustworthiness ....................................................................................................................... 6 Source Credibility ................................................................................................................... 7 Blogs ........................................................................................................................................... 9 Social Media Influencers .......................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 13 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 13 Participants ................................................................................................................................ 13 Measures ................................................................................................................................... 14 Procedures ................................................................................................................................. 14 Analysis..................................................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 3 ....................................................................................................................................... 17 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 17 vii Domains .................................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 4 ....................................................................................................................................... 29 Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 29 Research Question 1: Do attributions of credibility differ based on the blogger’s gender? .. 29 Research Question 2: Do attributions of credibility differ based on receiver gender? .......... 30 Research Question 3: Do attributions of credibility differ based on receiver ethnicity? ....... 31 Research Question 4: Do attributions of credibility differ based on the blogger’s ethnicity? 31 Future research and limitations ................................................................................................. 33 Implications............................................................................................................................... 34 Post-hoc analysis ....................................................................................................................... 35 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 35 List of References ......................................................................................................................... 37 Appendices .................................................................................................................................... 45 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................... 46 Appendix B ..................................................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • International Students' Perceptions of Source Credibility for the U.S. Media And
    International Students' Perceptions of Source Credibility for the U.S. Media and International Outlets A thesis presented to the faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science Mengchen Li August 2015 © 2015 Mengchen Li. All Rights Reserved. This thesis titled International Students' Perceptions of Source Credibility for the U.S. Media and International Outlets by MENGCHEN LI has been approved for the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism and the Scripps College of Communication by Yusuf Kalyango Jr. Associate Professor of Journalism Scott Titsworth Dean, Scripps College of Communication ii Abstract LI, MENGCHEN, M.S., August 2015, Journalism International Students' Perceptions of Source Credibility for the U.S. Media and International Outlets Director of Thesis: Yusuf Kalyango Jr. Source credibility has generated some interest in the media and communication field, but primarily focusing on domestic sources. To advance our understanding of source creditability on a global scale, this study, guided by media credibility and international mobility, explored how international students in the United States perceived international news coverage in U.S. media and in their home-country media outlets. Specifically, it examined two dimensions of credibility: believability and community affiliation. Three focus group discussions were conducted between January 30 and February 5, 2015 on the Ohio University campus. Thematic analysis of data from 32 participants found that source credibility was not the only motivation for them to seek U.S. media outlets. International students in this study showed that believability and community affiliation are of concern based on international news coverage from U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Media Credibility: a Triangulation Test
    Journal of Content, Community & Communication Amity School of Communication Vol. 6 Year 3, June - 2017 [ISSN: 2395-7514 (Print)] Amity University, Madhya Pradesh [ISSN: 2456-9011 (Online)] Media credibility: A triangulation test Malini Srinivasan* and Francis P. Barclay** ABSTRACT Understanding credibility is crucial for newspapers to produce reliable-effectual content. In the present study, credibility of news articles is evaluated using three frames—media, message and source. To test interdependencies among these three credibility frames, a triangulation experiment involving content analysis and questionnaire was conducted with 102 articles (on 34 topics) sourced from three English newspapers published from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. As many as 306 readers evaluated the credibilities of these articles. Test results showed that there was a significant difference in media, message and source credibilities of the chosen three newspapers. Credibility factors, however, did not depend on gender of the readers but had significant relationships with their age and education. Message credibility was positively associated with both source and media credibilities. However, there was no correlation between media credibility and source credibility, indicating that news sources did not affect the overall perception about trustworthiness of newspaper. Keywords: Media credibility, message credibility, source credibility, newspaper, experiment. INTRODUCTION concerns about public trust and media responsibility, and both groups saw public Though online
    [Show full text]
  • Jim Allchin on Longhorn, Winfs, 64-Bit and Beyond Page 34 Jim
    0805red_cover.v5 7/19/05 2:57 PM Page 1 4 Scripting Solutions to Simplify Your Life Page 28 AUGUST 2005 WWW.REDMONDMAG.COM MrMr WindowsWindows Jim Allchin on Longhorn, WinFS, 64-Bit and Beyond Page 34 > $5.95 05 • AUGUST Make Room for Linux Apps Page 43 25274 867 27 Active Directory Design Disasters Page 49 71 Project1 6/16/05 12:36 PM Page 1 Exchange Server stores & PSTs driving you crazy? Only $399 for 50 mailboxes; $1499 for unlimited mailboxes! Archive all mail to SQL and save 80% storage space! Email archiving solution for internal and external email Download your FREE trial from www.gfi.com/rma Project1 6/16/05 12:37 PM Page 2 Get your FREE trial version of GFI MailArchiver for Exchange today! GFI MailArchiver for Exchange is an easy-to-use email archiving solution that enables you to archive all internal and external mail into a single SQL database. Now you can provide users with easy, centralized access to past email via a web-based search interface and easily fulfill regulatory requirements (such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act). GFI MailArchiver leverages the journaling feature of Exchange Server 2000/2003, providing unparalleled scalability and reliability at a competitive cost. GFI MailArchiver for Exchange features Provide end-users with a single web-based location in which to search all their past email Increase Exchange performance and ease backup and restoration End PST hell by storing email in SQL format Significantly reduce storage requirements for email by up to 80% Comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC and other regulations.
    [Show full text]
  • ETHAN KATZ-BASSETT [email protected]
    ETHAN KATZ-BASSETT [email protected] http://www.columbia.edu/~ebk2141/ Research Interests networking: Internet reliability and performance, Internet-scale distributed systems, Internet measurement, routing, content delivery, system design and deployment I design systems to improve the reliability and performance of Internet services. To understand the problems, I look to the needs of operators and providers, and I conduct measurements. Based on what I learn, I design deployable systems to improve the Internet and services that run over it. Education Ph.D., Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (March 2012) Advisors: Tom Anderson and Arvind Krishnamurthy Dissertation: Systems for Improving Internet Availability and Performance Won the department’s 2012 William Chan Memorial Dissertation Award B.A., Computer Science & Mathematics, Williams College, Williamstown, MA (June 2001) Magna Cum Laude Employment Associate Professor [tenure track but without tenure] (2017-current) Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY. Andrew and Erna Viterbi Early Career Chair (2016-2017) Assistant Professor (2012-2017) Computer Science Department, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. Software Engineer (2011-2012) Mobile performance, Google Inc., Seattle, WA. Honors and Awards · Andrew and Erna Viterbi Early Career Chair, 2016 · Facebook Faculty Award, 2016, 2017 · Google Faculty Research Award, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 · Applied Networking Research Prize, IRTF/IETF, TCP Gentle
    [Show full text]
  • Copyrighted Material
    Cross.bindex 9/19/06 4:27 PM Page 283 INDEX A Atlee, T., 135, 147 Bolles, R. N., 92 A CLUE, 86 Authentic happiness, 113 Bonk, C., 170, 171, 172 Abu Dhabi World Café, 138fig Bourdain, A., 151 Accelerating Change 2005 conference, B Bowling Green University, 229 5 Baldwin, T. T., 32 Boyatzis, R., 95 Access: to expertise, 25–26; as informal BAR Camp, 206, 210–215 BP: approach to improving interface learning factor, 18 Batelle, J., 210 within, 195–199; background infor- Adams, J., 94 Baum, D., 182 mation on, 195; cartoon mapping Adaptation, 15fig–16 Beale, S., 213 critical interface in, 197fig; decision ADD (attention deficit disorder), 93, Behlendorf, B., 227 cards used by, 198fig–199 94 Bell Harbor Conference Center Brache, A., 33 Adkins, S., 32 (Seattle), 207 Brand, S., 2 Advanced Micro Devices, 121 Bennett, A., 91 Bransford, J., 79 Aetna Insurance, 57 Berensson, A., 103 Brinkerhoff, R. O., 32 Akers, J., 43 Berman, M., 31 Broad, 32 Alcoholics Anonymous serenity prayer, Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft Brown, J., 135, 136 228 PowerPoint to Create Presentations Brown, J. S., 38, 45–46, 132, 212 Allee, V., 10 That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire Buchanan, L., 177 Alta Visa, 169 COPYRIGHTED(Atkinson), 103 MATERIALBuilding Beehives (Kahan), 151 Altus vSearch, 155fig Bird by Bird (Lamott), 101 Bullitt (film), 64–65 Amelio, G., 121, 124, 126 Blakeslee, S., 12 Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 17 American Fern Society, 153 Blended learning: description of, 171– Burke, J., 107 American Psychological Association, 172; dimensions of, 172–173t; Burns, F., 113 112 origins of, 170–171 Bush, G.
    [Show full text]
  • Advertising Credibility Across Different Media Channels
    IJASOS- International E-Journal of Advances in Social Sciences, Vol.II, Issue 4, April 2016 ADVERTISING CREDIBILITY ACROSS DIFFERENT MEDIA CHANNELS Lucia Vilčeková1 1Dr., Comenius University in Bratislava, SLOVAKIA, [email protected] Abstract In the field of communication, researchers are primarily interested in finding out about people‟s choices of media such as television, newspapers, magazines, online news, etc. Perceptions of the reliability and trustworthiness may be significantly affected by the selection of information sources and credibility can be suggested as one of the factors driving the traffic of individuals to certain media. The concept of credibility is not new and has been studied in the ancient Greece – how the speakers persuade audience members. However, studies of the credibility of mass media began interesting in times when the rising number of people started turning to radio for news instead of newspapers. Another change was brought by television and in the last decade of the 20th century, rise of the Internet has led to recent credibility studies comparing traditional sources with this emerging medium. The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences in advertising credibility perception across different media channels – television, newspapers and the Internet and determine if the medium of delivery has an impact on credibility assessment of advertising. The results showed overall moderate credibility of all the media but newspapers have shown the highest overall credibility, followed by the Internet and television, respectively. Advertising credibility was higher in traditional media than in the Internet. Negative attitudes were the highest in the online channels and the most credible advertising channel was the television.
    [Show full text]
  • Credibility of Digital Political News in Spain: Comparison Between Traditional Media and Social Media
    social sciences $€ £ ¥ Article Credibility of Digital Political News in Spain: Comparison between Traditional Media and Social Media Reinald Besalú * and Carles Pont-Sorribes Department of Communication, Pompeu Fabra University, 08002 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +34-9-3542-2447 Abstract: In the context of the dissemination of fake news and the traditional media outlets’ loss of centrality, the credibility of digital news emerges as a key factor for today’s democracies. The main goal of this paper was to identify the levels of credibility that Spanish citizens assign to political news in the online environment. A national survey (n = 1669) was designed to assess how the news format affected credibility and likelihood of sharing. Four different news formats were assessed, two of them linked to traditional media (digital newspapers and digital television) and two to social media (Facebook and WhatsApp). Four experimental groups assigned a credibility score and a likelihood of sharing score to four different political news items presented in the aforementioned digital formats. The comparison between the mean credibility scores assigned to the same news item presented in different formats showed significant differences among groups, as did the likelihood of sharing the news. News items shown in a traditional media format, especially digital television, were assigned more credibility than news presented in a social media format, and participants were also more likely to share the former, revealing a more cautious attitude towards social media as a source of news. Citation: Besalú, Reinald, and Carles Keywords: credibility; likelihood of sharing; political digital news; Facebook; WhatsApp; digital Pont-Sorribes.
    [Show full text]
  • The First Draft: Health Care Heat Wave Create Cheap, Unpowered by Deborah Zabarenko (Front Panel
    Internet News Record 09/08/09 - 10/08/09 LibertyNewsprint.com U.S. Edition Crazy scratch UI to The First Draft: health care heat wave create cheap, unpowered By Deborah Zabarenko (Front panel. touch surfaces Row Washington) The non-partisan Factcheck.org site By John Biggs (CrunchGear) says its e-mail inbox has been Submitted at 8/10/2009 7:23:14 AM “exploding” recently with queries Submitted at 8/10/2009 7:16:26 AM The temperature’s heading toward asking whether this provision The same guys who brought you the 100 in Washington, and things are encourages suicide at the end of life. bubble input have created a crazy getting hotter in the debate over The answer, Factcheck.org said, is scratch UI that allows you to scratch health care too, even with Congress no. “Page 425 does deal with and tap almost any surface. By out of town for the traditional August counseling sessions for seniors, but it sensing the sound and the finding the recess and President Barack Obama is far from recommending a“Logan’s peaks and valleys in the waveform in Mexico for the so-called Three Run” approach to Medicare the system can tell if you’re Amigos summit. spending. In fact, it requires scratching a shape or tapping on the Taking aim at the orchestrated — Medicare to cover counseling surface. or not — attacks on congressional sessions for seniors who want to The UI can be used with any supporters of the Obama health care consider their end-of-life choices –- material - it just needs a sensitive plan, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi including whether they want to microphone - and could be used to and House Majority Leader Steny refuse or, conversely, require certain follow a pen on a whiteboard surface Hoyer struck back in an opinion types of care.
    [Show full text]
  • An Examination of Source Credibility and Word of Mouth Best
    The Report committee for Lauren Elizabeth Alexander Certifies that this is the approved version of the following report: An Examination of Source Credibility and Word of Mouth Best Practices for Social Media Marketing With an Emphasis on Twitter APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Supervisor: ___________________________________________ Gary Wilcox _______________________________________________ Lucy Atkinson An Examination of Source Credibility and Word of Mouth Best Practices for Social Media Marketing With an Emphasis on Twitter By Lauren Elizabeth Alexander, B.S.P.R. Report Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin December 2011 ABSTRACT An Examination of Source Credibility and Word of Mouth Best Practices for Social Media Marketing With an Emphasis on Twitter By Lauren Elizabeth Alexander, M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2011 SUPERVISOR: Gary Wilcox Abstract: Because social media is a relatively new digital medium and Twitter is an even newer medium, it is important for practitioners and academics to understand how to create and utilize the best messaging strategies to induce persuasion, win brand advocates and create a sustainable, credible presence for brands on social media platforms such as Twitter. The author seeks to examine the theoretical and practical relevance of social media, with an emphasis on Twitter as well as explore how the theories of source credibility and
    [Show full text]
  • Intersectionality, Inclusion, and the Extension of Cultural Hierarchies on Emma Watson’S Feminist Book Club, ‘Our Shared Shelf’
    . Volume 16, Issue 1 May 2019 Is ‘Everyone welcome’?: Intersectionality, inclusion, and the extension of cultural hierarchies on Emma Watson’s feminist book club, ‘Our shared shelf’ Melanie Ramdarshan Bold, University College London, UK Abstract: Emma Watson started Our Shared Shelf (OSS), a feminist book club, on Goodreads in 2016. Through her work on gender-equality, Watson has accumulated enough cultural capital to be viewed as a legitimate tastemaker in selecting books for a feminist audience, and fits into what Rehberg Sedo describes as the trusted other (Rehberg Sedo, 2004). However, this article argues that Watson creates cultural hierarchies, and extends her feminist brand, through her book choices and the way that she interacts with the OSS community. Despite attempts to diversify the bi-monthly book choices, there has been a preference towards English-language books written by cisgendered, middle-class, able-bodied, heterosexual, white women. Therefore, the list did not represent the international and intersectional nature of OSS: something several readers voice concern about. Additionally, this article examines how the readers’ relationship to their celebrity tastemaker reinforces hierarchies. Engaging in social media can be a performative act: users can construct an identity whilst engaging with social issues. However, there is a danger that a dominant narrative can influence identities and interpretations. Consequently, OSS replicates and upholds patterns of dominance and exclusion and is not an egalitarian space, despite
    [Show full text]
  • Sample Chapter
    5674ch01.qxd_jt 9/24/03 8:44 AM Page 1 11 TheThe OnlineOnline WorldWorld 5674ch01.qxd_jt 9/24/03 8:44 AM Page 2 Today’s online world has changed dramatically in the last decade. Back then, online to the average user meant a telephone connection directly to either another computer or to an online service, such as CompuServe or AOL. The Internet now dominates all online activity. In popular parlance, the Internet is synonymous with the World Wide Web, although it is much more, as we’ll explain in this book. The Internet can be described generally as a “network” of networks. It is a transportation vehicle for applications. In fact, the visual representations of the Net look like a road map. If lines are drawn between each connection, between larger and larger connections, and between smaller and smaller ones, the end result is a web of connections—a virtual road map. This book is divided into four rough sections. The first is for beginners. It is to get anyone up to speed quickly with the information needed about the Web. Each chapter has recommended Web sites (to type the address, or Uniform Resource Locator [URL] into your Web browser) to help direct you. The second section has more detailed information about downloads, email, secu- rity, and information on virus protection. The third part is about how to create a Web site, Web tools, blogging, and what you can add to your Web site (such as streaming media, RSS feeds, and XML, among other things). The fourth part is by far the densest.
    [Show full text]
  • Incorrect, Fake, and False. Journalists' Perceived Online Source Credibility
    Observatorio (OBS*) Journal, (2018), 037-052 1646-5954/ERC123483/2018 037 Incorrect, fake, and false. Journalists’ perceived online source credibility and verification behavior Maurice Vergeer* *Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands Abstract This study focuses on the extent journalists verify information provided by online sources, and tests to what extent this verification behavior can be explained by journalists’ perceived credibility of online information and other factors, such as journalism education of journalists, work and Internet experience, and work environment (broadcasting, newspapers, Internet). Although several studies have focused on perceived credibility of online information, none have tested its effect on actual verification behavior. This study will perform that test. Using a sample from the membership database of the Dutch Association of Journalists, a web questionnaire was used to ask journalists about their opinions, behavior, and professional background characteristics. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Analyses show that journalism education does not affect journalists’ verification behavior, neither directly nor indirectly via perceived online source credibility. Perceiving online information as less credible does not lead to verifying online information more extensively. Journalism education only affects the extent journalists perceive online (semi-) governmental information as less credible. The findings question the role of formal and informal professional socialization in training journalists to become professional journalists adhering to professional standards. Keywords: journalism; professional socialization; perceived information credibility; verification behavior; Internet experience; news production While the Internet provides journalists with many new advantages, such as ease of information retrieval, increased speed of publishing, and new ways to reach audiences, recent years has shown that using the Internet for information gathering is not too take lightly.
    [Show full text]