(Mis)perceptions and engagement on Twitter: COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effort
This paper reports the findings of a 606-participant study analyzing the perception of, and engagement with, COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effort on Twitter. Misperceptions were successfully induced through simple content alterations and the addition of popular anti-COVID...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2022-04-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Information Management Data Insights |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667096822000039 |
| _version_ | 1818238172396519424 |
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| author | Filipo Sharevski Alice Huff Peter Jachim Emma Pieroni |
| author_facet | Filipo Sharevski Alice Huff Peter Jachim Emma Pieroni |
| author_sort | Filipo Sharevski |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper reports the findings of a 606-participant study analyzing the perception of, and engagement with, COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effort on Twitter. Misperceptions were successfully induced through simple content alterations and the addition of popular anti-COVID-19 hashtags such as #COVIDIOT and #covidhoax to otherwise valid Twitter content. Twitter's soft moderation warning label helped the majority of our participants to dismiss the rumors about mass immunization. However, for the skeptic, vaccine-hesitant minority, the soft moderation caused a “backfire effect” i.e., make them perceive the rumor as accurate. While the majority of the participants staunchly refrain from engaging with the COVID-19 rumors, the hesitant and skeptic minority was open to comment, retweet, like and share the vaccine efficacy rumors. Based on these findings, we recommend misinformation label designs to prevent the “backfire effect” of COVID-19 vaccine rumors on Twitter. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T12:37:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4fac91de86194d48966329dc927f55db |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2667-0968 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T12:37:26Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Information Management Data Insights |
| spelling | doaj.art-4fac91de86194d48966329dc927f55db2022-12-22T00:24:18ZengElsevierInternational Journal of Information Management Data Insights2667-09682022-04-0121100059(Mis)perceptions and engagement on Twitter: COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effortFilipo Sharevski0Alice Huff1Peter Jachim2Emma Pieroni3Corresponding author.; College of Computing and Digital Media, DePaul University, 243 S Wabash Avenue, Chicago, IL 60604, United StatesCollege of Computing and Digital Media, DePaul University, 243 S Wabash Avenue, Chicago, IL 60604, United StatesCollege of Computing and Digital Media, DePaul University, 243 S Wabash Avenue, Chicago, IL 60604, United StatesCollege of Computing and Digital Media, DePaul University, 243 S Wabash Avenue, Chicago, IL 60604, United StatesThis paper reports the findings of a 606-participant study analyzing the perception of, and engagement with, COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effort on Twitter. Misperceptions were successfully induced through simple content alterations and the addition of popular anti-COVID-19 hashtags such as #COVIDIOT and #covidhoax to otherwise valid Twitter content. Twitter's soft moderation warning label helped the majority of our participants to dismiss the rumors about mass immunization. However, for the skeptic, vaccine-hesitant minority, the soft moderation caused a “backfire effect” i.e., make them perceive the rumor as accurate. While the majority of the participants staunchly refrain from engaging with the COVID-19 rumors, the hesitant and skeptic minority was open to comment, retweet, like and share the vaccine efficacy rumors. Based on these findings, we recommend misinformation label designs to prevent the “backfire effect” of COVID-19 vaccine rumors on Twitter.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667096822000039COVID-19VaccinesTwitterSoft moderationMisperceptionRumors |
| spellingShingle | Filipo Sharevski Alice Huff Peter Jachim Emma Pieroni (Mis)perceptions and engagement on Twitter: COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effort International Journal of Information Management Data Insights COVID-19 Vaccines Soft moderation Misperception Rumors |
| title | (Mis)perceptions and engagement on Twitter: COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effort |
| title_full | (Mis)perceptions and engagement on Twitter: COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effort |
| title_fullStr | (Mis)perceptions and engagement on Twitter: COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effort |
| title_full_unstemmed | (Mis)perceptions and engagement on Twitter: COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effort |
| title_short | (Mis)perceptions and engagement on Twitter: COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effort |
| title_sort | mis perceptions and engagement on twitter covid 19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effort |
| topic | COVID-19 Vaccines Soft moderation Misperception Rumors |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667096822000039 |
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