Current Information in Social Media: Usage Analysis and Perception of Credibility

Abstract

Since the Facebook scandal caused by the filtration of data of the political consultant Cambridge Analytica took place, the credibility of information on social media has started to be questioned. The phenomenon of bots (digital robots), programmed to publish, comment and monitor user information, is changing the content being offered in networks. According to surveys, while on journalists’ side an intensive use of networks incorporated into professional routines is used, even if journalists are more sceptical to trust social media as information sources, this isn’t the case for the audience, who uses this modality more and more to be informed about breaking news. As a consequence, the journalistic brand is diluted, since it is increasingly difficult for the user to differentiate the original source from the journalistic information. All this causes a change in the model of distribution and consumption of information that requires analysis from the perception and credibility of the audience. The objective of this work is to describe the use of social networks for informational purposes by journalism students, as well as the perception of credibility generated by these platforms for consulting current information and content. Because of this, a student survey is used, which reflects the intensive use of social networks for informational purposes, overcoming even digital media; At the same time a higher level of trust is observed in the former, Twitter being the network that they consider the most suitable for the distribution of journalistic content and the one that is the most trusted.