When misinformation is shared by a family member, friend, or colleague, we sometimes wonder why they shared it with us. The truth is that many people do not realize that they are sharing misinformation. So understanding their motivations for doing so helps us understand and address their information needs.
A recent review article (Malik et al 2023) examined more than 5000 papers for the predictors of misinformation sharing by adults. Here’s what they found:
People share misinformation for different reasons, including entertainment, information-seeking, information overload, socialization, status-seeking, having trust or mistrust in the information shared, anxiety, self-efficacy or ability to use social media or understand health information effectively, altruistic motives, and inability to self-regulate behavior.
Infodemic managers should understand and investigate these motivations by monitoring public online conversations, such as evaluating comments and reactions to people’s posts online, or considering alternate data sources such as factchecks posted by factchecking and media organizations, who may include in their factcheck details on where the misinformation may have come from, such as from another country or has previously appeared in other epidemics. Understanding the underlying values and motivations why misinformation is spread may require looking at the words and emotions (emojis) that are expressed alongside the misinformation.
Quantitative analysis, such as frequency of specific keywords linked to specific emotions associated for sharing misinformation can also be used. For example, an infodemic manager might analyze tweets that mention the word “worried” and “mpox” or use of the emoji, and related synonyms and keywords. These keywords might appear more frequently in one community compared to another. This may describe degrees of risk perception and possible mis-attributions to specific rumors, events, or emerging science. Such analysis may help an infodemic manager to understand how information sharing patterns and reactions differ between communities, and help inform more tailored infodemic management strategies.
Image: Andrea Pittori / Alamy Stock Vector
Source- WHO, 4 March, 2023.
