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Cited by 401

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 57 of the 57 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The diffusion of misinformation on social media: Temporal pattern, message, and source

Open access
Shin, Jieun, Jian, Lian, Driscoll, Kevin, Bar, François·2018·Computers in Human Behavior
DOI 10.1016/j.chb.2018.02.008
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Abstract

This study examines dynamic communication processes of political misinformation on social media focusing on three components: the temporal pattern, content mutation, and sources of misinformation. We traced the lifecycle of 17 popular political rumors that circulated on Twitter over 13 months during the 2012 U.S. presidential election. Using text analysis based on time series, we found that while false rumors (misinformation) tend to come back multiple times after the initial publication, true rumors (facts) do not. Rumor resurgence continues, often accompanying textual changes, until the tension around the target dissolves. We observed that rumors resurface by partisan news websites that repackage the old rumor into news and, gain visibility by influential Twitter users who introduce such rumor into the Twittersphere. In this paper, we argue that media scholars should consider the mutability of diffusing information, temporal recurrence of such messages, and the mechanism by which these messages evolve over time. False political rumors tend to resurface multiple times after the initial publication.False political rumors often turn into a more intense and extreme version over time.Resurged old political rumors tend to be presented as news.None-traditional partisan media are often behind the constant generation of false news.

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Metadata

Authors
Shin, J., Jian, L., Driscoll, K., & Bar, F.
Venue
Computers in Human Behavior
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018-06
Volume
83
Pages
278-287
ISSN
0747-5632 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.chb.2018.02.008
OpenAlex
W2793246835
Cited by
401
References
57
FWCI
98.53
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: The diffusion of misinformation on social media: Temporal pattern, message, and source. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1016/j.chb.2018.02.008
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Shin, J., Jian, L., Driscoll, K., & Bar, F. (2018). The diffusion of misinformation on social media: Temporal pattern, message, and source. Computers in Human Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.02.008

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Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.