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Cited by 270Media Studies and CommunicationCommunication and COVID-19 ImpactMisinformation and Its Impacts

“I Just Google It”: Folk Theories of Distributed Discovery

Open access
Toff, Benjamin, Nielsen, Rasmus Kleis·2018·Journal of Communication
DOI 10.1093/joc/jqy009
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Abstract

A significant minority of people do not follow news regularly, and a growing number rely on distributed discovery (especially social media and search engines) to stay informed. Here, we analyze folk theories of news consumption. On the basis of an inductive analysis of 43 in-depth interviews with infrequent users of conventional news, we identify three complementary folk theories (“news finds me,” “the information is out there,” and “I don’t know what to believe”) that consumers draw on when making sense of their information environment. We show that the notion of folk theories help unpack the different, complementary, sometimes contradictory cultural resources people rely on as they navigate digital media and public affairs, and we argue that studying those who rarely engage directly with news media but do access information via social media and search provides a critical case study of the dynamics of an environment increasingly defined by platforms.

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Crossref · 10.1093/joc/jqy009

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  • Algorithms designed to filter, curate, and display the vast amount of information available online, combined with people's tendency to seek friendly social environments, may induce biases in perceived reality and contribute to societal polarization.

    “algorithms designed to filter, curate, and display the vast amount of information available online, combined with people’s tendency to seek friendly social environments, may induce biases in perceived reality and contribute to societal polarization”

    From Stewardship of global collective behavior (2021) · cites this paper as [122]

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Authors
Toff, B., & Nielsen, R. K.
Affiliations
  • University of Minnesota (US)
  • University of Oxford (GB)
Corresponding author
Toff, Benjamin
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Communication
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2018-04-16
Volume
68
Issue
3
Pages
636-657
ISSN
  • 0021-9916 (ISSN-L)
  • 1460-2466
DOI
10.1093/joc/jqy009
OpenAlex
W2802551013
Cited by
270
References
35
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 42 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 84 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 9
FWCI
68.79
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
Journal of Communication (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Communication › Media Studies and Communication
  • Social Sciences › Communication › Communication and COVID-19 Impact
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
Keywords
folk theories, news consumption, social media, search engines, information seeking, digital media platforms, public affairs, information environment

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