College Students and Sharing Fake News on Social Media: A Study

Abstract

During and following the 2016 election, fake news in social media posts has been a significant occurrence on various social media sites. This can be attributed to the ability given to anybody to make a post on a social media site that can be claimed as true and obtains no prior fact checking before posting and can reach as many people as any sophisticated news source. Divisive content that elicits interactions are pushed by social media sites regardless of the content. This study explores three research questions regarding motivations behind college students sharing information on social media, the perceived impact of college students sharing fake news on social media, and who, if anyone, college students believe is responsible for preventing the spread of fake news on social media. A study was conducted via an online survey and four conclusions were made based on the responses of three survey questions that yielded significance. Many limitations were identified and discussed regarding the study.