‘News will find me’ mindset makes people trust algorithms and online networks
A Penn State University project studied the propensity of ‘news will find me’ behavior, algorithms, traditional news and social media platform trust.
Penn State Bellisario College of Communications
One in three people believe they don’t have to seek the news from traditional outlets like newspapers and television. Instead, they think the “news will find me” (NFM), relying on algorithms and social networks to get their information. A research team led by Penn State scholars recently found that these individuals often consider their online networks to be as trustworthy as professional editors and journalists.
This mindset may make people more vulnerable to believing and sharing misinformation, according to the researchers, who published their findings in the journal Social Media & Society.
To understand news consumption behavior, the researchers designed an experiment that allowed them to observe how individuals with different levels of NFM engage with news. The researchers found users with higher NFM considered news recommended by algorithms or shared by others in their social network to be just as credible as news recommended by editors and reporters.
However, mid- and low-NFM individuals more critically evaluated news sources and placed higher value on stories from editors and reporters.
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