TikTok and misinformation : which factors contribute to spreading misinformation?
Kivijärvi Busto, Rebeca (2022)
Kivijärvi Busto, Rebeca
2022
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022121227952
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022121227952
Tiivistelmä
This thesis sought to establish a link between the popularity of TikTok and the factors that make certain misinformation be spread more than other misinformation. The thesis also explored what makes TikTok a popular platform thus allowing a larger audience to expose to misinformation. To do this, the thesis was based on multiple sources such as scientific journals and articles. The information was presented in conjunction with a small-scale experiment that consisted of the creation of 3 TikTok videos and their uploading to the internet.
The theoretical part centered on what brought about the popularity of TikTok including factors within the application itself, as well as how what was happen-ing in the world during TikTok’s growth could have affected TikTok’s popularity. The theoretical part also identified the underlying factors of what makes in-formation spread in general, by looking at the transmission of memes and narrative theory.
The goal of the experiment consisted of seeing if anyone could make a video based on the factors that make information spread, and receive a significant quantity of views, despite the information being presented potentially being false. All videos created for this thesis received over 200 views, but what was surprising and subverted expectations was that the control video received the most views. This was unexpected as it was made by breaking the rules that make misinformation spread as opposed to the other videos which followed the rules that make misinformation spread.
However, it could not be stated that humour, short content, and a story-like structure failed at making misinformation spread as there were multiple limitations to this experiment. One of them was that the humour used was subjective, another, that the topic might have not been interesting enough to TikTok’s users. Further research would be needed to establish or discredit these factors that allegedly cause misinformation to spread.
The theoretical part centered on what brought about the popularity of TikTok including factors within the application itself, as well as how what was happen-ing in the world during TikTok’s growth could have affected TikTok’s popularity. The theoretical part also identified the underlying factors of what makes in-formation spread in general, by looking at the transmission of memes and narrative theory.
The goal of the experiment consisted of seeing if anyone could make a video based on the factors that make information spread, and receive a significant quantity of views, despite the information being presented potentially being false. All videos created for this thesis received over 200 views, but what was surprising and subverted expectations was that the control video received the most views. This was unexpected as it was made by breaking the rules that make misinformation spread as opposed to the other videos which followed the rules that make misinformation spread.
However, it could not be stated that humour, short content, and a story-like structure failed at making misinformation spread as there were multiple limitations to this experiment. One of them was that the humour used was subjective, another, that the topic might have not been interesting enough to TikTok’s users. Further research would be needed to establish or discredit these factors that allegedly cause misinformation to spread.