Research and Innovation

When misinformation spreads on social media, there can be real consequences for both companies and the public. A new study offers insight into how consumers respond to these online hoaxes, which companies can use to better respond to these misinformation campaigns.

To learn more about the work we talked to Alice Cheng, an associate professor of communication at NC State and co-author of a paper on the study. The paper, “The diffusion process of product-harm misinformation on social media: evidence from consumers and insights from communication professionals,” is published in the journal Internet Research.

The Abstract: What was the fundamental challenge you were setting out to address with this work?

Alice Cheng: The main issue we wanted to tackle was understanding how false information about products spreads on social media and how it affects people’s trust in the company and their tendency to spread negative opinions about it.

TA: What drew your attention to this subject?

Cheng: We were interested in this topic because of the growing problem of false information on social media and its potential harm to companies. We wanted to figure out how this happens to help companies deal with it better.

TA: Tell me about the study itself. What exactly did you do?

Cheng: The study primarily focused on delineating the diffusion process of product-harm misinformation on social media. To achieve this, we employed a mixed-methods approach involving both...

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