Analysis of Differential Influencing Factors in Social Media Users' Conformity Behavior in Spreading False Information
[Purpose/significance]Conformity behavior is an important reason for the spread of false information on social media.It is of great significance to clarify the differences of various users'conformity behavior for the targeted management of false information.[Method/process]This article selects four factors,namely,group conformity,group cohesion,individual reputation,and situational am-biguity,as the observed variables.Gender,age,education,usage time,and sharing frequency are used as user classification criteria.A comprehensive approach involving variance analysis,graphical testing,and cluster analysis is adopted to analyze the differences in fac-tors affecting users'herd behavior in spreading false information,and to achieve user group division.[Result/conclusion]Different so-cial media user groups have universal differences in the process of spreading false information.Users who go with the flow have the largest range of influence when spreading false information;information cocoons are influenced by group conformity and group cohe-sion,and their herd behavior in spreading false information is mainly based on the narrow information environment of individual small circles.Users who spread false information due to neglect are motivated by blind forwarding and sharing in a state of situational ambi-guity,while users who chase fame and fortune are motivated by the pursuit of individual reputation among specific user groups.[Inno-vation/limitation]This article demonstrates a certain level of innovation by utilizing methods such as cluster analysis,quadrant analy-sis,and letter tagging analysis to achieve user clustering and group segmentation based on the differential factors influencing the spread of false information through user behavior.However,the limitation lies in the limited dimensions selected in this study,which can be further supplemented in future research to enrich the research outcomes in this field.
dissemination of false informationbehavior of conformist communicationinfluencing factorsanalysis of variancesocial media