A study published this month in Nature looks into how reframing a “fact-check” as a “confirmation” helps those behind this activity increase engagement with their output, what’s termed “corrections of information.”
In other words, what effect does different framing – as confirmation or refutation – have on the likelihood that people will share, like, or comment on the handiwork of “fact-checkers.”
According to the paper that included research done in four South American countries – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia – the increase of engagement with “reframed fact-checks” is statistically significant. Respondents were given Facebook posts edited to express either confirmation or refutation as samples to react to.
The primary purpose of the study is to find out what motivates online users to spread information that has been “fact-checked” – in other words, how to up the level of such engagement.
