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dc.contributor.advisorRodgers, Shelly (Shelly Lannette), 1965-eng
dc.contributor.authorPepper, Nathaneng
dc.date.issued2012eng
dc.date.submitted2012 Springeng
dc.descriptionTitle from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on September 17, 2012).eng
dc.descriptionThe entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.eng
dc.descriptionThesis advisor: Dr. Shelly Rodgerseng
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references.eng
dc.descriptionM.A. University of Missouri--Columbia 2012.eng
dc.description"May 2012"eng
dc.description.abstractSocial media communication networks such as Twitter and Facebook are changing the way organizations and communities alert the public of timely public safety information related to natural disasters, man-made events or other crises. This quantitative study sought to understand whether organizational sources are more credible and persuasive than individual sources during times of crisis. 110 adult residents of a suburban Texas community were asked to view simulated public safety messages presented within a social media channel, and then complete a short survey assessing the credibility and persuasiveness of the messages they viewed. The 2x2 factorial post-test only experiment found that within social media, organizational sources are significantly more credible, F(1, 108)=40.62, p<.001, and significantly more persuasive, F(1, 108)=9.4, p=.003, than individual sources when communicating timely public safety information, regardless of message content. When the results were controlled other factors such as perceived risk, attitude and user involvement, organizational sources were still found to be significantly more credible than individual sources, but not significantly more persuasive. The findings of this pilot study offer rich opportunities for future research in the area of source credibility within social media, and should provide valuable information for practitioners responsible for communicating with the public in times of crisis.eng
dc.format.extentviii, 60 pageseng
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10355/15371
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.publisherUniversity of Missouri--Columbiaeng
dc.relation.ispartofcommunityUniversity of Missouri-Columbia. Graduate School. Theses and Dissertations. Theses. 2012 Theseseng
dc.rightsOpenAccess.eng
dc.rights.licenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.
dc.subjectsocial mediaeng
dc.subjectcrisis communicationeng
dc.subjectsource credibilityeng
dc.subjectpublic safetyeng
dc.titleSource credibility and the persuasiveness of public saftey messages communicated via social mediaeng
dc.typeThesiseng
thesis.degree.disciplineJournalism (MU)eng
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Missouri--Columbiaeng
thesis.degree.levelMasterseng
thesis.degree.nameM.A.eng


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