Authors
Henry Goble, Austin J Beattie, Chad Edwards
Publication date
2016/9/1
Journal
Impressions
Volume
48
Issue
1
Pages
23-35
Description
Twitterbots are automated programs that can tweet and interact with users of Twitter. With consideration to the growing usage of social media for communicative and informational functions and to current events such as the “Black Lives Matter” movement, this study explores differences in perceptions of communication quality between racially-depicted black and white Twitterbots, specifically perceptions of credibility and interpersonal attraction. This study employs social presence theory as a theoretical lens. Results suggest that participants viewed the black-depicted Twitterbot as higher in credibility and interpersonal attraction. Results are discussed in light of social presence theory and offer directions for future studies on race, automated programs, and social media. witter is one of the world’s largest social networking websites, with more than 300 million active accounts (Welch & Popper, 2015). Possessing a top-ten Alexa rank (Top Sites, 2016), Twitter is also one of the busiest. Although millions of people have Twitter accounts, not all of its users are human. Automated programs, referred to as “Twitterbots,” account for 23 million of its user base (Seward, 2014). Twitter’s design allows the interface of not only humans but also fully automated “social actors.” The number and reach of automated computer systems continue to grow in everyday life and in their influence. Research has indicated these automated “social actors” possess the ability to create an impression in approximately 12 seconds (Cafaro, Vilhjálmsson, Valgarosson, Jóhannsdóttir, Bickmore, & Heylen, 2012). It is difficult to distinguish human accounts from automated Twitterbot …
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