Research of the Post Credibility on Social Media Using Traditional and Untraditional Approaches

The primary goal of this study was to examine the perceived credibility and virality of social media posts, as well as emotional reactions to various forms of media content, with special emphasis on differences between truthful, false, and manipulated news.

Specific objectives included:

• Analysing perceived credibility of posts among participants
• Examining the tendency to share (virality) the viewed posts
• Identifying differences in reactions depending on post type
• Linking the findings with participants’ sociodemographic characteristics and media habits
• Assessing unconscious emotional responses using biosensors

In addition to self-assessments, biometric data were collected using:

• Eye Tracking (ET) – for visual attention and gaze duration analysis
• Facial Expression Analysis (AFFDEX) – for detecting real-time facial expressions and emotional states

This combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, including objective neurophysiological measurement, enabled a comprehensive insight into how social media users process and react to potentially manipulative content.

The report was prepared by Ivana Pavlić and Barbara Puh.