Perceived Credibility of Social Media Verified Accounts Feature of Facebook amongst Nigerian Academics
Credibility of Social Media (SM) presence has today, become a most sought-after feature by millions of SM users globally including Facebook (FB) for several reasons including: to help curb the problem of fake accounts bedevilling credibility of the SM platforms. This empirical study sought answers to these social misnomers from within the context of the Academic Staff of The Federal Polytechnic Bida. The frameworks supporting the discourse are; Source Credibility theory by Hovland, Janis, and Kelly (1963); and, Uses and Gratifications theory of the media by Kalz, Blumler, and Gurevitch (1974). Survey methodology was employed with Questionnaire as instrument. In line with the research objectives, this study found that; many Nigerians know about the 'perceived' use of the SM Verified account feature of FB; only a few Nigerians truly know that the SM Verified feature of FB is a vital feature for searching for credible/genuine information/content on Facebook; slightly above average number of surveyed Nigerians think that the SM Verified feature of FB “is good for Facebook account/source trustworthiness/believability.” A crucial recommendation among others include: creating awareness on the actual usefulness of this SM Verification tools for credibility of SM platforms like Facebook.
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