Credtwi: Investigating Social Media Credibility with a Browser Plugin

People now look for information online and on social media for everyday problems. Organizations and malevolent actors have taken the opportunity to spread misinformation/disinformation. It is increasingly important to understand the credibility of online information. We designed and implemented a research browser plugin, Credtwi. It injects credibility questionnaires directly into the user’s Twitter feed, enabling crowdsourced data collection. We carried out a week-long field study where participants assessed the credibility of tweets on various topics. We provide insights into information credibility in the Twitter ecosystem by analyzing the assessments and study questionnaires. The participants’ perception of Twitter as a credible information source decreased after using Credtwi. Our results suggest that the author’s verification status and bio are the most important factors for their perceived credibility. Finally, we discovered significant differences between the assessments of the different genders. Our results contribute to the research on online social media content credibility.