Rony’s study of fake news published in social media journal

Oct. 19, 2021

Nazmul Rony, a Slippery Rock University assistant professor of strategic communication and media, recently had his research published in The Journal of Social Media in Society, a peer-reviewed online journal of scholarly articles and book reviews devoted to scholarship and commentary on social media and its impact on society. 

Rony’s study, titled “Fake News Conversation Network in Twitter: User Type, Emotional Appeals and Motives in Network Formation,” explored the underlying motives and sentiments of messages containing #fakenews on Twitter. The research, co-authored with Rahnuma Ahmed, an independent researcher, found that #fakenews conversations were driven primarily by the risk-focus dimension that referred to dangers, concerns and things to avoid.