Date of Award
11-23-2015
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Journalism, MSMC
First Advisor
Mary Pitts
Committee Members
Marceline Hayes; Mary Pitts; Po-Lin Pan
Call Number
LD 251 .A566t 2015 A21
Abstract
The present study investigated how anonymous sources on Twitter can gain credibility by Twitter users. The researcher examined @karametwatan Twitter account as an example of anonymous sources. A formulated theory, Anonymous Leaders was employed in order to test its assumptions. The main purpose of this study is to figure out how Kuwaiti Twitter users trust @karametwatan and the role of opposition leaders who were advocates of this account toward attributing this account as credible. A total of 650 Kuwaiti Twitter users participated in this study. The results of this study showed that @karametwatan’s followers trust its tweets and attribute it as credible. Opposition leaders played a fundamental role in influencing their followers to follow @karametwatan and participate in its marches. A significant difference found between @karametwatan’s followers. Those who have less than 1000 followers were dependent on others to follow @karametwatan while those with 1000 followers or more tend to depend on themselves in following this account. Further, @karametwatan’s followers trust and attribute this account and opposition leaders as credible more than Kuwait government.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Aldaihani, Yousef A., "Survey Examination of How an Anonymous Source Gains Credibility in the Political Discourse: @karametwatan Twitter Account as an Example" (2015). Student Theses and Dissertations. 687.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/687
