IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE, FIX IT: an experimental study on health news in G1 and WhatsApp

Abstract

This article analyzes the effect of news reports containing grammatical errors that have been corrected or updated, how readers perceive the credibility of this information, and their behavioral intention with the content in the news reports. We investigated these effects in a report on yellow fever vaccination with a sample of 1.648 individuals. Based on an experimental research design, we measured the effects of the vehicle (G1 or WhatsApp) and five versions of a text. The findings show that the same text assigned to G1 or a WhatsApp message was perceived as more credible in the first case. Grammatical errors, updates, and corrections, in general, did not affect the credibility of the news or the intention to be vaccinated. When the news is attributed to the G1, however, the credibility of the "corrected" message is significantly higher than the credibility of the message with serious grammar errors.