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Quiz: Online News

April 26, 2020

Which social media platforms give Americans the most news? How many people are seeing dubious online stories about Covid-19? Take the quiz to find out.

In an October 2019 survey, what portion of Americans said social media companies had too much control over the news people see?
- 32 percent
- 42 percent
- 52 percent
- 62 percent
More than half of U.S. adults get news from Facebook, the most of any social media site. Which are the next most popular social media pathways to news?
- YouTube, Twitter, Instagram
- Twitter, Instagram, Reddit
- Instagram, Reddit, WhatsApp
- Reddit, WhatsApp, TikTok
Some experts worry that even though this social media platform does not allow users to share posts, it’s still susceptible to hoaxes.
- Facebook
- TikTok
- Twitter
- Pinterest
A poll conducted in March 2020 found that what share of Americans had seen some or a lot of made-up news about COVID-19?
- 20 percent
- 38 percent
- 47 percent
- 62 percent
In March 2020, the death of a Chinese man from what rare disease quickly spun into unfounded rumors of a second global outbreak?
- Chikungunya
- Hantavirus
- Monkeypox
- Zika
Research suggests that liberal voters are less likely to respond to scientific information in a biased manner than conservatives.
- True
- False
In one online experiment, participants were asked how likely they would be to share news stories based on their headlines. When participants were asked to explain how they knew a headline was true or false before sharing it, they were less likely to share false headlines and equally likely to share true headlines.
- True
- False
Some social media sites have begun emphasizing the sources of news stories in an attempt to help users distinguish between accurate and inaccurate content. When researchers conducted an experiment in January to see whether this tactic worked, they found that seeing the source of a story:
- Made readers much less likely to believe misinformation
- Made readers somewhat less likely to believe misinformation
- Made readers even more likely to believe misinformation
- Did not change how likely readers were to believe misinformation
When teenagers are warned about the dangers of smoking, they’re less likely to try it. And when people are warned that soda companies run pro-sugar campaigns, they’re less likely to take those campaigns seriously. These are examples of:
- Crisis messaging
- Targeted messaging
- Inoculation messaging
- Public service messaging
Psychologists believe that people seek to reach conclusions that are consistent with their existing beliefs, and will dismiss scientific information that is inconsistent with those beliefs. This theory is known as:
- Motivated reasoning
- Categorical reasoning
- Conditioned reasoning
- Deductive reasoning

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