Computers in Human Behavior 25 (2009) 175–182

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Computers in Human Behavior

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh

In blog we trust? Deciphering credibility of components

of the internet among politically interested internet users
Thomas J. Johnson a,*, Barbara K. Kaye b
a
College of Mass Communication, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 76409, USA
b
School of Journalism & Electronic Media, University of Tennessee, TN 37996-0333, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study employed an online survey of politically interested Internet users during the two weeks
Available online 14 September 2008 before and the two weeks after the 2004 presidential election to compare how they judge five com-
ponents of the Internet in terms of credibility for political information. Blogs were judged as the
Keywords: most credible with issue-oriented Web sites also judged as highly credible. Candidate Web sites
Credibility and bulletin boards were only judged moderately credible while chat rooms were rated not very
Internet users credible. This study also explored whether reliance on the Internet resource or motivations for vis-
Motivations
iting the source significantly predict Internet component credibility after controlling for demographic
Gratifications
Internet components
and political variables.
Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction on information from sources that they do not view as credible

While the number of people who rely on the Internet for news
and information has increased dramatically over the last decade
(Center for Digital Future, 2007; Pew Research, 2006), scholars still
debate the degree to which audience members judge the informa-
tion they find there as credible. Some studies indicate the Internet
has emerged as the most credible source of news and information
while others find that the majority of individuals trust little they
find online.
The wild fluctuations in how credible people view the Inter-
net may result, in part, from how credibility of the Internet is
measured. Researchers typically treat the Internet as a single
entity, even though the Internet consists of different compo-
nents (e.g. Websites, blogs, bulletin boards/lists, chat/instant
messaging), all of which may be judged differently in terms
of credibility.
What is needed is a systematic investigation into whether dif-
ferent components of the Internet are judged differently in terms
of credibility. Indeed, when Metzger and associates (Flanagin &
Metzger, 2008; Metzger, Flanagin, Eyal, Lemus, & McCann, 2003)
discussed shortcomings of Internet credibility research, they indi-
cated that few studies have examined credibility of components
of the Internet. It is important to understand users’ judgments of
credibility of online components whether created by organizations,
political officials or average individuals because users do not rely
(Johnson & Kaye, 1998, 2002; Metzger et al., 2003).
Credibility is not a characteristic inherent in a source, but a
judgment made by the users themselves (Berlo, Lemert, & Mertz,
1969; Flanagin & Metzger, 2003, 2007; Schweiger, 2000; Silence
& Briggs, 2007). Therefore, one factor that should influence credi-
bility is what motivates an individual to visit a site in the first
place. However, few studies have linked uses and gratifications
with credibility theory, and these studies have produced conflict-
ing results (Greer, 2003; Johnson & Kaye, 2002, 2007; Johnson,
Kaye, Bichard, & Wong, 2007; Kim, 2006).
This study specifically examines the degree to which politically
interested Internet users judge issue-oriented Web sites, candidate
Web sites, blogs, electronic mailing lists/bulletin boards and chat
rooms/instant messaging as believable, fair, accurate and in depth.
Additionally, this study links uses and gratifications theory to cred-
ibility by exploring whether motivations predict credibility ratings
of the five Internet components after controlling for demographic
and political variables. The findings are drawn from an online sur-
vey of politically interested Internet users that was posted during
the two weeks before and the two weeks after the 2004 presiden-
tial election.
2. Literature review
2.1. Credibility of components of online media

Most Internet credibility studies have focused on mainstream

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 806 742 6500.
E-mail addresses: t.johnson@ttu.edu (T.J. Johnson), bkk@utk.edu (B.K. Kaye). media or online mainstream news sites. More recently, researchers

0747-5632/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.chb.2008.08.004
176 T.J. Johnson, B.K. Kaye / Computers in Human Behavior 25 (2009) 175–182
have focused on blogs (Banning & Trammell, 2006; Johnson & Kaye,
2004a, 2004b; Johnson et al., 2007), bulletin boards/lists and chat/
instant messaging (Kaye & Johnson, 2006) These online compo-
nents have emerged as influential forums of political discussion
and thus, draw politically interested users, further warranting
study of their believability, fairness, accuracy and depth.
While numerous studies have examined the information con-
tained on campaign Web sites (e.g., Bichard, 2006; Kerbel &
Bloom, 2005; Stromer-Galley & Baker, 2006; Trammell, 2006),
few have examined the degree to which people believe informa-
tion they find there. Johnson and Kaye (2007) report that over the
last three presidential elections, issue-oriented sites were rated
the most credible online source while candidate literature sites
ranked at, or near, the bottom in each election. The authors spec-
ulate that issue-oriented sites may be judged the highest because
they discuss campaign issues in more depth than the traditional
media, which often get caught up in the horse-race. Candidate
sites are perceived as the least credible because they are seen
as simply a tool to promote the candidate, and studies suggest
that citizens judged sites that are designed to inform as consider-
able more credible than ones that aim to persuade (Flanagin &
Metzger, 2000, 2007).
Perceptions of credibility of blogs tend to depend who is
being studied. Studies of Internet users in general discovered that
blogs are rated as either moderate (Banning & Trammell, 2006;
Banning & Sweetser, 2007) or low sources of credibility (Con-
sumer Reports Web Watch, 2005; Hostway, 2005) because blogs
do not follow traditional news values such as fairness, balance
and objectivity (Johnson & Kaye, 2007). However, experienced
Internet users rated blogs more credible than less experienced
users. Research suggests that more experienced blog readers
consider blogs very credible because they are familiar with the
purpose of blogs or the style of writing (Consumer Reports
Web Watch, 2005; Hostway, 2005). Blog users judge blogs as
more credible than other online and traditional news sources.
Blog users are attracted to in-depth information and perspectives
missing for traditional sources (Johnson & Kaye, 2004a, 2006;
Johnson et al., 2007 Kaye & Johnson, 2004; Kim, 2006; Reynolds,
2004).
Bulletin boards and chat rooms have received little attention
from credibility researchers, perhaps because they are perceived
as places where people convene to talk rather than to gather infor-
mation. However recent studies suggest that people actively seek
out political information from both bulletin boards (Kaye &
Johnson, 2004) and chat rooms (Kaye & Johnson, 2006).
2.2. Internet use and gratifications
The explosive growth of the Internet revived flagging interest
in uses and gratifications research because the Internet embodies
assumptions that users are goal oriented and they actively select
media and media content to gratify their needs (e.g., Charney &
Greenberg, 2001; Kaye, 1998, 2005, 2007; Kaye & Johnson, 2002,
2006; Lin, Salwen, & Abdulla, 2005). Unlike traditional media,
the Internet allows two-way communication. The Internet offers
greater access to information than traditional media as well as
greater control over what information to consume once the user
visits the site. The Internet, then, requires the user to be both ac-
tive and selective in media use (Bowman & Willis, 2003; Bucy,
2004).
Many early studies of Web gratifications either relied on or
adapted gratifications from traditional media studies (Ferguson &
Perse, 2000; Kaye & Johnson, 2002). Later researchers, however,
realized that the unique attributes of the Internet meant it could
gratify needs not served by other media. They identified a host of
needs not found in earlier studies such as convenience (Johnson
& Kaye, 2002; Johnson et al., 2007; Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000)
personal fulfillment, social surveillance, and expression/affiliation
(Kaye, 2005, 2007) identity and peer pressure (Charney &
Greenberg, 2001) and anti-media sentiment (Kaye, 2005, 2007;
Kaye & Johnson, 2006).
Motivations for accessing mainstream and portal sites differ
from reasons for connecting to issue-oriented Web sites, blogs,
bulletin boards/lists and chat. The primary reasons for visiting
these online resources are to seek additional information and for
information not found in traditional media (Johnson et al., 2007;
Kaye & Johnson, 2006; Rainie, Cornfield, & Horrigan., 2005). For in-
stance, when Kaye and Johnson (2006) explored what motivated
people to use blogs, bulletin boards and chat, blog users listed
‘‘for information I can’t get from traditional media” and ‘‘to check
the accuracy of traditional media” as their top two reasons. Simi-
larly, a study of political bloggers themselves indicated that ‘‘to
provide an alternative perspective to the mainstream media” was
the major reason for hosting a blog (Ekdale et al., 2007). Bulletin
board users also listed ‘‘information I can’t get from traditional
media” as their main reason for visiting bulletin boards. Finding
information not available from traditional media only ranked
fourth for chatters, but this was still a stronger motivation than
information needs.
Users of blogs may judge them as credible because they think of
them as being independent from mainstream, corporate-controlled
media (Andrews, 2003; Regan, 2003; Singer, 2006). These re-
sources allow more open and in depth discussion from different
perspectives than do the traditional media (Bruns, 2006; Wall,
2006). While researchers suggest that opinionated writing lowers
the credibility of mainstream media because objectivity is a foun-
dation of journalism ethics (Metzger et al., 2003), this is not the
case for blogs. Indeed, bloggers argue that the personal, opinion-
ated blog writing style and other alternative sites allow writers
to provide more depth and insight than traditional media (Bruns,
2006; Lasica, 2002).
Researchers have found that people seek out bulletin boards to
serve informational needs (James, Wotring, & Forrest, 1985; Kaye &
Johnson, 2004). However, in a more recent study Kaye and Johnson
(2006) discovered that people were more likely to say they used
bulletin boards for convenience and to express their views than
to seek out information.
Pew researchers report that 6 million people visited political
chat rooms during the 2004 election season, twice the number
who visited such chat rooms in 2000 (Raine, Cornfield & Horrigan,
2005). Kaye and Johnson (2004) discovered that politically ori-
ented chat rooms served primarily guidance and informational
needs and to a lesser extent entertainment and social utility. They
speculated that chatters might form strong bonds with each other
and therefore trust and rely on information they receive from
their online friends. Their later study, however found that chat-
ters were more likely to visit political chat rooms to be in contact
with like-minded people and to let their opinions be known
rather than to seek out political information (Kaye & Johnson,
2006).
2.3. Gratifications and credibility
Studies indicate that people assess various types of Web
sites differently in terms of credibility, suggesting that motives
for going online affect perceptions of credibility. For instance,
information and reference sites have been judged as more cred-
ible than entertainment and commercial ones (Flanagin &
Metzger, 2000).
When examining how different motivations for going online are
linked to credibility judgments, most studies suggest that gratifica-
 T.J. Johnson, B.K. Kaye / Computers in Human Behavior 25 (2009) 175–182
tions predict credibility, with information seeking motivations
being more strongly linked to Internet credibility than entertain-
ment ones (Johnson & Kaye, 2002, 2004; Johnson et al., 2007;
Kim, 2006). On the other hand, Greer (2003) failed to find that
any of her study’s four motivations for going online (communica-
tion, social, information seeking and entertainment/pass time) pre-
dicted story credibility. Similarly, Johnson and Kaye (2007) found
that gratifications had little influence on credibility of mainstream
news sites and social needs had a stronger influence than informa-
tional ones.
2.4. Reliance and credibility
Studies have consistently found that how credible one views a
medium is strongly related to how often one relies on it (Flanagin
& Metzger, 2000; Greer, 2003; Johnson et al., 2007; Johnson &
Kaye, 2007; Kiousis, 2001; Wanta & Hu, 1994). However, results
are split on whether reliance on the Web predicts ratings of its
credibility. For instance, while Johnson and Kaye (2000) found that
Web reliance predicted Web credibility in the 1996 campaign, it
did not do so in 2000 (Johnson & Kaye, 2002).
2.5. Gratifications vs. Reliance
Only a few studies have directly compared online gratifica-
tions to reliance on online sources in predicting online credibil-
ity, and they offer conflicting findings. Johnson and Kaye (2002)
discovered that Web credibility was predicted by online motiva-
tions but not by Web reliance. On the other hand, Greer (2003)
and Johnson and associates (2007) discovered Web reliance was
a strong predictor of credibility while online gratifications were
unrelated to credibility. Johnson et al. (2007) found that both
reliance and gratifications significantly predicted blog credibility,
although reliance was a consistently strong predictor. The con-
flicting results suggest that the relationships between gratifica-
tions, reliance and credibility need to be explored in
considerably more depth.
3. Hypotheses and research questions
 RQ1: How credible will politically interested Web users judge
(a) blogs (b) bulletin boards (c) chat (d) candidate Web sites
and (e) issue-oriented Web sites as sources of news and infor-
mation about the 2004 presidential election?
 RQ2a: Which Internet component will be judged as the most
credible?
 RQ2b: Which Internet component will be judged as the least
credible?
 H1: Reliance on (a) blogs (b) bulletin boards (c) chat (d) candi-
date Web sites and (e) issue-oriented Web sites will significantly
predict their credibility after controlling for demographic and
political variables.
 H2: Motivations for using (a) blogs (b) bulletin boards (c) chat
(d) candidate Web sites and (e) issue-oriented Web sites will
significantly predict their credibility after controlling for demo-
graphic, reliance and political variables.
 R3: Will Web reliance or motivations for using Internet compo-
nents prove a stronger predictor of credibility after controlling
for demographic and political variables?
4. Method
An online survey was used to assess judgments of credibility of
online sources. The survey was available from October 19 to Novem-
ber 16, 2004, a four-week period surrounding the presidential elec-
tion. Online users were asked to fill out the survey through
177
announcements sent to news and politically oriented Web sites1,
blogs2, bulletin boards/newsgroups3 and electronic mailing lists.4
These sources draw politically interested Internet users across a range
of political ideologies, and thus are considered an excellent way to
reach potential respondents. The convenience sample yielded 1,366
completed surveys.
4.1. Credibility of online sources
Credibility was assessed using a multidimensional construct con-
sisting of believability, fairness, accuracy and depth of information
as used in other studies (Gaziano & McGrath, 1986; Johnson & Kaye,
2000, 2002, 2004). Respondents rated the credibility of issue ori-
ented Web sites, candidate Web sites, blogs, electronic mailing
lists/bulletin boards and chat rooms/instant messaging by marking
on a 1–5 point scale the believability, fairness, accuracy, and depth
for each source.
4.2. Political attributes
Levels of interest in politics and in the 2004 presidential cam-
paign, and knowledge about politics in general were rated on a
0–10 scale with 0 indicating not at all interested or knowledgeable
1
Abcnews, Aol, AOIR, Arizona Citizen, Chicago Tribune, Cleveland Plains-Dealer,
Daily Egyptian, e-thepeople, Denver Post, Detroit News, Florida Times-Union, FORK,
Google, Jemsurvey, LaterBush, Live Journal, MCMA, MMOB, Poynter, Metroblab, NOLA,
Pursupah, The VRWC, xent, Yahoo!
2
Asmallvictory, Althouse, Alphecca, Andrew Olmstead, andrewsullivan, big-guy-
rocks, blogcritics, blogdex, blog.net, BloggingCommunity, blogs-law-Harvard, blog-
shares, Captain’s Quarters, chriscmooney, command-post, Craigslist, crushkerry,
dadougster, dailykos, Deans World, disciminations, hannity, Hugh Hewitt, instapun-
dit, joannejacobs. Ken Layne, kerryedwards, Mudville, Newmediamusings, Oxblog,
pejmanesque, politpundit, powerline, professor.bainbridge, punditdrom, radio.Web
logs, rebeccablood, Rightwingnews, Romensko, sgt. Styker, terpichorosblog.
3
Alt.conspiracy, alt.current-events, alt.fifty-plus, alt.impeach.bush, alt.politics.elec-
tions, alt.-politics.gw-bush, alt.politics.libertarian, alt.politics.reform, alt.politics.reli-
gion, alt-politics.socialist, alt.politics.usa, alt.radio.talk, alt.republican, alt.sixtyplus,
alt.talk.creationism, soc.politics, talk.politics.misc, talk.politics.libertarian.
4
S, 2004Bush, 2ndAmendmentRights, AB_Progressives, Activism_USA, afri-
canamericanrepublicans, AlternativeLifers, AM4CHANGE, AmericanConservativeRepub-
li..., AntiFeminism, austin4kerry,awomanstrueplace, backlash, BayAreaForKerry2004,
Black_Conservatives, Blogging_Community, blosxom,BucksforKerry, Bush2004andBe-
yond, Bush_Be_Gone, bush_lied_people_died, BushCheneySloganator. BushMustGo, ca-
firearms, CA4Bush2004, catholicsforbush, catholicsforkerry, christianrepublicans. Chris-
tians4dean, citizensagainstillegalaliens, closebordersgroup, CO-Bloggers, concealedcarry,
Colorado4Kerry, Conservative-Gays. Conservative-Minds, conservative_christians, Con-
servative_Liberal_Debate. Conservative_Pagans, Conservative-Principles_and_Activism,
conservativecoffeehouse, Conspiracy-Theory, Constitution_Party, currenteventsdiscus-
sion, DCforKerry2004, DEANocracyForAmerica, Democracy4America, DemocracyFor-
America, democracyforcincinnati, democratpolls, Democrats, Democratsonly,
Democrats_2008, democratsabroadjapan, DEMS4theFuture, dfwblogs, DiehardDems,
dittohead, DreamPlanBelieve, ecosocialism, evanbayhin2008, fighttheright, freedomfight,
freedomforum2, FreeOhio, GA4BushCheney, Gay-Democrats, Gay_Marriage_Debate,
GayLibertarians. gaysfordean, globalpeacecampaign, globenet, glory4you, HoosierDemo-
crats, HowardDeanCoffeehouse, Illinois_For_Dean, impeachbush, ImpeachGeorgeWBush,
iraqcrisis iswitched-news, Jakes_Political_War_Room, johnkerryforohio, KerryChicago,
Kerryindiana, kickbush, LadiesWithCrushesOnWBush, leftcoast, LeftLibertarian, LeftWin-
gRadicals. Libertarian, LibertarianDebate, Libertarianissues, LibertarianMedia, libertari-
anprinciples, libertarianrepublicans, liberty_outlook, LibertyBandwagon,
LibertyProspects,LibrariansFor_Renewed_Democratic-Party, libs4peace, lpazdiscuss,
makepennsylvaniarepublican, MilwaukeeforDemocracy, Missouri_for_Kerry,
MNBush2004, NewsBroadcast,NoIraqWar,Ohio_for_Kerry, OhioansforBushCheney, patri-
ots4usa, peacerootsalliance, people-v-ohio-n-florida, pjvoters, Political_Sanity_Main,
populisttalk, PresidentGeorgeWBushGroup, ProgressiveChat, ProgressiveTalk, prolife3,
promotionwars3, populisttalk, PresidentGeorgeWBushGroup, Propaganda_Matrix, rea-
ganfans, republican_army, Republican_Humor, republicansforkerry04, SanDiegoDemo-
crats, SDforKerry, Seattle4Dean,smith2004discuss, southforkerry, Stop_the_War,
sv4dean, syndic8, takeaction_2002, Talkmaster, tennesseansforkerry, terrorinameri-
ca2001, texaskerry, The_Corrupt_Republicans_Club, thelibertarianclub, ThePoliticalSpin-
roo m, therealihatebus hfan club, t he r e p ub lica nclu b, th ough ts and f a ct s,
tnprogressivedemocrat, TruePatriotsUnite, USA_RepublicanParty, Web logdevel, Web
mink, WI4Bush04, WisconsinForKerry,WomenInBusinessForJohnKerry, WTC-Terrorism,
yda-discuss, Young-Republicans-of-America, youngdemocrats2.
178 T.J. Johnson, B.K. Kaye / Computers in Human Behavior 25 (2009) 175–182
to 10 signifying highly knowledgeable or interested. Strength of
party affiliation was also measured on a 0–10 point scale with 0
representing no party ties and 10 representing very strong ties to
one’s political party of choice.
Respondents were asked to assess whether their involvement in
politics since becoming an Internet user has ‘‘greatly increased”, ‘‘in-
creased”, ‘‘stayed the same”, ‘‘decreased”, or ‘‘greatly decreased”.
Political ideology was measured using a five point scale: ‘‘5” very lib-
eral, ‘‘4” liberal, ‘‘3” moderate, ‘‘2” conservative, ‘‘1” very conserva-
tive. Self-efficacy and trust in the government were measured by
agreement (‘‘strongly agree”, ‘‘agree”, ‘‘neutral”, ‘‘disagree”, or
‘‘strongly disagree”) to statements taken from the National Election
Studies. Self-efficacy was assessed by the following three state-
ments: ‘‘I consider myself well qualified to participate in politics”,
‘‘I think that I am better informed about politics and government
than most people”, and ‘‘I feel that I have a pretty good understand-
ing of the important political issues facing our country”. Trust was
measured by ‘‘Most of our leaders are devoted to the service of our
country”, ‘‘Politicians never tell us what they really think”, and ‘‘I
don’t think public officials care much about what people like me
think”. The polarity was reversed on last two statements of the trust
index. The trust and efficacy measures were combined into separate
self-efficacy and trust indexes (3–15 score range). The reliability for
the self-efficacy and trust indexes is .73 and.75, respectively.
4.3. Reliance on online sources for political information
Levels of reliance on issue-oriented Web sites, candidate Web
sites, blogs, electronic mailing lists/bulletin boards, and chat
rooms/instant messaging was rated on a 5-point scale; ‘‘5” heavily
rely, ‘‘4” rely, ‘‘3” sometimes rely, ‘‘2” rarely rely, ‘‘1” never rely for
each online source.
4.4. Motivations for using online sources
Motivations for using political Web sites (issue and candidate
information combined), blogs, electronic mailing lists/bulletin
boards, and chat rooms/instant messaging were comprised of 22
statements derived from past uses and gratifications studies (Kaye,
1998, 2005, 2007; Kaye & Johnson, 2002, 2004; McLeod & Becker,
1974, 1981). Respondents marked their level of agreement with
the reasons for accessing the online sources. Responses ranged
from (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree.
Five statements unique to assessing online sources were culled
from the initial list of 22 items. In other words, these are not typ-
ical reasons for turning to traditional media but they are reasons
people connect to online information: ‘‘to get a wide variety of
viewpoints”, ‘‘to check on the accuracy of traditional media”, ‘‘to
let my opinions be known”, ‘‘to be in contact with like-minded
people”, and ‘‘for information I can’t get from traditional media”.
Indexes were created from these five statements for each of the on-
line sources with scores ranging from 5 to 25. Reliabilities for each
index are as follows: political Web sites .79, blogs .83, electronic
mailing lists/bulletin boards .92, chat rooms/instant messaging .92.
4.5. Demographics
Respondents indicated whether they are male or female, their
age as of their last birthday and their estimated income for 2004.
They also selected their highest level of education from a list that
ranged from ‘‘less than high school” to ‘‘Ph.D. degree”.
4.6. Data analysis
Mean scores were calculated for believability, fairness, accu-
racy, and depth of information for each of the online sources. The
four measures were combined into a credibility index for each of
the online sources, with scores ranging from 4 to 20. Cronbach’s al-
pha for each online source is as follows: issue-oriented Web sites
.90, candidate Web sites .89, blogs .87, electronic mailing lists/bul-
letin boards .89, and chat rooms/instant messaging .92. Next, mean
scores of the credibility index for each online source were calcu-
lated. Paired sample t-tests were conducted to ascertain significant
difference in credibility scores between blogs and the other
sources.
Hierarchical regression was performed to ascertain whether
reliance or motivations are stronger predictors of the credibility
of the online sources under study. Demographics were entered as
the first block. Political variables (political involvement, political
knowledge, political interest, campaign interest, self-efficacy, trust,
political ideology, strength of party affiliation) were the second
block. Because this study is interested in comparing the relative
strength of motivations and reliance, motivations were first en-
tered into the third block, and the fourth block consisted of reli-
ance. Then reliance was entered as the third block and
motivations were entered fourth. Scores from how reliance and
motivations fared when entered as the third block were compared
to determine whether reliance or motivations was a stronger pre-
dictor. Regressions were repeated five times, once for each online
source.
5. Results
5.1. Respondent profile
The profile of the 1366 respondents reveals that most consider
themselves politically knowledgeable (64.2%). The majority is also
interested in politics in general (73.6%) and in the 2004 presiden-
tial election (92.4%). Two-thirds (66.7%) reported that their
involvement in politics has increased as a result of their Internet
use.
Just slightly more than one-quarter (28.4%) reported high levels
of trust in the government, but 41.1% were at least moderately
trusting. Despite little faith in the government, almost all (97.2%)
claimed high levels of self-efficacy.
Concerning political ideology, 38.1% of the respondents re-
ported they are conservative/very conservative, 36.4% liberal/very
liberal and the remaining one-quarter (25.5%) claim to hold mod-
erate political views. Overall, respondents are moderately affiliated
with their political party of choice (6.3 mean score; scale 0–10).
Just less than one-quarter (24.3%) claim weak party ties, 27.2%
moderate ties, and slightly less than half (48.6%) are strongly affil-
iated with their preferred political party.
When seeking political news and information, respondents rely
on/heavily rely on blogs and issue-oriented Web sites by a greater
percentage (63.4%, 56.7%, respectively) than any other online
source. In comparison, just over one-third (35.0%) of the respon-
dents rely on/heavily rely on electronic mailing lists/bulletin
boards and 29.1% on candidate sites, and a scant 8.8% turn to chat
rooms/instant messaging.
This survey’s respondents average 43.4 years of age and bring in
just over $64,000 annually. They are also highly educated; almost
all (97.3%) have some college, a college degree or higher, and they
tend to be white (91.2%) and male (62.6%). These characteristics
are typical of those reported in other studies of online users: pri-
marily well-educated, white males (Rainie & Horrigan, 2007).
5.2. Credibility of online sources
The first research question queries the levels of credibility
respondents ascribe to issue- oriented Web sites, candidate Web
sites, blogs, mailing lists/bulletin boards, and chat rooms/instant
 T.J. Johnson, B.K. Kaye / Computers in Human Behavior 25 (2009) 175–182 179

messaging. Overall, blogs are rated as highly credible and as the
most credible online source for obtaining political information.
Means scores (scale 4–20) of the credibility index range from a
high of 12.2 for blogs, closely followed by issue oriented Web sites
(11.4) to 7.4 for chat rooms. Lists/bulletin boards and candidate
sites both rate as moderately credible (9.7, 9.0, respectively).
Research questions 2a and 2b asks which online source is seen
as the most credible and which as the least credible. Blogs are
judged significantly more credible than issue-oriented Web sites
(t = 6.04 df = 1213, p < .001), candidate Web sites (t = 21.3,
df = 1212, p < .001), lists/bulletin boards (t = 18.01, df = 1200,
p < .001), and chat rooms (t = 33.7, df = 1142, p < .001) (Table 1).
Blogs are not only highest in credibility but also a greater
percentage of respondents deem them more believable (33.5%),
fair (21.8%), accurate (31.6%), and in-depth (57.3%) than any
other online source. In contrast, chat rooms/instant messaging
received the lowest mean score for believability, fairness, accu-
racy, and depth than the other online sources. Moreover, be-
tween two-thirds and three-quarters of the respondents view
chat rooms/instant messaging as not at all/not very credible on
all four measures. For all of the online sources, a greater percent-
age of respondents judge them as more in-depth than believable,
fair or accurate, these judgments are also reflected in the means
scores. The only exception is online candidate sites, which have
virtually the same mean scores for believability (2.36) and depth
(2.39) (Table 2).
5.4.1. Issue-oriented Web sites
Motivations for using political Web sites predict credibility of
issue-oriented Web sites (b = .16, p < .001). Respondents who are
motivated to seek out these sites tend to be politically involved
(b = .08, p < .01), liberal (b = .07, p < .01) females (b = .12, p < .001)
who are strongly tied to their party of choice (b = .08, p < .01),
and who rely on such sites for political information (b = .28,
p < .001) (Table 3).
5.4.2. Candidate Web sites
Motivations for using political Web sites are a positive predictor
of judgments of credibility of candidate Web sites. Individuals who
view candidate Web sites as credible tend to be young (b = .06,
p < .01), females (b = .14, p < .001), who are politically involved
(b = .08, p < .01), knowledgeable about politics in general (b = .07,
p < .01), and they are closely associated with a political party
(b = .14, p < .001). Their strong trust in the government (b = .19,
p < .001) may be related to their disinterest in politics in general
(b = .11, p < .01) and strong reliance on candidate Web sites
(b = .43, p < .001) (Table 3).
5.4.3. Blogs
The reasons for using blogs to obtain political information is a
positive predictor of blog credibility (b = .22, p < .001). Those who

5.3. Reliance as a predictor of credibility Table 2

Perceptions and comparisons of credibility of online sources of political information
The first hypothesis examines the predictive power of reliance Mean scores as percentages
on the credibility of the five online sources under study. Overall,
Believability Fairness Accuracy Depth
reliance is a moderately to very strong predictor of credibility. Reli-
Online issue oriented sites (n = 1289) (n = 1287) (n = 1286) (n = 1286)
ance on all of the online sources positively and significantly pre-
Not at all/not very... 30.8 49.8 36.1 4.4
dicts perceptions of credibility for the corresponding source. The Somewhat... 41.9 35.1 41.2 30.5
relationship between reliance on blogs and credibility of blogs is Moderately/very.... 27.3 15.1 22.7 45.1
the strongest of all the online sources (b = .51, p < . 001) with chat Online candidate sites (n = 1296) (n = 1292) (n = 1292) (n = 1290)
rooms as the weakest (b = .23, p < .001). Hypothesis 1 is supported Not at all/not very... 53.2 71.7 55.3 54.3
for all of the online sources (Table 3). Somewhat... 34.3 21.9 33.2 28.3
Moderately/very.... 12.5 6.4 11.5 17.4

5.4. Motivations as a predictor of credibility Blogs (n = 1288) (n = 1287) (n = 1283) (n = 1280)

Not at all/not very... 28.1 46.0 30.8 19.4
Somewhat... 38.4 32.2 37.6 23.3
The second hypothesis investigates whether motivations for
Moderately/very.... 33.5 21.8 31.6 57.3
using an online source is a predictor of perceptions of credibility
Electronic Lists/bulletin (n = 1284) (n = 1275) (n = 1276) (n = 1273)
of that source. For this study the motivational index consists of five boards
reasons for accessing online sources that are commonly not associ- Not at all/not very... 48.5 65.1 51.1 46.7
ated with traditional media use. Overall, motivations are a moder- Somewhat... 36.6 26.5 35.8 27.5
ate, positive and significant predictor of credibility. The association Moderately/very.... 14.9 8.4 13.1 25.8
between motivations for using chat rooms and perceptions of cred- Chat rooms/instant (n = 1206) (n = 1206) (n = 1205) (n = 1200)
ibility of chat rooms is the strongest of all the sources (b = .32, messaging
Not at all/not very... 74.9 77.4 75.7 67.4
p < .001), with candidate literature as the weakest (b = .12,
Somewhat... 21.0 19.2 20.7 21.3
p < .001). Hypothesis 2 is supported for all of the online sources Moderately/very.... 4.1 3.3 3.7 11.2
(Table 3).

Table 1
Perceptions of believability, fairness, accuracy and depth of blogs and online and traditional broadcast and cable news and newspapers

Mean scores as percentages Mean

Believability Fairness Accuracy Depth credibility index
Mean scores (Scale 1–5)
Blogs 3.01 (n = 1288) 2.61 (n = 1287) 2.96 (n = 1283) 3.58 (n = 1280) 12.2 a = .87
Online issue oriented sites 2.88 (n = 1289) 2.46 (n = 1287) 2.78 (n = 1286) 3.24 (n = 1286) 11.4* a = .90
Online candidate sites 2.36 (n = 1296) 1.92 (n = 1292) 2.33 (n = 1292) 2.39 (n = 1290) 9.0* a = .89
Electronic lists/bulletin boards 2.48 (n = 1284) 2.11 (n = 1275) 2.43 (n = 1276) 2.63 (n = 1273) 9.7* a = .89
Chat rooms/instant messaging 1.84 (n = 1206) 1.74 (n = 1206) 1.82 (n = 1205) 2.02 (n = 1200) 7.4*a = .92
*
Significantly different from blogs. Paired-sample t-test p < .001, two-tailed.
180 T.J. Johnson, B.K. Kaye / Computers in Human Behavior 25 (2009) 175–182

Table 3
Hierarchical regression analysis of predictors of credibility of online sources (issue oriented sites, candidate sites, blogs, lists/bulletin boards, chat) for political information

Regression 1 Regression 2 Regression 3 Regression 4 Regression 5

Issues sources Candidate lit. Blog Lists/bbs Chat rooms
Credibility Credibility Credibility Credibility Credibility
Predictor variables
Gender .12*** .14*** .03 .09** .02
Age .00 .06** .00 .03 .01
Education .02 .04 .03 .02 .02
Income .05 .00 .04* .05* .01
R2 .036 .084 .012 .048 .017
Political involvement .08** .08** .06* .11*** .10**
Politics knowledge .05 .07** .05 .07* .02
Political interest .03 .11** .07* .02 .02
Election interest .05 .05 .08** .04 .00
Trust .02 .19*** .00 .07* .02
Efficacy .04 .04 .01 .07* .03
Political ideology .07** .05 .12*** .00 .01
Party strength .08** .14*** .01 .06* .06*
R2 .115 .218 .109 .130 .059
R2 change .079 .135 .097 .082 .042
Use motivations
Political sites .16***
Political sites .12***
Blogs .22***
Lists/bbs .17***
Chat rooms .32***
R2 .158 .250 .350 .228 .227
R2 change .043 .031 .240 .097 .168
Reliance on political sites .28***
Reliance on candidate sites .43***
Reliance on blogs .51***
Reliance on lists/bbs .38***
Reliance on chat rooms .23***
R2 .217 .399 .509 .323 .268
R2 change .059 .150 .160 .095 .041
Adjusted R .207 .392 .503 .314 .258
Sig. of change .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
*
p < .05.
**
p < .01.
***
p < .001

deem blogs as credible rely on blogs for political information and
tend to be low income (b = .04, p < .05) conservative (b = .12,
p < .001) individuals and who are politically involved (b = .06,
p < .05). Although they are not very interested in politics in general
(b = .07, p < .01), they were interested in the 2004 presidential
election (b = .08, p < .01) and they are they only group whose elec-
tion interest was associated with credibility (Table 3).
5.4.4. Electronic mailing lists/bulletin boards
The credibility of mailing lists and bulletin boards is predicted
by motivations (b = .17, p < .001) and reliance (b = .38, p < .001)
on these sources for political information. These respondents are
most likely to be low income (b = .05, p < .05) females (b = .09,
p < .01) who are politically involved (b = .11, p < .001) and knowl-
edgeable (b = .07, p < .001) with strong party ties (b = .06,
p < .001). They trust the government (b = .07, p < .05) to bring about
political change that they do not feel they have the power to do
themselves (b = .07, p < .05). Those who deem mailing lists and
bulletin boards as credible are the least self-efficacious of those
who turn to other online sources (Table 3).
5.4.5. Chat rooms/instant messaging
Perceptions of credibility of chat rooms/instant messaging is
predicted by motivations for connecting to these sources (b = .32,
p < .001). Individuals who believe chat rooms are credible and
who rely on chat rooms and messaging are politically involved
(b = .10, p < .01) and report a moderate level of ties to their political
party of choice (b = .06, p < .05). Respondents who view chat rooms
as credible are the only group whose demographic characteristics
are not associated with their perceptions of credibility (Table 3).
The last research question is concerned with whether reliance
or motivations is the stronger predictor of credibility of online
sources. Reliance is a stronger predictor of the credibility of issue
focused Web sites, candidate Web sites, blogs, and lists/bulletin
boards than motivations. Motivations, however, are strong predic-
tors of credibility (b = .32, p < .001) than reliance (b = .23, p < .001)
in the case of chat rooms/instant messaging (Table 3).
6. Discussion
While communication researchers have devoted considerable
attention to studying the credibility of the Internet in general, little
attention has been paid to researching how users judge Internet
components such as candidate Web sites, issue-oriented Web sites,
blogs, electronic mailing lists/bulletin boards and chat/instant
messaging in terms of credibility. Similarly, while some studies
suggest that motives for going online can determine how credible
Internet users find information there, few studies have linked uses
and gratifications with credibility research.
This study employed an online survey of politically interested
Internet users to examine the degree to which they judge political
online issue oriented sources, candidate-focused Web sites, blogs,
electronic mailing lists/bulletin boards and chat rooms/instant
messaging as believable, fair, accurate and in depth. This study also
 T.J. Johnson, B.K. Kaye / Computers in Human Behavior 25 (2009) 175–182
connected uses and gratifications theory with credibility by exam-
ining how well motivations for going online predicted credibility of
the five online sources after controlling for demographic and polit-
ical variables.
6.1. Credibility of internet components
Respondents judged blogs as the most credible source followed
by issue-oriented sites. Both were judged moderately to strongly
credible. Electronic mailing lists/bulletin boards and online candi-
date sites were both rated as moderately credible while chat
rooms/instant messaging was considered not very credible. Chat
rooms/instant messaging was perceived as the least credible Inter-
net component by two thirds of all respondents. Studies suggest
that reliance is linked to media use (Wanta & Hu, 1994), which
may explain why chat rooms, the least relied upon medium, were
judged as the least reliable source.
As found in this study and others, blogs have gained consider-
able credibility among politically interested Internet users
(Banning & Trammell, 2006; Johnson et al., 2007; Kim, 2006), jour-
nalists and public officials (Cassidy, 2007). Past studies suggest
that online components such as blogs are rated highly for depth
of information, although users judge them lowest for fairness of
information (Johnson & Kaye, 2004, 2007; Johnson et al., 2007). In-
deed, a majority of respondents praised blogs for their depth of
information, which was also seen as a key feature of online issue
sites. Respondents seek out blogs and online issue-oriented
sources because they contain information not found in traditional
media and information is offered in more depth (Bruns, 2006; Wall,
2006). Past studies suggest that while traditional media sites are
expected to uphold journalistic standards of fairness and balance
(Metzger et al., 2003) such expectations do not extend to blogs
(Bruns, 2006; Lasica, 2002). Indeed, supporters of blogs perceive
bias, along with insight and analysis, as strengths over traditional
media (Bruns, 2006; Johnson & Kaye, 2004; Johnson et al., 2007).
While bloggers were once dismissed as small yorkies nipping at
the ankles of mainstream journalists, political observers had to
concede that by the 2004 presidential election, bloggers were run-
ning with the big dogs of traditional media (Bichard, 2006; Kerbel
& Bloom, 2005; Trammell, 2006). Indeed, the number of traditional
journalists who created their own blogs grew considerably during
the 2004 campaign and mainstream media began creating blogs on
their own sites (Cassidy, 2007; Eveland & Dylko, 2007; Singer,
2006).
6.2. Reliance and motives as credibility predictors
Reliance and motivations both positively and significantly pre-
dicted credibility of Internet components. Reliance emerged as a
stronger predictor of blog credibility than motivations. This finding
supports previous studies that have found a strong link between
reliance and credibility among Internet sites in general (Flanagin
& Metzger, 2000; Greer, 2003; Johnson & Kaye, 2007; Kiousis,
2001) and blogs in particular (Banning & Trammell, 2006; Johnson
& Kaye, 2004; Johnson et al., 2007; Kim, 2006).
Reliance may be a more important predictor of credibility for
nontraditional sources than mainstream ones. Studies suggest a
‘‘halo effect” in which credibility of a mainstream media source
is transferred to its online counterpart (Abdulla, Garrison, Salwen,
Driscoll, & Casey, 2005; Finberg & Stone, 2002; Johnson & Fahmy,
2009). For new visitors to blogs who have been weaned on tradi-
tional sources, the more slanted content and more freewheeling
discussion at these sites may prove jarring (Johnson & Kaye,
2004; Johnson et al., 2007). It is only through continued reliance
on these nontraditional media that credibility is gained. Therefore,
this study also found that the more individuals used issue-oriented
181
sources, candidate literature, blogs, electronic mailing lists/bulletin
boards and chat rooms/instant message as alternatives to tradi-
tional media, the more credible they viewed them.
Political observers suggest that users of alternative sources of-
ten express contemp for the traditional media (Bruns, 2006; Ham-
dy & Mobarak, 2004). Mainstream media is controlled by corporate
interests (Andrews, 2003; Regan, 2003; Singer, 2006), which limits
what issues can be discussed and what perspectives can be
brought to bear on that discussion (Bruns, 2006; Wall, 2006).
Therefore, past studies suggest that the main motivation for indi-
viduals to seek out alternative media sites is to find information
and perspectives missing from traditional media (Johnson et al.,
2007; Kaye & Johnson, 2006; Rainie & Cornfield, 2005). This study
discovered that the more respondents were motivated to use is-
sue-oriented sources, candidate literature, blogs, electronic mailing
lists/bulletin boards and chat rooms/instant message for informa-
tion or perspectives that differed from more mainstream media
the more likely they judged them as credible.
7. Limitations and suggestions for future study
The respondents to this study were a self-selected group of
politically interested Internet users. Therefore, results cannot be
generalized to all Internet users or even all users of the Internet
components studied. The Internet does not offer tools to randomly
sample the entire Internet population or users of alternative online
sources in particular; therefore non-probability sampling is an
appropriate technique for posting an online survey. Potential
respondents were contacted through announcements posted on
politically oriented Web sites, bulletin boards/lists, blogs, and chat
rooms. Purposive sampling techniques, such as that used in this
study, are often used to generate results that may prove represen-
tative of a subset of users, but are not necessarily representative of
the larger population (Babbie, 1990).
This study examined credibility among several components
of the Internet and did discover that credibility judgments var-
ied depending on the source examined. Future studies might
examine other alternative sources of information, including so-
cial networking sites (e.g. Facebook and Myspace). Future stud-
ies might also examine specific types of alternative media sites
(e.g. indymedia) or different types of blogs (e.g. journalist blogs
vs. independent blogs). Finally, this study only explored one
motivation for using alternative online sources. Future studies
might explore additional motivations to better explain the rela-
tionship between reliance and motivations in explaining online
credibility.
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