December 6, 2015 / Leave a Comment
by Tatiana
3. Website Credibility through Information Focus – 25.1%
People in this study talked about the focus of information on the site. The comments varied in content. At times a focused site was seen as more credible, other times a narrow focus hurt credibility. What’s clear is that many people in this study relied on information focus to determine whether a site was credible or not. Sample comments are below:
- Credible because of the breadth of information available. — M, 35, California
- I find this site trustworthy because it offers a simple message to a very targeted community. — F, 34, Massachusetts
- This Website is filled with too much crap. I feel as though part of the reason it seems less credible is the fact that the crap they fill it with is taking attention away from their own Website. — F, 23, Illinois
- This site seems focused on body image. They have articles about feeling good naked, the perfect swimsuit for every body type, and toning exercises. Not a lot of solid health information. — F, 22 Minnesota
An other notable finding about information focus is how much this issue varied depending on the type of site, with information focus being most prominent when evaluating health and news sites and least prominent when evaluating nonprofit sites.
The data suggest that people have clearer expectations about the focus of certain types of Websites. We speculate that the expectations about site focus are higher for the types of information-rich sites people know best (e.g., health, news, sports).
