The importance of information literacy has become increasingly evident in the expansive information environment of social media platforms. Anyone can share information, which also leads to the spread of misinformation. For instance, many individuals share information about ADHD diagnoses, often claiming that certain behaviors are definitive signs of having ADHD. In this qualitative study we first use the walkthrough method to observe the platform’s information architecture, drawing on affordance theory and how it can affect user’s interaction and interpretations on the platform. Secondly, we conduct semi-structured interviews to examine how users interactions and interpretations are influenced by their source criticism skills, grounded in information literacy. The results from the walkthrough method show that the platform’s affordances related to interaction and interpretation, such as comments, are easy to find and use. It is also evident that there is a choice about which features are more prominent than others. It also shows that the short-form content and scrolling-function make it easy for users to consume a large amount of information in a short time. The clearest result from the interviews is that respondents interpretate information about ADHD on TikTok, to be general and primarily interact with content that is entertaining and fun. The study has led to several conclusions. Two of them are firstly, that functions on TikTok are strategically placed to affect how users interact with the content. Secondly, that users' approach to information literacy affects whether users find the information reliable, which in turn affects how they interact with it.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hb-32100 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Milivojevic, Isabella, Troulioti, Tina |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Borås, Akademin för bibliotek, information, pedagogik och IT |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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