Social media capital — the resources that content producers and organizations build based on their social media efforts — often translates to increased credibility and more economic value. Advertisers choose to buy advertising space based on the ability of content providers to reach potential customers. And the more followers that one has, and/or the more likes, comments, or forwards the posts have, can be a proxy for credibility.
Jieun Shin, assistant professor at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, and colleague Katherine Ognyanova, wanted to explore how news sites’ reputation and content quality translated into social media capital.
