A Twitter revolution? : uses & gratifications and credibility of Twitter

This study examines how and why individuals use the social networking site Twitter and explores how they perceive the credibility of tweets by politicians. Using a survey to sample adults, it shows that people primarily use the medium to get timely content, for entertainment, and for social interaction, and that interactive tweets by elected officials are viewed as most credible, even if people are not likely to use the medium to directly communicate with politicians themselves. It concludes that Twitter’s potential to change how people communicate with each other and with politicians is strong, but that it has not yet been fully realized.