Active Social Media Users on Conspiracy Facebook Groups. Political, Leadership, and Worldview Profiles

Social media outlets seem a natural place for spreading conspiracy theories. Facebook groups addressed to supporters of conspiracy theories are an essential element of these spaces. The presented research was conducted using a semi-structured interview method among the most active members of groups on Facebook focusing on themes promoting conspiracy thinking. Considering different motivations for activity on social media, we divided the sample into three subgroups, taking into account the degree of conspiratorial ideation. The study aimed to create profiles of characteristics for the “convinced” group (declaring a strong belief in conspiracy theories) and the “seeking” group (declaring less certainty in this regard). Subsequently, the differences between those belonging to the groups in terms of the three highlighted areas of functioning were analysed. Our study showed that worldview characteristics differentiated the groups with different levels of conspiracist ideation more clearly than psychological or political characteristics.社交媒体平台是阴谋论传播的天然场域。面向阴谋论支持者的Facebook群组，正是此类场域的核心构成要素。本研究采用半结构化访谈法，以Facebook上以宣扬阴谋论思维为主题的群组的最活跃成员为调研对象开展研究。考虑到社交媒体用户的活动动机存在差异，本研究结合阴谋论思维倾向的程度，将调研样本划分为三个子群。本研究旨在为两类群组构建特征画像：其一为“坚信组”（明确宣称对阴谋论持有强烈信念），其二为“探寻组”（自称在该议题上信念程度较弱）。随后，本研究针对不同群组在三大突出功能维度上的差异展开了对比分析。研究结果显示，相较于心理特征与政治特征，世界观层面的特征能够更清晰地区分出不同阴谋论思维倾向程度的群体。