유튜브 '사이버 렉카' 영상에 달린 중립 댓글이 다른 시청자들의 악성 댓글 작성 의도에 미치는 영향력 연구 : 정확성 넛지와 동적 규범의 효과를 중심으로 (The Effect of Neutral Comments on YouTube “Cyber Wrecker” Videos on Other Viewers’ Commenting Behavior : Testing the Role of Accuracy Nudge and Dynamic Norms)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국언론학회
· 수록지 정보 : 한국언론학보 / 67권 / 1호 / 85 ~ 124페이지
· 저자명 : 정민웅, 이세영, 금희조

초록

본 연구는 유튜브 "사이버 렉카" (“사이버 바람잡이”) 영상에 달린 중립 댓글들이 다른 시청자들의 악성 댓글 작성 의도에 미치는 영향력을 살펴보았다. 일반적인 중립적 댓글과는 달리, 사이버 렉카 영상에 달리는 중립 댓글들은 영상 속 정보의 정확성이 확인되지 않았으므로 무조건적 비판이나 지지를 삼갈 것을 다른 시청자들에게 제안하는 특징을 가지고 있다. 이렇듯 논리적 구조와 설득의 형태를 지닌 채 이성적 판단을 제언하는 중립 댓글들이 다른 사람들로 하여금 정보의 정확성 여부를 생각하게끔 만들고, 그 결과 악성 댓글 작성 의도를 낮출 수 있는지에 대해 집중적으로 살펴보았다. 온라인 실험을 실시한 결과 악성 댓글이 다수를 이루는 상황은 부정적 댓글 작성 의도를 높이는 것으로 나타났다. 중립 댓글은 오히려 악성 댓글 작성 의도를 유의하게 높이는 것이 발견되었으며, 중립 댓글이 영상 속 정보의 정확성 부재 여부를 직접적으로 언급할수록, 이러한 중립 댓글의 숫자가 점점 증가할수록 그 영향력은 더욱 큰 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 결과를 바탕으로 사이버 렉카 영상에 달린 부정적 댓글과 중립 댓글이 다른 시청자들의 악성 댓글 작성 의도에 미치는 영향에 대한 이론적 함의를 논하였다. 또한 이와 관련하여 악성 댓글 작성을 예방할 수 있는 실용적 함의에 대해서도 기술하였다.

영어초록

This study investigated the effect of neutral comments on YouTube "Cyber Wrecker" videos on other viewers’ commenting behavior—specifically, their intention to leave uncivil comments. Cyber wreckers refer to people who create and post YouTube videos regarding social figures’ mainly ethical and moral issues. They make accusations about someone based on unverified information online, which in turn can encourage viewers’ uncivil communication behaviors attacking the targeted person. While most viewers leave malicious comments, some people leave "neutral" comments that have unique characteristics. General neutral comments can be defined as impartial, even-handed opinions on political or conflicting issues. Unlike these, neutral comments on Cyber Wrecker videos 1) question the veracity of the information by drawing attention to the lack of fact-checking, 2) show their intention to refrain from blindly accepting or rejecting the accusations, and 3) frequently persuade others to take a neutral stance on the matter rather than leaving one-sided comments. Based on these characteristics, this study argued that these neutral comments can function as an accuracy nudge, which is known to draw attention to the idea of correctness and encourage people to be more discrete about subsequent behaviors (e.g., sharing information). Thus, this study hypothesized that neutral comments on cyber wrecker videos would decrease viewers’ willingness to leave uncivil comments; it was also predicted that the direct mention of the absence of accuracy, compared to the indirect mention of it, could further decrease the behavioral intention. Also, guided by the dynamic norms literature, this study also hypothesized that an increasing number of neutral comments would be more influential than a static, fixed number of neutral comments. A 2 (neutral comment norms: static vs. dynamic) x 2 (accuracy mention: indirect vs. direct) between-subject online experiment was conducted to test the study hypotheses. The results showed that participants who read many malicious comments reported significantly greater willingness to leave uncivil comments than those who did not read any comments. Neutral comments significantly influenced participants’ intention to leave uncivil comments. However, the direction of the effect was inconsistent with the predictions. Participants who read neutral comments showed significantly greater willingness to leave uncivil comments than those who did not read any comments. There was no substantial difference between the direct and indirect mentions of the concept of accuracy. Participants also had the strongest intention to post uncivil comments when they read a growing amount of neutral comments that explicitly questioned the veracity of the content. Overall, these results suggest that seeing many malicious comments can result in leaving uncivil comments, consistent with the predictions of social norms theories. The unexpected findings regarding the neutral comments can be attributed to psychological reactance: neutral comments persuading others to refrain from leaving comments may threaten readers’ perceived freedom regarding commenting behavior, which may be reflected by a greater willingness to leave uncivil comments. It is also possible that neutral comments may be perceived differently (e.g., supporting the targeted person), rather than an accuracy nudge. Based on these findings, theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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