The MAIN Model for Technological Affordances in Social Media Tyler Gayheart University of Kentucky

MAIN Model Overview● Ten years of research in Media Effects Lab by Shyam Sundar (2008)● MAIN model

○ M = Modality, A = Agency, I = Interactivity, N = Navigability● Technological affordances trigger heuristic cues● Claims that these affordances are present in most digital media and are

promising in their ability to cue cognitive heuristics pertaining to credibility assessments

● The MAIN model is concerned with the technological aspects of digital media

Process

An affordance (interactivity of a website) conveys a certain cue (invite to live chat) that triggers a heuristic (service) leading to an automatic deduction that good service means good quality of information, thus leading to a high level of credibility.

RQ’s● RQ1a: Can reliable measures of each of the four technological affordances

associated with the MAIN model be developed? ● RQ1b: Do the psychometric properties of the technological affordance

scales vary as a function of social media platform? ● RQ2a: How does the MAIN model and related technological affordances

predict perceived credibility of Facebook?● RQ2b: How does the MAIN model and related technological affordances

predict perceived credibility of Twitter?● RQ2c: How does the MAIN model and related technological affordances

predict perceived credibility of Snapchat?

MethodologySurvey conducted Spring 15-16

● Demographic Scale ● Social Media Usage Scale ● 12-item technological affordance scale (MAIN) ● 2-item credibility scale

● N=420 undergraduate students (292 female) ● Ages ranged from 18 to 43 years (M = 20.22, SD = 2.59). ● 113 freshmen, 77 sophomores, 121 juniors, 105 seniors and four specified as either

non-degree seeking visiting/transient students● 344 white, 44 african american, 14 asian, and remaining 18 reported another

ethnicity

Methodology● 12 - item technological affordance scale

○ MAIN measured across each of the social media channel = technological affordance aggregate

● 2 -item credibility scale ○ Measured across each of the social media channels = credibility

composite for each social channel: facebook, twitter, snapchat● Independent Variables: modality, agency, interactivity and navigability● Dependant Variable: perceived platform credibility composite

Background/Literature Review● MAIN Model only mentioned or guided literature review, discussion,

results or future research/implications

● No study measured, evaluated or tested the MAIN model directly

● Majority of articles had been published in the last three years were

approached quantitatively

● Heuristics were primarily utilized as they were identified by the MAIN

model

Reliability● Multi dimensional reliability

results have low internal consistency across the Agency and Interactivity features of the MAIN model.

● Modality and Navigability, along with credibility had internally consistent results across all social media platforms.

Factor Analysis● Extraction Method: Principal

component analysis - rotation method: varimax

● Loaded across the MAIN factors individually

● Each factor was analyzed separately with unidimensional results

● Internal consistency decreases when analyzed across multiple factors

Correlation: Technological Affordance and Credibility

Regression

Modality ( ) Agency ( ) Interactivity( ) Navigability( )

.317 .178 .14

.237 .121 .202 .15

.165 .385 .141 .23

Limitations and Future Research● RQ1 and RQ1B were supported on a unidimensional basis (individual component of

MAIN) rather than a composite - multidimensional ● Agency and Interactivity might be hard constructs to evaluate and measure● Participants might not perceive some feature sets identified by MAIN

○ Sundar would argue that they are peripherally or centrally process regardless● RQ2a,b,c - MAIN Models Predictive Power?

○ Yes, agency played a role in predicting credibility across all platforms○ But not the way Sundar claims ○ Navigability and Interactivity played little role in predicting credibility

● Future Research: ○ Evaluate psychometric properties associated with Agency and Interactivity○ Determine if there are other elements that would help with a composite measure

outside of MAIN.

Process

Conclusion ● The technological affordance scale was internally consistent when analyzed

on a unidimensional basis● When analyzed in a multidimensional scale, the reliability and internal

consistency reduces● RQ2a, RQ2b and RQ2c were supported as Agency was found to have

significant predictive power for credibility across social media platforms, facebook, twitter and snapchat

● Future research:○ Psychometric improvements to technological affordance scale○ Evaluate alternative feature affordance properties not in MAIN

Thanks!