Examining Social Media In Managing Misinformation By Marketing Companies In Accra, Ghana

Abstract

The digital age has introduced innovative interventions that has redefined our social engagements particularly in the areas of communication. Today, most organizations are utilizing social media –to reach diverse markets and meet varied needs of consumers. The objectives of this study were; to examine which social media platform(s) marketing companies in Accra adopt to address Misinformation, to explore the social media activities of marketing companies in Accra in managing Misinformation and, to examine the relationship between social media and managing misinformation. To address these objectives, a quantitative research approach was adopted to purposively sample 105 respondents including heads of departments their deputies and senior officers across 35 marketing companies in Accra. The marketing companies were selected using the snowballing sampling technique. Data was gathered using a five-point Likert scaled questionnaire and analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 30. The results showed that marketing companies in Accra experience misinformation across various media. Subject to this, the most utilized social media platforms by marketing companies in Accra include X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Again, several social media activities such as posting of videos and pictures, engaging the public in live online discussions, sharing of update in emerging public concerns as well as hosting of Q&A session were being undertaking by marketing companies in Accra. This notwithstanding, 86.9% variation in the capacity of marketing companies to manage misinformation was found to be facilitated by social media. Social media has therefore become an imperative channel by which organizations communicate crisis to customers and use same means to address misinformation. The study recommends that the leadership must liaise with the government and business regulators to help in coming up with standardized guidelines on how to act when false information is being disseminated. It was also recommended that future studies should focus on other regions to offer more detailed national outlook as it will draw up regional similarities and differences in misinformation impacts in businesses. There is also the need for future studies to apply qualitative research methodology to offer more information about how marketing firms experience, sense and react to misinformation.