{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]],"date-time":"2026-02-19T14:22:55Z","timestamp":1771510975091,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,2,18]],"date-time":"2018-02-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1518912000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["New Media &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:p> In light of the recent US election, many fear that \u201cfake news\u201d has become a force of enormous reach and influence within the news media environment. We draw on well-established theories of audience behavior to argue that the online fake news audience, like most niche content, would be a small subset of the total news audience, especially those with high availability. By examining online visitation data across mobile and desktop platforms in the months leading up to and following the 2016 presidential election, we indeed find the fake news audience comprises a small, disloyal group of heavy Internet users. We also find that social network sites play an outsized role in generating traffic to fake news. With this revised understanding, we revisit the democratic implications of the fake news crisis. <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444818758715","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,2,19]],"date-time":"2018-02-19T05:43:26Z","timestamp":1519019006000},"page":"3720-3737","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":190,"title":["The small, disloyal fake news audience: The role of audience availability in fake news consumption"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Jacob L","family":"Nelson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Northwestern University, USA"}]},{"given":"Harsh","family":"Taneja","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,2,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-1461444818758715","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Allcott H, Gentzkow M (2017) Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election. Stanford, CA: Stanford University. Available at: http:\/\/web.stanford.edu\/~gentzkow\/research\/fakenews.pdf","DOI":"10.3386\/w23089"},{"key":"bibr2-1461444818758715","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/10584600903053361"},{"key":"bibr3-1461444818758715","unstructured":"Barthel M, Mitchell A, Holcomb J (2016) Many Americans believe fake news is sowing confusion. Pew Research Center, 15 December. Available at: http:\/\/www.journalism.org\/2016\/12\/15\/many-americans-believe-fake-news-is-sowing-confusion\/"},{"key":"bibr4-1461444818758715","unstructured":"Barthel M, Shearer E, Gottfried J, et al. (2015) The evolving role of news on Twitter and Facebook. Pew Research Center, 14 July. Available at: http:\/\/www.journalism.org\/2015\/07\/14\/the-evolving-role-of-news-on-twitter-and-facebook\/"},{"key":"bibr5-1461444818758715","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/08900520701583586"},{"key":"bibr6-1461444818758715","unstructured":"Buchanan M (2017) Commentary: why fake news spreads like wildfire on Facebook. Chicago Tribune, 3 September. Available at: http:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/opinion\/commentary\/ct-perspec-fake-news-google-facebook-0904-story.html"},{"key":"bibr7-1461444818758715","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2016.1154086"},{"key":"bibr8-1461444818758715","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/21670811.2017.1298044"},{"key":"bibr9-1461444818758715","unstructured":"comScore (2013) comScore media metrix description of methodology. 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