## 4 Results and Discussion
### Article Characteristics
#### 4.2.2 Virality  
This section considers respondents' perceptions regarding the usefulness of knowing an article's level of virality when judging its trustworthiness. No notable trends are present in the income level data for self or others perception; however, one is visible in the ideal data. Again, Democrats (followed by Republicans and then independents/other party members) indicate the highest efficacy of the metric. As internet usage levels increase, the perceived efficacy of the metric increases for self-usage, the perceived usage of others, and the perception of ideal usage; meaning that virality generally is seen as more important as internet usage levels increase. Figure 15 shows respondents' perceptions of the impact of an article's virality on their personal decision making when considering the validity of an article. Amongst income groups (as shown in Figure 15a), there is no clear pattern with regard to increased or decreased efficacy as income increases. With respect to political parties (Figure 15b), there is greater perceived efficacy of the metric amongst Democrats at the combined great deal/a lot and combined great deal/a lot/moderate amount levels (though more Republicans indicated there being a great deal of efficacy of the metric). Independents/other party members indicate the lowest level of perceived metric efficacy, which is notably lower than both the Democrats and Republicans at all levels. Across all groups, over 50% of respondents (only slightly more, in the case of independents/other party members) report at least a moderate amount of perceived metric efficacy. The data related to the metric and internet usage levels shows a steady increase of the perceived importance of virality, at the great deal, combined great deal/a lot, and combined  
Figure 7: Article opinion statement quantity—personal perception impact by political affiliation. great deal/a lot/moderate amount levels, at the lowest three internet usage levels. The highest internet usage level (more than 5 h), breaks this trend, as shown in Figure 14(c). Figure 15 presents respondents' perceptions of the importance of an article's virality on others' trustworthiness decision making. There is no consistent trend, with regard to others' perception of metric efficacy, and income level, as shown in Figure 15(a). Some variation is present, but overall the data is relatively consistent between levels, except for at the $100,000-124,999 income level which is an anomaly, as compared to the data surrounding it. The political party affiliation perception data shows that Democrats think that others find the metric more important, as compared to Republicans and independents/other party members, as shown in Figure 8. Republicans indicated more importance of the metric at the great deal and combined great deal/a lot/moderate amount levels, as compared to independents/other party members. The two groups are tied at the combined great deal/a lot level. In terms of internet usage levels, there is a notable increase in the perceived efficacy of the metric by others as internet usage level increase, up until the highest internet usage level, where there is a notable decrease, as shown in Figure 15(c). Notably, this trend is present at the great deal, combined great deal/a lot, and combined great deal/a lot/moderate amount levels. Figure 16 shows respondents' perceptions of the ideal impact of an article's virality on article trustworthiness decision making. As income levels increase, as shown in Figure 17(a), there is a consistent decline in the level of ideal perceived efficacy of the virality metric. This trend is present at the combined great deal/a lot/moderate amount level in all but the highest of the income levels. It is also present in the combined great deal/a lot level, at the lowest four income levels. Notably, this trend is not present in only the great deal data.