Persuasion in 140 characters: Testing issue framing, persuasion and credibility via Twitter and online news articles in the gun control debate

Highlights：

• Experimental design used to examine the persuasion and credibility of pro and anti-gun control arguments via Twitter and news articles.

• Study also examined the effect of the medium of transmittal (online news vs Twitter).

• Pro-gun control frames were more persuasive and more credible than anti-gun control frames.

• Arguments transmitted via online news articles elicited more persuasion than those transmitted via Twitter.

• Arguments transmitted via online news articles were also deemed more credible than those transmitted via Twitter.