The four types of credibility are presumed, reputed, surface and earned.
Presumed credibility
…is a website which has its domain as “.org”, which tends to have information that is updated often . The site also has a large amount of hits and is quite popular (Fogg, 2003, p 164). The example I used for presumed credibility is the “World Wide Web Consortium” website. The site has a “.org” domain, it has its information constantly updated and its one of the most popular sites about the web.
Reputed credibility
…is a site which your own doctor may refer you to. The site is most likely to have won some award, and it has an authoritative web site linked to the site (Fogg, 2003, p 170-171). The site I used as an example for a reputed credibility is the “Hope Garden” website. Its a website that your doctor could refer you to because its made for individuals and their families who are going through cancer. The site most recently won two awards for “People’s Choice Winner” and the “Flash Forward Award”. The site also has an authoritative website link which is the BSD Medical site.
Surface credibility
…is a website which looks very professional and is made by an organization which you would recognize. The articles within the website also tend to have citations. (Fogg, 2003, p 168)The example I choose as a surface credibility is the “Australian Government” website. The site has a professional look about it, and has its symbol of the government in the upper left corner of the page, which is easily recognizable. I went through some of the articles and many of them also contain citations.
Earned credibility
…is a website which you would get a quick response from customer service about a question. The site also tends to have good navigation and the content within the site is displayed fairly fair and balanced (Fogg, 2003, p 166). The example I used for earned credibility was the “TISC” wesbite. The site has a very fast customer service response, and the navigation is very simple but good. The design of the site is also very fair, simple but balanced.
Fogg, B. J. (2003). Credibility and the World Wide Web. In Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do (pp. 147-181). Amsterdam: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
