sociological investigating of the diffusion of news and rumors: a case study of students at university of isfahan

rumors are part of our everyday life. sometimes they contain confidential information about public figures; in other cases they have hot news concerning important social or economic issues. rumors can shape the public opinion of a society or a market by affecting and coordinating the individual beliefs of its members. rumor is a kind of social phenomenon that a similar remark spreads on a large scale in a short time through chains of communication. the purpose of this research is to find out the level of tendency toward diffusion on news and rumors and to study the impact of variables like importance and ambiguity. in this survey study a sample of 242 students at university of isfahan have been interviewed. the results indicate that a significant and direct relationship exists between importance, type of new and tendency toward diffusion of news and rumors. however, a significant relationship does not exist between ambiguity and tendency toward diffusion of news and rumors.