ABSTRACT
Using data from an online discussion on the risk of getting blood clot from Johnson & Johnson vaccine moderated by the New York Times Facebook page, we investigated the presence of eleven convergence behaviors, and the interaction between them. While recent research focuses on misinformation or fake news as the object of analysis, we argue in this exploratory research that it is equally important to analyze who and, whenever possible, why people engage in information exchange given a particular crisis, hence their convergence behaviors. Mapping the types of postings to their authors would be an additional step to design, develop, implement, and possibly, regulate online discussions for a more effective and just civic engagement. As we witness a mass manipulation of public opinion, our findings suggest that the number of netizens that seek to correct misinformation is growing. If the society goal is to swiftly rebut as many conspiracy theories as possible, we advocate for a dual social media control strategy: restrain as much as possible the misinformation spreaders/manipulators and encourage correctors to help propagate countervailing facts. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.