angela lee, annenberg school for communication, university of pennsylvania

8/7/2019 Angela Lee, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

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Is the Medium the Message?Is the Medium the Message?Predicting Popularity of Top U.S. News SitesPredicting Popularity of Top U.S. News Sites

with Mediumwith Medium--Specific FeaturesSpecific Features

Angela M. Lee

Annenberg School for Communication

University of Pennsylvania

[email protected]

Twitter: angelamlee

12th International Symposium on Online Journalism

Austin, TX

April 2, 2011


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McDonalds wanted to improve sales of its shakes

Most researchers: Should the shakes be thicker? Sweeter? Colder?

Gerald Berstell: Focused on the customers

Early morning

Always alone Rarely bought anything besides shakes

Never consumed the shakes in the store

Who are they?

Milkshake mistakes?: Focus only on the shakes itself; assumebreakfast means bacon & eggs to all, etc.

Implications: 1. Who the consumers are affect how products areproduced & marketed. 2. Its not only about the thingitself, but also

howand whyconsumers use it.

angelamlee

Milkshake Mistakes - Shirky


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Despite the growth in web usage, the top news sites remain

stable and are mostly sites tied to legacy media outlets (2011State of the News Media Report).

Importance of branding, source credibility, andtrustworthiness online (e.g., Abdulla et al., 2005; Meyer, 2009; Lin,

Salwen, Garrison & Driscoll, 2005).

Online news consumption: Known

Note: Simulated data


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But what accounts for this exponential differences, given all

top 10 sites offer news by comparably trustworthy sources?

Process gratifications, measured by 5 online news-specific features

Online news consumption: Unknown

Source: Nielsen


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Online news: A whole new experience?Online news: A whole new experience?

In the past, differences in news media predominantly equate

differences in mediated experiences regardless of genre Print newspapers: Textual and pictorial

Radio news: Audio

Television news: Moving pictures with audio

How does the Internet change things?

Same platform forall(e.g. newspapers, TV news stations, etc.)

to fight for audience attention

Competition for news providers online is no longer only that of

content, but also consumption experiences (Seelig, 2008)

New ways to consume news (i.e., much more choices)

New ways to measure and study news consumption (Tewksbury,2003)


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Mediumizing online news and the InternetMediumizing online news and the Internet

How is online news a news medium? What sets it apart

from other news media? What do we mean by the Internet asnew media?

To answer both questions require a prioriunderstanding of

medium-specific attributes

Uses & Gratifications: Focuses on media uses by centering on

the relationship between media attributes and the functions

they serve to users

Content gratifications (i.e., for entertainment or diversion purposes)

Social gratifications (i.e., For conversational uses)

Process gratifications (i.e., The actual mediated experience)


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Updated U&G: 5 online newsUpdated U&G: 5 online news--specific processspecific process

gratificationsgratifications

1. Interactivity Interaction and interplay between producers &

consumers (Chan-Olmsted & Ha, 2003)

Audience-oriented: Choices of content available to the

users to interact with (Ha & James, 1998; Seelig, 2008) Source-oriented: Reciprocal communication between

users and media (Ha & James, 1998; Seelig, 2008)

Golden standard or key advantage of the Internet(Quinn, 2005; Ha & James, 1998)

2. Immediacy

Timely updates on breaking news (Deuze, 2003)

Real-time distribution of news (Quinn, 2005)

Immediate correction of misinformation (Seelig, 2008)


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5 process gratifications5 process gratifications -- continuedcontinued

3. Multimedia

Amalgamation of texts, pictures, audio and video(Quinn, 2005)

Delivery of content in more engaging and creative

ways (Killebew, 2005; Sundar, 2000), which offers richer

process gratifications (Spyridou & Veglis, 2008; Huang,, 2007).

4. Information availability

Use of hyperlinks to additional information (Ha &James, 1998)

Online news is about 4 times more likely toincorporate information from other news outlets than

print newspapers (Maier, 2010)

Offering of a plethora of information from rich and

diverse sources (Ferguson & Perse, 2000)


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5 process gratifications5 process gratifications -- continuedcontinued

5. Usability

Factors that contribute to navigability, user

productivity and performance (Wilberg, 2003; Nielsen, 1994;Schneiderman, 2004)

Ease through which average users navigate a news site

in order to locate additional information With more channel and content choices than ever

before, Internet users can forgo less user-friendly sites

without worrying about not getting comparable news

information from elsewhere.


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HypothesesHypotheses

The more a news site incorporate the 5 medium-specific

features, the more likely it will attract audiences.

Among the top 10 news sites in 2009, all else being equal

H1: The top three sites will utilize the five online news

interface-specific features differentlyfrom that of the bottom

three sites H2: Use of the five online news interface-specific features

will positively predict popularity of these top news sites

RQ1: Which of the five online news interface-specific

features is the best predictor of popularity?

RQ2: How does each top news site use the five online news

interface-specific features?


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MethodMethod

Sample: Yahoo News (#1), MSNBC News (#2), AOL News

(#3), ABC News (#8), Washington Post (#9), USA Today(#10)

Data: Recorded at 11am everyday for the entire month of

June, 2010 using Automator (Mac) and Safari web browser

IV: Interactivity, immediacy, multimedia, information

availability, usability

See codebook for detailed list of all items included in each

feature (all items standardized and summed)

DV: Nielsens measure of unique audience visits

Statistical analysis: 1. Independent Sample T-Test (H1), 2.

Maximum likelihood regression using structural equation

modeling


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ResultsResults

Supportive ofH1, the top three top 10 news sites

consistently used more immediacy feature, t(166)=9.39**,multimedia feature, t(166)= 2.31*, information availability

feature, and usability feature, t(166)=3.59**.

Supportive ofH2, use of the five online news interface-

specific features significantly predicts popularity among thetop sites (R2 = 0.97).

RQ3: Information availability is the strongest predictor

(b=1.22*); followed by usability (b=-.77**), immediacy

(b=.46**), multimedia (b=.29**), and interactivity (b=.07*)

Post-hoc: ABCs abnormally large number of popularity

stories (i.e., most viewed, most commented, most emailed)

contributes to the negative slope in the usability variable

Note: *p


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RQ2: How do these top sites utilize the five onlineRQ2: How do these top sites utilize the five online

newsnews--specific features?specific features?


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TakeTake--home lessons:home lessons:

More popular top sites are consistently more online news

interface-specific feature-heavy

The five online news interface-specific features significantly

predict differences in popularity among the top ten news sites

Information availability is the strongest predictor ofpopularity among the top ten news sites:

Special section with more extensive news coverage on select topics

Special reports on select issues

Number of total stories Number of alternative sources

Hyperlinks to news stories from other sources

Hyperlinks to relevant information from other sites


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Future studiesFuture studies

Repeat this study including mid-range top 10 news stories

Consider weighting individual items in each variable

Track how evolution in usage of the 5 features predict

popularity over time

Interview actual news consumers for more holistic

understanding of a potentially wider range of online news-

specific process gratifications not accounted for in this study


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ConclusionConclusion

Changes in Internet-use diffusion and online news media

landscape lead to ever-evolving online news consumptionpatterns, and result in new opportunities for studying such

behaviors (Lin, Salwen, Garrison & Driscoll, 2005; Garrison, 2005)

These changes call for empirical research to examine not

only causesbut also effectsof emerging consumptionpatterns

First we need to decipher how the Internet appeals to

consumers as a news medium so we can maximize its

medium-specific strengths to better match 21st centurydemands and desires

Online news consumption studies should focus not only

on content but also medium.


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Is the medium the message?Is the medium the message?

The medium is not the whole message in online news

consumption, the whole picture includes credibility,

news quality, news brands, etc., butthe medium tells an

important and compelling story that deserves, and

ought to be heard.


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Thank you for your time and attentionThank you for your time and attention

Angela M. LeeAngela M. Lee

[email protected]@gmail.com

angela lee, annenberg school for communication, university of pennsylvania

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