TY - JOUR
T1 - News Engagement on Closed Platforms. Human Factors and Technological Affordances Influencing Exposure to News on WhatsApp
AU - Masip, Pere
AU - Suau, Jaume
AU - Ruiz-Caballero, Carles
AU - Capilla, Pablo
AU - Zilles, Klaus
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors declare no conflict of interests. This research has been partially funded by WhatsApp Inc. WhatsApp has played no role in directing and conduction the research, nor has had any influence over the authors.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovaci?n y Universidades (Spain) RTI2018-095775-BC44 and WhatsApp Misinformation and Social Science Research Awards.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021/9/14
Y1 - 2021/9/14
N2 - The use of WhatsApp in everyday life, but also in relation with practices such as receiving, sharing and commenting on news is growing. However, due to its close or private nature, users' engagement with news is less obvious or harder to grasp on WhatsApp than on other social platforms. Drawing on practice theory, this research aims to address how WhatsApp users engage with news content, to identify if they are subject to incidental exposure, and how technological affordances, as well as individual and in-group social dynamics, shape these issues. The results of 6 focus groups highlight that on WhatsApp news is experienced by each user in an individual fashion, and news is used decontextualized from media brands. In fact, the sender seems to be the most influential element who determines how users engage with and trust media content. Furthermore, depending on the level of trust that the sender possesses, news is more likely to be endorsed or not. Finally, incidental exposure to ideologically diverse news content tends to happen in groups, particularly large groups, not in one-on-one chats.
AB - The use of WhatsApp in everyday life, but also in relation with practices such as receiving, sharing and commenting on news is growing. However, due to its close or private nature, users' engagement with news is less obvious or harder to grasp on WhatsApp than on other social platforms. Drawing on practice theory, this research aims to address how WhatsApp users engage with news content, to identify if they are subject to incidental exposure, and how technological affordances, as well as individual and in-group social dynamics, shape these issues. The results of 6 focus groups highlight that on WhatsApp news is experienced by each user in an individual fashion, and news is used decontextualized from media brands. In fact, the sender seems to be the most influential element who determines how users engage with and trust media content. Furthermore, depending on the level of trust that the sender possesses, news is more likely to be endorsed or not. Finally, incidental exposure to ideologically diverse news content tends to happen in groups, particularly large groups, not in one-on-one chats.
KW - News engagement
KW - Whatsapp
KW - closed platforms
KW - practice theory
KW - social endorsement
KW - technological affordances
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107494115&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=pure_univeritat_ramon_llull&SrcAuth=WosAPI&KeyUT=WOS:000657946900001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS
U2 - 10.1080/21670811.2021.1927778
DO - 10.1080/21670811.2021.1927778
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107494115
SN - 2167-0811
VL - 9
SP - 1062
EP - 1084
JO - Digital Journalism
JF - Digital Journalism
IS - 8
ER -