Dr. Jieun Shin and colleagues examined the extent to which normative values (e.g.,factual reporting and public importance) in news stories contribute to actual engagement such as sharing, liking, and commenting compared to social media values (e.g., perceived popularity).
Two online surveys were conducted in May 2022; one surveyed 761 journalists and the other surveyed 6,390 consumers.
Key findings include:
1.) Journalists tended to judge normative values more critically than consumers.
2.) The social media value of news was positively associated with user engagement, meaning the more popular the news was perceived to be, the more likely it was to be shared.
3.) News that was perceived as “inaccurate” by journalists and consumers was shared more on Facebook than news perceived to be “accurate.”
Read the original article here.
Authors:
Jieun Shin, Ph.D., University of Florida
Seth C. Lewis, Ph.D., University of Oregon
Soojong Kim, Ph.D., University of California, Davis
Kjerstin Thorson, Ph.D., Michigan State University
