Adapting to Affordances and Audiences? A Cross-Platform, Multi-Modal Analysis of the Platformization of News on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter

Abstract

To capture audiences' attention on social media, news outlets may disseminate journalistic content in line with platform instead of mass media logics, indicating a platformization of news. Taking a cross-platform, multi-modal approach, we analyze how German outlets select and adapt existing stories for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. We combine a computational and a manual content analysis of articles and social media posts (N ¼ 4,412), including related images/videos (N ¼ 6,850). Overall, evidence for outlets following platform logics on social media is limited: News outlets select and adapt news on a technical level, for instance by distributing more content on news-centered platforms like Twitter or by fostering on-platform engagement by excluding external links on Instagram. However, they do not systematically select or adapt news on a more communicative level, for instance by preferring specific topics for social media or by using more engaging language on platforms.

The platformization of consumer culture: A theoretical framework

“…A key concept to understand the impact of platforms on society and culture at large is platformization . Studies on “platformization” are gaining traction in the last few years, covering different kinds of topics: platformization of society (Van Dijck et al, 2018), platformization of education (Kumar et al, 2019), platformization of labor (Gandini, 2021), platformization of migration (van Doorn and Vijay, 2021), platformization of news (Hase et al, 2022), platformization of care (Kluzik, 2022), platformization of love (Bandinelli and Gandini, 2022), platformization of the public sphere (Smyrnaios and Baisnée, 2023)—just to name a few. Yet, for the purposes of this essay, the most interesting strand of research on platformization is that on culture and cultural production.…”

“Platformization of News”, Authorship, and Unverified Content: Perceptions around Local Media

“…However, while digital platforms have made it easier for people to access news content, they have also led to concerns about the quality and diversity of available news and the potential for spreading disinformation. The so-called platformization of news has been studied ( van Dijck et al 2018;Shearer and Matsa 2018;Hase et al 2022;Zaid et al 2022), but many questions remain unanswered regarding the impact these platforms can have on news outlet work. For some authors, "a vision of mutually beneficial collaboration between financially distressed news organizations and successful digital platforms, for which the dissemination of news is at best a secondary activity, should not overlook some sources of inevitable tension" (Nechushtai 2018(Nechushtai , p. 1044.…”

Data collection from journalistic news apps without prerequired coding experience using MacroDroid smartphone automation software to simulate user interactions

“…MacroDroid achieves this by automatically collecting over time the positioning of news articles as presented by journalists within mobile news apps. This way, scholars can capture news agendas that journalists might specifically provide for mobile devices and compare them to the corresponding content on desktop-based news websites or within social media to analyze whether gatekeeping processes differ across various distribution channels (see also Hase et al, 2022; Wehden, 2023). MacroDroid might further be used, for example, to automatically capture screenshots of group discussions within messenger apps like WhatsApp 1 or content from hard-to-access apps based on visuals like Tik Tok.…”