Audience Motivations for Using Interactive Features: Distinguishing Use of Different Types of Interactivity on an Online Newspaper

Abstract

This study examines audience uses of three types of interactivity, user motivations for visiting an online newspaper, and the relationship between user motivations and use of the different types of interactive features. There are three types of interactivity on a continuum: medium, human=medium, and human interactivity. In an online survey of 542 respondents, results indicate that medium interactive features were used most frequently and human interactive features used the least. Three motivations for using online newspapers emerged-information seeking=surveillance, socialization, and entertainment. In addition, further analysis found that although all three motivations were predictors of use of medium interactive features, the information seeking= surveillance motivation was not a significant predictor of use of human= medium and human interactive features. Deborah S. Chung (Ph.D., Indiana University at Bloomington) is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky. Her research focuses on the impact of information communication technologies on journalism practice, culture and education and how ICTs potentially empower information consumers.

Who Shares and Comments on News?: A Cross-National Comparative Analysis of Online and Social Media Participation

“…Looking at broad gratifications for interactivity in online news, Yoo (2011) associates participation in discussions with other readers and sharing one's opinion via mail or comments to journalists with social-interaction motives. Interestingly, this kind of user-user interaction-as opposed to user-content interaction-underlying commenting seems to be driven also by a need for entertainment (Chung & Yoo, 2008;Yoo, 2011), while news sharing in general does not fulfill entertainment needs nor the need to escape from daily routines (Lee & Ma, 2012). Ksiazek, Peer, and Lessard (2014) in their study on comments on online news videos also differentiate between those news videos attracting lots of comments and those exhibiting more conversation between commenters.…”

Diarios online: Efectos de los comentarios generados por usuarios

“…interactividad Boczkowski (2003) aclara que con la adopción de internet, los medios tuvieron una oportunidad para explorar una relación más interactiva con sus audiencias y también para proveer de nuevos servicios, como audio o video, lo que distingue la presencia de la publicación on line de los tradicionales métodos de impresión y distribución. Si bien en un comienzo la interactividad presente en el contenido fue la forma dominante en sitios de noticias on line, lentamente la idea de compartir y socializar la información fue tomando fuerza (Chung & yoo, 2008). y si bien los hábitos de bús-queda de información y entretenimiento generados en las audiencias han sido los factores más influyentes en la introducción del uso de sitios de noticias on line, en los últimos años la socialización que el medio ofrece ha sido un factor significativo en la predicción del uso de aplicaciones interactivas (Chung & yoo, 2006).…”

“…El desarrollo de nuevas herramientas e interfaces ha permitido expandir la interacción entre las personas y el medio y, de compartir sólo opiniones o pensamientos, hoy los usuarios ya pueden postear incluso sus propias noticias y fotos (Chung & yoo, 2008).…”

Do Not Stand Corrected

“…Turning to audience studies, the results are somewhat ambivalent. On the one hand, swift news dissemination is one dimensions of (online) journalism that users most appreciate (Bergström, 2008;Chung & Yoo, 2008;Nguyen, 2010;van der Wurff & Schoenbach, 2014). On the other hand studies from different time periods and settings uniformly find that accuracy is a very important trait of journalism to users (Braman, 1988;Heider et al, 2005;Willnat & Weaver, 1998).…”