Making ‘The Daily Me’: Technology, economics and habit in the mainstream assimilation of personalized news

Abstract

This is the unspecified version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link Making 'The Daily Me':Technology, economics and habit in the mainstream assimilation of personalized news Abstract:The mechanisms of personalization deployed by news websites are resulting in an increasing number of editorial decisions being taken by computer algorithms-many of which are under the control of external companies-and by end users. Despite its prevalence, personalization has yet to be addressed fully by the journalism studies literature (Zelizer, 2009). This study defines personalization as a distinct form of interactivity and classifies its explicit and implicit forms. Using this taxonomy, it surveys the use of personalization at eleven national news websites in the UK and US. Research interviews bring a qualitative dimension to the analysis, acknowledging the influence that institutional contexts and journalists' attitudes have on the adoption of technology. The study shows how: personalization informs debates on news consumption, content diversity, and the economic context for journalism; and challenges the continuing relevance of established theories of journalistic gate-keeping.

Newspaper Consumption in the Digital Age

“…One hypothesis is that the increasing consumption of news on office computers in the workplace (see: Boczkowski [2010] and Thurman and Walters [2013]) privileges publications that suit users' privacy concerns (Boczkowski 2010, 127) by, for example, avoiding forms of content and presentation that might draw the disapprobation of managers or co-workers; and that have a reader profile that more closely matches the demographics of white collar workers. Another hypothesis is that these newspaper websites have succeeded because they have done a better job in delivering content geared to a web audience "not bounded by geography or social class" (Oremus 2012), and in formats tailored to the online medium and its consumption patterns, formats that include live blogs (see : Thurman and Walters [2013]) and that adapt content to users' explicitly stated or implicitly determined preferences (see Thurman [2011] and Thurman and Schifferes [2012]). …”

iWatch: the intense flow of microformats of “glance journalism” that feed six of the main online media

“…The characteristics of the new technological environment have opened new research lines to understand multimediality (Deuze, 2004), interactivity (Scolari, 2008), participation (Masip et al, 2015), personalization (Thurman, 2011) and the use of new platforms (Westlund, 2014), among some dimensions which characterize the new media. The passing of the years has demonstrated the consolidation of research in this field (Masip & Micó, 2010) and, from the launching of new devices http://www.revistalatinacs.org/072paper/1160/10en.html Página 188…”

Contenidos periodísticos y nuevos modelos de negocio: evaluación de servicios digitales

“…Entre éstas sobresalen la multimedialidad (Guallar; Rovira; Ruiz, 2010; Deuze, 2004); la interactividad y la participación del público (Masip et al, 2010; Cebrián-Herreros, 2009); la personalización (Thurman, 2011); la especialización y el uso de nuevos soportes informativos como los dispositivos móviles (Díaz-Noci, 2010), las redes sociales (Noguera-Vivo, 2010; Guallar, 2011) o los blogs (Sánchez-Vigil; Marcos-Recio; Olivera-Zaldua, 2010).…”

“…-accesibilidad: entendida como el aumento de la facilidad y la rapidez a la hora de poner las noticias a disposición de la audiencia (Qayyum, et al, 2010; Rodríguez-Martínez; Codina; Pedraza-Jiménez, 2010); -personalización, concebida en un doble sentido: poder crear un diario a la carta que responda a las preferencias de cada lector (Thurman, 2011) y ofrecer al público el control sobre su experiencia informativa, permitiéndole decidir qué noticias recibe, cómo y cuándo (Huang, 2009); -relevancia: orienta las preferencias de la audiencia hacia aquellas noticias relacionadas con su vida cotidiana (Túñez, 2009), con el foco puesto en lo local (Zerba, 2011), vinculadas al relato de experiencias personales (CosteraMeijer, 2007) y con elevadas dosis de utilidad práctica (Bernal-Triviño, 2009); -participación: es indicada por algunos autores como un criterio de evaluación clave (Raeymaeckers, 2004).…”