Stumbling upon news on the Internet: Effects of incidental news exposure and relative entertainment use on political engagement

Effects of the News-Finds-Me Perception in Communication: Social Media Use Implications for News Seeking and Learning About Politics

“…Many social media users, for instance, use these platforms to disseminate and discuss news with others in their social network (Weeks & Holbert, 2013). Inevitably, other users within these social networks will be exposed to this news content without any explicit effort of their own (Kim et al, 2013;Tewksbury et al, 2001). In this way, using social media for news may facilitate news-finds-me perceptions.…”

“…Social media allow for exposure to news shared by peers, as well as journalists and media organizations, who have a strong presence on these sites (Weeks & Holbert, 2013). It is therefore not surprising that social media have become an important source of news for many citizens and that people report frequent incidental exposure to news while using these sites for other purposes (Kim et al, 2013;Pew, 2016). If the concern is that personal characteristics reduce the likelihood that some individuals actively seek and learn from news, social media may attenuate those worries by exposing people to news.…”

“…Social media create a confluence of news by simultaneously providing users news not only from traditional media outlets but also news created and shared by others in the social network. As a result, users within these social networks can be exposed to news directly by actively seeking it, or incidentally, without any explicit effort of their own, through their use of these sites (Kim, Chen, & Gil de Zúñiga, 2013;Tewksbury et al, 2001).…”

What Drives Political Participation? Motivations and Mobilization in a Digital Age

“…Exposure to political content from peers or directly from organizations or activists both predict online and offline participation, viewing content shared by peers is a stronger predictor of online participation, while direct communication from an organisation predicts online and offline participation (Tang & Lee, 2013). These findings build upon studies which have shown accidental exposure to news can lead to a heightened propensity to participate (De Zúñiga et al, 2012;Kim et al, 2013;Diehl et al, 2015) and at the very least can reduce gaps in the levels of interest and engagement (Valeriani & Vaccari, 2015). Social pressure, applied by peers via social media, to act in a certain way is equally seen as a predictor of participation, in particular when an action is seen to have broader societal benefits (Panagopoulos, 2013) and applied via "specific networks of informal sociability" (Lowndes, 2004: 61).…”

Shedding light on the dark social: The connective role of news and journalism in social media communities

“…Regarding the latter, the teachers and IT team discussed how on Facebook content does not necessarily stem from one's own connections and liked pages, but can originate from outsiders too. Although they worried Facebook's filter bubble may shield them from alternative political information, they also noted the platform made them stumble on "surprise content" (Kim et al, 2013) they might not have normally discovered. The private Facebook group of the neighbors was a compromise, enabling them to limit membership to people in the area making members feel safe to post, while still creating a diverse community that would bring in different types of information.…”