The effects of incidental news exposure on social media on Chinese youth: News diversity and online expression

Abstract

Chinese youths––the “mobile internet generation”––are increasingly exposed to news incidentally through mobile social media. Based on the theory of incidental news exposure and semi-structured interviews with 41 Chinese youths, this study inductively explored the effects of incidental news exposure on news diversity and expression on social media from an audience-centered perspective. The results question previous findings of positive impacts of incidental news exposure on democratization, evidencing potential negative effects of incidental news exposure on news diversity and civic expression. This paper indicates possible reasons for those effects, highlighting the influence of citizens’ trust in official information sources and the social media censorship environment in China.