News Dissemination Gratifies Needs for Social Media Users

Teresa Velasco 1, Chad Mahood 1 *
More Detail
1 The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA
* Corresponding Author
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Volume 6, Issue 4, pp. 115-131. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/2572
OPEN ACCESS   1869 Views   1254 Downloads   Published online: 26 Oct 2016
Download Full Text (PDF)

ABSTRACT

Social networking sites (SNS) are increasingly used to disseminate and consume news stories, perhaps at the expense of traditional mass media sources. This manuscript explores how receiving news from social media “friends” may be changing how individuals prefer to consume and interpret news. Data gathered from 508 participants showed that “keeping in touch,” “reading posts,” and “browsing” were top gratifications from SNS. With these possible gratifications a user who posts news stories through social media will provide an interpretive view on the news for their online “friends”. Online practices are discussed how they fit within Uses and Gratifications Theory. Results showed news posted by “friends” online is positively correlated with a user’spersonal social media usage and knowledge of news events. Hierarchical regression analysis used several controls withpersonality factors, social media use, and news consumption. All variables together explain 33% of the variance in news consumption. These results provide insight into how and why users are consuming more news information online.
Keywords: news, SNS, gratifications, dissemination

CITATION

Velasco, T., & Mahood, C. (2016). News Dissemination Gratifies Needs for Social Media Users. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 6(4), 115-131. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/2572

REFERENCES

  • An, J., Cha, M., Gummadi, K., & Crowcroft, J (2011). Media Landscape in Twitter: A world of new conventions and political diversity. Proceedings of the 5th International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, Barcelona, July.
  • Aref, N. (2013). Online news information seeking: An analysis of the usage of search engines vs social networks in Egypt. Journal of Middle East Media,9.
  • Artwick, C. (2013). News sourcing and gender on Twitter.Journalism, 15, 1111-1127.
  • Barnard, S. (2014). ‘Tweet or be sacked’: Twitter and the new elements of journalistic practice. Journalism, 1-18.
  • Beam, M. (2013). Automating the News: How personalized news recommender system design choices impact news reception.Communication Research, 41, 1019 – 1041.
  • Bruns, A. & Burgess, J. (2012).Researching news discussion on Twitter new methodologies.Journalism Studies, 13, 801 – 814.
  • Cha, J. (2014). Usage of video sharing websites: Drivers and barriers. Telematics and Informatics, 31, 16–26.
  • Flaherty, L. M., Pearce, K., & Rubin, R. B. (1998). Internet and face-to-face communication: Not functional alternatives. Communication Quarterly, 46, 250-268.
  • Hermida, A. (2010). Twittering the news the emergence of ambient journalism.Journalism Practice, 4, 297 – 308.
  • Hermida, A., Fletcher, F., Korell, D. & Logan, D. (2012). Share, like and recommend. Journalism Studies, 13, 815-824.
  • Hermida, A. (2014). #Tell everyone: Why we share and why it matters. Canada: Doubleday Canada.
  • Holton, E. A., Baek, K., Coddington, M., & C., Yaschur (2014). Seeking and sharing: Motivations for linking on Twitter, Communication Research Reports, 31, 33-40.
  • Kim, Y., Hsu, S., & Zuniga, H (2013). Influence of social media use on discussion network heterogeneity and civic engagement: The moderating role of personality traits. Journal of Communication, 63, 498 – 516.
  • Jenkins, H., Ford, S., & Green, J. (2013).Spreadable media. New York, NY: New York University Press.
  • LaRose R., Mastro, D., &Eastin, M. S. (2001). Understanding Internet usage: A social-cognitive approach to uses and gratifications. Social Science Computer Review, 19, 395-414.
  • Lacorsa, D. (2012). Transparency and other journalistic norms on Twitter.Journalism Studies, 13, 402-417.
  • Lin, N. (2001). Building a network theory of social capital.Social Capital: Theory and Research. New Brunsick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 3-29.
  • Lin, J., Peng, W., & Kim, M., Kim, S. Y., &LaRose, R. (2011).Social networking and adjustments among international students, New Media & Society, 14, 421-440.
  • Mitchell, A., &Rosenstiel, T. (2012). The state of the news media: An annual report on American journalism. Retrieved from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism: .
  • Oeldorf-Hirsh, A. &Sundar, S. S. (2014). Posting, commenting, and tagging: Effects of sharing news stories on Facebook. Computers in Human Behavior 44, 240-249.
  • Peng, T. & Zhu, J., J (2010).A game of win-win or win-lose? Revisiting the internet's influence on sociability and use of traditional media.New Media & Society, 13, 568- 586.
  • Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, “Navigating News Online: Facebook Is Becoming Increasingly Important,” May 9, 2011, accessed June 21, 2015.
  • Pew Research Center for Journalism and Media, “Facebook and Twitter – New but local parts of the local news system,” May 5, 2015, accessed June 19, 2015.
  • Pew Research Center, “Mapping Twitter Topic Networks: From Polarized Crowds to Community Clusters,” February 20, 2014, accessed July 13, 2015.
  • Pew Research Center, “Americans Feel Better Informed Thanks to the Internet,” December 8, 2014, accessed June 20, 2015.
  • Quan-Haase, A., M. & Young, A., L. (2010) Uses and gratifications of social media: A comparison of Facebook and instant messaging. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 30, 350-361.
  • Rubin, A. M. (2009). Uses-and gratifications perspective on media effects. In J. Bryant & M. B. Oliver (Eds.), Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research (pp. 165-184). New York, NY: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
  • Shah DV, McLeod JM and Yoon SH (2001) Communication, context, and community – anexploration of print, broadcast, and internet influences.Communication Research 28(4): 464-506.
  • Sheldon, P. (2008). Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, 20, 67-75.
  • Sundar, S., S. &Limperos, A., M. (2013). Uses and grats 2.0: New gratifications for new media. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 57, 505-529.
  • Vallor, S. (2011).Flourishing on facebook: Virtue friendship & new social media.Ethics Inf Techno, 14, 185-199.
  • Verboord, M. (2011). Cultural products go online: Comparing the internet and print media on distributions of gender, genre, and commercial success. Communications, 36, 441-462.
  • Weeks, B. E &Holbert, L. E. (2013).Predicting dissemination of news content in social media: A focus on reception, friending, and partisanship.Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 90, 212–232.
  • Westernik, H., Renckstorf, K., Lammers, J., & Wester, F. (2006).Transcending Uses and Gratifications: Media use as social action and the use of event history analysis.Communications, 31, 139 – 153.
  • Xu, Q. (2013). Social recommendation, source credibility, and recency: Effects of news cues in a social bookmarking website. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 90(4), 757-775.
  • Zemmels, D. R. (2012). Youth and new media: Studying identity and meaning in an evolving media environment. Communication Research Trends, 31, 4-22.