6533b870fe1ef96bd12cf402
RESEARCH PRODUCT
How social network sites and other online intermediaries increase exposure to news
Frank MangoldJohannes BreuerMichael ScharkowSebastian Stiersubject
Nutzungmedia behaviorSelektionsocial mediaInternet privacyutilizationSocial Sciencesselection050801 communication & media studiesddc:070Digital mediaMedienverhaltenIntermediary0508 media and communicationsEmpirical researchInteractive electronic MediaSoziale Medien050602 political science & public administrationWeb navigationSocial medianewsInformation and communication technologies for developmentinteraktive elektronische MedienNews media journalism publishingOnline-Medienonline media useNachrichtenMultidisciplinarySocial networkbusiness.industrynews exposure05 social sciences524online medianews exposure; web tracking data0506 political scienceInformation and Communications Technologyweb tracking dataPublizistische Medien JournalismusVerlagswesenbusinessdescription
Research has prominently assumed that social media and web portals that aggregate news restrict the diversity of content that users are exposed to by tailoring news diets toward the users’ preferences. In our empirical test of this argument, we apply a random-effects within–between model to two large representative datasets of individual web browsing histories. This approach allows us to better encapsulate the effects of social media and other intermediaries on news exposure. We find strong evidence that intermediaries foster more varied online news diets. The results call into question fears about the vanishing potential for incidental news exposure in digital media environments.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-01-27 |