SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

‘Sharing’ the news on FacebookExploring the differences between news-sharers and non-sharers on the social media site

Amber HinsleyAssistant Professor

Samantha JohnsonMaster’s Student

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

Research focus

Why do some news consumers choose to share news materials through their social media accounts while others do not?

How are people’s news-sharing decisions tied to their desire to feel connected with others?

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

Facebook & sharing news Facebook has 1 billion active users People are spending more time with news

than ever before – Pew “State of the News Media”

Half of social media users who also are online news consumers get daily news items from the people they follow One-fourth follow news organizations or

journalists on social networking sites – Pew “Participatory news consumers”

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

Motivations for sharing news

Uses & gratifications Escape/diversion Relationship maintenance Personal identity Surveillance

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

Research questions

RQ1: What news preference-related differences exist between people who share news links via Facebook and those who do not?

RQ2: What demographic-type differences exist between people who share links stories via Facebook and those who do not?

RQ3: What motivates people to share news links via Facebook?

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

Online survey

250 U.S. adults who follow at least one news organization on Facebook 57% female 78% had at least some college Ages 18-74

Mean: 34.8 years old 72% Caucasian

Demographics similar to those in Pew studies of social media users

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

RQ1: News-preference differencesGeneral Facebook news use Sharers M Non-Sharers M Mean difference

How often do you sign in to Facebook specifically intending to find out what’s happening in the news?

4.88 3.62 1.26***

Total number of Facebook friends 319.05 183.2 135.85**

Sharers n=183; Non-Sharers n=65***p<.001; **p<.01

Responses for first item based on 7-point scale in which 1 was never and 7 was extremely often

Reliance on Facebook for news Sharers M Non-Sharers M

Mean difference

I can be well-informed by following news organizations on Facebook even if I don’t seek out news in more traditional formats (such as newspapers or television news shows)

5.08 4.17 .91***

I can rely on my Facebook friends to tell me what’s important when news happens

4.85 4.11 .75**

I don’t worry about keeping up with the news in more traditional formats because I know news will find me on Facebook

4.19 3.06 1.12***

Sharers n=183; Non-Sharers n=65***p<.001; **p<.01; *p<.05

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

RQ1: News-preference differences

Most-valued news org on FB Sharers % Non-Sharers %

Local television news station 31.7 23.1

National television network news 18.0 16.9

Cable television network news 15.3 16.9

Local news radio station 6.6 6.2

Local newspaper 4.9 6.2

National newspaper 4.9 4.6

“Fake” cable news program 4.9 9.2

Online-only news organization 4.4 3.1

Cable television news program 2.7 1.5

National television news program 2.2 4.6

National news radio station 2.2 4.6

National news magazine 1.1 0

Local news magazine 1.1 3.1

Sharers n=183; Non-Sharers n=65

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

RQ1: News-preference differencesWhat do you like about what your most-valued news organization does on Facebook?

Sharers M Non-Sharers M

Mean difference

Post headlines throughout the day 5.62 5.16 .46*

Post links to specific types of news 5.55 5.00 .55**

Respond to comments/questions posted by the public 5.34 4.33 1.01***

Promote contests or discounts sponsored by the news organization 5.21 4.38 .83***

Post behind-the-scenes information about the news organization 5.11 4.49 .62**

Post photos and other content from the public 5.10 4.50 .60**

Post non-news materials that show the news organization’s personality 5.05 4.35 .70**

Solicit comments to questions posed in posts 5.04 4.32 .72**

Promote news organization materials like its apps & blogs 4.94 4.08 .86***

Solicit photos & other content from the public 4.76 4.29 .47

Promote businesses through sponsored advertisements 4.61 4.03 .58*

***p<.001; **p<.01; *p<.05Responses based on 7-point scale in which 1 was strongly dislike and 7 was strongly like

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

RQ1: News-preference differencesHow often do you interact with your most-valued news organization on Facebook by…

Sharers M Non-Sharers M Mean difference

Read/watch/listen to news materials after clicking on link 5.13 4.14 .99***

Read headlines from posts but don’t click on link 4.87 4.09 .78**

Comment on other people’s comments on the news organization’s Facebook page

4.11 2.60 1.51***

Comment on news material posted by the organization 4.01 2.62 1.40***

Comment on questions posed by the news organization 3.97 2.72 1.25***

Post information, comments or questions on the news organization’s Facebook page

3.84 2.57 1.27***

Post a video/photo on the news organization’s Facebook page 3.26 2.23 1.03***

Sharers n=183; Non-Sharers n=65Responses based on 7-point scale in which 1 was never and 7 was extremely often***p<.001; **p<.01; *p<.05

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

RQ2: Demographic differences

News-sharers: Younger than their non-news sharing counterparts

Non-sharers: More conservative and more likely to be minorities than news-sharers

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

RQ3: Motivations for sharingnews

When I share news links, I feel I… Maintaining Relationships

Helping Others & Self

Interact with people who I trust to help solve my problems

.885 .196

Interact with people I trust to turn to in an emergency

.875 .213

Interact with people who I can turn to for advice about making important decisions

.788 .335

Interact with people who are usually nothing more than acquaintances (reversed)

.782 .213

Connect with new people .767 .337

Maintain real-world relationships with my Facebook friends

.735 .483

Maintain credibility with my Facebook friends .730 .450

Do not know people well enough to get them to do anything important (reversed)

.717 .227

Helpful to my Facebook friends .213 .828

Reflect my own views .109 .827

Influence my Facebook friends .356 .738

News organizations I follow are held in high esteem by my community

.380 .737

Eigenvalues 13.15 1.48

% Variance 62.62% 7.05%

Extraction method: Principal axis factoring. Rotation method: Varimax with Kaiser normalization

N=183 Cronbach’s α=.93

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

RQ3: Motivations for sharingnews

When I share news links, I feel I… Maintaining Relationships

Helping Others & Self

Maintain online relationships with my Facebook friends

.698 .507

Makes me interested in things happening in my community

.658 .449

Start conversations with friends in the real world .632 .474

Find out what people not like me are thinking .631 .499

Feel more connected to friend when re-post their news link

.630 .567

Diversion from everyday life .626 .564

Share news on subjects that interest my Facebook friends

.547 .506

Makes me feel part of a larger community .620 .624

Help my Facebook friends learn more about me .518 .609

Eigenvalues 13.15 1.48

% Variance 62.62% 7.05%

Extraction method: Principal axis factoring. Rotation method: Varimax with Kaiser normalization

N=183 Cronbach’s α=.93

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

Take-aways

News-sharers & non-sharers have distinct news preferences

News-sharers & non-sharers are demographically different

News-sharers have to two primary motivations Maintaining relationships Helping self & others