The online news experiences
of young adults
Presented by
Asim Qayyum, Charles Sturt University
Kirsty Williamson, Charles Sturt & Monash Universities
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Focus of the Presentation
• Reports Stage 2 of a two-stage study.
• Explores the new, dynamic media environment,
and news-gathering behaviour of young adults.
• Includes patterns of behaviour of young adults
when they interact with online news media.
• Introduces some comparison with use of print
media.
• Places some emphasis on the discovery of
information for everyday living.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Background to Study (1)
• Print newspaper circulation is in free fall. e.g., in
2007-2009, decline was 30% in US; 25% in UK; a bit
less in Greece, Italy and Canada (Robinson, 2010).
• Print media are being fast abandoned by younger
readers. In 2011, 65% of 18-29 year olds considered
internet to be their primary source of news (The
Economist, anon, 2011).
• News interests young people: 62% of internet-using
teenagers, especially older teens, consume online
news about current events and politics (Pew
Research: Lenhart, Purcell, & Smith, 2010)
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Background to Study (2)
• Print media seem to be losing younger readers
because they feel their needs are not being catered
for.
• But they want news on demand; to control and
customise content, time and medium (Huang, 2009).
• Publishers are directing youth-related investment
into online services (Graybeal, 2008; Kohl, 2008).
• Social network sites are now fixtures of youth
culture (Metz, 2009). Web 2.0 tools, e.g., blogs,
podcasts, streaming media, are attracting young
readers (Schwartz, 2005).
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Background to Study (3)
•In Stage 1, young participants indicated a strong desire to
remain informed. (Qayyum, Williamson, Liu & Hider, 2010)
•A variety of news media, including printed newspapers,
were used to try to achieve this.
•Participants were particularly interested in entertainment
but local news of direct relevance to them was also
important. Confirmed findings of other researchers, e.g.,
Raeymaekers (2004) and Huang (2009).
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Significance of the Study
•Online newspapers and other services are here to stay. Thus
this investigation is important.
•Quality and effectiveness of user/information interactions with
online information formats and content require exploration.
•It is important that field of information science makes a
contribution in this area, including with online newspapers.
•The recent advent of social networking, and the documented
attraction of young adults to it, also contribute to the study’s
significance.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Study Method (1)
•Overall research approach was qualitative (interpretive), aiming to
collect in-depth data.
•Involved 34 university students, aged 18-25, studying at Charles Sturt
University in Australia.
•Sampling partly purposive (with criteria being ‘age’ and ‘interest in
news’), partly convenience.
•
•
Stage 1: 20 students interviewed about interest in various kinds of news, sources
and perceptions thereof.
Stage 2: 14 different students engaged in a usability study, undertaking four
different tasks.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Study Method (2)
•Stage 2, building on the findings of Stage 1, used verbal protocol
analysis.
•Data were collected from in-task, think aloud sessions.
•Interviews, immediately after each task was completed, sought
participants’ opinions, thoughts, and motives behind their actions.
•This combination of current and retrospective thinking brought distinct
advantages of both techniques (Kuusela and Paul 2000).
• Standard qualitative data analysis identified categories and themes,
and compared print and online news.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Study Findings (1)
Task #1: Search for and read 1-2 news stories about a community
event or an activity that took place in their local area of interest
during the past month.
- 11 out of 14 participants (79%) preferred e-newspapers when
searching for local news online.
-9 participants (64%) stated their preference to read local news in print
because:
-
there were online search difficulties
there is a leisure component
local newspapers say ‘what will happen’ rather than ‘what has happened’
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Study Findings (2)
Task #2: Search for 2-3 online news stories on the political
situation in a specified country using a fixed search term.
-11 participants (79%) preferred online newspapers sites in
Google search results though they did not read print newspapers
regularly.
-13 participants (93%) preferred known ‘names’ e.g. ABC,
Australian, SMH etc.
-Participants perceived the order of news article within a
newspaper to be from most important to the least.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Study Findings (3)
Task #3: Read a specified article published on a national
newspaper’s website and the associated blog comments.
-9 participants (64%) considered that comments appearing on
newspaper sites added no value and even viewed them as “ranting” of
some sort.
-Participants’ preferred journalists’ opinion pieces over reader views,
either online or in print.
-2 participants perceived the comments as a measure of the opinion of
the community.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Study Findings (4)
Task #4: Visit the website of a daily and compare the various formats in
which news was presented to users, i.e. the online webpage, PDF version,
and the print version of that day’s paper.
-7 participants (50%) described the webpage format as the best of the three
formats as it was, a) very readable, b) offered a short blurb which gave a quick
overview, and c) had an accompanying picture.
-7 participants (50%) expressed a preference for print newspaper layout
because of experiential benefits (touch, smell, evoking memories) and ease of
reading.
-None preferred the PDF format.
-Reading print has no distractions or associated multi-tasking activities
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Study Findings (5)
-9 participants (64%) used online sources for everyday life information and
incidental information discovery.
-No participant mentioned online news reading as a pleasurable experience
whereas several expressed an appreciation of reading the printed newspaper
as a pleasant experience, also akin to a recreational activity.
-Online reading was viewed as a ‘chore’, or a job to be done. Three participants
(21%) used multiple tabs to quickly go through news items.
-11 participants (79%) have Google or another online news site as their
homepage and their usual source of news.
-2 participants (18%) perceived Google news ranking as an indicator of quality
for a news article.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Conclusion (1)
•Study found strong user preference for searching for news using a
search engine instead of directly visiting newspaper websites, but often
chose online newspapers from the Google results.
•Continuous exposure to Google seems to have led to trust in more
highly ranked results, especially for sites with a professional
appearance.
•Users also placed more trust in expert (journalist) opinions than blogs
associated with articles which did not match their interests.
•Effect of the move from ‘macro-blogging’ to ‘micro-blogging’ (e.g.
twitter) and status updates (Lenhart, et al., 2010) remains to be
investigated.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Conclusion (2)
•The research is limited by type of young people included, and small
number in the second stage.
•Nevertheless, combined with other findings from the literature, the wellfounded conclusion is that online newspaper sites need to match
information needs of readers and pay careful attention to appearance of
their sites.
•Results have implications for information research and provision more
broadly, including in relation to determining information needs and
preferences, ever-evolving online environments, and social networking.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
References (1)
anon. (2011). Peggy Sue got old. The Economist, (Apr 7). Retrieved from
http://www.economist.com/node/18527255
Armstrong, C. L., & Collins, S. J. (2009). Reaching out: Newspaper credibility among young adult
readers. Mass Communication and Society, 12(1), 97-114.
Graybeal, G. M. (2008). Youth 2.0: A study of resources used by newspapers to attract young readers.
Masters Masters Thesis, University of Georgia, Athens.
Huang, E. (2009). The causes of youths' low news consumption and strategies for making youths
happy news consumers. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media
Technologies, 15(1), 105-122.
Kohl, J. (2008). Beyond the printed page: As newspapers move deeper into the mobile and online
space, strategy checked in with Canada's national newspaper warriors to find out what's working.
Strategy, Feb, 27-29.
Kuusela, H., & Paul, P. (2000). A comparison of concurrent and retrospective verbal protocol analysis.
American Journal of Psychology, 113(3), 387-404.
Lenhart, A., Purcell, K., & Smith, A. (2010). Social media & mobile Internet use among teens and young
adults. Washington, DC: : PEW Internet and American Life Project
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
References (2)
Metz, R. (2009, April 27). Newspaper circulation decline picks up speed, USA Today.
Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/media/2009-04-27-newspapercirculation_N.htm
Qayyum, M. A., Williamson, K., Liu, Y.-H., & Hider, P. (2010). Investigating the new
seeking behavior of young adults. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 41(3), 178191.
Raeymaeckers, K. (2004). Newspaper editors in search of young readers: Content and
layout strategies to win new readers. Journalism Studies, 5(2), 221-232.
Robinson, J. (2010). UK and US see heaviest newspaper circulation declines.
Guardian.co.uk, (June 17). Retrieved from
Schwartz, M. (2005). Newspaper circulation woes offset by Internet gains: NAA says
publishers should focus on audience reach rather than number of newspapers sold. B to
B, 90(16), 3.
Williamson, K., Qayyum, A., Hider, P., & Liu, Y.-H. (2012). Library & Information Science
Research, 34, 258-264.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION