How Do People Stay Up-To-Date with Online News?
Over the past decade, journalism has entered a stage where news organizations are less reluctant to invest in online operations, but Nguyen’s study assumes that they do so out of fear that the internet may replace traditional media.
Due to this, they haven’t actually taken the time to understand what users want from online news and how what they want will affect their behavior after receiving it.
As Nguyen’s study shows, traditional press still has a fighting chance, provided practitioners understand why people have shifted to online news and offer them something similar.
Table of Contents
The Effects Of Online News Attributes On Its Adoption And Use: a Review
In the past, researchers in this field have found that nine socio-technical advantages have determined the adoption and use of online news:
- no costs
- multitasking
- more news choices
- in-depth and background information
- 24/7 updates
- customization
- Discussing the news with peers
- Different points of view exist
- “Talk back to the media” opportunity
Though these studies have successfully explored the link between online news attributes and internet users’ adoption of them, they failed to analyze the practical implications of such an adoption. This is critical when it comes to the future development of online news.
So, the two big questions that have remained unanswered by previous research and to which An Nguyen’s study seeks an answer are:
What Are The Socio-Technical Advantages Of Online News? And How Are These Advantages Linked To The Adoption, Use, Evaluation, And Affiliation Of Online News By Internet Users?
This question directly addresses the question of whether online news can gradually replace traditional media or whether all news sources will complement each other.
How Does A Reduction In Time Spent On Traditional News Media Since Online News Adoption Relate To The Socio-Technical Advantages Of Online News?
Methods
An article uses data from a national survey of Australian users of news conducted in 2004 that included non-users of the internet, internet users that did not read online news, and online news users.
Findings
Immediacy was the main reason for online news adoption out of the 9 attributes. Seventy percent of online news users check news sites a few times a day, while 47 percent turn to the internet first if something interesting happens.
Therefore, one of the most important aspects of providing online news services is providing them continuously 24 hours a day.
Despite this, it appears that people expect quality content along with constant updates R 90% of online news users clicked on links for detailed and background information.
It emphasizes the importance of using the linking and limitless space available on the internet, as well as its interactive nature, to uncover as many perspectives as possible from as many audiences as possible.
Moreover, the study shows that customization (getting tailored news) does not influence how much people use online news, but it does influence how attached they become to it after adoption.
On the other hand, combining news with other online functions (email news alerts, embedding news into non-news sections of portal sites) seemed to be extremely important for online news users. The “no cost” factor is the same. There is no evidence that people are willing to pay for news, and they won’t be in the future either, as the effect of multitasking would be diminished if the news wasn’t free.