The online news experiences of young adults

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.

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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.

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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:

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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