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How social network sites and other online intermediaries increase exposure to news

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Scharkow

    (Department of Communication, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany)

  • Frank Mangold

    (Department of Communication, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany)

  • Sebastian Stier

    (GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, 50667 Cologne, Germany)

  • Johannes Breuer

    (GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, 50667 Cologne, Germany)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Scharkow & Frank Mangold & Sebastian Stier & Johannes Breuer, 2020. "How social network sites and other online intermediaries increase exposure to news," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(6), pages 2761-2763, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:117:y:2020:p:2761-2763
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ruben L. Bach & Christoph Kern & Denis Bonnay & Luc Kalaora, 2022. "Understanding political news media consumption with digital trace data and natural language processing," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(S2), pages 246-269, December.
    2. Peter D. Dwyer & Monica Minnegal, 2020. "COVID‐19 and Facebook in Papua New Guinea: Fly River Forum," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(3), pages 233-246, September.
    3. Shunyao Yan & Klaus M. Miller & Bernd Skiera, 2020. "How Does the Adoption of Ad Blockers Affect News Consumption?," Papers 2005.06840, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2021.

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