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

Michael Scharkow (), Frank Mangold, Sebastian Stier and Johannes Breuer
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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

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020, vol. 117, issue 6, 2761-2763

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.

Keywords: news exposure; online media use; web tracking data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nas:journl:v:117:y:2020:p:2761-2763

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